A spore-based miniaturized novel assay for rapid aflatoxin detection in milk

Environmental Chemistry Letters - Aflatoxin M1 contamination in milk and dairy products is a major issue worldwide. Aflatoxin is a carcinogen that enters into the milk through animals feed. Here,...     

Pillared interlayered clays: sustainable materials for pollution abatement

Environmental Chemistry Letters - Pillared interlayered clays have interesting properties such as high surface area, pore volume and extended pore size, high thermal stability, strong surface...     

Essential oils and their bioactive compounds as green preservatives against fungal and mycotoxin contamination of food commodities with special reference to their nanoencapsulation

Environmental Science and Pollution Research - Fungal and mycotoxin contamination of stored food items is of utmost concern throughout the world due to their hazardous effects on mammalian systems....     

Ciprofloxacin degradation in photo-Fenton and photo-catalytic processes: Degradation mechanisms and iron chelation

Ciprofloxacin(CIP)is a broad spectrum synthetic antibiotic drug of fluoroquinolones class.CIP can act as a bidentate ligand forming iron complexes during its degradation in the photoFenton process(PFP).This work investigates on PFP for the degradation of CIP to understand the formation mechanism and stability of iron complexes under ultraviolet(UV)-light illumination.A comparison was made with the UV-photocatalysis(UV/TiO_2)process where CIP doesn't form a complex.In PFP,the optimal dose of Fe~(2+)and H_2O_2were found to be 1.25 and10 mmol/L with pH of 3.5.An optimal TiO_2dose of 1.25 g/L was determined in the UV/TiO_2process.Maximum CIP removal and mineralization efficiency of 93.1%and 47.3%were obtained in PFP against 69.7%and 27.6%in the UV/TiO_2process.The mass spectra could identify seventeen intermediate products including iron-CIP complexes in PFP,and only seven intermediate products were found in the UV/TiO_2process with a majority of common products in both the processes.The proposed mechanism supported by the mass spectra bridged the routes of CIP cleavage in the PFP and UV/TiO_2process,and the decomposition pathway of Fe~(3+)-CIP chelate complexes in PFP was also elucidated.Both in PFP and UV/TiO_2processes,the target site of HO~·radical attack was the secondary-N atom present in the piperazine ring of the CIP molecule.The death of Escherichia coli bacteria was 55.7%and 66.8%in comparison to the control media after 45 min of treatment in PFP and UV/TiO_2process,respectively.     

Accurate prediction of air quality response to emissions for effective control policy design

Designing effective control policy requires accurate quantification of the relationship between the ambient concentrations of O₃and PM_2.5and the emissions of their precursors.However,the challenge is that precursor reduction does not necessarily lead to decreases in the concentrations of O₃and PM_2.5,which are formed by multiple precursors under complex physical and chemical processes;this calls for the development of advanced model technologies to prov...     

Bacteriophage Therapy for Critical and High-Priority Antibiotic-Resistant Bacteria and Phage Cocktail-Antibiotic Formulation Perspective

Food and Environmental Virology - Phage therapy is revolving to address the issues mainly dealing with antibiotic resistance in the pathogenic bacteria. Among the drug-resistant microbial...     

Fabrication of Bi2O3/TiO2 nanocomposites and their applications to the degradation of pollutants in air and water under visible-light

A nanoheterojunction composite photocatalyst Bi2O3/TiO2working under visible-light(λ 420 nm) was prepared by combining two semiconductors Bi2O3 and TiO2 varying the Bi2O3/TiO2molar ratio. Maleic acid was employed as an organic binder to unite Bi2O3 and TiO2 nanoparticles. The SEM, TEM, XRD and diffuse reflectance spectra were utilized to characterize the prepared Bi2O3/TiO2nanoheterojunction. The nanocomposite exhibited unusual high photocatalytic activity in decomposing 2-propanol in gas phase and phenol in aqueous phase and, evolution of CO2 under visible light irradiation while the end members exhibited low photocatalytic activity. The composite was optimized to 5 mol% Bi2O3/TiO2. The remarkable high photocatalytic efficiency originates from the unique relative energy band position of Bi2O3 and TiO2 as well as the absorption of visible light by Bi2O3.     

Photocatalytic degradation of endocrine disruptor Bisphenol-A in the presence of prepared CexZn1-xO nanocomposites under irradiation of sunlight

Photocatalytic degradation of Bisphenol A （BPA）, a representative endocrine disruptor chemical, was carried out under irradiation of sunlight in the presence of CexZn1-xO nanophotocatalyst. Cerium （Ce） ions were successfully incorporated into the bulk lattice of ZnO by simple co-precipitation process. The CexZn1-xO composite nanostructures exhibited higher photocatalytic efficiency than pure ZnO in the degradation of BPA under sunlight irradiation and nearly complete mineralization of BPA was achieved. The degradation rate was strongly dependent on factors such as the size and structure of catalyst, doping material concentration, BPA concentration, catalyst load, irradiation time and pH levels. This work suggested that the CexZn1-xO assisted photocatalytic degradation is a versatile, economic, environmentally benign and efficient method for BPA removal in the aqueous environment.     

Minimizing changing climate impact on buildings using easily and economically feasible earth to air heat exchanger technique

The biggest challenge of the 21st century is to satisfy the escalating demand of energy and minimize the globally changing climate impact. Earth to air heat exchanger (EAHE) system can effectively reduce heating affects on buildings. An experimental study was carried out by designing EAHE system using low cost building materials like Bamboo (Bambuseae) and hydraform (cement and soil plaster) to reduce the energy consumption of buildings and minimize the impact of climate change. This system utilizes earth’s constant subterranean temperature for naturally heating or cooling the inlet air. This study was carried out in the North Eastern part of India. An open loop EAHE system was developed to predict the heating and cooling potential of the system. Within the system locally available bamboos were used for constructing the tunnel pipes and soil-cement mixture plaster was used to enhance the conductivity of the bamboo pipes. Soil-cement mixtures are capable of decreasing the humidity by 30 to 40 %. Majority of the North Eastern region of India, have humid climatic conditions through out the year. Experiment was performed continuously for 7 days and the result shows that irrespective to the inlet air temperature (ranges from 35 °C to 42 °C), outlet air temperature was recorded between 25 °C and 26 °C, which shows the effectiveness of the system. After a series of experimental analysis the study reveals that underground tunnel based fresh air delivery system is one of the easily feasible and economically feasible techniques which can drastically reduce the energy consumption of the buildings and help in addressing the continuously escalating demand of power and minimizing the impact of changing climatic conditions on buildings.     

New generation Amberlite XAD resin for the removal of metal ions: A review

The direct determination of toxic metal ions, in environmental samples, is difficult because of the latter's presence in trace concentration in association with complex matrices, thereby leading to insufficient sensitivity and selectivity of the methods used. The simultaneous removal of the matrix and preconcentration of the metal ions, through solid phase extraction, serves as the promising solution. The mechanism involved in solid phase extraction (SPE) depends on the nature of the sorbent and analyte. Thus, SPE is carried out by means of adsorption, ion exchange, chelation, ion pair formation, and so forth. As polymeric supports, the commercially availableAmberlite resins have been found very promising for designing chelating matrices due to its good physical and chemical properties such as porosity, high surface area, durability and purity. This review presents an overview of the various works done on the modification of Amberlite XAD resins with the objective of making it an efficient sorbent. The methods of modifications which are generally based on simple impregnation, sorption as chelates and chemical bonding have been discussed. The reported results, including the preconcentration limit, the detection limit, sorption capacity, preconcentration factors etc., have been reproduced.