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KEYWORDS:Inorganic contaminants present in waste streams may be removed by one of three methods, viz. physical, chemical or biological. Chemical and physical techniques have traditionally been employed to remediate such streams. Biological structures such as bacteria, fungi, algae and others of higher structural complexity are potential adsorbents due to their abundant presence in the environment.Biosorbents derived from the biomass of marine algae have shown high uptake capacity for heavy metals.Biosorption, an inexpensive and reliable method to remove copper,zinc,nickel,chromium ions from solution. Dry sea weeds biomass used as adsorbents mainly because of its low cost and high metal binding capacity. In this work, the basic investigation is removal of copper and nickel ions from aqueous solution by Sargassum sp.Effects of algal biomass and medium 2+ pH on the metal ions were determined and optimized. Under the optimal conditions of the corresponding metal ions, the algal Cuand Ni were 51.11 and 63.54 mg/g respectively. The kinetic study revealed that the adsorption of Cu and Ni by Sargassum sp. fitted the Langmuir isotherm.Biosorption, Copper, Nickel, Sargassum sp.

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Biodiesel is a renewable energy source which is derived as an alternate fuel for diesel engine. It is produced by transesterification process. Moringa oleifera seed oil has been extracted using n-hexane by solvent extraction method. The high flashpoint of Moringa oleifera oil is a beneficial safety feature so that it can safely be stored at room temperature. The study examines the production of biodiesel using Moringa oleifera seed oil with sodium silicate as catalyst and different co-solvents. The biodiesel produced from Moringa oleifera seed oil exhibits high yield using diethyl-ether as co-solvent with 60 o C as the reaction temperature and 1 hour as the reaction time. Furthermore, the optimum ratio of methanol to oil is 7:1 and the amount of catalyst required to produce highest yield is 0.30 g. Moreover, the optimum ratio of methanol to co-solvent is 1:1 ratio. It has been found that the saponification value and free fatty acid are 170.2 mg of KOH/ g of oil and 0.33 %, respectively. The moisture content of biodiesel is 0.04% with higher calorific value when compared to diesel and vegetable oil. The pH and cloud point of biodiesel recorded are 7.37 and 18 o C, respectively. All these values have been found to be within the range of American Standard for Testing Material for biodiesel. Only the acid value has fallen outside the ASTM limits. Hence, it can be concluded that biodiesel produced from Moringa oleifera seed oil has the potential to be an alternate fuel and the energy of the future.

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