ISOLATION, IDENTIFICATION AND ANTIMICROBIAL ACTIVITY OF BIOACTIVE COMPOUND FROM SARACA ASOCA

Objective: Saraca asoca which is also called Saraca indica is the ancient tree of the family Caesalpinaceae. This tree is considered as the first in medicinal values since the Buddist period. Ashoka is traditionally used in the treatment of excessive uterine bleeding, dysmenorrhoea and depression in women. It is also used to treat inflammation, indigestion and also abnormal vaginal discharge. It is found to have antimicrobial, anticancer, antimenorrhagic, anti oxytocic activities. The study focuses on to isolate and characterizes the bioactive compounds from the leaves of Saraca asoca by cold extraction method. Methods: The crude extracts of ethanol, petroleum ether, and aqueous extracts were spotted in TLC plate to fig. out the number of probable compounds in each extract. Column chromatography was performed to collect purified fractions. Phytochemical screening of crude samples were tested, the presence of flavonoids, steroids, tannins, alkaloids, glycosides, phenols, reducing sugars were identified. Antimicrobial activity of ethanol, petroleum ether fractions were tested using agar-well diffusion method, maximum activity was recorded in a concentration-dependent manner against Escherichia coli, Staphylococcus sp, Streptococcus sp, Pseudomonas sp, Proteus sp, Bacillus sp, Aspergillus sp and Candida sp. Results: Among the total fractions obtained, few active fractions inhibited growth of organisms which would significantly serve as a potential source for new antimicrobial compounds. GCMS was performed to identify the potential compound to be Phytol exhibiting antimicrobial activity. Conclusion: The antimicrobial activity of the bioactive compounds was tested against various microorganisms and the diameter of the zone obtained was calculated where the petroleum ether fractions exhibited good inhibition and ethanolic fractions does not have inhibitory activity

Biohydrogen production from industrial wastewater: An overview

Biohydrogen production from industrial wastewater has been a focus of interest in recent years. The in depth knowledge in lab scale parameters and emerging strategies are needed to be investigated in order to implement the biohydrogen production process at large scale. The operating parameters have great influence on biohydrogen productivity. With the aim to gain major insight into biohydrogen production process, this review summarizes recent updates on dark fermentation, inoculum pretreatment methods, operating parameters (hydraulic retention time, organic loading rate, pH, temperature, volatile fatty acids, bioreactor configuration, nutrient availability, partial pressure etc.). The challenges and limitations associated with the biohydrogen production are lack of biohydrogen producers, biomass washout and accumulation of metabolites are discussed in detail. The advancement strategies to overcome these limitations are also briefly discussed.publishedVersio

Amelioration of Biogas Production from Waste-Activated Sludge through Surfactant-Coupled Mechanical Disintegration

The current study intended to improve the disintegration potential of paper mill sludge through alkyl polyglycoside-coupled disperser disintegration. The sludge biomass was fed to the disperser disintegration and a maximum solubilization of 6% was attained at the specific energy input of 4729.24 kJ/kg TS. Solubilization was further enhanced by coupling the optimum disperser condition with varying dosage of alkyl polyglycoside. The maximum solubilization of 11% and suspended solid (SS) reduction of 8.42% were achieved at the disperser rpm, time, and surfactant dosage of 12,000, 30 min, and 12 μL. The alkyl polyglycoside-coupled disperser disintegration showed a higher biogas production of 125.1 mL/gCOD, compared to the disperser-alone disintegration (70.1 mL/gCOD) and control (36.1 mL/gCOD)