Adsorption of Congo Red dye by native amine and carboxyl modified biomass of <Emphasis Type="Italic">Funalia trogii</Emphasis>: Isotherms,kinetics and thermodynamics mechanisms

Native, iminodiacetic acid and triethylenetetraamine modified biomasses of Funalia trogii were used for removal of Congo Red dye (CRD) from aqueous medium. The native and modified fungal biomasses were characterized using ATR-FTIR, Zeta potential, contact angle studies and analytical methods. FTIR studies of the native and chemically modified adsorbent preparations show that amine, carboxyl and hydroxyl groups are involved in the adsorption of the model dye (i.e., Congo Red). The maximum adsorption of the CRD on the native, carboxyl and amine groups modified fungal biomasses was obtained at pH 5.0. The amount of adsorbed dye on the adsorbent samples increased as the initial concentration of CRD in the solution increased to 200mg/L. The adsorption capacities of native, carboxyl groups and amine modified fungal preparations were 90.4, 153.6 and 193.7mg/g dry adsorbents, respectively. The data was fitted well with the Langmuir isotherm model, and followed the pseudo-second-order equations. Thermodynamic parameters (ΔG ^o , ΔH ^o and ΔS ^o ) were also calculated. The results showed that triethylenetetraamine (TETA) modified biomass of F. trogii presented an excellent dye removal performance and can be used in various environmental applications such as various micro-pollutants removal from aqueous medium.     

Kinetics of mercury ions removal from synthetic aqueous solutions using by novel magnetic p(GMA-MMA-EGDMA) beads

Poly(glycidylmethacrylate-methylmethacrylate), p(GMA-MMA-EGDMA), magnetic beads were prepared via suspension polymerization in the presence of ferric ions. The epoxy groups of the beads were converted into amino groups via ring opening reaction of the ammonia and, the aminated magnetic beads were used for the removal of Hg(II) ions from aqueous solution in a batch experiment and in a magnetically stabilized fluidized bed reactor (MFB). The magnetic p(GMA-MMA-EGDMA) beads were characterized with scanning electron microscope (SEM), FT-IR and ESR spectrophotometers. The optimum removal of Hg(II) ions was observed at pH 5.5. The maximum adsorption capacity of Hg(II) ions by using the magnetic beads was 124.8+/-2.1 mgg(-1) beads. In the continuous MFB reactor, Hg(II) ions adsorption capacity of the magnetic beads decreased with an increase in the flow-rate. The maximum adsorption capacity of the magnetic beads in the MFB reactor was 139.4+/-1.4 mgg(-1). The results indicate that the magnetic beads are promising for use in MFB for removal of Hg(II) ions from aqueous solution and/or waste water treatment.     

Nonporous monosize polymeric sorbents: Dye and metal chelate affinity separation of lysozyme

Lysozyme adsorption onto dye‐attached nonporous monosize poly(2‐hydroxyethyl‐methacrylate‐methylmethacrylate) [poly(HEMA‐MMA)] microspheres was investigated. Poly(HEMA‐MMA) microspheres were prepared by dispersion polymerization. The monochloro‐triazine dye, Cibacron Blue F3GA, was immobilized covalently as dye–ligand. These dye‐affinity microspheres were used in the lysozyme adsorption–desorption studies. The effect of initial concentration of lysozyme and medium pH on the adsorption efficiency of dye‐attached and metal‐chelated microspheres were studied in a batch reactor. Effect of Cu(II) chelation on lysozyme adsorption was also studied. The nonspecific adsorption of lysozyme on the poly(HEMA‐MMA) microspheres was 3.6 mg/g. Cibacron Blue F3GA attachment significantly increased the lysozyme adsorption up to 247.8 mg/g. Lysozyme adsorption capacity of the Cu(II) incorporated microspheres (318.9 mg/g) was greater than that of the Cibacron Blue F3GA‐attached microspheres. Significant amount of the adsorbed lysozyme (up to 97%) was desorbed in 1 h in the desorption medium containing 1.0M NaSCN at pH 8.0 and 25 mM EDTA at pH 4.9. In order to examine the effects of separation conditions on possible conformational changes of lysozyme structure, fluorescence spectrophotometry was employed. We conclude that dye‐ and metal‐chelate affinity chromatography with poly(HEMA‐MMA) microspheres can be applied for lysozyme separation without causing any significant changes and denaturation. Repeated adsorption/desorption processes showed that these novel dye‐attached monosize microspheres are suitable for lysozyme adsorption. © 2000 John Wiley & Sons, Inc. J Appl Polym Sci 76: 115–124, 2000     

