Sudhangshu Kumar Roy

Chemical Studies on Press Mud: A Sugar Industries Waste in Bangladesh

Crude press muds a sugar industry waste were collected from four sugar mills of Bangladesh. Crude press mud as well as its water soluble and water insoluble portion and extracted wax were studied for its proximate analysis, physico-chemical properties, elemental and wax composition. The proximate analysis of crude press mud showed the presence of moisture (67.95–76.53), nitrogen (1.63–2.29), ash (19.28–30.76), sugar (12.10–13.29) and crude wax (6.70–11.01). Acid value (26.95–27.68), saponification value (102.59–103.01) and iodine value (6.72–6.82) were also studied of the extracted wax. The GLC analysis showed linolenic (45.54%), oleic (27.28%) and palmitic acid (23.59%) were the predominant acids in the crude wax. The XRF spectrometric analysis of the elemental composition showed the presence of Ca (21.30–29.97%), Si (9.53–9.94%), P (8.40–9.52%), S (3.77–7.36%) and K (2.51–4.08%) in crude press mud, Ca (19.83–31.93%), K (8.76–13.52%), S (7.93–16.02%) and Mg (4.14–7.75%) in water soluble portion press mud and Ca (21.77–30.68%), K (1.62–3.41%), S (3.49–7.09%), P (9.0–11.31%), Al (2.40–2.93) and Si (10.50–10.54%) in water in-soluble portion press mud. The Fourier transform infrared analysis, Thermo gravimetric, Derivative thermo gravimetric and differential thermal analysis of press mud were also carried out. These analyses may find the suitability to enrich the micronutrients in restoring the soil composition and also find possibility to use in agriculture, horticulture and aquaculture based industries. Moreover, press mud wax may have an alternative use of carnauba wax.

Chemical Composition and Biological Activities of Carum roxburghianum Benth. (Radhuni) Seeds of Three Bangladeshi Ecotypes

The volatile compounds of the essential oils of Carum roxburghianum Benth. (Radhuni) seeds of three different ecotypes of Bangladesh were obtained by hydrodistillation method and maximum yield was 2.57 % (w/w). The oils were analyzed by GC and GC-MS and thirty volatile compounds were identified and quantified. Predominantly monoterpene hydrocarbon accounted for 59.27-91.11 % of the total oil. The major constituents of the oils were limonene (29.33-59.37 %), 5,7,8-trimethyl-dihydrocoumarin (11.5326.69 %), sabinene (2.49-17.43 %), γ-terpinene (4.10-10.13 %), p-cymene (3.20-7.67 %), apoil (0.5-7.11 %), terpenolene (1.09-7.03 %), β-cis-caryophyllene (2.07-5.42 %), terpinene-4-ol (0.07-5.11 %), cis-sabinene hydrate (3.78-4.89 %), α-phellandrene (0.05-3.54%) and myristicine (0.28-2.33 %). The highest concentration of the elements (in ppm) were Ca 18900, Mg 6900, P 5500, K 5000, S 2900, Na 2000, Zn 115.0, Fe 105.0, B 43.0, Cr 0.561, Ni 0.464, Pb 0.042 and Co 0.033 in the three studied ecotypes. The Physico-chemical properties were evaluated. In the biological activities of the essential oils, the IC 50 value of the oils were 1147.12±6.99 μg/mL-1305.60±10.87 μg/mL at the highest concentration of 4000 μg/mL with 74.59±0.36 % inhibition by DPPH method. The LC 50 value was 2.17 μg/mL-2.53 μg/mL in the brine shrimp lethality cytotoxicity bioassay. The significant zone of inhibition was produced against some bacteria and fungi. These studies may find interest of several applications in pharmaceutical and food industries.

Chemical Constituents of Essential Oil of Petals and Corolla Tubes of Nyctanthes Arbor-Tristis Linn Flower

Abstract This is first report on the composition of the white petal and orange corolla tubes of the flower essential oils of Nyctanthes arbor-tristis Linn (Seuli) from the Dhaka city in Bangladesh. The white petal and orange corolla tubes of the flower of Seuli, extracted by water distillation processing were subjected to analysis by GC-MS. The major constituents were found to be 3,7,11,15-tetramethyl-2-hexadecene-1-ol (40.3 %) and 2-methyloctadecane (17.6 %), from petal and corolla tube, respectively. The oil confirmed the determination of 8 and 10 compound of petal and corolla tube were representing 4.50 % and 2.83 % respectively. Physico-chemical properties of the petal, corolla tube and its volatile oil were determined by standard techniques.

Effects of a food supplementation program on the nutritional status of pregnant women in Bangladesh.

Background The Government of Bangladesh implemented a comprehensive nutrition intervention in 1997 to reduce the rates of malnutrition among women and children. The pilot program, the Bangladesh Integrated Nutrition Program (BINP), adopted a multisectoral approach targeting women and children through food supplementation, home gardening, and health and nutrition education. Objective This paper estimates the effectiveness of BINPs food supplementation and nutrition education on the nutritional status of pregnant women. Methods Three effectiveness measures were considered: target efficiency, improvements in the nutritional status of beneficiaries, and the persistence of nutritional effects. To isolate the effects of the intervention, the nutritional status of participants and nonparticipants was compared after controlling for various demographic and socioeconomic characteristics. Data were collected in 2000 from a random sample of 3,262 households in a BINP intervention area. Results Thirty-nine percent of pregnant women were correctly targeted by the programs food supplementation activities. The nutrition program reduced the prevalence of thinness among participant pregnant women by about 3 percentage points per month of enrollment. The prevalence of thinness among program graduates was 62%, which was much higher than that of the matched (nonparticipant) group (35%). This finding is perplexing but it may simply imply that those who enrolled at the initial phase of the project were severely underweight and they fell back to their original status within a short period of time. Conclusions The nutrition program was intended to improve the nutritional status of women in the longer run through the provision of nutrition education during the food supplementation phase. The prevalence of thinness or severe underweight in women who exited the program after completion of the enrollment period was found to be much higher than in women of similar age and socioeconomic status in the community. This apparent lack of persistence of program benefits requires careful re-evaluation of alternative mechanisms for improving the long-term nutritional status of women.