Vellore Institute of Technology (VIT) is a private university located in&nbsp;Tamil Nadu, India. Founded in 1984, as Vellore Engineering College, the institution offers 20 undergraduate, 34 postgraduate, four integrated and four research programs. It has campuses in Vellore, Amravati, Bhopal and Chennai.

VIT is one of the top ranked private universities in India according to NIRF, THE and QS Rankings.&nbsp;Govt. of India has recognized&nbsp;VIT, Vellore as an&nbsp;Institution of Eminence. This has allowed VIT to take independent quality initiatives and move up in world ranking.

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VIT University

Water, soil and air abundantly is polluted in nature at present. Nevertheless, the researcher focused on water contaminations influence to carry out towards bio-organism. Trace metal pollution receipts causing permanent damage to the water and the soil. To emphasis on the elimination of heavy metal from staining industrial effluent using biodegradable polymer is prepared and its characterization using FTIR, XRD and SEM studies supported. The results reveal the remediation without the recurrence of secondary pollutants is an edge over advantage of this adsorbent. © 2019 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved. Selection and peer-review under responsibility of the scientific committee of the International Conference on Nanotechnology: Ideas, Innovation and Industries.

Department of Chemistry

School of Advanced Sciences

Vellore Campus

World University root node

Materials Today: Proceedings

Removal of heavy metals from dyeing industry effluent using biodegradable polymer

The world is changing at a very fast pace- in terms of culture, education, complexities of societal needs and demands. The educator with his past learning cannot match the expectations of the millennials. The VUCA (volatility, uncertainty, complexity and ambiguity) in Engineering Education has to be observed, studied, analysed and reformed and that too very soon. Higher Education is unable to evolve in pace with the technological developments, global economics, and digital transformations. Global networking has shrunk the world and established inter-connectedness breaking barriers of language, geography, societal cultures, and perceptions. However such rapid changes have not impacted Engineering Education much. Academicians prophecies about attributes that an engineer should possess are turning volatile. This uncertainty leads to unemployed engineers. The chaos has emerged with various levels of complexities. With under-skilled employees, the future of the Engineers and Engineering Education looks bleak and ambiguous. Jack of all trades will have more employable possibilities than the Master of a particular skill. The faculty who teach the 21st Century Learner therefore must make a conscious, intentional choice to enhance his competencies to prepare students for the future. This study emphasizes the need to reawaken our educational policies and teaching-learning pedagogy. Certain learning strategies like flipped learning, project-based learning, problem-based learning will adapt the andragogic method. The teaching trends will be metamorphosed and establish good networking for inter/transdisciplinary research. Case studies and scenario building will churn in opportunities for the students to communicate, collaborate, critically think, and be creative. The empowered faculty will have his multi-skilled students placed well, the student will be industry ready and the industry will have the employee come along with his 21st Century skill set. The beneficiaries: the school, university, teacher now a facilitator, the student and the community at large will build not only a sustainable future but a thriving one too!. © 2020 The Authors. Published by Elsevier B.V.

Department of General Management

VIT Business School

Fulltext

Procedia Computer Science

VUCA in engineering education: Enhancement of faculty competency for capacity building

Chromium has numerous industrial applications, such as metallurgy, processing of leather, producing chromic acid, as a catalyst and electroplating. These activities cause Cr contamination in air, soil and water resources. The present study explore remediating of Cr(VI) ions from synthetic aqueous solutions using nanochitosan/polyvinyl alcohol/carboxymethyl starch ternary blend of ratio (1:1:1) with glutraldehyde as a crosslinking agent, under different experimental conditions of initial chromium concentration, adsorbent dose and pH, by batch adsorption method.The results indicate that under the optimum conditions, the NC/PVA/CMS blend was found as an effective adsorbent for Cr (VI). © 2017 Elsevier Ltd.

