No abstract

Remediation of xenobiotics from wastewater is highly essential due to its harmful impacts. Several chemical and physical processes are used to recover xenobiotics from wastewater, including ion exchange, reverse osmosis, electrodialysis, and ultrafiltration. However, the biological method of employing microalgae, has aroused the scientific community’s interest due to its cheap operating costs and effectiveness in absorbing and/or removing organic and elemental contaminants from wastewater. Chlorella vulgaris was used as a biological absorbent, in the remediation of domestic wastewater (DWW). The results of this work indicated that C. vulgaris, effectively eliminated pollutants and improved the physicochemical characteristics of wastewater such as pH, DO, alkalinity. Simultaneously, it also decreased BOD, COD, suspended solids, heavy metals (HMs) such as iron (Fe), zinc (Zn), cadmium (Cd), mercury (Hg), copper (Cu), lead (Pb) and nutrient load (phosphate and nitrate) of DWW. Effective remediation of the pollutants was attained within 4h of C. vulgaris cultivation. The removal of toxic compounds such as 4-methoxy carbonyl benzo hydrazide, benzamine 4,4’ methylene bis, acetamide, and N-(2-methyl phenyl), was confirmed with GC-MS analysis. The removal of polysulfides and aliphatic bromo compounds was evident from the FTIR studies. Pearson’s correlation analysis showed a positive correlation between physicochemical variables and algal biomass. Hence, the current study recommends biological wastewater treatment,by utilizing C. vulgaris as an effective and eco-friendly option, for removing pollutants and restoring the physicochemical properties of water.

Eleven date palm fruits (DPF) of commercial importance were purchased from the local market and evaluated for their proximate and mineral composition and assessed by using multivariate analysis techniques. Carbohydrates are a major source of nutrients. Calcium, magnesium, potassium, and phosphorus are the major elements present. Principal component analysis (PCA) and analysis of variance (ANOVA) was performed to identify the relationship between different cultivars of DPF. PCA and hierarchical cluster analysis (HCA) revealed a consistent grouping of date palm cultivars with similar characteristics. Dissimilarity levels ranged from 0.90 to 43.5. The similarity between PCA and HCA analysis was evident in the study. Clusters obtained from the factor scores showed two main clusters. Though Shebeby and Lulu cultivars differ from each other, they were placed in the second main cluster due to their high dissimilarity from other cultivars. The results of the present investigation would help in grading the date palm cultivars based on nutritional composition.

The main objective of extracting natural dyes from natural sources is to avoid the environmental pollution. The flower of Tagetes erecta is used for the extraction of dye using alkaline extraction method. There are four different mordants (CuSo4, FeSo4, NaCl, K2Cr2O7) are used in cotton and polyester fabric by simultaneous mordanting method. The dye fixation is carried out at room temperature and also at 100°C. The result revealed that, different shades of yellow, brown and green were obtained from the dye when subjected to mordant. The dye at 100°C showed dark colours and excellent fastness properties when compared to dye fixed at room temperature. The dye extract of Tagetes erecta had a great antimicrobial activity against pathogenic strains of bacteria and fungi and the FT-IR was carried out to identify compounds.