Search

In this chapter, the molecules that it is usually possible to detect in paper and paperboard samples are investigated. In addition to the additives and production aids that can be used in the production as listed in different national regulations, some other substances can also be found, particularly when the test involves recycled material. These substances must be evaluated with respect to the toxicological risk for the consumer, in order to assess the safety of the consumer.

Sustainability is essential for future technologies to harmonize with our living environment. Cellulose is one of nature's most abundant natural polymers, being the main chemical components of wood and plants. It recycles back to nature by composting over a short period of time. Recently, cellulose has been rediscovered as an active material, namely electroactive paper (EAPap). This chapter reviews the fabrication and actuation principles of EAPap and its three subareas in terms of piezoelectric EAPap, ionic EAPap and hybrid EAPap, along with their applications. Cellulose is known to have piezoelectric and ion migration effects and these two effects can be maximized, which results in piezoelectric EAPap and ionic EAPap. To further improve the functionality of cellulose, hybrid composites of inorganic functional materials are introduced by incorporating carbon nanotubes (CNTs), titanium dioxide (TiO2) and tin oxide (SnO2) with cellulose. Since cellulose is biocompatible, sustainable, biodegradable, capable of broad chemical modification, hydrophilic and has high mechanical strength and stiffness, various cellulose-based devices are possible.

In this chapter, several types of water-soluble antimicrobial polymers for functional cellulose fibres and hygiene paper products are described, including guanidine-based polymers, gemini surfactant and polymer, cyclodextrin-based polymer/antibiotics complex, ciprofloxacin-containing copolymer and their application in the papermaking industry. Currently, antimicrobial agents are highly demanded to protect human beings from being attacked by bacteria or viruses for a number of paper products such as tissues, paper towels, kitchen paper, food wrapper and bank notes. All polymers herein exhibit high water solubility, wide-spectrum antimicrobial activity and excellent inhibition efficiency and nontoxicity. Moreover, some polymers can improve the strength properties of paper products, while deactivating bacteria. The approaches for rendering the cellulose fibres and paper products antimicrobial are also convenient because these antimicrobial polymers can be used as functional wet-end additives, by grafting onto cellulose fibre, forming polyelectrolyte complexes or nanocapsules.

Successful research efforts, in either academe or industry, require an awareness of the state of the art. This is necessary in order to identify previous research, to develop an understanding of the research problem, and to avoid unnecessary duplication of work. In addition, maintaining an on-going awareness of current literature, in your area of chemistry, is crucial to career advancement. This is true for graduate students, whose theses must be based on unique research results, as well as for senior researchers who are able to secure grant funding and pursue exclusive technology rights only for original work.

This paper aims to evaluate the reduction in greenhouse gas emissions of rice and wheat and their supply chains by incorporating carbon capture, utilisation and storage into fertiliser production mainly from the ammonia process, which is a part of the fertiliser that produces most of the carbon dioxide. Greenhouse gas emissions of these grains without carbon capture, utilisation and storage are provided from the results of life cycle assessment in the literature. After that, carbon dioxide emission from fertiliser production is quantified. The alternative considered for utilisation is enhanced oil recovery and it is compared with the conventional way of oil production. The effects of carbon capture, utilisation, and storage on greenhouse gas reduction are presented in terms of the supply chains of rice and wheat to make people conscious about the use and optimisation of food. The reduction of greenhouse gas is around 6–7% in the rice supply chain e.g. rice milk, spoons of uncooked rice and 14–16% in the wheat supply chain e.g. pasta, one slice of bread. Although the alternative for carbon dioxide storage demonstrates marginally higher greenhouse gas reduction, enhanced oil recovery may offer an economic incentive from additional oil production that could reduce the cost of rice and wheat.

In this chapter, corn coproducts produced by the fuel ethanol industry, Dried Distiller's Grain with Solubles (DDGS), containing natural nanocellulose fibres and non-degradable protein, have been applied as formaldehyde-free bioadhesive for manufacturing biocomposite board. Various biocomposites based on wood fibres and other types of biomass fibres were produced. The results demonstrated the importance of the selection of the correct fibre to produce lightweight, high-performance sustainable natural bio-based boards using the DDGS bioadhesive system. The products exhibit a smooth surface, lightweight, high performance and microbial- and moisture-resistant structure. The selected natural fibres for this study included wood, bamboo, pineapple leaf and reed fibres to produce MDF, OSB, particleboard and pressed wood pallets. The end products are environmentally friendly alternatives to traditional plastic and wood biocomposites that meet industrial standards.

Algae, which has high photosynthetic efficiency, non-arable land requirement and the ability to utilize salt or brackish water, is a promising renewable source for biofuel and other value-added biochemical production. Examination of the economic viability of such algae-based bioproducts is trending. The results of the examinations indicate that many parameters are decreasing the viability of the commercialization of algal biofuels and other commodity products. This chapter covers several different components of an integrated algal biorefinery, as an alternative approach to democratize algal products by decreasing the costs of production. The main sections touch base on strain improvements and other upstream components followed by sustainability issues. The chapter is finalized with the techno-economic assessments (TEA) of algal biorefineries with various production scenarios. The major components affecting the total cost of algal biochemical production are indicated by TEA, and their effect on the viability of the biorefineries are discussed.