Epoxy‐derived pHEMA membrane for use bioactive macromolecules immobilization: Covalently bound urease in a continuous model system

Poly(2‐hydroxyethylmethacrylate) (pHEMA) membranes were prepared by UV‐initiated photopolymerization of HEMA in the presence of an initiator (α‐α′‐azobisisobutyronitrile, AIBN). The epoxy group, i.e., epichlorohydrin, was incorporated covalently, and the urease was immobilized onto pHEMA membranes by covalent bonding through the epoxy group. The retained activity of the immobilized enzyme was found to be 27%. The K_m values were 18 and 34 mM for the free and the immobilized enzymes, respectively, and the V_max values were found to be 59.7 and 16.2 U mg⁻¹ for the free and the immobilized enzyme. The optimum pHs was 7.2 for both forms, and the optimum temperature for the free and the immobilized enzymes were determined to be 45 and 50°C, respectively. The immobilized urease was characterized in a continuous system and during urea degradation the operational stability rate constant for the immobilized enzyme was found to be 5.83 × 10⁻⁵ min⁻¹. © 2000 John Wiley & Sons, Inc. J Appl Polym Sci 77: 2000–2008, 2000     

New metal chelate sorbent for albumin adsorption: Cibacron Blue F3GA-Zn(II) attached microporous poly(HEMA) membranes

Poly(2-hydroxyethyl methacrylate) [poly(HEMA)] membranes were prepared by UV-initiated photopolymerization of HEMA in the presence of an initiator (α-α′-azobis-isobutyronitrile, AIBN). The triazine dye Cibacron Blue F3GA was attached as an affinity ligand to poly(HEMA) membranes, covalently. These affinity membranes with a swelling ratio of 58% and containing 10.7 mmol Cibacron Blue F3GA/m² were used in the albumin adsorption studies. After dye-attachment, Zn(II) ions were chelated within the membranes via attached-dye molecules. Different amounts of Zn(II) ions [650–1440 mg Zn(II)/m²] were loaded on the membranes by changing the initial concentration of Zn(II) ions and pH. Bovine serum albumin (BSA) adsorption on these membranes from aqueous solutions containing different amounts of BSA at different pH was investigated in batch reactors. The nonspecific adsorption of BSA on the poly(HEMA) membranes was negligible. Cibacron Blue F3GA attachment significantly increased the BSA adsorption up to 92.1 mg BSA/m². Adsorption capacity was further increased when Zn(II) ions were attached (up to 144.8 mg BSA m²). More than 90% of the adsorbed BSA was desorbed in 1 h in the desorption medium containing 0.5M NaSCN at pH 8.0 and 0.025M EDTA at pH 4.9. © 1998 John Wiley & Sons, Inc. J Appl Polym Sci 68: 657–664, 1998     

Wavelet-based feature extraction and selection for classification of power system disturbances using support vector machines

This paper presents a new approach for the classification of the power system disturbances using support vector machines (SVMs). The proposed approach is carried out at three serial stages. Firstly, the features to be form the SVM classifier are obtained by using the wavelet transform and a few different feature extraction techniques. Secondly, the features exposing the best classification accuracy of these features are selected by a feature selection technique called as sequential forward selection. Thirdly, the best appropriate input vector for SVM classifier is rummaged. The input vector is started with the first best feature and incrementally added the chosen features. After the addition of each feature, the performance of the SVM is evaluated. The kernel and penalty parameters of the SVM are determined by cross-validation. The parameter set that gives the smallest misclassification error is retained. Finally, both the noisy and noiseless signals are applied to the classifier given above stages. Experimental results indicate that the proposed classifier is robust and has more high classification accuracy with regard to the other approaches in the literature for this problem.     

