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Hydrothermal carbonization (HTC) is a treatment technique with great potential for sanitizing digested sewage sludge (SS) and converting it into valuable products. In particular, phosphorus (P) recovery from hydrothermally carbonized SS has attracted special attention in recent years. This work aims to examine the leaching efficiency of P and the consequent release of metals and heavy metals from SS hydrochars (at 180, 215 and 250 °C) using organic acids (oxalate and citrate) over a range of pH values (0–4) and extraction times (5 min-24 h). Both organic acids triggered P extraction efficiencies exceeding 75 % at the lowest pH, but only oxalate reached a nearly complete P release from hydrochars at pH > 0 and for all carbonization temperatures. Low HTC temperature (180 °C) and short extraction time (5 min) were the optimal conditions treatment for P recovery when reacted in oxalate solutions of maximal pH buffering capacity (pH = 1.4). However, oxalate leaching also transferred metals/heavy metals into the P-leachate, with the exception of Ca being retained in the solid residue from HTC as Ca-oxalate precipitate. Different characterization methods confirmed the presence of this precipitate, and provided information about the surface and morphological changes of the SS hydrochars following acid treatment. The results suggest that HTC not only a promising technique to sanitize and reduce the volume of SS, but also an efficient means for P recovery using oxalic acid, thus contributing to the circular economy of P.

Superhydrophobic surfaces with various water adhesion behaviours have received tremendous attention in both fundamental research and practical applications. In this work, a novel laser–chemical hybrid process was developed to fabricate superhydrophobic surface with both low and high water adhesion. Periodic cross-hatch micro-bulge arrays were fabricated on aluminum alloy surface by way of nanosecond laser irradiation. After surface chemical treatment, the laser–chemical treated surface showed either superhydrophobicity with low water adhesion using silane treatment only, or superhydrophobicity with high water adhesion using both silane treatment and sodium chloride (NaCl) treatment. The change of water adhesion on the laser–chemical treated superhydrophobic surface was attributed to the simultaneous decrease of surface energy and increase of attraction between the water droplet and sodium chloride salt. This approach could provide a novel but simple solution to tune the water adhesion of superhydrophobic metallic surfaces, thus benefiting related research and industrial areas.

Terahertz time-domain spectroscopy (THz-TDS) has expanded possibilities in cellulose crystallography research, as THz radiation detects most intermolecular vibrations and responds to the phonons of crystalline lattices. In this study, we traced the transformation of the cellulose crystalline lattice from cellulose I to cellulose II by THz-TDS and X-ray powder diffraction. Cellulose II was obtained by treating cellulose I with NaOH of different concentrations (0 wt%–20 wt%, at 2 wt% intervals). The THz absorption coefficient spectra of cellulose II showed three characteristic peaks (at 1.32 THz, 1.76 THz, and 2.77 THz). The THz absorption coefficient spectra of cellulose II treated with 20-wt% NaOH and cellulose I without NaOH treatment were fitted by a seventh-order Fourier series. Thus, the THz absorption coefficient spectra of samples treated with NaOH of other concentrations could be considered a combination of these two fitted profiles of cellulose I and cellulose II, multiplied by different coefficients. Furthermore, the coefficients could reflect the relative contents of cellulose I and cellulose II in the samples.

To assess the use of returned sludge in water treatment, samples were brought from the Tigris River water during the summer and fall of 2002. A chemical treatment was carried out on it using alum as a coagulant, and after adding different percentages of sludge deposited at the bottom of the clarification ponds, it was found that returning 50% of the sludge improves the removal efficiency by an amount that can reach 14%. This applies to models with low and medium turbidity; otherwise, the reduction in removal efficiency is due again. The aluminum sulphate and hydroxides deposited at the bottom of the pond and recycled with the reflux sludge contributed to the improvement of the removal efficiency.

Natural fibers are very flexible materials; their properties vary with physical structure and chemical composition. Chemical treatment of fiber can chemically modify, clean the fiber surface, incre...