The paper industry has a long history of harvesting, processing, and making products from wood. As we look to the future, the paper industry's processing methods and attempts to obtain value from lignin may provide guidance for the emerging lignin industry. This chapter provides a broad overview of the history and chemistry of pulping, and describes processes that have provided lignosulfonates, vanillin, and kraft lignin to the marketplace.

Despite the rapid increase of anaerobic co-digestion works over the last years, the very small number of pilot- and full-scale studies available in the literature is a major barrier to its full-scale implementation. In this paper, a control strategy methodology was applied in a full-scale sludge digester to safely steer the transition from anaerobic mono- to co-digestion and to maximize methane production. Traditional wastewater treatment plants (WWTPs) are electrical consumers, with a usual high demand in the range of 0.3 to 0.6 kWh/m3 of wastewater treated. Their digesters are commonly oversized, and consequently operated at low organic loading rates (OLRs). This opens a great opportunity for anaerobic co-digestion (AcoD) as an interesting technology to increase methane productivity and the electrical self-production in WWTPs. However, there is a quite limited implementation of AcoD at full-scale plants, since the transition from mono- to co-digestion and the further AcoD optimisation is a crucial and delicate step that could lead to the inhibition of the process if not thoroughly controlled. In this study, a methodology based on an optimum control strategy is explained in detail and it was applied to safely and optimally steer the transition from mono- to co-digestion and to maximize methane production during AcoD. A lab-scale anaerobic digester of 14 L mimicking the full-scale one (3,500 m3) was operated 30 days in advance to anticipate and if needed correct any operational destabilization that might occurr. As a result, the treatment of sewage sludge with two co-substrates (coming from a pig slaughterhouse and from a frying industry), which accounted for just 11% of the feeding flowrate, at a hydraulic retention time of 20 days allowed to raise the OLR and the methane production by 2-fold and 3-fold, respectively, increasing the self-produced electricity from 25% to 75% of the total demand of the WWTP. The diagnosis indicators proved to be accurate to take decisions concerning wastes blending and the strategy of increasing OLR. Besides, the proposed control system provides the steps to ensure a safe transition from anaerobic mono- to co-digestion and further optimisation at full-scale plants This work was supported by SmartGreenGas project (Spanish Government, AEI, 2014-CE224). The authors from Universidade de Santiago de Compostela belong to the Galician Competitive Research Group ED431C 2017/029 and to the CRETUS Strategic Partnership (AGRUP2017/01). All these programs are co-funded by FEDER (EU) SI

The process of stabilization is essential in the production of carbon fibers from lignins. During stabilization, the initially thermoplastic lignin polymer is converted to a thermoset polymer allowing for high-temperature treatment without a change in shape. In this work, hardwood (HKL) and softwood (SKL) Kraft lignins were stabilized in air at temperatures between 190 and 340 °C before carbonization at 800 °C in a nitrogen atmosphere. Due to the differences in side-chain linkages, functional groups and molar mass, the lignins exhibit different structural changes upon stabilization and hence develop different porosities upon carbonization. Both lignins undergo major crosslinking reactions in the side chains at low temperatures and degradation reactions at high temperatures during stabilization. Crosslinking gives rise to narrow pore size distributions with mainly (sub-) nanometer pores, whereas degradation reactions lead to a more open pore structure with additional mesoporosity (>2 nm). When both types of reactions take place simultaneously, highly accessible (sub-) nanoporosity can be effectively created, which boosts the performance of supercapacitors operating in 6 M KOH(aq). This effect terminates when the crosslinking reactions cease and mainly degradation reactions take place, which occurs in HKL at 340 °C. SKL shows both a lower degree of crosslinking and degradation and hence develops less specific surface area. The optimum performance in an aqueous alkaline supercapacitor is achieved with HKL stabilized at 310 °C. It shows a specific gravimetric capacitance of 164 F g−1 at 0.1 A g−1 and 119 F g−1 at 250 A g−1 with a capacitance retention of more than 90% after 10 000 cycles. M. J. M. L. and D. C. A. thank Spanish Ministry of Science, Innovation and Universities and FEDER (project RTI2018-095291-B-I00) for financial support. C. P. G. and C. O'K. thank Shell. MMT and PS thank RISE AB for co-funding Philipp Schlee's PhD position.

