In this work, Cerastoderma Glaucum (CG) as a bio-sorbent, a low-cost, and nontoxic material, was investigated for CO2 capture. The analysis of CaO from CG was carried out using X-ray diffraction (XRD), thermal gravimetric analysis (TGA), Fourier transform infrared (FTIR), a scanning electron microscope (SEM) with energy dispersive X-ray spectroscopy (EDX) and N2 adsorption-desorption isotherm. The total pore volume was 0.0055 ​cm3/g, and the specific surface area (SBET) was 1.9312 ​m2/g (BET: Brunauer–Emmett–Teller). The maximum CO2 adsorption capacity reached 0.48 ​mmol/g at 25 ​°C and 4.5 ​bar. The CO2 adsorption capacity was examined as a function of pressure. In the experiments, it was discovered that adsorption capacity increased with increasing pressure. As a second step, the isotherm models were used to determine how the adsorbent behaves. Hill, Freundlich, Koble–Corrigan, and Sips isotherm models are well correlated with the adsorption data experiments.

In the present study, phycoerythrin pigment protein was extracted and purified from Gracilaria corticata (marine macroalga). The concentration of phycoerythrin (PE) obtained from G. corticata was 0.15 ​mg/ml (fresh weight). In this study, phycoerythrin expressed less antimicrobial activity against pathogens but found effective in total antioxidant activity (264.90 ​± ​10.20 ​μg/ml), DPPH scavenging effect (22.91 ​± ​1.90%) and ferrous ion chelating ability (26.06 ​± ​1.60%). Further, the cytotoxicity assay of PE using colon cancer cells such as SW620 and HCT-116 was tested. Different concentrations (2, 4, 8, 16, 32 ​μl) of phycoerythrin was tested in MTT assay after 24 ​h and 48 ​h incubation. The MTT assay concludes that increasing concentration of phycoerythrin (4.8 ​μg) decreases the cell viability to 42% after 48 ​h in SW 620 ​cell line. Whereas in the HCT 116 ​cell line the increasing concentration of phycoerythrin induces the cell growth on 24 ​h but later drastically reduced growth of cell line (39%) was observed after 48 ​h time in 4.8 ​μg of PE. From this preliminary study, the phycoerythrin pigment extracted from Gracilaria corticata proved to be a potential molecule of interest for cancer studies and diagnosis.

The adsorbent material selected for this study was microporous activated carbon prepared by physical activation from pistachio shells (PS). X-ray diffraction (XRD), Fourier transform infrared spectrometer (FTIR), scanning electron microscopy (SEM), and analysis of N2 isotherms was used to determine the textural and structural character of this carbon material. The activated carbon from pistachio shells (AC-PS) indicted a specific surface area (Brunauer–Emmett–Teller specific area: SBET: 715.34 ​m2/g, and total pore volume: 0.346 ​cm3/g) and good sorption of CO2 (3.29 ​mmol/g at 25 ​°C and 5.682 ​bar). The effect of CO2 adsorption capacity as the response function was evaluated and optimized using response surface methodology (RSM) based on pressure and adsorption temperature as independent variables. A back-propagation training approach is used to create feed-forward multilayer perceptron (MLP) artificial neural network models to predict CO2 adsorption in this study. The experimental data of the adsorption experiments were analyzed and evaluated based on the isotherm and thermodynamic models. Adsorption data from the experiments followed the Hill isotherm model. Adsorption was an exothermic process, and there was mainly physical interaction. Minimum performance of 0.0011456 was determined by performing mean square error (MSE) validation at 22 epochs. The R2 values for the RSM and artificial neural network (ANN) models were 0.9957 and 0.999905, respectively. The results showed that the ANN and RSM models could be effectively used to estimate CO2 adsorption. According to these results, AC-PS would be a potential adsorbent for CO2 adsorption.

A new series of electrochemical microreactors with boron-doped diamond anodes has been designed at Fraunhofer IMM especially for the electrochemical production of peroxodicarbonate (PDC). Two models of ECMR, with and without integrated heat exchangers, were built and tested. The influence of several parameters was investigated and optimized conditions were created in this reactor design with two undivided cells. Using a saturated aqeuous solution of sodium carbonate at high current density (806 ​mA ​cm−2), the best electrosynthesis results of PDC (380 ​mM) performed on boron-doped diamond were achieved until today with excellent Faraday efficiency (76%). In some experiments, the progress of the reaction could be monitored inline by Raman spectroscopy (-O-O- 862.54 ​cm−1) and (CO3−2 1069.7 ​cm−1). Experiments performed to investigate the bleaching power of the peroxodicarbonate gave excellent results. Additionally, results of the temperature-dependent PDC degradation are generated. First results of the PDC used without activators as a brightening agent for waste paper, native wood and wood fibers are very promising.

