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Anthraquinone dyes are one of the major water pollutants due to their stability and persistence in the aquatic system. The present study describes the use of activated charcoal prepared from Thuja orientalis leaves (ACTOL) as an adsorbent to remove reactive anthraquinone dye Remazol Brilliant Blue R (RBBR) from its aqueous solution. In this work, leaves of the plant were carbonated to get fine charcoal which was activated by acid treatment and analysed by BET, SEM and FTIR techniques. Batch experiments were conducted to study the effect of pH, contact time, concentration and amount of adsorbent on the removal of RBBR in the concentration range 0.1-6.65 m mol L −1 . The highest efficiency was found to be 81% at pH 6 and contact time of 300 min. Adsorption data were analysed by Langmuir, Freundlich and Temkin isotherm models. The adsorption was found to follow Freundlich adsorption isotherm (R 2 = 0.9972). The kinetic study of the process was done by analysing the time adsorption data with pseudo-first-order, pseudo-second-order and intraparticle diffusion models, and it was found to obey pseudo-second-order kinetics. The adsorbent showed 73% of efficiency even after four regeneration cycles. FTIR analysis revealed that the various groups present at the surface of adsorbent were responsible for uptake of dye molecules. This study reveals that leaves of Thuja orientalis, a common biowaste, can be used as an efficient adsorbent for the removal of RBBR dye from its aqueous solution. It provides an economical and eco-friendly way to mitigate the waste and use it as an adsorbent.

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With the development of science and technology, water pollution has become a serious concern among the scientific community. Application of photocatalytic technique to degrade the organic water pollutants has been one of the main ecofriendly ways of water treatment. Semiconductor based photocatalysts have been under extensive study and research of water treatment [1,2]. Among these, cerium oxide nanostructures have got the prime focus of the researchers as photocatalyst, though these have been explored for their application in the various fields as catalyst [3], optical film material [4], automotive exhaust catalyst [5], ultraviolet shielding material [6], optoelectronics, microelectronics and gas sensors [7]. The band gap of 3.2 eV makes CeO 2 an efficient absorbent in UV region and a potential photocatalyst. In fact, nanostructured CeO 2 has emerged as the substitute for the conventional TiO 2 among the researchers for photocatalytic study [8]. CeO 2 nanostructures

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A study was conducted to estimate the effect of UV-C (200-280 nm) radiation stress on growth and physiochemical responses of Camelina sativa L. cv. Calina (EC643910; a potential bio-fuel crop) for its possible mass multiplication at high-altitude under high radiations. The germination percentage in terms of radicle protrusion and opening of cotyledonary leaves significantly decreased 13.98 and 27.8 %, respectively, as compared to control. However, no significant change was observed in growth parameters including root and shoot lengths and fresh biomass. The relative membrane leakage rate and lipid peroxidation as a malondialdehyde contents significantly increased with the value of *99 % and 0.17 mM g -1 FW, respectively, under UV-C stress. Also, the proline, glycine betaine and total soluble sugars contents increased by *330, *440, *144 %, respectively, as compared to control. Among non-enzymatic antioxidants, the ascorbic acid and total phenol contents significantly increased by *284 and *537 %, respectively, as compared to control. Likewise, the activity of antioxidant enzyme, ascorbate peroxidase, guaiacol peroxidase and catalase increased under UV-C stress with the value of 1.03, 0.05 and 0.06 lmol mg protein -1 min -1 , respectively. In addition, the chlorophyll a, b and total (a ? b) contents decreased by *180, *151 and *147 %, respectively, as compared to control. In contrast, the total carotenoids and anthocyanin contents increased by *160 and *184 %, respectively. Our findings suggest the adaptive growth and physiochemical responses of C. sativa under UV-C stress. Therefore, it may be recommended for large-scale cultivation at high-altitude under intense natural radiations for future bio-fuel production.