Enhancement Effect of Berberis vulgaris var. integerrima Seeds on the Antibacterial Activity of Cephalosporins against Staphylococcus aureus and Escherichia coli: Synergistic effect of Berberis vulgaris and cephalosporins

To evaluate the enhancement effect of Berberis vulgaris var. integerrima seeds on the antibacterial activity of cephalexin and ceftizoxime against Staphylococcus aureus and Escherichia coli ethanol extract of the seeds were prepared. Disk diffusion and broth dilution methods were used to determine the antibacterial activity of two cephalosporins in the absence and presence of the extract and its various fractions separated by thin layer chromatography. Clinical isolates of S. aureus and E. coli were used as test strains. Total extract and one of its fractions enhanced the antibacterial activity of cephalexin and ceftizoxime. The active component of the extract involved in the enhancement of cephalexin and ceftizoxime antimicrobial activities had an Rf of 0.47 on TLC and a lmax of 209 nm. The highest fold decreasein minimum inhibitory concentration was observed for ceftizoxime plus the active fraction of the extract against E. coli. Our preliminary results on the column chromatography and identification of the active component by high resolution mass spectroscopy showed that this minor compound may be categorized as a protoberberine structure compound. Therefore, the ethanolic extract of B. vulgarisvar. integerrima seeds combined with cephalosporins may be useful against S.aureus and E. coli

Adsorptive removal of Pb(ii) from aqueous solution by novel PES/HMO ultrafiltration mixed matrix membrane

In this work, novel polyethersulfone (PES)/hydrous manganese dioxide (HMO) ultrafiltration (UF) mixed matrix membranes (MMMs) were prepared for adsorptive removal of Pb(II) by varying the weight ratio of HMO:PES in the membrane from 0 to 2.0. The membranes prepared were characterized with respect to chemistry, surface roughness and structural morphology using FTIR, AFM and SEM, respectively. The effects of HMO loadings on the membrane pure water flux, hydrophilicity, porosity and Pb(II) adsorption capacity were also studied. The results showed that although the membrane pore size tended to decrease with increasing HMO:PES weight ratio, the membrane water flux was not negatively affected. Instead the membrane water flux was increased with increasing HMO loadings which was attributable to the decreased contact angle value (more hydrophilic), increased porosity and greater surface roughness. Of all the membranes studied, it is found that the MMM prepared from the highest HMO:PES ratio demonstrated the highest Pb(II) uptake capacity (i.e. 204.1 mg/g) and this uptake capacity is comparable to most of the promising composite adsorbents reported in literature. Besides, the continuous UF experiments showed that the PES/HMO MMM can be potentially used for effective Pb(II) removal by producing permeate of high quality (<15 μg/L lead in water). By subjecting the Pb(II)-adsorbed MMM to a simple desorption process using HCl solution, it is reported that as high as 97.5% of the original adsorption capacity of membrane was able to be recovered, showing the reusability of the membrane for Pb(II) remova

A novel super-hydrophilic PSf/HAO nanocomposite ultrafiltration membrane for efficient separation of oil/water emulsion

In this work, flat sheet polysulfone (PSf)-based membranes modified with inorganic hydrous aluminum oxide (HAO) nanoparticles were used as antifouling ultrafiltration membranes for removing oil molecules from oily solution. SEM, AFM and FTIR analyses were performed on the fabricated membranes to study the effect of HAO nanoparticles loading on the membrane properties. The membrane hydrophilicity and separation performance were determined through contact angle measurement and cross-flow ultrafiltration of oily solution, respectively. Results showed that the hydrophilicity of HAO-modified membrane was increased remarkably upon addition of the highest weight ratio of HAO nanoparticles to PSf (i.e. 2:1), which led to a significant rise in permeate flux, achieving 1194 L/m2 h bar in comparison to 151 L/m2 h bar shown by the plain PSf membrane. With respect to oil removal efficiency, the modified membrane was found to exhibit almost complete elimination of oil molecules with flux recovery ratio of around 67% after a simple water washing process. The promising results achieved by the modified PSf membrane could be mainly due to the presence of hydroxyl functional groups on the membrane surface upon addition of highly hydrophilic HAO nanoparticles, which improved not only membrane water permeability but also its antifouling ability

Physicochemical and Micromechanical Investigation of a Nanocopper Impregnated Fibre Reinforced Nanocomposite

This paper outlines the synthesis of a novel sustainable nanocomposite and the investigation of its physicochemical and mechanical properties using micromechanical models. As a novel approach, palm oil fibres were treated with freshly prepared nanocopper sols to make them strong and sustainable. Nanocopper particle impregnated strong and durable fibres were used to develop a fibre reinforced unsaturated polyester resin nanocomposite. The composite behavior was investigated systematically by using Fourier transform infrared spectroscopy, X-ray diffraction, scanning electron microscopy, thermogravimetric analysis, differential scanning calorimetry, etc. Among all of the composites tested, the nanocopper particle impregnated strong and durable fibre (30%) reinforced unsaturated polyester resin composite was demonstrated to have the highest mechanical strength. The change of weight gain follows typical Fickian diffusion behavior. To predict the strength of the nanocomposite, standard micromechanical models were analyzed and the trends were seen as mixed success. The observed properties of the developed nanocomposites indicate that they can be considered for indoor to outdoor applications