Softwood is an abundantly available feedstock for the bio-based industry. However, achieving cost-effective sugar release is particularly challenging, owing to its guaiacyl-only lignin. Here, we report the highly effective pretreatment of the softwood pine (Pinus sylvestris) using ionoSolv pretreatment, a novel ionic liquid-based lignocellulose fractionation technology. Three protic, low-cost ionic liquids, 1-butylimidazolium hydrogen sulfate, triethylammonium hydrogen sulfate and N,N-dimethylbutylammonium hydrogen sulfate, were used to fractionate the biomass into a carbohydrate-rich pulp and a lignin. The carbohydrate-rich pulp was hydrolysed into fermentable sugars by enzymatic saccharification. Under the most successful pretreatment conditions, quantitative glucose release from the pulp was achieved, which equates to a projected glucose release of 464 mg per gram of pine wood entering the process. We further intensified the process by increasing the solid to solvent ratio up to 1 : 2 g g−1 while maintaining saccharification yields of 75% of the theoretical maximum. We also demonstrate for the first time that N,N-dimethylbutylammonium hydrogen sulfate, [DMBA][HSO4], is an excellent low-cost pretreatment solvent, surpassing the pretreatment effectiveness of its symmetrically substituted analogue triethylammonium hydrogen sulfate. This shows that ionoSolv pretreatment with protic hydrogen sulfate ionic liquids is a truly feedstock-independent pretreatment option, further increasing the commercial potential of this pretreatment technology.

An increase in biodiesel production has seen a dramatic increase in the production of glycerol, the main by-product. To maintain biodiesel production as economically viable, processes for valorising the 10 wt% glycerol waste stream need to be developed. The content of this chapter discusses recent work which examines potential catalytic processes for producing value added chemicals using glycerol as a platform chemical. Significant research has focussed on catalytic reactions tailored to selectively convert oxygenates from biological resources to produce valuable chemicals. While homogenous and biological catalytic processes are important, heterogeneously catalysed reactions are considered to be more desirable and potentially more economically viable due to advantages in feedstock processing. The current transesterification process associated with biodiesel production results in a number of contaminants in the glycerol stream, such as free fatty acids and residual catalyst salts, which affects downstream processing. Special emphasis is given to understand how contaminants of various by-products interact with surfaces and identify robust catalysts while examining alternative catalytic processes for producing biodiesel with purer product streams.

Green coffee beans decaffeination and irradiation are important coffee post-harvest processing steps that allow to produce decaffeinated coffee products and raw material after insect and microbial disinfestation, respectively. Insects can cause damage to food as well as leading to consumer objections. The decaffeination process aims at producing coffee products without the caffeine referred to by many as the main motive for not consuming coffee. In addition, it is important to control microbial contamination of the green coffee during all stages of processing, including the raw crop stage, harvesting, processing, packing and exportation, avoiding the production of mycotoxins. The aim of this chapter is to briefly discuss the post-harvest processing steps and their impact on the quality of the final product.

The first part of this chapter will discuss the composition of lignocellulose, and the structures of the cellulose, hemicellulose and lignin components. Degradation of lignocellulose in soil and the microorganisms and enzymes responsible for degradation of these components will be overviewed. Degradation of lignin is aerobic and slow; therefore, lignin degradation is a slow step in breakdown of lignocellulosic waste. Microbial production of biogas will be overviewed along with its role in commercial anaerobic digestion for production of biogas from lignocellulosic biomass. Pathways for lignin biodegradation will be described, including delignification by addition of lignin-degrading fungi and bacteria, delignification by lignin-oxidising enzymes and enhancement of biogas formation. The use of metabolic engineering for production of renewable chemicals from lignin degradation will also be described.

Coffee is one of the most consumed beverages in the world, and its consumption increases every year. The quality of a cup of coffee depends on many factors related to coffee, water and the coffeemaker. Coffee species, variety and origin have a clear influence on the chemical composition and quality of coffee brew, but many other factors from harvesting to roasting, grinding and brewing processes can contribute to maintain the high quality of the coffee beans or, on the contrary, to decrease or even ruin it. Each coffee brewing method has specific requirements in order to prepare a good quality cup. According to the methodology used for coffee brewing, the physico-chemical characteristics and chemical composition of coffee brews can substantially vary from one method to another. This chapter describes the different brewing methods and the requirements on water pressure, grinding grade, extraction time and water quality. Further, physico-chemical characteristics and chemical composition of brews will be discussed in detail.

Anaerobic digestion (AD) is a well-established technology widely used for waste management and production of biogas. Biogas, mainly composed of methane and carbon dioxide, is the final product generated by anaerobic microbial degradation of organic materials. The general view is that it is mainly the carbohydrate, protein, and lipid fractions of organic materials that is degraded during AD, while the lignin fraction is difficult to degrade. However, AD of lignin has been observed in various natural environments and here we highlight the mechanisms of depolymerization and solubilization into small molecular weight aromatic compounds and their subsequent conversion into biogas. This degradation requires close cooperation between several groups of microorganisms, where the key step is the enzymatic depolymerization of lignin. The industrial applicability of AD for lignin valorization may be limited due to the slow rate of lignin depolymerization. However, various pretreatment and bioaugmentation methods are identified that may enhance lignin depolymerization. Furthermore, co-digestion and microbial acclimation are suggested for reducing the possible inhibitory effects of aromatic compounds on the microbial community.

