Mukesh Goel

The potential of using low cost naturally available biogenic substrates for biological removal of chlorophenol.

This study details the application of naturally available biogenic substrates (NABS) in microbial degradation of 2-chlorophenol (CP). Jatropha deoiled cakes (JDC) and Karanja deoiled cakes (KDC) are used as NABS. The potential of NABS is compared with standard biogenic substrate, glucose. The study was carried out with both acclimatized mixed culture and pure culture, Pseudomonas putida. Microbial activity of the culture was monitored by measuring reduction in chlorophenol concentration, COD, toxicity and Cl(-) ions evolution. The study was carried out for a total of 42days. It was observed that culture having NABS has shown similar chlorophenol reduction but higher COD and toxicity reduction. Amongst NABS, Jatropha deoiled cake (JDC) has shown superior results of 71% COD reduction compared to glucose and KDC. This study is one of the first kind illustrating the potential of these substrates in removing toxic chemicals from wastewaters.

Nanofiltration in Transforming Surface Water into Healthy Water: Comparison with Reverse Osmosis

The natural surface water, especially available through rivers, is the main source of healthy water for the living beings throughout the world from ancient days as it consists of all essential minerals. With the advent of industrialization, gradually even the most prominent rivers have been polluted in all parts of the world. Although there are lots of technologies, nanofiltration (NF) has been chosen to transform river water into healthy water due to its unique advantages of retaining optimum TDS (with essential minerals required for human body), consuming of lower energy, and no usage of any chemicals. The prominent parameters of surface water and macro/microminerals of treated water have been analyzed. It is shown that NF is better in producing healthy water with high flux by consuming low energy.

Alternative usage of edible deoiled cake for decolonization of Reactive Red dye

AbstractThe present study explores the feasibility of using cheap renewable materials such as deoiled cake as an adsorbent for the removal of reactive red dye from aqueous solutions. Adsorption studies were carried out (batch mode) at varying initial dye concentrations, pH values and contact times. The results showed the highest dye adsorption capacity at pH ~7, under a constant temperature of 30 ± 2°C (the equilibrium state), at an optimized adsorption period of 6 h. On analysis of different equilibrium isotherms, Redlich–Peterson and Sip isotherms were found to be the best representatives for reactive red dye sorption on the deoiled cake adsorbent studied.

A study on the enhancement of sonochemical degradation of eosin B using other advanced oxidation processes

AbstractEosin B is a xanthenes dye and is a derivate of fluorescein. The efficacy of sonochemical degradation coupled with other advanced oxidation process (AOP’s) has been studied for eosin B degradation in aqueous solution. The study compares the effects of H2O2 concentration, saturating gas (argon, N2, and O2), temperature and pH (3–11). Furthermore, kinetic comparison and a figure of merit for the electrical energy consumption were carried out for the degradation under combination of different AOP’s. Higher rate constant was obtained under Ar as a saturating gas and higher mineralization rate was found under acidic condition. It was also observed that rate constant decreases with the increase in temperature. The kinetic analysis indicate that of all the degrading setups used, the US + O3 was fastest in decomposing the eosin B, whereas, in energy consumption scale, UV + H2O2 was found to be the most efficient.

Estimation and Application of Fractal Differential Adjacency Segregation (F-DAS) Scores in Analysis of Scanning Electron Micrograph (SEM) Imageries Towards Understanding the Adsorption unto Porous Solids

The conventional approach for fractal dimension (FD) estimation using box count method has been widely used in the analysis of imageries especially in the domain of earth systems modelling and has been known to provide insight into the complexities of the system as well as the dynamics of the processes involved. However, for heterogeneous imageries such as micrographs, etc., the information provided by estimated FD seems to be limited. The present work establishes this limitation in the use of FD (using HarFA 5.5 software) and extends the concept of fractal dimensioning into lower scale segregation levels and evaluating their differential scores. In this approach, fractal differential adjacency segregation (F-DAS) scores are estimated using MATLAB 14.0 for each of the image pixels (of SEM imageries) using the arithmetic means of the grey levels of the adjacency pixels enclosed by the box (used for counting in the conventional methods). The present analysis provides a better understanding of the variability of the system (in this case, adsorbents–adsorbate interactions), unexplored by qualitative analysis of SEM imageries as well as the functional groups using FTIR. This work provides systematic steps of estimation of F-DAS scores of any imagery, the assumptions underlying the approach as well as the scopes of its applications in analysis of various earth systems.

Photochemical Removal of Pesticides: A Review

In the current era where pesticides play a vital role in one’s everyday life, large quantities of various pesticides some of which are highly toxic are being used routinely by industries and consumers. Extensive use of these chemicals provides greater risk to plants, animals and human population which has been reviewed from time to time. Apart from the biological degradation, photochemical removal holds considerable promise for the abatement of these pesticides in wastewaters. This paper reviews the photochemical degradation of pesticides. It is evident from the review that removal depends on several factors such as pH of the solution, catalysts loading, initial concentration of the pesticides, support based catalysts or suspended catalysts, light intensity and so on and so forth. Since the pesticides are ubiquitously present in the wastewaters, photochemical technology seems imperative to alleviate the pollution problems associated with the pesticides. However, commercial application of this technology has to be clearly assessed.