PHYSICOCHEMICAL, PHYTOCHEMICALS AND ANTIOXIDANT EVALUATION OF GUAZUMA ULMIFOLIA FRUIT

Objective: The present study was designed to evaluate the physicochemical, qualitative, quantitative analysis and antioxidant activity of ethanol fruit extract of Guazuma ulmifolia. Studies were carried out to detect the bioactive component.Methods: The physiochemical properties such as loss on drying, extractive value for ethyl acetate, acetone, ethanol, total ash, acid insoluble ash, water-soluble ash and PH values; the phytochemical such as tannins, phenol, terpenoids, flavonoids, saponin, quinones, cardiac glycosides, coumarin, steroids and acids were found using standard methods. The total phenol and flavonoid content were estimated by Folinciocalteu and Aluminium chloride by colorimetric method. In vitro antioxidants, properties were evaluated by DPPH and FRAP assay.Results: Phytochemical analysis reveals the availability of secondary metabolites like tannins, phenol, terpenoids, flavonoids, coumarin, steroids, and cardiac glycosides in the different extract. The quantitative analysis for ethanolic fruit extract was done for total phenolic content (TPC), total flavonoids content (TFC). An ethanolic extract found to have high TPC [27.2797±0.1756] than TFC. Antioxidant activity was evaluated by DPPH assay (2, 2-diphenyl-1-picrylhydrazyl-hydrate) and FRAP (ferric Reducing Ability of Plasma).Conclusion: On the basis of this study, it was found that the Guazuma ulmifolia fruits have potential to act as a source of useful drugs due to the presence of various active phytochemical constituent, which will be helpful in preventing various diseases caused by the oxidative stress

Defluoridation of Drinking Water by Using Calcium Loaded Bentonite

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Removal of lead(II) ions from aqueous solutions using activated carbon from Militia ferruginea plant leaves

The adsorption of lead(II) on to activated carbon developed from an indigenous Ethiopian medicinal plant leaves namely Birbira (Militia ferruginea) was investigated to assess the possible use of this adsorbent. The influences of contact time, adsorbent dose, Pb(II) concentration, pH and temperature on adsorption were investigated. The maximum adsorption took place at 3 h. at a dose of 4.0 g of adsorbent, and 97.3 % of Pb2+ adsorption at pH of 4.0. The amount of lead ion adsorbed per gram of the adsorbent increased with decreasing concentration of Pb2+. The percentage of adsorption had increased with the increasing temperature. The positive value of ∆H indicated that the adsorption of lead ions on the adsorbent was an endothermic process. The values of free energy (∆G) were negative as expected for a spontaneous process. The decrease in ∆G value with increasing temperature revealed that adsorption of the ion on the adsorbent became favorable at a higher temperature. The calculated value of ∆H was 25.05 kJ mol–1, ∆S was 135.48 JK-1 mol-1 and ∆G was also calculated for each temperature. The two theoretical adsorption isotherms, namely, Langmuir and Freundlich were used to describe the experimental results. The Freundlich adsorption isotherm best fits and adsorption capacity was calculated to be 3.3 mg of Pb(II) per g of adsorbent. The adsorption followed the first order kinetics and was found to be pH dependent being maximum at pH 4.0. The pH effect and desorption studies showed that ion exchange mechanism might be involved in the adsorption process. Reuse of the desorbed bio-adsorbent is possible. The effect of foreign ions on the removal of Pb(II) has been investigated. The removal of Pb(II) from industrial wastewater sample was also tested and showed that more than 97 % removal was possible. The results showed that activated carbon prepared from Birbira (Militia ferruginea) leaves could be used for the removal of Pb(II) from wastewater. KEY WORDS: Industrial wastewater, Lead removal, Adsorbent, Militia ferruginea  Bull. Chem. Soc. Ethiop. 2008, 22(3), 349-360

Removal of Cadmium From Industrial Wastewater by Using Biomaterials

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<b>Removal of lead ions from industrial waste water by using biomaterials – a novel method</b>

A simple cost effective and eco-friendly method for the remediation of lead from industrial wastewater has been investigated. A novel biomaterial, Tridax procumbens (Asteraceae) a medicinal plant, was used for the removal of lead ions from synthetic wastewater and the method was also applied for real sample analysis. The operational pH of the experimental solution was fixed as 4.5. The optimum amount of bioadsorbent was 3.5 g. The Pb(II) ions removal efficiency of the raw bioadsorbent was also determined. The removal efficiency of the activated carbon of the bioadsorbent was excellent. 98 % removal of Pb(II) ions was achieved at the dose rate of 3.5 g. The optimum contact time was estimated to be 160 minutes