Indian Institute of Technology Guwahati

About: Indian Institute of Technology Guwahati is a education organization based out in Guwahati, Assam, India. It is known for research contribution in the topics: Adsorption & Catalysis. The organization has 6933 authors who have published 17102 publications receiving 257351 citations.

Removal of methylene blue dye from aqueous solution using immobilized Agrobacterium fabrum biomass along with iron oxide nanoparticles as biosorbent

Abstract: A nano-biosorbent for the removal of methylene blue (MB) was prepared by encapsulating iron oxide nanoparticles (NPs) and Agrobacterium fabrum strain SLAJ731, in calcium alginate. The prepared biosorbent was optimized for the maximum adsorption capacity at pH 11, 160 rpm, and 25 °C. Adsorption kinetics was examined using pseudo-first-order, pseudo-second-order, and intra-particle diffusion (IPD) models. The kinetic data agreed to pseudo-second-order model indicating chemisorption of MB, which was also explained by FTIR analysis. The adsorption rate constant (k2) decreased and initial adsorption rate (h, mg g−1 min−1) increased, with an increase in initial dye concentration. The dye adsorption process included both IPD and surface adsorption, where IPD was found to be a rate-limiting step after 60 min of adsorption. The adsorption capacity was found to be 91 mg g−1 at 200 mg L−1 dye concentration. Adsorption data fitted well to Freundlich isotherm; however, it did not fit to Langmuir isotherm, indicating adsorbent surfaces were not completely saturated (monolayer formed) up to the concentration of 200 mg L−1 of MB. Thermodynamic studies proposed that the adsorption process was spontaneous and exothermic in nature. Biosorbent showed no significant decrease in adsorption capacity even after four consecutive cycles. The present study demonstrated dead biomass along with NPs as a potential biosorbent for the treatment of toxic industrial effluents.

Precision Measurement of the $B \to X_s \gamma$ Photon Energy Spectrum, Branching Fraction, and Direct CP Asymmetry $A_{CP}(B \to X_{s+d}\gamma)$

Abstract: The photon spectrum in the inclusive electromagnetic radiative decays of the B meson, B → X_sγ plus B → X_dγ, is studied using a data sample of (382.8±4.2)×10^6Υ(4S) → BB decays collected by the BABAR experiment at SLAC. The spectrum is used to extract the branching fraction B(B → X_sγ)=(3.21±0.33)×10^(-4) for E_γ > 1.8 GeV and the direct CP asymmetry A_(CP)(B → X_(s+d)γ)=0.057±0.063. The effects of detector resolution and Doppler smearing are unfolded to measure the photon energy spectrum in the B meson rest frame.