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To operationalise the heterogeneous photocatalysis process, the present study investigated the efficiency of TiO2-P25 nanoparticles immobilised on glass beads using the heat attachment method to remove cefazolin (CEF) as an antibiotic contaminant. The characteristics of the glass beads coated with TiO2-P25 nanoparticles were probed by the Scanning Electron Microscopy (SEM) technique. The immobilised TiO2-P25 nanoparticles manifested considerable efficiency in CEF removal in different operational conditions. The impact of various parameters, such as the ultraviolet light radiation time, initial concentration of CEF, light source power, inlet liquid volumetric flow rate, and pH of the solution, on the efficiency of CEF removal were examined. The results reveal that the removal percentage goes up as the irradiation time, volumetric flow rate, pH of the solution, and light source power increase while declining with a rise in the initial concentration of CEF. According to the findings, an initial CEF concentration of 20 mg L−1 is entirely removed by 40 min UV irradiation with a 16 W light source, the volumetric flow rate of 300 mL min−1, and the pH of 9.5. The reaction rate constant and adsorption coefficient of CEF on immobilised TiO2 were estimated at 0.622 mg L−1 min−1 and 0.095 mg−1 L via Langmuir- Hinshelwood kinetics. The outcomes of the mineralisation studies also display a considerable reduction of TOC and evolution of significant mineralisation products, like $$NO_3^ - $$ N O 3 − , $$NO_2^ - $$ N O 2 − , $$NH_4^ + $$ N H 4 + , and $$SO_4^{2 - }$$ S O 4 2 − . The experimental results were modelled by artificial neural networks (ANN). Comparing the experimental results with the ANN-predicted data shows the acceptable efficiency of modelling with ANN. The minimum MSE, R2 value for all data (validation, training, and test), and R2 value for simulated data were obtained at 0.00027811, 0.9971, and 0.9809, respectively. The relative importance of the parameters affecting the process evaluated by the ANN weights indicates that the irradiation time is the most important factor in the photocatalytic removal of CEF. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

In this work TiO2-P25 nanoparticles with high surface area have been used as adsorbent for the removal of C.I Acid Red 27 (AR27), as an organic contaminant from aqueous solution. Characteristics of phases and crystallite size of TiO2-P25 nanoparticles were achieved from XRD and the surface area and pore size distribution were obtained from BET and BJH techniques. TiO2-P25 nanoparticles with almost 80% anatase and 20% rutile phases, the average crystallite size of 18 nm, have specific surface area of 56.82 m2 g-1. The effect of various parameters like initial AR27 concentration, pH, contact time and adsorbent dosage has been carried out in order to find desired adsorption conditions. The desired pH for adsorption of AR27 onto TiO2-P25 nanoparticles was 3. The equilibrium data were analyzed with various 2-, 3- and 4-parameter isotherm models. Equilibrium data fitted very well by the 4-parameter Fritz-Schluender model. Results of adsorption kinetics study indicated that the pseudo-second order kinetics provided the best fit with correlation coefficients close to unity.

Essential oils with antimicrobial or antioxidant activities have received extensive attention among customers, manufacturers, and food scientists, especially with rising worries about the safety of synthetic food preservatives. However, like other functional lipid compounds their incorporation into aqueous systems is challenging, due to their less water solubility. Furthermore, their susceptibility to light, moisture, heat, and oxygen origins their less chemical and structural stabilities. Consequently, the present research was aimed to encapsulate the thyme essential oil into nanoliposomes, using a thin layer hydration-sonication technique, which can be a proficient solution for revealed problems. The effects of phospholipid and stabilizing agents' concentrations, namely, lecithin, cholesterol, and glycerol, as main formulation parameters were investigated on characteristics of gained nanoliposomes, using a response surface method. Various empirical models were also developed to predict product characteristics by changing the formulation parameters. According to the numerical multiple optimizations, the best thyme oil nanoliposomes can be gained using equal concentrations of all three components as 1% with a mean particle size of 189.6 nm, PDI of 0.3487, the net zeta-potential of 42.48 mV, and DPPH radical scavenging of 12.72%. The prepared nanoliposomes had acceptable physical but limited chemical stabilities. The antibacterial action of manufactured essential oil nanoliposomes against both Gram-negative Escherichia coli and Gram-positive Staphylococcus aureus has made them efficient candidates as natural food preservatives. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]