Journal of Environmental Bioremediation and Toxicology

Kinetics and Thermodynamics of Sorption of Methylene Blue Dye Onto Raw Groundnut Shell Biosorbent

Muhammad Muhammad Muzakir — 2023-07-31

Dyes are one of the hazardous chemicals found in wastewater produced by textile and allied industries that need to be removed from the wastewater before it is released into water bodies. The sorption efficiency of raw groundnut shell (RGS), an agricultural waste, was tested on methylene blue (MB) dye through a batch adsorption experiment. Physicochemical analysis of the RGS indicated good biosorbent properties. Fourier transform infrared (FTIR) spectroscopy analysis of the RGS revealed the presence of heterofunctional groups. The effect of various biosorption parameters such as initial dye concentration, contact time, and biosorbent dosage was systematically investigated. The quantity of MB adsorbed increased as the initial concentration and contact time increased and decreased with an increase in biosorbent dose. A maximum uptake capacity of 29.3 mg/g was recorded for 50 mg/L MB initial concentration. The equilibrium data from the batch adsorption experiments were fitted well into Freundlich isotherm and pseudo-second-order kinetic models. The results from this study indicate that RGS can serve as an alternative, low-cost, eco-friendly and efficient adsorbent for the removal of MB dye from wastewater.

Isolation, Identification and Characterization of Denitrifying Phototrophic Bacteria from Marine and Aquaculture Wastewater

Ahmad Idi — 2023-07-31

Denitrifying bacteria occur primarily in the soil and play an important role in the nitrogen cycle and wastewater treatment. This study investigated the possibility of isolating denitrifying phototrophic bacteria from marine and aquaculture wastewater. The denitrifying ability of isolates was examined through their utilization of inorganic nitrogen and nitrate reductase test. The photosynthetic capability of the isolates was determined by detecting the photosynthetic pigments (bacteriochlorophyll and carotenoid). Molecular characterization of the isolates was carried out by the amplification of 16S rRNA gene. Forty-five different isolates were obtained and photosynthetic pigments were detected in 12 (8 from marine and 4 from aquaculture). Four of the isolates were found to grow on both inorganic nitrate and nitrite as the sole carbon source. Molecular characterization has shown that the isolates are denitrifying bacteria and the relationship between isolates and other denitrifying bacteria has been established by the construction of the phylogenetic tree. Hence denitrification and denitrifying bacteria can occur in both marine and aquaculture wastewaters.

Partial Purification and Characterization of the Acetylcholinesterase from Poecilia reticulata (Peters, 1859)

Intan Nabilah Hazuki — 2023-07-31

Poecilia reticulata (P. reticulata) is a species of tropical fish in the family Poeciliidae that is found all over the world and is a favorite in freshwater aquariums. The Malay name for this fish is "Ikan Gapi," although the English term "Guppy" has become more common. The Million Fish, or Rainbow Fish, as it's known in other parts of the world. The goals of this research were to char-acterize the acetylcholinesterase that will be partially purified from P. reticulata brain extract using ammonium sulphate fractionation followed by an affinity chromatography method. The result shows that ammonium sulphate fractionation gave better purification fold over the procainamide affinity chromatographic method with fold of purification of 3.38 compared to 0.64 for the latter. Polyacrylamide gel electrophoresis (SDS-PAGE) shows a dramatic reduction of protein bands compared to crude extract. A pH of 9 in a Tris-HCl buffer system and a temperature of 15 °C were found to be ideal for the activity of the enzyme. Based on its high Vmax and low Km with acetylthiocholine iodide (ATC) as a substrate compared to butyryl thiocholine iodide (BTC) and propionyl thiocholine iodide (PTC), the substrate specificity profile identified acetylcholinesterase (AChE) as the major enzyme present in the purified enzyme. The molecular weights of the en-zyme following affinity chromatographic purification are about 92 kDa.

Proximate and Elemental Composition of Black Seed and Jujube as Formulation for the Treatment of Peptic Ulcer

Hauwa Bello Abubakar — 2023-07-31

Black seed (Nigella sativa) is a widely used medicinal plant throughout the world. Seeds and oil have a long history of folklore usage in various systems of medicines and food. The fruits of jujube (Ziziphus jujuba) are being consumed all around the world because of their health benefits, as both food and herbal medicine. The aim of this research was to evaluate Proximate and elemental compositions of Black seed and Jujube as formulation for managing peptic ulcer. Proximate composition of jujube, black seed and formulation of black seed and jujube was carried out and the contents of moisture, carbohydrate, fats, fibers, proteins and ash were determined according to standard AOAC, 2010 method. Mineral elements (Zn, Fe, Cu, Cr, Mg, Ca, Na, K, As, Pb) were also determined by atomic absorption spectrophotometric method. The result revealed that jujube has higher carbohydrate, fiber and ash contents of 46.60%, 32.17% and 12.87% respectively, while black seed has higher fats and crude protein contents (35.9% and 9.47% respectively). Elemental composition revealed that black seed has higher zinc, iron, copper, and sodium contents of 1.91 mg/L, 6.95 mg/L, 2.42 mg/L, and 27.23 mg/L respectively. Black seed and jujube can be consumed alone or in combination as they are highly enriched with nutrients which are essential for physiological body functioning and can facilitate healing in ulcer treatment.

