• Mass Spectrometry Letters
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• v.13 no.4
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• pp.166-176
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• 2022

Banana peels are also widely used as bio-adsorbent in the removal of chemicals contaminants and heavy metals from water and soil. GC-MS plays an essential role in the phytochemical analysis and chemo taxonomic studies of medicinal plants containing biologically active components. Intrinsically, with the use of the flame ionization detector and the electron capture detector which have very high sensitivities, Gas chromatography can quantitatively determine materials present at very low concentrations and most important application is in pollution studies. In the present study banana peels were used as bio-adsorbent to remediate the heavy metal contaminated water taken from three different stations located around the industrial belts of Ranipet, Tamilnadu, India. The AAS analysis of the samples shows a decrement of chromium concentration of 98.93%, 96.16% and 96.5% in Station 1, 2 and 3 respectively which proves the efficiency of the powdered peels of Musa paradisiaca. The GC-MS analysis of the control and treated peels of Musa paradisiaca reveals the presence of phytochemicals like Acetic Acid, 1-Methylethyl Ester, DL-Glyceraldehyde Dimer, N-Hexadecanoic Acid, 3-Decyn-2-Ol, 26-Hydroxy, Cholesterol, Ergost-25-Ene-3,5,6,12-Tetrol, (3.Beta.,5.Alpha.,6.Beta.,12.Beta.)-, 1-Methylene-2b-Hydroxymethyl-3, and 3-Dimethyl-4b-(3-Methylbut-2-Enyl)-Cyclohexane in the control banana peels. The banana peels which were used for the treatment reveals the changes and alteration of the phytochemicals. It is concluded that the alteration in phytochemicals of the experimental banana peels were due to adsorption of chromium heavy metal from the sample.

• Environmental Engineering Research
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• v.24 no.2
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• pp.354-361
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• 2019

Renewable energy from biomass and biodegradable wastes can significantly supplement the global energy demand if properly harnessed. Pyrolysis is the most profound modern technique that has proved effective and efficient in the energy conversion of biomass to yield various products like bio-oil, biochar, and syngas. This study focuses on optimization of slow pyrolysis of banana peels waste to yield banana peels vinegar, tar and biochar as bio-infrastructure products. Response surface methodology using central composite design was used to determine the optimum conditions for the banana wastes using a batch reactor pyrolysis system. Three factors namely heating temperature ($350-550^{\circ}C$), sample mass (200-800 g) and residence time (45-90 min) were varied with a total of 20 individual experiments. The optimal conditions for wood vinegar yield (48.01%) were $362.6^{\circ}C$, 989.9 g and 104.2 min for peels and biochar yield (30.10%) were $585.9^{\circ}C$, 989.9 g and 104.2 min. The slow pyrolysis showed significant energy conversion efficiencies of about 90% at p-value ${\leq}0.05$. These research findings are of primary importance to Uganda considering the abundant banana wastes amounting to 17.5 million tonnes generated annually, thus using them as pyrolysis feedstock can boost the country's energy status.

• Journal of Electrochemical Science and Technology
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• v.8 no.1
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• pp.77-86
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• 2017

The valorization of domestic wastes becomes a very important research axis that can reduce the energy consumption and protect our environment. The objective of this study is to remove zinc ions from wastewater by using banana peels after their activation as sensor in the working electrode for an environmental application. Banana peels were dried, crushed and treated with sulfuric acid then mixed with polyaniline to improve their electrical conductivity. Cyclic voltammetry and chronoamperometry were used for electrochemistry tests. The obtained voltammogramms at well optimized conditions of applied potential of -1.3 V/SCE and initial zinc concentration of 0.2M during 2 hours of electrolysis, showed the reduction peak of the zinc at a potential of -1.14 V/SCE, which confirmed the activity of this electrode. The modeling of experimental data revealed that the adsorption was fitted by the Langmuir isotherm with a maximal adsorption capacity of 3.4188 mg/g. Changes in the structure of the powder after the electrosorption was noticed by SEM and EDX. Finally, the dosage of the electrolytic solution showed a diminution of the zinc concentration with yield of 99.99%.

• Korean Journal of Environmental Agriculture
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• v.32 no.2
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• pp.108-116
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• 2013

BACKGROUND: Certain crop-based waste materials have been recognized as cost-effective and highly efficient adsorbents for removal and recovery of different kind of heavy metals from aqueous solutions. The ability is strongly attributed to the carboxyl functional group of some pectin substances such as galacturonic acid often found in fruit peels. The present manuscript was aimed at assessing the potential applicability of banana peel for metal removal from contaminated waters. METHODS AND RESULTS: As revealed by laboratory investigations, banana peel contains pectin (10-21%), lignin (6-12%), cellulose (7.6-9.6%), and hemicelluloses (6.4-9.4%). The pectin extraction is reported to have glucose, galactose, arabinose, rhamnose, xylose, and galactouroninc acid. Several studies conducted under different conditions proved that banana peel is capable of adsorbing 5.71, 2.55, 28.00, 6.88, 7.97, and 5.80 mg/g of $Cd^{2+}$, $Co^{2+}$, $Cu^{2+}$, $Ni^{2+}$, $Pb^{2+}$, and $Zn^{2+}$, respectively, from aqueous solutions. Adsorption capacity is, however, dependent upon several factors including solution pH, dose of adsorbent and metal concentration, contact time and shaking speed. CONCLUSION(S): Since the annual world production of banana exceeds 100 million tons, about 40 million tons of banana peel (40% of total weight of the fresh fruit) remains vastly unused. Exploring a sound technology with banana peel would therefore, not only address the much needed sustainable tool for cleaning contaminated waters, but of course bring an additional value to the banana industry worldwide.

• Food Science and Preservation
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• v.20 no.4
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• pp.475-481
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• 2013

This study was performed in order to compare the changes in fruit quality and antioxidant activity depending on the ripeness degree of the banana flesh and peel (unripe, ripe, and over ripe) when stored at room temperature for 6 days. The moisture contents showed differences such as the significantly lower maturity in the over ripe fruit peel and the moisture content increase in the fruit flesh during ripening. During the maturity stage, the L and b values decreased, while the a value increased. During ripening, the titratable acidity (TA) decreased, while the soluble solids contents (SS), sugar acid ratio (SS/TA), total sugar, and reducing sugar contents increased, respectively. Also during ripening, the glucose and the fructose contents increased considerably, thus resulting in the decrease of the sucrose content. In addition, this study revealed that the phenolic substance, which was part of the fruit skin, showed more favorable reaction to radical ability than the fruit flesh. Furthermore, the DPPH, ABTS radical scavenging ability, and reducing power showed better reaction for the fruit skin than for the fruit flesh, and there was a significant increase in the antioxidative activity as a result of the higher levels of phenolic substance. Therefore, maturity played an important role in changing the chemical composition and physiological activity of a banana. The unripe peels could be used as antioxidant ingredients and they could also enhance the biological activity in the utilization of by-products.