Adsorption of Heavy Metal Cr (VI) by a Ternary Biopolymer Blend

Polysaccharides are the most abundant industrial raw materials that have been the subject of intensive research nowadays due to their sustainable, biodegradable, and biosafety nature. In recent years, significant progress has been made in discovering and developing new algal polymers that possess novel and highly functional properties. Alginates are established among the most versatile biopolymers and 546are used in a wide range of applications; they are quite abundant in nature, since they occur both as a structural component in marine brown algae (Phaeophyceae), comprising up to 40% of the dry matter, and as capsular polysaccharides in soil bacteria. On account of their physicochemical characteristics, chemical stability, particular structure, and high reactivity, the alginate biopolymers also have an excellent selectivity and a high ability to form complexes with various heavy metals (Aravindhan et al. 2007; Ngomsik et al. 2009). The industrial applications of alginates were mainly linked to their water-retaining ability, gelling, viscosifying, and stabilizing properties. Owing to the mature industrial sector in many developed countries, the market for alginates and derivatives is observed to be growing at a modest rate. Among the various industries, the textile and food and beverage industries are still the major consumers for alginates, and this consumption is expected to grow at a healthy rate. For various reasons, researchers are exploring the possible applications of modified forms of alginates, having various structures, functions, and properties, which are synthesized via chemical and physical reactions. © 2017 by Taylor & Francis Group, LLC.

Industrial Applications of Marine Biopolymers

Industrial applications of alginate

Water, the most fabulous resource, has now become even more important than gold because of its depletion by natural and anthropogenic activities at an alarming rate round the world. Several countries are expected to face severe water crisis by the year 2025, and the problem will be worst where water shortage already exists (Bremere et al. 2001). This highlights the importance of adequate water management and treatment. To sustain the life of fast-growing global population, it is the responsibility of each and every individual across the globe to save water with utmost care. The impact of water scarcity and diminishing water quality can thus be prevented to certain level by treating it by various prevailing technologies. The most viable technology that is expected to be a critical solution for such problems is the membrane technology because of its potentiality to remove microorganisms such as bacteria 502and fungi, particulate material, and natural organic material and also because of its outstanding alignment with sustainable development and process intensification (Quist-Jensen et al. 2015). © 2017 by Taylor & Francis Group, LLC.

Application of marine polymers in membrane technology

The feasibility of adsorption and desorption behavior of nanochitosan(NCS)/sodium alginate(SA)/microcrystalline cellulose (MC) bead prepared in 2:8:1 ratio for Pb(II) removal has been investigated through batch studies. The proof of adsorption of Pb(II) ions onto NCS/SA/MC beads was identified from FT-IR and EDX-SEM Studies. Studies of the effect of pH, adsorbent dose, metal ion concentration and temperature reveals that the optimum conditions for adsorption was found to be pH:6; adsorbent dose:4 g; initial metal concentration: 62.5 mg/L and temperature:50 °C. Various equilibrium adsorption isotherm models namely Langmuir, Freundlich, Temkin and D-R applied for the analysis of isotherm data indicate that the Freundlich adsorption isotherm model was found to be followed. On the basis of kinetic studies, specific rate constants involved in the processes were calculated and the observed result shows that the pseudo second order kinetics was found to be a better fit. The desorption studies reveals that the recovery of Pb(II) from NCS/SA/MC bead was found to be effective by using 0.1 M HCl solution. From the results it was evident that the NCS/SA/MC bead showed better Pb(II) uptake performance and regeneration for further use and hence it was found to be an efficient biosorbent for treating industrial effluent. © 2017 Elsevier B.V.

International Journal of Biological Macromolecules

Batch adsorption and desorption studies on the removal of lead (II) from aqueous solution using nanochitosan/sodium alginate/microcrystalline cellulose beads

Chitosan and polyethylene glycol (PEG) were crosslinked with glutaraldehyde to form a blend in the ratio 1:1. The synthesized blend was characterized by FTIR, XRD, TGA/DTA, and DSC to confirm grafting and crosslinking reactions, and scanning electron microscopy to understand the surface morphology. The prepared blend was employed for the removal of metals from dyeing industry effluent. The optimum conditions arrived at for the removal of chromium from dyeing industrial effluent are as follows: pH 5, contact time 4 h, adsorbate dosage is 3 g/L. Kinetic studies and adsorption studies were also carried out to evaluate the adsorption parameters. © 2016 Copyright © Taylor & Francis Group, LLC.

Synthesis and Reactivity in Inorganic, Metal-Organic and Nano-Metal Chemistry

Kinetics of removal of chromium from wastewater using chitosan-based binary polymer blends

The present study was aimed to prepare the novel ternary biopolymeric beads of nanochitosan (NCS)/sodium alginate (SA)/microcrystalline cellulose (MC) for the removal of heavy metal copper from aqueous solution through batch adsorption mode. The polymeric beads were characterized before and after adsorption using FTIR, XRD and EDX-SEM studies. The efficiency of the adsorbent was analyzed by varying the parameters such as initial metal ion concentration, contact time, adsorbent dose and pH. The experimental data obtained were fitted in the isotherm models such as Langmuir, Freundlich and Tempkin models and in pseudo first and second order kinetics studies. The isotherm and kinetics models revealed that the adsorption was found to fit well with Freundlich isotherm and follows pseudo second-order kinetics. © 2015 Elsevier B.V.

