Displaying publications 1 - 20 of 295 in total

Abstract:
Sort:
  1. Qu D, Show PL, Miao X
    Int J Mol Sci, 2021 Feb 27;22(5).
    PMID: 33673599 DOI: 10.3390/ijms22052387
    Saline-alkali soil has become an important environmental problem for crop productivity. One of the most effective approaches is to cultivate new stress-tolerant plants through genetic engineering. Through RNA-seq analysis and RT-PCR validation, a novel bZIP transcription factor ChbZIP1, which is significantly upregulated at alkali conditions, was obtained from alkaliphilic microalgae Chlorella sp. BLD. Overexpression of ChbZIP1 in Saccharomyces cerevisiae and Arabidopsis increased their alkali resistance, indicating ChbZIP1 may play important roles in alkali stress response. Through subcellular localization and transcriptional activation activity analyses, we found that ChbZIP1 is a nuclear-localized bZIP TF with transactivation activity to bind with the motif of G-box 2 (TGACGT). Functional analysis found that genes such as GPX1, DOX1, CAT2, and EMB, which contained G-box 2 and were associated with oxidative stress, were significantly upregulated in Arabidopsis with ChbZIP1 overexpression. The antioxidant ability was also enhanced in transgenic Arabidopsis. These results indicate that ChbZIP1 might mediate plant adaptation to alkali stress through the active oxygen detoxification pathway. Thus, ChbZIP1 may contribute to genetically improving plants' tolerance to alkali stress.
  2. Rathi BS, Kumar PS, Show PL
    J Hazard Mater, 2021 05 05;409:124413.
    PMID: 33183841 DOI: 10.1016/j.jhazmat.2020.124413
    Wastewater is water that has already been contaminated by domestic, industrial and commercial activity that needs to be treated before it could be discharged into some other water bodies to avoid even more groundwater contamination supplies. It consists of various contaminants like heavy metals, organic pollutants, inorganic pollutants and Emerging contaminants. Research has been doing on all types of contaminates more than a decade, but this emerging contaminants is the contaminants which arises mostly from pharmaceuticals, personal care products, hormones and fertilizer industries. The majority of emerging contaminants did not have standardized guidelines, but may have adverse effects on human and marine organisms, even at smaller concentrations. Typically, extremely low doses of emerging contaminants are found in the marine environment and cause a potential risk to the aquatic animals living there. When contaminants emerge in the marine world, they are potentially toxic and pose many risks to the health of both man and livestock. The aim of this article is to review the Emerging contaminate sources, detection methods and treatment methods. The purpose of this study is to consider the adsorption as a beneficial treatment of emerging contaminants also advanced and cost effective emerging contaminates treatment methods.
  3. Rambabu K, Bharath G, Banat F, Show PL
    J Hazard Mater, 2021 01 15;402:123560.
    PMID: 32759001 DOI: 10.1016/j.jhazmat.2020.123560
    Production of multi-functional zinc oxide nanoparticles (ZnO-NPs) for wastewater treatment through green-approaches is a desirable alternative for conventional synthesis routes. Biomass waste valorization for nanoparticles synthesis has received increased research attention. The present study reports date pulp waste (DPW) utilization as an effective bio-reductant for green-synthesis of ZnO-NPs. A simple and eco-friendly process with low reaction time and calcination temperature was adopted for DPW mediated ZnO-NPs (DP-ZnO-NPs) synthesis. Microscopic investigations of DP-ZnO-NPs confirmed the non-agglomeration and spherical nature of particles with mean diameter of 30 nm. EDX and XPS analysis defined the chemical composition and product purity of DP-ZnO-NPs. UV and photoluminescence studies exhibited surface plasmonic resonance at 381 nm and fluorescent nature of DP-ZnO-NPs. FTIR studies established a formation mechanism outline for DP-ZnO-NPs. XRD and Raman investigations confirmed the crystalline and hexagonal wurtzite phase of DP-ZnO-NPs. DSC/TG analysis displayed the thermal stability of DP-ZnO-NPs with <10 wt% loss upto 700 °C. Photocatalytic degradation of hazardous methylene blue and eosin yellow dyes using DP-ZnO-NPs, showed rapid decomposition rate with 90 % degradation efficiency. Additionally, DP-ZnO-NPs demonstrated significant antibacterial effects on various pathogenic bacteria in terms of zone-of-inhibition measured by disc-diffusion method. Thus, the as-prepared DP-ZnO-NPs is suitable for industrial wastewater treatment.
