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In this study, valuable low-gluten flour and gum were fractionated simultaneously from durian seed via a green and safe aqueous extraction method at maximum atom economy. As the extraction process significantly affected the properties and hence, the application of the flour and gum, the process-properties relationship of extraction temperature and W/S ratio were investigated and presented in this paper. The demucilaged durian seed flour (DDSF) and durian seed gum (DSG) solubilities and water absorption capacity (WAC) were found improved at higher extraction temperature (85 °C) due to bond cleavage and retention of amylose and hydrophilic amino acids. Furthermore, DSG with a solubility of 46.67% was the highest that can be achieved by current aqueous extraction method as further increase of W/S ratio and DSG yield exerted no effect on the solubility. Besides, the oil absorption capacity (OAC) of DSG was found higher than the DDSF due to the presence of nonpolar amino acids and fatty acids that tended to bind with the hydrophobic oil. OAC was mainly determined by the extraction yield and distribution of these hydrophobic fraction, instead of the degree of degradation. Higher overall yield was found at higher extraction temperature of 85 °C for simultaneous extraction of DDSF and DSG. While lower W/S ratio at 1:1 was preferable to obtain higher yield of DDSF, a higher W/S ratio at 5:1 was required for higher yield of DSG. Other than the extraction temperature, drying temperature and duration were key factors determining the colour of the extracted DDSF and DSG.

Ganoderic Acid (GA), a major bioactive compound isolated from an oriental medicinal mushroom, i.e. Ganoderma tsugae, has traditionally been found to have significant medicinal properties. As a result of GA's poor solubility in water, formulation poses several challenges. Additionally, the traditional method of administering it via alcohol always results in unfavorable patient side effects. In order to overcome these problems, Ganoderma Tsugae extracts obtained by ethanol extraction were encapsulated in nanodispersions by ultrasonic cavitation and solvent evaporation to maximise bioavailability. Resultant nanodispersions contained Ganoderic acid in a hydrophobic core with a mean particle size of no more than 200 nm and a very narrow particle distribution. An analysis of the interactions between the control variables and the process optimisation was conducted using the Response Surface Methodology (RSM). Based on the results of the experiment, it was found that the particle size of nanodispersions was influenced by the Hydrophilic-Lipophilic Balance (HLB) number and the evaporation temperature. Moreover, the physical stability of micellar systems is generally determined by the organic phase within them. Regarding formulation stability, the zeta average of the nanodispersions remained virtually unchanged in solutions with different pH levels and short-term storage (14 days) at room temperature. Overall, it has been demonstrated that Ganoderic acid nanodispersions can be efficiently generated by combining ultrasound cavitation and solvent evaporation.

In this study, ultrasonically driven biosynthesis of zinc oxide nanoparticles (ZnO NPs) using Swietenia macrophylla seed ethyl acetate fraction (SMEAF) has been reported. X-ray powder diffraction (XRD) and Fourier-transform infrared spectroscopy (FTIR) analyses confirmed the presence of a pure hexagonal wurtzite structure of ZnO. Field emission scanning electron microscope images revealed the formation of uniquely identifiable uniform rice-shaped biologically synthesized ZnOSMEAF particles. The particle sizes of the biosynthesized NPs ranged from 262 to 311 nm. The underlying mechanisms for the biosynthesis of ZnOSMEAF under ultrasound have been proposed based on FTIR and XRD results. The anticancer activity of the as-prepared ZnOSMEAF was investigated against HCT-116 human colon cancer cell lines via methyl thiazolyl tetrazolium assay. ZnOSMEAF exhibited significant anticancer activity against colon cancer cells with higher potency than ZnO particles prepared using the chemical method and SMEAF alone. Exposure of HCT-116 colon cancer cells to ZnOSMEAF promoted a remarkable reduction in cell viability in all the tested concentrations. This study suggests that green sonochemically induced ZnO NPs using medicinal plant extract could be a potential anticancer agent for biomedical applications.

