Sharif Digital Repository

In this investigation, bioleaching of vanadium from uranium ore residue of the leaching stage was studied by Aspergillus niger in a two-step process at 30 °C and 150 rpm. The first step was initiated by growth of fungi in the absence of mine waste. Using response surface methodology, three factors were surveyed for fungal growth: initial pH, sucrose concentration and spore population. Also concentrations of oxalic, citric, and gluconic acids were measured as response in this step. During 30 days, maximum productions of these acids were 3265, 11578, and 7988 mg/l, respectively. Initial pH and sucrose concentration were significant factors for oxalic and citric acid production; however, for... 

In this study the ability of Acidithiobacillus ferrooxi-dans, with regard to the biorecovery of heavy metals in shake flask has been investigated. Adaptation experiments with the single metal ions Ni, Co, V, Mo, W and a mixture of the first four metal ions in the medium was developed through serial sub-culturing. Adaptation showed that A. ferrooxidans could tolerate up to 2.3 g/l Ni, 1.4 g/l Co, 1.4 g/l V, 0.045 g/l Mo and 0.005 g/l W, singly. In the presence of multi-metals considering a mixture of Ni-Co-V-Mo, the bacteria was able to tolerate up to 1.5 g/l Ni, 0.8 g/l Co, 0.8 g/l V and 0.05 g/l Mo in steps of 50-100 mg/l for Ni, Co and V, while for Mo and W with increments in concentration... 

Hydroxylated aromatic compounds (HACs) are considered to be primary pollutants in a wide variety of industrial wastewaters. Horseradish peroxidase (HRP) is suitable for the removal of these toxic substances. However, development of a mathematical model and optimization of the HRP-based treatment considering the economical issues by novel methods is a necessity. In the present study, optimization of phenol removal from wastewater by horseradish peroxidase (HRP) was carried out using response surface methodology (RSM) and central composite design (CCD). As the initial experimental design, 2 4-1 half-fraction factorial design (H-FFD) is accomplished in triplicate at two levels to select the... 

Biological treatment of waste gas styrene vapor was investigated in a three-stage bench-scale biofilter. Yard waste compost mixed with shredded hard plastics in a 25:75 v/v ratio of plastics:compost was inoculated with thickened municipal activated sludge. Microbial acclimation to styrene was achieved by exposing the system to an inlet concentration (CIn) of 0.25 g m -3 styrene and an empty bed retention time (EBRT) of 360 s for 30 days. Under steady-state conditions, maximum elimination capacity (EC) obtained was 45 g m-3 h-1 at a loading rate (L) of 60 g m -3 h-1 (CIn of 2 g m-3 and EBRT of 120 s). Reduction of retention time adversely impacted the performance resulting in the maximum EC... 

In this research, the characteristics of the prepared samples in epoxy matrix by means of X-ray diffraction (XRD), energy dispersive X-ray spectroscopy (EDS), as well as scanning electron microscope (SEM) are evaluated. Meanwhile, the obtained mechanical properties of the specimen are investigated. Thermogravimetric analysis (TGA) is also employed to evaluate the thermal degradation of manufactured nanocomposites. The thermal neutron absorption properties of nanocomposites containing 3 wt% of montmorillonite nanoclay (closite30B) have been studied experimentally, using an Am-Be point source. Mechanical tests reveal that the higher B4C concentrations, the more tensile strengths, but lower... 

Tubular ceramic membranes were synthesized by depositing a dense layer of silica-alumina on top of a multilayer substrate using co-current chemical vapor deposition (CVD) method. The multilayer substrate was prepared by coating with a series of bohemite sols with certain particle sizes. Cross-sectional and surface images obtained from high resolution FESEM showed that the intermediate layer had a thickness of about 1μm and the top selective layer was uniform and dense with a thickness of less than 100nm. Permeance tests, which were carried out with H 2, CO 2, N 2 and CH 4 at a high temperature range of 923-1073K, indicated that gas permeation took place via different mechanisms through... 

In this work, the synthesized graphene oxide/TiO2/doxorubicin (GO/TiO2/DOX) composites were loaded into the chitosan/poly(lactic acid) (PLA) solutions to fabricate the electrospun chitosan/PLA/GO/TiO2/DOX nanofibrous scaffolds via electrospinning process. The synthesized composites and nanofibers were characterized using X-ray powder diffraction (XRD), scanning electron microscopy (SEM) and transmission electron microscopy (TEM) analysis. Three-factor three-level central composite design was used to determine the influence of PLA to chitosan ratio, TiO2/DOX content and GO/TiO2/DOX content on the release of DOX from nanofibrous scaffolds. Drug loading efficiency and drug release behavior from... 

Oxaliplatin (OXA) has been widely used for treatment of colorectal cancer. In this study, to enhance antitumor and apoptosis efficacy, OXA was encapsulated in a novel folate conjugated hyaluronic acid coated alginate nanogels (F/HA/AL/OXA). The F/HA/AL/OXA nanogels were prepared by cross-linking process. The physico-chemical properties of F/HA/AL/OXA nanogels were characterized using scanning electron microscopy, transmission electron microscopy, fourier transform infrared spectroscopy, dynamic light scattering, and fluorescent spectrophotometry. The in-vitro antitumor activity of free OXA, AL, HA/AL, HA/AL/OXA and F/HA/AL/OXA nanogels were assessed using MTT assay against colorectal cancer... 

Reduced graphene oxide nanoplatelets (rGONPs) were synthesized by sonication of covalently PEGylated GO sheets followed by a chemical reduction using hydrazine and bovine serum albumin. Human mesenchymal stem cells (hMSCs), as a fundamental factor in tissue engineering, were isolated from umbilical cord blood (as a recently proposed source for extracting fresh hMSCs) to investigate, for the first time, the size-dependent cyto- and geno-toxic effects of the rGONPs on the cells. The cell viability test showed significant cell destructions by 1.0 μg/mL rGONPs with average lateral dimensions (ALDs) of 11±4 nm, while the rGO sheets with ALDs of 3.8±0.4 μm could exhibit a significant cytotoxic...