Sharif Digital Repository

In this article, we synthesize a novel gelatin-based superabsorbent hydrogel via graft copolymerization of mixtures of acrylic acid (AA) and acrylamide (AAm) onto gelatin backbones. The polymerization reaction was carried out in an aqueous medium and in the presence of ammonium persulfate (APS) as an initiator and N,N-methylene bisacrylamide (MBA) as a crosslinker. The hydrogel structures were confirmed by FTIR spectroscopy. The effect of grafting variables, i.e. concentration of MBA and APS, AA/AAm weight ratio, and reaction time and temperature, was systematically optimized to achieve a hydrogel with swelling capacity as high as possible. The swelling behavior of these absorbent polymers... 

CdS nanoparticles were grown using CdSO4 and Na 2S2O3 as the precursors and thioglycerol (TG) as the capping agent. TG was shown to exhibit a catalytic role in the reaction and also acted as a capping agent. It was demonstrated that size growth is linearly related to the temperature of the reaction, i.e.the sizes can be controllably adjusted by temperature. The crystalline phase of the nanocrystals was also dependent on the temperature of growth: higher temperature favours the cubic phase. The pH also plays an important role in nanoparticle growth, as lower pH leads to a higher release rate of sulfur species. At pH as high as 10, the growth rate remains slow even at boiling temperature. This... 

TiO2 nanofibres were prepared using a templating method with tetraisopropylorthotitanate (TiPT) as a precursor. The preparation comprises liquid phase deposition on cellulose fibres followed by thermal removal of the cellulose template. The obtained TiO2 fibrous substance consists of micron-size fibres with a microstructure of nanofibres. It was demonstrated that nanofibres are basically formed through the aggregation of TiO2 nanoparticles and nanorods into chain structures during the thermal treatment process. The measured surface area of the TiO2 fibres was about 250 m2 g-1. It was shown that the pore size distribution is multi-scale and a fractal morphology was demonstrated with two... 

Water-soluble cobalt(II) tetradentate Schiff base complexes have been shown to form charge transfer (CT) complexes with a series of nucleoside monophosphates including adenosine-5′-monophosphate (AMP) and cytidine-5′-monophosphate (CMP). The investigated water-soluble cobalt(II) Schiff base complexes are (i) disodium[{bis(5-sulfo-salicylaldehyde)-o-phenylenediiminato}cobalt(II)], Na 2[Co(SO3-salophen)] (1); (ii) disodium[{bis(5-sulfo-salicylaldehyde)-4,5-dimethyl-o-phenylenediiminato} cobalt(II)], Na2[Co(SO3-sal-4,5-dmophen)] (2) and (iii) disodium[{bis(4-methoxy-5-sulfo-salicylaldehyde)-4, 5-dimethyl-o-phenylenediiminato}cobalt(II)], Na2[Co(SO 3-4-meosal-4,5-dmophen)] (3). The formation... 

A batch extraction of an essential amino acid, Phenylalanine, from an aqueous solution of different concentrations by an Emulsion Liquid Membrane (ELM) was developed using D2EHPA as a cationic carrier, Span 80 as the surfactant, paraffin and kerosene as the diluents, and HCl as the internal electrolyte. All effective parameters such as pH of initial aqueous external phase, electrolyte concentration in aqueous internal phase, carrier and surfactant concentration in emulsion, volume ratio of the organic to aqueous internal phase (Roi), volume ratio of the W/O emulsion to aqueous external phase (Rew) and time were examined and optimized using Taguchi method which was the first time of... 

The removal performance of total poly phenols and orthodiphenols (o-diphenols) content in olive mill waste (OMW) was investigated with a three stages cross flow laboratory scale rotating biological contactor (RBC) in the present study. Due to high COD and other pollutant existed in the original OMW, before biological treatment of OMW by the RBC system, physico-chemical treatment was effected for COD and other pollutant reduction. Inoculation of RBC was effected by sludge from olive oil factory, and microbial acclimation was continued to 49 days and the system was adapted to about 300ppm of OMW poly phenols and o-diphenols. In biological treatment, effect of operating parameters such as... 

