Muhammad Irshad

Adsorption of heavy metal ions in ternary systems onto Fe(OH)3

The adsorption behavior of amorphous Fe(OH)3 has been studied in multicomponent metal system. The metal ions uptake in the ternary system is lower than in the single system, suggesting that certain sites on the surface of the solid are blocked due to competition. The selectivity trend in the ternary system is observed to be Ni2+>Zn2+>Cd2+ which is, however, lost with increase in the temperature of the aqueous solution. Further, the observed selectivity trend is neither related to electronegativity of the metal ions nor to the pH of the hydrolysis, but has been found dependent on charge to radius ratio. The metal ions adsorption is found to increase with pH, while the converse is true with the rise in temperature. The uptake of metal ions data has been interpreted in terms of stoichiometry, binding constants and adsorption capacities. The negative values of ΔG show that uptake of metal ions is favored at lower temperatures, indicating that the adsorption mechanism essentially remains ion exchange in nature.

Optimized production, purification and molecular characterization of fungal laccase through Alternaria alternata

Abstract Objective Industrial effluents and agriculture biomass are main environmental hazards which are facing by developing country like Pakistan. Along with various other industrial applications, laccases are also involved in the oxidation of various industrial hazardous compounds to detoxify them. This study was designed to produce and purify laccase from ascomyceteous fungi, i.e. Alternaria alternata through solid stat fermentation. Materials and methods Abundantly available Sarkanda grass “Saccharum spontaneum” was used as agro-waste substrate for laccase production from fungus A. alternata. Previously only white rot fungi are familiar for laccase production and almost no work has been done on laccase production by A. alternata. In this research work, different physical and chemical parameters were optimized for maximum laccase production through solid state fermentation (SSF). Results Enzyme was purified and its molecular weight was determined by sodium dodecyl sulfate polyacrylamide gel electrophoresis (SDS-PAGE). Maximum laccase activity (21.87±0.0115 unit/mL) was detected on 7th day of incubation having pH 5 of the medium at 35°C. None of the added metal ions increased laccase production. Galactose and “yeast extract” used as optimum carbon and nitrogen source for highest laccase production. Conclusion A monomeric protein (laccase) having approximately 51 kDa molecular weight obtained after SDS-PAGE.