Proximate, Nutrient Composition and Glycemic Index of Pearl Millet-Acha-Moringa Blend

M.A. Ramlatu — 2023-07-31

Globally, grains can be regarded as the daily source of diets for many populations. They constitute cereals, pseudocereals and legume and are majorly the seeds of plants. They are made up of a wide variety of macronutrients that are vital to human diet, those nutrients are not limited to carbohydrates, but also proteins lipids and micronutrients such as vitamins and minerals. Grains can be consumed as a source of dietery fibre and bioactives. This research is aimed at formulating a diet using whole grains and cray fish and also to determine the nutrients composition of the diet and its Glycemic Index. A diet was formulated using whole Pearl millet, whole Hungary rice, moringa leaves and cray fish. The Glycemic Index of the diet and the nutrients composition of the formulated diet such as % Fat, % Ash, % Moisture, %Fiber and Vitamin E were determined. Iron and magnesium ions concentration was determined using Atomic Absorption Spectrophotometry while calcium ion was determined using Flame Photometry. The result showed that the blend contains 6.31% moisture, 1.24% ash, 1.50% fat, 12.06% protein, 3.22% fibre, 75.66% carbohydrate, 50.22 mg Vitamin E, 1.37 mg Magnesium (Mg), and the Glycemic Index was 67.7%.

Isolation and Screening of Amylase-producing Fungi from Spoiled Fruits

Musa Usman — 2023-07-31

Amylase is the enzyme that is employed in the breakdown of starch into its simpler components. The research was aimed at isolating and screening Aspergillus niger from spoiled fruits for amylase enzyme production. The spoiled fruits utilized in this study were orange, tomato, banana, mango, hot pepper and pineapple, and were taken from fruit sellers in Kasuwar Mata within the Gombe metropolis. Six different fungi were isolated from spoiled fruits and were identified using cultural and morphological characteristics. They were screened on starch agar for amylase production. A. niger isolated from banana produced the biggest zone of hydrolysis (76 mm) on starch agar while A. niger from tomato produced the smallest zone of hydrolysis (38 mm). The result of this research indicates that A. niger from spoiled fruits are capable of producing amylase enzyme which can be utilized for different industrial processes.

Biosorption of Zn (II) onto Rice Husk Ash: Isothermal Remodelling

Bilal Ibrahim Dan-Iya — 2023-07-31

Zn is a heavy metal often found at elevated concentrations in effluents as high as 300 ppm from the rubber processing industry as it is used for the vulcanization of rubber. The rice milling process produces rice husk as a by-product. It is one of the most important agricultural leftovers in terms of volume. The data of the sorption isotherm of Zn (II) (CV) sorption onto rice husk ash, which was plotted using linearized plots of isothermal models were reanalyzed using isothermal models using nonlinear regression. As the datapoints were small, isotherms with parameters of only up to three were utilized to prevent overfitting. The nineteen models were Henry, Langmuir, Freundlich, Temkin, Dubinin-Radushkevich, Jovanovic, Redlich-Peterson, Sips, Toth, Hill, Khan, BET, Vieth-Sladek, Radke-Prausnitz, Brouers–Sotolongo, Fritz-Schlunder III, Unilan, Fowler-Guggenheim and Moreau. Statistical analysis based on error function analyses such as root-mean-square error (RMSE), adjusted coefficient of determination (adjR2), accuracy factor (AF), bias factor (BF), Bayesian Information Criterion (BIC), corrected AICc (Akaike Information Criterion), and Hannan-Quinn Criterion (HQC) showed that Freundlich, followed by Langmuir and the Jovanovic models as the best top three models. The value of the maximum monolayer adsorption capacity for Zn binding to rice husk ash according to the Langmuir’s parameter qmL was 7.33 mg g-1 (95% Confidence interval from5.464 to 9.187), while bL (L mg-1), the Langmuir model constants was 0.011 L mg-1 (95% C.I. from 0.030 to 0.182). As the Freundlich equation is unable to model the maximum adsorption, the Halsey rearrangement of the Freundlich equation was utilized and gave the estimated maximum absorption of 7.20 mg g-1, which is very close to the experimental value. The constant values obtained in this study, especially the Langmuir model are largely different from the previously reported linearized approach.

Phytochemical Screening and Antiproliferative Potential of Some Medicinal Plants in Northeastern Nigeria

Jalil Idi James — 2023-07-31

The use of medicinal plants for the therapy of different disease conditions has been in practice for decades, this has been attributed to the various phytoconstituents present in plants. This study seeks to investigate the presence of secondary metabolites and assess the growth inhibitory properties of the plant extracts Curcuma longa, Momordica balsamia, Prosopis africana, Zizipus mauritianai, Boswellia dalziel, Guiera senegalensis and Diospyros mespiliformis. The method used to assess the growth inhibitory potential of the extracts involved the incubation of viable Sorghum bicolor seed in different concentrations of the extracts and water as a control. The seeds radicle lengths were measured at different time intervals to ascertain the antiproliferative activity of the extracts. The results showed the presence of alkaloids, coumarins, flavonoids, phenolics, steroids, terpenoids, tannins, saponins, quinone, anthraquinone and glycosides. The antiproliferative potential of the plants was evident by the concentration-dependent decrease in the growth of the seeds in the different extracts. This suggests that when explored further; extracts from the different plants might be used as potential antitumor and anticancer agents.