Issue 2

Discharging wastewater from industries without any treatment causes environmental pollution and endangers biotic life. In this study, pollutant removal by electrocoagulation (EC) process was investigated using wastewater of the ore processing plant (magnesite crushing and screening plant). In the EC process, iron-iron and copper-copper electrodes were used in parallel in the reactor. Chemical oxygen demand (COD), Sulphate, Chromium (VI), Nickel, Zinc, Magnesium, and Total Suspended Solids (TSS) removals were investigated in the EC process of mineral processing industry wastewater with the iron electrode. These pollutants were calculated as %97.6, %95.1, %98.2, %98.1, %97.8, %88.2, and %98.9, respectively. COD, Sulphate, Chromium (VI), Nickel, Zinc, Magnesium, and TSS removals in the EC process of mineral processing industry wastewater with the copper electrode are %92.8, %94.9, %99.5, %98.7, %96.1, %91.6, and %96.9 respectively. It has been observed that high removal efficiency can be achieved by using the electrocoagulation process in the treatment of ore washing wastewater resulting from the crushing and screening processes in the Chrome Magnesite processing plant.

Waste paper is a major component of solid waste with cellulose, a glucose biopolymer, as structural component. Cellulose is a worthy substance with renewable possibilities and if resolved into glucose it could be utilised as a feedstock for fermentation into bioproducts like bioethanol and biopharmaceuticals. The extent of saccharification is an important variable to maximise waste paper as a renewable feedstock. The structural nature of cellulose however prevents an effective bioconversion process and as a result procedures need to be developed making waste cellulose more susceptible for the hydrolytic action of cellulase. Seven different paper materials have been chemically and physically pre-treated prior to cellulase catalysed saccharification with Trichoderma viride cellulase. Non-treated brown envelope paper showed the highest relative degree of saccharification followed by Pick ’n Pay advertising paper from a local retailer and foolscap paper while newspaper resulted in the lowest degree of saccharification. When pre-treated with a combined chemical and physical procedure composed of NaOH and sonication the bioconversion of brown envelope paper showed the highest degree of degradation followed by foolscap paper and office paper. The highest percentage increase in saccharification due to pre-treatment was observed with office paper while newspaper and Woolworths advertsing showing a decrease in saccharification after pre-treatment.

Production of glycerol carbonate (GLC) that is a fuel additive from green solvent dimethyl carbonate (DMC) and biodiesel by-product glycerin is environmentally friendly synthesis. The usage of waste glycerol from biodiesel plant makes the production cost lower. When the membrane aided technique is used for the production of GLC, this technique will be very promising technique. Because membrane applications are environment and energy friendly economical applications. The production with membrane aided can be made by catalytic membrane. In this study, catalytic membranes were developed from synthetic and natural materials to produce GLC by transesterification reaction between glycerol and DMC. The reaction gives methanol as byproduct. The catalytic membranes were used methanol retentive material for increasing the reaction conversion of glycerol to glycerol carbonate. The synthetic catalytic membrane materials were poly(vinylalcohol)(PVA), poly(vinylpyrrolidone) (PVP), Poly(4-vinylpyridine) (P4VP) polymers and CaO. The natural catalytic membrane material was chitosan biopolymer and waste eggshell. The properties of by-product methanol retentive of the polymeric membranes were determined from sorption tests. The tests were shown that the catalytic membranes would sorp by-product methanol during reaction. This pointed out that GLC synthesis can be made by membrane aided technique such as membrane reactor.

The regulatory framework of heavy metal pollution associated with electronic waste is prevalent all over the world. As a result of technological advancement and change in consumer patterns, the life span of electrical and electronic products has been shortened. This has contributed to the emergence of massive amounts of electronic waste that needs to be handled. With the exponential growth of the telecommunications sector, the recycling of useful resources from electronic waste devices, especially mobile phones, is of great significance. Besides, the presence of valuable metals enables the recycling of electronic waste potentially appealing. In this research, numerous types of ionic liquids like Butyl methylimidazolium hexafluorophosphate [Bmim][PF6], Butyl methylimidazolium chloride [Bmim][Cl], Ethyl methylimidazolium chloride [Emim][Cl] and Butyl methylimidazolium tetrafluoroborate [Bmim][BF4] were used to analyze the copper leaching behavior of electronic mobile handset devices. Several influential aspects on the leaching efficiency of copper including different types of ionic liquid, temperature and leaching time have been examined. The findings showed [Bmim][PF6] and [Emim][Cl] were better ionic liquids in appropriate conditions for high copper leaching rates.