Iranian Journal of

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Backgrounds and Objectives: Textile industrial wastewaters are one of the important sources of environmental contaminants. In the recent years, use of advanced oxidation processes, by producing highly active and reactive components such as hydroxyl radicals has been proposed. The aim of this research is photocatalytic degradation of methylene blue dye using the ZnO-nanoparticle with UVA irradiation.

Materials and Methods: photocatalytic degradation of methylene blue color using the ZnO- nanoparticles excited with UVA irradiation. In this research, photocatalytic degradation of methylene blue dye was study using different concentration of ZnO-nanoparticles under UVA irradiation in a batch reactor.

Results: The results of this research show that removal of methylene blue dye has direct correlation with UVA intensity. The best results of dye degradation were reported in concentration of 150 _mg/L ZnO nano-particles and the radiation intensity of 240 µW/cm². Rate of dye removal was decrease with increasing of color concentration. Subsequent of color degradation, the initial COD were decresed by %60.

Conclusion: The photocatalytic degradation process using ZnO nano-particles under UVA irradiation could be remove the methylene blue dye and 60% of COD.

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MicrosoftInternetExplorer4 Background and Objectives: Aniline has been used in different processes of chemical industries, however due to its side effects on the environment, several methods have been considered for its removal. In this study, we evaluated the performance of photocatalytic process using ZnO nanoparticles (nZnO) and ultraviolet (UV) irradiation for removal of Aniline from a synthetic effluent.
Materials and Methods: A 5L photocatalytic reactor made from Plexiglas, which the UV lamp (20w) installed in the center of that (inside a quartz jacket), was designed and nZnO (0.2-0.5 g/l) was being added into synthetic effluent with Aniline concentration of 250 ppm. After retention times of 30, 60, and 90 min, samples were centrifuged and supernatant was filtered using a 0.2 µ PTFE filter. The liquid-liquid method and Gas Chromatography instrument was used for extraction and analysis respectively.
Results: Results showed that the photocatalytic process of nZnO+UV could effectively remove Aniline from effluent. Increasing trend in the removal efficiency of Aniline using nZnO = 0.5 g/l was slower in comparison with other nZnO concentrations and the ANOVA analysis shows no significant difference between removal efficiency of Aniline in different concentrations of nZnO. The most removal efficiency of Aniline (76.3%) was observed in alkaline pH, retention time of 90 min and nZnO of 0.5 g/l.
Conclusion: It could be concluded that the photocatalytic process of nZnO+UV could be suitable technique for Aniline removal from effluents.

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MicrosoftInternetExplorer4 Background and Objectives: Along with the rapid development of human life, controlling   harmful effects of microorganisms would be unavoidable. The objective of this study was to evaluate antibacterial efficacy of zinc oxide nanoparticles on different microbial strains.
Material and Methods: This experimental study was done using gram negative and gram positive bacteria in nutrient media. Nanoparticle characterization was determined using X-ray diffraction (XRD), scanning and transmission electron microscopy (SEM and TEM). Bacterial sensitivity to nanoparticles was tested using a disk diffusion test and minimum inhibitory concentration (MIC). Time-kill studies and other tests were carried out using 108 CFU/mL of bacteria at baseline. A point of zero charge, pHzpc, of nanoparticle was investigated using the batch equilibration method. Obtained data were managed by SPSS Ver.16 and were analyzed through the Pearson, analysis of variance (ANOVA) and Student's independent t-tests. 0.05 was selected as significant level for all tests.
Results: Characterization results from XRD, SEM, and TEM showed that particles are in nano range and they do not contain any discernible crystalline impurity. The average ZnO nanoparticles diameter was 20 nm. The pHZPC for ZnO was found to be 7.51. The P. aeruginosa strain exhibited larger diameter inhibition zone (DIZ) to ZnO nanoparticle compared with other strains. Population of P.aeroginosa for 2 x MIC concentration was reduced to zero in the presence of nano ZnO within 150 min. The bacterial CFU had significant difference with contact time, nanoparticles loading, and bacterial strain (P<0.001).
Conclusion: This study demonstrated that antibacterial activity of ZnO can be a candidates for the elimination of gram negative and gram positive bacteria, particularly in nasocomial infection agent control.

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Background and Objective: Owing to the extended usage in the safekeeping of environments, the photocatalytic materials have been widely applied. The purpose of the present study was to investigate the photocatalytic activity of ZnO and SnO₂ nanoparticles in removal of methyl orange from aqueous media.

Materials and Methods: ZnO and SnO₂ nanoparticles were synthesized through sol-gel and chemical precipitation respectively. Methyl orange was selected as model pollutant. The effect of weight fraction on the removal of pollutant was investigated in the range of 0.25, 0.5, and 1 weight percent. Meanwhile, for investigating the effect of radiation time, the suspension containing pollutant and nanoparticles was irradiated. The obtained results were analyzed by MSTATC, Ver 1.42 software and Duncan’s multiple range test.

Results: The analysis of variance results of removal efficiency of methyl orange showed that in the suspension involving ZnO and SnO₂, radiation time, weight fraction and the combined effect of them have a significant effect on the removal of methyl orange at 5% level of probability. Meanwhile, by increasing irradiation time from 5 to 25 min, the removal efficiency in suspensions containing ZnO and SnO₂ reached 97.42 and 65.55% respectively. Investigation on the effect of concentration on the removal of methyl orange shows that the removal of methyl orange increases with respect to the weight fraction.

Conclusion: According to the obtained results, it was observed that the photocatalytic activity of ZnO is higher than that of SnO₂. Therefore, the application of ZnO is more effective for removal of methyl orange from aqueous media.