Algerian Journal of Chemical Engineering AJCE

Water-pH phytoremediation: An entrance to exploiting the potential of plant biomass ash in water defluoridation

Hezron Mwakabona — 2024-05-04

Field application of low-cost biomass ash in water defluoridation is hindered by media-induced contamination in the treated water including pH elevation. This study explored the method for adjusting pH of water using Cyperus plants. Findings reveal that used ash material is calcium rich with concentration of 537.9 gKg^-1. The ash water extract was found to be rich in K with concentration of 642.6 gKg^-1. The ash material used was found to have faster and sustained fluoride removal, attaining 76% removal efficiency in 30 minutes with slow increase throughout the experimental time of 24 hours. The pH of the ash-defluoridated water was found to increase from 8.3 to an average of 12.2. Live Cyperus plants showed ability to lower the pH of the treated water from 12.2 to 7.3 and elevate the pH of acid treated water from 3.5 to 6.8. This implies that these plants exude some form of buffer compounds with a constant pH of around 7. This was confirmed by concentration of hydrogencarbonates was found to increase while that of the carbonates decreased in the Cyperus-treated water. This could further imply that the Cyperus-assisted pH adjustment is effected by a buffer compound released by these plants.

Phytochemical, Proximate and Antimicrobial Screening in the aerial part plant of Drynaria sparsisora

Ogwuche Christiana Ene — 2024-01-09

After being gathered from the Uviwe local government area in Delta state, the leaves of Drynaria sparsisora were mixed, air-dried, and then extracted using a soxhlet apparatus with n-hexane and methanol as the solvents. Using the standard procedures of the Association of Official Analytical Chemists (A.O.A.C.), the phytochemical and proximate analysis was performed on the extract. Results of the phytochemical screening carried out on the combined extracts (n-hexane and methanol) showed the presence of alkaloids, proteins, sugars, glycosides, tannins, phenolic compounds, flavonoids, and steroids. To ascertain the moisture content, carbon, lipid content, ash, fat, and nitrogen, proximate analysis was used. According to the results, there was 1.2% fat and 50.4% carbon in the sample. The following were obtained for the others: lipid content (34%), ash content (6.5%), and nitrogen (6.69%). Mueller Hinton agar medium was used to test the antimicrobial activities of both extracts against a variety of clinical pathogenic microorganisms, including Helico bacterpylori, Campylo bacterjejuni, Escherichia coli, Salmonel platypi, Proteus mirabilis, Candida albicans, Candida krusei, and Candida tropicalis. The zones of inhibition were determined, and at various concentrations, the n-hexane and methanol extract demonstrated resistance to Escherichia coli, vancomycin-resistant enterococci, methicillin-resistant Staph aureus, candida krusei, and candida tropicalis. Methanol and n-hexane extracts have MICs of 25 µg/m and 50 µg/m, respectively. For the extracts of methanol and n-hexane, the MBC/MFC are 50 µg/m and 25 µg/m, respectively.

Alkalophilic cellulases production from Stachybotrys microspora and its potential application in denim biostoning

Ines Ben Hmad — 2024-05-04

The aged look of denim can be the result of the trap of non-homogenous indigo dyed cellulose microfibers by the mechanical and enzymes actions. However, the major problem is the re-deposition of eleminated indigo dye on the denim fabrics during biostoning with acid endoglucanases.This work aims to study the production profile of endoglucanases by Stachybotrys microspora in the presence of lignocellulosic biomass wastes (sugarcane bagasse and macro-algae) at medium initial pH7. The produced endoglucanases by the Stachybotrys strain were monitored by enzymatic assay and zymogram analysis. The best carbon source is sugarcane bagasse with an optimum production at day7. More interstingly, the zymogram analysis confirmed that a conditional expression of an alkaline cellulase was displayed on the sugarcane bagasse based medium and revealed that sugarcane bagasse and macro-algae of the culture medium directed a differential induction of alkalophilic and acidic endoglucanases. Comparing the denim bio-stoning, with our crude enzyme to those with commercial ones showed significantly better results.

This research shows that alkalophilic endoglucanases from Stachybotrys microspora can be considered an efficient additive for denim bio-stoning applications.