  4. Zhang C, Show PL, Ho SH
    Bioresour Technol, 2019 Oct;289:121700.
    PMID: 31262543 DOI: 10.1016/j.biortech.2019.121700
    There is a growing interest in developing bio-based biodegradable plastics to reduce the dependence on depleting fossil fuels and provide a sustainable alternative. Bio-based plastics can usually be produced from lipids, proteins or carbohydrates, which are major components of microalgae. Despite its potential for algal plastics, little information is available on strain selection, culture optimization and bioplastics fabrication mechanism. In this review, we summarized the recent developments in understanding the utilization of seaweed polysaccharides, such as alginate and carrageenan for bio-based plastics. In addition, a conceptual biorefinery framework for algal plastics through promising components (e.g., lipids, carbohydrates and proteins) from microalgae is comprehensively presented. Moreover, the reasons for variations in bioplastics performance and underlying mechanism of various algal biocomposites have been critically discussed. We believe this review can provide valuable information to accelerate the development of innovative green technologies for improving the commercial viability of algal plastics.
  5. Rambabu K, Bharath G, Banat F, Show PL
    Environ Res, 2020 08;187:109694.
    PMID: 32485359 DOI: 10.1016/j.envres.2020.109694
    Biosorption ability of date palm empty fruit bunch (DPEFB) was examined for the removal of toxic hexavalent chromium (Cr6+) ions from synthetic wastewater. The pretreated DPEFB biosorbent was studied for its morphology and surface chemistry through Scanning electron microscopy, Energy dispersive elemental analysis and Fourier transform infrared spectroscopy. Effect of biosorption parameters such as pH, biosorbent dosage, contact time, temperature, initial feed concentration and agitation speed on the Cr6+ ions removal efficiency by DPEFB was critically evaluated. The isoelectric point for the DPEFB sorbent was observed at pH 2, above which it was dehydronated to capture the positively charged Cr6+ ions. Batch biosorption studies showed that an optimal chromium removal efficiency of 58.02% was recorded by the DPEFB biosorbent for pH 2, dosage 0.3 g, 100 rpm agitation speed, 120 min contact time, 50 mg/L initial feed concentration and 30 °C operational temperature. Thermodynamic analysis showed that the binding of Cr6+ ions on DPEFB surface was exothermic, stable and favorable at room temperature. Equilibrium behavior of chromium binding on DPEFB was more aligned to Temkin isotherm (R2 = 0.9852) highlighting the indirect interactions between Cr6+ ions and the biosorbent. Kinetic modeling revealed that the biosorption of Cr6+ ions by DPEFB obeyed pseudo-second order model than the pseudo-first order and intra-particle diffusion models. Reusability studies of the DPEFB sorbent showed that NaNO3 was an effective regenerant and the biosorbent can be efficiently reused up to three successive biosorption-desorption cycles for chromium removal. In summary, the results clearly showed that the DPEFB biowaste seems to be an efficient, economic and eco-friendly biosorbent for sustainable removal of toxic hexavalent chromium ions from domestic and industrial wastewater streams.
  6. Rambabu K, Bharath G, Thanigaivelan A, Das DB, Show PL, Banat F
    Bioresour Technol, 2021 Jan;319:124243.
