[en] Nanofiltration (NF) is a treatment technology which is suitable for selective removal of solutes from solvents in process industries. Its application is increasing worldwide due to certain advantages associated to this technique such as low operation pressure, high flux, high retention of multivalent ion salts and low maintenance costs. Recently this technique has been successfully applied for removal of uranium from drinking water. Experiments were conducted for separation of 'U' contents from waste stream of Uranium Refining Plant at CPC Project. A spiral wound polypiprazine amide nano filtration membrane with an effective surface area of 2.60 m2 was used for this experimentation. The experiments were carried out with concentration mode. The results of this study show 'U' content retention of greater than 99% whereas 'U' contents were found to be less than 3 ppm in the permeate stream. The results further reveal that the pH of the feed solution had significant influence on retention efficiency of the membrane. The membrane retention efficiency was reduced to 85% when feed with a pH of 1.0 was processed whereas maximum retention was found to be at neutral pH value. (author)

[en] Eucalyptus polybractea (blue mallee) is the essential oil rich species used in the commercial production of pharmaceutical-grade Eucalyptus oil in Australia. This species was grown at Nuclear Institute for Agriculture and Biology (NIAB), Faisalabad, Pakistan during 2004-08 to investigate the quantity and quality of its foliage oil. The oils were extracted by hydro-distillation method, from the leaves of four year aged ten E. polybractea plants. The data showed a significant intra-species variation in their oil contents (29.3 to 41.8 mg g-1 fresh weight of leaves). Out of ten plants eight contained oil >30 mg g/sup -1/ fresh weight of leaves. The components of the extracted oils varied from 12-26 as detected by GC/FID on Carbowax 20 M packed glass column. Among all the oil components, 1, 8-cineole was the major compound (91.7-94.2 %), while the other identified compounds were alpha-pinene (0-1.2 %), beta-pinene (0.4-2.3 %), limonene (0.2-1.3 %), p-cymene (1.23-2.75 %), and terpinene-4-ol (0.6-0.92 %). The extracted oils from all the Eucalyptus polybractea plants contained high amount of 1, 8-cineole (>90 %), therefore, classified as species of high quality medicinal oil. (author)

[en] In this study, fruits of date (Phoenix dactylifera L.) varieties were analyzed to assess their nutritional characteristics. Mineral profile analysis of twenty-one date varieties grown in Pakistan was performed. The results of mineral profile analysis proved that dates were a good source of minerals like potassium, calcium, iron and magnesium, but were deficient in sodium content and hence are very suitable fruit for hypertensive people. Sugar profile analysis showed that the maximum glucose content was recorded in Zaidy (44.44%) and fructose content in Karblain (33.21%) and the maximum sucrose percentage was found in Hillavi (6.99%). Vitamin (B1, B2, and B3) analyses revealed that vitamin B1 was not present in detectable amount in the date varieties. The highest concentration of vitamin B2 was detected in Khopra (0.031 mg per 100g), while the highest concentration of vitamin B3 was verified in Zaidy (2.73 mg per 100g). The range of the total phenolic contents ranged from 142.52±0.64 to 298.02±0.95 mg gallic acid equivalent per 100 g on fresh fruit weight basis. All date varieties proved to be a good source of phenolic compounds, therefore, they possess high antioxidant capacity. It was concluded that Dhakki, Hillavi and Aseel Sindh varieties might suit well for diet because of their good nutritional properties. (author)