C. xanthorrhiza, commonly known as Javanese turmeric or temulawak in Indonesia, belongs to the Zingiberaceae family. C. xanthorrhiza is widely used to treat various health problems, including loss of appetite, gastrointestinal disorders, constipation, diarrhea, fever, arthritis, and liver dysfunction. In Indonesia, C. xanthorrhiza is widely recognized and traditionally used for liver disease treatment, although its hepatoprotective mechanisms were not scientifically validated in traditional practice. Current research has identified xanthorrhizol and curcuminoids (including curcumin and bisdemethoxycurcumin) as the primary active compounds in C. xanthorrhiza, which exert hepatoprotective effects through various studied mechanisms.

An efficient method for nitrate removal from water was developed using the sea plant Posidonia oceanica (L.) as a biosorbent. Never used previously for this purpose, this plant was applied in its natural form without any chemical modification or cross-linking with another material. The nitrate biosorption was carried out in batch experiment at room temperature and under the optimum conditions of agitation time, biosorbent dose, and pH. The Langmuir model fits the experimental biosorption isotherm data better than the Freundlich one, confirming a monolayer adsorption process onto homogeneous surface and giving a relatively high maximum biosorption capacity 41.6 mg·g -1 of nitrate nitrogen, thus demonstrating a good efficiency of the biosorbent. The thermodynamic study shows not only that the biosorption process is spontaneous and endothermic in nature, but also that increasing temperature enhances the nitrate uptake. Furthermore, the Dubinin–Radushkevich modeling gives a mean free energy of 15.81 kJ·mol -1 , indicating that nitrate was chemisorbed. The same result was confirmed by kinetic modeling, which showed that the pseudo-second-order model fits the experimental data better than the pseudo-first order. The characterization by Fourier transform infrared spectroscopy (FTIR), scanning electron microscopy (SEM), and energy-dispersive X-ray spectroscopy (EDS) revealed that nitrate was mainly retained on the biosorbent surface through electrostatic forces with protonated amines (RNH 3 + ; R 2 NH 2 + and R 3 NH + ). However, ion exchange with hydroxide ions and intraparticle diffusion may play an important role in the biosorption process.

Pulmonary arterial hypertension (PAH) is a progressive disorder characterized by increased pressure in the pulmonary arteries, frequently resulting in right ventricular hypertrophy and heart failure. Phosphodiesterase type 5 (PDE5) inhibitors, such as sildenafil (SIL), tadalafil (TAD), and avanafil (AVA), have demonstrated efficacy in the treatment of pulmonary arterial hypertension (PAH). The growing interest in natural compounds, like usnic acid (UA), a dibenzofuran derived from lichens, stems from their promising potential as complementary therapies in various medical conditions. This study investigates the potential of UA as a PDE5 inhibitor compared to SIL, TAD, and AVA through ADMET analysis, molecular docking, and molecular dynamic simulations. The ADMET analysis suggests significant plasma protein binding and an extended half-life for UA, perhaps improving retention relative to synthetic inhibitors. Molecular docking analyses indicate that UA establishes stable interactions with PDE5, exhibiting binding energies similar to those of synthetic inhibitors. Molecular dynamic simulations validate the stability of these interactions and suggest that UA reduces the flexibility of PDE5, enhancing its inhibitory potential. The results demonstrate that UA may have a potential synergistic effect with PDE5 inhibitors in treating PAH, offering a favorable toxicity profile, particularly regarding cardiotoxicity and neurotoxicity.

The present study considered the adsorption capacity of Safranin O (SO) dye onto pomegranate peel powder (PP). The effect of operating parameters such as contact time, adsorbent dosage, initial concentration, pH and temperature on the performance of the dye adsorption process was also investigated. The PP was characterized by Fourier transform infrared spectroscopy (FTIR), X-ray diffraction (XRD), Thermogravimetric analysis (TGA), point of zero charge (pH pzc ), and Boehm titration. According to the results, the dye removal rate increased proportionally to the amount of adsorbent used. Langmuir, Freundlich, Temkin, and Dubinin–Radushkevich isotherms in their linear and non-linear forms were tested to determine the most appropriate model. The results showed an adsorption capacity by PP of 44 mg/g at natural pH, room temperature, in 30 min, and with an adsorbent dosage of 10 g/L. From the R 2 , SSE, and RMSE values, it was found that the pseudo-second-order model best fitted the kinetic data and intraparticular diffusion was one of the rate-limiting steps. Thermodynamic analysis revealed that SO adsorption on PP is endothermic and favored. The results demonstrate that PP is a promising adsorbent for removing cationic dyes, such as SO, from aqueous solutions.