The success of the biorefinery will depend on deriving value from the lignin fraction of lignocellulosic feedstocks. Thus, it will be necessary to develop procedures that provide a separate and usable lignin stream for chemical transformation. A wide range of processes have been developed that afford isolated lignin, but very few of these methods are practical for the biorefinery, as they target lignin analysis or lignin removal, and are largely impractical for large scale use or introduce severe structural changes in the lignin that significantly reduces its potential as a chemical feedstock. This chapter will introduce several methods that isolate lignin for analytical purposes, or for its removal from lignocellulose. The majority of the chapter then discusses processes for biomass fractionation – methodology that gives lignin streams in high yield and purity, and which offer potential utility within the biorefinery.

Conversion of abundant biomass to bioproducts, biomaterials and bioenergy is essential for accomplishment of the biorefinery concept. The first challenge involved in biorefinery processing is biomass fractionation into individual components. One of the most commonly used methods of biomass deconstruction at industrial level is hydrothermal pre-treatment. However, improvements in this technology by use of low cost and widely available solvents are highly desirable. Supercritical CO2 (scCO2) is a good candidate and its use can result in more efficient biomass processing. The advantage of scCO2 use is that the pre-treated material presents no solvent residues after the pre-treatment and CO2 can be easily recovered and reused. Moreover, CO2 in the presence of water generates an acidic environment that offers several benefits in biomass fractionation and chemical transformations. Therefore, this chapter aims to demonstrate the use of scCO2 and water in biomass pre-treatment, highlighting the effects on hemicellulose and starch hydrolysis, as well as the influence on cellulose hydrolysis and lignin extraction. In addition, the benefits of scCO2 in the conversion of biomass-related monosaccharides (hexoses and pentoses) into value-added products are presented. Finally, the influence of pre-treatments on the enzymatic hydrolysis of pre-treated biomass is discussed.

Lignin is an alkyl-aromatic polymer found in the cell walls of terrestrial plants. Lignin provides structure and rigidity to plants, is a natural, highly effective barrier against microbial attack, and enables water and nutrient transport through plant tissues. Depending on the plant species, the constituents of lignin can vary considerably, leading to substantial diversity in lignin chemistry and structure. Despite nearly a century of research and development attempting to convert lignin into valuable products, lignin in most current and planned biorefinery contexts remains underutilized, most often being burned to generate heat and power. However, the drive towards effective lignin valorization processes has witnessed a significant resurgence in the past decade, catalyzed by advances in improved understanding of lignin chemistry, structure, and plasticity in parallel with new catalytic and biological approaches to valorize this important, prevalent biopolymer. As a preface to the subsequent chapters in this book, this chapter briefly highlights the known aspects of lignin structure.

PETROBRAS efforts in biocatalysis are overviewed. Research and development at either bench or pilot scale includes the use of enzymes in synthesis reactions (fatty acid alkyl esters for biodiesel, biolubricants, polyester and solvents such as glycerol carbonate and butyl acetate), in biomass (mostly lignocellulosic) deconstruction and in polyester depolymerization for recycling purposes. In the areas of interest for PETROBRAS, the key enzymes are cellulases and lipases.

3D MoS2/Graphene hybrid layer materials were prepared by in situ synthesizing molybdenum sulfide on 3D honeycomb-like structured graphene sheets via a hydrothermal approach. Furthermore, the composite materials were explored as counter electrodes for dye-sensitized solar cells (DSSCs). It was found that the DSSC with 3D MoS2/Graphene hybrid counter electrode exhibited a high energy conversion efficiency of 7.31%, which is larger than those with either MoS2 (2.81%) or graphene counter electrode (6.72%). The excellent electrocatalytic activity of the hybrid counter electrode was further demonstrated by cyclic voltammograms, namely, the MoS2/Graphene hybrid electrode showed higher peak current density and lower peak-to-peak separation positions than either MoS2 or graphene counter electrode.

© The Royal Society of Chemistry 2017. Denitrification processes have been widely recognised as the key processes in biological nitrogen removal from wastewater. In this chapter, the traditional and emerging denitrification processes in wastewater treatment were reviewed in order to illuminate their stoichiometry, microbial community, kinetics, affecting factors, mathematical models and technological applications, including heterotrophic denitrification, anaerobic ammonia oxidation, denitrifying anaerobic methane oxidation, sulphur or hydrogen-based autotrophic denitrification and bioelectrochemical denitrification. Although existing technological denitrification processes still have limitations, their applications will undoubtedly increase in the near future because of increasing attention that is being paid to high-rate, cost-effective nitrogen removal from wastewater.

