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In this study, experiments were carried out in two stages. In the first stage, n-heptane (in 4, 8, 12, 16, and 20% volumes) was added to biodiesel (C0) which was produced from refined cottonseed oil via the transesterification method. The optimal n-heptane ratio was determined to be 8% in volume as a result of engine experiments. In CH8 fuel compared to C0 fuel, there was a 7.52% increase in brake power, 7.84% in engine torque, 2.57% in brake thermal efficiency, and 3.08% decrease in brake specific fuel consumption. When n-heptane additive fuels were analyzed, it was observed that the cylinder pressure in CH8 fuel were higher in all loading cases. The minimum ignition delay at full load was 12.88 o CA in CH8 fuel. When the exhaust emission was analyzed, in n-heptane added fuels compared to C0 fuel in CH8 fuels, there was a 29.99% decrease in CO emissions and a 3.16% decrease in THC emissions. In NO X emissions, there was a 1.18% increase in CH8 fuel and a 1.19% increase in smoke emissions. As a result of the analysis of engine performance and the experimental data regarding emission characteristics, the optimal n-heptane additive fuel was determined to be CH8 fuel. In the second phase of the experiment, an organic based manganese addition (4 ppm, 8 ppm, 12ppm, and 16 ppm) was added to 8% n-heptane additive (CH8) fuel. The optimal experiment results were obtained at a ratio of 12 ppm organic based manganese additive. Compared to CH8 fuel, in CH8Mn12 fuel, brake power increased by 3.42%, engine torque by 7.12%, and brake thermal efficiency by 5.35% while brake-specific fuel consumption decreased by 5.91%. In the evaluation of exhaust emissions, in CH8Mn12 fuel compared to CH8 fuel there was an 8.28% decrease in CO emissions, a 5.54% decrease in THC emissions, and a 3.67% decrease in smoke emissions while there was a 10.67% increase in NO X emissions. Depending on its properties, the additive reacted directly with carbon atoms and caused a serious reduction in emissions.

Recycling is the need of time and tyre pyrolysis is a process of recycling waste tyre to yield oil. A lot of research has been conducted on blending of diesel to produce oil but due to higher sulphur content and higher exhaust emission limits, use of tyre pyrolysis oil can be very beneficial. In the present study, our focus is on hybrid blends of oil generated, karanja biodiesel and diesel. One of the major problems with biofuel is the lower calorific value, but pyrolysis oil has higher calorific value. Hence the decision was made to blend karanja biodiesel and pyrolysis oil. The blends prepared are tyre pyrolysis (TP) 10%, karanja biodiesel (KB) 20% and diesel 70% called as TP10KB20. Similarly, TP20KB10 was also done. Further, equivalent blends of individual fuel source (TPO30 and KB30) are done and compared. Experimental investigation of hybrid blends (TP10KB20, TP20KB10) and equivalent source blend (TPO30, KBD30 and diesel) fuel are done on single cylinder CI engine. It was observed that performance and combustion of TP10KB20 and TP20KB10 were superior than any other individual blend and diesel. However, emission of TP20KB10 limits it use. Further, TP10KB20 has given superior performance, combustion and emissions characteristics compared to diesel and other blends.

The selection of a proper drying method can play a vital role in reducing the energy consumption and the quality of the final product. In this study, three dryers, including conventional refractance window (CRW), solar refractance window (SRW) based on the photovoltaic-thermal system, and hot air (HA) dryers, were used to dry the Aloe vera gel. Experiments were carried out at four levels of temperature (60, 70, 80, and 90 °C) and three levels of thickness (1, 2, and 3 mm) for the puree product. An increase in temperature and a decrease in thickness reduced specific energy consumption, specific heat consumption, specific heat utilization, pollutant emission, and social costs derived from the pollutant. The results showed that the SRW dryer significantly improved the energy and drying parameters compared to the HA method. The pollutant emission and social costs in the SRW dryer were zero, while these values were significant using the CRW and HA dryers. The highest amounts of antioxidant potential, phenol, flavonoids, and glucose were 98.61%, 0.0435%, 0.0103%, and 19.28% (mg/g dry matter), which were obtained at 60 °C and 3 mm thickness using the SRW/CRW dryers. However, these values were 76.69%, 0.0246%, 0.0039%, and 16.31% (mg/g dry matter) using the HA dryer. In general, according to energy consumption and drying parameters, the best experimental results were obtained at temperatures between 70 and 80 °C and a thickness of 2 mm.

Sludge palm oil is a by-product produced as a result of oil loss into waste streams during the palm oil milling process. It is non-edible, inexpensive and abundantly available, thus making it an attractive feedstock for biodiesel production. However, it contains high contents of water and free fatty acids, rendering the conventional alkali-catalyzed process unsuitable. Therefore, this research aimed to improve the production of biodiesel from sludge palm oil using a low-cost liquid lipase (Eversa® Transform 2.0) produced from a genetically modified Aspergillus oryzae. The activity of the liquid lipase was determined to be 9600 IU mL−1. We performed the reaction using low-input process conditions with only 0.2 wt% enzyme concentration and 5:1 methanol-to-oil molar ratio at a low operating temperature of 45 °C. Under an optimum stirring speed of 750 rpm, a crude biodiesel with a high ester content of approximately 94 wt% could be produced. Additionally, the crude glycerol produced has a higher purity compared to that produced via a chemical-catalyzed process. Overall, an economical and sustainable enzymatic process for the conversion of sludge palm oil into high quality biodiesel and glycerol has been demonstrated in this study.

Biodiesel has great potential as an alternative fuel for diesel engines. However, poor low-temperature flow property and high viscosity of biodiesel limit its use in engines. Therefore, alcohol comes into researchers’ eyes as a promising additive for diesel–biodiesel (DB) blends. In this study, the effects of lower and higher alcohol contents with different speeds on combustion and emissions characteristics were investigated in a modified single cylinder diesel engine. The results indicated that the maximum pressure rise rate (MPRR) maintained a consistent drop ratio as speed increased from 1500 rpm to 1800 rpm for the tested fuels. However, B10E10 (10% biodiesel and %10 ethanol by volume) had a big drop, which meant that engine’s power ability had a big loss at high speed. The declining rate with speed decreased for indicated thermal efficiency (ITE) when adding alcohol to diesel–biodiesel blends, especially n-pentanol. Moreover, compared with other tested fuels, B10P10 (10% biodiesel and 10% n-pentanol) had smaller cycle variation and more stable combustion state as speed changed, despite it had the highest coefficient of variation (COV) at 1000 rpm. It can be found that has advantages in combustion stability, and can well reduce the total hydrocarbon (THC) and carbon monoxide (CO) emissions under the condition of medium speed commonly used by vehicle. Overall consideration, using diesel/biodiesel/alcohol ternary fuels may be a better choice for diesel engines.

