Browsing by Author "Rani, Shakuntala"

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    Radon and thoron exhalation rate in the soil of Western Haryana, India
    (Springer Science and Business Media Deutschland GmbH, 2023-03-29T00:00:00) Rani, Shakuntala; Kundu, Rajender Singh; Garg, Vinod Kumar; Singh, Balvinder; Panghal, Amanjeet; Dilbaghi, Neeraj
    This study reports the exhalation rates of radon and thoron from surface soil collected from 60 rural sites of district Hisar, Haryana, India. The exhalation rates of Rn222 (radon) and Rn220 (thoron) were measured by portable SMART RnDuo (AQTEK SYSTEMS) using a mass accumulation chamber which was equipped with a scintillation material�coated cell. Dose rates due to natural gamma radiations ranged from 0.526 to 1.139�mSv y?1. The Rn222 mass exhalation rate in soil samples varied from 0.14 to 94.65�mBq�kg?1�h?1. Thoron surface exhalation rates ranged from 46.42 to 619.88 Bq�m?2�h?1. This study gives an idea about the differences in Rn222 and Rn220 exhalation at different locations which may be due to variations in geological features of the locations and characteristics of the topsoil. The findings show that usage of study area�soil as building material is safe. � 2023, The Author(s), under exclusive licence to Springer Nature Switzerland AG.
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    Synthesis of nanocellulose for the removal of naphthalene from simulated wastewater
    (Springer Science and Business Media Deutschland GmbH, 2023-06-29T00:00:00) Ranwala, Pooja; Pal, Jitender; Garg, Vinod Kumar; Rani, Shakuntala
    Polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbons are one among the strenuous problems of indemnity of hydrosphere brought on by the unintended release of refractory chemicals into the environment. Naphthalene has been removed from aqueous solution using various adsorbents, such as activated carbon, graphene oxide, etc�in yesteryears. This study describes the synthesis of nanocellulose from rice husk and its application for the removal of naphthalene from simulated wastewater. To characterize the synthesized nanocellulose, SEM, TEM, BET, FTIR, XRD, zeta potential, AFM, TGA, DSC, and EDX techniques were used. The nanocellulose surface area was 1.152�m2�g?1. The experiments were conducted in batch mode to investigate the impact of various operating conditions on naphthalene adsorption. Maximum removal of naphthalene was at pH 2 within 150�min. The experimental data were subjected to various models, viz.,�thermodynamic, kinetic, and isotherm models. Error analysis confirmed that the pseudo second-order equation�and Langmuir model fitted well to the experimental data. The maximum removal of the naphthalene was ~80%. The desorption and reusability efficiency of nanocellulose was also evaluated. According to this study, nanocellulose has a higher potential for naphthalene removal due to the presence of active sites. � 2023, Institute of Chemistry, Slovak Academy of Sciences.