In this research, a novel and efficient quinoline thioacetamide functionalized magnetic graphene oxide composite (GO@Fe3O4@QTA) was synthesized and utilized for dispersive magnetic solid phase preconcentration of Cd(II) and Ni(II) ions in urine and various food samples. A number of diverse methods were employed for characterization of the new nanosorbent. The design of experiments approach and response surface methodology were applied to monitor and find the parameters that affect the extraction performance. After sorption and elution steps, the concentrations of target analytes were measured by employing FAAS. The highest extraction performance was achieved under the following experimental conditions: pH, 5.8; sorption time, 6.0 min; GO@Fe3O4@QTA amount, 17 mg; 2.4 mL 1.1 mol L-l HNO3 solution as the eluent and elution time, 13.0 min. The detection limit is 0.02 and 0.2 ng mL-1 for Cd(II), and Ni(II) ions, respectively. The accuracy of the new method was investigated by analyzing two certified reference materials (sea food mix, Seronorm LOT NO 2525 urine powder). The interfering study revealed that there are no interferences from commonly occurring ions on the extractability of target ions. Finally, the new method was satisfactorily employed for rapid extraction and determination of target ions in urine and various food samples.

A black nickel oxide powder, one of the commercial nickel oxide ores, was reduced by hydrogen gas in a batchtype fluidized-bed reactor in a temperature range of 350 to 500 oC and in a residence time range of 5 to 120 min. The hydrogen reduction behavior of the black nickel oxide was found to be somewhat different from that of green nickel oxide ore. For the black nickel oxide, the maximum temperature (below which nickel oxide particles can be reduced without any agglomeration) was significantly lower than that observed for the green nickel oxide. In addition, the best curve fittings of the Avrami model were obtained at higher values of the overall rate constant “k” and at lower values of the exponent “m”, compared to those values for the green nickel oxide. It may be inferred from these results that the hydrogen reduction rate of the black nickel oxide is faster than that of the green nickel oxide in the early stages, but the situation reverses in the later stages. For the black nickel oxide ore, in spite of the low temperature sintering, it was possible to achieve a high degree fluidized-bed reduction at lower temperatures and at lower gas consumption rates than was possible for the green nickel oxide. In this regard, the use of black nickel oxide is expected to yield a benefit if its ore price is sufficiently lower than that of the green nickel oxide.