The efficacy of clay bentonite,date pit,and chitosan nanoparticles in the detoxification of aflatoxin M1 and ochratoxin A from milk

Aflatoxin M₁ (AFM₁) and ochratoxin A (OTA) are highly toxic mycotoxin metabolites that are found as food pollutants, posing health risks to humans and animals. The objective of the current study is to establish a sensitive, reliable method for determining AFM₁ and OTA using high-performance liquid chromatography (HPLC) and attempting to assess the efficacy of bentonite, date pit, and chitosan nanoparticles for AFM₁ and OTA detoxification from contaminated milk. As revealed, AFM₁ was found in 65.7% of analyzed samples ranging from 4.5 to 502 ng/L, while 25.7% of examined samples contained OTA ranging from 1.45 to 301 ng/L. Furthermore, for AFM₁ and OTA. The advanced procedure was thoroughly validated by evaluating linearity (R²?>?0.999), LOD (0.9615 and 0.654 ng/L), and LOQ (2.8846 and 1.963 ng/L), recovery (93–95% and 87–91%), as well as precision (≤?1%RSD). The experimental data revealed a higher removal efficiency of bentonite and date pit than chitosan nanoparticles in the case of AFM₁ (68%, 56%, and 12%) and OTA (64%, 52%, and 10%), respectively with slight change in nutritional milk components like fat, protein, and lactose. Eventually, it is concluded that bentonite and date pit can be considered efficient adsorbing agents to extract AFM₁ and OTA from contaminated milk.

     

Thermodynamics of metal cation binding by a solid soil-derived humic acid: binding of Fe(III), Pb(II), and Cu(II)

Metal binding and release by solid humic acids (HAs) in soils and sediments can affect metal mobility and bioavailability. Isotherms for tight binding of Fe(III), Pb(II) and Cu(II) by a solid humic acid at pH2.0 fit the Langmuir binding model. Low pH was chosen to protonate the HA carboxylate groups and avoid metal cation hydrolysis. Binding of Fe(III), Pb(II) and Cu(II) occurs in one detectable step labeled A. Site capacities nu(A) are temperature-independent from 10.0 to 40.0 degrees C and point to binding by charge-neutralization to form solid complexes M(OOC-R)(n)(s), where n appears to be 2 for Pb(II) and 3 for Fe(III). Thermodynamic data pairs (DeltaH(A), DeltaS(A)) for metal binding are linearly correlated with previous data for Ca(II), Co(II) and Mg(II) binding by solid HAs.     

Production of sugarcane bagasse-based activated carbon for formaldehyde gas removal from potted plants exposure chamber

Agricultural wastes such as rice straw, sugar beet, and sugarcane bagasse have become a critical environmental issue due to growing agriculture demand. This study aimed to investigate the valorization possibility of sugarcane bagasse waste for activated carbon preparation. It also aimed to fully characterize the prepared activated carbon (BET surface area) via scanning electron microscope (SEM) and in terms of surface functional groups to give a basic understanding of its structure and to study the adsorption capacity of the sugarcane bagasse-based activated carbon using aqueous methylene blue (MB). The second main objective was to evaluate the performance of sugarcane bagasse-based activated carbon for indoor volatile organic compounds removal using the formaldehyde gas (HCHO) as reference model in two potted plants chambers. The first chamber was labeled the polluted chamber (containing formaldehyde gas without activated carbon) and the second was taken as the treated chamber (containing formaldehyde gas with activated carbon). The results indicated that the sugarcane bagasse-based activated carbon has a moderate BET surface area (557 m²/g) with total mesoporous volume and microporous volume of 0.310 and 0.273 cm³/g, respectively. The prepared activated carbon had remarkable adsorption capacity for MB. Formaldehyde removal rate was then found to be more than 67% in the treated chamber with the sugarcane bagasse-based activated carbon. The plants’ responses for this application as dry weight, chlorophyll contents, and protein concentration were also investigated.

Implications: Preparation of activated carbon from sugarcane bagasse (SCBAC) is a promising approach to produce cheap and efficient adsorbent for gas pollutants removal. It may be also a solution for the agricultural wastes problems in big cities, particularly in Egypt. MB adsorption tests suggest that the SCBAC have high adsorption capacity. Formaldehyde gas removal in the plant chambers indicates that the SCBAC have potential to recover volatile gases. The results confirmed that the activated carbon produced from sugarcane bagasse waste raw materials can be used as an applicable adsorbent for treating a variety of gas pollutants from the indoor environment.     

A simple and efficient multi-residue method based on QuEChERS for pesticides determination in palm oil by liquid chromatography time-of-flight mass spectrometry

In this study, a rapid, specific and sensitive multi-residue method based on acetonitrile extraction followed by dispersive solid-phase extraction (d-SPE) clean-up was implemented and validated for multi-class pesticide residues determination in palm oil for the first time. Liquid-liquid extraction followed by low-temperature precipitation procedure was evaluated in order to study the freezing-out clean-up efficiency to obtain high recovery yield and low co-extract fat residue in the final extract. For clean-up step, d-SPE was carried out using a combination of anhydrous magnesium sulphate (MgSO(4)), primary secondary amine, octadecyl (C(18)) and graphitized carbon black. Recovery study was performed at two concentration levels (10 and 100 ng g(-1)), yielding recovery rates between 74.52% and 97.1% with relative standard deviation values below 10% (n?=?6) except diuron. Detection and quantification limits were lower than 5 and 9 ng g(-1), respectively. In addition, soft matrix effects (≤±20%) were observed for most of the studied pesticides except malathion that indicated medium (20-50%) matrix effects. The proposed method was successfully applied to the analysis of suspected palm oil samples.     

Modified Grey Model and its application to groundwater flow analysis with limited hydrogeological data: a case study of the Nubian Sandstone, Kharga Oasis, Egypt

Groundwater flow at Kharga Oasis, located in the western desert of Egypt, was previously analyzed using numerical models; however, the lack of basic data often limits the implementation of these models, as well as introducing a problem for model calibration and validation. The Grey Model (GM) was used to overcome these difficulties of data limitation and uncertainty of hydrogeological conditions. However, no clear theories exist for selecting the number of input model trends and the most suitable values of input parameters. Therefore, in the current study, a modification of the GM is newly proposed and called the Modified Grey Model (MGM) in an attempt to determine a process for selecting the best input models' trends with the appropriate values of input parameters to achieve acceptable fitting to observations. The sensitivity analysis results showed that the MGM produced more stable results than the GM using a wide range of values for input parameters. Moreover, the MGM reduced the calculation time required for fitting the measured piezometric level trends by 99.8 %. Three development scenarios of groundwater withdrawal were proposed that involved either expanding the present extraction rate or redistributing the groundwater withdrawal over the recent working production wells (RWPWs). The results concluded that the groundwater table in the northern part of the oasis could be temporally recovered to an economical piezometric level; however, the table in the southern part is severely decreased. Therefore, new production wells are recommended to be constructed in the southern part far enough from the RWPWs.     

Orange Juice Processing Waste as a Biopolymer Base for Biodegradable Film Formation Reinforced with Cellulose Nanofiber and Activated with Nettle Essential Oil

Journal of Polymers and the Environment - Concerns about environmental problems have led to the development of biodegradable packaging. Food wastes as a byproduct could be a good source for...     

Detection of Norovirus and Hepatitis A Virus in Strawberry and Green Leafy Vegetables by Using RT-qPCR in Egypt

Food and Environmental Virology - There is an upward trend of consumption of organic fresh vegetables due to consumer demand for healthy foods without chemical additives. On the other hand, the...