Faculty Publications
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Item Natural and anthropogenic factors controlling the dissolved organic carbon concentrations and fluxes in a large tropical river, India(2006) Balakrishna, K.; Kumar, I.A.; Srinikethan, G.; Mugeraya, G.Carbon studies in tropical rivers have gained significance since it was realized that a significant chunk of anthropogenic CO2 emitted into the atmosphere returns to the biosphere, that is eventually transported by the river and locked up in coastal sediments for a few thousand years. Carbon studies are also significant because dissolved organic carbon (DOC) is known to complex the toxic trace metals in the river and carry them in the dissolved form. For the first time, this work has made an attempt to study the variations in DOC concentrations in space and time for a period of 19 months, and estimate their fluxes in the largest peninsular Indian river, the Godavari at Rajahmundry. Anthropogenic influence on DOC concentrations possibly from the number of bathing ghats along the banks and domestic sewage discharge into the river are evident during the pre-monsoon of 2004 and 2005. The rise in DOC concentrations at the onset of monsoon could be due to the contributions from flood plains and soils from the river catchment. Spatial variations highlighted that the DOC concentrations in the river are affected more by the anthropogenic discharges in the downstream than in the upstream. The discharge weighted DOC concentrations in the Godavari river is 3-12 times lower than Ganga-Brahmaputra, Indus and major Chinese rivers. The total carbon fluxes from the Godavari into the Bay of Bengal is insignificant (0.5%) compared to the total carbon discharges by major rivers of the world into oceans. © Springer Science+Business Media, Inc. 2006.Item Performance of pulsed plate bioreactor for biodegradation of phenol(2007) Shetty K, K.V.; Kalifathulla, I.; Srinikethan, G.Biodegradation of phenol was carried out using Nocardia hydrocarbonoxydans immobilised on glass beads, in a pulsed plate bioreactor. The effect of operating parameters like frequency of pulsation and amplitude of pulsation on the performance of pulsed plate bioreactor for biodegradation of phenol in a synthetic wastewater containing 500 ppm phenol was studied. Axial concentration profile measurements revealed that the pulsed plate bioreactor shows continuous stirred tank behaviour. As the amplitude was increased, percentage degradation increased, reaching 100% at amplitude of 4.7 cm and higher. Introduction of pulsation is found to increase the percentage degradation. Percentage degradation has increased with increase in frequency and 100% degradation was achieved at 0.5 s-1 and above. Biofilms developed in a non-pulsed bioreactor were thicker than those in the pulsed plate bioreactor. But biofilm thickness remained almost constant with increasing frequency. Biofilm density was found to be influenced by pulsation. The time required to reach steady state was more for pulsed reactor than the non-pulsed reactor and this start-up time had increased with increase in frequency of pulsation. The performance studies reveal that the pulsed plate bioreactor with immobilized cells has the potential to be an efficient bioreactor for wastewater treatment. © 2006 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.Item Studies on the removal of Pb(II) from wastewater by activated carbon developed from Tamarind wood activated with sulphuric acid(2008) Singh, C.K.; Sahu, J.N.; Mahalik, K.K.; Mohanty, C.R.; Mohan, B.R.; Meikap, B.C.The low-cost activated carbon were prepared from Tamarind wood material by chemical activation with sulphuric acid for the adsorption of Pb(II) from dilute aqueous solution. The activated carbon developed shows substantial capacity to adsorb Pb(II) from dilute aqueous solutions. The parameters studied include physical and chemical properties of adsorbent, pH, adsorbent dose, contact time and initial concentrations. The kinetic data were best fitted to the Lagergren pseudo-first-order and pseudo-second order models. The isotherm equilibrium data were well fitted by the Langmuir and Freundlich models. The maximum removal of lead(II) was obtained 97.95% (experimental) and 134.22 mg/g (from Langmuir isotherm model) at initial concentration 40 mg/l, adsorbent dose 3 g/l and pH 6.5. This high uptake showed Tamarind wood activated carbon as among the best adsorbents for Pb(II). © 2007 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.Item Spectrophotometric determination of platinum(IV) in alloys, complexes, environmental, and pharmaceutical samples using 4-[N,N-(diethyl)amino] benzaldehyde thiosemicarbazone(2010) Naik, P.P.; Karthikeyan, J.; Nityananda Shetty, A.N.4-[N,N-(Diethyl)amino] benzaldehyde thiosemicarbazone (DEABT) is proposed as an analytical reagent for the spectrophotometric determination of platinum(IV). The DEABT forms 1:2 yellow complex with Pt(IV), which is sparingly soluble in water and completely soluble in water-ethanol-DMF medium. The Pt(IV)-DEABT complex shows maximum absorbance at 405 nm. Beer's law is valid up to 7.80 ?g cm-3, and