Iranian Journal of

Background and Objective: Aluminum (Al) is a neurotoxic agent and this element is being associated with Alzheimer disease. The use of semi-rigid packaging has been increased in recent years. In these packages, the main layer is aluminum. The purpose of this study was to determine the Al concentration in foods packaged in semi-rigid packaging in during storage time.
Materials and Methods: Al concentration of the samples (Joje kabab, khorake morgh, khoresh gheymeh, n=36) was determined at different storage times (0, 60, 120, and 180 days after packaging). Aluminum was determined by ICP-OES after wet digestion method of the samples. A two-way analysis of variance was used to analyze the results with respect to time and food factors.
Results: The effect of storage time on Al concentration was significant p˂0.001. The samples that were stored longer had significantly higher aluminum concentrations. The highest concentration was determined in Joje kabab (3.27 ±0.93 ppm( and lowest Al content was determined in khoresh gheymeh (1.04 ± 0.16 ppm). The results showed that Al concentration of the foods packaged in semi-rigid packaging increased significantly during storage.
Conclusion: Considering the present state of knowledge and the suggested provisional tolerable daily intake of 1 mg/kg body weight per day of according to World Health Organization, Al leaching from semi-rigid packages may add low doses of Al into the diet.
 

Background and Objective: Batteries can be hazardous to the environment and human health due to their toxic compounds. In this study, for detoxification and recovery of metals from spent coin batteries, a two-step bioleaching using Acidithiobacillus ferrooxidans was investigated.
Materials and Methods: A number of spent coin batteries were powdered. The powder was added to the bacterial culture medium and after 12 days the concentration of leached metals was determined. For investigating the effect of how to add the powder on metals recovery, the gradual addition of powder to the medium was carried out. For this purpose, the powder was added to the medium every 48 h at a rate of 20 g/L until the pulp density of 100 g/L. All experiments were run in triplicate and the standard deviation was shown as an error bar in the graphs.
Results: With an increase in pulp density, the metals recovery rate reduced. The highest recovery rates for lithium, cobalt and manganese was 100%, 88% and 20%, in pulp density of 40 g/L after 12 days. Leaching of lithium, cobalt and manganese was 66%, 8% and 0%, if the powder was added gradually until pulp density of 100 g/L.
Conclusion: The two-step bioleaching using Acidithiobacillus ferrooxidans was an appropriate method for recovery of metals from spent coin batteries. Also, gradual powder addition to the medium did not have a positive effect on the metals recovery and on improvement of bacterial growth characteristics. The metals recovery in high pulp densities was mainly due to chemical leaching.