The ultrasound (US) assisted purification of polyphenols of apple skins by adsorption/desorption on the poly-aromatic Amberlite adsorbent XAD-16 was studied. The adsorption steps were done at different temperatures (T = 25-40 °C) with application of US at different intensities (P = 0-400 W). The desorption steps were tested in aqueous ethanol solution at different concentrations of ethanol (Cet = 0-96%). The isotherm of polyphenol adsorption was well described using the Freundlich model. The data on adsorption kinetics and static isotherm evidenced the presence of adsorption on heterogeneous surface with broad distribution of adsorption times that can depend on content of polyphenols in the solutions and applied power of sonication. The studies of desorption revealed the optimum desorption efficiency of polyphenols at 50% concentration of ethanol. The desorption ratio was positively affected by the sonication during the adsorption step. The highest adsorption/desorption efficiency (recovery) was observed for polyphenols as compared with proteins and soluble matter content and it reached of ≈30.6% (0 W) and 68.9% (50 W) in absence and presence of sonication, respectively. The effects of high US power on the damage of XAD-16 were discussed. The obtained data evidenced on good perspective of application of adsorption/desorption procedure assisted by sonication for purification of polyphenols from apple skin extracts.

Atrazine, an herbicide used to control grassy and broadleaf weed, has become an essential part of agricultural crop protection tools. It is widely sprayed on corn, sorghum and sugar cane, with the attendant problems of its residues in agri-food and washing water. If ingested into humans, this residual atrazine can cause reproductive harm, developmental toxicity and carcinogenicity. It is therefore important to find clean and economical degradation processes for atrazine. In recent years, many physical, chemical and biological methods have been proposed to remove atrazine from the aquatic environment. This review introduces the research works of atrazine degradation in aqueous solutions by method classification. These methods are then compared by their advantages, disadvantages, and different degradation pathways of atrazine. Moreover, the existing toxicological experimental data for atrazine and its metabolites are summarized. Finally, the review concludes with directions for future research and major challenges to be addressed.