optimum concentration range for the determination of platinum(IV) is 0.48-7.02 ?g cm-3. The molar absorptivity and Sandell's sensitivity of the method are found to be 1.755 × 104 dm3 mol-1 cm-1 and 0.0012 ?g cm-2, respectively. The relative error and coefficient of variation (n=6) for the method does not exceed ±0.43% and 0.35%, respectively. Since the method tolerates a number of metal ions commonly associated with platinum, it can be employed for the determination of platinum in environmental samples, pharmaceutical samples, alloys, catalysts, and complexes. The method is rapid as the Pt(IV)-DEABT complex is soluble in water-ethanol-DMF medium and not requiring any time consuming extraction method for the complex. © 2010 Springer Science+Business Media B.V.Item Analytical properties of p-[N,N-bis(2-chloroethyl)amino]benzaldehyde thiosemicarbazone: Spectrophotometric determination of palladium(II) in alloys, catalysts, and complexes(2011) Karthikeyan, J.; Parameshwara, P.; Nityananda Shetty, A.N.p-[N,N-bis(2-chloroethyl)amino]benzaldehyde thiosemicarbazone (CEABT) is proposed as a new, sensitive, and selective analytical reagent for the spectrophotometric determination of palladium(II). The reagent reacts with palladium(II) in the pH range 1-2 to form a yellow-colored complex. Beer's law is obeyed in the concentration range up to 2.64 ?g cm-3. The optimum concentration range for minimum photometric error as determined by Ringbom's plot method is 0.48-2.40 ?g cm-3. The yellowish Pd(II)-reagent complex shows a maximum absorbance at 395 nm, with molar absorptivity of 4.05 × 104 dm3 mol-1 cm-1 and Sandell's sensitivity of the complex from Beer's data, for D= 0.001, is 0.0026 ?g cm-2. The composition of the Pd(II)-CEABT reagent complex is found to be 1:2 (M-L). The interference of various cations and anions in the method were studied. The proposed method was successfully used for the determination of Pd(II) in alloys, catalysts, complexes, water samples, and synthetic alloy mixtures with a fair degree of accuracy. © 2010 Springer Science+Business Media B.V.Item A comprehensive assessment of increased iron ore production on the environment - A case study(2011) Thimmaiah, S.A.; Rao, Y.; Murthy, C.H.S.N.There has been a significant increase in iron ore production in the Bellary- Hospet-Sandur sector of Karnataka, India due to sudden increase in the demand of iron ore from other countries as well as by local steel plants set up in the region. An attempt has been made in this paper to study the effect of increase in the iron ore production on various environmental parameters like air, water, soil and noise. For this purpose a study area of 10 Km radius was taken and the various environmental parameters were monitored before and after increase in iron ore production in the region. Study shows that there is no significant change in the air quality in terms of SPM, RPM, SO2 and NOx in the region. In many locations, there is decrease in the concentrations of these parameters. This is mainly due to improvement of roads by asphalting, effective covering of iron ore trucks by tarpaulin, awareness among mine owners about the protection of environment by following various pollution control measures, dust suppression measures on the public road using water sprinklers and stringent monitoring of the environmental protective measures by various regulatory authorities. The concentration of SO2 and NOx was found to increase due to increase in traffic by movement of tippers in the public/village road. The deployment of heavy earth moving machinery at mine site also contributed for increase of SO2 and NOx. The surface water quality parameters were found to be within the acceptable limits in the study area. There is no possibility of disturbing/altering ground water table due to mining operations as the mining is being carried out on hill top which is above the general ground level. In agricultural soil, except that of potassium and electrical conductivity, variations in other parameters are insignificant as the agricultural lands are located 2 to 3 Kms away from the active mining area. Increase in noise level is found at most of the locations of the study area. Therefore, serious attempts should be made by mine owners as well as statutory bodies to reduce the sound level at various locations for increasing the quality of life in these locations in terms of sound level. © 2011 CAFET-INNOVA technical society. All right reserved.Item Enhanced degradation of paracetamol by UV-C supported photo-Fenton process over Fenton oxidation(2011) Manu, B.; Mahamood, S.For the treatment of paracetamol in water, the UV-C Fenton oxidation process and classic Fenton oxidation have been found to be the most effective. Paracetamol reduction and chemical oxygen demand (COD) removal are measured as the objective functions to be maximized. The experimental conditions of the degradation of paracetamol are optimized by the Fenton process. Influent pH 3, initial H 2O 2 dosage 60 mg/L, [H 2O 2]/[Fe 2+] ratio 60 : 1 are the optimum conditions observed for 20 mg/L initial paracetamol concentration. At the optimum conditions, for 20 