Pool chemicals are utilized in pools to inactivate pathogens, optimize pH, and increase water clarity. This is conducted to ensure public health and safety by reducing bacteria concentrations and allowing distressed swimmers to be detected underwater. In commercial recreational facilities, muriatic acid and gaseous CO2 are typically used to maintain pH. Chlorine, which can take the form of liquid or solid tablets of sodium hypochlorite or granular calcium hypochlorite, is used to sanitize pool water, and is the most used chemical treatment in the world for swimming pools disinfection. If chlorine is mixed with muriatic acid, chlorine gas is formed, which can lead to severe injuries and fatalities (SIFs) to exposed individuals. This work illustrates an incident that occurred as a result of the simultaneous injection of muriatic acid and liquid sodium hypochlorite into a recreational natatorium chemical feed line. This led to the release of chlorine gas in the indoor environment, which resulted in injuries to five patrons. Furthermore, strategies are proposed to prevent this from occurring and to reduce the likelihood of similar incidents in the future. These include the implementation of fail-safe logic to prevent the controller from malfunctioning and ensuring that controller program settings do not permit simultaneous chemical injection.

Проблема утилизации осадка сточных вод в последние годы становится все более актуальной для коммунального хозяйства. Приведены результаты исследования процесса суспендирования осадка известьсодержащим реагентом Дезолак, определены размеры твердых включений, что позволило рассчитать необходимую скорость вращения перемешивающего устройства: средний заутеровский диаметр частиц составил 55 мкм, плотность твердой фазы – 2211 кг/м3. Для эффективного суспендирования реагента необходимо обеспечить угловую скорость мешалки не менее 0,03 м/с. Исследованы основные критерии подобия для масштабирования аппаратов, определено, что при выборе мешалки следует учитывать критерий Фруда Fr, так как именно этот показатель для трех исследованных реакторов практически постоянен. На основании проделанной работы определено, что отношение мощности к объему перемешиваемой жидкости не может являться критерием для расчета аппаратов, оснащенных перемешивающими устройствами GMS: для данных мешалок справедливо снижение мощности на перемешивание с увеличением размеров аппарата. In recent years the problem of wastewater sludge disposal has become more and more urgent for the municipal economy. The results of a study of the process of sludge suspending with Dezolak, a lime-containing agent, are presented; the size of solid inclusions is determined to provide for calculating the required rotation speed of the mixing device: the average Sauter particle diameter was 55 μm, the density of the solid phase was 2211 kg/m3. For effective chemical suspending the angular velocity of the mixer should be more than 0.03 m/s. The main similarity criteria for scaling the apparatus were investigated; it was determined that while choosing a mixer, the Froude criterion Fr should be taken into account, since that very indicator was practically constant for the three investigated reactors. Based on the work done, it was determined that the ratio of power to the volume of the mixed liquid cannot be a criterion for calculating devices equipped with GMS mixing devices: for these mixers, a decrease in the mixing power with an increase in the size of the device is valid.

The main objective of this study is to optimize a new composite for the depollution of contaminated water. The sodium hydroxide-modified avocado shells (NaOH-AS) were firstly prepared, characterized by field-emission-scanning-electron-microscopy (FE-SEM), X-ray energy dispersive spectroscopy (EDS) and Fourier transforms infrared (FT-IR) spectroscopy, and applied for efficient removal of crystal violet dye (CV) in wastewater. In addition, the adsorption in a batch system of CV dye on the NaOH-AS material was studied. Therefore, we accomplished a parametric study of the adsorption by studying the effect of several important parameters on the decolorizing power of the used material, namely, initial pH, contact time, initial CV dye concentration, temperature, and the ionic strength effect on the CV dye adsorption process were systematically assessed. The highest adsorption efficiency of CV dye (>96.9%) by NaOH-AS was obtained at pH >8. The pseudo-second-order kinetic model gave the best description of the adsorption kinetic of CV dye on the AS and NaOH-AS adsorbents. In addition, the mass transfer of CV dye molecules from the solution to the adsorbent surface occurred in three sequential stages (boundary layer diffusion, intraparticle diffusion and adsorption equilibrium). The adsorption isotherm data were best fitted with the Freundlich model. The adsorption capacity of AS increased from 135.88 to 179.80 mg g−1 after treatment by 1 M NaOH. The thermodynamic study showed that CV dye adsorption onto NaOH-AS was an exothermic and feasible process. The electrostatic interactions acted as the only forces governing the CV adsorption mechanism. The NaOH-AS demonstrated a satisfactory reusability. Therefore, we can state that the as-developed NaOH-AS material has a potential application prospect as an efficient adsorbent for CV dye from wastewaters. HIGHLIGHTS NaOH-AS is an efficient adsorbent for removal of crystal violet dye from aqueous solutions.; Equilibrium data were well described by Freundlich isotherm model.; The maximum uptake capacity was found to be 179.80 mg/g.

