The effect of ultrasound pretreatment on some selected physicochemical properties of black cumin (Nigella Sativa)

Background In the present study, the effects of ultrasound pretreatment parameters including irradiation time and power on the quantity of the extracted phenolic compounds quantity as well as on some selected physicochemical properties of the extracted oils including oil extraction efficiency, acidity and peroxide values, color, and refractive index of the extracted oil of black cumin seeds with the use of cold press have been studied. Methods For each parameter, three different levels (30, 60, and 90 W) for the ultrasound power and (30, 45, and 60 min) and for the ultrasound irradiation time were studied. Each experiment was performed in three replications. Results The achieved results revealed that, with enhancements in the applied ultrasound power, the oil extraction efficiency, acidity value, total phenolic content, peroxide value, and color parameters increased significantly (P 0.05). Conclusions In summary, it could be mentioned that the application of ultrasound pretreatment in the oil extraction might improve the oil extraction efficiency, the extracted oil’s quality, and the extracted phenolic compounds content.info:eu-repo/semantics/publishedVersio

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Not AvailableIndia is the leading cotton-producing country in the world with production of about 20 mt of seed cotton harvested every year. The harvested seed cotton contains dust particles, leaves, and immature and unopened cotton bolls, called kawdi cotton for resemblance to kawdi sea shells. When raw seed cotton is taken to ginneries, it is passed through many cleaning systems like hot-box dispenser and pre-cleaner where kawdi cotton is removed. If seed cotton is infested by insect attack or improper production technology, significant amount of kawdi cotton is present in it. About 5-25% kawdi cotton is expected in ginneries depending on the extent of infestation and damage. This material is generally ignored by ginners considering it as a waste material. However, it can be processed and good quality lint can be recovered from it that can provide additional income to ginners. Difficulties in processing kawdi cotton are causing ginners huge losses. If this material is cleaned, opened and ginned, a ginner can make about 1000 bales in a single season and earn an additional profit of around Rs. 2 crore from it. Though, research on processing of kawdi cotton is scant with no reported past data, machines like ‘Bajaj Boll Opener’ are available in the market for cleaning and opening of kawdi cotton, selected for performance evaluation in this study. It was found that the machine could process kawdi cotton at about 1.0 t per h capacity with 40% recovery of ginnable seed cotton. The ginning trials and fibre quality analysis revealed that good quality lint could be obtained from the opened kawdi cotton, thus yielding additional profit to ginners.Not Availabl

TiO2‑Doped Ni0.4Cu0.3Zn0.3Fe2O4 Nanoparticles for Enhanced Structural and Magnetic Properties

TiO2 (0-10 wt %)-doped nanocrystalline Ni0.4Cu0.3Zn0.3Fe2O4 (Ni-Cu-Zn) ferrites were synthesized using the sol-gel route of synthesis. The cubic spinel structure of the ferrites having the Fd3m space group was revealed from the analysis of Rietveld refined X-ray diffraction (XRD) data. The secondary phase of TiO2 with a space group of I41/amd was observed within the ferrites with doping, x > 3 wt %. The values of lattice parameter were enhanced with the addition of TiO2 up to 5 wt % and reduced further for the highest experimental doping of 10 wt %. Field emission scanning electron microscopy (FESEM) images exhibit the spherical shape of the synthesized particles with some agglomeration, while the compositional purity of prepared ferrite samples was confirmed by energy-dispersive X-ray spectroscopy (EDX) and elemental mapping. The cubic spinel structure of the prepared ferrite sample was confirmed by the Raman and Fourier transform infrared (FTIR) spectra. UV-visible diffuse reflectance spectroscopy was utilized to study the optical properties of the ferrites. The value of band gap energy for the pristine sample was less than those of the doped samples, and there was a decrement in band gap energy values with an increase in TiO2 doping, which specifies the semiconducting nature of prepared ferrite samples. A magnetic study performed by means of a vibrating sample magnetometer (VSM) demonstrates that the values of saturation magnetization of the ferrites decrease with the addition of TiO2 content, and all investigated ferrites show the characteristics of soft magnetic materials at room temperature. The Mössbauer study confirms the decrease in the magnetic behavior of the doped ferrites due to the nonmagnetic secondary phase of TiO2

Synthesis and Structural and Magnetic Characterization of BaZn x Fe12−x O19 Hexaferrite: Hyperfine Interactions

To study the effect of Zn substitution on structural magnetic properties and hyperfine interactions of barium hexaferrite, BaFe12-x Zn (x) O-19 (0.0aexae0.3) hexaferrites were synthesized via sol-gel auto-combustion technique. Rietveld analysis of XRD powder patterns confirmed the formation of single-phase hexaferrites for all products. Due to the larger ionic size of Zn2+ as compared with Fe3+, while x increases, the lattice constant parameters increase to a small degree. Nanoplate morphology of the products is presented by SEM analyses. It was observed that both saturation magnetization and coercivity decrease in almost the same manner with zinc concentration for all substitutions. Cation distribution calculations showed that Zn2+ occupies 12k, 4 f (2), 4 f (1), and 2b sites and at the same time pushes Fe3+ ions towards 2a and 12 k (1) sites. From(57)Fe Mossbauer spectroscopy data, the variation in line width, isomer shift, quadrupole splitting, and hyperfine magnetic field values on Zn2+ substitution have been determined