R ice bran oil (RBO) is claimed to be a potential feedstock for biodiesel production. N on-catalytic in-situ biodiesel production from a low-cost feedstock ( rice bran ) using subcritical ethanol-water mixture was investigated in this study . T he influence of four independent variables, i.e. , addition of co-solvent, ethanol concentration, temperature, and time of reactions , on the yield of biodiesel was examined . The results showed that the most effective co-solvent was ethyl acetate and the optimum ethanol concentration, temperature and reaction time were 80% v/v, 200 o C and 3 hours, respectively. The maximum yield of biodiesel was found to be around 80%. The optimization of operating conditions was carried out by response surface methodology (RSM) with historical data design (HDD). The statistical method also suggested similar optimum operating conditions, i.e., 78.44% (v/v) ethanol concentration, 200 o C, and 3.2 hours reaction time with ethyl acetate as a co-solvent. The predicted maximum biodiesel yield was also slightly lower, i.e., 76.98%. Therefore, this study suggests that biodiesel production from rice bran through a non-catalytic in-situ process using a subcritical ethanol-water mixture with ethyl acetate as a co-solvent is very feasible since the yield can reach 80%. The study also found that RSM with HDD can predict the optimum operating conditions with a good accuracy.

Deslagging of Eichhornia crassipers and Pistia stratiotes biomass pellets was studied after dynamic or static addition of CaO, MgO or kaoline at 600 or 800 °C. Then the chemical element and crystal phase compositions of ashes were characterized by X-ray fluorescence and X-ray diffraction. The K and Cl concentrations declined by 10%–12% and 6%–8% respectively after the use of additives, and were both higher under dynamic addition than under static addition at the same temperature. The ashes contained some high-melting-point crystal phases (e.g. Ca3Si2O7, CaMgSi2O7), which can raise the melting temperature of ashes. By comparing the slagging indices between the two types of biomass ashes, we found the deslagging effect of static loading of additives was better than dynamic loading. The deslagging effect was optimized after the static loading of kaoline at 800 °C for both types of biomass. Under the condition that these research results are applied to thermal system of power plant, it can provide basis for solving slagging problem of biomass boiler.

Wastewater sludge drying and incineration are conventional solids handling processes that are sometimes employed in water resource reclamation facilities. However, these two processes generate byproducts, sludge drying chaff and sludge incinerator ash, which are landfilled without taking advantage of their value. To gain value from these byproducts, a new synergistic catalytic pyrolysis process using chaff and ash was investigated in this study to improve energy production (i.e. generating a high yield pyrolysis gas) and generate useful products. Ash was used as a catalyst to decrease bio-oil that is corrosive and challenging for combustion in standard equipment, while increasing pyrolysis gas yield and energy for easier energy recovery. Ash increased the pyrolysis gas yield by 50% and product energy by nearly two-fold at the highest ash loading. The bio-oil volume was greatly reduced and contained fewer constituents based on GC-MS and GC-FID analyses. The product energy shifted from bio-oil to pyrolysis gas, which is relatively clean and easier for onsite energy recovery. Ca and Fe content in ash likely plays the catalytic role.

Depletion of mineral reservoirs along with health and environmental concerns have led to a greater focus on bio-lubricants. The purpose of this study was to analyze and optimize the reaction conditions of the transesterification process for cotton biolubricant synthesis by using Response Surface Methodology (RSM). In RSM, Rotatable central composite design was selected to examine the effect of reaction input factors on the yield of cotton bio-lubricant during the transesterification process. ANOVA analysis showed that temperature was the most significant factor followed by time, pressure and catalyst-concentration. Optimum reaction conditions obtained by RSM for maximum TMP tri-ester (cotton bio-lubricant) yield of about 37.52% were 144 °C temperature, 10 h time, 25 mbar pressure, and 0.8% catalyst-concentration. RSM predicted results were successfully validated experimentally and by artificial neural networking. About 90%–94% cotton seed oil bio-lubricant was obtained after purification and its physiochemical, lubricity and tribological properties were evaluated and found comparable with ISO VG-46 and SAE-40 mineral lubricant. Hence, cottonseed oil is a potential source for the bio-lubricant industry.

The efficiency of hot water extraction (HWE) is dependent on the size of treated wood. While previous research regarding this size-effect has focused on HWE treating sawdust and wood chips, this study investigated its effect on wood blocks with precise dimensions and a broad range of treatment conditions. Scots pine (Pinus sylvestris L.) sapwood samples with dimensions of 10 × 10 × 20 mm3 and 25 × 25 × 50 mm3 (R × T × L) were HWE treated at 130–170 °C for 40–200 min using liquid-to-solid ratios of 4–20. Our results showed that wood mass loss, which was primarily caused by the decomposition of hemicelluloses, was larger when using small samples. This was mainly assigned to a higher quantity of acetone-soluble decomposition products that remained within the large samples, due to longer distances for diffusion and mass transfer from the wood blocks to the extraction liquid. In line with wood mass loss differences, the amount of dissolved compounds (i.e., carbohydrates) in the extraction liquid at different treatment severities was dependent on the wood size, while the liquid-to-solid ratio had only modest effects. However, composition changes of the extraction liquid, in particular changes in the proportion of poly- and monocarbohydrates with increasing treatment severity, were similar for both sample sizes.

Until today, most wool and cotton fabrics are dyed with synthetic dyes such as reactive, acid, etc. which are generally non-environmentally friendly. In this study, wool and cotton fabrics were dyed using as a bio-based dye Beta Vulgaris L. The dyeing experiments were performed both without using chemicals and using metal salts such as iron, tin, chrome, zinc, alum and copper to increase the dyeing strength. The SEM and the FTIR data of the fabrics were collected and evaluated at the end of the trials. At the same time, dyed fabric's color efficiencies (K/S) and CIE L*a*b* color values were measured on a reflectance spectrophotometer. Moreover, the color fastness properties of all dyed samples such as washing, rubbing, light were also tested. The results are satisfactory. The dyeing and test results showed that the performance of dyeability of the cotton and wool fabrics with Beta Vulgaris L. could be greatly influenced by the used mordant and its application method.

The aim of the work was to assess the efficiency of ozonation and ozonation in combination with H$_2$O$_2$ in jet loop reactor to increase biotreatability of persistent veterinary antibiotic Tiamulin. The efficiency of oxidative processes was monitored by combined approach based on determination of efficiency of wastewater treatment and impact to waste sludge stabilization. Degradation of Tiamulin in model wastewater (100 mg L$^{−1}$) during oxidation was followed by COD and DOC measurements while changes in biodegradability were determined by respirometric measurements. Biogas production potential was also determined to identify problems related to anaerobic digestion of waste sludge resulted in treatment of Tiamulin-contaminated wastewater. At ozone dose of 69 g$_{ozone}$ g$_{COD}^{−1}$ and 220 g$_{ozone}$ g$_{DOC}^{−1}$removal for COD and DOC was 26% and 17%, respectively. Better biotreatability was confirmed by respirometric testing. H$_2$O$_2$ addition did not improve removal efficiency (11–13%). The second stage of nitrification was suppressed by the addition of Tiamulin and ozonation again recovered N-NO$^−_3$ formation. O$_3$/H$_2$O$_2$ treated sample reduced the nitrification, especially formation of N-NO$^−_2$ in the first phase of the process. Simultaneously, quadratic model was developed to describe the relationship between oxygen uptake rate and changes in ammonium nitrogen concentration due to the oxidative treatment. The positive impact of ozone was also confirmed by ozonation of Tiamulin-contaminated (400 mg L$^{−1}$) waste sludge where biogas production potential was increased for 6-times. Combination of approaches confirmed, that O$_3$ effectively increase the treatability of Tiamulin in wastewater and sludge while addition of the hydrogen peroxide generally did not improve the performance of the processes.