Removal of copper(II) from aqueous solution using nanochitosan/sodium alginate/microcrystalline cellulose beads

The biopolymer chitosan, sodium alginate and carboxymethyl cellulose is widely used in many industrial applications and also in laboratory due to its good biocompatibility. In the present work the chitosan/sodium alginate/carboxymethyl cellulose beads were prepared in 1:2:1 ratio in the presence and absence of the glutaraldehyde crosslinker. The prepared polymeric bead samples were characterized by Fourier transform infra red spectroscopy (FT-IR), X-ray diffraction (XRD) and Thermo gravimetric analysis (TGA) studies. FT-IR result suggests that the interactions are taking place between added polymers and also the presence of crosslinking between the polymers and glutaraldehyde. The XRD studies were carried to find the reduction in crystallinity of prepared samples and through TGA studies the enhancement in the thermal stability of polymer beads were identified. The results confirms the formation and compatibility of the prepared beads.

Der Pharmacia Lettre

Synthesis and characterisation of chitosan/sodium alginate/carboxymethyl cellulose beads

Water streams are contaminated with highly hazardous materials released from industries. Various purification techniques are in practice for remediating the contaminated water. Among them, membrane technology has received tremendous importance in recent years. In the present work novel ultrafiltration membranes were prepared by blending a biopolymer chitosan, with cellulose acetate and polyethylene glycol in N,Nl- dimethylformamide by phase inversion technique. The membranes were prepared in different ratios and subjected to characterization using Fourier Transform Infrared Spectroscopy (FTIR), X-ray Diffraction analysis (XRD) and Scanning Electron Microscopy (SEM). Structural changes during formation of blends were confirmed by FTIR. The molecular packing of the prepared polymer blends was identified using XRD. Surface morphology and crosssection of membranes were analyzed using SEM. Water absorption capacity and the percentage rejection of chromium from industrial and artificial wastewater were carried out. It was found that the blend with highest PEG content showed maximum rejection of 48.46% and 54.96% in both artificial wastewater and industrial wastewater which was in good agreement with % hydrophillicity and SEM and the results were discussed.

Fabrication of cellulose acetate-chitosan-polyethylene glycol ultrafiltration membrane for chromium removal

The influence of clay on the adsorption of heavy metals like copper and cadmium on chitosan from simulated industrial wastewater is evaluated. Chitosan-clay blend with ratio of (1:1), (1:2), and (2:1) have been prepared, and these were used as membranes to remove copper and cadmium ions from synthetic industrial wastewater. The chemical parameters for quantities of adsorption of heavy metal contamination have been done, and the kinetics of adsorption has also been carried out. Clay provides enough absorbable sites to overcome mass transfer limitations. The number of absorbable sites for cadmium is more compared to copper, and thus the rate of recovery of cadmium is faster than copper, and the percentage removal of cadmium is more than copper at all times on clay over nylon 6. This difference indicates the influence of clay in the adsorption of heavy metals in comparison to synthetic polymer nylon 6. Rate constant for first-order kinetics of adsorption, k1, for copper and cadmium is less than that of clay, which clearly indicates that clay, which is a natural polymer, is more kinetically favored compared to synthetic polymer. The difference in the intraparticle diffusion in both the natural and synthetic polymer is not much, and it suggests that the particle diffusion mechanism is the same in both cases. Copper and cadmium recovery is parallel at all times. The percentage of removal of copper increased with an increase in pH from 3 to 5. In the case of cadmium containing wastewater, the maximum removal of metal occurred at pH 5. The uptake amount of Cu2+ ions on chitosan increased rapidly with increasing the contact time from 0 to 360 min and then reaches equilibrium after 360 min, and the equilibrium constant for copper and cadmium ions are more or less the same for the adsorption reaction. There are more adsorption sites for cadmium in the presence of clay and mass transfer limitation is avoided without resorting to rotation, which is the highlight of the present work. And more so, this is pronounced in the case of natural polymer compared to synthetic polymer. © 2012 Springer-Verlag.