ZnO nanostructured matrix as nexus catalysts for the removal of emerging pollutants.

Water pollution stands as a pressing global environmental concern, elevating the significance of innovative, dependable, and sustainable solutions. This study represents an extensive review of the use of photocatalytic zinc oxide nanoparticles (ZnO NPs) for the removal of emerging pollutants from water and wastewater. The study examines ZnO NPs' different preparation methods, including physical, chemical, and green synthesis, and emphasizes on advantages, disadvantages, preparation factors, and investigation methods for the structural and morphological properties.

Ferrous Industrial Wastes-Valuable Resources for Water and Wastewater Decontamination.

Ferrous waste by-products from the metallurgical industry have a high potential for valorization in the context of the circular economy, and can be converted to value-added products used in environmental remediation. This research reviews the latest data available in the literature with a focus on: (i) sources from which these types of iron-based wastes originate; (ii) the types of ferrous compounds that result from different industries; (iii) the different methods (with respect to the circular economy) used to convert them into products applied in water and wastewater decontamination; (iv) the harmful effects ferrous wastes can have on the environment and human health; and (v) the future perspectives for these types of waste.

Walnut Shell Biowaste Valorization via HTC Process for the Removal of Some Emerging Pharmaceutical Pollutants from Aqueous Solutions.

This research emphasizes the performance of some eco-friendly carbon materials as hydrochars (HC) obtained by the hydrothermal carbonization (HTC) process applied to walnut shell (WS) biowaste. These materials display promising properties that can be used for environmental applications such as emerging pharmaceutical pollutant retention from water sources. Thus, three hydrochars coded HCWS1, HCWS2, and HCWS3 were obtained using a dynamic autoclave in specific conditions-temperature of 220 °C, autogenous pressure, 1:10 biomass-water weight ratio-and for three different reaction times, 1 h, 6 h, and 12 h.

Adsorption of Copper (II) from Aqueous Solutions with Alginate/Clay Hybrid Materials.

Massive amounts of industrial and agricultural water around the world are polluted by various types of contaminants that harm the environment and affect human health. Alginic acid is a very versatile green polymer used for heavy metal adsorption due to its availability, biocompatibility, low cost, and non-toxic characteristics. The aim of this paper was to prepare new low-cost hybrid composite beads using sodium alginate with treated montmorillonite and kaolin for the adsorption of copper (Cu) cations.

Novel Adsorbent Based on Banana Peel Waste for Removal of Heavy Metal Ions from Synthetic Solutions.

Due to its valuable compounds, food waste has been gaining attention in different applications, such as life quality and environment. Combined with circular economy requirements, a valorization method for waste, especially banana waste, was to convert them into adsorbents with advanced properties. The banana waste, after thermal treatment, was used with high removal performances (100%) for the removal of heavy metals, such as Cr, Cu, Pb, and Zn, but their small particle size makes them very hard to recover and reuse.

Sustainable Rabbit Skin Glue to Produce Bioactive Nanofibers for Nonactive Wound Dressings.

This paper assessed the collagen glue (Col) from rabbit skin for use as a raw material in combination with different water-based dispersants of antimicrobial agents such as ZnO NPs, TiO NPs doped with nitrogen and Ag NPs (TiO-N-Ag NPs), and chitosan (CS) for the production of biocompatible and antimicrobial nanofibers. The electrospun nanofibers were investigated by scanning electron microscopy (SEM), attenuated total reflectance in conjunction with Fourier-transform infrared spectroscopy (ATR-FT-IR) analyses and antioxidant activity. The biocompatibility of electrospun nanofibers was investigated on cell lines of mouse fibroblast NCTC ((clone L929) using MTT test assays.

Effect of Styrene-Diene Block Copolymers and Glass Bubbles on the Post-Consumer Recycled Polypropylene Properties.

The recycled polypropylene (rPP) materials that meet technical requirements such as reducing the dimensions and improving the tensile, elongation, impact strength, thermal stability, as well as melt processing, are required for the manufacturing industry. In this paper, we studied the mechanical and thermal properties of post-consumer rPP by adding both synthesized thermoplastic elastomers, and glass bubbles (GB) by a melt allowing process. Styrene-butadiene (SBS) and styrene-isoprene (SIS) block-copolymers that had a styrene content of 30 wt% were synthesized by anionic sequential polymerization.

Eliminating missing race/ethnicity data from a sexually transmitted disease case registry.

Data regarding race and ethnicity are usually requested when conducting public health surveillance. However, such data are frequently not included in case reports by providers. This report describes efforts to reduce the extent of missing race and/or ethnicity data in reports of sexually transmitted diseases in Massachusetts.