In this study, magnetite nano-adsorbent (MNA) was extracted from mill scale waste products, synthesized and applied to eliminate Cu²⁺ from an aqueous solution. Mill scale waste product was ground using conventional milling and impacted using high-energy ball milling (HEBM) for varying 3, 5, and 7 milling hours. In this regard, the prepared MNA was investigated using X-ray diffraction (XRD), high-resolution transmission electron microscope (HRTEM), field emission scanning electron microscopy–energy-dispersive X-ray spectroscopy (FESEM-EDS), UV–Vis spectroscopy, Fourier-transform infrared (FTIR), Brunauer–Emmett–Teller (BET) and zeta potential. The resultant MNA-7 h milling time displayed a crystalline structure with irregular shapes of 11.23 nm, specific surface area of 5.98 m²g⁻¹, saturation magnetization, Ms of 8.35 emug⁻¹, and isoelectric point charge at pH 5.4. The optimum adsorption capacity, q_e of 4.42 mg.g⁻¹ for the removal of Cu²⁺ ions was attained at 120 min of contact time. The experimental data were best fitted to the Temkin isotherm model. A comparison between experimental kinetic studies and the theoretical aspects showed that the pseudo-second-order matched the experimental trends with a correlation coefficient of (R² > 0.99). Besides, regeneration efficiency of 70.87% was achieved after three cycles of reusability studies. The MNA offers a practical, efficient, low-cost approach to reutilize mill scale waste products and provide ultra-fast separation to remove Cu²⁺ from water.

This work aims to develop corn starch/chitosan nanoparticles/thymol (CS/CNP/Thy) bio-nanocomposite films as potential food packaging materials that can enhance the shelf life of food. CS/CNP/Thy bio-nanocomposite films were prepared by the addition of different concentrations of thymol (0, 1.5, 3.0, 4.5 w/w%) using a solvent casting method. The resulting films were characterized in terms of optical, mechanical, and water vapor permeability (WVP) properties. The addition of thymol was found to reduce the tensile strength (TS), elongation at break (EAB), and Young’s modulus (YM) of the films. Generally, the increment in the concentration of thymol did not significantly affect the TS, EAB, and YM values. The addition of 1.5 w/w% thymol increased the WVP of the films but the WVP reduced with the increase in thymol concentrations. CS/CNP/Thy-3% bio-nanocomposite films demonstrated the potential to lengthen the shelf life of cherry tomatoes packed with the films, whereby the cherry tomatoes exhibited no significant changes in firmness and the lowest weight loss. In addition, no mold growth was observed on the sliced cherry tomatoes that were in direct contact with the films during 7 days of storage, proving the promising application of the films as active food packaging materials.

Water is a critical resource necessary for life to be sustained, and its availability should be secured, appropriated, and easily obtainable. The continual detection of endocrine-disrupting chemicals (EDCs) (ng/L or µg/L) in water and wastewater has attracted critical concerns among the regulatory authorities and general public, due to its associated public health, ecological risks, and a threat to global water quality. Presently, there is a lack of stringent discharge standards regulating the emerging multiclass contaminants to obviate its possible undesirable impacts. The conventional treatment processes have reportedly ineffectual in eliminating the persistent EDCs pollutants, necessitating the researchers to develop alternative treatment methods. Occurrences of the EDCs and the attributed effects on humans and the environment are adequately reviewed. It indicated that comprehensive information on the recent advances in the rejection of EDCs via a novel membrane and membrane bioreactor (MBR) treatment techniques are still lacking. This paper critically studies and reports on recent advances in the membrane and MBR treatment methods for removing EDCs, fouling challenges, and its mitigation strategies. The removal mechanisms and the operating factors influencing the EDCs remediation were also examined. Membranes and MBR approaches have proven successful and viable to eliminate various EDCs contaminants.

Recently Bisphenol A (BPA) is one of the persistent trace hazardous estrogenic contaminants in the environment, that can trigger a severe threat to humans and environment even at minuscule concentrations. Thus, this work focused on the synthesis of neat and magnetic biochar (BC) as a sustainable and inexpensive adsorbent to remove BPA from aqueous environment. Novel magnetic biochar was efficiently synthesized by utilizing palm kernel shell, using ferric chloride and ferrous chloride as magnetic medium via chemical co-precipitation technique. In this experimental study, the influence of operating factors comprising contact time (20–240 min), pH (3.0–12.0), adsorbent dose (0.2–0.8 g), and starting concentrations of BPA (8.0–150 ppm) were studied in removing BPA during batch adsorption system using neat biochar and magnetic biochar. It was observed that the magnetically loaded BC demonstrates superior maximum removal efficiency of BPA with 94.2%, over the neat biochar. The functional groups (FTIR), Zeta potential, vibrating sample magnetometer (VSM), surface and textural properties (BET), surface morphology, and mineral constituents (FESEM/EDX), and chemical composition (XRD) of the adsorbents were examined. The experimental results demonstrated that the sorption isotherm and kinetics were suitably described by pseudo-second-order model and Freundlich model, respectively. By studying the adsorption mechanism, it was concluded that π-π electron acceptor–donor interaction (EAD), hydrophobic interaction, and hydrogen bond were the principal drives for the adsorption of BPA onto the neat BC and magnetic BC.

Thermally Grafting Aminosilane onto Kenaf-Derived Cellulose and Its Influence on the Thermal Properties of Poly(Lactic Acid) Composites

Over the years, the persistent occurrence of superfluous endocrine-disrupting compounds (EDCs) (sub µg L⁻¹) in water has led to serious health disorders in human and aquatic lives, as well as undermined the water quality. At present, there are no generally accepted regulatory discharge limits for the EDCs to avert their possible negative impacts. Moreover, the conventional treatment processes have reportedly failed to remove the persistent EDC pollutants, and this has led researchers to develop alternative treatment methods. Comprehensive information on the recent advances in the existing novel treatment processes and their peculiar limitations is still lacking. In this regard, the various treatment methods for the removal of EDCs are critically studied and reported in this paper. Initially, the occurrences of the EDCs and their attributed effects on humans, aquatic life, and wildlife are systematically reviewed, as well as the applied treatments. The most noticeable advances in the treatment methods include adsorption, catalytic degradation, ozonation, membrane separation, and advanced oxidation processes (AOP), as well as hybrid processes. The recent advances in the treatment technologies available for the elimination of EDCs from various water resources alongside with their associated drawbacks are discussed critically. Besides, the application of hybrid adsorption–membrane treatment using several novel nano-precursors is carefully reviewed. The operating factors influencing the EDCs’ remediations via adsorption is also briefly examined. Interestingly, research findings have indicated that some of the contemporary techniques could achieve more than 99% EDCs removal.