The effect of metal nanoparticles on the anaerobic digestion of sludge and the sludge bacterial community are still not well-understood, and both improvements and inhibitions have been reported. This study investigated the impact of 2, 10, and 30 mg/g TS silver and copper oxide nanoparticles (AgNPs and CuONPs) on the mesophilic anaerobic digestion of sludge and the bacterial community structure. The reactors were monitored for changes in tCOD, sCOD, TS, VS, biogas generation, and cell viability. Also, the relative abundance and taxonomic distribution of the bacterial communities were analyzed at the phylum and genus levels, including the genera involved in anaerobic digestion. Both AgNPs and CuONPs exhibited some inhibition on anaerobic digestion of sludge and biogas generation, and the inhibition was more evident at higher concentrations. CuONPs had a stronger inhibitory effect compared to AgNPs. After the introduction of AgNPs and CuONPs, cell viability initially decreased over the first two weeks but recovered after that. At high concentrations, AgNPs and CuONPs decreased the overall bacterial diversity, and inhibited the dominant bacterial species, allowing those in less abundance to flourish. The relative abundance of the bacteria responsible for hydrolysis and acidogenesis increased and the relative abundance of acetogenic bacteria decreased with higher AgNP and CuONP concentrations. The majority of the parameters measured for monitoring the anaerobic digestion performance and bacterial community were not statistically significant at 2 mg/g TS of AgNPs and CuONPs, which represents naturally present concentrations in wastewater sludge that are below the USEPA ceiling concentration limits.
In this research, silver nanoparticles (AgNPs) were manufactured using aqueous extract of mushroom Pleurotus ostreatus. Anticancer potential of AgNPs was investigated versus human breast cancer cell line (MCF-7). Cytotoxic response was assessed by MTT assay. AgNPs showed inhibition effect at the following concentrations 12.5, 25, 50, 100 and 200 µg/ml versus MCF-7 cell line, and all treatments had a positive result. The MCF-7 cells were inhibited up to 85.14 % at the concentration 200 μg/ml of AgNPs which reduced cells viability to 14.86%, while 12.5 μg/ml of AgNPs caused 24.23% cells inhibition with reduction of cells viability to 75.77%.
This work is focused on studying the effect of liquid layer level (height above a target material) on zinc oxide nanoparticles (ZnO and ZnO2) production using liquid-phase pulsed laser ablation (LP-PLA) technique. A plate of Zn metal inside different heights of an aqueous environment of cetyl trimethyl ammonium bromide (CTAB) with molarity (10-3 M) was irradiated with femtosecond pulses. The effect of liquid layer height on the optical properties and structure of ZnO was studied and characterized through UV-visible absorption test at three peaks at 213 nm, 216 nm and 218 nm for three liquid heights 4, 6 and 8 mm respectively. The obtained results of UV–visible spectra test show a blue shift accomp
... Show MoreA prey-predator interaction model has been suggested in which the population of a predator consists of a two-stage structure. Modified Holling's disk equation is used to describe the consumption of the prey so that it involves the additional source of food for the predator. The fear function is imposed on prey. It is supposed that the prey exhibits anti-predator behavior and may kill the adult predator due to their struggle against predation. The proposed model is investigated for existence, uniqueness, and boundedness. After determining all feasible equilibrium points, the local stability analyses are performed. In addition, global stability analyses for this model using the Lyapunov method are investigated. The chance of occurrence of loc
... Show MoreThe sensitivity of SnO2 nanoparticles/reduced graphene oxide hybrid to NO2 gas is discussed in the present work using density functional theory (DFT). The SnO2 nanoparticles shapes are taken as pyramids, as proved by experiments. The reduced graphene oxide (rGO) edges have oxygen or oxygen-containing functional groups. However, the upper and lower surfaces of rGO are clean, as expected from the oxide reduction procedure. Results show that SnO2 particles are connected at the edges of rGO, making a p-n heterojunction with a reduced agglomeration of SnO2 particles and high gas sensitivity. The DFT results are in
In this study, the results of x-ray diffraction methods were used to determine the Crystallite size and Lattice strain of Cu2O nanoparticles then to compare the results obtained by using variance analysis method, Scherrer method and Williamson-Hall method. The results of these methods of the same powder which is cuprous oxide, using equations during the determination the crystallite size and lattice strain, It was found that the results obtained the values of the crystallite size (28.302nm) and the lattice strain (0.03541) of the variance analysis method respectively and for the Williamson-Hall method were the results of the crystallite size (21.678nm) and lattice strain (0.00317) respectively, and Scherrer method which gives the value of c
... Show MoreIn this work, metal oxides nanostructures, mainly, copper oxide (CuO), nickel oxide (NiO), titanium dioxide (TiO2), and multilayer structure were synthesized by dc reactive magnetron sputtering technique. The structural purity and nanoparticle size of the prepared nanostructures were determined. The individual metal oxide samples (CuO, NiO and TiO2) showed high structural purity and minimum particle sizes of 34, 44, 61 nm, respectively. As well, the multilayer structure showed high structural purity as no elements or compounds other than the three oxides were founds in the final sample while the minimum particle size was 18 nm. This reduction in nanoparticle size can be considered as an advantage for the dc reactive magnetron sputtering tec
... Show MoreAnaerobic digestion (AD) is the most common process for dealing with primary and secondary wastewater sludge. In the present work, four pre-treatment methods (ultrasonic, chemical, thermal, and thermo-chemical) are investigated in Al-Rustumya Wastewater Treatment plant in order to find their effect on biogas production and volatile solid removal efficiency during anaerobic digestion.
Two frequencies of ultrasonic wave were used 30 KHz and 50 KHz during the pre-treatment. Sodium hydroxide was added in different amounts to give three pH values of 9, 10 and 11 in chemical pre-treating processes. The sludge was heated at 60oC and 80oC through thermal pre-treatment experiment. Also, the sludge was treated thermo-chemically at 80 oC and pH
In current research Copper was employed for preparing a ternary system of Al–Si alloy in different (0.2–2.5 wt. %) the best was taken is (1.5%wt) of copper that circumstances of solidification for improving the mechanical performance of the available in aluminium alloy. Cast iron molds were prepared to obtain tensile strength testing specimens. Alloys were prepared by employing gas furnaces. The molten metal was poured into a preheated cast-iron mold. The obtained alloy structures were studied using an X-ray diffractometer and optical microscopy. The mechanical performance of the prepared alloys was examined under the influence of different hardening conditions in both heat and non-heat-treated conditions. The outcomes showed at the
... Show MoreBacterial contamination of AL-Habania and AL-Tharthar reservoirs were studied during the period from February 2001 to January 2002, samples were collected from four stations in AL-Habania reservoir (AL-Warrar, AL-Theban regulator, middle of the reservoir and the fourth was towards AL-Razzaza reservoir) and from two stations at AL-Tharthar reservoir (Ein AL-Hilwa and the middle of the reservoir). Coliform bacteria, faecal Coliforms, Streptococci, faecal Streptococci and total count of bacteria were used as parameters of bacterial contamination in waters of both reservoirs through calculating the most probable number. Highest count of Coliform bacteria (15000 cell/100ml) was recorded at Ein AL-Hilwa and lowest count at AL-Theban regulator
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