This paper describes work carried out to assess the effect of fibre treatments and coupling agent on the mechanical performance of PLA composites reinforced with 20 wt% fibre. The chemically-treated harakeke and hemp fibres used to produce fibre mats. Maleic anhydride (MA) grafted PLA (MA-g-PLA) was used as a coupling agent. Composites with fibre treated with silane and dicumyl peroxide (DCP) and composites using MA-g-PLA were characterised by swelling testing, scanning electron microscopy (SEM), tensile testing, dynamic mechanical analysis (DMA) and thermogravimetric analysis (TGA). It was found that the interfacial bonding for composites with fibres treated using silane and peroxide and composites coupled with MA-g-PLA noticeably improved supported by lower swelling indices, higher tensile strengths and lower tan δ compared to those composites with fibres treated using alkali only, with the highest tensile strength of about 11% higher obtained from composites treated with MA-g-PLA followed by silane and then peroxide. However, using silane, peroxide and MA-g-PLA as additional composite treatments increased significantly the composite failure strain by up 11, 19 and 30%, respectively for harakeke composites and by 13, 24 and 30%, respectively for hemp composites.

The authors have presented the review of scientific literature on producing grafts intended for surgical reconstruction of ligament ruptures. The treatment of ligament ruptures in reconstructive plastic surgery could be performed by using synthetic grafts, autologous and allogenic grafts from tissue donors. Advantages of synthetic grafts include the possibility of their regular manufacturing under sterile conditions, and providing mechanical properties, high biocompatibility. However, synthetic implants significantly increase the risk of synovitis and other complications, they can not be replaced by the native tissue, and have no ability to regeneration. Autologous grafts have ideal tissue compatibility and quick biointegration, could be harvested from different anatomical sites, but commonly the graft harvesting is followed by donor site morbidity and potential risk of injury nerves, elongates operation time, bad cosmetic results. The use of autografts may be also limited by anatomical features of the patient. Allogenic ligament biomaterial could provide wide range of grafts, but in our days there is no standardized methods for ligament graft sterilization and long storage. Wellknown sterilization methods, such as ionized radiation and chemical treatment, gave controversial results. One could conclude that estimation of ligament graft viability must include a complex study of biomechanical properties, cell and fibers integrity.

The purpose of this study is to improve microbiological qualities of black tiger nut tubers. Thereby, black variety of tiger nut tubers (Cyperus esculentus) were differently processed in ascorbic acid and alkaline (Ca(OH)2 and Kanwa (alkaline calcium carbonate locally used to soften vegetable)) solutions at different concentrations and temperatures. The effect of these treatments on the water content (swelling), soluble loss, dehulling efficiency and microbial load was investigated. Water content or swelling of the tiger nut soaked in acid and alkaline solutions can be predicted by Peleg model like with brown variety.of C. esculentus tubers. This swelling lead to enhance dehulling efficiency of tuber but caused soluble solute loss overall at the highest temperature of soaking in vitamin C solution. Like soaking in water, the constant of Peleg (k1) decrease with the increase of the temperature of soaking, whereas the constant of capacity of Peleg (k2) is approximately 0.018% for all the conditions. Dehulling efficiency also increased with increasing temperatures (65% at 20°C to 70% at 60°C) for tiger nut tubers soaked in water (0 g/L), dehulling efficiency appeared most strongly affected by concentrations and temperatures of soaking solutions. Like dehulling efficiency, ascorbic solutions has given the best results in term of reduction of microbial load compared to the other soaking solutions. This reduction is considerable at the higher temperatures, reaching a maximum of 4.8 log reduction. Soaking and dehulling treatments gave to black tiger nut tuber effective decontamination in term of microbial load and obtained good microbiological quality for final process.

