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Publications (27)
Plastic bag waste is a major challenge in several African countries. As a way of reducing the detrimental effects posed by plastic bags, governments have adopted various approaches for plastic bag waste management that include levies, bans and or the combination of the two. Despite the adoption of anti-plastic bag policies in several African countr...
While there is talk of the Fourth Industrial Revolution, old and new challenges bedevil the world – climate change, nutrition, and health poverty being at the top of the list. In seeking solutions to these and other problems which afflict the modern era, it is worthwhile to look into our collective past, to the traditions and knowledges of our ance...
Total coliforms are a group of bacteria found in high numbers in mammalian intestines; hence their presence in water indicates the possible contamination with faecal material. Total and faecal coliform counts were monitored over a period of 18 months using mFC, m-Endo and CM1046 media together with enzymatic assays on 215 environmental water sample...
In the search for renewable, sustainable and affordable energy sources, microbial fuel cells (MFCs) offer the advantage of a biological oxidation of pollutants to the direct generation of electricity by microorganisms. We thus examined the biodegradability and suitability of unamended paper mill effluent for power production in MFCs. In addition, a...
Various methods are available for the recycling and treatment of cheese whey with the objective of enhancing sustainable manufacturing. Currently, an increasing interest is on the anaerobic bioremediation of whey with the added benefit of generating electricity in microbial fuel cells (MFCs). Since microorganisms are the biocatalysts in MFCs, their...
Humankind has always been engaged in a relentless quest for energy to drive daily activities. However, most of the existing conventional strategies of tapping the environment are expensive and polluting. A nascent microbial fuel cell technology, relying on the degradation of wastewater such as cheese whey with the subsequent release of electricity,...
This work was performed to determine the influence of heat treatment on sewage sludge and addition of
zero valent iron (ZVI) on the degradation and decolourisation of an anthraquinone dye, reactive blue 2
(RB 2). A consortium of sulphate reducing bacteria (SRB) in a biosulphidogenic batch reactor with
biodigester sludge was used. The latter supplie...
Renewable and green energy resources are paramount to environmental sustainability. Microbial fuel cells (MFCs) are potential candidates for these alternatives but there is need to search for cheaper fuels to drive the MFCs for realistic large scale applications. A high strength effluent such as whey, which poses a serious environmental threat, is...
The ligand 2-(2′-hydroxyphenyl)-1H-imidazoline (Hpimin) was covalently linked to chloromethylated polystyrene (PS-Cl). This resin was then allowed to react with vanadyl sulfate to afford the polymer-anchored oxovanadium(IV) complex, PS-[VO(pimin)x], which was characterised using elemental analysis, IR and AFM. This catalyst was shown to catalyse th...
This work reports the use of metallo tetra-amino phthalocyanines (MTAPc, M = Co and Mn) polymer thin films on gold and glassy carbon electrode surfaces for the detection and monitoring of
hydrogen peroxide (H2O2). The polymer-modified electrodes were characterized using electrochemical
and microscopic-based methods. Atomic force microscopy (AFM) wa...
The effect of multi-walled carbon nanotube (MWCNT) modification of anodes and the optimisation of relevant parameters thereof for application in an Enterobacter cloacae microbial fuel cell were examined. The H – type microbial fuel cells were used for the fundamental studies, with a carbon sheet as a control anode and platinum coated carbon sheets...
The aim of this project was to monitor variations and relationships between coliform and E. coli counts, the activities of their marker enzymes GAL and GUD, and temperature and pH over a period of 12 months in river samples obtained from the Eastern Cape, South Africa. Several polluted water samples were collected for direct coliform β-D-galactosid...
Manganese tetraarylthiosubstituted phthalocyanines (complexes 1–5) have been deposited on Au electrode surfaces through the self assembled monolayer (SAM) technique. SAM characteristics reported in this work are: ion barrier factor (∼1); interfacial capacitance (303–539 μF cm−2) and surface coverage (1.06 × 10−10–2.80 × 10−10 mol cm−2). Atomic forc...
Total coliforms are a group of bacteria found in high numbers in mammalian intestines; hence their presence in water indicates the possible contamination with faecal material. Total and faecal coliform counts were monitored over a period of 18 months using mFC, m-Endo and CM1046 media together with enzymatic assays on 215 environmental water sample...
Non-peripherally (α) tetra- (9) and octa-(7) substituted dodecyl-mercapto tin(IV) phthalocyanines were synthesized and their electrochemical behavior studied. Cyclic voltammetry and spectroelectrochemistry show ring-based reductions for 7 and 9, the former shows two ring oxidations, while the latter shows only one ring-based oxidation. The adsorpti...
We report on the electrooxidation of hydrazine catalyzed by single-walled carbon nanotube (SWCNT) functionalized with cobalt phthalocyanine (CoPc) which shows that the presence of the single-walled carbon nanotubes enhances the catalytic activity of the CoPc itself without any change in the reaction mechanism. A synergistic effect, in terms of reac...
Successful decolourisation and degradation of textile dyes was achieved in a biosulphidogenic batch reactor using biodigester sludge from a local municipality waste treatment plant as a source of carbon and microflora that augmented a sulphate reducing bacteria (SRB) consortium. Orange II (O II) was decolourised by 95-% within one day (24 h) produc...
Successful decolorization of azo dyes (Orange II, Amido Black 10, Reactive Black 5, and Reactive Red 120) and industrial textile dye influents and effluents with sulfate-reducing bacteria from within a biosulfidogenic reactor was achieved with decolorizations ranging from 96% to 49% over 144 h. Concomitant with the decrease in absorbance of the dye...
The presence of coliforms in polluted water was determined enzymatically (in situ) by directly monitoring the activity of beta-d-galactosidase (B-GAL) through the hydrolysis of the yellow chromogenic subtrate, chlorophenol red beta-d-galactopyranoside (CPRG), which produced a red chlorophenol red (CPR) product. The objectives of this study were to...
A voltammetric sensor prepared by the immobilization of metallophthalocyanine complexes onto a glassy carbon electrode has been developed for the detection of β-d-galactosidase (B-GAL) of faecal origin in water. Electrooxidation of chlorophenol red, a breakdown product of the chromogenic substrate chlorophenol red β-d-galactopyranoside, was used as...
The electrochemical detection of Escherichia coli beta-D-glucuronidase activity as a means of monitoring water pollution by faecal material was investigated using separate Moraxella- and Pseudomonas putida-modified glassy carbon electrodes. The former was more sensitive and selective. The Moraxella-modified biosensor was 100 times more rapid and se...
A study of the activity of Escherichia coli -D-glucuronidase (GUS) in polluted stagnant and running water samples was performed with an objective of assessing the viability of a direct marker enzyme assay as a suitable alternative to membrane filtration for the indication of faecal pollution in water intended for drinking purposes. The effects of t...
A study was carried out to identify lactic acid bacteria (LAB) isolated from chibuku that would be later assessed for potential as starter cultures. Thirty-eight isolates were Gram stained and the 20, which were Gram positive, were identified to genus level using morphological, physiological and biochemical tests. Five genera of lactic acid bacteri...
The prevention of outbreaks of waterborne diseases remains a major challenge to public health service providers globally. One of the major obstacles in this effort is the unavailability of on-line and real-time methods for rapid monitoring of faecal pollution to facilitate early warning of contamination of drinking water. The main objective of this...