Adsorption of Rhodamine B from an aqueous solution by acrylic-acid-modified walnut shells: characterization, kinetics, and thermodynamics

Enhancement of adsorptive removal efficiency of an anionic dye from aqueous solutions using carboxylic acid-modified mulberry leaves: Artificial neural network modeling, isotherm, and kinetics evaluation

Natural mulberry leaves and carboxylic acid-modified mulberry (Morus alba L.) leaves were used for the first time to scrutinize the effects of modification on the retention efficiency of an anionic dye (Remazol Brilliant Blue R (RBBR)) from aqueous solutions to suggest an economical and promising adsorbent for the treatment of dye-contaminated water. The characterization of the adsorbents was accomplished through common techniques including SEM, FTIR, and pH_pzc determination. Several parameters studied in batch experiments pointed out that the initial pH of 2.0 and the contact time of 240 min were optimum conditions for all the developed RBBR uptake processes. An artificial neural network (ANN) model was applied to formulate a forecast model for the uptake efficiency of RBBR. The experimental data were assessed by different kinetic and isotherm models to explain the mechanism of the developed processes in more detail. Maximum monolayer adsorption capacities of natural mulberry leaves and acetic acid-, citric acid-, and oxalic acid-modified mulberry leaves were determined as 64.5, 95.2, 84.8, and 91.7 mg g^-1, respectively, by the Langmuir isotherm model. These results demonstrated that the modification with carboxylic acids significantly increases the anionic dye adsorption capacity of the mulberry leaves.

Comparative Evaluation of the Adsorption Performance of Citric Acid-Treated Peels of Trapa natans and Citrullus lanatus for Cationic Dyes Degradation from Water

Various chemicals were explored in chemical combinations with two selected agrowastes in order to optimize, enhance, and improve their biosorption potential for the optimal and effective eradication of noxious, carcinogenic, and malignant cationic and basic dyes from wastewater. In this project, environmentally safe, economic, inexpensive, and widely available peels of Trapa natans (TP) and Citrullus lanatus (CP) were collected, dried, and pretreated with citric acid, revealing promising results. FT-IR and SEM characterizations of chemically changed biosorbents (C-TP and C-CP) have evidenced the presence of more secondary adsorption sites on their surfaces. These acid-modified biosorbents were employed to eliminate the hazardous and toxic basic dyes such as Rhodamine B (RAD) and Brilliant Green Dye (BLG) in batch mode processing. The Langmuir model was best fitted to equilibrium experimental data as compared to Freundlich and Temkin isothermal mathematical models with Qmax of 15.63 and 27.55 mg/g for RAD using C-TP and C-CP, respectively, whereas, for BLG on C-TP and C-CP, it was 128 and 189 mg/g, respectively. Therefore, the mechanism is related to chelation and ion exchange modes between adsorbate molecules and adsorbent surfaces, leading to homogeneous and monolayer adsorption and following pseudo-2nd-order kinetics in the best way. Thermodynamic parameters such as ΔG0, ΔS0, ΔH0, and ΔE0 are determined statistically for the adsorption performance of both novel chemically mutant biosorbents, which reflect that biosorption mechanisms are exothermic as well as spontaneous.

Natural Salicylaldehyde for Fungal and Pre- and Post-Emergent Weed Control

A sustainable, alternative weed control strategy is developed using salicylaldehyde (SA; 2-hydroxybenzaldehyde) as an active ingredient. SA is a natural, redox-active small molecule listed as a Generally Recognized As Safe food additive by the European Food Safety Authority and the United States Food and Drug Administration. The repurposing of SA determined that SA possesses both pre- and post-emergent herbicidal, fumigant activity, where the emitted SA from the source completely prevented the germination of plant seeds and/or the growth of the germinated plants. As a proof-of-concept, we developed agricultural byproducts (tree nutshell particles) as SA delivery vehicles to the soil, thus helping the growers’ sustainable byproduct recycling program, necessary for carbon sequestration. In plate assays, SA emitted from the nutshell vehicles (0.15 to 1.6 M) completely prevented the germination of six invasive or native weed seeds (monocots, dicots). In Magenta vessel assays, SA emitted from the nutshell vehicles (0.8 to 1.6 M) not only prevented the germination (pre-emergent) of Lagurus ovatus (Bunny Tails Grass) seeds but also inhibited the growth (post-emergent) of the germinated weeds. We determined further that soil covering (soil pasteurization) could be one of the practices to effectively deliver SA to the soil, whereby 1.6 M of SA emitted from the nutshell vehicles prevented the germination of the L. ovatus seeds maintained in soil trays covered with plastic tarp at 22 °C, while 0.8 M SA allowed partial (15%) germination of the weed seeds. Of note, SA also possesses an intrinsic antifungal activity that overcomes the tolerance of the stress signaling mutants of filamentous fungal pathogens (Aspergillus fumigatus, Penicillium expansum) to the phenylpyrrole fungicide fludioxonil. Environmental degradation data available in the public database indicate that, once released to the environment, SA will be broken down in the air by sunlight or microorganisms and, thus, is not built up in aquatic organisms. Altogether, SA can serve as a safe, potent pesticide (herbicidal, fungicidal) ingredient that promotes sustainable crop production by lowering the pesticide burden in fields.