Nutraceuticals from natural sources have shown potential new leads in functional food products. Despite a broad range of health-promoting effects, these compounds are easily oxidized and unstable, making their utilization as nutraceutical ingredients limited. In this study, the encapsulated stingless bees' propolis in liposome was prepared using soy phosphatidylcholine and cholesterol by thin-film hydration technique. Three different formulations of phosphatidylcholine composition and cholesterol prepared by weight ratio was conducted to extract high propolis encapsulation. Physicochemical changes in the result of the encapsulation process are briefly discussed using scanning electron microscopy and Fourier Transform Infrared Spectroscopy. A dynamic light-scattering instrument was used to measure the hydrodynamic diameter, polydispersity index, and zeta potential. The increment of the liposomal size was observed when the concentration of extract loaded increased. In comparing three formulations, F2 (8:1 w/w) presented the best formulation as it yielded small nanoparticles of 275.9 nm with high encapsulation efficiency (66.9%). F1 (6:1 w/w) formed large particles of liposomes with 422.8 nm, while F3 (10:1 w/w) showed low encapsulation efficiency with (by) 38.7%. The liposome encapsulation will provide an effective nanocarrier system to protect and deliver the flavonoids extracted from stingless bees' propolis.
Aquaculture plays an important role in providing food and generate high income in many developing countries but the abundance of ammonia discharged from aquaculture wastewater gives the problem to the environment. This study focused on the extraction of hydroxyapatite (HAp) from fish scales and its modification with rice husk to produce bio-adsorbent for ammonia removal from aquaculture wastewater. The comparison has been made for the HAp preparation via microwave irradiation, alkaline heat treatment, and thermal decomposition method. X-ray Diffraction (XRD) and Fourier Transform Infrared Spectroscopy (FTIR) were used to analyze the surface chemistry and crystallinity of HAp, respectively. While the morphology of the HAp was observed under a Scanning Electron Microscope (SEM). Hydroxyapatite extracted via thermal decomposition method shows the best performance about 79% of ammonia removal at 210 min contact time which selected for coating agent of rice husk (RH/HAp) and was successfully removed 84% at 60 min saturation time. The result shows thermal decomposition is the best technique to extract HAp from fish scales and its integration with rice husk exhibited a better performance of bio-adsorbent. The findings of this study provide useful fundamental knowledge and platform for the development and improvement of aquaculture wastewater treatment system in the future.
Phosphate is an important macronutrient for the growth of aquatic plants and algae but its excessive supply in water bodies causes eutrophication. The wide range of phosphate utilisation also affects the substantial measure of phosphate-bearing waste. This study aims to synthesise and characterise the bio-adsorbent form rice husk for phosphate removal. Rice husk ash was prepared by heating the rice husk at 105 C for 24 h while the activated carbon from rice husk was further carbonised in a muffle furnace at three different temperatures from 450 to 750 C. Efficiency of adsorbent was analysed using synthetic phosphate solution. Overall findings show that the thermally treated rice husk at 750 C promoted the best phosphate removal of around 97% with 2 mg/L initial phosphate concentration and pH value of 9.0. The adsorption behaviour was fixed with Langmuir adsorption isotherm when R 2 for the fitting of the experimental data was 0.991 with low chi-square value and the results indicated a monolayer adsorption mechanism. The findings show that the rice husk can be an efficient and eco-friendly adsorbent for phosphate removal and promotes a good alternative use of abundant agriculture waste.
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