In the 21st century the academic field of Child–Computer Interaction (CCI) arose alongside burgeoning interactive technology and digital media industries that targeted children. We believe that the field of CCIU is at an important point in its development, analogous to when a child becomes a teen. Over the last few years we have each had many informal conversations with other CCI researchers in which we discuss issues such as, what is our responsibility as researchers beyond academe? What values underlie our conceptions of a ”good” childhood and the role of interactive technology in it? And, how do we ensure that our field continues to grow and evolve in ways that are consistent with our responsibilities and values? To address these and other complex questions that have been drawing our attention we came together to reflect, discuss and create a position paper for our community, in which we outline some of the issues we see facing our community at this time. To inform our deliberations with opinions beyond our own we conducted an informal consultation with 25 members of the CCI community. Our responders spanned junior to senior researchers, represented diverse geographies and included industry practitioners. These diverse responses provided further content for our reflections, and helped us see perspectives beyond our own. The result of this informal process is this speculative paper in which we propose a series of seven provocations that aim to disrupt some of the normative assumptions held in our field. Our goal in doing this is to open up dialogue in our community about these issues and promote consideration of the alternative visions we present for where we might focus our attention and efforts. We see our contribution not as truth or a definitive statement of a vision for the field, but rather as our opinion about some of the complex issues we face and that we think should be considered through dialogue as we move into the next phase of our development as an academic and scholarly community. We believe that it is urgent and critical for our field that we take up these questions, explore diverse perspectives, and critically work towards decisions and actions that will define our identity and the value of our contributions as we move forward into the next 20 years of research in CCI.

Background Due to the COVID-19 pandemic, the demand for remote electrocardiogram (ECG) monitoring has increased drastically in an attempt to prevent the spread of the virus and keep vulnerable individuals with less severe cases out of hospitals. Enabling clinicians to set up remote patient ECG monitoring easily and determining how to classify the ECG signals accurately so relevant alerts are sent in a timely fashion is an urgent problem to be addressed for remote patient monitoring (RPM) to be adopted widely. Hence, a new technique is required to enable routine and widespread use of RPM, as is needed due to COVID-19. Objective The primary aim of this research is to create a robust and easy-to-use solution for personalized ECG monitoring in real-world settings that is precise, easily configurable, and understandable by clinicians. Methods In this paper, we propose a Personalized Monitoring Model (PMM) for ECG data based on motif discovery. Motif discovery finds meaningful or frequently recurring patterns in patient ECG readings. The main strategy is to use motif discovery to extract a small sample of personalized motifs for each individual patient and then use these motifs to predict abnormalities in real-time readings of that patient using an artificial logical network configured by a physician. Results Our approach was tested on 30 minutes of ECG readings from 32 patients. The average diagnostic accuracy of the PMM was always above 90% and reached 100% for some parameters, compared to 80% accuracy for the Generalized Monitoring Models (GMM). Regardless of parameter settings, PMM training models were generated within 3-4 minutes, compared to 1 hour (or longer, with increasing amounts of training data) for the GMM. Conclusions Our proposed PMM almost eliminates many of the training and small sample issues associated with GMMs. It also addresses accuracy and computational cost issues of the GMM, caused by the uniqueness of heartbeats and training issues. In addition, it addresses the fact that doctors and nurses typically do not have data science training and the skills needed to configure, understand, and even trust existing black box machine learning models.

Few studies have investigated the performance of anaerobic digestion (AD) to convert animal and agro-industrial wastes to organic fertilizers over a long-term field conditions. This paper studied three large-scale mesophilic digesters (D1–D3) over two years for their effects on feedstocks, which were dairy manure for D1 and D2 and co-digestion mixed manure and agro-industrial wastes for D3. Hydraulic retention times (HRT) were 9 d for D1, 12 d for D2, and 34 d for D3. Digester influent and effluent samples were taken every two months from the digesters and analyzed for pH, and concentrations of total solids (TS), ammonium nitrogen (NH4-N), total Kjeldahl nitrogen (TKN), total phosphorus (TP), and eight metals. The study revealed high variability in converting feedstock in the three digesters. Compared with their respective influent, the mean digester effluent pH decreased from 7.9 by 0.6 in D1 (p < 0.01) and by 0.3 in D2 (p < 0.01), but it increased from 6.1 by 1.8 in D3 (p < 0.01). The mean digester effluent TS increased from 3.4% by 0.1% (p > 0.05) in D1, but it decreased from 4.9% by 1.3% in D2 (p < 0.05) and from 12.3% by 4.8% in D3 (p < 0.01). All three digesters significantly increased NH4-N concentrations by 21.4–81.8% (p < 0.05), but insignificantly changed TKN and TP concentrations (p > 0.05). Effects of AD on all metal concentrations were mixed and were insignificant (p > 0.05) because of large concentration variations. However, study of a ratio quotient (qMg) using magnesium (Mg) as the reference discovered accumulation of NH4-N, copper, potassium, and sodium, but loss of TKN, TP, iron, manganese, zinc, and calcium during AD for D2 and D3. The impact of AD conversion was closely related with types of feedstock (on pH) and HRT (on TS and NH4-N). The results of this study can assist in developing strategies for cleaner production using AD in an environmentally sustainable manner.

International audience; The use of pesticides has been increasing in recent years for maintaining traditional agricultural practices. However, these chemicals are associated with several environmental impacts, demanding urgent remediation techniques. Biochar is a carbonaceous material produced by pyrolysis that has the potential for pesticide sorption and remediation. In this context, this interdisciplinary review systematically assessed the state of the knowledge of crop residues to produce biochar for pesticide sorption. We focused on maize, rice, and wheat residues since these are the three most-produced grains worldwide. Besides, we evaluated different biochar handling, storage, and soil dispersion techniques to ease its implementation in agriculture. In general, pyrolysis temperature influences biochar characteristics and its potential for pesticide sorption. Furthermore, biochar amended soils had greater pesticide sorption capacity, limiting potential leaching and runoff. Most studies showed that the feedstock and specific surface area influence the biochar sorption properties, among other factors. Also, biochar reduces pesticides’ bioavailability, decreasing their toxicity to soil organisms and improving soil fertility and crop yields. Nonetheless, the retrieved papers assessed only 21 pesticides, mainly consisting of lab-scale batch experiments. Therefore, there is still a gap in studies evaluating biochar aging, its potential desorption, pesticide co-contaminations, the associated microbiological processes, and field applications. Determining flow properties for biochars of different sizes and pellets is vital for reliable handling equipment design, and performing techno-economic assessment under different farm contexts is encouraged. Ultimately, coupling biochar production with residue management could address this challenge on sustainable agricultural systems.

