Since ancient times, many scientists and doctors have used various herbs to treat diseases. Conventional drugs often have side effects, and pathogens are becoming resistant to these types of drugs. In such circumstances, the study of traditional medicinal plants is an effective and logical strategy for finding new herbal medicines. One such herb is Plantago major, a perennial plant in the Plantaginaceae family that is found throughout the world. The Plantago major plant has been used as a medicine for the treatment of various diseases. Studies have shown that plant extracts of Plantago major exhibit antimicrobial, antiviral, and anti-inflammatory effects, and have wound-healing properties. This review collects and presents the results of various studies of Plantago major plant extracts with antimicrobial, antiviral, antifungal, anti-inflammatory, and wound-healing properties, which demonstrate a wide range of therapeutic possibilities of Plantago major plant extracts and have a huge potential for use as a medicinal raw material.

Nowadays in the world, due to the constant desire for recycling, many countries are considering the use of recycled plastics on roads. Modification of bitumen for roads in Kazakhstan is considered one of the most suitable and popular approaches. This paper presents the results of research on the modification of bitumen by recycled plastics from waste materials. The paper describes the details of the use of plastic waste as bitumen modifiers, with a specific focus on recycled plastics and how they can potentially be used to enhance bitumen performance and the road durability. The main physical and mechanical characteristics of the modified bitumen were determined after routine tests, penetration and plasticity, softening temperature, brittleness temperature on Fraas and microscopic analysis. The morphology of the modified bitumen was studied using scanning electron microscopy. The results confirm that the modified bitumen complies with the requirements for polymer-bitumen binder of Kazakhstani standards and is suitable for the production of modified bitumen by its physical and chemical characteristics.

A study on the effect of silica nanoparticles (SNPs) dispersion in bitumen is herein reported. First, the size of the nanoparticles was finely tuned by controlling the experimental conditions during their synthesis, obtaining spherical SNPs with diameter ranging from 95 up to 900 nm. Subsequently, SNPs were embedded with peripheral amine groups by using APTES (3-aminopropyltriethoxysilane) as functionalized agent (NH₂@SNP), and ultimately long alkyl chains were grafted by reacting the free amine with an alkylated aldehyde (C₁₄N@SNP). All SNPs (ca. 1 wt%.) were dispersed in bitumen to probe their effect on the rheological properties of bitumen. No significant change in the thermorheological properties of bitumen was observed upon varying the size of the SNPs. Slight improvement was observed when using NH₂@SNPs, while the best results were obtained by using C₁₄N@SNPs, showing the crucial role that hydrophobic substituents play in bitumen binders which leads to significant improvements.

Fabrication of Pt@r-GO@MWCNTs ternary nanocomposites modified electrode and high sensitivity electrochemical detection of chlorogenic acid

Oil sludge is one of the main pollutants generated by the oil industry. Due to serious pollution and increasing oil production, problems arise every year in the effective treatment of oil sludge. The current study examines the composition and physicochemical characteristics of oil sludge, as well as traditional and new methods for processing oil sludge. With the tightening of environmental protection requirements, oil sludge quality reduction, recycling, and harmless treatment technologies will become necessary in the future. The primary task was to determine the composition of tank oil sludge, separate it from mechanical impurities, and study the influence of ultrasonic treatment and subsequent atmospheric distillation on the extract. The separation of the concentrate and the composition of the tank oil sludge, using an extracted mixture of hexane and benzene, are considered. The use of modern SEM methods, elemental analysis, NMR analysis, IR, ultrasound, and GC–mass spectrometry made it possible to characterize the organic part of reservoir oil sludge and its distillation products. First, 300 g of tank oil sludge was preheated and mixed with 300 mL of solvent (hexane:benzene = 1:1). After mixing with the solvent, the result mixture was filtered. Then, it was placed in an ultrasonic bath and exposed to ultrasound at a frequency of 100 kHz for 30 min. After processing, it was extracted in a Soxhlet apparatus at a temperature of 65 °C to isolate the extract. The resulting extract was analyzed on a gas chromatograph with mass detection. The composition of the extract was as follows (in %): hexane—83.99; total hydrocarbon isomers—7.12; n-hydrocarbons—2.52; benzene—6.37%. At a temperature of 85 °C, the benzene yield was 65.85%. It has been established that the fractions obtained through the distillation of oil sludge at temperatures of 65–85 °C have improved dissolving capacity. It has also been shown that the use of these fractions promotes an increase in the content of hydrocarbon isomers by 12–13% in the extract composition.

In this study, we aimed to select the optimal solvents for the removal of asphaltene–resin–paraffin deposits. The effectiveness of various solvents was determined based on the asphaltene–resin–paraffin deposits (ARPDs) of the Zhanaozen (Ozen) crude oil field. These deposits affect the geological, physical, and technological conditions of the oil field, thus influencing its development. According to the results, we found that the most effective composite solvent is a composition comprising a 50% gasoline fraction and a 50% kerosene fraction. This composition showed mass loss of deposits of 97.7% and a dissolving power of 93.5 g/cm³ after 5 h. We confirmed the effectiveness of this composition by the paraffinic type of the deposits, which is explained by the high content of paraffin in the oil from the Zhanaozen field. Aromatic solvents showed a relatively low dissolving power compared with aliphatic solvents, which also confirms the low content of resins and asphaltenes in the ARPD.