Agapios Agapiou

University of Cyprus · Department of Chemistry

Tomato pomace was slowly pyrolyzed at 350 and 550 °C (under an N2 flow of 50 l/h) at a rate of 6 °C/min and a residence time of 1:30 h to produce two biochars named B350 and B550, respectively. In addition, the two biochars were chemically activated with ΚΟΗ (at a ratio of 1:10 w/v) at 800 °C to produce two new materials named BA350 and BA550. The...

The dairy industry is currently one of the most important industrial sectors in the world, and due to the high demand for products, is considered the largest source of industrial wastewater in the food sector. Whey wastewater is the most abundant liquid by-product and is characterized by a high concentration of organic load. Thus, the treatment of...

The present study aims to investigate the efficiency of the electrocoagulation (EC) process on the removal of heavy metals from real acid mine drainage (AMD) samples derived from the abandoned open-cast of North Mathiatis mine (Nicosia, Cyprus). EC process was applied with the use of aluminum electrodes in 0.5 L reactors and the removal ability of...

In this work, we studied the application of photovoltaic solar energy for driving the electrochemical processes of electrocoagulation and electrooxidation to remediate drilling fluid wastewater, and simultaneously harvest energy in the form of electrolytic hydrogen gas produced at the cathode. The electrocoagulation was performed with sacrificial a...

Carob’s recognized nutritional and medicinal value next to its unique agriculture importance is associated with an array of social, economic, and cultural activities. The carob fruit is popular for its intense aroma due to the emitted volatile organic compounds (VOCs). The composition of VOCs released from carob fruits changes during ripening, rend...

The current study presented a novel process of biogas upgrading to biomethane (higher than 97%) based on anaerobic sludge and zero-valent iron (ZVI) system. When ZVI was added into an aquatic system with anaerobic granular sludge (AnGrSl) under anaerobic abiotic conditions, H2 was generated. Then, the H2 and CO2 were converted by the hydrogenotroph...

Whey wastewater is considered to be the main polluting product of the dairy industry. Electrocoagulation (EC) and electrooxidation (EO) processes using aluminum electrodes and inactive boron-doped diamond (BDD), respectively, were applied to reduce the chemical oxygen demand (COD), total nitrogen (TN), phosphate (PO4⁻³), nitrate (NO3⁻), chloride (C...

Colorectal cancer (CRC) is one of the most prevalent cancers affecting humans, with a complex genetic and environmental aetiology. Unlike cancers with known environmental, heritable, or sex-linked causes, sporadic CRC is hard to foresee and has no molecular biomarkers of risk in clinical use. One in twenty CRC cases presents with an established her...

Ceratonia siliqua L. is a typical Mediterranean tree species that has also been introduced to the temperate regions of Central America, Australia, and Africa. The carob fruit consists of the pulp and the seed (endosperm and germ), each one of which is used in a great variety of bakery products and beverages, as animal feed, food additives, syrups,...

Hairdressing personnel is daily exposed to various chemical air pollutants, and specifically to Volatile Organic Compounds (VOCs) and Particulate Matter (PM) in hair salons. This is of concern, due to the hazardous effects of these chemicals on the individual's health. Nevertheless, a limited exposure assessment of indoor air quality (IAQ) has been...

The global modern challenges of climate change, natural resources scarcity, waste overproduction, management and processing, etc., need to be examined under the circular economy principles. As such, biochar is considered as an abundant, cost effective, and universal organic amendment widely advantaged by the agriculture sector. Biomass waste consti...

The ability of biochar to be used as filter or as additive for the adsorption of volatile organic compounds (VOCs) emitted from cattle manure is investigated. The employed biochar was produced from cattle manure after slow pyrolysis at 550 °C (under nitrogen). Towards this, in-house-made glass emission reactors were filled with fresh cattle manure...

A multi-residue method for the simultaneous analysis of a wide range of pesticides in raisins using liquid and gas chromatography-tandem mass spectrometry (LC-MS/MS and GC–MS/MS) has been validated. Pesticides are extracted from raisins with ethyl acetate, followed by centrifugation. The validation study was in accordance with DG SANTE guidelines....

Four novel fruit-derived biochars were developed: pomegranate peels (PB), prickly pear peels (PPB), carob (CB), and locust bean gum (LBGB). The feedstocks were pyrolyzed at 350 and 550 ℃ (under N2), respectively, and characterized using Scanning Electron Microscopy (SEM), Elemental Analysis (EA), Diffuse Reflectance Infrared Fourier Transform Spect...

