Value added products from agrowaste

India generates over 400 million tones of agro-forest residues. Agricultural and forest biomass are available in large enough quantities to be considered for large-scale production of alcohol-based fuels.  Chhattisgarh is considered rice bowl of India. Rice is an annual crop and one of the byproduct is rice straw. Rice straw can be used as the source of biomasss and lignin.The various other non-woods available are wheat straw, rice straw, barley straw, grass seed straw, flax coil seed, corn stalks, sorghum stalks, sugarcane bagasse, reeds, hemp fiber, sabai grass, cotton staples, stem fibers (hemp, kenaf, jute) etc .Technologies based on the efficient conversion of low quality or waste lignocellulosic residues into fuel and industrially important chemicals represent possible long-term solution to a number of major global problems. The farmers will be benefited economically as their agricultural by-products will provide better cost sharing. The cost of production of chemicals will also be reduced due to involvement of microorganisms and biochemical processes involved therein. The lignin and cellulose obtained from agrowaste can provide a major carbon resource for biotransformation technologies and  are anticipated to provide a novel avenue for non-polluting industries by reducing carbon emission.Lignin, as the most abundant natural aromatic material, is being considered for new economical applications such as bio-fuel, binder, dispersant or emulsifier, phenolic resins, carbon fibers automotive brakes, wood panel products, polyurethane foams, epoxy resins for printed circuit boards etc.Various methods, for example, chemical, biological, photochemical, and electrochemical methods, have been explored for the oxidation of lignin to obtain value-added products.The biotransformation of extracted lignin was observed using microorganism. The spectrophotometric analysis between control and experimental samples showed new peaks in region 230 nm and 280 nm in experimental extract. Further analysis of degraded lignin from selected fungus was done by LC-MS. LC– MS (liquid chromatography-mass spectroscopy) was performed with lignin samples obtained from untreated lignin sample as control and treated lignin sample with microorganism. While the lignin sample which was treated with microorganismsshows several new peaks which indicate the degradation of lignin.In long termagrowaste based processes will lead to development of novel cost-effective process and bio-products of industrial importance involving the rural people, academia and industries on a cost-sharing basis thus leading to a sustainable development

Rice husk extracted lignin–TEOS biocomposites: Effects of acetylation and silane surface treatments for application in nickel removal

A novel lignosilicate (LS) composite was synthesized from pre-extracted (hot water, 80% ethanol, 0.3 N NaOH) lignin of rice husk (RH) using TEOS as matrix. The extracted lignins were subjected to surface modification by acetylation followed by in situ synthesis of lignosilicate (LS) composites by sol–gel method for application in nickel removal. LS were characterized by FT-IR, scanning electron microscopy (SEM), differential scanning calorimetry (DSC), particle size distribution (PSD) and atomic absorption spectroscopy (AAS). FT-IR studies showed acetyl group in the range of 1680–1690 cm−1 whereas for adsorbed Si-O-Ni2+ the band appeared at 870 cm−1. Findings suggest that alkali extracted LS with mean PSD of 14.89 nm are thermally more stable (Tm = 337 °C) than ethanol (ELS) and hot water (HLS) extracted LS, and exhibit potential for Ni2+ removal (38.74%). SEM and PSD (D50) analyses confirmed their rough surfaces and dispersive nature, respectively, suitable for metal biosorption

Degradation of alkali lignin by two ascomycetes and free radical scavenging activity of the products