mg/L of initial paracetamol concentration, 82% paracetamol reduction and 68% COD removal by Fenton oxidation, and 91% paracetamol reduction and 82% COD removal by UV-C Fenton process are observed in a 120 min reaction time. By HPLC analysis, 100% removal of paracetamol is observed at the above optimum conditions for the Fenton process in 240 min and for the UV-C photo-Fenton process in 120 min. The methods are effective and they may be used in the paracetamol industry. © IWA Publishing 2011.Item Experimental investigation and artificial neural network-based modeling of batch reduction of hexavalent chromium by immobilized cells of newly isolated strain of chromium-resistant bacteria(2012) Shetty K, K.V.; Namitha, L.; Rao, S.N.; Narayani, M.The batch bioreduction of Cr(VI) by the cells of newly isolated chromium-resistant Acinetobacter sp. bacteria, immobilized on glass beads and Ca-alginate beads, was investigated. The rate of reduction and percentage reduction of Cr(VI) decrease with the increase in initial Cr(VI) concentration, indicating the inhibitory effect of Cr(VI). Efficiency of bioreduction can be improved by increasing the bioparticle loading or the initial biomass loading. Glass bioparticles have shown better performance as compared to Ca-alginate bioparticles in terms of batch Cr(VI) reduction achieved and the rate of reduction. Glass beads may be considered as better cell carrier particles for immobilization as compared to Ca-alginate beads. Around 90% reduction of 80 ppm Cr(VI) could be achieved after 24 h with initial biomass loading of 14.6 mg on glass beads. Artificial neural networkbased models are developed for prediction of batch Cr(VI) bioreduction using the cells immobilized on glass and Ca-alginate beads. © Springer Science+Business Media B.V. 2011.Item Removal of remazol brilliant blue dye from dye-contaminated water by adsorption using red mud: Equilibrium, kinetic, and thermodynamic studies(2012) Ratnamala, G.M.; Shetty K, K.V.; Srinikethan, G.Utilization of industrial solid wastes for the treatment of wastewater from another industry could help environmental pollution abatement, in solving both solid waste disposal as well as liquid waste problems. Red mud (RM) is a waste product in the production of alumina and it poses serious pollution hazard. The present paper focuses on the possibility of utilization of RM as an adsorbent for removal of Remazol Brilliant Blue dye (RBB), a reactive dye from dye-contaminated water. Adsorption of RBB, from dye-contaminated water was studied by adsorption on powdered sulfuric acid-treated RM. The effect of initial dye concentration, contact time, initial pH, and adsorbent dosage were studied. Langmuir isotherm model has been found to represent the equilibrium data for RBB-RM adsorption system better than Freundlich model. The adsorption capacity of RM was found to be 27.8 mg dye/g of adsorbent at 40 °C. Thermodynamic analysis showed that adsorption of RBB on acid-treated RM is an endothermic reaction with ?H0 of 28.38 kJ/mol. The adsorption kinetics is represented by second-order kinetic model and the kinetic constant was estimated to be 0.0105 ± 0.005 g/mgmin. Validity of intra-particle diffusion kinetic model suggested that among the mass transfer processes during the dye adsorption process, pore diffusion is the controlling step and not the film diffusion. The process can serve dual purposes of utilization of an industrial solid waste and the treatment of liquid waste. © Springer Science+Business Media Dordrecht 2012.Item Characteristics of airborne bacteria in Mumbai urban environment(Elsevier, 2014) Gangamma, S.Components of biological origin constitute small but a significant proportion of the ambient airborne particulate matter (PM). However, their diversity and role in proinflammatory responses of PM are not well understood. The present study characterizes airborne bacterial species diversity in Mumbai City and elucidates the role of bacterial endotoxin in PM induced proinflammatory response in ex vivo. Airborne bacteria and endotoxin samples were collected during April-May 2010 in Mumbai using six stage microbial impactor and biosampler. The culturable bacterial species concentration was measured and factors influencing the composition were identified by principal component analysis (PCA). The biosampler samples were used to stimulate immune cells in whole blood assay. A total of 28 species belonging to 17 genera were identified. Gram positive and spore forming groups of bacteria dominated the airborne culturable bacterial concentration. The study indicated the dominance of spore forming and human or animal flora derived pathogenic/opportunistic bacteria in the ambient air environment. Pathogenic and opportunistic species of bacteria were also present in the samples. TNF-? induction by PM was reduced (35%) by polymyxin B pretreatment and this result was corroborated with the results of blocking endotoxin receptor cluster differentiation (CD14). The study highlights the importance of airborne biological particles and suggests need of further studies on biological characterization of ambient PM. © 2014 Elsevier B.V.