The biogenic volatile organic compounds (BVOCs) emissions from cultivated plants-soil systems and N fertilization's role on these emissions are mostly unknown. This study aimed to elucidate the BVOCs emissions from a plant-soil system receiving N fertilization using Rosmarinus officinalis as a model case study. We put forward the hypothesis that N...

Biochar produced from organic waste feedstocks have lately been utilized as adsorbents for the decontamination of antibiotics-contaminated environmental matrices. The aim of the present study is a) the assessment of the adsorption capacity of three distinct derived biochars [biosolids (BDΒ), cattle manure (MDB) and spent coffee grounds (SCGDB)], ap...

In the current study, a novel process of ex-situ biogas upgrading to biomethane is presented which is based on a system consisted of anaerobic sludge and zero valent iron (ZVI). The ZVI when is added in an aquatic system with anaerobic granular sludge generates H 2 under anaerobic abiotic conditions. Then, the H 2 and CO 2 are converted by the hydr...

The wide use of fossil fuels and their associated environmental concerns, highlighted the importance of affordable and clean energy (goal 7), as adopted by the Sustainable Development Goals of the United Nations for 2030. For years now, the detection of sulfur components in liquid fuels is performed mainly for environmental and health purposes in c...

Acknowledgment of reviewers

The air quality of modern cities is considered an important factor for the quality of life of humans and therefore is being safeguarded by various international organizations, concentrating on the mass concentration of particulate matter (PM) with an aerodynamic diameter less than 10, 2.5 and 1 μm. However, the different physical and anthropogenic...

Mining in Cyprus resulted in a significant number of abandoned sulphide mines without any rehabilitation measures. The present study aims to describe and compare the environmental parameters in three such mines with respect to water chemistry, waste dumps geochemistry, slope-topography and plant growth. The mines under study are that of Kokkinopezo...

Cattle wastewater (CWW) is considered an important source of contamination in the livestock sector. Therefore, electrocoagulation (EC) using Aluminium electrodes and electrooxidation (EO) through Boron Doped Diamond (BDD) electrodes processes, were applied to the liquid fraction of cattle waste (CW) to decrease the levels of certain pollutants such...

Solid phase micro extraction-Gas Chromatography/Mass Spectrometry (SPME-GC/MS) analysis was performed in exhaled breath samples of 48 healthy volunteers: 20 non-smokers, 10 smokers and 18 e-cigarette (EC, vape) users. Each volunteer provided 1 L of exhaled breath in a pre-cleaned Tedlar bag, in which an SPME fiber was exposed to absorb the emitted...

Ceratonia siliqua L. is quite popular for the sweetness of its fruit (“natural chocolate”) and the strong, persistent, characteristic odor that associates not only carob fruit, but also its traditional food products. This is due to the emission of an array of volatile organic compounds (VOCs). The released odor is a complex mixture, and therefore,...

In the framework of circular economy, the need of new feedstock materials for the production of alternative new products is of high priority. Biowastes such as manure, sewage sludge (biosolids, BS) and food-waste are used as raw materials for the production of biochar. The present study aims at characterizing biochars produced from three distinct b...

Carobs unique compositional and biological synthesis enables their characterization as functional foods. In the present study, 76 samples derived from fruit and seeds of carobs, with origin from the countries of the Mediterranean region (Cyprus, Greece, Italy, Spain, Turkey, Jordan and Palestine) were analyzed for their nutritional composition, in...

The aspect of backyard composting as element of sustainable development is examined and discussed. Towards this, the effect of various physicochemical parameters (temperature, humidity, organic content, pH, electric conductivity and seed germination index) with volatile organic compounds (VOCs) released during food waste composting is studied. Mult...

Biogenic volatile organic compounds (VOCs) contribute to the communication, growth, breeding, and defense of plant; their role in plant kingdom is vital. Carob tree is cultivated mainly in Middle East and eastern European countries (e.g., Spain, Italy, Greece, Cyprus) and lately in Australia, the USA, and South Africa. Therefore, it is examined as...

The original publication of this paper contains an error.

Vaping is promoted as a healthier alternative to smoking over the recent years, and e-cigarette (EC) users are considered to affect air quality (and thus contribute to passive smoking) much less than tobacco cigarette (TC) smokers. Here we test this hypothesis, by comparing measurements of the size distributions of particles and the levels of Volat...

It is imperative for sustainable agriculture to explore practices and inputs creating low N 2 O emission capacity without reducing the productivity of the agricultural system. To evaluate different nutrient management schemes, a microcosm study was conducted to assess the direct N 2 O emission from soil. Four different treatments were used to provi...

