Performance of engineering plant virus resistance: miRNA gene silencing

MicroRNAs (miRNAs) are non�coding RNAs of around 20–24 nucleotides long that fill in as focal controllers of eukaryotic quality articulation by focusing on mRNAs for cleavage or translational suppression. In plants, miRNAs are related to various administrative pathways in development and improvement cycles, and cautious reactions in plant-microbe associations. Recently, significant progress has been made in understanding miRNA�interceded gene silencing and how infections counteract this guard system. Genetic improvement in protection from plant infections is the way to manageable practices. A few new advancements have been actualized in plant antiviral building in the most recent decades. RNA hushing and genome altering are the two significant antiviral systems as the outline for this situation. RNA hushing is an indigenous, safe control eukaryotic system that controls quality articulation by little RNAs (sRNAs). The exhibition of infection opposition is clarified as far as RNA quality quieting. There are two kinds of RNA quieting which are siRNA and miRNA. The two safeguards are marginally exceptional, yet they have a very basic portrayal and capacities. This infection impediment is critical. This infection obstruction is crucial. The gene can adapt to and deal with infections that minimise yield production

Bio-based enzymes as source of chemicals and materials in industrial biotechnology

Bio-based enzymes application is one of the most reliable methods or processes used in biotechnological processes. Most of the industrial processes nowadays have a poor effect on the environment and make the current climate and conditions in the world worst. Most industrial companies and manufacturers are moving towards a sustainable environment and ensuring that they do not harm the environment. By switching to biotechnology, the value of biotechnology can be made known and sustainable industrial development can be achieved. Biotechnology is involved in many sectors, including chemical, food processing, textiles, mining, materials, and energy. Bio-based processes involving enzymes such as lignin peroxidase (LiP), manganese peroxidase (MnP) and laccase of white-rot fungi (WRF) are used instead of chemical products and substances to achieve the same outcome from the same industrial degradation, decolourization or even detoxification processes. By chance, biotechnological processes also provide tools for adapting and modifying biological organisms, products, processes, and systems found in nature to help develop more profitable, eco-friendly and eco-efficient processes. Chemical and related industries are transforming from conventional chemical-based models to a greener, more efficient and more environmentally friendly catalytic alternative, both at the laboratory and industrial scale. Bio-based catalysis provides many advantages in this sense, along with possible biotechnological and environmental applications. Empowering the industry with growing resources also helps increase cost and environmental efficiency beyond traditional chemical technologies

Fabrication of ceramic hollow fibre membranes from aluminium dross waste for water purification

In this study, alumina-spinel composite hollow fibre membranes were fabricated from abundantly available aluminium dross waste, which can be commonly obtained from aluminium-producing factory. The hollow fibre membranes were successfully fabricated by using a combine phase inversion method and sintering technique. The effects of sintering temperatures on morphology, mechanical strength,and permeability of the hollow fibre membranes were systematically investigated. X-ray fluorescence (XRF) was used to analyze the composition of the aluminium dross waste, while x-ray diffraction analysis (XRD) were further studied to characterize the major crystalline phase of the sintered hollow fibre membranes. An increase in sintering temperatures resulted in densification of hollow fibre membrane, consequently induced the flux reduction. The presence of spinel in microstructural of hollow fibre assisted in decreasing the sintering temperature. As comparison to pure alumina membrane counterparts, this alternative ceramic hollow fibre membrane exhibited a comparable mechanical strength of 78.3-155.1 MPa with lower sintering temperatures ranging from 1350 ˚C to 1400 ˚C at ceramic loading of 40%

Removal of As(III) and As(V) from water using green, silica-based ceramic hollow fibre membranes via direct contact membrane distillation

