Chitosan nanoparticles preparation and applications

Shell fish processing industry is very common in coastal areas. While processing, only the meat is taken, the head and shells are discarded as waste. On an average, the sea food industry produces 80,000 tons of waste per year. The sheer amount of waste makes degradation a slow process causing accumulation of waste over a period of time. A very simple and effective solution to this environmental hazard is the recycling of shell waste to commercially viable products like chitin. Chitosan is the N-acetyl derivative of chitin obtained by N-deacetylation. Chitosan is widely used in food and bioengineering industries for encapsulation of active food ingredients, enzyme immobilization, as a carrier for controlled drug delivery, in agriculture as a plant growth promoter. Chitosan is also a defense elicitor and an antimicrobial agent. Chitosan has interesting properties such as biodegradability, biocompatibility, bioactivity, nontoxicity and polycationic nature. This review presents structural characteristics and physicochemical properties of chitosan. The methods of preparation of chitosan nanoparticles are detailed. Applications of chitosan nanoparticles are discussed. Applications include drug delivery, encapsulation, antimicrobial agent, plant growth-promoting agent and plant protector.     

Assessment and Prediction of Soil Erosion and its Impact on the Storage Capacity of Reservoirs in the Bharathapuzha River Basin,India

Environmental Modeling & Assessment - Soil, one of the non-renewable resources on this planet, is being depleted at an alarming rate due to various anthropogenic activities. The effect of soil...     

Anaerobic degradation of coconut husk leachate using UASB-reactor

Reffing of coconut husk, the majorprocess in quality coir fibre extraction, causes serious pollution with brackish water lagoons of Kerala. An attempt is made to treat the coconut husk leachate by using a laboratory scale UASB-reactor The experiment was conducted with loading of leachate from 1 kg of fresh coconut husk. The anaerobic treatment was done continuously The parameters like VFA, pH, COD and polyphenols were analysed regularly during the evaluation of the reactor performance. The polyphenol, VFA and COD were diminished gradually with time. The pH of the reactor during the study was found to be in the range of 6-8. The biogas production was increased with loading and about 82% of the total COD/kg husk could be converted to biogas. The maximum polyphenol loading in the reactor was reached to about 298.51 mg/l of husk.