The results of the validation study of the LC-ESI-MS/MS method for the determination of chlorate (ClO3-), perchlorate (ClO4-) and bromate (BrO3-) in water and food samples are summarized. Towards this, 284 samples of drinking water were analysed, out of which the 69% contained chlorate above the limit of quantitation (LOQ) of 0.01 mg/L, with maximu...

Over the last decade there has been a significant boost towards the use of electronic cigarettes (e-cigarettes), especially among youth. Different concentrations of propylene glycol (PG) or vegetable glycerin (VG), flavors and nicotine are mixed in plastic cartridges and commercially offered or privately produced by the vapers. During vaping, a mix...

Ceratonia siliqua, known as the carob, is considered to be of high nutritional value and of great economic significance due to its unique composition. The beneficial effects of carob against cancer, metabolic syndrome, diabetes, diarrhea, hyperlipidemia and gastro esophageal reflux disease are only a few of its therapeutic actions. Metabolomics-bas...

D-pinitol (3-O-methyl-D-chiro-inositol) is a well-known bioactive compound with anti-diabetic and anti-oxidant biological functions. A gas chromatography–mass spectrometry (GC–MS) method was developed for its quantitation in carob syrup, flesh and seed samples originated from Cyprus. The analysis was performed after derivatization of carbohydrates...

The performance of biomass char production and application systems depends strongly on feedstock characteristics, conversion techniques, and methods of char handling, transport, and utilization. Although several combinations of biomass resources, conversion processes, and applications have been reported in the literature, few studies are focused on...

Chemical analysis (detection and monitoring) of VOCs

Coffee is perhaps one of the most vital ingredients in humans’ daily life in modern world. However, this causes the production of million tons of relevant wastes, i.e., plastic cups, aluminum capsules, coffee chaff (silver skin), and spent coffee grounds (SCG), all thrown untreated into landfills. It is estimated that 1 kg of instant coffee generat...

Chemical analysis (detection and monitoring) of compounds associated with the metabolic activities of an organism is at the cutting edge of science. Volatile metabolomics (volatolomics) are applied in a broad range of applications including: biomedical research (e.g. disease diagnostic tools, personalized healthcare and nutrition, etc.), toxicologi...

Twenty traditional carob products were measured for their nutritional composition, and their results were compared with the pulp of Cypriot carob cultivars. Moisture, ash, fat, proteins, sugars, dietary fibers, minerals, caffeine‐theobromine, carbohydrates, and energy value were determined. Fluctuations of the nutritional composition values based o...

The proposed photovoltaic electrochemical (PV-EC) process combines autonomous and environmentally friendly photovoltaic solar energy with the capability of the combined electrocoagulation/electrooxidation process to effectively remediate toxic olive mill wastewaters and simultaneously produce electrolytic hydrogen. The photovoltaic array can be con...

This research work examined how biodiesel produced from frying oils affects the physicochemical properties of its mixtures with conventional heating oil. Through the characterization of biodiesel blends and heating oil, the purpose is to produce an improved heating oil that will meet the specifications of the existing legislation for heating oil, w...

Earthquakes are lethal natural disasters frequently burying people alive under collapsed buildings. Tracking entrapped humans from their unique volatile chemical signature with hand-held devices would accelerate urban search and rescue (USaR) efforts. Here, a pilot study is presented with compact and orthogonal sensor arrays to detect the breath- a...

Human smuggling and associated cross-border crimes have evolved as a major challenge for the European Union in recent years. Of particular concern is the increasing trend of smuggling migrants hidden inside shipping containers or trucks. Therefore, there is a growing demand for portable security devices for the non-intrusive and rapid monitoring of...

Natural minerals are widely used in numerous environmental applications, mainly as sorbents in ion exchange and sorption processes. Minerals, such as zeolites and clays, can be found all over the world, but they are mined containing a variety of different impurities; this prevents their accurate characterization. The present study examines various...

Carob samples from seven different Mediterranean countries (Cyprus, Greece, Italy, Spain, Turkey, Jordan and Palestine) were analyzed using Fourier Transform Infrared (FTIR) spectroscopy. Seed and flesh samples of indigenous and foreign cultivars, both authentic and commercial, were examined. The spectra were recorded in transmittance mode from KBr...

On-site chemical sensing of compounds associated with security and terrorist attacks is of worldwide interest. Other related bio-monitoring topics include identification of individuals posing a threat from illicit drugs, explosive manufacturing, as well as searching for victims of human trafficking and collapsed buildings. The current status of fie...

