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Nanocellulose (NC) films are gaining popularity in recent years owing to their recyclability and biodegradability; however, the commercialization of this material is limited by environmental and moisture barrier constraints. The incorporation of carboxymethyl cellulose (CMC) with NC significantly improved the barrier performance but the resultant films were quite hydrophilic and hence completely disintegrated in water. The aim of this study is to produce hydrophobic NC/CMC films without compromising their barrier characteristics. For this purpose, the optimized content of alkyl ketene dimer (AKD) was spray-deposited on the fully and partially dried NC/CMC films and their hydrophobic, barrier and mechanical properties were assessed. The deposition of AKD has improved the hydrophobicity and flexibility while maintaining the barrier properties of the films. However, their tensile index values decreased by 26–29% as compared with the neat NC/CMC films, but the values remained in acceptable range. Additionally, the partially dried spray deposited AKD-NC/CMC films have shown superior results as they showed higher hydrophobicity (θ = 127° ± 3), while lower percentage of mass loss after immersion for 48 h in water (15%) as compared with the fully dried spray deposited AKD-NC/CMC films.

Nanocellulose (NC) and NC-based composites have gained considerable attention in recent years due to their biodegradability and recyclability. Spray deposition has emerged as a potential technique to produce NC films due to the rapidity and simplicity of the process. The major hurdle regarding the efficient production of NC-based films is the drying process. The aim of the current study is to significantly reduce the drying time of NC films and consequently examine the impact of drying on their mechanical characteristics, barrier and environmental performance. The NC films produced by spray deposition were dried at 50 °C, 75 °C and 100 °C and their characteristics were compared with the films produced via the same method at ambient temperature (28 ± 2 °C). Heating the films in an oven up to 75 °C had a negligible effect on mechanical characteristics while slightly improving the barrier properties as compared with the ambient dried films. However, the dimensional stability was only achieved when the temperature was below 75 °C. Drying could be accomplished at the faster drying rate and the NC films found to have lower embodied energy in comparison with the conventional packaging materials.Graphic abstract

Synthetic packaging has excellent performance, but most of them becomes a waste after their use and thus, poses serious concerns to the environment and consumer health. Considering current circumstances, the demand for sustainable packaging that is either recyclable or biodegradable if discarded has increased tremendously in last few years. Cellulose nanofibril (CNF) films are emerging as a sustainable packaging; however, their high energy consumption associated with the production of fibres and reduced properties on recycling are serious concerns. The aim of this study is to assess the recycling characteristics of spray deposited CNF films. For this purpose, the CNFs were recycled at different revolutions (75 × 10 3 to 999 × 10 3 ) in a laboratory disintegrator, followed by screening and their physical, barrier and environmental characteristics were evaluated. Results showed that recycled CNF films at 300 × 10 3 revolutions had identical barrier performance as compared with the non-recycled films. Additionally, the films after first recycling have maintained their mechanical properties without compromising their dimensional stability. However, the mechanical performance and transmittance of these films after the 2nd recycling have slightly reduced due to the agglomeration of the fibres as affirmed by the SEM images. The CNF films showed slightly higher environmental impact in terms of their embodied energies than conventional packaging; however, these impacts are expected to be lower on possibly further recycling of these films. The ease of recycling of these films without compromising the dimensional stability is an excellent route to contribute towards global sustainability. Graphical Abstract

Abstract Objectives To deveop on-pack visual indicators for the real-time monitoring of raw beef steaks in a modified atmospheric packaging (MAP). Materials and Methods Three indicators were prepared by spray deposition of a nanocellulose suspension (1.5%, in mass) with the desired concentration of the pH-sensitive indicators, either red cabbage (RC) extract, black carrot (BC) extract, or chlorophenol red (CPR). The responsiveness of the colorimetric pH indicators, assessed visually and by CIE-Lab quantitative analysis, to the freshness of raw beef steaks stored under MAP conditions at 4 °C or 20 °C, was analysed over 7 d. Results All the indicators showed a colour change for beef steak stored at 4 °C for 7 d that was noticeable with the naked eye and had a ΔE value>12. The sensitivity of the RC pH indicator was superior to that of the BC and CPR pH indicators. A study linking total microbial count (aerobic+Escherichia coli+coliform) and the quantitative colorimetric response of the indicators (ΔE) revealed a strong linear correlation. Conclusions The developed colorimetric pH indicators could be used to monitor the freshness of raw beef and as an alternative to the best-before date commonly used in pre-packaged meat. Graphical Abstract Graphical Abstract