Arsenite [As(III)] and arsenate [As(V)] removal by direct contact membrane distillation (DCMD) using novel hydrophobic green, silica-based ceramic hollow fibre membranes derived from agricultural rice husk was investigated in this work. The green ceramic hollow fibre membranes were prepared from amorphous (ASHFM) and crystalline (CSHFM) silica-based rice husk ash and modified to be hydrophobic via immersion fluoroalkylsilane (FAS) grafting of 1H,1H,2H,2H-perfluorodecyltriethoxysilane. Superhydrophobic contact angle values up to 157° and 161° were obtained for ASHFM and CSHFM, respectively. Remarkably, the membrane surface morphology mimicked a look-alike lotus-leaf structure with decrement in pore size after grafting via the silane agent for both membranes. The effect of arsenic pH (3–11), arsenic concentration (1–1000 ppm) and feed temperature (50–80 °C) were studied and it was found that feed temperature had a significant effect on the permeate flux. The hydrophobic CSHFM, with a flux of 50.4 kg m−2 h−1 for As(III) and 51.3 kg m−2 h−1 for As(V), was found to be the best of the tested membranes. In fact, this membrane can reject arsenic to the maximum contaminant level (MCL) limit of 10 ppb under any conditions, and no swelling mechanism of the membranes was observed after testing for 4 hours

Low cost palm oil fuel ash based ceramic membranes for oily water separation

Ceramic membranes have been gaining so much interest for oily water separation due to their superior characteristics such as good anti-fouling property, superhydrophilic, as well as excellent thermal and chemical stabilities. However, ceramic membranes are very expensive which hinders their uses in large scale applications. Therefore, the aim of our study is to develop a low cost palm oil fuel ash (POFA) based ceramic hollow fiber ceramic membrane for oily water separation application. An asymmetric membrane structure consisting of sponge-like and macrovoid layers were acquired using a combined phase inversion and sintering technique. The membranes were sintered at different temperatures ranging from 1000 to 1150 °C. The sintered membranes were characterized in terms of morphology, mechanical strength, porosity, permeate flux and oil rejection performance. A high oil rejection efficiency of up to 96.0% was obtained for the membrane sintered at 1050 °C with the permeate flux of 185.42 L/m2h at the applied pressure of 3 bar. Based on the comparison with other ceramic membranes reported in the literature, it can be concluded that POFA based ceramic hollow fiber membrane showed a comparable performance and thus can be a promising low cost alternative ceramic membrane for oily water separation application

Hydrophobic mullite ceramic hollow fibre membrane (Hy-MHFM) for seawater desalination via direct contact membrane distillation (DCMD)

A low-cost hydrophobic mullite hollow fibre membrane (Hy-MHFM) fabricated via phase inversion/sintering technique followed by fluoroalkyl silane (FAS) grafting is presented in this study. The prepared CHFMs were characterized before and after the grafting step using different characterization techniques. The pore size of the CHFM surface was also determined using ImageJ software. The desalination performance of the grafted membrane was evaluated in direct contact membrane distillation (DCMD) using synthetic seawater of varying salt concentrations for 2 h at various feedwater temperatures. The outcome of the evaluations showed declines in the permeate flux of the membrane at increasing feed concentration, as well as increased flux with increased feed temperature. The long-term stability of the membrane was achieved at time 20 h, feed temperature 60 °C, and permeate temperature 10 °C, the membrane achieved a salt rejection performance of about 99.99 % and a water flux value of 22.51 kg/ m2 h

Seawater desalination by modified membrane distillation: Effect of hydrophilic surface modifying macromolecules addition into pvdf hollow fiber membrane