In this present study, the demolition of building waste is used as an RCA in concrete. The various techniques like mechanical and chemical treatments are presented to recover the properties of RCA. Six dissimilar concrete mixtures were prepared using virgin coarse aggregate, RCA; aggregate obtained after treatment of Mechanical scrubbing (MS), Sulphuric acid (H2SO4) and Hydrochloric acid (HCl). The compressive strength of treated aggregate was enhanced by 7.78–25.79% than untreated recycled aggregate concrete. Split tensile strength has been enhanced by 5.22–18.80% higher than the untreated aggregate. The flexural strength of various treated RAC was improved by 4.91–25.24% at 28 days more than untreated recycled aggregate concrete. Alkalinity value of concrete is made with all types of coarse aggregates, the assessment of pH lies between 11.9 to 12.24 and it is pretty good. In drying test, the values are improved by 6.07–28.88% at 28 days than untreated coarse aggregates concrete. In water absorption test; the treated aggregate improved their results by 4.84–31.06% than untreated aggregate concrete. The investigation shows better results from various treated RCA in concrete. Especially, mechanical scrubbing (MS) treatment recovered higher than other techniques. But the results do not exceed the conventional concrete.

The presence of expansive soils on construction sites is problematic in geotechnical engineering. The swell-shrink behaviour makes these soils not suitable to be used in their natural state. The expansive soil damages cause financial loss yearly more than floods, hurricanes, tornadoes, and earthquakes combined. Moreover, the cost of cut to spoil of expansive soils during construction projects has continued to rise because of the high cost of earthworks, haulage, and the increasing scarcity of spoil areas because of the built environment. Nonetheless, a proper stabilization technique can significantly enhance the expansive soil's properties. The research project attempts to review, report the limits and merits of mechanical and chemical methods utilized to stabilize expansive soils in line with their efficiency, environmental concerns, and cost-effectiveness. A review of mechanical and chemical treatment techniques is conducted in this regard. Ultimately, each stabilization method exhibits its merits and limitations. The lack of standards for the treatment of swelling soils is a significant problem in engineering practice. Specialists in the domain of soil treatment must work together to obtain an optimized stabilization approach and protocol. Moreover, engineers should perform a geoenvironmental assessment appropriate for chemical stabilization methods and additives utilized. This research work contributes as a guideline in the selection and application of chemical and mechanical stabilization methods.

A chemical treatment process for removal of radionuclides associated with concrete from the decommissioning of nuclear power plants was adopted using a simple and effective precipitation method. Major radionuclides Co-60 and Eu-152 present in the concrete were confirmed to be selectively removed from the dissolved-concrete liquor as precipitates by pH-adjustment to pH 9. It was evaluated that HFO and HAO played important roles in the co-precipitation of Eu and Co, respectively. Nuclide decontamination factors were at least 6666 for Co-60 and 10,000 for Eu-152, respectively, and high enough to meet the requirement for release of decontaminated radioactive wastewaters in Korea.

With the advancement of renewable energy, the processing and handling of biomass feedstocks has drawn enormous research interest. The key to economically viable and operationally reliable biomass handling processes involves a complete understanding of the flow behavior of different feedstocks as functions of the inherent critical material properties environmental conditions, and critical processing parameters. This review introduces the basic principles and methods in bulk solids flow and highlights recent efforts to understand the flow behavior of biomass feedstocks. The effects of inherent properties, environmental parameters, and handling equipment on the flow behavior of biomass feedstocks are presented. Particle size, shape, moisture, consolidation stress, temperature, storage time at rest, chemical treatment, and the material and geometry of the handling equipment all substantially influence biomass flowability. The limitations of current studies and the potential methods to overcome them are presented. Finally, an outlook for future research effort is provided, with proposed opportunities for improving the characterization of biomass flow.

Preservation and improvement of quality indicators of any product is an urgent scientific and practical task for current production, including products from a natural facing stone. There are no similar deposits of natural facing stone in the world. Each of them is unique in its own way. However, most natural stone deposits are characterized by natural variability of quality indicators. First of all, after processing such stones there will be differences in color tone. It is possible to give a different colour tone by chemical treatment. Currently, there are many chemical methods of processing natural stone. However, most of them are insufficiently studied. Therefore, the assessment of the effect of chemical treatment on the surface of natural stone was investigated using infrared spectroscopy. Linear regularities of change of colour indicators of natural stone depending on its initial indicators after chemical treatment on the example of Pokostivskyi granodiorite (Gray Ukraine) and Bukivskyi gabbro (Galant) are established. In addition to the colour segmentation method, infrared spectroscopy was used to assess differences in the types of natural facing stone, which showed that Pokostivskyi granodiorite (Gray Ukraine) and Bukivskyi gabbro (Galant) have the same wavelengths belonging to the common rock-forming mineral plagiarism. The change in the absorption of infrared radiation is due to the effect of cavities and volumetric scattering of rays due to the passage through the crystallized film of chemical impregnating substances. For a certain type of natural stone, the change in absorption will be greater or less when a certain type of chemical treatment is used, which indicates a strong or weak bond between the chemical impregnating substances and the surface of the natural stone, respectively.