In this work, biodegradable polylactic acid (PLA)/Curcumin/ZnO nanocomposite films were prepared by using the film casting method at room temperature. Zinc Oxide nanoparticles (NPs) were prepared in a green method using Bambusa arundinacea leaves extract. Scanning electron microscopy results showed that curcumin and ZnO NPs were uniformly dispersed in the PLA matrix. X-ray diffraction analysis showed that addition of curcumin converts semi-crystalline PLA into amorphous. The photoluminescence spectra of PLA/Curcumin showed a broad emission band in green color. After adding ZnO NPs, the spectra showed a redshift in the emission peak with a gradual decrease in the intensity with increasing weight percentage. The energy band gap values are calculated by Tauc's plot for all PLA nanocomposite films. The antibacterial activity was not observed in pure PLA film whereas the PLA nanocomposite films exhibited antibacterial activity against both gram -ve and gram ​+ ​ve bacteria. The antibacterial activity was increased by incorporating the curcumin and ZnO NPs concentrations. The present study provides a simple procedure to prepare large-area PLA nanocomposite films with good antibacterial activity.

Abstract not available

Attapulgite (ATT) has never been used as a barrier additive incorporated into polymers; instead, it has mostly been applied as a reinforcement or a nucleator. But ATT is very suitable as barrier additives in polymer materials because it can adsorb gas or water by virtue of its porous structure. In this study, ATT nanomaterials from natural minerals were purified and added to high-density polyethylene (HDPE) to prepare HDPE/ATT nanocomposites. The influence of a low content of ATT on the mechanical properties, crystallinity, morphology, water absorption, hydrophilicity, thermostability, and barrier properties of HDPE nanocomposites was analyzed. The results showed that adding a small amount of ATT could improve the mechanical properties, crystallinity, thermal stability, hydrophobicity, and barrier properties, but excessive amounts of it would reduce the mechanical and barrier properties. X-ray diffraction results showed that with increase in the ATT content, the peak did not significantly change and the nanocomposite material was mainly crystalline. According to the oxygen permeability test analysis, the oxygen barrier performance of the nanocomposite material was optimal when ATT was 0.4%. This great improvement in barrier performance might be ascribed to two reasons: (1) The presence of ATT extended the penetration path of molecules; (2) ATT itself had a porous structure, and molecules may be adsorbed and stored in it. Therefore, the addition of ATT led to good performance of HDPE nanocomposites, and this would lead to broad application prospects, which would be worthy of further study.

Corn starch film samples cross-linked using malic, malonic, and succinic acids, and thermoplastic starch were characterized and tested for their water absorption, surface morphology, structural change, and thermomechanical properties. The acids vary in acidity, number of hydroxyl groups, and carbon chain length. The presence of an additional hydroxyl group has helped malic acid form more hydrogen bonding between starch molecules. The relatively higher acidity in malic acid compared to succinic acid is found to be another factor for its better cross-linking potential. The additional carbon chain in succinic acid, which reduces its solubility and acidity; has negatively affected its cross-linking potential. Among the three variables studied, number of hydroxyl group has highly influenced the cross-linking potential, followed by acidity and carbon chain length, respectively. Consequently, the elongation at break and water absorption resistance of thermoplastic starch were improved from 108.63 ​MPa to 175.72 ​MPa and from 140% to 80%, respectively, cross-linking corn starch with malic acid.