    PMID: 33254466 DOI: 10.1016/j.biortech.2020.124243
    This study highlights biohydrogen production enrichment through NiO and CoO nanoparticles (NPs) inclusion to dark fermentation of rice mill wastewater using Clostridium beijerinckii DSM 791. NiO (~26 nm) and CoO (~50 nm) NPs were intrinsically prepared via facile hydrothermal method with polyhedral morphology and high purity. Dosage dependency studies revealed the maximum biohydrogen production characteristics for 1.5 mg/L concentration of both NPs. Biohydrogen yield was improved by 2.09 and 1.9 folds higher for optimum dosage of NiO and CoO respectively, compared to control run without NPs. Co-metabolites analysis confirmed the biohydrogen production through acetate and butyrate pathways. Maximum COD reduction efficiencies of 77.6% and 69.5% were observed for NiO and CoO inclusions respectively, which were higher than control run (57.5%). Gompertz kinetic model fitted well with experimental data of NPs assisted fermentation. Thus, NiO and CoO inclusions to wastewater fermentation seems to be a promising technique for augmented biohydrogen production.
  7. K R, G B, Banat F, Show PL, Cocoletzi HH
    Int J Biol Macromol, 2019 Apr 01;126:1234-1243.
    PMID: 30584938 DOI: 10.1016/j.ijbiomac.2018.12.196
    Health hazards associated with usage of plastic films for food preservation demands for development of active films from non-toxic and antioxidant rich bio-sources. The reported work highlights the development, characterization and application studies of chitosan films enhanced for their antioxidant activity by mango leaf extract (MLE) incorporation. Effect of MLE variation (1-5%) on the morphology, optical nature, water exposure and mechanical characteristics of the chitosan-MLE composite films was studied. Increase in the MLE concentration resulted in films with increased thickness and decreased moisture content. Contact angle, water solubility and vapor permeability analysis demonstrated the reduced hydrophilicity and water vapor penetrability of the films due to MLE inclusion. MLE films possessed better tensile strength (maximum of 23.06 ± 0.19 MPa) with reduced elongation ratio than the pure chitosan film (18.14 ± 0.72 MPa). Antioxidants assessment in terms of total phenolic content, DPPH radical scavenging, ferric reducing power and ABTS radical scavenging showed improved antioxidant activity with the incremental amounts of MLE in the chitosan films. Microscopic studies revealed the smooth, compact and dense nature of the MLE-chitosan films favouring low oxygen transport rates. Application studies to cashew nuts preservation for 28 days storage indicated 56% higher oxidation resistance for the 5% MLE film than a commercial polyamide/polyethylene film. Results highlight the potential and promising nature of MLE impregnated chitosan films as suitable alternative for active packaging films for food preservation.
  8. Tan X, Zhu S, Show PL, Qi H, Ho SH
    J Hazard Mater, 2020 07 05;393:122435.
    PMID: 32151933 DOI: 10.1016/j.jhazmat.2020.122435
    Biochar (BC) has attracted much attention owing to its superior sorption capacity towards ionized organic contaminants. However, the mechanism of ionized organics sorption occurring within BC containing large amounts of minerals is still controversial. In this study, we demonstrate the physicochemical structure of high-salinity microalgal residue derived biochar (HSBC) and elucidate the corresponding sorption mechanisms for four ionized dyes along with determining the crucial role of involved minerals. The results indicate that sodium and calcium minerals mainly exist within HSBCs, and the pyrolysis temperature can dramatically regulate the phases and interfacial property of both carbon matrix and minerals. As a result, the HSBC shows a higher sorption potential, benefiting from abundant functional groups and high content of inorganic minerals. Using theoretical calculations, the activities of electron donor-acceptor interaction between HSBCs and different dyes are clearly illustrated, thereby identifying the critical role of Ca2+ in enhancing the removal of ionized dyes in HSBCs. In addition, Ca-containing minerals facilitate the sorption of ionized dyes in HSBCs by forming ternary complexes through metal-bridging mechanism. These results of mineral-induced dye sorption mechanisms help to better understand the sorption of ionized organics in high-salt containing BC and provide a new disposal strategy for hazardous microalgal residue, as well as provide a breakthrough in making the remediation of ionized organic contaminated microalgal residue derived absorbent feasible.