With rising consumer demand for natural products, a greener and cleaner technology, i.e., ultrasound-assisted extraction, has received immense attention given its effective and rapid isolation for nanocellulose compared to conventional methods. Nevertheless, the application of ultrasound on a commercial scale is limited due to the challenges associated with process optimization, high energy requirement, difficulty in equipment design and process scale-up, safety and regulatory issues. This review aims to narrow the research gap by placing the current research activities into perspectives and highlighting the diversified applications, significant roles, and potentials of ultrasound to ease future developments. In recent years, enhancements have been reported with ultrasound assistance, including a reduction in extraction duration, minimization of the reliance on harmful chemicals, and, most importantly, improved yield and properties of nanocellulose. An extensive review of the strengths and weaknesses of ultrasound-assisted treatments has also been considered. Essentially, the cavitation phenomena enhance the extraction efficiency through an increased mass transfer rate between the substrate and solvent due to the implosion of microbubbles. Optimization of process parameters such as ultrasonic intensity, duration, and frequency have indicated their significance for improved efficiency.

Rod-shape particles have been a good drug carrier due to the long circulatory time, tumor accumulation and high cellular uptake in body. Acid-hydrolysed nanocrystalline cellulose (NCC) from empty fruit bunch exhibited a width of 13-30nm and a length of 150-360nm in rod-shape structure. NCC holds good potential as a bio-based drug carrier owing to its biodegradability and biocompatibility. Fourier-transform infrared spectroscopy results confirmed the binding of curcumin onto the NCC modified with tannic acid (TA) and decylamine (DA). TA-DA modification rendered NCC with a higher level of hydrophobicity, as evidenced by a substantial increase in contact angle from 45° to 73°. The modified NCC had the curcumin-binding efficiency in the range of 95-99%, which is at least twofold higher than the unmodified NCC at any curcumin concentration tested. This remarkable curcumin-binding effciency was comparable to that of commercialized NCC from wood-based origin. This work suggests NCC as a superior and sustainable drug carrier, while TA-DA modification is a promising approach to alter the surface property of NCC for an efficient binding of curcumin.

In the field of ultrasonic emulsification, the formation and cavitation collapse is one major factor contributing to the formation of micro- and nano-sized emulsion droplets. In this work, a series of experiments were conducted to examine the effects of varying the ultrasonic horn’s position to the sizes of emulsion droplets formed, in an attempt to compare the influence of the simulated acoustic pressure fields to the experimental results. Results showed that the intensity of the acoustic pressure played a vital role in the formation of smaller emulsion droplets. Larger areas with acoustic pressure above the cavitation threshold in the water phase have resulted in the formation of smaller emulsion droplets ca. 250 nm and with polydispersity index of 0.2–0.3. Placing the ultrasonic horn at the oil-water interface has hindered the formation of small emulsion droplets, due to the transfer of energy to overcome the interfacial surface tension of oil and water, resulting in a slight reduction in the maximum acoustic pressure, as well as the total area with acoustic pressures above the cavitation threshold. This work has demonstrated the influence of the position of the ultrasonic horn in the oil and water system on the final emulsion droplets formed and can conclude the importance of generating acoustic pressure above the cavitation threshold to achieve small and stable oil-in-water emulsion.