Producción Científica, High temperature annealing is the only method known to date that allows the complete repair of a defective lattice of graphenes derived from graphite oxide, but most of the relevant aspects of such restoration processes are poorly understood. Here, we investigate both experimentally (scanning probe microscopy) and theoretically (molecular dynamics simulations) the thermal evolution of individual graphene oxide sheets, which is rationalized on the basis of the generation and the dynamics of atomic vacancies in the carbon lattice. For unreduced and mildly reduced graphene oxide sheets, the amount of generated vacancies was so large that they disintegrated at 1773–2073 K. By contrast, highly reduced sheets survived annealing and their structure could be completely restored at 2073 K. For the latter, a minor atomic-sized defect with six-fold symmetry was observed and ascribed to a stable cluster of nitrogen dopants. The thermal behavior of the sheets was significantly altered when they were supported on a vacancy-decorated graphite substrate, as well as for the overlapped/stacked sheets. In these cases, a net transfer of carbon atoms between neighboring sheets via atomic vacancies takes place, affording an additional healing process. Direct evidence of sheet coalescence with the step edge of the graphite substrate was also gathered from experiments and theory., Ministerio de Economía, Industria y Competitividad (Project AT2011-26399 and MAT2011-22781), Junta de Castilla y León (programa de apoyo a proyectos de investigación - Ref. VA158A11-2)

Energy security, environmental concerns, and business opportunities in the emerging bio-economy have generated strong interest in the production of n-butanol by fermentation. The acetone butanol ethanol (ABE or solvent) batch fermentation process is product limiting because butanol, even at low concentrations, inhibits the growth of fermenting microorganisms resulting in (i) low ABE yield, usually 0.33, (ii) use of dilute sugar solutions as substrates, (iii) low concentration of butanol in the bioreactor, (iv) energy intensive recovery of butanol due to low concentration in the fermentation broth, and (v) generation of large effluent streams. Indeed, the inhibitory property of butanol largely accounts for the long batch fermentation time (60–72 h) thus resulting in low ABE productivity. The cumulative effects of these factors hamper the energy efficient production of butanol and hence scale-up and commercialization. Proficient production of butanol can be accomplished by the application of ‘‘cutting edge’’ science and technologies. This chapter describes novel bioreactors for butanol fermentation using different advanced fermentation systems such as free cell continuous, immobilized cell continuous and cell recycle continuous membrane reactors, and integrated continuous processes where product can be simultaneously recovered using energy efficient product recovery techniques.

Lignocellulosic biomass is a potentially valuable resource for transformation into biofuels and bio-based products. The transformation of biomass into bioethanol involves four basic steps: pre-treatment, hydrolysis, fermentation and distillation. The hydrolysis of cellulose to yield fermentable sugars is an essential step in any practical cellulosic-ethanol process before the microbial action to produce ethanol. The application of ionic liquids as media for the dissolution, pre-treatment and hydrolysis of biomass is a novel alternative method that follows the green chemistry concept and makes the process to obtain biofuels and high-value chemicals more efficient, resulting in improved overall productivity. However, there are still many challenges in order to put these potential applications into practical use: the high price of ionic liquids and lack of basic physicochemical and toxicological data. This chapter focuses on the applications and challenges to use ionic liquids as an aid to carry out biomass hydrolysis.

A major challenge to producing cost-competitive biobased organic acids is the high cost of product recovery from the bioreactor due to the low product titers that are achievable in state-of-the-art bioconversion processes. A new approach in bioprocessing that integrates upstream bioconversion and downstream product separation into a continuous process, called a separative bioreactor (SB), is described. Incorporating an innovative membrane technology, resin wafer electrodeionization (RW-EDI), with SB results in a simpler bioprocess train with fewer unit operations, better pH control, reduced product inhibition from the organic acids, higher organic acid product concentrations and, most importantly, enhanced bioconversion rates and yields. The design and operation of SB-based organic acid processes are described, and the performance of representative processes investigated and demonstrated at bench-scale and pilot-scale tests are reported. The processes include enzymatic, anaerobic and aerobic fermentations to produce sorbitol, gluconic acid and succinic acid. Compared to conventional fermentation processes, SB processes show excellent productivity and high titers of the organic acid products. In long-term operational tests, SB processes were found to be robust with respect to fermentation contamination and membrane fouling issues. Finally, the technical and economic viability for commercial production of organic acids from biomass feedstocks using the SB technology is discussed.

Lignocellulosic biomass, an alternative and sustainable energy source for the future, can be used as a feedstock for bioconversion into fermentable sugars or other value-added chemicals. The ability of ionic liquids to dissolve lignocellulosic materials provides new opportunities for the utilization of this renewable resource. In this chapter, the catalytic conversion of cellulose, lignin, hemicellulose, and raw lignocellulosic biomass in the presence of ionic liquids to sugars or other value-added chemicals, such as furfural and 5-hydroxymethylfurfural, is reviewed. Mineral acids, solid acids, metal salts, and acidic ionic liquids are efficient catalysts for the conversion of lignocelluloses in ionic liquids. This conversion process can be carried out under mild conditions, which enables the energy-efficient and cost-effective conversion of biomass to biofuels and platform chemicals. However, several challenges in this area need to be addressed and some of these are considered at the end of this chapter.