  9. Pachaiappan R, Rajendran S, Show PL, Manavalan K, Naushad M
    Chemosphere, 2021 Jun;272:128607.
    PMID: 33097236 DOI: 10.1016/j.chemosphere.2020.128607
    Many microbial species causing infectious disease all over the world became a social burden and creating threat among community. These microbes possess long lifetime, enhancing mortality and morbidity rate in affected organisms. In this condition, the treatment was ineffective and more chances of spreading of infection into other organisms. Hence, it is necessary to initiate infection control efforts and prevention activities against multidrug resistant microbes, to reduce the death rate of people. Seriously concerning towards this problem progress was shown in developing significant drugs with least side effects. Emergence of nanoparticles and its novelty showed effective role in targeting and destructing microbes well. Further, many research works have shown nanocomposites developed from nanoparticles coupled with other nanoparticles, polymers, carbon material acted as an exotic substance against microbes causing severe loss. However, metal and metal oxide nanocomposites have gained interest due to its small size and enhancing the surface contact with bacteria, producing damage to it. The bactericidal mechanism of metal and metal oxide nanocomposites involve in the production of reactive oxygen species which includes superoxide radical anions, hydrogen peroxide anions and hydrogen peroxide which interact with the cell wall of bacteria causing damage to the cell membrane in turn inhibiting the further growth of cell with leakage of internal cellular components, leading to death of bacteria. This review provides the detailed view on antibacterial activity of metal and metal oxide nanocomposite which possessed novelty due to its physiochemical changes.
  10. Chua SC, Show PL, Chong FK, Ho YC
    Water Sci Technol, 2020 Nov;82(9):1833-1847.
    PMID: 33201847 DOI: 10.2166/wst.2020.409
    Increasing agricultural irrigation to counteract a soil moisture deficit has resulted in the production of hazardous agricultural wastewater with high turbidity and chemical oxygen demand (COD). An innovative, sustainable, and effective solution is needed to overcome the pollution and water scarcity issues caused by the agricultural anthropogenic processes. This research focused on a sustainable solution that utilized a waste (broken lentil) as natural coagulant for turbidity and COD removal in agricultural wastewater treatment. The efficiency of the lentil extract (LE), grafted lentil extract (LE-g-DMC) and aluminium sulphate (alum) coagulants was optimized through the response surface methodology. Three-level Box-Behnken design was used to statistically visualize the complex interactions of pH, concentration of coagulants and settling time. LE achieved a significant 99.55% and 79.87% removal of turbidity and COD at pH 4, 88.46 mg/L of LE and 6.9 minutes of settling time, whereas LE-g-DMC achieved 99.83% and 80.32% removal of turbidity and COD at pH 6.7, 63.08 mg/L of LE-g-DMC and 5 minutes of settling time. As compared to alum, LE-g-DMC required approximately 30% less concentration. Moreover, LE and LE-g-DMC also required 75% and 65% less settling time as compared to the alum. Both LE and LE-g-DMC produced flocs with excellent settling ability (5.77 mg/L and 4.48 mL/g) and produced a significant less volume of sludge (10.60 mL/L and 8.23 mL/L) as compared with the alum. The economic analysis and assessments have proven the feasibility of both lentil-based coagulants in agricultural wastewater treatment.
  11. Zamri AA, Ong MY, Nomanbhay S, Show PL
    Environ Res, 2021 06;197:111204.
    PMID: 33894238 DOI: 10.1016/j.envres.2021.111204
    The composition of carbon dioxide (CO2) is increasing day by day in the Earth's atmosphere. Worldwide energy demand is now increasing, and this has led to an increase in the percentage of global carbon emission. Moreover, this phenomenon can occur from the careless use of heating systems, generators and especially transportation, therefore, the release of these gases will continue to be widespread if there is no solution. Interaction within the microwave plasma-based gasification system of synthetic natural gas (syngas) production is presented in this paper. Consequently, this reduces the high concentrations of methane and carbon dioxide emission in our atmosphere. Syngas is very useful products that can be used as a source of energy such as fuel production and fuel source. The overview and basic theory about gasification process and microwave plasma technology are provided. Modelling of the microwave plasma system particularly on its application of system electromagnetic field inside waveguide of plasma reactor to produce microwave plasma and how it was calculated are presented in this paper. To recapitulate, the global challenges on the rising of greenhouse gases volume can be regulated with microwave plasma technology and its important aspects have been underlined.
