Biodiesel is an alternative to petroleum-based fuels derived from a variety of feedstocks, including vegetable oils, animal fats, and waste cooking oil. At present, biodiesel is mainly produced from conventionally grown edible oils such as soybean, rapeseed, sunflower, and palm. The cost of biodiesel is the main obstacle to commercialization of the product. Biodiesel produced from edible oils is currently not economically feasible. On the other hand, extensive use of edible oils for biodiesel production may lead to food crisis. These problems can be solved by using lowcost feedstocks such as non-edible oils and waste cooking oils for biodiesel production. This paper reviews numerous options of non-edible oils as the substantial feedstocks, biodiesel processing, and effect of different parameters on production of biodiesel.

Due to urbanization and industrialization, there has been an increase in solid waste generation and has become a global concern and leakage of leachate from landfills contaminate the soil and groundwater and hence can have a severe impact on human health. The present study aimed to determine the composition of toxic metals (Cr, Mn, Cu, As) and heavy metals (Cd, Ba, Hg, Pb) in soil and water by an inductively coupled plasma optical emission spectrometer (ICP-OES). To ensure accuracy during the analysis of Cr, Mn, Cu, As, Cd, Ba, Hg, and Pb in real samples, certified reference material (CRM, SRM 2709a) of San Joaquin soil and water (SRM 1640a) were analyzed and results were presented in terms of % recovery studies. The mean concentration of all the metals in soil and water did not exceed the limit set by the European Community (EU), WHO, and US EPA except Cu where the permissible limit defined by the EU is 50–140 mg/kg in soil. The soil is uncontaminated to moderately contaminated with respect to all metals except the Cu and Pb. Among the average daily dose (ADD) of soil, ADDing and ADDinh for children had the maximum dose for all metals than adults while ADDderm was higher in adults. Hazard quotient (HQ) trend in both adults and children was found in order HQing > HQderm > HQinh of soil for all metals except Ba which followed HQing > HQinh > HQderm. Hazard index (HI) values of soil for Cr and Pb in children were 7 and 7.5 times higher than adults respectively. Lifetime cancer risk (LCR) value for Cr by different exposure pathways of soil was 5.361 × 10−4 for children which are at the lower borderline of risk for cancer.

This study explored the binding patterns of the wild type and B.1.618 variant using which revealed that the B.1.618 variant possess a stronger binding affinity for the host ACE2 and escape the neutralizing antibodies.

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