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Efficiency of water-purifying devices used in homes and industries
Get PDFThe article is an original researchThe use of water-purifying devices are gaining popularity, as many homes and industries are using them to treat water for dinking. However, most of the users do not know much about the performance/efficiency of these devices, hence this investigation. Efficiency of water-purifying devices were evaluated to determine their efficiencies in treating water consumed by people. Raw water samples from groundwater source, borehole (a major source of drinking water) in Owerri, Nigeria were treated using commonly used water treatment devices: resin ion-exchanger, sand-bed filter, activated carbon filter, micron filter, reverse osmosis membrane filter, ozonator, and UV-sterilizer. The resulting purified water samples were labeled, and each were subjected to physical, chemical and bacteriological analyses using APHA (2006) water analysis method. Raw water (control) sample had pH value of 6.7 while the pH values of treated water samples fell within 6.9 – 7.1. Turbidity value of control sample was 6.0 NTU with other samples recording 4.0 NTU and below. Total heterotophic bacteria count and total coliforms counts of the raw water sample were 4.0 x 102 CFU/ml and 2.2 x 102 CFU/100ml respectively, but were below 2.5 x 102 CFU/ml and 1.9 x 102 CFU/100ml respectively in some of the treated samples, and nil in others. The overall efficiency of the treatment devices were of the order: Reverse osmosis membrane filter (76.25%) > UV-sterilizer (72.24%) > micron filter (65.85%) > Ozonator (62.97%) > Activated carbon filter (51.86%) > Resin ion-exchanger (46.67%) > Sand-bed filter (43.55%). This implies that not all water treatment devices used in homes and indutries are efficient enough to yield qualitative drinking water for unsuspecting users
Antimicrobial activity of the leaf extracts of Moringa oleifera and Jatropha curcas on pathogenic bacteria
Get PDFThe article is an original paper with tablesThis study evaluates the antimicrobial activity of the leaf extracts of Moringa oleifera and Jatropha curcas against Staphylococcus aureus and Escherichia coli. Different concentrations of the extracts were subjected to these organisms in which Moringa oleifera showed a higher zone of inhibition on Staphylococcus aureus (2.8 cm) while on E. coli (2.4 cm) while Jatropha curcas showed a higher zone of inhibition on E. coli (2.6 cm) while on S. aureus (1.80 cm). The minimum inhibitory concentration (MIC) of Moringa oleifera extract on E. coli and S. aureus were 0.250 mg/ml and 0.125 mg/ml respectively while MIC of Jatropha curcas extract on test organisms was 0.125 mg/ml. The quantitative phytochemical screening in g/kg revealed the
presence of flavonoid 36 and 21, alkaloids 92 and 39, tannins 7.4 and 5.6, saponins 115.0 and 53.5, cyanogenic glycosides 8.4 and 14.5 for M. oleifera and J. curcas respectively. The observed antimicrobial properties could be due to the presence of these bioactive compounds and further substantiates the use of Moringa oleifera and Jatropha curcas leaf extracts in medicine. The extracts in correct doses can successfully be used in vivo to inhibit and eventually kill the test bacteria used in this study
Heavy metal toxicity-implications for cancer and orthopaedic effects
No full textA 2013 Lecture noteFederal University of Technology, Owerr
Kinetics of degradation of anthracene by the activity of corynebacteria sp and pseudomonas putida in contaminated water
Get PDFThe article contains figuresThe environmental threat of anthracene to humans on exposure through industrial effluent discharged and other combustion activities into the environment with expensive nature of the physical and chemical remediation techniques initiates this research. The kinetics of degradation of anthracene by the activity of Corynebacterium sp and Pseudomonas putida for the liberation of the anthracene contaminated water was aim to be investigated. The enriched inoculums of Corynebacterium sp and Pseudomonas putida was separately inoculated into
anthracene contaminated water at room temperature of 280C under an optimum pH of 7.2 for 96hours, thereby decreased the anthracene content in the water. About 95.2% of anthracene was degraded by Corynebacterium sp while about 93.5w/w% of anthracene was degraded by Pseudomonas putida. The biodegradation kinetics parameter evaluated indicates that both Corynebacterium sp and Pseudomonas putida were favourable for bioremediation of anthracene contaminated water but Corynebacterium sp was preferred due to higher
proportion of anthracene utilized