In this paper, synthesis and swelling behavior of a novel superabsorbent hydrogel based on kappa carrageenan (κC) and polyacrylonitrile (PAN) was investigated. To achieve partially hydrolyzed κC-PAN hydrogel, physical mixture of κC and PAN was hydrolyzed by NaOH solution. During alkaline hydrolysis, the nitrile groups of PAN are converted to a mixture of hydrophilic carboxamide and carboxylate groups follow by in situ crosslinking of the grafted PAN chains. The reaction variables affecting on the swelling capacity of the hydrogel were systematically optimized to achieve a hydrogel with swelling capacity as high as possible. Under the optimized conditions concluded, super swelling hydrogel... 

The nitrate-citrate gels exhibit auto-catalytic behavior, which can be used to synthesize the nanocrystalline YIG powders. In this study yttrium iron garnet (Y3Fe5O12) nanocrystalline powders were prepared by a sol-gel auto-combustion process. The influence of pH value of the precursor solution on the combustion behavior and the garnet phase formation of synthesized powders were investigated by scanning electron microscopy (SEM), thermal analysis (DTA/TGA), infrared (IR) spectroscopy and X-ray diffraction technique (XRD). The results show that with increasing pH value, the combustion rate increases. The as-burnt powder prepared with pH 1 yielded a single phase YIG after calcination at 800... 

Interaction between rock-fluid and fluid-fluid can have a significant effect on oil recovery. Changing the wettability of reservoir rock toward more water-wet or less oil-wet state is one of the expected mechanisms during low salinity water injection (LSWI). pH and salinity are of the most eminent factors of injection water controlling the wettability state of a crude oil/brine/rock system during any waterflooding operation. A small change in pH can affect the surface charges at the rock/water and oil/water interfaces leading to wettability alteration in a porous medium. In this study, the synergic effect of salinity and pH on the wettability state of carbonate rocks is evaluated through... 

A mesophilic iron oxidizing bacterium, Acidithiobacillus ferrooxidans, has been isolated (33 °C) from a typical chalcopyrite copper concentrate of the Sarcheshmeh copper mine in the region of Kerman located in the south of Iran. In addition, a thermophilic iron oxidizing bacterium, Sulfobacillus, has been isolated (60 °C) from the Kooshk lead and zinc mine near the city of Yazd in central Iran. Effects of some variable parameters such as solids concentration, temperature and pH on the bioleaching of chalcopyrite obtained from Sarcheshmeh copper mine were investigated. Bioleaching experiments were carried out in two batch airlift bioreactors with a recycling stream. The results indicate that... 

To synthesize a novel biopolymer-based superabsorbent hydrogel, 2-acrylamido-2-methylpropanesulfonic acid (AMPS) was grafted onto kappa-carrageenan (ΚC) backbones. The graft copolymerization reaction was carried out in a homogeneous medium and in the presence of ammonium persulfate (APS) as an initiator, N,N,N′,N′-tetramethyl ethylenediamine (TMEDA) as an accelerator, and N,N′-methylene bisacrylamide (MBA) as a crosslinker. A proposed mechanism for ΚC-g-AMPS formation was suggested and the hydrogel structure was confirmed using FTIR spectroscopy. The affecting variables on swelling capacity, i.e., the initiator, the crosslinker, and the monomer concentration, as well as reaction temperature,... 

Metal pH50 and ΔpH50 values were determined and compared for a number of organic systems to select a synergistic system for the separation of Cd from Zn. The largest ΔpH50(Zn-Cd) value was obtained with HRJ-4277 (nonylsalicylic acid)/Cyanex 471X (triisobutyl phosphine sulphide or TIBPS) system and reached 1.53 pH units, indicating excellent separation of Cd from Zn with this system. Shellsol 2046 was chosen as the diluent of the system due to its larger ΔpH50(Zn-Cd) and excellent phase separation compared with other diluents. Distribution isotherms and subsequent McCabe-Thiele diagrams indicate that 99% Cd could be extracted in two stages at pH 3.80 and A / O ratio of 1.5 : 1. The extraction... 