Investigation of the Microstructural,Mechanical and Corrosion Properties of Grade A Ship Steel-Duplex Stainless Steel Composites Produced <Emphasis Type="Italic">via</Emphasis> Explosive Welding

Grade A ship-building steel-AISI 2304 duplex stainless steel composite plates were manufactured via explosive welding. The AISI 2304 plates were used to clad the Grade A plates. Optical microscopy studies were conducted on the joining interface for characterization of the manufactured composite plates. Notch impact, tensile-shear, microhardness, bending and twisting tests were carried out to determine the mechanical properties of the composites. In addition, the surfaces of fractured samples were examined by scanning electron microscopy (SEM), and neutral salt spray (NSS) and potentiodynamic polarization tests were performed to examine corrosion behavior. Near the explosion zone, the interface was completely flat, but became wavy as the distance from the explosion zone increased. The notch impact tests indicated that the impact strength of the composites decreased with increasing distance from the explosion zone. The SEM studies detected brittle behavior below the impact transition temperature and ductile behavior above this temperature. Microhardness tests revealed that the hardness values increased with increasing distance from the explosion zone and mechanical tests showed that no visible cracking or separation had occurred on the joining interface. The NSS and potentiodynamic polarization tests determined that the AISI 2304 exhibited higher corrosion resistance than the Grade A steel.     

Catalytic graphitization and formation of macroporous-activated carbon nanofibers from salt-induced and H2S-treated polyacrylonitrile

We present here a facile method to produce macroporous-activated carbon nanofibers (AMP-CNFs) by post-treating electrospun cobalt(II) chloride (CoCl₂) containing polyacrylonitrile (PAN/CoCl₂) nanofibers with hydrogen sulfide (H₂S) followed by carbonization. A range of techniques including scanning and transmission electron microscopy, FTIR and Raman spectroscopy is used to examine and characterize the process. Because of the phase behavior between carbon and cobalt, cobalt particles are formed in the nanofibers, some of which leave the fibers during the heat treatment process leading to macroporous fibrous structures. The number of the macroporous increase significantly with increasing CoCl₂ concentration in the precursor H₂S-treated PAN/CoCl₂ nanofibers. The cobalt phase in the fibers also leads to catalytic graphitization of the carbon nanofibers. The produced AMP-CNFs may be a promising candidates in many applications including anode layer in lithium ion batteries, air and liquid purifiers in filters, as well as in biomedical applications.     

A new approach for rebalancing of U-lines with stochastic task times using ant colony optimisation algorithm

In real world, line balancing involves existing lines in existing factories and the line typically needs to be rebalanced rather than balanced. Rebalancing of a U-line can be defined as a changeover process from its initial configuration to a new configuration for a while due to the reasons such as demand variations, changes in product design and changes in task times, etc. This study defines U-line rebalancing problem with stochastic task times and proposes a solution procedure based on ant colony optimisation. The objective of the proposed algorithm is to minimise total cost of rebalancing which is the sum of task transposition costs, workstation opening/closing costs and operating costs of workstations for a particular planning horizon. A comprehensive experiment is conducted to generate problem instances and to compare rebalancing costs of U-lines by means of several factors. A total of 6600 rebalancing solutions are obtained and several comparisons are performed.     

Adsorption of trypsin onto magnetic ion‐exchange beads of poly(glycidylmethacrylate‐co‐ethyleneglycoldimethacrylate)

Magnetic beads were prepared from glycidyl methacrylate (GMA), and ethyleneglycol dimethylmethacrylate (EGDMA) in the presence of Fe₃O₄ nano‐powder via suspension polymerization. The magnetic beads were characterized by surface area measurement, electron spin resonance (ESR), and scanning electron microscopy (SEM). ESR data revealed that the beads were highly super‐paramagnetic. The effects of contact time, pH, ionic strength, and temperature on the adsorption process have been studied. Adsorption equilibrium was established in about 120 min. The maximum adsorption of trypsin on the magnetic beads was obtained as 84.96 mg g^?1 at around pH 7.0. At increased ionic strength, the contribution of the electrostatic component to the overall binding decreased, and so the adsorption capacity. The experimental equilibrium data obtained trypsin adsorption onto magnetic beads fitted well to the Langmuir isotherm model. The result of kinetic analyzed for trypsin adsorption onto magnetic ion‐exchange beads showed that the second order rate equation was favorable. It was observed that after six adsorption–elution cycle, magnetic beads can be used without significant loss in trypsin adsorption capacity. Finally, the magnetic beads were used for separation of bovine serum albumin (BSA) and trypsin from binary solution in a batch system. © 2007 Wiley Periodicals, Inc. J Appl Polym Sci, 2008