Non‐steroidal anti‐inflammatory pharmaceutical wastewater treatment using a two‐chambered microbial fuel cell

The two-chambered microbial fuel cell (MFC) was designed and used for studying the efficiency of the real wastewater treatment from a non-steroidal anti-inflammatory pharmaceutical plant as well as from synthetic wastewater containing diclofenac sodium (DS). The removal of the contaminants was expressed regarding chemical oxygen demand (COD) removal, as measured by spectrophotometry experiments. Moreover, the effect of two different types of the cathode on current characteristics and COD removal was investigated. This research showed that the Pt-coated Ti cathode could lead to higher efficiency of both power density and COD removal. In this case, the results indicated that the maximum power density (P) was 20.5 and 6.5\ua0W/m and the maximum COD removal was 93 and 78% for MFCs using real and synthetic wastewater, respectively

A topical gel nanoformulation of amphotericin B (AmB) for the treatment of cutaneous leishmaniasis (CL)

This study aimed to improve the water solubility and cutaneous permeability of Amphotericin B (AmB) for the topical treatment of Leishmania major-induced cutaneous leishmaniasis (CL) using two topical liposome- and polyethylene glycol (PEG)ylated liposome-gel formulations. The topical gel formulations of AmB were developed by its encapsulation into liposome (Lip-AmB) and (PEG)ylated liposome (PEG-Lip-AmB) using the reverse-phase evaporation method. The nanoformulations were characterized using dynamic light scattering and spectrophotometry. Their biological effects were evaluated in vitro and in vivo using Wright-Giemsa staining, limiting dilution assay, and pathological studies. Lip-AmB and PEG-Lip-AmB with the size of 257 ± 12.5 nm and 237 ± 12 nm, respectively, were synthesized. PEG-Lip-AmB compared to Lip-AmB, was more potent to decrease the drug toxicity and increase the drug’s therapeutic effects. The results of in vivo studies were in agreement with the results of in vitro studies, in which PEG-Lip-AmB-loaded gel (PEG-Lip-AmB-Gel), compared to Lip-AmB-loaded gel, could decrease the lesion size and parasite burden by 1.7- and 1.6-fold, respectively. These results suggest PEG-Lip-AmB-Gel can be used as a promising carrier to improve the properties of AmB for topical application against CL.</p

A novel approach to fabricate high performance nano-SiO2 embedded PES membranes for microfiltration of oil-in-water emulsion

The goal of this study was to determine the desired preparation conditions of polyethersulfone (PES) membrane for the microfiltration of oil-in-water emulsion. Membranes were fabricated via combination of vapor induced phase separation (VIPS) and non-solvent induced phase separation (NIPS) methods. SiO2 nanoparticle were used as the hydrophilicity modification agent in the casting solutions which led to a negative impacts on the permeate flux in high concentrations due to aggregation. The effects of nanoparticle concentration, exposure time and relative humidity on the permeate flux, and their interactions were determined. The morphology of the prepared membranes were studied using FESEM, pore size distribution, contact angle, porosity, and water uptake measurement. Besides, response surface methodology (RSM) and central composite design (CCD) were applied for modeling, statistical analysis and optimization of oil-in-water emulsion microfiltration. The most significant interactions were observed for the exposure time and relative humidity, and a contradictory trend was found for flux variation. The optimum preparation conditions for nanoparticle concentration, exposure time, and humidity were found to be 1%, 33s, and 80%, respectively, where the oil rejection was higher than 98% for all runs. (C) 2015 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved

The impacts of high salinity and polymer properties on dewatering and structural characteristics of flocculated high-solids tailings

In seeking to better understand the inline flocculation technique for enhanced water recovery from concentrated fine-particle suspensions, polymers of different molecular weight (MW) and chemistry were used to treat a synthetic tailings slurry in a low-shear mixer for continuous flocculation under controlled conditions. The effects of dissolved salts in the slurry and polymer solution make-up water on dewatering performance were evaluated for conventional acrylamide/acrylate copolymers (BASF Magnafloc® products) and an alternative functional chemistry polymer (BASF Rheomax® DR 1050). The properties of the separated liquid and solid phases were examined to understand the impacts of salinity and polymer type on the formation of rapidly dewatering flocculated material. Higher concentrations of NaCl (0.006–0.6 M) and CaCl2 (0.006–0.06 M) salts in the unflocculated slurries formed larger coagulated structures, with focussed beam reflectance measurement (FBRM) showing greater pre-aggregation for the divalent salt. NaCl slurries show edge-to-edge (EE) and edge-to-face (EF) inter-particle associations that are open and easily disrupted while more compact face-to-face (FF) contacts are observed in CaCl2 slurries. For concentrated NaCl slurries, the dosing of medium-to-high MW polymers is generally preferred to maximise net water recovery, with the implication being that bridging mechanisms are still at play in high solids applications. In calcium-enriched slurries, the lower MW conventional copolymer gave comparatively better water returns than the other polymers when applied under low shear conditions, highlighting quite distinct aggregation processes compared to low solids flocculation. These results provide insight on the fundamental complexity of the ionic strength dependence of high solids-high dosage tailings flocculation, towards informing reagent polymer dosing and offering greater flexibility for end-of-pipe dewatering schemes. © 202