Isolation and identification of Methylobacterium komagatae and its application in textile industries.

A light pink-coloured, rod-shaped, gram-negative bacterium isolated from an unproductive crude oil production area was considered as a sample for this study. The 16S rRNA gene sequence identified the isolate as Methylobacterium komagatae. Comparing the standard colour measurement values set by the International Commission on Illumination (CIE) method confirms the colourant produced by the biomass of this microorganism as a 'light pink' colouration. The energy-dispersive X-ray spectroscopy and High-Resolution Mass Spectroscopy process help in the structural elucidation of the sample. It indicates the presence of magnesium (Mg) as a central metal atom in the bacterial colourant, i.e. 'bacteriochlorophyll' (BChl) (MgC55H74N4O). The recovered bacterial colourant was applied to cotton fabric and cotton yarns to dye and examine their fastness quality. The result shows the cotton fabrics retained colourant in normal washing while it got reduced after detergent-based washing. Therefore, its fastness quality must be improved to equalise with current colourants.

Copper tetrathiovanadate (Cu3VS4): a newly emerging electrode for rechargeable aqueous aluminum-ion batteries.

We report the electrochemistry of Al3+ ion storage in copper tetrathiovanadate (Cu3VS4) in an aqueous electrolyte for the first time. It is found that Cu3VS4 could deliver an initial discharge capacity of 111 mA h g-1 at a current rate of 0.5 A g-1 and 77 mA h g-1 up to the 300th cycle at 2 A g-1 along with an excellent rate capability. The better electrochemical performance may be attributed to the high theoretical capacity of sulfur and the superior conductivity of copper which allows facile Al3+ ion diffusion in Cu3VS4. The electrochemical mechanism of Al3+ ion storage is also illustrated.

Towards sustainable biodiesel and chemical production: Multifunctional use of heterogeneous catalyst from littered Tectona grandis leaves.

Waste biomass derived heterogeneous catalyst is an excellent alternative to chemically synthesized catalysts. In this work, calcined Tectona grandis leaves were proposed as an eco-friendly, renewable and low cost heterogeneous base catalyst. The prepared catalyst was examined by FTIR, XRD, XPS, SEM, EDX, TEM, TGA, BET and Hammett indicator test. The catalyst has an appealing nature towards various chemical transformations due to its basic surface sites provided by alkali and alkaline earth metals. The efficiency of the catalyst was successfully investigated by its application in biodiesel production. The products were confirmed by 1H and 13C NMR. 100% FAME conversion was attained using a catalyst loading of 2.5 wt% under optimized reaction parameters. The catalyst was further explored for Knoevenagel condensation reaction, in which it showed its effectiveness and recyclability towards the formation of benzylidenemalononitrile derivatives of aryl aldehydes. Thus, it is a potential 'green catalyst' derived from waste biomass without any addition of chemicals that can replace the industrial base catalysts used for biodiesel production and Knoevenagel reaction and makes the protocol environmentally benign.