Browsing by Author "Arasaretnam, S."

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Production of bio-ethanol using pretreated lignocellulosic materials (rice husk, water hyacinth).
(International Research Symposium on Pure and Applied Sciences, 2017 Faculty of Science, University of Kelaniya, Sri Lanka., 2017) Arasaretnam, S.; ayasundara, J. M. P. W.
Production from food sources such as corn, sugarcane etc. is the most predominant way of producing ethanol. This has led to a shortage in food, imbalance in food chain, increased food price and indirect land use. This study thus explores the use of alternative nonfood materials for the production of ethanol from cellulose. Rice husk and water hyacinth were selected as raw material in this study. The powdered rice husk and water hyacinth were subjected to physical pretreatment by washing with distilled water to remove all the soluble impurities in the materials followed by air-drying, cutting (water hyacinths), oven drying for 6 hours at 60 ℃ and finely powdered samples were stored inside a container at room temperature. Chemical pretreatment (acid pretreatment) was performed by physically soaking each lignocellulosic substrate in 1 M H2SO4 for 24 hours and shaking (150 rpm) at room temperature. Each solid sample was recovered by filtration and washing repeatedly with distilled water until the water pH was 7.0. Subsequently each sample was dried at 80 ℃ to a constant weight in oven prior to enzymatic hydrolysis. Both pretreatments were used to optimize the conditions for maximum ethanol productivity from rice husk and water hyacinth. Enzymatic hydrolysis of pretreated rice husk and water hyacinth gave the highest yield of reducing sugar. As a result of qualitative test, pretreatment methods had been applied on rice husk and water hyacinth in order to increase the available cellulose content and thus improve the enzymatic hydrolysis efficiency. The result of FTIR characterization of pretreated rice husk and water hyacinth implies that both samples contain bio-ethanol.
Sorption studies of metal ions by formaldehyde-based ion-exchange resins derived from anthranilic acid, salicylic acid and catechol
(Faculty of Science, University of Kelaniya, Sri Lanka, 2020) Arasaretnam, S.; Jayarathna, U.P.D.
Polymeric chelating ion exchange materials open a wide range of opportunities in industrial, environmental and biological applications owing to their metal ion-exchange selectivity and low cost of production and easy regeneration. Formaldehyde based two terpolymeric resins [Anthranilic acid- Catechol-Formaldehyde (ACF) and Salicylic acid- Catechol-Formaldehyde (SCF)] have been synthesized by condensing anthranilic acid with catechol and salicylic acid with catechol at 80 ± 5 ºC using Dimethylformamide (DMF) as a solvent. The main aim of this research was synthesis and comparative ion exchange study of newly synthesized formaldehyde-based ionexchange resins, which derived from anthranilic acid, salicylic acid and catechol. The present abstract deals with synthesis and comparative ion exchange study of newly synthesized resin obtained by formaldehyde-based ion-exchange resins derived from anthranilic acid, salicylic acid and catechol. The resins were characterized by spectral analysis using Fourier-Transformed Infrared (FTIR) spectroscopy. The physico-chemical properties of the resins have been studied. Melting points of both resins were mostly high and that indicates the polymer resins under study are thermally stable up to high temperature. The exchange behavior of various metal ions viz. Cd2+, Cr3+, Ca2+ and Mg2+ towards synthesized resins have been studied depending on contact time and pH. Chelating properties of the two resins were pH dependent and an increase in pH value from 1 to 5 the exchange capacity of metal ions was increased. Sorption studies of ACF resins suggest that the ion exchange order of metal ions is time dependent. The order of the exchange capacity is: Cd2+ > Ca2+ > Mg2+ > Cr3+. ACF is more suitable for the removal of hardness from water when compared to the SCF. SCF is a better chelating resin for the removal of heavy metal. The recovery of the metals from industrial effluents indicates the utilization potential of the synthesized resin for wastewater treatment.