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

Department of Chemical Engineering

Among a large number of current biomedical applications in the use of medical devices, carbon-based nanomaterials such as graphene (G), graphene oxides (GO), reduced graphene oxide (rGO), and carbon nanotube (CNT) are frontline materials that are suitable for developing medical devices. Carbon Based Nanomaterials (CBNs) are becoming promising materials due to the existence of both inorganic semiconducting properties and organic-stacking characteristics. Hence, it could effectively simultaneously interact with biomolecules and response to the light. By taking advantage of such aspects in a single entity, CBNs could be used for developing biomedical applications in the future. The recent studies in developing carbon-based nanomaterials and its applications in targeting drug delivery, cancer therapy, and biosensors. The development of conjugated and modified carbon-based nanomaterials contributes to positive outcomes in various therapies and achieved emerging challenges in preclinical biomedical applications. Subsequently, diverse biomedical applications of carbon nanotube were also deliberately discussed in the light of various therapeutic advantages. © 2020 by the authors.

World University root node

School of Chemical Engineering

Vellore Campus

Fulltext

Processes

Current use of carbon-based materials for biomedical applications-A prospective and review

Use of castor oil as a renewable polyol in the polyurethane foams has been creating an attractive research interest for many researchers since last 5 decades. In this article, we examine the structural stability of flexible polyurethane foam produced using castor oil-glycerol blend by complete replacement of synthetic polyol. Addition of castor oil in the foaming blend as a complete substitute of synthetic polyol results in instability of foam. However, addition of glycerol as a crosslinking agent in the blend helps in overcoming this instability. Cellular morphology, segmented phase morphology and bulk properties of foams were investigated using scanning electron microscope, Fourier transform infrared spectroscopy respectively. Castor oil-glycerol blend significantly improves the foaming process at low concentrations (till 15 wt % glycerol) whereas, at higher concentrations volumetric expanding liquid undergoes faster cross-linking leading to retarded foam growth (above 20 wt % glycerol). Strut thickness shows a sharp decline at 25 wt % glycerol. Polymer phase morphology shows absence of H-bonded urea resulting in discrete hard segmented morphology whereas urea domains undergo agglomeration without glycerol. Foams were also characterized for thermal and bulk mechanical properties. © 2020 Wiley-VCH Verlag GmbH &amp; Co. KGaA, Weinheim

Department of Manufacturing Engineering

School of Mechanical Engineering

ChemistrySelect

Reinstating Structural Stability of Castor Oil based Flexible Polyurethane Foam using Glycerol

Addition of fillers in polyurethane foams enhances the mechanical properties of polymeric foams. However, fillers can be loaded to a certain extent, as higher percentage of fillers in polymeric foam causes structural instability leading to the collapse of foam. In this article, we report the use of hollow glass microspheres as a possible co-filler which enables higher loading of nano-clay in flexible polyurethane foam. It has been observed that the structural and mechanical properties of nano-clay-loaded foams were found to cause instability at 5 wt% loading of nano-clay. Therefore, upon addition of hollow glass microspheres in 5 wt%, nano-clay-loaded polyurethane foam shows remarkable enhancement in terms of stability and mechanical properties of the resultant foams. A 100-fold increment in tensile strength has been observed for 2 wt% hollow glass microspheres and 5 wt% nano-clay-loaded flexible polyurethane foams as compared to conventional (unloaded) polyurethane foams. © The Author(s) 2020.

Journal of Cellular Plastics

Stability enhancement of highly loaded nano-clay-based flexible polyurethane foams using hollow glass microspheres

This work aims at the removal of textile dye namely methylene blue (MB) from an aqueous solution using ZnO nanoparticle loaded flexible polyurethane (PU) foam composite. ZnO nanoparticle loaded PU foams were successfully synthesized by adding ZnO nanoparticles at varying weights (0.1 g, 0.2 g, 0.3 g, 0.4 g and 0.5 g) in the foaming blend. Synthesized foam composites were characterized for bulk density and sol fraction. The cellular morphology of the foams was characterized using Scanning Electron Microscope (SEM). PU foam shows highly porous and open cell structure. Degradation of MB dye from an aqueous model pollutant was carried out using prepared foam composites under UV and solar irradiations. It has been observed that irradiation under solar source degrades MB dye in a short span of time as compared to UV irradiation. The effect of nanoparticle loading, time of irradiation and reuse of foam on MB dye degradation from synthetic waste water was effectively studied. Moreover, experimental data also exhibits first order degradation kinetics and the rate constants were found to be 0.66 h−1 under UV light and 3.07 h−1 in sunlight. © 2020, The Korean Fiber Society.

Fibers and Polymers

Flexible Polyurethane Foam-ZnO Nanocomposite for Photocatalytic Degradation of Textile Dye

In this research, a chitosan-immobilized magnesium oxide nanoparticle (CS-MgONP) was synthesized to evaluate it as a prospective adsorbent for a cationic Methylene Blue (MB) dye. For the synthesized adsorbent, functional groups were analyzed through Fourier transform InfraRed (FT-IR) spectroscopy. X-Ray Diffraction (XRD) and Scanning Electron Microscopy (SEM) were used to identify the structural and morphological observations. The evaluation of process parameters such as pH (5-9), CS-MgONP dosage (0.2-0.6g/L), initial MB concentration (10-30mg/L), and temperature (283-323K) on MB adsorption was done at an equilibrium agitation time of 70 min using Central Composite Design (CCD) of Response Surface Methodology (RSM). MB removal percentage of 94.51% (desirability=0.829) was obtained under the optimal conditions of pH=7.28, dosage=0.47g/L, initial MB concentration= 19.37mg/L and temperature =309.76K. The adsorption onto CS-MgONP fits well with pseudo-second-order kinetics equation and equilibrium data made the best fit with Langmuir isotherm with maximum MB uptake capacity of 163.87mg/g. © 2020, Iranian Institute of Research and Development in Chemical Industries. All rights reserved.