Silica precipitation is a ubiquitous but deleterious phenomenon occurring in many hydrometallurgical processes. Indeed, silicon is often released during the dissolution of minerals under acidic leaching conditions. Eventually, it precipitates into a hard-to-filter silica gel, which has prompted some efforts to hinder silica precipitation through pretreatment or extra dilution. However, these approaches are usually either mineral-specific or costly. Here, we propose a disruptive strategy based on controlling the gel’s mesostructure and therefore its filterability. We designed an alternative precipitation pathway consisting of adding extra silicate ions but at basic pH. Using small-angle X-ray scattering, we show that this pathway transforms the network of polymeric silica (“polymer gel”) obtained under highly acidic leaching conditions into a network of dense silica particles (“particle gel”). This structural compaction at the mesoscopic length scale cascades to the macroscale and leads to a drastic improvement in filterability by two orders of magnitude. Furthermore, we demonstrate that this method is generic by applying it successfully to both a model and real ore systems.

The overall performance of hydrometallurgical leaching operations can be limited by the presence of various types of insoluble layers coating the surface of the treated solids. The attrition-leaching process, which is carried out in a stirred reactor containing millimetric beads, can partially overcome this problem and increase the extraction yield by physically abrading the layers. Through a comparative analysis of three different systems, this work develops a constructive discussion of the attrition-leaching process. The systems of interest are (i) mineral carbonation of ferronickel slag, (ii) dissolution of a chalcopyrite concentrate in sulfuric media, and (iii) dissolution of spent Ni-MH battery black mass powder in sulfuric media. In the case of ferronickel slag and chalcopyrite, the reaction yields are improved by a factor of 10 with attrition-leaching compared to leaching only, while there is no yield improvement in the case of Ni-MH black mass batteries, highlighting that the layers observed on the grain surface do not interfere with the leaching reaction. Despite very different system chemistries and conditions, the particle size distribution is similar for the three materials, showing that particles’ behavior is controlled by the attrition environment. This work offers a simple setup for investigating the potential improvements of the kinetics and yields of leaching reaction due to concomitant attrition. It also allows a fundamental study of the physico-chemical processes involved, by testing whether a leaching reaction is hindered by an in situ passivation at the surface of a material.

Deep eutectic solvents (DESs) are of particular interest for electrometallurgy processes, since intrinsically conductive and electrochemically stable in a wide range of potentials. Cheaper and greener than conventional ionic liquids, DESs are often bio-sourced and exhibit a higher biodegradability. Ethaline, a DES composed of choline chloride (ChCl) as hydrogen bond acceptor and ethylene glycol (EG) as hydrogen bond donor in 1:2 molar proportions (Et 1:2), is commonly used in electrometallurgy thanks to its good transport properties. However, if ChCl can be considered as a “green” reactant, this is not the case for EG. A DES with a lower toxicity can be obtained by replacing EG by propylene glycol (PG), widely used in cosmetics and pharmacology, yielding a DES called Propeline. The present paper explores the potential of this lesser-known DES in the electrometallurgy of precious metals. Because changing the hydrogen bond donor leads to a modification in the DES bulk properties, the first part of this work deals with the determination of PG-based DESs’ density, viscosity, and conductivity, which are properties of interest for electrochemical processes. The influence of water and PG content is presented and values are compared to those of Ethaline. It appears that ChCl:PG in a molar ratio 1:3 (Pr 1:3) presents the best transport properties. The potentiality of this solvent for the electrometallurgy of precious metals is then discussed: electrochemical stability and electrochemical systems of Ag, Pd, and Au are compared in Pr 1:3 and Et 1:2. Finally, diffusion coefficients of the metallic species and the DES components are given, determined by electrochemical and NMR techniques, respectively.