Optimization of artemisinin extraction from Artemisia annua L. with supercritical carbon dioxide + ethanol using response surface methodology.

Malaria is a high priority life-threatening public health concern in developing countries, and therefore there is a growing interest to obtain artemisinin for the production of artemisinin-based combination therapy products. In this study, artemisinin was extracted from the Artemisia annua L. plant using supercritical carbon dioxide (SC-CO ) modified with ethanol.

Automotive Wastes.

A review of the literature from 2014 related to automotive wastes is presented. Topics include solid wastes from autobodies and tires as well as vehicle emissions to soil and air as a result of the use of conventional and alternative fuels. Potential toxicological and health risks related to automotive wastes are also discussed.

Effect of salt on aerobic biodegradation of petroleum hydrocarbons in contaminated groundwater.

Hydrocarbon-contaminated soil and groundwater at oil and gas production sites may be additionally impacted by salts due to release of produced waters. However, little is known about the effect of salt on the in-situ biodegradation of hydrocarbons by terrestrial microbes, especially at low temperatures. To study this effect, we prepared a groundwater-soil slurry from two sites in Canada: a former flare pit site contaminated with flare pit residue (Site A), and a natural gas processing facility contaminated with natural gas condensate (Site B).

Detecting naphthenic acids in waters by gas chromatography-mass spectrometry.

Naphthenic acids (general formula C(n)H(2n+Z)O(2)) are water-soluble, toxic compounds found in petroleum and bitumen. Some of the current methods for detecting these acids in waters depend on measuring the presence of the carboxylic acid functional group, and therefore many of these methods also detect naturally occurring carboxylic acids that are not naphthenic acids. We report a procedure that includes liquid-liquid extraction, cleanup, and derivatization to form t-butyldimethylsilyl esters prior to gas chromatography-mass spectrometry (GC-MS) analysis.