  12. Phong WN, Show PL, Chow YH, Ling TC
    J Biosci Bioeng, 2018 Sep;126(3):273-281.
    PMID: 29673987 DOI: 10.1016/j.jbiosc.2018.03.005
    Aqueous two-phase system (ATPS) has been suggested as a promising separation tool in the biotechnological industry. This liquid-liquid extraction technique represents an interesting advance in downstream processing due to several advantages such as simplicity, rapid separation, efficiency, economy, flexibility and biocompatibility. Up to date, a range of biotechnological products have been successfully recovered from different sources with high yield using ATPS-based strategy. In view of the important potential contribution of the ATPS in downstream processing, this review article aims to provide latest information about the application of ATPS in the recovery of various biotechnological products in the past 7 years (2010-2017). Apart from that, the challenges as well as the possible future work and outlook of the ATPS-based recovery method have also been presented in this review article.
  13. Jong WYL, Show PL, Ling TC, Tan YS
    J Biosci Bioeng, 2017 Jul;124(1):91-98.
    PMID: 28319022 DOI: 10.1016/j.jbiosc.2017.02.008
    Amauroderma rugosum is a wild mushroom species widely distributed in tropics and is classified under the class of Basidiomycetes. Basidiomycetes are well-known for their abilities of producing lignocellulolytic enzymes such as lignin peroxidase (LiP), laccase (Lac) and manganese peroxidase (MnP). Different factors such as nutrient sources, incubation period and agitation affect the production of lignocellulolytic enzymes. The A. rugosum produced LiP in the medium supplemented with potato dextrose broth (PDB), 0.5% yeast and 1.0% saw dust at 26.70±3.31 U/mL. However, the LiP activity was increased to 106.32±5.32 U/mL when supplemented with 150 μm of copper (CuSO4). The aqueous two-phase system (ATPS) is a simple, rapid and low cost method for primary extraction and recovery of LiP. A total of 25 systems made from five different molecular weights of polyethylene glycol (PEG)/dipotassium hydrogen phosphate (K2HPO4) were tested. PEG 600 produced the highest top phase purification factor (PFT) of 1.33±0.62 with yield of 72.18±8.50%. The optimization of the ATPS parameters, such as volume ratio VR, pH and crude enzyme loading are the factors controlling the phase partition. Our results showed that significant improvement (PFT of 6.26±2.87 with yield of 87.31±3.14%) of LiP recovery can be achieved by optimized the parameters.
  14. Chang JS, Show PL, Lee DJ, Christakopoulos P
    Bioresour Technol, 2022 Mar;347:126735.
    PMID: 35051567 DOI: 10.1016/j.biortech.2022.126735
  15. Rambabu K, Avornyo A, Gomathi T, Thanigaivelan A, Show PL, Banat F
    Bioresour Technol, 2023 Jan;367:128257.
    PMID: 36343781 DOI: 10.1016/j.biortech.2022.128257
    Phycoremediation is gaining attention not only as a pollutant mitigation approach but also as one of the most cost-effective paths to achieve carbon neutrality. When compared to conventional treatment methods, phycoremediation is highly effective in removing noxious substances from wastewater and is inexpensive, eco-friendly, abundantly available, and has many other advantages. The process results in valuable bioproducts and bioenergy sources combined with pollutants capture, sequestration, and utilization. In this review, microalgae-based phycoremediation of various wastewaters for carbon neutrality and circular economy is analyzed scientometrically. Different mechanisms for pollutants removal and resource recovery from wastewaters are explained. Further, critical parameters that influence the engineering design and phycoremediation performance are described. A comprehensive knowledge map highlighting the microalgae potential to treat a variety of industrial effluents is also presented. Finally, challenges and future prospects for industrial implementation of phycoremediation towards carbon neutrality coupled with circular economy are discussed.