Electroosmotic chemical treatment is a technique for improving the strength of soft soil. This study examined the effects of injection duration, Ca2+ions concentration, and pH distribution on the s...

Introduction. Control and management of technological residual stresses (TRS) are among the most critical mechanical engineering technology tasks. Boriding can provide high physical and mechanical properties of machine parts and tools with minimal impact on the stress state in the surface layers. The purpose of this work is to determine the temperature modes of diffusion boriding, contributing to a favorable distribution of TRS in the surface layer of die steel 3Kh2V8F. The paper considers the results of studies on the TRS determination by the experimental method on the UDION-2 installation in diffusion layers on the studied steel surface. Boriding was carried out in containers with a powder mixture of boron carbide and sodium fluoride as an activator at a temperature of 950 °C and 1050 °C for 2 hours. The obtained samples of steels with a diffusion layer were examined using an optical microscope and a scanning electron microscope (SEM); determined the layers' microhardness, elemental, and phase composition. The experiments resulted in the following findings: as the boriding temperature rose from 950 °C to 1050 °C, the diffusion layer's thickness increased from 20 to 105 μm. The low-temperature mode of thermal-chemical treatment (TCT) led to the formation of iron boride Fe2B with a maximum boron content of 6 % and a microhardness up to 1250 HV. A high-temperature mode resulted in FeB formation with a top boron content of 11 % and a microhardness up to 1880 HV. Results and Discussions. It is found that boriding at 950 °C led to a more favorable distribution of compression TRS in the diffusion layer. However, significant TRS fluctuations in the diffusion layer and the adjacent (transitional) zone could affect the operational properties after TCT at a given temperature. An increase in the TCT temperature led to tensile TRS's appearance in the layer's upper zone at a depth of up to 50 μm from the surface. Despite tensile stresses on the diffusion layer surface after high-temperature TCT, the distribution of TCT is smoother than low-temperature boriding.

Natural fiber capability as an acoustic panel is subjected to physical properties of the fiber. Chemical treatment was implemented in this study to improve kenaf fiber performances and utilized as ...

Interface optimisation for continuous hemp reinforcements in epoxy resin is a current challenge for the development of biocomposites. A chemical treatment based on hydrogen peroxide and a physical one using a non-thermal plasma have been tested to optimise interface adhesion, by varying several parameters. FTIR analysis and FE-SEM observations have shown the effects of the treatments on chemical and morphological aspects of the treated yarns. Tensile tests on hemp yarns have allowed the selection of the treatment parameters leading to the best strength. Fragmentation tests results showed that the two treatments lead to a decrease in the fragment lengths and thus, an enhancement of the Interfacial Shear Strength (IFSS) values in comparison with the untreated yarn. This is confirmed by the micro-CT observations of the debonding lengths in the vicinity of each yarn fragment extremity. Finally, the plasma treated samples exhibit a better interface adhesion quality (IFSS = 44.7 ± 4 MPa) than the chemically treated ones (IFSS = 24.2 ± 4 MPa), which are better than the non-treated ones (IFSS = 13.5 ± 4 MPa).

In this study, bamboo strips were disintegrated into thin fiber bundles using a combination of chemical and mechanical method. Alkali solution for chemical treatment and disintegration of bamboo strips by compression in flat press for mechanical method were used. Bamboo fiber bundles so obtained were used to make composite using phenol formaldehyde resin. It was found that the mechanical properties of composite have improved.

