Polymer inclusion membranes (PIM) containing

Almond (Prunus sp.) is produced in large amounts in the province of ChaharMahal and Bakhtiari, Iran. The effects of super absorbent polymers (SAPs, potassium acrylamide, KC 3 H 5 NO) singly, or in combination with phosphorus (P) and iron (Fe), on the growth and morphological properties of 20-year old almond orchards were tested in a two-year field experiment. It was a three-way factorial on the basis of a complete randomized block design testing almond growth affected by SAPs (control and 100 g), P (control and 750 g) using triple super phosphate, and Fe (control and 250 g) using FeSO 4 , placed at 70 cm depth of each tree shadow zone. The plant samples were collected and measured in July, four months after flowering. The trees used for sampling were similar in terms of age and cultivar. The green and woody nuts were collected in August and September, respectively. The perimeter of trunk environment (PTT), branch length (BL), branch length after three months (BLT), difference of branch length (DBL), number of almond fruits (NAF), weight of green, woody, and fresh nuts (GWN), and weight of woody and fresh nuts (WN) were determined. The tested treatments singly or in combination significantly improved plant morphological properties including BL, BLT, and WN. The important conclusion about the present research is the gradual release of water by SAPs, which makes the plant roots absorb water along with the essential nutrients including the tested P and Fe at the right time for a higher tree branch and nut production.

Background and objectives: Zerovalent iron nanoparticles (ZVIN) had high potential for nitrate removal from aqueous solutions due to high surface area and reactivity of them. The aim of this study was nitrate removal from aqueous solutions using environmentally friendly stabilized ZVIN. Methods: ZVIN were synthesized via chemical reduction by sodium borohydride. In order to preventing of ZVIN from being agglomerated these particles were stabilized by natural and green biopolymers of Guar gum and Xantan gum. Results: Xantan gum+ Guar gum stabilized ZVIN had the most efficiency for nitrate reduction from aqueous solutions. Results also revealed optimum contact times for nitrate removal were 100, 50 and 40 minutes for Bare, Guar gum and Xantan gum+ Guar gum stabilized ZVIN respectively. The optimum pH values for nitrate reduction were 2, 5 and 6 for Bare, Guar gum and Xantan gum+ Guar gum stabilized ZVIN respectively. Nitrate removal efficiency increased by increasing of ZVIN dosages (2 to 10 g/L) from 66.01 to 76.06, 83.43 to 91.36 and 89.47 to 96.16 percent for Bare, Guar gum and Xantan gum+ Guar gum stabilized ZVIN respectively. The results showed when nitrate dosages enhanced (from 100 to 400 mg/L) the efficiency of nitrate removal from aqueous solutions decreased from 66.17 to 47.97, 84.26 to 69.06 and 88.65 to 75.49 percent for Bare, Guar gum and Xantan gum+ Guar gum stabilized ZVIN respectively. Conclusion: Results of this study revealed that application of polymeric stabilizers caused increasing zero-valent iron nanoparticle efficiency in nitrate removal from aqueous solution.