This paper presents a research study conducted on the usage of vegetable oil for the production of eco-friendly Vege roofing tiles. Conventional roofing tiles which constitute of concrete and clay are considered as environmentally unfriendly because of the significant amount of greenhouse gas emission during their production. An entirely novel methodology of utilizing catalyzed vegetable oil is proposed which can totally replace the use of traditional binders like cement and clay. Limited trails conducted on prototypes samples revealed that when catalyzed vegetable oil mixed with aggregates, properly compacted and heat cured at 190oC for 24 hours, have shown flexural strength up to 9.5 MPa. The superior strength gain of these prototype samples was considered due to the use of the catalyst with vegetable oil, which resulted in the initiation of catalytic oxy-polymerization set of reactions during heat curing, converting vegetable oil to solid, hard polymer which is considered responsible for strength achievement factor for these novel Vege roofing tiles. All prototypes samples were tested for performance indicators like water absorption, permeability, and flexural strength according to ASTM standards. Moreover, the susceptibility of oil leachate from the tiles oil, when tested using electrical conductivity method showed a negligible amount of the electrical conductivity. Moreover, the estimated embodied energy requirements for these tiles were found quite less when compared to conventional tiles.

In this study, an innovative hybrid activated carbon (HAC), obtained via copyrolysis of oily sludge cake (OSC) and food waste (FW) with ammonium hydroxide (NH 4 OH) activation was used to effectively test its adsorption capacity for lead (Pb)(II) ions. A series of sorption experiments were conducted to optimize key parameters, including dosage, pH, initial ion concentration, and contact time. The optimized conditions were determined as pH 5, dosage 0.08 g, initial ion concentration 300 mg L −1 and contact time of 4 h. The pseudo‐second‐order kinetic model and Langmuir isotherm best represented the Pb(II) adsorption behavior. The Langmuir isotherm indicated a maximum Pb(II) adsorption capacity of 362.98 mg g −1 . The competing ions investigation revealed that the presence of Mg 2+ led to the maximum reduction of Pb(II) (removal efficiency, 7.52%). The Brunauer–Emmett–Teller (BET) analysis showed that the synthesized HAC possessed a high surface area of 786.21 m 2 g −1 . Fourier transform infrared (FTIR) and X‐ray diffraction (XRD) analyses revealed the formation of new mineral precipitates hydrocerussite (Pb 3 [CO 3 ] 2 [OH] 2 ) and cerussite (PbCO 3 ) during Pb(II) adsorption, indicating that mineral precipitation and ion exchange are the dominant mechanisms. Furthermore, the HAC exhibited excellent reusability, maintaining high Pb(II) removal capacity even after five regeneration cycles (50.5% removal). The findings of this study suggest that HAC exhibits high potential for practical water and wastewater treatment applications.

In this work, we produced composites of mesoporous silica synthesized in-situ on never-dried bleached eucalyptus kraft pulp fibers with the aim of providing cost-effective depth filters, having high flux, and adsorptivity. The mesoporous silica loading for the produced samples was in the range of 12–35 wt%. The performance of double-layer membranes was studied for the adsorption of charged molecules. The best nanofibrillated cellulose-pulp-mesoporous silica membrane adsorbed 1160 mg/m2 of methylene blue and had a flux of 10 L m−2 h−1 bar−1. The nanofibrillated cellulose layer supported the pulp-mesoporous silica layer and improved the adsorptivity of the pulp-mesoporous silica depth filter layer by controlling flux. The membranes showed non-linear-pseudo-first-order adsorption kinetics and non-linear Freundlich isotherm for methylene blue adsorption. The nanofibrillated cellulose-pulp-mesoporous silica membrane was modified for metanil yellow adsorption by adding polyamide amine-epichlorohydrin resin. The best metanil yellow saturated adsorption capacity was 9400 mg/m2. The nanofibrillated cellulose-pulp-mesoporous silica depth filter without modification with a polyelectrolyte also had 92% and 94% heavy metal removal of 20 mg of Cu2+ and Pb2+ ions, respectively. The novel pulp-mesoporous silica composite membrane, with high adsorption capacity and manufactured by lower embodied energy of cellulose fiber, can significantly lower large-scale depth filter production costs due to the elimination of cellulose pre-treatment for the depth filter layer. The reusability performance in the fifth cycle, after four cycles of metanil yellow adsorption and desorption, was 5.2 mg/g, which was stabilized from the 3rd to 5th cycles. This suggests the suitability of these membranes for industrial applications.