Perfluorosulfonic acid (PFSA) polymers such as Nafion are the most frequently used Proton Exchange Membrane (PEM) in PEM fuel cells. Nafion XL is one of the most recently developed membranes designed to enhance performance by employing a mechanically reinforced layer in the architecture and a chemical stabilizer. The influence of the water and acid pre-treatment process on the physicochemical properties of Nafion XL membrane and Membrane Electrode Assembly (MEA) was investigated. The obtained results indicate that the pre-treated membranes have higher water uptake and dimensional swelling ratios, i.e., higher hydrophilicity, while the untreated membrane demonstrated a higher ionic exchange capacity. Furthermore, the conductivity of the acid pre-treated Nafion XL membrane was ~ 9.7% higher compared to the untreated membrane. Additionally, the maximum power densities obtained at 80 °C using acid pre-treatment were ~ 0.8 and 0.93 W/cm2 for re-cast Nafion and Nafion XL, respectively. However, the maximum generated powers for untreated membranes at the same condition were 0.36 and 0.66 W/cm2 for re-cast Nafion and Nafion XL, respectively. The overall results indicated that the PEM’s pre-treatment process is essential to enhance performance.

Chemical modification of biochars can improve their adsorption capacity relative to antibiotics, posing a serious threat to the environment. Therefore, this research is aimed at the treatment of sunflower husk biochar (BC) by vitamin C, hydrogen peroxide or silver nanoparticles and the impact of this procedure on the biochar porosity, surface chemistry, and ability to remove tetracycline (TC). During the study, BC was produced by pyrolysis of sunflower husks at 650 °C. All solids were characterized using potentiometric titration, nitrogen adsorption/desorption, Fourier transform infrared spectroscopy, etc. The experimental adsorption data was described by kinetics equations: pseudo-first order, pseudo-second order, and particle internal diffusion (IPD) models as well as by isotherms of Langmuir, Langmuir-Freundlich, and Redlich-Peterson. The obtained results indicated that the biochar upgraded by vitamin C (BCV) had the highest ability to attract antibiotic molecules and, as a result, the TC adsorption on its surface was the largest. Furthermore, the TC desorption from this material was minimal. The measured TC adsorbed amounts for the modified BCs were as follows: 47.75% (7.47 mg/g) for BCV, 37.35% (8.41 mg/g)-for biochar treated by hydrogen peroxide (BCH), and 42.04% (9.55 mg/g) for biochar modified by silver nanoparticles (BCA). The lowest adsorption level was noted for non-modified biochar, i.e., 34.17% (6.83 mg/g). Based on the presented results it can be stated that the upgraded biochars had a good potential to improve the tetracycline removal from aqueous media, e.g., groundwater.

The effect of chemical treatment on strength of dyed cotton fibres using a simple light microscope and "Dumbell" test was studied. The results indicated that the drop in strength of treated cotton fibres(scoured, bleached, and dyed with seven different dyes) was accompanied by a drop in quality numbers, or/and with the increase in he number of damaged fibres. For dyed cotton fibre, the maximum drop in quality number was higher with Drimarene dyes than that with Direct dyes.

Dissolution of one component from multi-component yarn by suitable chemical treatment brought a significant change in structure that ultimately enhance the performance in terms of thermo-physiologi...

A study was conducted to investigate the effects of chemical treatment in characterizing the tensile strength, durability, and application of untreated/treated coir geotextile in low-volume roads. ...

The paper investigates two different protective phosphate compositions for the chemical treatment of water and the use of them with a view to improve quality of “make-up” water in water heating systems. The research proved a positive effect of reducing the corrosive activity of water and the amount of scale.

It has been shown that in the last decades nanotechnology plays a key role not only in science but more and more often in industry as well. Recent research has shown that agricultural waste is a possible feedstock to produce nanocellulose which can be used for different applications, such as a biosensor, semiconductor and reinforcing agent. The use of agro-waste as a precursor not only offers advantages for raw material costs, but also for the climate, low processing costs, availability and convenience. It also helps to address environmental issues, such as illness, foul odor and concerns with indoor use. Different processes, such as chemical treatment, mechanical treatment and chemo-mechanical treatment, have been used to extract nanocellulose from agro-waste. This article highlights the latest technologies used to acquire agro-waste nanocellulose, as well as existing advances in and applications of nanocellulose technologies.

Surface treatment of natural fibers with the help of chemicals has been proved to be an effective method for improving the properties of its associated composites. The present research investigates...