Over the past few decades, enormous interest has been manifested in utilizing biomass or agricultural wastes as a renewable resource for energy and advanced material production. Despite being the utmost abundant polymer on earth, nanocellulose has drawn tremendous attention due to its intrinsic reliability and sustainability. In this study, nanocrystalline cellulose (NCC) was isolated from oil palm biomass waste i.e. oil palm empty fruit bunch (EFB) via a multistep process to testify its high capacity as a biosorbent for textile effluent contaminant remediation. Fourier transform infrared spectroscopy (FTIR) suggested that lignin, hemicellulose and other impurities had been effectively removed at different stages of preparation which was generally in agreement with ASTM chemical composition analysis. Thermogravimetric analysis with derivative thermograms (TGA-DTG) observed the extracted NCC to have the lowest weight loss throughout water evaporation region (25 °C - 100 °C), cellulose thermal degradation region (150 °C - 380 °C) and carbonic residue degradation (up to 600 °C) owing to its compact crystalline structure as evidenced from X-ray diffraction (XRD) analysis. Batch adsorption were conducted to study effect of contact time (up to 200 min), adsorbent dosage (0.005–0.05 g), pH (2–10), agitation (50–250 rpm) and adsorbate concentration (50–300 mg/L) at 30 ± 2 °C. Field emission scanning electron microscope (FESEM) observed a flower-like structure of methylene blue (MB) coating upon adsorption, following a type II adsorption isotherm which suggest an adsorption occurred on mesoporous structure. The kinetic data agreed well with pseudo-second-order model which implied the current study a chemisorption process. As adsorption capacity was highly dependent on adsorbate concentration and adsorbent dosage, 50.91 mg/g was recorded for MB solution (50 mg/L) at adsorbent dosage as low as 0.066 mg/ml; a very encouraging outcome in the recent years of cellulosic research suggesting NCC a highly promising candidate for uprising functional cellulosic soft material fabrication.

Nanocellulose, a structural polysaccharide that has caught tremendous interests nowadays due to its renewability, inherent biocompatibility and biodegradability, abundance in resource, and environmental friendly nature. They are promising green nanomaterials derived from cellulosic biomass that can be disintegrated into cellulose nanofibrils (CNF) or cellulose nanocrystals (CNC), relying on their sensitivity to hydrolysis at the axial spacing of disordered domains. Owing to their unique mesoscopic characteristics at nanoscale, nanocellulose has been widely researched and incorporated as a reinforcement material in composite materials. The world has been consuming the natural resources at a much higher speed than the environment could regenerate. Today, as an uprising candidate in soft condensed matter physics, a growing interest was received owing to its unique self-assembly behaviour and quantum size effect in the formation of three-dimensional nanostructured material, could be utilised to address an increasing concern over global warming and environmental conservation. In spite of an emerging pool of knowledge on the nanocellulose downstream application, that was lacking of cross-disciplinary study of its role as a soft condensed matter for food, water and energy applications toward environmental sustainability. Here we aim to provide an insight for the latest development of cellulose nanotechnology arises from its fascinating physical and chemical characteristic for the interest of different technology holders.

The groundbreaking innovation and industrialization are ushering in a new era where technology development is integrated with the sustainability of materials. Over the decade, nanocrystalline cellulose (NCC) obtained from lignocellulosic biomass had created a great value in various aspects. The abundantly available empty fruit bunch (EFB) in the palm oil industry has motivated us to utilize it as a sustainable alternative for the isolation of NCC, which is a worthwhile opportunity to the waste management of EFB. Taking advantage of the shape anisotropy and amphiphilic character, NCC has been demonstrated as a natural stabilizer for oil-in-water emulsion. In this work, preparation of highly stable Pickering nanoemulsion using black cumin seed oil and NCC was attempted. Black cumin seed oil is a class of plant oil with various nutritional and pharmaceutical benefits. However, its poor solubility could substantially lower the therapeutic effect, and thus, requires a delivery system to overcome this limitation. The role of NCC in the formation of stable Pickering nanoemulsion was investigated. The emulsification process was found crucial to the resulting droplet size, whereas NCC contributed critically to its stabilization. The droplet size obtained from ultrasonication and microfluidization was approximately 400 nm, as examined using transmission electron microscopy. The droplet (oil-to-water = 2:8) has long-term stability against creaming and coalescence for more than six months. The nanoemulsion stabilized by NCC could allow a better absorption by the human body, thereby maximizing the potential of black cumin seed oil in the personal care and food industries.

