Advances in natural rubber seed shell utilization in polymer technology

The valorization of rubber seed shell into useful materials for industrial applications in polymer technology is of great interest. The usefulness of this material is borne out of the ease of processing; it’s readily available at low or no cost, and less abrasive to equipment. Literature and research reports have shown that rubber seed shell has gained applications in the adhesive industry as reinforcing additive, in electrode manufacturing, as filler in polymer composites, as sorbent in the uptake of heavy metals during waste water treatments, as starting material in the production carbon materials for value added products for the industry. However, there are still outstanding prospects in the utilization of this material in various areas of polymer technology such as a lignocellulosic source for the production of biodegradable foams, polymer gels, second generation bio-plastics and biofuels, and as surfactants. This review examines the results of a retrospective and prospective study in polymer technology of the latent properties inherent in rubber seed shell with particular emphasis on its utilization in polymer technology

Assessment of the efficiency of animal bones and neem leaves adsorbents in the removal of Cadmium ions from aqueous medium

The sorption efficiency of bones and neem leaves adsorbents for the removal of cadmium ions from wastewater was investigated in the study. The animal bones and neem leaves were carbonized and activated using phosphoric acid. The adsorbents were characterized by scanning electron microscopy, Fourier transform infrared spectroscopy, x-ray diffractometry and atomic absorption spectrometry. The equilibrium sorption properties were assessed to optimize the conditions for maximum sorption of the cadmium ions. As for the samples of neem leaves, it was observed that the activated carbon prepared from neem leaves had a high adsorption efficiency of 73.13% than that of raw neem leaves of 67.53% and activated leaves having the lowest efficiency of 25.49%. From the values obtained for animal bones, the carbonized sample had the highest efficiency of 75.22% and the raw sample had high efficiency of 74.23%