GREEN BIOSYNTHESIS OF ZnO NANOPARTICLES USING AGRO-WASTE AND THEIR ANTIBACTERIAL AND ANTIOXIDANT ACTIVITY

Metal oxide nanomaterials have gained a lot of attention during last decades due to their potential applications in wastewater treatment, energy storage, sensors, food packaging, etc. To date, these materials have been synthesized by different chemical and physical techniques. However many of them employ environmentally unfriendly solvents and toxic chemical compounds. To tackle this problem, use of renewable biomass such as plants and fungi as reducing or stabilizing agents in green synthesis has been considered as more sustainable option compared to toxic chemical compounds. These biological substances also behave as capping agent, which control the size and the shape of the nanoparticles. In this work, ZnO nanoparticles (NPs) have been prepared via simple, low cost and ecofriendly method using citrus fruit peel and extracts, Agaricus bisporus powder and extract as biological reducing agents. Zinc nitrate and zinc acetate were used as source of zinc ions. Structural and optical properties were investigated by X-ray diffraction analysis (XRD), Zeta potential, Fourier Transform Infrared (FTIR) spectroscopy, UV-visible (UV-vis) spectroscopy and Photoluminescence spectroscopy (PL). Morphological features were characterized by Field Emission Scanning Electron microscopy (FESEM) and High Resolution Transmission Electron Microscopy (HRTEM). Antibacterial and antioxidant activity was tested and evaluated

Root, Tuber and Banana Food System Innovations

This open access book describes recent innovations in food systems based on root, tuber and banana crops in developing countries. These innovations respond to many of the challenges facing these vital crops, linked to their vegetative seed and bulky and perishable produce. The innovations create value, food, jobs and new sources of income while improving the wellbeing and quality of life of their users. Women are often key players in the production, processing and marketing of roots, tubers and bananas, so successful innovation needs to consider gender. These crops and their value chains have long been neglected by research and development, hence this book contributes to filling in the gap. The book features many outcomes of the CGIAR Research Program in Roots, Tubers and Banana (RTB), which operated from 2012-21, encompassing many tropical countries, academic and industry partners, multiple crops, and major initiatives. It describes the successful innovation model developed by RTB that brings together diverse partners and organizations, to create value for the end users and to generate positive economic and social outcomes. RTB has accelerated the scaling of innovations to reach many end users cost effectively. Though most of the book’s examples and insights are from Africa, they can be applied worldwide. The book will be useful for decision makers designing policies to scale up agricultural solutions, for researchers and extension specialists seeking practical ideas, and for scholars of innovation

Sustainable manufacturing tactics and improvement methodology : a structured and systematic approach to identify improvement opportunities

Growing environmental concerns caused by increasing consumption of natural resources and pollution need to be addressed. Manufacturing dictates the efficiency with which resource inputs are transformed into economically valuable outputs in the form of products and services. Consequently it is also responsible for the resulting waste and pollution generated from this transformation process. This research explored the challenges faced by sustainable manufacturing as a concept and as a model for manufacturing systems. The work is strongly based on the concepts of sustainability and industrial ecology applied at factory level. The research objectives were to understand what companies are doing to improve their sustainability performance at operational level (resource productivity) and to help other companies repeating such improvements in their own factory. In other words, the aim is to generalise sustainable practices across the manufacturing industry. The work started with a review of existing theories and practices for sustainable manufacturing and other related fields of research such as industrial ecology, cleaner production and pollution prevention. The concepts, themes, strategies and principles found in the literature provided a strong foundation to approach resource productivity improvements. The industrial cases collected gave an insight into the application of these strategies and principles in a factory. From the analysis of existing theories and practices, generic tactics were developed by translating 1000+ practices into generic rules and by mapping them against strategies and principles for sustainable manufacturing to check the completeness and consistency of the tactics library. To test the tactics and assist the user in their use through factory modelling, an improvement methodology was developed based on the same strategies and principles to provide a structured guide for accessing tactics and systematically identifying improvement opportunities. The research findings were tested with a series of prototype applications. These tests were carried out as part of a wider project (THERM). This project uses a modelling and simulation approach to capture the resource flows (material, energy, water and waste), the interactions within the manufacturing system (manufacturing operations, surrounding buildings and supporting facilities) and the influence of external factors‘ variation (weather conditions, building orientation and neighbouring infrastructures). The outcomes of the prototype applications helped develop and refine the research findings. The contribution to knowledge of this research resides in bridging the gap between high-level concepts for sustainability and industrial practices by developing a library of tactics to generalise sustainable manufacturing practices and an improvement methodology to guide the tactics implementation. From a practical viewpoint, the research provides a structured and systematic approach for manufacturers to undertake the journey towards more sustainable practice by improving resource flows in their factory