Edge computing promises to bring computation close to the end-users to support emergent applications such as virtual reality. However, the computational capacity at the edge of the network is currently limited. To become a pervasive paradigm, edge computing needs highly dispersed decentralized deployments, that, contrary to cloud, cannot benefit from economies of scale. In this situation, crowdsourcing appears attractive - there are plenty of computing devices at the disposal of the general public, and these devices are located exactly where computing power is needed the most - at the edge of the network. Crowdsourcing has been a success maker for scientific computing projects, e.g., SETI@home, or distributed ledger systems empowering decentralized finance. However, as of now, there is no crowdsourced system that addresses the needs of edge computing. In this position paper, we aim to identify the causes of this shortcoming, analyze the potential ways to overcome it, and outline future directions.

Sugar beet by-products are a lignocellulosic waste generated from sugar beet industry during the sugar production process and stand out for their high carbon content. Moreover, cow manure (CM) is hugely produced in rural areas and livestock industry, which requires proper disposal. Anaerobic digestion of such organic wastes has shown to be a suitable technology for these wastes valorization and bioenergy production. In this context, the biomethane production from the anaerobic co-digestion of exhausted sugar beet pulp (ESBP) and CM was investigated in this study. Four mixtures (0:100, 50:50, 75:25, and 90:10) of cow manure and sugar beet by-products were evaluated for methane generation by thermophilic batch anaerobic co-digestion assays. The results showed the highest methane production was observed in mixtures with 75% of CM (159.5 mL CH4/g VolatileSolids added). Nevertheless, the hydrolysis was inhibited by volatile fatty acids accumulation in the 0:100 mixture, which refers to the assay without CM addition. The modified Gompertz model was used to fit the experimental results of methane productions and the results of the modeling show a good fit between the estimated and the observed data.

The treatment of different types of wastewater by physicochemical or biological (nonmicroalgal) methods could often be either inefficient or energy-intensive. Microalgae are ubiquitous microscopic organisms, which thrive in water bodies that contain the necessary nutrients. Wastewaters are typically contaminated with nitrogen, phosphorus, and other trace elements, which microalgae require for their cell growth. In addition, most of the microalgae are photosynthetic in nature, and these organisms do not require an organic source for their proliferation, although some strains could utilize organics both in the presence and absence of light. Therefore, microalgal bioremediation could be integrated with existing treatment methods or adopted as the single biological method for efficiently treating wastewater. This review paper summarized the mechanisms of pollutants removal by microalgae, microalgal bioremediation potential of different types of wastewaters, the potential application of wastewater-grown microalgal biomass, existing challenges, and the future direction of microalgal application in wastewater treatment. 2020 by the authors. Licensee MDPI, Basel, Switzerland. Funding: This research was funded by Qatar National Research Fund, grant number NPRP8-646-2-272, and the APC was funded by Qatar National Library. Scopus

Over the last decades, microalgal biomass has gained a significant role in the development of different high-end (nutraceuticals, colorants, food supplements, and pharmaceuticals) and low-end products (biodiesel, bioethanol, and biogas) due to its rapid growth and high carbon-fixing efficiency. Therefore, microalgae are considered a useful and sustainable resource to attain energy security while reducing our current reliance on fossil fuels. From the technologies available for obtaining biofuels using microalgae biomass, thermochemical processes (pyrolysis, Hydrothermal Liquefaction (HTL), gasification) have proven to be processed with higher viability, because they use all biomass. However, due to the complex structure of the biomass (lipids, carbohydrates, and proteins), the obtained biofuels from direct thermochemical conversion have large amounts of heteroatoms (oxygen, nitrogen, and sulfur). As a solution, catalyst-based processes have emerged as a sustainable solution for the increase in biocrude production. This paper’s objective is to present a comprehensive review of recent developments on the catalyst-mediated conversion of algal biomass. Special attention will be given to operating conditions, strains evaluated, and challenges for the optimal yield of algal-based biofuels through pyrolysis and HTL.

Lignin, the term commonly used in literature, represents a group of heterogeneous aromatic compounds of plant origin. Protolignin or lignin in the cell wall is entirely different from the commercially available technical lignin due to changes during the delignification process. In this paper, we assess the status of lignin valorization in terms of commercial products. We start with existing knowledge of the lignin/protolignin structure in its native form and move to the technical lignin from various sources. Special attention is given to the patents and lignin-based commercial products. We observed that the technical lignin-based commercial products utilize coarse properties of the technical lignin in marketed formulations. Additionally, the general principles of polymers chemistry and self-assembly are difficult to apply in lignin-based nanotechnology, and lignin-centric investigations must be carried out. The alternate upcoming approach is to develop lignin-centric or lignin first bio-refineries for high-value applications; however, that brings its own technological challenges. The assessment of the gap between lab-scale applications and lignin-based commercial products delineates the challenges lignin nanoparticles-based technologies must meet to be a commercially viable alternative.

Crude oil, which exported to refineries, already contains salt, water, and fouling crude oil received with salt content not less than 50 ppm. Dewania refinery with a capacity of 20,000 BPSD, which serves with two crude distillation units, each unit with a capacity of 10,000 BPSD, which operate without crude desalter. In an aim to reduce the effects of salts, water and, fouling associated with crude oil, two crude distillation units connected with one crude oil desalter with a capacity of 20,000 BPSD (one desalter). crude oil desalter transferred from (Daura Refinery) to Dewania refinery, in aim to reduce salt content from 50ppm to 5 ppm and mitigate water and other fouling. Crude oil desalter installed in the middle distance between two crude distillations units (90 m from each unit isometric piping). Crude oil, which is pumped by a charge pump to preheated in crude oil distillation unit with a train of heat exchangers. When the pipeline size increased from 4″ to 6″, which reduces the pressure dropped from 0.946 to 0.15 bar for each transfer pipeline and in consequence, the total pressure drop reduces from 11.011 to 10.215 bar for the whole unit. In an aim to reduce the heat dissipated from surface of transfer pipeline. Each transfer pipeline insulated with calcium silicate insulator, the thickness of insulator increased from 38mm to 50mm in an aim to reduce heat loss from −101.56 watts/m to −84.282 watts/m, which reduced temperature difference between the surface pipeline and environment from 13 to 10°C.

International audience; Anaerobic digestion allows renewable energy to be produced through the degradation of bio-waste. The process, which is of economic and ecological interest, is implemented industrially in concrete digesters. Bio-waste is a complex medium with a composition that can vary in time and space. It contains several chemical compounds, including volatile fatty acids, ammonium, and CO2, which are aggressive towards concrete and compromise its durability. The individual effects of the different compounds on concrete are significantly different. To move toward a better design of concrete intended for the building of biogas digesters, this paper aims to understand the mechanisms and intensity of alteration associated with the different components of biowaste and their contribution to the total deterioration. Ordinary Portland cement pastes were immersed for 16 weeks in six synthetic solutions made of the three metabolites, taken alone or in mixes. The mass variations of the specimens, the pH, and the concentration of the chemical elements in solution were monitored over time. The microstructural, chemical and mineralogical changes of the samples were analysed by scanning electron microscopy, electron probe micro-analysis and X-Ray diffraction analyses and showed phenomena of dissolution, leaching and carbonation. The results show that the acetic acid solution was the most aggressive, in accordance with its pH value, and had a predominant effect in mixed solutions, whereas sodium bicarbonate solution induced carbonation and showed a protective effect. Interestingly, despite its reputed high aggressiveness, ammonium nitrate did not have a major impact in mixed solutions.

