Effects of Chemical Components on the Amount of Green Tea Cream

The relationship between the amount of tea cream and the chemical components contents in the original green tea infusion was investigated. The results showed that the amounts of tea cream in the green tea infusions obtained from different cultivars and different parts of new shoots were varied. There were many chemical components participating in the formation of green tea cream. However, there were only the contents of caffeine （Y=0.85, P〈0.01） and polyphenols （Y=0.65, P〈0.05） in the original green tea infusion highly correlated with the amount of green tea cream. Stepwise regression analysis of overall chemical components indicated that the contents of caffeine and gallated catechins in the original green tea infusion had a significant effect （P〈0.01） on green tea cream levels. Cream （g L-1）=-172.071＋ 0.129×Ccaffeine＋0.024×Ggallated catechins （R2=0.936）. The amount of green tea cream can be predicted by the contents of gallated catechins and caffeine in the original tea infusion. Principal component analysis also indicated that catechins, minerals, and polysaccharides were the important chemical components in the formation of green tea cream.

Utilization of Infused Tea Leaves (Camellia sinensis) for the Removal of Pb2+, Fe2+ and Cd2+ Ions from Aqueous Solution: Equilibrium and Kinetic Studies

In this study, infused tea leaves as a low-cost adsorbent have been used in the removal of the Pb2+, Fe2+ and Cd2+ ions from aqueous solution. The adsorption study was carried out in a batch process and the effects of parameters such as initial pH, adsorbent dose, contact time and initial metal ion concentration were investigated. Experimental results showed that the maximum adsorption of metal ions occurred at pH 5 for Pb2+ and Fe2+ and at pH 6 for Cd2+. Adsorption of metal ions increased with increasing adsorbent concentration and contact time. The isothermal data for the adsorption of metal ions by infused tea leaves were found to fit well with the Langmuir equations. Based on the experimental data of the Langmuir isotherm model, the maximum adsorption capacities of the metal ions onto the infused tea leaves were found in the order of Pb2+ > Cd2+ > Fe2+ with the adsorption capacities of 26.32 mg·gǃ, 14.29 mg·gǃ and 12.38 mg·gǃ respectively. The adsorption process followed the pseudo-second order reaction and the corresponding rate constant were found to be 4.30 × 10Dž g·mgǃ·minǃ, 1.75 × 10ǃ g·mgǃ·minǃ and 1.45 × 10DŽ g·mgǃ·minǃ for Pb2+, Fe2+ and Cd2+ ions respectively.