  16. Karaman C, Karaman O, Show PL, Orooji Y, Karimi-Maleh H
    Environ Res, 2022 May 01;207:112156.
    PMID: 34599897 DOI: 10.1016/j.envres.2021.112156
    Herein, it is aimed to develop a high-performance monolithic adsorbent to be utilized in methyl orange (MO) adsorption. Therefore, amino-functionalized three-dimensional graphene networks (3D-GNf) fulfilling the requirements of reusability and high capacity have been fabricated via hydrothermal self-assembly approach followed by a double-crosslinking strategy. The potential utilization of 3D-GNf as an adsorbent for removal MO has been assessed using both batch-adsorption studies and an artificial neural network (ANN) approach. Graphene oxide sheets have been amino-functionalized and cross-linked, by ethylenediamine (EDA) during hydrothermal treatment, following the glutaraldehyde has used as a double-crosslinking agent to facilitate the crosslinking of architecture. The successful fabrication of 3D-GNf has been confirmed by field-emission scanning electron microscopy (FESEM), Fourier transform infrared (FT-IR), Raman and X-ray photoelectron spectroscopy (XPS). Moreover, N2 adsorption/desorption isotherms have revealed the high specific surface area (1015 m2 g-1) with high pore volume (1.054 cm3 g-1) and hierarchical porous structure of 3D-GNf. The effect of initial concentration, contact time, and temperature on adsorption capacity have been thoroughly studied, and the kinetics, isotherms, and thermodynamics of MO adsorption have been modelled. The MO adsorption has been well defined by the pseudo-second-order kinetic model and Langmuir isotherm model with a monolayer adsorption capacity of 270.27 mg g-1 at 25 °C. The thermodynamic findings have revealed MO adsorption has occurred spontaneously with an endothermic process. The Levenberg-Marquardt backpropagation algorithm has been implemented to train the ANN model, which has used the activation functions of tansig and purelin functions at the hidden and output layers, respectively. An optimum ANN model with high-performance metrics (coefficient of determination, R2 = 0.9995; mean squared error, MSE = 0.0008) composed of three hidden layers with 5 neurons in each layer was constructed to forecast MO adsorption. The findings have shown that experimental results are consistent with ANN-based data, implying that the suggested ANN model may be used to forecast cationic dye adsorption.
  17. Sriariyanun M, Kitiborwornkul N, Tantayotai P, Rattanaporn K, Show PL
    Bioengineering (Basel), 2022 Jan 06;9(1).
    PMID: 35049726 DOI: 10.3390/bioengineering9010017
    Ionic liquid (IL) pretreatment of lignocellulose is an efficient method for the enhancement of enzymatic saccharification. However, the remaining residues of ILs deactivate cellulase, therefore making intensive biomass washing after pretreatment necessary. This study aimed to develop the one-pot process combining IL pretreatment and enzymatic saccharification by using low-toxic choline acetate ([Ch][OAc]) and IL-tolerant bacterial cellulases. Crude cellulases produced from saline soil inhabited Bacillus sp. CBD2 and Brevibacillus sp. CBD3 were tested under the influence of 0.5-2.0 M [Ch][OAc], which showed that their activities retained at more than 95%. However, [Ch][OAc] had toxicity to CBD2 and CBD3 cultures, in which only 32.85% and 12.88% were alive at 0.5 M [Ch][OAc]. Based on the specific enzyme activities, the sugar amounts produced from one-pot processes using 1 mg of CBD2 and CBD3 were higher than that of Celluclast 1.5 L by 2.0 and 4.5 times, respectively, suggesting their potential for further application in the biorefining process of value-added products.
Filters
Contact Us

Please provide feedback to Administrator (afdal@afpm.org.my)

External Links