Deoxynivalenol (DON) is one of the main trichothecenes, that causes health-related issues in humans and animals and imposes considerable financial loss to the food industry each year. Numerous treatments have been reported in the literature on the degradation of DON in food products. These treatments include thermal, chemical, biological/enzymatic, irradiation, light, ultrasound, ozone, and atmospheric cold plasma treatments. Each of these methods has different degradation efficacy and degrades DON by a distinct mechanism, which leads to various degradation byproducts with different toxicity. This manuscript focuses to review the degradation of DON by the aforementioned treatments, the chemical structure and toxicity of the byproducts, and the degradation pathway of DON. Based on the type of treatment, DON can be degraded to norDONs A-F, DON lactones, and ozonolysis products or transformed into de-epoxy deoxynivalenol, DON-3-glucoside, 3-acetyl-DON, 7-acetyl-DON, 15-acetyl-DON, 3-keto-DON, or 3-epi-DON. DON is a major problem for the grain industry and the studies focusing on DON degradation mechanisms could be helpful to select the best method and overcome the DON contamination in grains.

Purpose To determine barriers to implementing an osteoporosis protocol in a community institution following distal radius (DR) fragility fracture to help prevent subsequent fragility fractures. Methods This cross-sectional study included elderly patients with DR fractures that occurred between 2016 and 2018. Exclusion criteria were age under 50 years, high-energy mechanism, and inability to follow-up locally. Patients were directed to follow-up with the hospital’s osteoporosis center (OC) or an endocrinologist. Patients were contacted to identify if care was established with the OC and screened for potential barriers in evaluation for bone health. Primary outcomes included the completion of a follow-up visit with an osteoporosis care provider and identification of barriers for patients who did not complete this visit. Secondary outcomes included whether or not patients obtained bone health labs, dual-energy x-ray absorptiometry (DEXA) scans, and/or underwent medical treatment for osteoporosis. Results One hundred seventy-five patients met final inclusion criteria and were contacted after discharge. Fifty patients agreed to follow-up with the OC, voicemails were left for 66 patients, only 70 (60.3%) patients actually followed up for bone health analysis. Patients were lost to follow-up due to lack of accessibility (32 patients; death, incorrect phone number, no voicemail, or impaired cognition), and lack of interest (27 patients). Ninety-six (54.9%) patients received appropriate treatment based on bone health labs and/or DEXA scan. Ninety (51.4%) patients had chemical treatment for osteoporosis. Fifty-five patients underwent DEXA scans with equal distribution of patients with normal, osteopenic, and osteoporotic bone. Forty-three (78%) patients who had DEXA scans underwent treatment. Conclusions Establishing a protocol for follow-up for bone health assessment following a DR fracture is challenging. Only half of the patients underwent evaluation and management of their bone health. It is imperative to understand the barriers for at-risk patients to provide them with care that will improve their quality of life. Type of study/level of evidence Diagnostic III.

In this study, the effect of different treatments and the addition of maleic anhydride grafted polyethylene (MAPE) on the mechanical and thermal properties of Alpinia galanga (AG) fiber/high-density polyethylene (HDPE) composites were investigated. The AG fibers were pretreated with sodium hydroxide (NaOH) and then treated with 3-aminopropyltriethoxysilane (3-APE) as well as treated with p-toluenesulfonic acid (PTSA). The samples were first prepared by melt blending method before being injected to specimen dumbbell shape using an injection moulding machine. Three different fiber loadings were studied, such as 3, 6, 10 and 15 wt%. The tensile test results revealed that the NaOH and 3-APE treatments increased the tensile strength of AG/HDPE composites with the addition of MAPE at all fiber loadings, whereas tensile strength of PTSA treatment improved at 3 wt% fiber loading. The morphological studies confirmed a better adhesion between treated fiber and HDPE matrix with the inclusion of MAPE. Thermal analysis study showed that NaOH, 3-APE and PTSA treatments on AG fibers improved the thermal stability of the composites with an addition of MAPE by delaying the thermal degradation of the composites. The water absorption test proved NaOH and 3-APE treated fiber exhibited lower water absorption than other composites with the inclusion of MAPE. Overall, the results indicated that chemical treatment with NaOH and 3-APE with the presence of MAPE is a good approach towards the development of natural fiber composites.