Removal of toxic metals is one of the biggest challenges in ensuring safe water for all as well as protecting the environment. To reduce environmental problems, the carbon nanofibers (CNFs) are the most promising candidates for the adsorption of heavy metals. CNFs have been successfully synthesized by microwave heating technique and improved to be an outstanding adsorbent for the removal of heavy metal from waste water. A comparative study of the adsorption capacity of carbon CNFs in removal of Zn2+ and Cu2+ was investigated. Statistical analysis revealed that the optimum conditions for the highest removal of Zn2+ and Cu2+ are at pH 9.5 and 6, adsorbent dosage 100 and 50 mg, agitation speed of 150 and 100 rpm and adsorption time for both 20 minutes respectively. The removal efficiency of Zn2+ and Cu2+ for an initial concentration of 2 mg/L was 94.5% 98.8% respectively. The maximum adsorption capacities (qm) of 1.049 and 1.07 mg/g for CNFs were obtained to remove Zn2+ and Cu2+ respectively. The adsorption isotherms are well described by both Langmuir and Freundlich models and adsorption kinetic obeyed pseudo-second order. Hence, CNFs are the most promising candidate for removal of heavy metal from wastewater treatment and separation process.

Kedondong (Spondias dulcis) contains polyphenols, vitamin C and carotenoids which are beneficial to human health. Fresh kedondong has short shelf life and drying is an option to preserve the fruit in dried form to avoid spoilage. In this research, kedondong slices were dried at three temperatures (60 °C, 70 °C and 80 °C) using convective air and RH was fixed at 30 %. High drying temperature facilitated faster drying rate but resulted in poor product quality when compared to freeze dried samples. Drying rates were observed only occurred within falling rates period. Effective diffusivities were estimated in the order of magnitude 10–7 - 10–9 m2/s based on Fick’s second law. Quality assessment showed that samples dried at 60 °C had the lowest hardness and the highest total polyphenols content was observed from samples dried at 80 °C. In addition, kedondong flavour note was found favourable from samples dried at 70 °C and 80 °C based on penalty analyses.

Kenaf seed oil-in-water nanoemulsions were optimised using simplex centroid mixture design with three components (sodium caseinate, gum Arabic and Tween 20). In addition, the main, binary and ternary interaction effects among these three selected emulsifiers on physical stability were also studied. The mixture design showed a good fit to the predicted model with R2 > 0.89, 0.82, and 0.73 for mean particle size, polydispersity index (PDI) and zeta-potential, respectively. The optimum proportion of emulsifier mixtures was 64.9% (w/w) SC, 6.4% (w/w) GA, and 28.7% (w/w) T20 that predicted to produce mean particle size of 126.82 nm, PDI of 0.16 and zeta-potential of −43.47 mV. The experimental value obtained was 121.22 nm, 0.16 and −39.63 mV for mean particle size, PDI, and zeta-potential, respectively. No significant difference (p > 0.05) between the experimental and predicted values, indicating the suitability of the mixture design for optimising and developing stable kenaf seed oil-in-water nanoemulsions. The optimised formulation was stable at both chill (4 °C) and room temperature (25 °C) over 1 month of evaluation. The results have important implications for the development of stable kenaf seed oil-based nutraceutical products. It can be added into beverages such as dairy products to improve the nutrition value of the beverage.

Curcumin has been found to possess significant pharmaceutical activities. However, owing to its low bioavailability, there is a limitation of employing it towards clinical application. In an attempt to surmount this implication, often the choice is designing novel drug delivery systems. Herein, sterically stabilized nanoscale dispersion loaded with curcumin (nanodispersion) based on non-ionic colloidal system has been proposed. In this study, the process conditions were effectively optimized using response surface methodology (RSM) with Box–Behnken design (BBD). The suggested optimum formulation proved to be an excellent fit to the actual experimental output. STEM images illustrate that the optimal curcumin-loaded nanodispersion has spherical morphology with narrow particle size distribution. Particle size distribution study confirms that the solution pH does not affect the nanodispersion, and physical stability study shows that the colloidal system is stable over 90 days of storage at ambient conditions. More importantly, controlled release profile was achieved over 72 h and the in vitro drug release data fit well to Higuchi model (R 2=0.9654).