Hollow fiber membranes of polyvinylidene fluoride (PVDF) were prepared by incorporating varying concentrations of hydrophilic surface-modifying macromolecules (LSMM) and a constant amount of polyethylene glycol (PEG) additives. The membranes were fabricated by the dry-wet spinning technique. The prepared hollow fiber membranes were dip-coated by hydrophobic surface-modifying macromolecules (BSMM) as the final step fabrication. The additives combination is aimed to produce hollow fiber membranes with high flux permeation and high salt rejection in the matter of seawater desalination application. This study prepares hollow fiber membranes from the formulation of 18 wt. % of PVDF mixed with 5 wt. % of PEG and 3, 4, and 5 wt. % of LSMM. The membranes are then dip-coated with 1 wt. % of BSMM. The effect of LSMM loading on hydrophobicity, morphology, average pore size, surface porosity, and membrane performance is investigated. Coating modification on LSMM membranes showed an increase in contact angle up to 57% of pure, unmodified PVDF/PEG membranes, which made the fabricated membranes at least passable when hydrophobicity was considered as one main characteristic. Furthermore, The PVDF/PEG/4LSMM-BSMM membrane exhibits 161?C of melting point as characterized by the DSC. This value indicates an improvement of thermal behavior shows so as the fabricated membranes are desirable for membrane distillation operation conditions range. Based on the results, it can be concluded that PVDF/PEG membranes with the use of LSMM and BSMM combination could enhance the permeate flux up to 81.32 kg·m-2·h-1 at the maximum, with stable salt rejection around 99.9%, and these are found to be potential for seawater desalination application

Membrane distillation omniphobic mullite hollow fibre membrane with fluoroalkylsilane-functionalised titania deposition

Membrane distillation (MD), which is capable of achieving high solute rejection, has recently attracted significant attention for desalination. However, membrane fouling and wetting are still the major challenges in membrane distillation systems. Hence, it is essential to prepare an omniphobic membrane for anti-fouling and anti-wetting performance to overcome the issue. This work suggested a facile fabrication method of omniphobic mullite hollow fibre membrane via a one-step synthesis of growing hierarchical titania (TiO2) particles on the membrane surface through hydrothermal method and followed by surface fluorination. Mullite hollow fibre membrane (HFM) was prepared as a substrate from ball clay using phase inversion and sintering technique. The composition of raw ball clay consisted of 85.9% kaolinite, 9.5% illite, 3.6% quartz and 1% maghemite. The particles of raw ball clay were irregular in shape, and some particles reach dimensions of over 50 µm size. After pre-treatment processes, the particle size of ball clay powder was remarkably reduced to 4.96 µm. The physico-chemical and permeation properties of a membrane were investigated by varying ball clay loading and sintering temperature. After the sintering process, major composition of the hollow fibre membranes was mullite with minor traces of quartz. When the membrane with ball clay loading of 47.5 wt.% was sintered at 1250 °C, its mechanical strength and permeability were comparable to that of membranes fabricated from pure metal oxides. The membrane had an average porosity and pore size of about 50.5 ± 2.1% and 0.61µm, respectively. Subsequently, hydrothermal treatment was carried out at 150°C to acquire re-entrant structures on the hollow fibre membrane’s surface followed by the fluorination with 1H, 1H, 2H, 2H-perfluorodecyltriethoxysilane (C8). The formation of rod-like (RL) and flower-like (FL) TiO2 structures was observed after 5 and 10 hours of hydrothermal process. After surface texturing and fluorination at 48 hours, the hollow fibre membrane, which was initially hydrophilic in nature, exhibited high liquid repellence towards water and low surface tension liquids such as ethylene glycol and olive oil. The order of the membranes in terms of wetting resistance for low surface tension liquids is as follows: C8-FL/TiO2-HFM > C8-RL/TiO2-HFM> C8-HFM. The value of contact angle for water on C8-FL/TiO2-HFM was around 162o, which is among the highest of previously reported contact angle of ceramic membranes in MD system. Also, the membrane exhibited nearly superomniphobic properties towards olive oil, ~140o. In addition, the formation of air layers was observed on submerged C8-FL/TiO2-HFM and C8- RL/TiO2-HFM, which significantly reduced the deposition of organic substances after 500 minutes of MD with an aqueous NaCl (3.5 wt.%) containing humic acid (10 mg/L). A rise in the permeate salt concentration was observed for C8-HFM but not for C8-FL/TiO2-HFM and C8-RL/TiO2-HFM. Moreover, no significant fouling was observed for C8-FL/TiO2-HFM and the membrane exhibited the most stable flux and the highest salt rejection compared to other membranes. These results suggest that the fabricated membrane with micro/nano-roughness from flower-like structures is potential for a robust MD process as compared to other membranes

