Volume 20 - 2018

In Jordan and as in many other Mediterranean countries olive oil production is one of the major agricultural production, it is estimated that the annual production of olive oil in Jordan approximately 21.5 thousand tons per year. O the other hand the process of olive oil extraction generates around 200,000 m3 of olive mill wastewater (OMW) and it is considered as a a serious problem in. In this study the real sample of wastewater is collected from the outlet at the mill near by the university campus. The analysis of this collected wastewater has shown a very high Chemical Oxygen Demand COD (253.648 kg/l) and Bilogical Oxygen Demand, BOD (89.365kg/l). These high BOD and COD reveals a real need to treat it before sent to municipal sewage. The study also focuses on reducing an organ phenol component which has been measured and found equal to 0.5698mg/l. The use of Ferric Oxide in the form of nanoparticles was successfully used to oxide organic phenols from olive mill wastewater (OMW) and has reduced to 0.002 mg/l. The results show that 0.1g of Ferric Oxide in the form of nanoparticles when mixed with sand has the capacity to remove the phenols from the collected samples. The removal percentage obtained here reached 97%. When the mixture of ferric nanoparticles used with sand in a ratio of 0.1 g Fe2O3and 1 kg of sand, the removal capacity of organic phenols has reached to 99%, and COD () in percentage of 97.2%. The results show an interesting behavior towards other minerals that exists in solution, that ferric nanoparticles have a good capacity to remove Cr+3Cu+3 K+Ca+2Na+.minerals exist in wastewater.

The recovery of rare earth metals (REMs) from end-of-life products, such as Waste Electrical and Electronic Equipment (WEEE), is drawing great attention as an attractive strategy for promoting the sustainable development. The hydrometallurgical technique of solvent extraction has been reported to be one of the most interesting method to recover REMs. However, when applied to WEEE, this process is challenged by the heterogeneous composition of electronic waste, completely different from other solid matrices, and it still has much rooms of improvements. This study investigated the extraction, stripping and recovery of REMs from a WEEE leaching solution using Versatic 10 as carrier in the organic phase and oxalic acid as stripping agent. A factorial design was carried out to evaluate the simultaneous effects of factors as the feed phase pH and the concentrations of both extractant and organic phase modifier in the extraction process. Cerium, lanthanum and yttrium were extracted at high percentages using 200 mM of Versatic 10, loaded by 100 mM of TBP in kerosene at pH 7. Moreover, 750 mM of oxalic acid successfully stripped and recovered 7.63 and 13.82 mg/kg of lanthanum and yttrium, respectively.

Re-Tek UK and its partners, Enscape Consulting and the University of West of Scotland commenced trials for the collection and recovery of critical raw materials from waste electrical and electronic (WEEE) products in July 2016. Sponsored by the EU LIFE funded project ‘Critical Raw Material Closed Loop Recovery’ coordinated by WRAP with EARN, ERP UK Ltd, KTN Ltd and Wuppertal Institute as beneficiaries. The trials are aimed at boosting the recovery of critical raw materials (CRMs) from household waste electrical and electronic products (WEEE) and Information Communications Technology (ICT) in particular, after functioning equipment is separated out for re-use. The new collection models provided residents with the opportunity to drop-off unwanted electrical and electronic appliances at a time and place that suits them, through a collaborative approach which encourages local authorities, educational establishments, businesses, and Social Enterprises, etc to act as hub sites. Hubs were designed to minimize product damage and encourage drop-off, rather than hoarding. Extraction methods developed after the collection phase of the trial looked at the opportunity to recover cobalt, gold and silver from ICT products, with the potential to inform how a more sustainable supply chain could be developed in Scotland. The elements studied were selected to demonstrate financial opportunity (gold/silver) and a strategic priority material (cobalt) for long term supply. These are based on bioleaching and electrochemical recovery using novel carbon based electrode systems, and chemical processing methods using extraction techniques with an assessment of pilot performance and scale up challenges. Our report is on the state of progress towards practical solutions to WEEE and CRM recovery.

Honey is one of the most valuable foods in terms of its antioxidant nature and antioxidant activity. In this study, their botanic origins, total flavonoid content, total phenol content, the hydrogen peroxide scavenging activity (HPSA) (in terms of SC50 (µg mL-1)), ferric reducing antioxidant power capacity (FRAP), 1,1-diphenyl-2-picrylhydrazyl (DPPH) radical scavenging activity (in terms of SC50), metal-chelating activity (MCA) (%) and heavy metal amounts were examined to determine the qualities of honey samples that gathered from Giresun city of Black Sea region in Turkey. According to the melissopalynological analysis, the botanic origins of the samples are Castanea sativa (Chestnut) Miller and uni-floral. The HPSA, FRAP, DPPH, MCA (%), total phenol content (TPC), and total flavonoid content (TFC) were found between 251.99±0.48-258.64±1.22 µg mL-1, 71.34±0.09-73.71±0.20 %, 584.86±0.06-595.04±0.29 µg mL-1, 36.73±0.00-36.86±0.09 %, 93.82±1.05-173.15±2.46 mg GAE 100 g-1 and 5.51±0.19-8.29±0.05 mg CAE/100 g, respectively. For comparison of these results, Butylated Hydroxy Anisole (BHA), Butylated Hydroxy Toluene (BHT) and α-Tocopherol (TOC) were used as standard antioxidant compounds. In addition, it was observed that honey samples were been contaminated with most of the heavy metals (Al, Ca, Cr, Cu, Fe, Li, Mg, Mn, Ni, Rb, and Zn) to a lesser or greater extent, whereas others (Te, Tl, and U) were never detected in these samples. However, Cd and Cs were detected only in one sample and Pb in another sample Finally, the results indicate that although honey is an important source of nutrients, nevertheless it could be affected by environmental pollution.