In terms of a number of operational metrics, the ruminant animal—particularly the grazing cow—represents the pinnacle of a cellulosic biomass processing system. The active conversion of cellulosic biomass is assisted by an effective physical pretreatment of the biomass by the cow. This pretreated biomass is fermented by a complex anaerobic microbial community, primarily in a specialized digestive organ, the rumen. Fermentation of the non-lignin components of the feed (carbohydrates, protein, nucleic acids, and some lipids) yields methane, carbon dioxide, and a mixture of volatile fatty acids (VFAs, C2–C6 monocarboxylic acids), the latter of which retain about two-thirds of the energy of the feed and are used by the host for energy and biosynthetic reactions. The rumen itself displays many of the properties of a bioreactor in a cellulose biorefinery, including high solids loading, temperature and pH control, adequate mixing, biphasic continuous flow, and absorptive removal of energetic products. Because ruminal fermentation can be readily conducted in bioreactors under non-aseptic conditions, it may represent a practical route to fuel production if the energy-rich VFA products can be chemically converted to more practical liquid or gaseous fuels. Several useful co-products of these fermentations have also been identified.

The number of studies on the use of biomaterials for the removal of hazardous compounds from aqueous solutions has risen sharply over the past few years. Technologies currently called biosorption (also biocoagulation and bioflocculation) have received considerable attention from numerous researchers working in water treatment field. They have many advantages over conventional methods because they use renewable and inexpensive materials, and possess good ability for the recovery of pollutants such as metals, dyes and phenolic compounds. This chapter presents the vast array of biomaterials—bacteria, fungi, seaweeds, some lignocellulosic biomass such as plants and agricultural by-products—that have been investigated for their performance for the removal of hazardous compounds as biosorbents, coagulants or bioflocculants. The biomaterial characteristics, the efficiency and mechanisms of removing different pollutants, and the various factors that influence this removal are reviewed. The reactions between the pollutant and the biomaterial are generally based on physico-chemical interactions between the pollutant and functional groups of the biomass. Thus, the uptake ability of some compounds (organic or inorganic) by a given biomass depends not only of its physico-chemical properties and the type of contaminant, but also on the environmental conditions (particularly pH, temperature and ionic strength).

Natural rubber (NR) is a main biopolymer and it widely used in many fields such as medical fields, tire and glove due to theirs good physical properties. Since NR can crystallize upon stretching. However, the mechanical and biodegradable of NR are improved to the optimal some application and environmental friendly. The physical properties of NR were improved by addition of filler, chemical modification and blending with other polymers such as polyethylene (PE),1 propylene (PP)2 and nitrile rubber (NBR).3 At present, we are still actively studying these blends, especially those filled with natural fibres. This chapter is focused on the improving mechanical properties of NR by addition of green fibre. The green fibre and ‘natural fibre’ covers broad ranges of vegetable fibre such as wood fibre and plant-based bast, leaf, seed and stem fibre and animal fibres such as collagen, keratin and fibroin. Recently, they are used in plastics polymer composites to help theirs mechanical properties providing significantly reinforcement. Considering to NR, the natural fibre was blended with NR to improve its modulus and biodegradability.4–12 In the previous work, the raw materials were obtained from many natural sources such as sugar beet pulp,4 eucalyptus kraft pulp5 as H2SO4, HCl, HClO4s, NaOH which is capable to react with these functional groups can react with cellulose fibre. The problem of the NR composite is poor adhesion between NR and cellulose fibre. The factors affecting the properties of the polymer composite are fibre type, fibre amount chemical treatment, shape of fibre, adhesion and arrangement of fibre in polymer composite.

Wood-feeding lower termites are able to digest wood with high efficiency, which makes them an ideal model system for studying lignocellulose utilization in nature. The efficient cellulose extraction ability of termites is attributed not only to the advantages of the termite cellulolytic system, but also the unique pretreatment system that attacks the protection of cellulose provided by the structures of lignin and hemicellulose association. Through evolution, wood-feeding termites have evolved ideal physiochemical environment for pretreatment of lignin within the digestive system that starts from the chewing process and continues to the foregut and midgut. The termite pretreatment system selectively modifies lignin instead of completely degrading lignin molecules. The structural modifications were demonstrated as phenolic/aliphatic dehydroxylation, phenolic esterification and carboxylation, as well as selective disruption of β–β′, β–5′, and lignin-hemicellulose association, with reservation of the major lignin units of β–O–4′. Recent evidence suggests that the lignolytic system responsible for the lignin modification consists of not only lignases, but also non-enzymatic redox factors. Such energy efficient lignin modification mechanisms results in decrease inhibitory effect of lignin on downstream enzymatic hydrolysis of cellulose. The inspiration from nature-evolved biological systems such as termites can lead to innovations in the development of new generation of biorefinery.