Iranian Journal of Chemistry and Chemical Engineering

Methylene blue adsorption by magnesium oxide nanoparticles immobilized with chitosan (CS-MgONP): Response surface methodology, isotherm, kinetics and thermodynamic studies

Antibiotics are majorly used in food animals for growth promotion and prophylactic purposes in public health and environment. The aim of this review is mainly to discuss about the antibiotics usage in poultry, livestock and aquaculture sectors, particularly in India, and the identification of antibiotic resistance in animals, their corresponding antibiotic resistance genes (ARGs) (if investigated) and their dissemination among environmental compartments in various parts of the country. It also discusses about the classification and mechanism of action of different antibiotics. It reports the risks, benefits, ARGs development mechanisms from food animals to humans and to the environment. Most of the current studies are done in the medical field on regulating/restricting antibiotic usage and tracking the propagation of ARGs in bacterial samples of sick patients and also report the identification of antibiotics and ARGs in wastewater treatment plant effluents across various countries. This study mainly reviews the evolution and transportation of ARGs in detail for Indian scenario. © 2018 Elsevier Ltd.

Journal of Environmental Chemical Engineering

Antibiotic usage, residues and resistance genes from food animals to human and environment: An Indian scenario

This work was aimed at investigating the feasibility of using mixed microbial culture (MMC) for improving the river water quality. Upon the release of the MMC into the river water at various ratios (v/v), 1:2500 was found to be the best ratio to reduce the nutrient concentration in river water. At this ratio, although the concentration of microorganisms increased significantly, the Cyanobacteria levels decreased during the four seasons, i.e. 31.4, 16.5, 60.5 and 55.7%, respectively, during the spring, summer, autumn and winter seasons. The chemical oxygen demand (COD), ammonia nitrogen (NH3-N), nitrate nitrogen (NO3-N), total nitrogen (TN) and total phosphorus (TP) removals by MMC were 76.5, 73.8, 71.7, 75.8 and 67.2%, respectively, during the autumn season. Finally, the study was extended to a demonstration project in Yudai river, Zhengjiang, Jiangsu, China to demonstrate the effect of MMC addition on river water quality improvement. At the end of the 8 weeks experiments, the average COD, NH3–N, NO3–N, TN and TP removal efficiencies were 46.4, 51.3, 43.9, 41.7 and 46.4%, respectively. © 2020 Elsevier B.V.

Environmental Technology and Innovation

Effect of mixed microbial culture addition on enhanced river water quality: Pollutant removal and microbial community characteristics

The objective of this work was to explore an alternative way to manage the non-biodegradable and non-recyclable fraction of municipal solid waste (MSW) in Vellore city, India. Refuse-derived fuel (RDF) samples with different proportions of plastic, thermocol, foam and jute straw were formulated. The RDF samples were characterized in the form of heating values (proximate and ultimate analysis), surface properties through X-ray diffraction (XRD) and thermal stability through thermogravimetric analysis (TGA). The measured higher heating values (HHV) of four RDF samples varying between 6032 and 6168 kcal/kg were effectively modelled using various empirical models for the prediction of HHV based on their elemental analysis. Higher absolute weight loss in TGA was evident in samples with jute straw while the highest rate of weight loss was noted in samples with a higher proportion of thermocol. Results from this preliminary investigation of RDF samples prepared from non-biodegradable and non-recyclable fractions of MSW warrants an exhaustive analysis of a larger pool of samples to project appropriate RDF composition for better energy recovery. © 2020 Informa UK Limited, trading as Taylor & Francis Group.

Environmental Technology (United Kingdom)

Characterization of refuse derived fuel samples prepared from municipal solid waste in Vellore, India

International Journal of Environment and Waste Management

Seasonal variation and spatial distribution of groundwater pollutants in east coastal region from Bamban to Thiruvanmiyur of Tamil Nadu, India

Novel imidazolium functionalized polysulfone (ImPS) membranes modified with zirconia (ZrO2) were synthesized through solution casting technique. Structural, morphological, thermal and mechanical analysis of the composite membranes confirmed adhesion and property enhancement caused by ZrO2. Water absorption investigations revealed better water absorption of the ImPS/ZrO2 membranes with intact morphology. Maximum ion exchange capacity and ionic conductivity for the composite membranes were obtained as 2.84 mmol/g and 80.2 mS/cm (50 °C) which was 21% and 47% higher as compared to pure ImPS membrane. Alkaline stability of the blend membranes was increased due to strong interaction between ZrO2 and ImPS molecules. Fuel cell performance using Pt/C catalysts exhibited OCP and power density elevation with incremental amounts of ZrO2 in the composite membrane composition. ImPS membrane with 10% ZrO2 recorded a highest OCP and power density of 1.04 V and 270 mW/cm2 which was 35% and 39% higher than the pure ImPS. Thus, the anion exchange membranes developed by ImPS/ZrO2 blending could be suiting well for alkaline fuel cells applications. © 2020 Hydrogen Energy Publications LLC