Control of Biodegradability in a Natural Fibre based Nanocomposite as a Function of Impregnated Copper Nanoparticle

The properties of biodegradability or non-biodegradability are highly important for the design and application of sustainable materials. The objective of this work is to introduce a novel type of nanocomposite comprising a natural fibre reinforcing agent impregnated with copper nanoparticles, and to control the biodegradability of this sustainable material using the function of the impregnated copper nanoparticles. At room temperature, copper nanoparticles were synthesized and impregnated into palm oil fibre to improve the strength and durability of the fibre and the material properties of the composite. Fourier transform infrared spectroscopic techniques were used to characterize the prepared composites. The biodegradability (minimum to maximum boundary) of the composite was studied (using the soil burial test) as a function of the quantity of copper nanoparticles, where the tensile strength was fixed at the maximum. The property of biodegradability was also optimized with the help of response surface methodology. The biodegradability of the developed composites ranged from 26.72 to 6.51% when the concentration of impregnated copper nanoparticles was varied from 0 to 2590 μg g−1 respectively. The results indicate that copper nanoparticles can be considered as a potential biocide in composite materials and in this work for controlling the biodegradability of the material by varying the quantity of impregnated copper. The relationship between the responses and variables selected in this study has been justified by the predicted models. Moreover, the model terms have been explained and the prediction has also been performed successfully. Thus, copper nanoparticles have been successfully applied for controlling the biodegradability of the nanocomposite materials. The prepared nanocomposite materials are considered for both indoor and outdoor applications. This study is quite promising for controlling the biodegradability of advanced materials, especially when the degree of biodegradability is so important for their respective application

Novel polyethersulfone (PES)/hydrous manganese dioxide (HMO) mixed matrix membranes with improved anti-fouling properties for oily wastewater treatment process

In this work, hydrophilic hydrous manganese dioxide (HMO) nanoparticles were synthesized and used as the inorganic filler for the preparation of mixed matrix membranes (MMMs). The aim of adding HMO nanoparticles into the polyethersulfone (PES) membrane matrix is to improve membrane hydrophilicity and anti-fouling resistance against oil deposition and/or adsorption. The resulting membranes were characterized by SEM, AFM, FTIR, contact angle measurements and ultrafiltration (UF) of synthetic oily wastewater. Experimental results showed that the hydrophilicity of the PES/HMO membrane was significantly improved to a low value of contact angle (16.4) by HMO loading, which as a consequence led to a promising pure water permeability (573.2 L m À2 h À1 bar À1). In comparison, the pristine PES membrane only demonstrated 69.5 and 39 L m À2 h À1 bar À1 , respectively. Furthermore, the PES/HMO membrane exhibited an excellent oil rejection (almost 100%) and a promising water flux recovery (75.4%) when it was used to treat a synthetic oily solution containing 1000 ppm oil. The promising anti-fouling properties of the PES/HMO membrane could be attributed to the presence of hydrophilic –OH groups on the membrane surface resulting from HMO addition, making this membrane less susceptible to fouling when challenged with oil-in-water emulsion

Polysulfone/hydrous ferric oxide ultrafiltration mixed matrix membrane: preparation, characterization and its adsorptive removal of lead (II) from aqueous solution

In this work, polysulfone (PSf)/hydrous ferric oxide nanoparticles (HFO NPs) ultrafiltration mixed matrix membranes (MMMs) were prepared for adsorptive removal of lead (Pb) (II) from aqueous solution. The morphologies and physiochemical properties of prepared HFO NPs and MMMs were characterized using TEM, BET, XRD, FTIR, SEM, AFM, pure water flux analysis, contact angle measurement and membrane porosity analysis. The results revealed that the self-synthesized HFO NPs possessed a specific surface area (SSA) of 233.49m2/g. Increasing weight ratio of HFO NPs in PSf membranes significantly enhanced membrane pure water flux from 229.5 L/m2h to 942.1 L/m2h, attributed by the improved membrane hydrophilicity (contact angle 8.0°) coupled with greater surface roughness (74.8nm) and overall porosity (88.8%). Adsorption study showed that removal of Pb(II) was strongly dependent on pH in which the optimum pH was 6.5-7.0. Membrane M-1.5 (mass ratio of 1.5 HFO NPs:PSf) possessed the highest adsorption capacity of Pb(II) which was 13.2mg/g. The adsorption mechanism of Pb(II) onto PSf/HFO MMMs was best fitted to Langmuir isotherm whereas the kinetic mechanism was best described by pseudo-second order model. The UF filtration study showed that this adsorptive MMMs produced permeate of high quality with Pb(II) content (<15μg/L). The recovery of 96% demonstrated by the MMMs confirmed the superior potential of dual-function membrane for heavy metals removal