Fabrication and characterization of mullite ceramic hollow fiber membrane from natural occurring ball clay

This work aims to study the physico-chemical and permeation properties of ceramic hollow fiber microfiltration (MF)membranes. Ball clay from Perak, Malaysia was used as an alternative starting material for membrane preparation. The membranes were prepared at various solid loadings (37.5 to 50 wt%)and sintering temperatures (1150 to 1300 °C)via phase inversion-based extrusion/sintering method. Prior to membrane fabrication, the as-received ball clay underwent pre-treatment and was characterized using thermal gravimetric analysis (TGA), laser diffraction particle size analyzer (Metasizer 3000), field emission scanning electron microscope (FESEM), X-ray diffraction (XRD)and Fourier-transform infrared spectroscopy (FTIR). Sintered hollow fiber membranes were characterized in terms of crystalline phase using thin-film XRD, surface morphology via scanning electron microscope (SEM), mechanical property using 3-point (3p)method, wall thickness, porosity, pore size distribution and permeation property. XRD patterns show that the ball clay contains 85.9% kaolinite, 9.5% illite, 3.6% quartz and 1% maghemite. After sintering, the major phase of the hollow fiber membranes transformed into mullite (91 to 94%)with minor traces of quartz. The membranes' properties strongly depend on both solid loading and sintering temperature. Moreover, when the hollow fiber membrane with solid loading of 47.5 wt% was sintered at 1250 °C, its mechanical strength (55.8 ± 5.8 MPa)was comparable to that of purity-based ceramic hollow fiber membranes. The membrane has an average porosity and pore size of about 50.5 ± 2.1% and 0.61 Μm, respectively, which are within microfiltration range, and has an average pure water flux of 1286 ± 181 L/m2.hr. Compared with its high purity metal oxide ceramic counterparts, this alternative ball clay-based hollow fiber membrane can be sintered at lower sintering temperature while exhibiting comparable mechanical strength and water flux

Pretreated aluminium dross waste as a source of inexpensive alumina-spinel composite ceramic hollow fibre membrane for pretreatment of oily saline produced water

Pretreatment of produced water using ceramic membrane is considered promising due to its excellent separation performance and thermal and mechanical stabilities, however, the high cost of ceramic membranes discourages industries for large scale applications. The purpose of this work is to fabricate ceramic hollow fibre membranes from alumina-spinel composite powder synthesized from low-cost aluminium dross waste for the pretreatment of oily saline produced water. The hollow fibre membranes were prepared via phase inversion-based extrusion and sintering technique. Aluminium dross (less than 50 µm) was subjected to pre-treatment via water leaching and calcination, resulting in alumina (Al2O3) and spinel (MgAl2O4) as major constituents. Subsequently, the as-prepared alumina-spinel composite powder was used as a ceramic material in fabricating the hollow fibres. The effect of sintering temperatures on the morphology, crystalline phase, pore size and porosity, mechanical properties, and removal efficiencies of the alumina-spinel composite hollow fibre membranes were investigated. The microfiltration test of the hollow fibres was assessed using produced-water feed of 200 mg L−1 at 1 bar. The hollow fibre sintered at 1275 °C offers 92.41% rejection percentage of oil, the highest after 50 min of stable flux. Furthermore, turbidity was found to decrease from 378 NTU to 28.5 and 22.5 NTU for hollow fibres sintered at 1250 and 1275 °C after 2 h of filtration. In this work, the alumina-spinel composite hollow fibre membranes are found to be an effective tool as an alternative for the pretreatment of oily saline produced water