The limit application of functional kenaf (Hibiscus cannabinus L.) seed oil in food and pharmaceutical industry owing to the poor water solubility and low storage stability can be overcome by the development of kenaf seed oil-in-water Pickering nanoemulsions. In this study, oil-in-water Pickering nanoemulsions were produced to investigate its stability by optimising emulsifier mixtures, namely sodium caseinate (SC), Tween 20 (T20) and β-cyclodextrin (β-CD). The interaction effects of SC and T20 on the formation of Pickering nanoemulsions with β-CD was studied and found synergistic effect among them that enhanced the stability of Pickering nanoemulsions. The optimum proportion of emulsifier mixtures obtained by employing simplex centroid mixture design was found to be 57.9% (w/w) SC, 27.6% (w/w) T20, and 14.5% (w/w) β-CD, which produced Pickering nanoemulsion with mean particle size of 155.53 nm, PDI of 0.07 and zeta-potential of −46.67 mV. These experimental values were in accordance with the predicted value, indicating the adequacy of the fitted models. The mixture design was found to be a valuable tool to optimise and study the interaction effects of different components for the development of stable Pickering nanoemulsions.

There is an imperative need to tackle the huge amount of solid wastes from the palm oil production. The current utilization of oil palm biomass and waste management were deemed ineffective to the economic and environmental development. We proposed a sustainable solution to the management of oil palm waste using empty fruit bunch (EFB) to obtain nanocrystalline cellulose (NCC). The diverse properties of NCC were largely attributed to the origin of biomass and the isolation method. This demonstrated the importance of investigating the process parameters in a quantitative manner to ensure the effective production and exploitation of NCC. Response surface methodology was adopted to analyze the interaction effects of size, yield and crystallinity on the NCC production. The size of the acid-hydrolyzed NCC ranging from 15–27 nm in width and 170–317 nm in length was confirmed through the scanning transmission electron microscopy. The crystallinity obtained from the experiments as developed by Box-Behnken design was in the range of 70.35–83.20%, where it exhibited an inverse relation with the hydrolysis yield of NCC in the range of 4.11–80.23%. Through investigating the correlation of responses, an optimum point was obtained at which the yield and crystallinity of NCC were the highest, while the size of NCC was the lowest. The good model reliability indicated that the tailoring of the properties of EFB-origin NCC is feasible, suggesting EFB as a highly promising alternative to alleviate the resource depletion of wood pulp in the development of bio-based material.

There is a growing research interest in exploring the self-photorechargeability of photoanodes, which enables photoelectrochemical (PEC) water oxidation even under non-irradiated conditions. The main aim of this study was to develop a facile synthesis of molybdenum trioxide (MoO3) photoanode displaying self-photorechargeability using an aerosol-assisted chemical vapour deposition (AA-CVD) method. A systematic optimisation of the key synthesis parameters of AA-CVD method, namely: (1) ultrasonication time of precursor solution, and (2) annealing temperature was carried out in order to understand the best trade-off between photocurrent density (illuminated conditions) and charge density (non-illuminated conditions). Field emission-scanning electron microscopy images showed that the MoO3 photoanodes synthesized via AA-CVD method exhibited a 3D plate-like crystalline structure that gave a large voltammogram area, indicating that the MoO3 photoanodes possessed high charge storage capacity for photogenerated electrons. PEC measurements showed that the optimised MoO3 photoanode obtained during an ultrasonication time of 25 min and at the annealing temperature of 500 °C achieved a photocurrent density of 1.47 μA/cm2 at 1.0 V vs Pt electrode. A significantly prolonged on-off illumination cycle (i.e. 1000 s) showed a significant storage capacity of photogenerated electrons within the 3D plate-like MoO3 crystalline structure was discharged during the non-irradiated conditions, and a charge density of 0.35 mC/cm2.

