Separation of silver from waste waters by ion-exchange resins and concentration by microbial cells

Summary Waste waters of film processing plants are rich with silver. Part of the silver is regenerated electrochemically, but the rest (0.5 g) remains in waste waters and is sent to sewers. This is a bad politic from both the environmental (toxic waste waters) and the economical point of view (a waste of silver). In this work, the silver was isolated by ion-exchange resins and then concentrated by microorganisms. For exchange of silver, Ionenaustauscher I, II and IV were used. The batch method was used to obtain a static equilibrium. Silver elution from exchangers is based on silver transformation to a stable cation or anion complex. By varying the ligands, pH and eluent concentrations, optimum elution is found at 1 mol/l Na₂S₂O₃, 1 mol/l NH₃, 2 mol/l HNO₃ and 1 mol/l (NH₂)₂CO. The concentration of silver in the eluent is about 50 mg/l. The silver ion uptake from solutions after ion exchange by mixed bacterial culture isolated from photographic waste water drain and pure bacterial cultures Escherichia coli 3009 and Bacillus subtilis 3053. was studied. Experiments were carried out in submerse culture at pH 7 with different Ag⁺ concentrations (4, 8 and 40 mg/l) on a rotary shaker (100 rpm) at 37°C. At the lower Ag⁺ concentrations a good growth and simultaneous removal of Ag⁺ from the solutions was achieved. At Ag⁺ concentration of 40 mg/l growth and removal of Ag⁺ by mixed and pure culture differed significantly. Thus mixed bacterial culture grew well and at the same time removed efficiently Ag⁺ (approximately 90%) from medium. Pure bacterial cultures on the contrary were unable to grow at 40 mg/l Ag⁺, though their biomass showed to be an effective biosorbent for Ag⁺ (approximately 80% of Ag⁺ removal).     

Investigation of a cylindrical chemosorptive denuder for sampling and phase separation of toluene diisocyanate aerosols

A cylindrical chemosorptive denuder in series with a glass fibre filter has been evaluated for sampling toluene diisocyanate (TDI) aerosols. The sampler is designed for measuring personal exposure to diisocyanates. Several denuder coatings and derivatising reagents were investigated. Dimethylpolysiloxane (SE-30) and 5% phenyl dimethylpolysiloxane (SE-54) with either dibutylamine (DBA) or dipentylamine (DPeA) as derivatising reagents yielded the lowest vapour breakthrough (the amount (%) of the vapour that passes through the denuder), close to values predicted by theory. Immobilisation of the SE-30 denuder coating by in-situ cross-linking yielded comparable results. With an SE-30/DBA-coated denuder operating within an airflow range of 100–500 mL min^–1, the phase separation was shown to be consistent with theoretical predictions derived by use of the Gormley–Kennedy equation. This provides a means of calculating the vapour breakthrough and correcting experimentally obtained values with regard to vapour–particulate phase distribution, suggesting that the denuder can provide accurate phase-distribution measurements. The SE-30/DBA denuder can be used over a concentration range spanning nearly six orders of magnitude. Its capacity is sufficient to perform 15-min exposure measurements of a TDI aerosol with air concentrations as high as 1,700 g m^–3, 40 times higher than the Swedish occupational exposure limit (OEL). At the other end of the range, the estimated limit of detection (LOD) was less than 2 ng m^–3 for both the vapour and the aerosol phases when LC–ESI–MS–MS was used for chemical analysis.Electronic Supplementary Material Supplementary material for this article is available at     

Determination of fatty acids in atmospheric samples via GC/MS

Summary Atmospheric precipitation and aerosol samples are characterized by a complex mixture of several organic compounds. A simple method for the simultaneous determination of the main compound classes by GC/MS is presented. In detail, seasonal variations of C₈–C₃₂ fatty acids in precipitation in a semirural area have been studied. Total fatty acids concentrations of 7–53 g/l were detected. Summer rain is characterized by high amounts of fatty acids >C₂₀ and lower amounts of C₁₁–C₂₀ species. Two effects may be responsible: larger emission rates of fatty acids during vegetation periods and an increased influence of vapour phase due to higher temperatures during summer. CPI values showed no general trend; lower CPI values for winter rain could not be observed. This would be expected if anthropogenic sources play an important role. Monounsaturated fatty acids (C_16:1, C_18:1) were more abundant during winter than in summer. High concentrations of polyunsaturated fatty acids (C_18:x) could be detected during summer. High relative concentrations of the potential oxidation products of the unsaturated species, nonanedioic acid and w-oxononanoic acid, are associated with relatively low concentrations of their precursors.     

Monocarbaborane anion chemistry. An interesting encapsulation of the Pd2I2(P(C6H(4)-4-Me)3)4]2+ cation by a pair of [PhCB9H4I(C6H4Me)4]- anions

Reaction of the [1-Ph-closo-1-CB9H(4)-6,7,8,9,10-I5]- anion with 4-MeC6H4MgBr in the presence of [PdCl2(PPh3)2] gives the [Pd2I2(P(C6H(4)-4-Me)3)4]2+ salt of the [1-Ph-closo-1-CB9H(4)-10-I-6,7,8,9-(C6H(4)-4-Me)4]- anion, which exhibits an unusual neutral supramolecular assembly in the solid state, in which the dipalladium dication is encapsulated by two four-armed 'tetrapus' anionic units; the anion also has potentialities for four-fold dendrimer construction.     