The production of lignin nanoparticles (LNPs) has emerged as a way to overcome the highly variable and complex molecular structure of lignin. It can offer morphological control of the lignin polymer, allowing the formation of stable LNP dispersions in aqueous media, while increasing the potential of lignin for high‐value applications. However, the polydispersity and morphology of LNPs varies depending on the lignin grade and preparation method, and a systematic comparison using different technical lignins is lacking. In this study, it was attempted to find a green fabrication method with a distinct solvent fractionation of lignin to prepare LNPs using three different technical lignins as starting polymers: BLN birch lignin (hardwood, BB), alkali Protobind 1000 (grass, PB), and kraft LignoBoost (softwood, LB). For that, three anti‐solvent precipitation approaches to prepare LNPs were systematically compared: 70 % aqueous ethanol, acetone/water (3 : 1) and NaOH as the lignin solvent, and water/aqueous HCl as the anti‐solvent. Among all these methods, the acetone/water (3 : 1) approach allowed production of homogeneous and monodisperse LNPs with a negative surface charge and also spherical and smooth surfaces. Overall, the results revealed that the acetone/water (3 : 1) method was the most effective approach tested to obtain homogenous, small, and spherical LNPs from the three technical lignins. These LNPs exhibited an improved stability at different ionic strengths and a wider pH range compared to the other preparation methods, which can greatly increase their application in many fields, such as pharmaceutical and food sciences., Choose your path: A green fabrication route is discovered to prepare homogeneous and monodisperse lignin nanoparticles with spherical and smooth surfaces, using three different technical lignins as starting polymers. Results show that the acetone/water (3 : 1) method is the most effective approach to obtain such lignin nanoparticles, which can greatly increase their application in many fields (e. g., pharmaceutical and food sciences).

International audience; Interest and need for Wireless Body Area Networks (WBANs) havesignicantly increased recently. WBAN consists of miniaturized sensors de-signed to collect and transmit data through wireless network, enabling medicalspecialists to monitor patients during their normal daily life and providing realtime opinions for medical diagnosis. Many wireless technologies have provedthemselves in WBAN applications, while others are still under investigations.The choice of the technology to adopt may depend on the disease to moni-tor and the performance requirements, i.e. reliability, latency and data rate.In addition, the suitable sensor is essential when seeking to extract the datarelated to a medical measure.This paper aims at surveying the wireless technologies used in WBAN sys-tems. In addition to a detailed survey on the existing technologies, the use ofthe emerging Low Power Wide Area Network (LPWAN) technologies, and thefuture 5G, B5G and 6G is investigated, where the suitability of these technolo-gies to WBAN applications is studied from several perspectives. Furthermore,medical applications of WBAN are discussed by presenting their methodolo-gies, the adopted wireless technologies and the used sensors. Given that eachmedical application requires the appropriate sensor to extract the data, wehighlight a wide range of the sensors used in the market for medical systems.Recent and future challenges in WBAN systems are given related to the powerconsumption, the emergence of the Internet of Things (IoT) technologies inWBAN and others.

In this study, biogas production was investigated in mesophilic conditions from sugar beet pulp (SBP). In untreated conditions, water dissolution rate was 15.5% and biogas production rate was 168.7 mL/g TS (total solid). Alkaline thermal pretreatments were applied at 100 °C with 3 N NaOH and KOH solutions. Amounts of alkaline and acid were added in an amount equal to 5%, 10%, 15%, 20%, and 30% of the solids in the reactor. Acid thermal pretreatments were applied at 100 °C with 5% (v/v) H2SO4 and HNO3 solutions. The anaerobic digestion (AD) time was shortened by approximately 10 days after pretreatment. The highest biogas yield was 458.4 mL/g TS as a result of KOH thermal pretreatment. In this reactor, soluble chemical oxygen demand (sCOD) removal was 87.1%, and cellulose, hemicellulose, and lignin removals were 32.4%, 28.6%, and 33.5% w/w, respectively. It was observed that the cumulative biogas production (CBP) successfully fitted the modified Richards (MR) model and modified Gompertz (MG) model. © 2019, Springer-Verlag GmbH Germany, part of Springer Nature. Sivas Cumhuriyet Üniversitesi: CUBAP-M-665 The financial support of this study was provided by the scientific research projects unit of the Cumhuriyet University (CUBAP-M-665). We would like to thank you for your contribution to the related institution.

Enzymatic treatments have gained popularity in the textile industry because of environmental friendly and energy conserving alternatives. Advancement in biotechnology and modification of enzymes has been focused based on various textile process applications. All the manufacturing steps of textile chemical processing, enzymes are using for implementations of the green technology to meet up the challenge of fourth industrial revolution. In this category, amylases, peroxidase used for desizing and bleaching, cellulase activates for bio polishing and denim finishing. This chapter summarizes the current developments of enzyme technology and highlights the environment-friendly and sustainable enzymatic textile processing in the textile industry.

Funder: CSC Cambridge Scholarship, In this study, we evaluate the suitability of using DC-biased aluminium resonators as low-frequency kinetic inductance detectors capable of operating in the frequency range of 50–120 GHz. Our analysis routine for supercurrent-biased resonators is based on the Usadel equations and gives outputs including density of states, complex conductivities, transmission line properties, and quasiparticle lifetimes. Results from our analysis confirm previous experimental observations on resonant frequency tuneability and retention of high quality factor. Crucially, our analysis suggests that DC-biased resonators demonstrate significantly suppressed superconducting density of states gap. Consequently these resonators have lower frequency detection threshold and are suitable materials for low-frequency kinetic inductance detectors.

Thermodynamic data indicate that the oxidation of oxygenated organic species originating from biomass instead of water at the anode of an electrolysis cell should allow decreasing the cell voltage below 1.23 V. Biosourced alcohols, polyols, sugars, lignocellulosic compounds, and their derivatives are then electroreformed to produce clean hydrogen at the cathode and compounds at the anode of electrolysis cells. The reported studies highlight the main challenges to make electroreforming a future industrial process: higher reaction kinetics and hydrogen evolution rate; better selectivity of anode catalysts toward the formation of CO2 or added-value compounds; and utilization of nonstrategical metals. An attractive solution to decrease hydrogen production costs and to make bankable other economic activities consists in directly valuing wastes from agriculture/forestry (lignocellulosic raw materials) and/or wastes from biofuel industries.

