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-Sulfated zirconia (SZ) is a widely used catalyst, which is synthesized by a solvent free method and the synthesized catalyst has been characterized. Neem Methyl Ester (Biodiesel) was prepared by a two-step process of esterification and transesterification from Neem oil with methanol in the presence of catalyst. Acid catalyst was used for the esterification and alkali catalyst (KOH) for the transesterification reaction. Optimal Free Fatty Acid (FFA) conversion was achieved using 1 wt% SZ as an acid catalyst with a methanol-to-oil molar ratio of 9:1, temperature of 65°C and reaction time of 2 h. The acid value was reduced to 94% of the raw oil (24.76 mg KOH/g), which confirmed the conversion. Consequently, this pretreatment reduces the overall complexity of the process and a conversion efficiency of 95% is achieved when pretreated oil reacts with methanol in the presence of KOH.

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Inulinase (2, 1‐β‐D‐fructan fructanohydrolase, EC 3.2.1.7) hydrolyses inulin into nearly pure fructose, which is an excellent alternative for the production of fructose syrup. Growing inulinase utilization in different industries encourages the search for high benefit/cost ratio purification techniques for such enzymes. Here, we adapted the three‐phase partitioning (TPP) technique for the downstream process of inulinase obtained from Aspergillus niger. TPP is a simple non‐chromatographic process used for purification and concentration of protein. The various conditions required for attaining efficient purification of inulinase were optimized. The optimum conditions for TPP were found to be 30% w/v ammonium sulfate saturation with 1.0 : 0.5 v/v ratio of t‐butanol to crude extract at pH 4.0 and temperature 25°C. The enzyme was purified by 10.2‐fold using two‐step TPP with an overall recovery of 88%. The enzyme's molecular mass was found to be 63.8 kDa by SDS‐PAGE analysis. Terminal hydrolysis fructose units from the inulin show that enzymes are exo‐inulinase. The recovery of purified exo‐inulinase achieved in this work shows the technical viability of enzyme purification by TPP.

The feasibility of using granulated activated carbon for adsorption removal of copper from aqueous solution was studied. The influence of pH, amount of the adsorbent, contact time, and copper concentration on adsorption of copper was investigated. The single component equilib rium data on copper adsorption were analyzed using the Langmuir, Freundlich, RedlichPeterson, Temkin, and Toth adsorption isotherms. The adsorption process was followed by two simplified kinetic models including pseudo first and pseudo second order equations. Kinetic parameters, rate constants, equilibrium sorption capacities, and the corresponding correlation coefficients were calculated and examined for each kinetic model. It was shown that copper adsorption can be described by the pseudo second order equation.