Sustainable small molecule Active Pharmaceutical Ingredient (API) manufacturing starts at the onset of route development by employing a Green-by-Design strategy. Reliable metrics are imperative for setting targets and measuring process improvements throughout the development cycle. This article reviews some of the many tools and methods established to analyze and assess the greenness and sustainability of a process, each of which highlights different aspects of process efficiency, waste formation or overall environmental impact reduction. Most calculations, such as process mass intensity (PMI), are mass-based and do not consider the types of raw materials used. In contrast, a full life cycle assessment (LCA) offers detailed information about the “cradle to grave” environmental impact of a manufacturing route and its specific resources, but the high data requirements and long timelines are not conducive for multiple processes or repeated assessments during process optimization. To address these challenges, we introduce a Streamlined PMI-LCA Tool, developed in collaboration with the ACS Green Chemistry Institute Pharmaceutical Roundtable (ACS GCIPR), that combines PMI with a “cradle to gate” approach to include the environmental footprint of the synthesis’ raw materials. The frequent re-evaluation of a process continuously highlights areas for improvement and guides the prioritization of process development activities to effectively and rapidly achieve a Green-by-Design commercial synthetic route. The utility of this approach to Green-by-Design is demonstrated with the reduction of PMI for MK-7264 from 366 to 88 over the course of process development.

This study present the solid state synthesis of Copper (II) and Nickel (II) Complexes of Rhodanine with molecular formula [Cu(HRD)2(CH3COO)2] represented as 1a and [Ni(HRD)2(NO3)2] (HRD = C3H3NOS2) represented as 2a. It was synthesized by mechanochemical grinding of stoichiometric amount of Rhodanine with inorganic salts (Cu(CH3COO)2·H2O) and Ni(NO3)2·6H2O in ratio 1:1 via an analytical mortar and pestle without solvent. However, the solvent based approach for the synthesis of Copper (II) and Nickel (II) Complexes of Rhodanine involve the use methanol at room temperature. The complexes were characterized via elemental analysis, TLC, FT-IR, UV–visible, AAS, spectroscopies, conductivity measurement and PXRD patterns. The spectroscopic and analytical data obtained from the two methods are almost identical. The PXRD patterns of the product obtained from the solid state approach showed a close match with that of the solvent-based product. The complexes showed new peaks which established the occurrence of a new phase. The antibacterial activities of the complexes were higher than the parent ligands. This suggested that the antimicrobial efficacy of these drugs could be improved by chelation. The solid based synthesis of these complexes was faster, required less energy and produce better yield when compared with the solvent based method.

The present review presents important research work carried out relating to potential applications of nanostructures loaded conductive polymer composite materials, particularly the nanocomposites of polypyrrole, polyaniline, polythiophene, Chitosan and Cellulose based polymers. Wide literature data is abstracted in this review pertaining to synthesis of nanocomposites, target analysts, sensitivity of the reported electrode material and the contribution of conducting polymer to achieve high efficiency. A significant attention has been given to the conductive polymer composites in the detection of pathogenic microorganism and their DNA, particularly through electrochemical methods.

CO2 capture techniques are being developed faster by developing models that predict the solubility of CO2 in various solvents. Artificial neural network (ANN) model is developed in the current study to predict the solubility of CO2 in CH3OH + H2O system. Correlations can predict CO2 solubility in liquids (in different mole fractions) for the temperatures of 258–390.0 K and pressure of 0–10 MPa, respectively. In this study, prediction data for the pressure essential to dissolve CO2 in methanol solution are reported for temperature of 258–395.0 K. Multi-layer perceptron (MLP) and radial basis functions (RBF) were applied in this study. The predictions of solubility of carbon dioxide in mixtures of water and methanol are more accurate with MLP-ANN (artificial neural network) than RBF-ANN. The proposed models and reports of experimental data on CO2 partial pressure are found to be in good agreement. It has been found that the ANN technique provides high accuracy and good prediction. As a result, the correlation coefficient R2 = 0.99 was highly accurate and the mean square error (MSE) was less than 0.1. Levenberg-Marquardt (trainlm) with the lowest MSE measured at 0.00072863 with the strongest regression coefficient (R2). The best MSE validation performance of MLP and RBF networks was 0.0066566 and 0.2166952 at 30 epochs and 50 epochs, respectively. This study showed that the MLP and RBF model explained in this study are suitable to predicting CO2 solubility in methanol solution.