<p>Biodegradation and bioconversion of extracted alkali lignin was performed under varying concentrations of carbon and nitrogen sources, by two potential Ascomycetes ligninolytic fungus isolated from soil. Fungus, F10 was identified as <i>Aspergillus flavus</i>, while APF4 as <i>Emericella nidulans</i> based upon closed similarity with their morphology and high homology in 18S rRNA gene sequences. The alkali lignin degradation was checked in term of disappearance of lignin content and colority. Selected fungus, degraded 19–41.6% of alkali lignin (0.25%, w/v) within 21 days of incubation and reduced the colority up to 14.4–21%. The activity of ligninolytic enzymes was periodically checked. During alkali lignin degradation manganese peroxidase (13.31 U/ml), lignin peroxidase (13.73 U/ml) and laccase (0.05 U/ml) activities were observed (at highest level). The alkali lignin degradation products and functional group changes in degraded lignin were analysed through gas chromatography-mass spectroscopy (GC-MS) and solid state ¹³C-NMR spectroscopy, respectively. The functional group modifications in alkali lignin moiety, alter its biochemical property, thus fungal mediated modified alkali lignin was further tested for reactive free radical scavenging potential with respect to hydroxyl, nitric oxide and superoxide radicals. Results demonstrate that the alkali lignin undergo degradation in studied nutritional conditions (high-carbon low nitrogen) and consequently increase its free radical scavenging activity up to 1–18%.</p

Olfactory dysfunction as a screening tool for mild and moderate cases of COVID-19: a single-center prevalence study of 646 patients in flu clinic

Abstract Background To evaluate the prevalence of olfactory dysfunction (OD) in the Indian population and to establish olfactory dysfunction as a screening tool in COVID-19-positive patients. Data was collected using a questionnaire from laboratory-confirmed COVID-19 patients. The patient’s demographic and clinical details were analyzed to calculate the prevalence of olfactory dysfunction, general symptoms like fever, cough, malaise, diarrhea, along with the sinonasal symptoms. All the symptoms were self-reported, and no objective tests were carried out. Results Out of 646 laboratory-confirmed cases of COVID-19 infection, olfactory dysfunction was self-reported by 465 (72%) patients and gustatory dysfunction (GD) was seen in 406 (62.8%) patients. The affected males (416) were proportionately more than females (230), with the mean age of our study population being 39.47 ± 13.85 (range 18–85 years). The most common symptoms were myalgia (n = 494, 76.5%), cough (n = 471, 72.9%), and fever (n = 444, 68.7%). Out of 465 patients with olfactory dysfunction, only 108 (23.2%) reported nasal obstruction. Five hundred thirty-three (82.5%) RT-PCR-positive patients did not give a history of smoking; however, co-morbidity was reported by 163 patients, of which 117 were found to have olfactory dysfunction. One hundred seventy (26.3%) patients gave a positive contact history. 13.6% reported olfactory dysfunction as their first symptom. A positive association was seen between olfactory dysfunction and gustatory dysfunction Conclusions Our study demonstrates a high prevalence of 72% in the Indian population. We recommend that anosmia be used as a screening tool to identify mild to moderate cases of COVID-19

Comparative study of in-vitro antioxidant and antidiabetic activity of plant extracts of Acacia arabica, Murraya koeingii, Catharanthus roseus and Rouwolfia serpentina”

Medicinal plants play very important role in preventing the progress of disease. In present studyfour different medicinal plants, Acacia arabica, Murraya koeingii, Catharanthus roseus and Rouwolfia serpentina commonly found in Chhattisgarh, (India), were screened for the potency of antioxidant and antidiabetic activity. Methanolic and aqueous extracts of A. arabica and M. koeingii, C. roseus and R. serpentina plant leaves were examined. Total phenolic content of extracts was analyzed by Folin-ciocalteu’s method. Antioxidant activities of different extracts were evaluated by DPPH and H2O2 scavenging assay and putative Antidiabetic activity was determined by in-vitro glucose diffusion and alpha-amylase inhibition assay. The highest DPPH scavenging activity was found in methanolic extract of C. roseus while the highest hydrogen peroxide scavenging activity was found in aqueous extract of M. koeingii. In in-vitro antidiabetic test, highest α-amylase inhibition was found in methanolic extract of R. serpentina and the highest diffusion rate of glucose was found in aqueous extract of R. serpentina. The plant extracts were further characterized by Liquid chromatography mass spectroscopy. The results suggest that these plants could serve as a source of natural antioxidants and antidiabetic agents with potential applications in pharmaceuticals industry