Detection of traces of oxidized and reduced sulfur compounds in small samples by combination of different high-performance liquid chromatography methods

Depending on the sulfur species, picomoles of different inorganic sulfur compounds can be detected and separated by HPLC in one arrangement in a sample volume less than 50 μl. The combination of fluorescence labelling of reduced inorganic sulfur compounds such as sulfide (S²⁻), sulfite(SO₃²⁻ and thiosulfate (S₂O₃²⁻) with monobromobimane followed by an extraction of elemental sulfur (S°) by chloroform treatment enables the detection of all mentioned sulfur compounds as well as sulfate (remaining aqueous phase) in the same sample. While the derivatized sulfur compounds could be detected by their fluorescence emission at 480 nm, elemental sulfur is identified by its UV absorption at 263 nm. Sulfate in the remaining aqueous phase is detected by HPLC with indirect UV detection at 254 nm. Detection ranges for the different sulfur compounds examined are as follows: sulfide (5 μM to 1.5 mM), sulfite (5 μM to 1.0 mM), thiosulfate (1 μM to 1.5 mM), elemental sulfur (2 μM to 32 mM) and sulfate (5 μM to >1 mM).     

“Integer-making” theorems

Let X = {x₁, x₂,…} be a finite set and associate to every x_i a real number α_i. Let f(n) [g (n)] be the least value such that given any family $\text{F}$ of subsets of X having maximum degree n [cardinality n], one can find integers α_i, i=1,2,… so that α_i ? α_i|<1 and

$\text{∑}\text{x}{}_{\mathrm{i\; ?\; E}}\text{a}{}_{\mathrm{i}}\text{?}\text{∑}\text{x}{}_{\mathrm{i\; ?\; E}}\text{α}{}_{\mathrm{i}}\text{≤?(n)}\text{∑}\text{x}{}_{\mathrm{i\; ?\; E}}\text{a}{}_{\mathrm{i}}\text{?}\text{∑}\text{x}{}_{\mathrm{i\; ?\; E}}\text{α}{}_{\mathrm{i}}\text{≤}\text{g(n)}$

for all $\text{E ?}\text{F}$. We prove

$\text{f(n)≤n ? 1 and g(n)≤c(n}\text{log}\text{n)}{}^{\mathrm{<mtext>1</mtext><mtext>2</mtext>}}$

.     

Determination of total chlorine in waste oil

Summary A simple method has been developed to determine the concentration of organic chlorine in waste oil. The determination is based on the conversion of organic chlorine to inorganic chloride by reaction with sodium biphenyl followed by extraction with nitric acid and a mixture of nitric acid and water. The concentration of chloride is determined by direct potentiometry with an ion-selective electrode. The limit of determination amounts to 3·10^–5 mol·l^–1 chloride ions with a standard deviation of 3.5%. Different samples of waste oil have been analyzed and the results have been compared to those obtained by combustion in a H₂/O₂ flame followed by potentiometric titration with silver nitrate.     

16, 18O induced transfer reactions on122, 120Sn

The reactions¹²⁰Sn+72 MeV¹⁸O and¹²²Sn+74 MeV¹⁶O were investigated with time of-flightE-E-telescopes. Data are presented for all quasi-elastic reaction channels. The two neutron stripping and pickup reactions (¹⁸O,¹⁶O), (¹⁸O,²⁰O) and (¹⁶O,¹⁸O) are analyzed in detail. It is shown that these heavy ion induced two neutron transfer reactions proceed with essentially the same type of selectivity as the corresponding light ion induced reactions. The differential cross sections for transfer reactions leaving the^{120, 122}Sn nuclei in their 2⁺ first excited states are shown to be influenced by interference effects due to additional inelastic excitations.     

Inner-shell ionization ofZ=25–32 elements by 5-48 MeV32S ions

TheK-shell ionization cross sections of Mn, Ni, Cu, Zn and Ge under³²S bombardment have been measured in the energy range from 5 to 48 MeV. The cross sections are compared with available theories based on a direct Coulomb ionization mechanism and with the predictions of theK-vacancy sharing process. This last process can reasonably account for the measured cross sections at high bombarding energies. The energy shifts of theK - andK -lines and theK /K -intensity ratios have also been measured. This information is used to deduce the defect configuration of the atoms. The mechanisms responsible for the multiple vacancy production are discussed.     

Development of a nanostructured filter for pyrolysis wax purification:Effects of particulate filter aids

Wax obtained from the pyrolysis of polyethylene waste can contain inorganic contaminants and must be purified before application.We evaluated different filter aids(perlite,sand,and rice husk ash)for the filtration of a crude wax and a pyrolysis wax through a filter medium that was coated with nylon 6 nanofibers to improve filtration efficiency.We first examined the performance of the filter aids in improving crude wax filtration,with the filtration time,temperature,and pressure held constant at 1 h,170℃,and 2.5 bar,respectively.Oily wax was then produced by pyrolysis of high-density polyethylene(HDPE)waste in the temperature range 425-475℃.The best filter aid was perlite,which had a filtrate production rate of 5.47×10^-5m³/h.The highest oily wax yield(87.8%)was achieved at a pyrolysis temperature of 425℃.The assembly comprising the filter medium coated with nylon 6 nanofibers plus perlite as a filter aid was most suitable for removing impurities from the oily wax generated by the HDPE pyrolysis as it achieved a purification efficiency of 99.9%.