Novel nanoemulsion-based drug delivery systems (DDS) have been proposed as alternative and effective approach for the delivery of various types of poorly water-soluble drugs in the last decade. This nanoformulation strategy significantly improves the cell uptake and bioavailability of numerous hydrophobic drugs by increasing their solubility and dissolution rate, maintaining drug concentration within the therapeutic range by controlling the drug release rate, and reducing systemic side effects by targeting to specific disease site, thus offering a better patient compliance. To date, cavitation technology has emerged to be an energy-efficient and promising technique to generate such nanoscale emulsions encapsulating a variety of highly potent pharmaceutical agents that are water-insoluble. The micro-turbulent implosions of cavitation bubbles tear-off primary giant oily emulsion droplets to nano-scale, spontaneously leading to the formation of highly uniform drug contained nanodroplets. A substantial body of recent literatures in the field of nanoemulsions suggests that cavitation is a facile, cost-reducing yet safer generation tool, remarkably highlighting its industrial commercial viability in the development of designing novel nanocarriers or enhancing the properties of existing pharmaceutical products. In this review, the fundamentals of nanoemulsion and the principles involved in their formation are presented. The underlying mechanisms in the generation of pharmaceutical nanoemulsion under acoustic field as well as the advantages of using cavitation compared to the conventional techniques are also highlighted. This review focuses on recent nanoemulsion-based DDS development and how cavitation through ultrasound and hydrodynamic means is useful to generate the pharmaceutical grade nanoemulsions including the complex double or submicron multiple emulsions.

For the past decades, the global trends in the demand of cellulase has been arisen due to its extensive range of applications in food and agriculture industry, and its potential use in the fermentation of biomass into biofuels. However, the instability, highly solubility in water, low catalytic efficiency and high cost of enzyme has become the main obstacles for the development of large scale operations and applications. In this study, cellulase enzyme was immobilized onto functionalized multiwalled carbon nanotubes (MWCNTs) via physical adsorption method to yield a stable and ease of separate enzyme. Fourier transform infrared (FTIR) spectroscopy and field emission scanning electron microscopy (FESEM) are used to confirm the successful immobilization of cellulase enzyme. In this approach, the efficiency of enzyme immobilization reaches an optimal value when 4 mg/mL enzyme concentration is used in which approximately 97% enzyme loading can be attained. Based on the UV–visible spectroscopy analysis, the optimum reaction conditions for immobilized cellulase are at pH 5 and a temperature of 50 °C. Results have revealed that MWCNT–cellulase composite still retained 52% of its cellulase activity after six cycles of the CMC analysis. This feature is beneficial to the industrial applications because of its potential to be easily separated from the end product at the end of the reaction, reuse for multiple times and allow the development of multiple enzyme reaction system.

This study explored the potential of Cymbopogon citratus (C. citratus) as a new biosorbent for the removal of nickel (Ni2+) from aqueous media. The effects of biosorbent concentration, initial pH, initial concentration, contact time and temperature on Ni2+ biosorption were investigated. It was found that pH has a significant impact on the metal ion removal. Increasing biosorbent concentration up to 1 g/L, temperature up to 45 °C, initial concentration up to 150 mg/L and contact time up to 1 h resulted in the increase in Ni2+ biosorption. FTIR analysis demonstrated that hydroxyl, carbonyl, and alkyl halides groups present on C. citratus surface were involved in Ni2+ biosorption. The equilibrium data were fitted well by the Temkin model exhibiting lowest Chi-square, Marquardt's percent standard deviation and residual root mean square errors. The kinetic data were better represented by the pseudo-second-order than the pseudo-first-order kinetic model. Further data analysis by the intra-particle kinetic and Boyd models suggested that the biosorption rate was affected by Ni2+ transport across the boundary layer and intra-particle diffusion. Thermodynamic studies showed that the process was endothermic and non-spontaneous within the temperature range studied (25–45 °C). The results of this investigation suggest that C. citratus is an effective alternative biosorbent for Ni2+ removal.

Lignin nanoparticles (nanolignin, NL) are sustainable, green material which can be derived from industrial and agricultural waste. NL has enhanced properties compared to standard lignin due to a larger surface to volume ratio. Hence, it’s suitable for a wide range of applications including drug delivery, stabilising agent, substitute for silver nanoparticles and reinforcement material. This study analyses the commercial feasibility of NL production from high pressure homogenization. The production process was simulated based on the basic laboratory results using commercial simulation software, SuperPro Designer. Manufacturing cost and minimum selling price for NL was estimated to be 5.1 USD/kg and 6.1 USD/kg for a continuous plant with 15t/day production rate. The sensitivity of three factors; Lignin concentration to the homogenizer, production rate and lignin price on process economics was analysed and results shown lignin concentration has a severe impact on manufacturing cost and selling price. The production cost reduces to 2.46 USD/kg when the lignin concentration increases to 6%.

