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Abstract
Research subject: The combustion of fossil fuels to supply energy produces large amounts of carbon dioxide. Carbon dioxide emissions have led to rising global temperature and many natural disasters, including floods, hurricanes, rising sea levels, and widespread droughts, that threaten ecological systems and human life. Therefore, the uptake and removal of carbon dioxide from sources or the environment play a key role in countering the threat of global warming.
Research approach: In this study, a venturi scrubber was utilized to eliminate CO2 from the air stream on a semi-industrial scale. The effects of different parameters including inlet air flow rate to the venturi scrubber, solvent flow rate, and solvent loss during the scrubbing process were investigated on CO2 absorption by a nanofluid solvent containing iron oxide/water at the presence of tetramethylammonium hydroxide (TMAH) as a surface-active material.
Main results: The surface-active material of TMAH prevents the agglomeration of nanoparticles in the base fluid and stabilizes the fluid. The maximum efficiency of absorption and the highest molar flux of CO2 were achieved when iron oxide nanoparticles were used along with graphene nanosheets with the ratios of iron oxide nanoparticles (25%) and graphene nanosheets (75%) at the presence of TMAH surface-active material due to their nature. The reason is the better agitation (of the solution) by iron oxide nanoparticles that results in an increased displacement of graphene nanosheets. The random Brownian movements of nanoparticles create micron size eddies that increase mass transfer at the gas-liquid interface. In addition, molar flux and CO2 gas absorption efficiency decreased by increasing the concentration of nanoparticles.
Keywords: Hybrid nanofluid; Venturi scrubber; Gas absorption; Iron oxide nanoparticles; Graphene nanosheets

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Iron oxide nanoparticles are one of the nano carriers that are suitable for novel drug delivery systems due to low toxicity, biocompatibility, loading capacity and controlled drug delivery to cancer cells. The purpose of this study is the synthesis of coated iron oxide nanoparticles for delivery of Doxorubicin (DOX) and its effects on cancer cells.
In this study, Fe₃O₄ magnetic nanoparticles were synthesized by Polyol method, and then doxorubicin was loaded onto PEGylated iron oxide nanoparticles. FT-IR was used to ensure PEG binding to nanoparticles and loading the drug onto nanoshell. Comparison of the mean size and the crystalline structure of nanoparticles were performed by TEM and X-ray diffraction pattern. Then, the effect of cytotoxicity was evaluated on AGS and MCF-7 cancer cells by MTT assay.
According to FT-IR results, the presence of O-H and C-H bands at 2927 cm^-1 and 3392 cm^-1 peaks correlated with PEG binding to nanoparticles. XRD pattern showed the cubic spinel structure of trapped magnetite nanoparticles carrying medium with a mean size of 14 nm. 21.67% of Doxorubicin was loaded into Fe₃O₄-PEG nanoparticles, which the highest drug release recorded during the first 24 hours. MTT assay at 24, 48 and 72 h treatments showed that with increasing concentrations of doxorubicin loaded Fe₃O₄-PEG nanoparticles from 0 to 50 μm, the cytotoxic effects of the drug gradually increase.
This study showed that PEGylation of iron oxide nanoparticles and using them in drug delivery process to increase the effect of Doxorubicin on AGS and MCF-7 cancer cells

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Toluene is a dangerous pollutant in aqueous solutions that should be removed completely. In this paper iron oxide nanoparticles were employed for removing of toluene from aqueous solutions with initial concentration of 100 ppm by Fenton-Like process. Iron oxide nanoparticles synthesised from spent catalysts of Tabriz Petrochemical Styrene Unit using a ball mill. these nanoparticles were characterized by BET, XRD, XRF and FE-SEM analysis. The milling of spent catalysts was performed in dry ball mill. Dry ball milling of spent catalysts was carried out in presence of argon as an inert gas. Iron oxide nanoparticles with diameter about 18 nm were obtained after 4 hours by dry ball milling of spent catalysts using 15 balls with a diameter of 20 mm. The milling was performed at a rotation speed of 400 rpm.The results of BET analysis showed that specific surface of catalysts has increased more than 9 times with the milling of spent catalysts. XRD patterns showed that during dry milling, some of Fe3O4 has converted to Fe2O3. Due to the higher rate of reaction of Fe2O3 compared to the Fe3O4 in Fenton process, this conversion causes higher rate of toluene elimination from aqueous solutions. The crystal size of spent catalysts and synthesized iron oxide nanoparticles was calculated by Scherrer equation. The crystal size of spent catalysts and synthesized iron oxide nanoparticles were obtained 56.6 nm and 33.9 nm respectively which confirmed the results of BET analysis. The concentration of toluene in aqueous solutions was measured by Gas Chromatography (GC-Agilent 7890A) equipped with FID detector and HP-Plot Q column (30m × 0.530 mm× 40.0 μm) using liquid-liquid extraction by hexane. Hexane and samples were mixed with volume ratio of 1/10. Samples were injected to GC in volume of 1 micro liter by a syringe (Agilent). Experiments were performed at pH=3 and room temperature (25◦C) in a batch reactor in volume of 500 ml with a mechanical stirrer. Due to study of interaction between the parameters and determining the optimal conditions, experimental design was performed by RSM method. [H2O2]/[Catalyst], [H2O2]/[concentration of pollution] and time (min) were considered as efficient parameters on removing of toluene. Quadratic equation with high correlation coefficient fitted using RSM method. R2 and R2(adj) values of predicted model for removing of toluene in Fenton-Like process were obtained 99.14% and 98.37% respectively. The results showed that [H2O2]/[Catalyst] and [H2O2]/[concentration of pollution] have optimum ranges. The optimum ranges for [H2O2]/[Catalyst] and [H2O2]/[concentration of pollution] were obtained 0.36-0.5 and 4-5.5 respectively . Optimal values for [H2O2]/[Catalyst], [H2O2]/[concentration of pollution] and time (min) for removing of toluene in Fenton-Like process were obtained 0.460, 4.928 and 105.7 respectively. In optimum conditions for efficient parameters, complete removal of toluene by Minitab software was predicted. Experiments in the optimum conditions also confirmed the results of Minitab software. The results showed that spent catalysts of Tabriz Petrochemical which are considered as waste, have a good ability for activation of H2O2 and removing of toluene from aqueous solutions. Keywords: Toluene, Aqueous solution, Fenton-Like, Iron oxide nanoparticles, Optimization.