Carbons and their composites are the most valuable materials in the modern field of catalysis, energy storage/conversion, and environments. In past decades, breakthroughs have been made in preparing carbon materials, such as fullerenes, carbon nanotubes, and graphene. Meanwhile, the carbon materials with high surface areas, tunable pore size, heteroatom doping, and controlled morphologies also can promote their application performances in heterogeneous catalysis, drug encapsulation, electrode, and photonic devices. Hypercrosslinked polymers (HCPs) generally have high surface areas versatile synthetic routes, well-defined chemical-physical stability, and have emerged as excellent candidates for carbon precursors. More and more green and sustainable chemical synthetic methodologies have become possible to directly control particle size, surface area, chemical composition, and morphologies of carbons from the carbonization of HCPs. This graphical review demonstrates current approaches toward the synthesis of HCPs as carbon precursors following green and sustainable principles. And we also discussed the challenges and future directions of green HCPs production as carbon resources.

After the consumption of the edible part, the citrus fruits are thrown into landfills generating serious pollution and disposal problems. Therefore, the use of citrus fruits for engineering applications has a dual purpose: to generate wealth from waste as an efficient reduction of solid waste. The main objective was to obtain silica-based materials from the precursor (TEOS), replacing acetic acid in acid hydrolysis with different parts of a lemon: peel, juice and peel ethanol extract.The solids obtained were characterized with different techniques such as TEM, SEM, FT-IR, potentiometric titration and XRD. TEM and SEM images were compared with the synthesized pure silica to contrast the morphology of the acidic hydrolysis with lemon. It can be concluded, in general terms, that the proposed objectives have been achieved, since materials were synthesized through a simple and fast method of obtaining, which allowed their inclusion in oxidic matrices. Until now, few attempts have been made to highlight the renewability of reagents used in the synthesis or to incorporate bio-based catalytic processes in larger scales. However, this research contributes to areas of environmentally friendly materials and synthesis, due to the synthesized solids could be used as a support in eco-catalysts.

Developing an efficient technique for the treatment of laboratory wastewater is a challenge. In response, kaolinite clay (CLY) was functionalized with tetraethylammonium bromide to produce tetraethylammonium modified kaolinite clay (CLY@AM). Both CLY and CLY@AM were characterized with X-ray diffraction (XRD), Fourier transformed infrared spectroscopy (FTIR), energy-dispersive X-ray spectroscopy (EDS) and scanning electron microscopy (SEM). CLY and CLY@AM were evaluated for their ability to remove phenolphthalein (PH) and methyl orange (MO) from laboratory wastewater. Peaks from FTIR and XRD suggests the formation of CLY@AM, while SEM micrograph revealed the surfaces of CLY and CLY@AM to be irregularly shaped while CLY@AM has some patches. The adsorption capacities exhibited by CLY@AM towards PH (43.00 ​mg ​g−1) and MO (40.00 ​mg ​g−1) were found more promising compared to CLY, which showed 20.00 and 22.00 ​mg ​g−1 towards MO and PH, respectively. The ΔHo value for the sorption of PH was found to be −71.7523 ​kJ ​mol−1, while the value was −46.1826 ​kJ ​mol−1 for MO. The ΔHo values are negative in nature which suggests the process to be exothermic. The removal of MO and PH from the solution may be described by Langmuir isotherm with a regeneration capacity above 80% even at the 14th regeneration cycle. Applying CLY@AM towards the purification of raw laboratory wastewater contaminated with PH and MO further proves the effectiveness of CLAY@AM as a potentially efficient material for the purification of laboratory wastewater systems contaminated with PH and MO.

The electrosynthesis methods are cheaper and greener route as electrons are used as a source of reagent to carry out redox reactions. The addition or removal of electrons to/from an organic molecule generates an active molecule which is transformed into products. With the availability of commercial reaction cells, electrodes, and power supplies modern synthesis laboratories seek alternative electrochemical assisted synthesis pathways for organic transformations. The review paper covers brief introduction of electro-organic conversions to the readers followed by its recent development and its present status in Heck electrocatalysis. The reaction of an olefin with aryl or vinyl halide is known as the Heck reaction and is an important tool in organic synthesis. Traditional heck catalysis suffers from the polymerization of an active Pd(0) to inactive palladium black that leads to loss of catalysis with time. An electrochemical technique offers the advantage of regenerating true active Pd(0) species under the circulation of current. Under electrolysis there is a continuous and steady generation of active catalyst concentration which is beneficial for the overall yield of the reaction. Different Pd, Ni, and Co catalysts that were explored in Heck electrochemical process are discussed, focus is put on the in-situ electrochemical generation of true catalytic active species. Electrochemical Heck reaction is an emerging area and exhibits enhanced catalytic efficiency and with improved technique scopes to in-depth mechanistic sights.