The present work covers the preparation of carbon-based nanosorbents by ethylene decomposition on stainless steel mesh without the use of external catalyst for the treatment of water containing nickel ions (Ni2+). The reaction temperature was varied from 650 to 850 degrees C, while reaction time and ethylene to nitrogen flow ratio were maintained at 30 min and 1:1 cm3/min, respectively. Results show that nanosorbents synthesised at a reaction temperature of 650 degrees C had the smallest average diameter (75 nm), largest BET surface area (68.95 m2/g) and least amount of impurity (0.98 wt.% Fe). A series of batch-sorption tests were performed to evaluate the effects of initial pH, initial metal concentration and contact time on Ni2+ removal by the nanosorbents. The equilibrium data fitted well to Freundlich isotherm. The kinetic data were best correlated to a pseudo second-order model indicating that the process was of chemisorption type. Further analysis by the Boyd kinetic model revealed that boundary layer diffusion was the controlling step. This primary study suggests that the prepared material with Freundlich constants compared well with those in the literature, is a promising sorbent for the sequestration of Ni2+ in aqueous solutions.

Response Surface Methodology (RSM) is the most popular approach for optimization study in various biochemical processes nowadays. Artificial Neural Network (ANN) has emerged as one of the most efficient methods in empirical modeling and optimization, particularly for non-linear systems. In this study, the estimation capability of RSM and ANN models was compared in copper removal from aqueous solution. The experiments were carried out based on a 3-level and 4-variable Central Composite Design (CCD). The RSM results revealed that the relationship between the response and independent variable could be represented by the quadratic polynomial model. In the development of ANN model, the optimal configuration of the model was found to be 4-10-1. Estimated responses from both models were compared with the experimentally determined responses to determine predictive capabilities of both techniques. Comparison of two methodologies showed that the ANN model was more accurate and exhibited better generalization capability than RSM, thus indicated a clear superiority than the latter in capturing the non-linear behaviour of the adsorption process using chicken eggshell as biosorbent.

Nanocrystalline cellulose (NCC) is probably the most abundant nano material can be found in nature. It offers not only substantial environmental advantage due to its intrinsic biocompatibility and biodegradability, but also outstanding aspect ratio, tension modulus, bioavailability and permeability. NCC can be isolated from low value biomass through a well-developed acid hydrolysis method, and the structure can be readily manipulated during extraction to obtain desirable size distribution, surface charge and degree of crystallinity. Erratic absorption of drug has been a major issue for years until the emergence of nanoparticle adopted as smart vehicle for drug delivery. However, due to inevitably severe toxicity and the side effect from ordinary nanoparticle, the exploration of green nanoparticles are catching escalating attention is now in urge. Microcrystalline cellulose (MCC) has long been an option, nevertheless, due to their relatively low surface charge compared to total volume, drug release in a control manner was hardly satisfied. It is suggested that the above limitation can be overcome by nanocrystalline cellulose. This article discusses and explores their potential in cosmetic, personal care and pharmaceutical application, and the recent development in term of preparation and characteristic.

NanoCrystalline Cellulose (NCC) was isolated via ultrasonic cavitation assisted acid hydrolysis method. Characterization was done using Dynamic Light Scattering (DLS) together with Scanning Electron Microscope (SEM) imaging to double prove the existence of NCC. DLS measures length of 236.6 nm with width of 34.40 nm, supported by SEM which showed NCC a rod-like shaped particle with large surface area and high porosity. It was then attempted for heavy metal cadmium ion (Cd2+) removal from aqueous solution. The pH implication to the rate of Cd2+ adsorption was investigated by varying the solution to pH 4, pH 7 and pH 10 over a duration of 120 minutes. The removal efficiency was analyzed using Atomic Absorption Spectroscopy (AAS) resulting in pH 7 being the most favorable for Cd2+ removal.