- Title
- Phycho-nanotechnology for chromium remediation
- Creator
- Subramaniyam, Vidhyasri
- Relation
- University of Newcastle Research Higher Degree Thesis
- Resource Type
- thesis
- Date
- 2016
- Description
- Research Doctorate - Doctor of Philosophy (PhD)
- Description
- Studies on algae-mediated reduction of metals are increasing markedly since it has a greater advantage compared to other biological sources due to its unique characteristics such as great ability to accumulate metal, easy to handle, synthesise at low temperature with greater energy efficiency, and less toxic or risk to the environment. However, exploration of algae in iron nanoparticles synthesis is still in its infancy. In this study iron nanoparticles were synthesised using microalgae and tested for its efficiency in the remediation of chromium. Initially, microalgae including Chlorella sp. MM3, Chlamydomonas sp. MM7 and Chlorococcum sp. MM11 were screened for their tolerance towards iron salts such as iron chloride, iron sulphate and iron nitrate. Among the three algal species Chlorella sp. MM3 showed higher tolerance and bioaccumulation capacity for iron than the other two algae, therefore, Chlorella sp. MM3 was chosen for further work involving nanoparticle synthesis. Among iron salts, ferric chloride showed less toxicity and more bioavailablity comparatively, therefore ferric chloride was used for synthesis studies. However, the synthesis of nanoparticles with well-defined size and shape depends on experimental factors such as biomass concentration, iron chloride concentration, incubation time, and temperature. We optimised the above factors using Taguchi orthogonal array to produce smaller iron nanoparticles. Spherical shaped iron nanoparticles that were 17.01 ± 2.32 nm in size were produced when 2 g dry weight biomass was treated with 100 mM iron chloride concentration followed by incubation at 37 ºC for 48 h. In order to reduce the production cost of biomass, we used the biomass obtained as a result of remediation of brewery wastewater for iron nanoparticles. Several researchers successfully implemented this technology to create biofuel by increasing the fatty acid content. The phycosynthesised iron nanoparticles were tested for their efficiency in remediating chromium. These phycosynthesised iron nanoparticles removed the chromium completely and instantaneously by adsorption and reductive precipitation mechanisms. The efficiency of these nanoparticles in chromium remediation could be due to their higher stability because of capping by the biomolecules such as polysaccharides and glycoproteins present in the cell walls of microalgae. To conclude, exploration of microalgae Chlorella sp. MM3 in iron nanoparticles synthesis will constitute a milestone in the field of phyconanotechnology in near future.
- Subject
- microalgae; phyco-nanotechnology; iron nanoparticles; chromium remediation
- Identifier
- http://hdl.handle.net/1959.13/1317455
- Identifier
- uon:23427
- Rights
- Copyright 2016 Vidhyasri Subramaniyam
- Language
- eng
- Full Text
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| Thumbnail | File | Description | Size | Format | |||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| View Details Download | ATTACHMENT01 | Thesis | 2 MB | Adobe Acrobat PDF | View Details Download | ||
| View Details Download | ATTACHMENT02 | Abstract | 286 KB | Adobe Acrobat PDF | View Details Download |