REMOVED: High Performance Gas Separation Membrane from a Polymer of Intrinsic Microporosity by Photochemical Surface Modification

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Not AvailableLow phosphorus (P) availability in soil is one of the limiting factors affecting groundnut productivity by reducing leaf area and dry weight. This study evaluated groundnut genotypes for their ability to thrive and produce on calcareous soils with low phosphorus availability. Assessment of shoot biomass, root biomass, shoot Pconcentration, kernel P-concentration, P-accumulation and yield were completed using three phosphorus levels and 23 groundnut genotypes. Study was conducted with three phosphorus levels namely no (P0), normal P (P50) and high P (P100) as the main factor with genotypes as second factor arranged in a factorial completely randomized design. Significant genotypic differences were observed for the characters studied. Shoot P-concentration and accumulation increased with increase in phosphorus levels, whereas, root biomass and kernel P-concentration decreased with increase in phosphorus levels. There was varying response of genotypes for yield, kernel Pconcentration and accumulation, shoot P-concentration and accumulation, biomass and harvest index. In addition, genotypes ICG-221, GG-5, TG-37A and FeESG-10 were designated as ‘high yielder–non-responsive’, whereas, genotypes NRCG-15049, TPG-41, GPBD-4 and NRCG-3498 were identified as ‘low yielder - responsive’. These genotypes can be used in breeding programs to develop ‘high-yielder– responsive’ genotypes.Not Availabl

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Not AvailableGroundnut production is often limited by low availability of soil phosphorus. Groundnut genotypes differ in their P efficiency and dry matter production under low P availability. Two Groundnut genotypes were used in this study namely ICG(FDRS)-10 (absorb and translocate large amount of P) and JL-24 (not suitable for P insufficient conditions) to study the response of P availability. Plants were grown in pots with two P levels viz. without P (0 mg P/kg soil, LP) and with P (40mg P/kg soil, HP) and parameters such as shoot length, root length, root volume, no. of lateral roots, nodules per plant, stem weight and leaf weight were recorded. Growth of groundnut genotypes was affected at 60 DAE i.e. during pegging stage. Low phosphorus (LP) resulted in reduced stem weight, leaf weight, shoot length and root volume, nodules per plant but root length and lateral roots were increased. Shoot and root characters were significantly associated under LP. There is sufficient genetic variability among groundnut genotypes for LP and this variability is mainly visible during pegging stageNot Availabl

Prediction of physical properties of nanofiltration membranes using experiment and theoretical models

Two commercial nanofiltration (NF) membranes, viz., Desal-HL and NF 700 MWCO were investigated experimentally using neutral and charged solutes, viz., glucose, sodium chloride and magnesium chloride. Effect of pH was studied for sodium chloride rejection and isoelectric point of the membrane was deduced. Experimental results were analyzed using Donnan steric pore and dielectric exclusion models. Dielectric exclusion arises due to the difference in dielectric constant between the bulk and the nano-pore. Born dielectric effect was used as dielectric exclusion phenomena in the present investigation. Stokes-Einstein, Born effective and Pauling radii were used for theoretical simulation, which accurately predicted different charge densities. Empirical correlations were proposed between charge density, concentration and pH for each radius. Charge density decreased drastically when dielectric exclusion term was included in the theoretical model, which showed the real physical characteristics of the membranes employed. Charge density and radius of pore was found to be an important surface parameter in predicting the separation effects in NF membranes. . .

Room-temperature development of thin film composite reverse osmosis membranes from cellulose acetate with antibacterial properties

A cellulose acetate thin film composite (CA TFC) membrane was developed by direct casting of CA onto an ultrafiltration membrane support. The flux through the CA TFC membrane was, as expected, inversely proportional to the selective layer thickness. The membrane with the lowest thickness of the CA film (217 nm) initially had poor salt rejection (~55%) but relatively high permeability (~0.5 l m−2 h−1 bar−1). In contrast to asymmetric CA reverse osmosis membranes that are developed in 4 °C water baths, the CA TFC membranes were developed by subsequent swelling in room temperature water baths, thermal annealing at 81 °C, and with room-temperature incorporation of silver nanoparticles onto CA TFC surfaces by chemical reduction. The change in the physical properties as a result of the swelling process was examined with ellipsometry, grazing incidence X-ray scattering and contact angle measurements. A combined swelling and annealing treatment was found to improve salt rejection to an acceptable reverse osmosis salt rejection level (~94%) without significant deterioration of flux. The swelling time was found to generally improve the membrane performance in terms of flux and surface roughness whilst the silver nanoparticle treatment reduced bacterial surface coverage by four orders of magnitude.EPSRC, Schlumberger Faculty for the Future (FFTF) Foundation and the Qatar National Research Fund (NPRP 09 - 967 - 2 - 372)Scopu