Green synthesis of granular activated carbon/zinc ferro nanocomposites-based bioleached laterite iron (BLaFe) for the removal of Rhodamine B in water using adsorption–Fenton's oxidation process

Novel cost-effective catalyst granular activated carbon (GAC)-based zinc ferro nanocomposites for the heterogeneous Fenton's oxidation of dye were synthesized using bioleached laterite iron (BLFe) as a precursor and Psidium gujava leaf extract. Synthesized nanocomposites were characterized using SEM, EDS, XRD and BET surface area analysis. The degradation of Rhodamine dye was carried out with nanocomposites using adsorption–Fenton's oxidation process. The catalytic role of nanocomposites in Fenton's oxidation of Rhodamine B (RhB) was investigated and reported. The maximum dye removal of 96.2% was observed with 64.2% COD removal within 200 min of treatment. An increase in nanocomposite dosage has a positive effect on dye removal marking 5 g/L as an optimum dosage. Adsorption studies reveal that RhB removal using BLFe-based GAC/zinc ferro composites fits the Freundlich Adsorption Isotherm model with an adsorption capacity of 47.81 mg/g. A combination of adsorption and Fenton's oxidation has resulted in higher removal efficiency with nanocomposite material. Reusability studies confirm that the spent catalyst can be reused for five cycles. HIGHLIGHTS Synthesis of novel GAC–zinc ferro composites.; Characterization of synthesized nanocomposites.; Removal of Rhodamine B using adsorption–Fenton's oxidation process.

Sustainable replacement of EDTA-Biojarosite for commercial iron in the Fenton's and UV-Fenton's degradation of Rhowedamine B - a process optimization using Box-Behnken method

Biojarosite as a replacement for commercial iron catalyst in the oxidative degradation of the dye Rhodamine B was confirmed and established. Investigations on the oxidative degradation by Fenton's oxidation and UV-Fenton's oxidation with EDTA at neutral pH were conducted and degradation of target compound was evaluated. UV-Fenton's oxidation was shown to be efficient over Fenton's oxidation in the degradation of Rhodamine B with removal efficiency of 90.0%. Design of Experiments was performed with Box-Behnken design. Investigation was conducted for the predicted values separately for both Fenton's oxidation and UV-Fenton's oxidation and the Rhodamine B removal was taken as response. Variable parameters biojarosite, H2O2 dosage and EDTA were optimized in the range of 0.1-1 g/L, 2.94-29.4 mM and 10-100 mM, respectively. A quadratic regression model is fitted for both Fenton's and UV-Fenton's oxidation. Analysis of variance (ANOVA) is performed and model fit is discussed

Determinants of Prakriti, the Human Constitution Types of Indian Traditional Medicine and its Correlation with Contemporary Science

Background: Constitutional type of an individual or prakriti is the basic clinical denominator in Ayurveda, which defines physical, physiological, and psychological traits of an individual and is the template for individualized diet, lifestyle counseling, and treatment. The large number of phenotype description by prakriti determination is based on the knowledge and experience of the assessor, and hence subject to inherent variations and interpretations. Objective: In this study we have attempted to relate dominant prakriti attribute to body mass index (BMI) of individuals by assessing an acceptable tool to provide the quantitative measure to the currently qualitative ayurvedic prakriti determination. Materials and Methods: The study is cross sectional, multicentered, and prakriti assessment of a total of 3416 subjects was undertaken. Healthy male, nonsmoking, nonalcoholic volunteers between the age group of 20-30 were screened for their prakriti after obtaining written consent to participate in the study. The prakriti was determined on the phenotype description of ayurvedic texts and simultaneously by the use of a computer-aided prakriti assessment tool. Kappa statistical analysis was employed to validate the prakriti assessment and Chi-square, Cramer′s V test to determine the relatedness in the dominant prakriti to various attributes. Results: We found 80% concordance between ayurvedic physician and software in predicting the prakriti of an individual. The kappa value of 0.77 showed moderate agreement in prakriti assessment. We observed a significant correlations of dominant prakriti to place of birth and BMI with Chi-square, P < 0.01 (Cramer′s V-value of 0.156 and 0.368, respectively). Conclusion: The present study attempts to integrate knowledge of traditional ayurvedic concepts with the contemporary science. We have demonstrated analysis of prakriti classification and its association with BMI and place of birth with the implications to one of the ways for human classification