During the control campaigns of Pennisetum setaceum (invasive species widespread worldwide), the generated waste has accumulated in landfills. This study investigates its use to obtain P. setaceum fibers for their application as reinforcement of polymeric materials for injection molding, thus facilitating and promoting alternatives for the long-term sustainable management of P. setaceum. The extracted fibers were treated with alkaline, silane, acetic acid, and combined alkaline and silane treatments. Different composites with 20 and 40 wt% of fiber were extruded, and test samples were obtained by injection molding using recycled polyethylene as matrix. The composition of the fibers was determined by gravimetric methods, and contrasted with the analysis of the functional chemical groups using Fourier Transform Infrared Spectroscopy. Increases of up to 47% in the cellulose content of the treated fiber were observed. The thermal degradation was also evaluated using thermogravimetric analysis, which determined an increase in the degradation temperature, from 194 to 230 °C, after the combined alkaline–silane treatment. In order to analyze the differences in the composites, tensile, flexural, and impact properties were evaluated; in addition, differential scanning calorimetry was performed. Regarding the flexural behavior, it was possible to improve the flexural modulus up to 276% compared with that of the unreinforced polymer.

Electro-osmotic consolidation combined with vacuum preloading is a potential technology to dewater the soft soils and slurry. The anode condition has a significant effect on dewatering efficiency d...

Electrolyzed oxidizing water (EOW) is one of the promising novel antimicrobial agents that have recently been proposed as the alternative to conventional decontamination methods such as heat and chemical sanitizers. Acidic EOW with pH ranging from 2 to 5 is regarded most applicable in the antimicrobial treatment of vegetables and meats. Neutral and alkaline electrolyzed water have also been explored in few studies for their applications in the food industry. Neutral electrolyzed water is proposed to solve the problems related to the storage and corrosion effect of acidic EOW. Recently, the research focus has been shifted toward the application of slightly acidic EOW as more effective with some supplemental physical and chemical treatment methods such as ultrasound and UV radiations. The different applications of electrolyzed water range from drinking water and wastewater to food, utensil, and hard surfaces. The recent studies also conclude that electrolyzed water is more effective in suspensions as compared with the food surfaces where longer retention times are required. The commercialization of EOW instruments is not adopted frequently in many countries due to the potential corrosion problems associated with acidic electrolyzed water. This review article summarizes the EOW types and possible mechanism of action as well as highlights the most recent research studies in the field of antimicrobial applications and cleaning. Electrolyzed water can replace conventional chemical decontamination methods in the industry and household. However, more research is needed to know its actual mechanism of antimicrobial action along with the primary concerns related to EOW in the processing of different food products.

Natural fibres have been widely used in advanced applications, especially in the automotive industry. These fibres are inexpensive, non-abrasive, environmentally friendly, biodegradable, and possess low density with good mechanical properties. The main issue in using natural fibres is their incompatibility with a polymer matrix that lowers the mechanical properties. Therefore, this research analyses the effect of stacking sequences, fibre orientations, and alkali treatment on the mechanical properties of hybrid jute (J) and ramie (R) reinforced vinyl ester (VE) composites. Initially, woven fibres were fabricated based on the 3 and 4—layer stacking sequence with 0° orientation. The characterisation was done to analyse its properties. It was found that the RJJR stacking sequence possessed a tensile strength higher value of 28.90 MPa. The results for the RJJR sequence were fabricated with various fibre orientations such as 0°, 30°, 45°, and 90° to understand the effect of fibre orientation towards the tensile and flexural properties. The tensile and flexural strength with 0° fibre orientation is significantly higher than the other orientations with values of 28.90 MPa and 66.81 MPa, respectively. Besides, alkali treatment with 5 wt.% and 10 wt.% was used to enhance the mechanical properties, where 0° RJJR with 5 wt.% indicated maximum flexural strength with 34.50% increment compared to untreated RJJR. In conclusion, the combination of fibre orientation and lower alkali treatment concentration (5 wt.%) is highly beneficial in improving fibre hybrid composites' mechanical properties.

This study investigates a synergistic treatment comprising alkali, permanganate, dichromate, silane and bleaching pretreatment on Luffa sponge (LF) fibers intended to be used as reinforcement in an unsaturated polyester (UP) matrix to improve the mechanical properties of Luffa sponge fibers reinforced unsaturated polyester composites. Treatment effects by NaOH (5 wt%), K2Cr2O7 (0.2 wt%), KMnO4 (0.0125 wt%), NaClO (13°) and silane (0.5 wt%) on the performance of the prepared composites were evaluated by Fourier transform infrared spectroscopy (FTIR), X-ray diffraction (XRD), SEM and mechanical tests (flexural strength and modulus). The results of the analyses indicated that composites reinforced with treated fibers have higher flexural strength than composites reinforced with untreated fibers.