Mineral fertilizers and organic manure are used as soil amender to enhance the mineral status of the soil. These fertilizers contain trace metals besides providing macro and micronutrients. The present study was performed to observe the effect of mineral fertilizers, poultry manure and cow manure on trace metal content of soil and various parts (root, shoot, and grains) of maize plant (Zea mays L.). The analysis of metals was performed by atomic absorption spectrophotometer (AA-6300 Shimadzu Japan). The highest level of Pb, Fe, Ni and Cu was observed in the root as 0.36–0.55, 70.41–83.03, 4.98–7.44 and 2.94–4.43 mg kg− 1, respectively. The highest level of Cd, Zn and Mn was determined in grains as 0.44–1.59, 28.05–46.39 and 26.24–46.57 mg kg− 1, respectively. The values of all metals were found within their permissible limit given by FAO/WHO except for the Cd. The interactive use of mineral and organic fertilizers enhanced the level of trace metals in maize as compared to their sole application. In the present findings, the health risk index for all metals was less than 1 in all treatments. So, it was concluded that the level of metals in poultry manure, cow manure and mineral fertilizer treated maize did not pose any potential threat to the consumers.

This work reports the formation of a novel adsorbent, prepared by activating bentonite with cinnamic acid, which is highly efficient to remove dyes from wastewater. The adsorption efficiency of the cinnamic acid activated bentonite was compared with unmodified bentonite by removing methyl orange and rhodamine-B from polluted water. The characterization was performed through X-ray diffraction (XRD) Fourier transform infrared (FTIR) and scanning electron microscopy (SEM). The results indicated that acidic pH and low temperature were more suitable for the selected dyes adsorption. The analysis of the data was done by the Langmuir and Freundlich isotherms; the Freundlich isotherm showed more suitability for the equilibrium data. The data were further analyzed by pseudo-first and pseudo-second-order models to study adsorption kinetics. The results showed that methyl orange and rhodamine-B adsorption obeyed pseudo-order kinetics. The results obtained from this research suggested that acid activation of bentonite with cinnamic acid increased the surface area of the clay and hence enhanced its adsorption efficiency. The maximum adsorption efficiency for the removal of methyl orange and rhodamine-B was up to 99.3 mg g−1 and 44.7 mg g−1, respectively, at 25 °C. This research provides an economical modification technique of bentonite, which makes it cost-effective and a good adsorbent for wastewater treatment.

Epithelial ovarian cancer (EOC) is one of the deadliest reproductive tract malignancies that form on the external tissue covering of an ovary. Cassia fistula is popular for its anti-inflammatory and anticarcinogenic properties in conventional medications. Nevertheless, its molecular mechanisms are still unclear. The current study evaluated the potential of C. fistula for the treatment of EOC using network pharmacology approach integrated with molecular docking. Eight active constituents of C. fistula were obtained from two independent databases and the literature, and their targets were retrieved from the SwissTargetPrediction. In total, 1077 EOC associated genes were retrieved from DisGeNET and GeneCardsSuite databases, and 800 potential targets of eight active constituents of C. fistula were mapped to the 1077 EOC targets and intersected targets from two databases. Ultimately, 98 potential targets were found from C. fistula for EOC. Finally, the protein–protein interaction network (PPI) topological interpretation revealed AKT1, CTNNB1, ESR1, and CASP3 as key targets. This is the first time four genes have been found against EOC from C. fistula. The major enriched pathways of these candidate genes were established by Gene Ontology (GO) and Kyoto Encyclopedia of Genes and Genomes (KEGG) investigations. To confirm the network pharmacology findings, the molecular docking approach demonstrated that active molecules have higher affinity for binding to putative targets for EOC suppression. More pharmacological and clinical research is required for the development of a drug to treat EOC.