The unavailability of clean drinking water is one of the significant health issues in modern times. Industrial dyes are one of the dominant chemicals that make water unfit for drinking. Among these dyes, methylene blue (MB) is toxic, carcinogenic, and non-biodegradable and can cause a severe threat to human health and environmental safety. It is usually released in natural water sources, which becomes a health threat to human beings and living organisms. Hence, there is a need to develop an environmentally friendly, efficient technology for removing MB from wastewater. Photodegradation is an advanced oxidation process widely used for MB removal. It has the advantages of complete mineralization of dye into simple and nontoxic species with the potential to decrease the processing cost. This review provides a tutorial basis for the readers working in the dye degradation research area. We not only covered the basic principles of the process but also provided a wide range of previously published work on advanced photocatalytic systems (single-component and multi-component photocatalysts). Our study has focused on critical parameters that can affect the photodegradation rate of MB, such as photocatalyst type and loading, irradiation reaction time, pH of reaction media, initial concentration of dye, radical scavengers and oxidising agents. The photodegradation mechanism, reaction pathways, intermediate products, and final products of MB are also summarized. An overview of the future perspectives to utilize MB at an industrial scale is also provided. This paper identifies strategies for the development of effective MB photodegradation systems.

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Styrene was grafted onto ultrahigh molecular weight polyethylene powder (UHMWPE) by gamma irradiation using a 60 Co source. Compression moulded films of selected pre-irradiated styrene-grafted ultrahigh molecular weight polyethylene (UHMWPE-g-PS) were post-sulfonated to the sulfonic acid derivative (UHMWPE-g-PSSA) for use as proton exchange membranes (PEMs). The sulfonation was confirmed by Xray photoelectron spectroscopy (XPS). The melting and flow properties of UHMWPE and UHMWPE-g-PS are conducive to forming homogeneous pore-free membranes. Both the ion conductivity and methanol permeability coefficient increased with degree of grafting, but the grafted membranes showed comparable or higher ion conductivity and lower methanol permeability than Nafion ® 117 membrane. One UHMWPE-g-PS membrane was fabricated into a membrane-electrode assembly (MEA) and tested as a single cell direct methanol fuel cell (DMFC). Low membrane cost and acceptable fuel cell performance indicate that UHMWPE-g-PSSA membranes could offer an alternative approach to perfluorosulfonic acidtype membranes for DMFC.Crown

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Rice husk, an agricultural waste, was studied as a potential scavenger of lead from various aqueous solutions. Physicochemical parameters such as selection of appropriate electrolyte, shaking time, and the concentrations of adsorbent and adsorbate were studied to optimize the conditions to be utilized on a commercial scale for the decontamination of effluents using a batch technique. Maximum adsorption was observed with 0.01 moldm" 3 acid solutions (HNO 3 , HC1, H 2 SO 4 and HC1O 4 ) using 1000 mg of adsorbent for a 4.82 X 10" 5 moldm" 3 lead concentration in less than 10 minutes equilibration time. Studies show that the adsorption decreases with an increase in the concentrations of all the acids. The adsorption data follows the Freundlich isotherm over the 9.65 X 10~5to4.83 X 10~3 moldm" 3 range of lead concentration. The characteristic Freundlich constants, i.e., \ln = 0.93 ± 0.04 and A = 19.86 ± 0.82 mmolg" 1 , have been computed for the sorption system. Thermodynamic parameters, i.e., A C , AS", and A//°, have also been calculated for the system.