In this study, the performance of the ozonation process was investigated in the removal of antibiotics (Cephalexin, Ciprofloxacin, and Clarithromycin) from medical laboratory wastewater. Central composite design, one of the response surface methodologies, was applied to optimize process parameters and to develop a mathematical model. Analysis of variance (ANOVA) was performed to analyze the data and obtain the interactions between the responses and process variables. Independent variables were initial pH, reaction time, and ozone dosage, while the responses were the removal of Cephalexin, Ciprofloxacin, and Clarithromycin. Statgraphics Centurion XVI.I software was used for developing the quadratic regression models in the estimation of removals. The determined correlation coefficients were very high for the removal of all three antibiotics and the model was sufficiently in good agreement with experimental results. The experimental removal fractions of Cephalexin, Ciprofloxacin, and Clarithromycin under optimum process conditions were 99.5%, 98.3%, and 99.6%, respectively. As a result of the study, it was determined that ozonation is an effective treatment method in antibiotic removal from medical laboratory wastewater and the central composite design is a convenient tool for process optimization.

A large quantity of leachate is generated during municipal solid waste collection operation and in landfills due to the large amount of organic waste and high humidity. The content of medium chain fatty acids (MCFAs) in the leachate is a low cost feedstock for bio-based chemical and fuel production processes. The aim of this study is to investigate the MCFA production potential of three leachate ages through chain elongation process under uncontrolled pH batch test. Moreover, the effect of using different external electron donors (ethanol, methanol and a mixture of both) is studied. The experiment consists of characterizing the samples then adding external electron donors with a specific ratio to leachate samples under mesophilic temperature. For this investigation, also a statistical analysis is done, which shows the production of MCFAs is highly influenced by leachate age. The results indicate that the production of even-numbered acids increase from 600 to 1,000 mg/L by the end of the ethanol chain elongation experiment for young leachate. However, a higher MCFA production of more than 1,000 mg/L is achieved by using the mixture of methanol and ethanol as electron donor. Furthermore, all methanol chain elongation experiments lead to an odd-numbered production of MCFAs, such as pentanoic and heptanoic acids. These results confirm the potential improvement of MCFA production from leachate through choosing the optimal leachate age and electron donor. Overall, producing MCFAs from leachate is a good example of circular bio-economy because waste is used to produce biochemicals, which closes the material cycle.

Eukaryotic microalgae and prokaryotic cyanobacteria can grow in various water and wastewater types, and both can grow biomass by taking nutrients and converting atmospheric CO2 into useful products. Biofuels obtained by processing this landless grown biomass are defined as "third-generation biofuels". In this study, the effects of hydrodynamic cavitation (HC)-assisted NaOH pretreatment on methane production from cyanobacteria were investigated. Cyanobacterial biomass was isolated from thermal springs located in the southwest of Turkey (Denizli-Turkey) and identified as Desertifilum tharense. Desertifilum tharense biomass was grown on a laboratory scale, and along with its compositional characteristics, culture-specific parameters were determined. HC-assisted NaOH pretreatment was applied to evaluate optimum process conditions for enhancing methane production from D. tharense. In the experimental design, process parameters of cavitation number (Cv: 0.3-0.7), NaOH concentration (0-4%), solid content (1.5%), reaction time (4h), and reaction temperature (30 degrees C) were combined to reveal the parameter-specific impact of HC pretreatment. The effect of the HC-assisted NaOH pretreatment was further investigated with molecular-bond and surface structure characterization. Along with the energy equivalent of obtained biofuel, energy requirements for cultivation, harvesting, pretreatment, and anaerobic digestion (AD) were calculated to determine the process's overall energy efficiency. Kinetic parameters of raw and pretreated D. tharense were determined by first-order, cone, modified Gompertz, and reaction curve models. The results revealed that by the application of pretreatment, a 2-35.3% soluble COD increase was achieved, whereas methane production was increased from 241.5 to 290.6 mLCH(4) gVS(-1). Application of HC with a low Cv of 0.3 boosted methane production up to 20.3% compared to the raw D. tharense.

The key challenge in reaching the goals set by Renewable Energy Directive is developing a sustainable, profitable, and environmentally acceptable biodiesel production process. In order to achieve balance between the above criteria, any use of high-quality edible oils as feedstocks needs to be avoided and utilization of waste feedstocks, such as used coffee grounds and waste animal fats, should be encouraged. The main drawback of these waste feedstocks is their high impurity content which usually requires an additional purification step. It is the purpose of this research to investigate the deacidification of three different waste biodiesel feedstocks by means of liquid-liquid extraction with deep eutectic solvents, in order to identify possible connections between solvent properties and extraction efficiency. Eight deep eutectic solvents were chosen to cover a wide range of different properties and the three used feedstocks varied in free fatty acid content. The relationship between solvent properties and extraction efficiency was determined by Spearman’s rank-order correlation. Strong, statistically significant positive correlation was found for solvent pH values, while a strong negative correlation was observed for polarities and molar volumes. The most effective solvent was potassium carbonate/ethylene glycol (1:10, mol.). Depending on the initial total acid number, solvent to feedstock mass ratios 0.1:1 and 0.25:1 were enough to reduce the acidity of waste animal fat below 2 mg of potassium hydroxide/g fat and the solvent was successfully reused up to four times.

Microbial treatment of natural fibers is a preferred alternatives in ramie degumming process as compared to conventional chemical degumming technology with alkaline treatment at high temperature. Usually, it is difficult to degrade the noncellulosic components of ramie bast completely with a single strain in the mono-culturing degumming system. Microbial coculture strategy has been widely used in biotechnology, especially in the degradation of biological materials. In the present study, five strains for ramie degumming were identified as Dickeya dadantii strain DCE-01, Bacillus subtilis strain 1101, Bacillus sp. B6, Bacillus cereus strain B7, and Bacillus cereus strain B8 by sequencing of 16 S rRNA genes. Enzymatic activities characterization, ramie degumming experiments with mono-culturing systems, and the evaluation of strain compatibility showed that group DCE-01/B7 were the most suitable pairs for the construction of bacterial coculturing system. After preliminary optimization of coculturing fermentation condition, the weight loss weight ratio of ramie fibers was 27%, which was increased 13.6% and 8.9% while compared to mono-culturing systems of strain B7 and DCE-01 respectively. These data highlighted the benefit of microbial coculture strategy in the application of ramie degumming process, and indicated a higher-efficiency alternative for the microbial degumming in the textile industry.

The results of the 2018 commissioning and experimental campaigns of the new High Power Laser Facility on the Energy-dispersive X-ray Absorption Spectroscopy (ED-XAS) beamline ID24 at the ESRF are presented., Results of the 2018 commissioning and experimental campaigns of the new High Power Laser Facility on the Energy-dispersive X-ray Absorption Spectroscopy (ED-XAS) beamline ID24 at the ESRF are presented. The front-end of the future laser, delivering 15 J in 10 ns, was interfaced to the beamline. Laser-driven dynamic com­pression experiments were performed on iron oxides, iron alloys and bismuth probed by online time-resolved XAS.