Lignocellulosic bioethanol is currently being explored as a substitution to fossil fuels. The process involves the extraction of hemicelluloses and lignin; while leaving the cellulose to be enzymatically digested to fermentable sugars. One way to achieve favorable overall economics for such scheme is to adapt the concept of biorefinery, in which all components of biomass are fully used. Sunstantial research is being focused on producing high value-added chemicals and materials from lignin. Industries have come to realize that there are no economically viable processes without lignin utilization. Ethanol organosolv lignin (EOL) has many attractive chemical characteristics that make it suitable for high value-added chemical/materials. From this perspective, understanding the structure of EOL is essential in order to identify future applications for this valuable biopolymer. The focus of this chapter is to discuss the fundamental characteristics of EOL as studied by: two NMR spectroscopy techniques and molecular weight analysis.

Activated carbons are well known as efficient materials for the removal of difficult to degrade pollutants from water according to their excellent sorption capacity. This ability is related to their well-developed porous network. Activated carbons were traditionally prepared from lignite or coal but also wood and coconut shell. Over the past 20 years an extensive literature describes the preparation of activated carbons from naturally abundant and locally available renewable resources such as agricultural wastes (e.g. sugar cane bagasse, olive oil, coffee, rice, maize, nuts and shells) and also from sewage sludge. Activated carbon synthesis can be realised by two well-known processes: physical activation involving a carbonisation followed by an activation step with an oxidising gas; or chemical activation involving a single carbonisation step of the precursor in the presence of a chemical agent. Non-conventional methods such as microwave heating and hydrothermal carbonisation treatment are now being developed for activated carbon preparation and appear to be sustainable processes. The yield, textural characteristics and surface chemistry of the activated carbons are highly dependent on both the initial composition of the precursor and the preparation process. Textural and physico-chemical properties determine the adsorptive properties of activated carbons and their removal of pollutants such as dyes, chlorinated compounds and metals.

The study of graphene is one of the most exciting topics in materials science and condensed matter physics (Geim and Novoselov, 2007) and graphene has good prospects for applications in a number of different fields (Novoselov, 2011; Geim, 2011). There has been a rapid rise of interest in the study of the structure and properties of graphene following the first report in 2004 of the preparation and isolation of single graphene layers in Manchester (Novoselov et al, 2004). It had previously been thought that the isolation of single-layer graphene would not be possible since such 2D crystals would be unstable thermodynamically and/or might roll up into scrolls if prepared as single atomic layers (Young et al, 2012). A large number of studies since 2004 have shown that this is certainly not the case. There was excitement about graphene initially because of its electronic properties, with its charge carriers exhibiting very high intrinsic mobility, having zero effective mass and being able to travel distances of microns at room temperature without being scattered (Geim and Novoselov, 2007). Thus the majority of the original research upon graphene had concentrated upon electronic properties, aimed at applications such as using graphene in electronic devices (Avouris, 2010).

An agricultural muck soil from Orange County, NY was extracted with hot water in a Soxhlet system to produce several kilograms of lyophilized organic matter. After concentration, electrodialysis and ultrafiltration, a low-charged polysaccharide was isolated using convection as well as continuous flo...

This paper describes the development of a test kit for the selective detection of glyphosate (GlyP). A copper(ii)-pyrocatechol violet complex was selected by a screening approach from a pool of 96 combinations of metal ions and commercially available indicators and subsequently incorporated as a detection zone into a hydrophobic C18 solid support. With this kit, detection of 20 μM GlyP in tap water by the “naked eye” is possible and quantifications by smartphone analysis with a limit of detection as low as 2.66 μM (450 μg L−1) have been demonstrated in a proof-of-principle study., This paper describes the development of a test kit for the naked-eye detection of glyphosate (GlyP) using a copper(ii)-pyrocatechol violet complex immobilized on a C18 solid support.

This paper focuses on the complex conservation of the multi-material sculpture Love Me (1998) made by the British artist Sarah Lucas. The fragility of the constituent materials, combined with frequent transportations and installation/de-installation in art shows worldwide, had produced a deformation on one leg of the artwork. The goal of this experimental study was to develop a treatment methodology to ease out the dent and find a consolidant able to secure the area from further damage. A novel traction system, borrowed from medical limb-lengthening surgery, was developed and several types of tie rods and protecting layers were tested. Moreover, innovative materials based on nanocellulose particles were evaluated as strengthening agents for the papier-mâche layers and compared to traditional strengthening products. Due to the lack of information obtained from the experimentation, the use of nanocellulose particles was not considered safe for the treatment, which was done using more traditional materials, namely wheat starch and Kozo Japanese paper. Nevertheless, the results of the preliminary trials laid the foundation for the use of these novel products for conservation purposes.