Bentonite is a clay mineral often used in ion exchange processes due to its high ion exchange capacity. In the present study, a commercially available in Greece market bentonite was obtained and characterized by XRD, XRF, FTIR, BET, and TG/DTA analysis. Monmorillonite was the main component of bentonite sample (>80%). Ion exchange equilibria of Zn²...

Volatile organic compounds (VOCs) offer unique insights into ongoing biochemical processes in healthy and diseased humans. Yet, their diagnostic use is hampered by the limited understanding of their biochemical or cellular origin and their frequently unclear link to the underlying diseases. Major advancements are expected from the analyses of human...

Controlled field experiments were carried out for monitoring the emissions of three plastic commercial household waste bins, which were adapted for studying the effect of aeration process in the evolved volatiles, during house storing of green food waste for 2 weeks, prior to collection. Three experimental scenarios were examined based on no aerati...

In this article, a database of blood:air and fat:air partition coefficients (λ b:a and λ f:a) is reported for estimating 1678 volatile organic compounds recently reported to appear in the volatilome of the healthy human. For this purpose, a quantitative structure-property relationship (QSPR) approach was applied and a novel method for Henry's law c...

Since Pauling's paper in the 1970s, interest has increased in volatile organic compounds (VOCs) released from different bio-fluids, such as skin, breath, blood and urine. A number of VOCs reflect internal biochemical pathways occurring in the human body and their chemical pattern may serve as the chemical platform for tracing human VOCs. Monitoring...

A wide spectrum of volatile organic compounds (VOCs) is continuously produced in the human body and released through breath and sweat, thereby revealing important medical information. The variety of the analytical instrumentation used for measuring these biogenic VOCs is reviewed, highlighting the need to move towards field operability. The goal of...

Recent structural collapses were studied in order to identify gaps in technology and to propose priorities in enhancing urban search and rescue (USAR) tools. The timelines of the events were examined with the scope of extracting critical factors that affect rescue time and can be used to define priorities in tools and technologies development, so t...

The design, development, and validation of a dynamic vapor generator are presented. The generator simulates human scent (odor) emissions from trapped victims in the voids of collapsed buildings. The validation of the device was carried out using a reference detector: a quadrupole mass spectrometer equipped with a pulsed sampling (PS-MS) system. A s...

Fires are becoming more violent and frequent resulting in major economic losses and long-lasting effects on communities and ecosystems; thus, efficient fire monitoring is becoming a necessity. A novel triple multi-sensor approach was developed for monitoring and studying the burning of dry forest fuel in an open field scheduled experiment; chemical...

The ChemPro 100i chemical detector (aspiration-type ion mobility spectrometer) was used for the detection of selected volatile organic compounds known to be potential indicators of human presence. The targeted group of compounds mainly comprised ketones (acetone, 2-butanone, 2-pentanone, 3-methyl-2-butanone, 4-heptanone), aldehydes (propanal, penta...

A classification of various categories of entrapped people under the ruins of collapsed buildings after earthquakes, technical failures or explosions is proposed. Type and degree of injury at the moment of building collapse and duration of entrapment are the two basic parameters in this classification. The aim is to provide sources and types of vol...

Headspace solid phase micro-extraction gas chromatography-mass spectrometry (SPME-GC-MS) analysis was performed over an in-house made filling chamber loaded with brick or concrete, mimicking a potential entrapment scene of building collapse following natural or man-made disasters. Permeation profiles of 22 volatile species, released by human urine...

The scent profile of human urine was investigated as potential source of chemical markers of human presence in collapsed buildings after natural or man-made disasters. The main goals of this study were to build a library of potential biomarkers of human urine to be used for the detection of entrapped victims and to further examine their evolution p...

Improved data processing algorithms along with modelling techniques were employed in order to profile the responses and to assess the analytical capabilities of a system consisting of a mass spectrometer, a camera and a microphone for synchronized chemical, optical and acoustic monitoring of lab-scale fires. The combustion of cotton textile, inkjet...

The late location of entrapped victims in col-lapsed buildings is the main reason of high mortality during urban search and rescue (USaR) operations after natural or man-made disasters. Consequently, an effort is currently being made to develop proper rescue searching tools that could improve the early location of trapped casualties. In this contex...

The different aspects of sensors integration, and specifically that of a Mass Spectrometer (MS) with audio and video signals, are investigated for detecting and monitoring indoor fire events. The present study focuses on comparing the capabilities of a variety of chemical sensors, on answering technical challenges in regard to the integration of ch...

The Second Generation Locator for Urban Search and Rescue Operations (SGL for USaR) is an EC-funded project solving critical problems following massive destruction and large scale structural collapses in urban locations. One part of the project is the development of a standalone portable first responder device (FIRST) for the operational rescue tea...