Synergistic effects of Cyanex 272 mixed with D2EHPA and Cyanex 302 mixed with D2EHPA were investigated for the separation of cobalt and nickel from a dilute sulfate media with the aim of reducing the reagent cost. Selective extraction of cobalt over nickel improved with respect to D2EHPA, but worsened with respect to Cyanex 272. By the application of the slope analysis method, the stoichiometric coefficient of the extractant was found to be four for cobalt and five for nickel, in a mixture of D2EHPA with Cyanex 302. However, it was four for both cobalt and nickel in a mixture of D2EHPA with Cyanex 272. Fourier Transform Infrared Spectroscopy (FT-IR) was utilized to examine the... 

In this paper, immobilization of penicillin G aclylase onto non-porous ultrafine silica particles has been studied. The amount of penicillin G acylase immobilized was increased by increasing the free enzyme concentration and, at 0.45 mg/ml concentration of the free enzyme, 80% of the enzyme was immobilized. The optimum pH for immobilization was found to be 7.0, close to the pl of the enzyme. Although immobilization of the enzyme on ultrafine silica particles with and without glutaraldehyde showed almost the same activities, the enzyme immobilized with glutaraldehyde retained its initial activity much longer during 40 cycle-repeated batches with a half life of 163.2 h. © Sharif University of... 

In this paper, LM pectin production from commercial apple pectin by using acid, alkali and ammonia methods in the presence of ethanol was studied. Also, the effect of different parameters such as, temperature, time, acid, alkali and ammonia treatment in LM pectin production were evaluated. In all the experiments, low temperature showed a better influence from a recovery, purity and low de-polymerization viewpoint. Optimum conditions in the acid method reached at pH = 2, t = 17 hrs and T = 30°C, in the alkaline method reached at pH = 11, t = 3 hrs and T = 5°C and in the ammonia method reached at 2 N ammonia and T = 5°C, were determined. © Sharif University of Technology  

Rhenium distribution between Tri-n-butyl phosphate (TBP) dissolved in kerosene and sulfuric aqueous media is investigated under different temperatures, acidities, and TBP concentrations. Results show an exothermic extraction reaction with a distribution factor that decreases with the increase of the temperature and increases with the increase of the acidity and the TBP concentration. The stoichiometry of the reaction indicates neutralization of 1 mole of H+ with 1 mole of ReO4- and solvating of a neutral molecule with four molecules of TBP. The structure of the complexes formed is, therefore, 4TBP · HReO4. The apparent Gibbs free energy of the formation of 4TBP · HReO4 from TBP, ReO4-, and... 

In this work Halloysite nanotubes were used to synthesis a series of modified acrylamide/Quince seeds-based hydrogels (Poly (AAm-co-QS)/Haln). The as-prepared Poly (AAm-co-QS)/Haln hydrogels displayed improved performance as adsorbent in elimination of methylene blue (MB) from aqueous solution. The structures of the prepared Poly (AAm-co-QS)/Haln hydrogels were identified by XRD, FT-IR, FE-SEM, BET, TGA and EDX. Effect of pH value on the swelling behavior and dye adsorption performance of as-prepared hydrogels was explored. The adsorption MB results suggested that the adsorption kinetics fitted the pseudo-second-order model. The adsorption experiments at various pH condition indicated that... 

Nanoparticle halo mechanism is a stabilization method for microparticle suspensions. This study investigates suspension pH and nanoparticles–microparticles collision effects on the stabilization of an aqueous binary suspension. The long-term turbidity measurements show that for the nanosilica suspension stability is directly correlated with pH values; however, in the cases of zirconia and binary suspensions, it is not a monotonic function of pH. It is shown that for binary suspension, the halo mechanism is the primary method affecting the stability of the suspension. The suspension is best-stabilized at pH = 5 that is associated with high halo mechanism efficiency, while increased repulsive...