Since ash from wood biomass mostly ends up in landfills, recent research has focused on finding its economic and environmental added value as a potential new raw material in the construction industry. However, for wood ash to be used on an industrial scale in construction, a strategy for its proper storage must be defined. Proper storage of WBA is important to ensure quality control for applications in cementitious composites. This work investigated the aging of wood biomass ash (WBA) collected from five different power plants in Croatia and its influence on the performance of cementitious composites. WBA and cement pastes were investigated at different aging times (up to one year) using thermogravimetric analysis (TGA), powder X-ray diffraction (XRD), isothermal calorimetry and initial and final setting times. The results showed that storage of WBA in closed and open containers resulted in carbonation and hydration of mainly free lime and periclase, respectively, which affected the reactivity and setting times of WBA cement pastes.

The possibility of using waste cotton and cotton/polyester yarns to remove lead and chromium ions from polluted water was investigated in this work. Structural, morphological, and adsorption properties of yarns were determined by iodine sorption, water retention scanning electron microscopy, Fourier transform infrared spectroscopy, and streaming potential method for determination of an isoelectric point. It was found that the presence of polyester component negatively affects adsorption capacity, through the reduced porosity of cotton/polyester yarn surface, increased surface, and structural crystallinity. Relatively fast adsorption of lead and chromium ions from binary mixture onto cotton and cotton/polyester yarns follows the pseudo-second order kinetic, while equilibrium data fitted better with the Langmuir isotherm model, with maximal adsorption capacity from 259.0 to 824.7 mu g/g. Although, cotton yarn shows slightly higher maximal adsorption capacities, both cotton and cotton/polyester yarns can be utilized as cheap and highly efficient adsorbents for removal of lead and chromium ions from water.

During use, textile items can develop unpleasant odors that arise from many different sources, both internal and external to the human body. Laundering is not always effective at removing odors, with odor potentially building up over time due to incomplete removal of soils and odorous compounds and/or malodors transferred during the laundering process. Textile odor can lead to consumer dissatisfaction, particularly as there are high expectations that clothing and textile products meet multiple aesthetic and functional needs. The problem of odor in textiles is complex and multi-faceted, with odorous volatile compounds, microorganisms, and precursors to odor, such as sweat, being transferred to, and retained by, fabrics. This article reviews the literature that specifically relates to odor within textiles. Methods for evaluating odor in textiles, including methods for collecting odor on textile substrates, as well as sensory and instrumental methods of odor detection, were reviewed. Literature that examined differences among fabrics that varied by fabric properties were reviewed. As well, the effectiveness of specific odor controlling finishing technologies to control malodor within textiles was also examined.

Supplemental Digital Content is Available in the Text., Objectives: To evaluate self-reported sensory pain scores of women with generalized vulvodynia (GV) and provoked vestibulodynia (PVD), characterize pain phenotypes, and assess feasibility of using the Internet for recruitment and data collection among women with vulvodynia. Methods: Descriptive online survey. Data collected using an online survey accessed via a link on the National Vulvodynia Association web site. Convenience sample, 60 women aged 18 to 45 years (mean = 32.7 ± 5.5); 50 white, 2 black/African American, 4 Hispanic/Latino, and 4 Native American/Alaskan Native, diagnosed with vulvodynia, not in menopause. Pain assessment and medication modules from PAINReportlt. Results: Women with GV (n = 35) compared to PVD (n = 25). Estimated mean pain sites (2.5 ± 1.4 vs 2.2 ± 1.0, P = 0.31), mean current pain (8.7 ± 1.4 vs 5.5 ± 4.0, P = 0.0008), worst pain (8.1 ± 1.8 vs 6.1 ± 3.6, P = 0.02), and least pain in the past 24 hours (4.4 ± 1.8 vs 2.0 ± 2.0, P < 0.0001). Average pain intensity (7.1 ± 1.2 vs 4.6 ± 2.9, P = 0.0003) on a scale of 0 to 10, mean number of neuropathic words (8.3 ± 3.6 vs 7.7 ± 5.0), and mean number of nociceptive words (6.9 ± 4 vs 7.5 ± 4.4). Nineteen (54%) women with GV compared to 9 (38%) with PVD were not satisfied with pain levels. Conclusion: Women with GV reported severe pain, whereas those with PVD reported moderate to severe pain. Pain quality descriptors may aid a clinician's decisions about whether to prescribe adjuvant drugs vs opioids to women with vulvodynia.

In this work, the aim was to study the influence of cellulose Kraft pulps, natural rubber latex, and metakaolin in the optimization of the values of flexural strength and water absorption of cementitious composites through the design of experiments (central composite design) at 28 days of age. According to the design of experiments, the composite with 1.252% cellulose, 1.126% latex and 37.06% metakaolin presented the optimized value of the modulus of elasticity (21.89 GPa). In addition, an increase in the values of modulus of elasticity for composites with lower cellulose contents was observed. Latex and metakaolin provided small variations in the modulus of elasticity. For water absorption, only cellulose exhibited significant interference. Thus, lower values of water absorption were found for lower concentrations of cellulose. The optimized composite that showed less water absorption was with 1.5% cellulose, 0.02% latex, and 4% metakaolin, with 10.28% absorption. In view of the results obtained, it was concluded that the use of central composite design, the molding method adopted, and the limits of constituents used allowed the optimization the values studied responses (modulus of elasticity, and absorption).

International audience; Mixing biomasses has a good potential to solve operational problems in thermochemical valorization processes related to ash behavior. Chemical reactions within the ash of the blend, and not only a mixing effect without reaction, need to take place to form new solid phases in the mixture at the expense of getting rid of the problematic liquid one to decrease the slagging tendency. The present work focuses on assessing the presence of a chemical reaction in comparison with a simple mixing effect within the ash of mixtures of wheat straw-oak bark biomass and ash in two laboratory setups and in a fixed and in a moving bed pilot combustion reactors. The operating conditions were varied to study their effects on the reactivity of the ash within the mixtures. This aimed to optimize the ash reactivity and to assess the capabilities of the laboratory test to predict the ash behavior in pilot-scale reactors. Mixing without reaction effect was more evident when mixtures of biomass were used on both laboratory and pilot scales. In this case, the simple mixing rule was able to simulate the general ash behavior of biomass mixture to a certain extent that exact prediction was always limited by the presence of certain chemical reactions. However, chemical reactions effect was dominant when mixtures of ash of biomass were applied as feedstock. Solid crystalline phases K2Ca2Si2O7 and K2Ca6Si4O15 were the direct end products of these chemical reactions. Their relative proportion was inversely proportional to the problematic amorphous phase in the final ash. Hence, optimizing the blend proportion to increase their concentrations has the potential to solve slagging problematic. These two compounds were mostly stable at 1000℃, at which equilibrium was reached after 6h. However, they existed at a lower proportion at 850℃ and disappeared at 1200℃. The developed laboratory pellet test was also able to predict very efficiently the pilot ash behavior of both individual biomasses and their mixture in terms of crystalline and amorphous composition and proportion along with agglomeration distribution.