The state of the world urgently calls for a transition toward production and consumption partners that can support a carbon-neutral, circular and sustainable economy. Green and sustainable chemicals, especially, biodegradable and bio-based plastics, are key components of this transition. However, significant financial investments are required for the implementation of green and sustainable chemistry principles and the broader promotion of sustainability. In this regard, the financial sector needs sound approaches to assess the sustainability of investments. With this paper, we show an approach to assess the environmental performance of investments through key performance indicators calculated based on life cycle assessment. The approach is applied for the assessment of a fictitious investment aimed at financing bio-based and biodegradable plastic mulch films. The performance is assessed by comparing changes induced by the investment, compared with what would have happened without the investment (i.e., using fossil-based plastic mulch films). The application of the approach shows that the investment could be in general favourable from an environmental point of view, in particular for the promotion of a more circular and low-carbon economy. The approach could be easily adapted to reflect the specificities of a wide range of investments. However, it should be noted that other environmental, economic, and social aspects may need to be integrated to depict the sustainability performance of investments in a more comprehensive manner.

Vegetable oils have been extensively researched, and many reviews have been published about them. However, most of them are focused on soybean and linseed oils and reactions, such as epoxidation, but do not take into account other potential sources or reactions that can provide high value products. Therefore, the present work aims to cover these overlooked topics illustrating different sources of vegetable oils including baru, macaw, andiroba, grape, passion fruits, neem, and so on. Furthermore, some chemical modifications and their resulting monomers are discussed, for instance, maleinization, epoxidation, acrylation, carbonatation, and click chemistry, and forth. Consequently, there are several ways to use vegetable oils to produce renewable polymers for use in technological fields, such as photopolymerisation and vitrimers. The latter has received great attention in recent research due to their recovering, reshaping, and welding properties.

The need for food has drastically increased with the world population's unprecedented growth, which consequently raised agricultural production. The increased agricultural and food production as a whole has resulted in the generation of enormous amounts of food waste, which is now posing a threat to both the environment and humanity. To address these issues, it is now crucial to persuade people to use promising green technologies to manage and valorize agri-food waste into valuable food additives. The recovery of value-added pigments from agri-food waste as natural food colorants is one of the new business prospects being created by approaches influenced by the circular economy model that have been continuously growing globally. These natural pigments are expected to substantially impact the development of functional foods and offer a wealth of bio-therapeutic potential. The production of naturally safe food pigments from the agri-food waste offers a greener approach within circular economy concept while avoiding the use of synthetic-petro-based colourants from the food chain. This also promotes the incorporation of natural food pigments obtained through sustainable resources. This state-of-the-art graphical review focused on the recent advances in green valorization technologies of agri-food waste to exploit natural plant pigments and their relation to sustainable food production and green circular economy.

New technologies have been developed to avoid ecological damages by promoting depollution and eco-friendly synthesis routes of chemicals and materials, and setting efficient “cleaner” energy supply methods. These research fields, strongly interconnected, can contribute to sustainable technological advancement and represent the frame in which SrFeO3-based materials can act as valuable tools. SrFeO3 is a ABO3 perovskite-type mixed oxide, widely studied in nanotechnology. Its pristine form does not contain expensive elements, such as rare and noble metals, or toxic components. SF peculiar features, such as non-stoichiometric composition (oxygen vacancies), the unusual oxidation state of Fe4+ and the related transformations of structural, electronic and magnetic characteristics, are attracting many research teams. This review summarizes most of these fundamental aspects, adding tips on some of the possible SF modification strategies and characterization techniques in view of environmental-benign applications. Particularly, thanks to SF-based materials’ oxygen exchange properties, ionic and electronic conduction abilities and catalytic activities, SFs are used in: (i) depollution processes as adsorbents, photo- and thermo-catalysts, combustion catalysts, antimicrobial agents, (ii) alternative devices for energy production and storage, and (iii) efficient systems for fuel conversion (i.e., chemical looping). The main correlations among SF composition, physical-chemical properties, performances and stability will be highlighted. This way, this review addresses indications to create SF-based tailored and functional materials specifically for the environment and energy, which are still underestimated and often replaced by other well-known oxides such as Lanthanum-based (in A-site) or Co, Ti-based (in B-site) perovskites.