This paper highlights the important developments which have emerged from a collaboration between the University of Bari, University of Perugia and Paper Conservator Antonio Mirabile which seeks to explore multi-analytical investigation methods for the characterization of modern and contemporary inks. Specifically, the present work describes and explains a set of analysis carried out to characterize 20 Johann Faber felt-tip pens commercialized in the 1960s that actually belonged to and were used by the Italian-Brazilian architect and designer Lina Bo Bardi. Spectroscopic methods (i.e. X-ray fluorescence, conventional and coupled to thin-layer chromatography micro-Raman, SERS, and reflection infrared spectroscopy) combined with the use of chromatography techniques (GC-MS and Py-GC-MS) were exploited in order to provide a thorough chemical characterization of the ink formulations. Of particular interest, in the multi-analytical investigation employed, is the strong ability to distinguish and identify not only the dyes and their possible mixtures but also the specific use of solvents, binders and additives as other components of the ink formulation. This chapter contains additionally a preliminary investigation on the aging behaviour of the felt-tip pens' inks, a compressed history of felt-tip pens and of the synthetic dyes determined in addition to a brief introduction about Lina Bo Bardi's artistic personality, merge this research study.

11 pags., 5 figs., 3 tabs. -- We adknowledge support by the CSIC Open Access Publication Initiative through its Unit Information Resources for Research (URICI). -- Open Access funded by Creative Commons Atribution Licence 3.0, Absolute total electron scattering cross sections (TCS) for nitrobenzene molecules with impact energies from 0.4 to 1000 eV have been measured by means of two different electron-transmission experimental arrangements. For the lower energies (0.4–250 eV) a magnetically confined electron beam system has been used, while for energies above 100 eV a linear beam transmission technique with high angular resolution allowed accurate measurements up to 1000 eV impact energy. In both cases random uncertainties were maintained below 5–8%. Systematic errors arising from the angular and energy resolution limits of each apparatus are analysed in detail and quantified with the help of our theoretical calculations. Differential elastic and integral elastic, excitation and ionisation as well as momentum transfer cross sections have been calculated, for the whole energy range considered here, by using an independent atom model in combination with the screening corrected additivity rule method including interference effects (IAM-SCARI). Due to the significant permanent dipole moment of nitrobenzene, additional differential and integral rotational excitation cross sections have been calculated in the framework of the Born approximation. If we ignore the rotational excitations, our calculated total cross section agrees well with our experimental results for impact energies above 15 eV. Additionally, they overlap at 10 eV with the low energy Schwinger Multichannel method with Pseudo Potentials (SMCPP) calculation available in the literature (L. S. Maioli and M. H. F. Bettega, J. Chem. Phys., 2017, 147, 164305). We find a broad feature in the experimental TCS at around 1.0 eV, which has been related to the formation of the NO2 anion and assigned to the p*(b1) resonance, according to previous mass spectra available in the literature. Other local maxima in the TCSs are found at 4.0 0.2 and 5.0 0.2 eV and are assigned to core excited resonances leading to the formation of the NO2 and O2 anions, respectively. Finally, for energies below 10 eV, differences found between the present measurements, the SMCPP calculation and our previous data for non-polar benzene have revealed the importance of accurately calculating the rotational excitation contribution to the TCS before comparing theoretical and experimental data. This comparison suggests that our dipole-Born calculation for nitrobenzene overestimates the magnitude of the rotational excitation cross sections below 10 eV., This study has partially been supported by the Spanish Ministerio de Ciencia, Innovacion y Universidades (Project FIS2016-80440) and CSIC (Project LINKA 20085). F. C. acknowledges Radiation Biology and Biophysics Doctoral Training Programme (RaBBiT, PD/00193/2012); UCIBIO (UIDB/04378/2020) and together with P. L. V. the Portuguese National Funding Agency FCT through the Research Grants CEFITEC (UIDB/00068/2020) and PTDC/FISAQM/31281/2017. M. J. B. thanks the Australian Research Council for funding through grants DP160102787 and DP180101655. The authors acknowledge Dr N. C. Jones for providing her full experimental TCS data on NBz molecules and Dr L. S. Maioli and Prof. M. H. F. Bettega for providing numerical tables of their SMCPP calculation and taking part in helpful discussions related to this paper. We acknowledge support of the publication fee by the CSIC Open Access Publication Support Initiative through its Unit of Information Resources for Research (URICI). Finally we also acknowledge Dr L. Campbell for his contributions to the final version of this paper.

Contemporary drawings incorporate a series of artistic techniques and unconventional materials, which sometimes make it difficult not only to identify the exact nature, medium and substrates of the drawings, but also to determine their chemical and physical characteristics. The three artists chosen for this contribution—Stefano Arienti, Sandra Vasquez de la Horra and Beatriz Milhazes—are representative of contemporary creations on paper and were also selected due to the originality of their artistic techniques. Their techniques and unorthodox materials have been characterized through a series of analyses and scientific investigations, which for the most part were non-invasive. The results gathered have permitted a better understanding of their creative approach through the identification of constituent materials and execution techniques employed, in particular the identification of heated lemon juice used by Stefano Arienti, the impregnation of paper with wax resulting in different paper thickness by Sandra Vasquez de la Horra and the utilization of wrapping papers used by Beatriz Milhazes. Furthermore, beyond the analytical investigations, direct contact with the artist and historical fonts aided the documented results.