A Pulsed Electrical Field (PEF) reactor was developed to process biological sludge as a pretreatment method prior to anaerobic digestion. This study focuses on the effects of operational parameters such as applied voltage, pH, conductivity, flow-rate, and temperature affecting the treatment of waste active sludge (WAS) by PEF, the simulation of reactor process conditions and anaerobic biodegradation of PEF pretreated sludge. The effects of the sludge conductivity, flow-rate, and temperature on the Soluble Chemical Oxygen Demand (SCOD) of WAS treated by PEF reactor were investigated by using a Box-Wilson statistical experiment design. Simulations of the PEF process conditions were performed to verify experimental results. After PEF optimization study, the PEF operational conditions for maximum SCOD were obtained at 4 mS/cm conductivity, 5 mL/min flow-rate, and 40 degrees C temperature during PEF treatment. The measured and predicted SCOD showed a good consistency (R (2 )= 0.92). After it was pretreated by the PEF, the SCOD, total nitrogen, total phosphorus, polysaccharide and protein contents of WAS increased. However filterability property also decreased. In the anaerobic digestion study, the reactor fed with the PEF pretreated WAS provided 1.70 times higher methane production compared with raw sludge. In addition to this situation, 18% and 19% improvements, respectively, were observed in SCOD and VSS reductions when it was compared with raw sludge in the 23 days of anaerobic operation. Sixteen percent decrease in CST showed that the PEF enhanced the ?lterability of WAS during the anaerobic stabilization.

Anaerobic digestion is generally restricted by the low degradability of waste activated sludge (WAS) and slow hydrolysis rate. This work provided an innovative technique to promote continuous anaerobic digestion performance mediated by natural diatomite. In continuous tests over 125 days, 2 g/g-Total solids (TS) of natural diatomite addition increased daily methane production and volatile solids (VS) destruction by 23.3% and 23.5%, respectively, leading to a 5.6% decrease in digestate volume for disposal. Microbial community in the natural diatomite mediated digester changed toward a favorable direction for anaerobic sludge digestion. Process modelling indicated that the increased natural diatomite presence increased hydrolysis rate, biomethane potential and degradation extent of the rapidly biodegradable substrates in WAS, with the highest enhancement being approximately 78.9%, 44.5% and 45.0%, respectively, achieved at 2 g/g- TS diatomite. However, the slowly biodegradable substrates in WAS stayed relatively stable. The mechanism studies revealed that natural diatomite mitigated ammonia inhibition and enhanced electron transfer for WAS-to-methane conversion mediated by its strong adsorption capacity and conductivity. The versatility of the technology proposed is also verified by the diatomite mediated experiments using different natural diatomite from different sources. Compared to the most natural minerals, diatomite exhibited either a greater anaerobic digestion performance or a lower dosage, bringing strong benefits in economy, environment and technology.

In quest of meeting the requirements of sustainable development, coupling zero valent iron (ZVI) with microorganisms has attracted extensive attentions for enhancing biological wastewater and sludge treatment in terms of microbial growth, nutrients removal, and resources recovery. Given to the significant role of ZVI playing in biological wastewater and sludge treatment, a thorough evaluation of the associated interactions among ZVI and microorganisms is necessary to further scale-up the application of ZVI-based biotechnologies. To this end, this review comprehensively summarizes the mechanisms of ZVI for enhancing nutrients removal (i.e., C, N, S and P) in several typical biological wastewater treatment processes, discusses the role of ZVI in improving the excess sludge reduction by dewatering or anaerobic digestion for methane production, and analyzes the feasibility of recovering phosphorus from anaerobic sludge digestion system in the form of vivianite through using ZVI. Knowledge gaps regarding the application of ZVI in sludge or wastewater treatment are also identified in this review to facilitate the further development of the ZVI-based biological technology.

Biomass preheating in torrefaction at an industrial scale is possible through a direct contact with the hot gases released. However, their high water-content implies introducing moisture (around 20% v/v) in the torrefaction atmosphere, which may impact biomass thermochemical transformation. In this work, this situation was investigated for wheat straw, beech wood and pine forest residue in torrefaction in two complementary experimental devices. Firstly, experiments in chemical regime carried out in a thermogravimetric analyzer (TGA) showed that biomass degradation started from lower temperatures and was faster under a moist atmosphere (20% v/v water content) for all biomass samples. This suggests that moisture might promote biomass components&rsquo, degradation reactions from lower temperatures than those observed under a dry atmosphere. Furthermore, biomass inorganic composition might play a role in the extent of biomass degradation in torrefaction in the presence of moisture. Secondly, torrefaction experiments on a lab-scale device made possible to assess the influence of temperature and residence time under dry and 100% moist atmosphere. In this case, the difference in solid mass loss between dry and moist torrefaction was only significant for wheat straw. Globally, an effect of water vapor on biomass transformation through torrefaction was observed (maximum 10%db), which appeared to be dependent on the biomass type and composition.

Attached mass bioreactors have extensively been adopted in the last decades when specific needs have suggested this choice. Benefits and advantages of this multi-faceted technology in wastewater treatment processing are well known, along with the kinetic and mass transfer aspects regarding their operation, essentially belonging to the mass transfer with chemical reaction theory applied to enzymatic catalysis, referred to as Languimur-Hinshelwood kinetics, notably Monod/Michaelis Menten equations. On the other hand, a consolidated literature has dealt with many aspects of the development of strain colonies forming a biofilm. However, a few works have been devoted to the systematic analysis of its physiology, within the framework of the wastewater management of complex substrates and high-loads effluents. This article presents the experimental findings of a research activity covering the junction area between microbiology and bioreactor engineering, against a multifaceted set of operating parameters directly affecting health and stability of the attached biomass. In this respect, important results have been obtained, providing guidance on the attached mass reactor start-up, steady- state operation, impact of xenobiotic substrates, role of nutrients, filaments and foam formation, as well as qualitative aspects of the post-treatment effluent.

The exploitation of natural quarries generates a high amount of waste as a result of the extraction, screening and segmentation processes. These usually inert wastes are not typically reused and end up in landfills. There is an urgent need for sustainable solutions aiming at the valorisation of these mineral wastes through the development of innovative products with greater added value and active functionalities. In this work, the applicability of different mineral wastes was tested on the development of advanced active ecocomposites. Several formulations/ conditions, using green epoxy and polyester matrixes, were assessed in order to determine the reasonable production parameters. Additionally, two different antibacterial agents were added and the efficacy was tested. The overall mechanical performance of the ecocomposite was evaluated during every stage of development. The combination of dried sludge and green epoxy resin (SE_70), containing 70% of mineral waste, revealed to be most promising composition with interesting mechanical properties (tensile strength 91.63 ± 3.31 (MPa); strain (%) 0.69 ± 0.05; and Young’s modulus (GPa) 13.65 ± 0.64). The functionalization of these samples was successful and the antibacterial activity was confirmed. However, the active agent affected the short-term mechanical properties. Nevertheless, the QUV® accelerated weathering test confirmed that the main long-term properties were unaffected. Thus, it is concluded that mineral waste from quarry activities can be use in the development of new sustainable added value advanced products., This work was supported by Operational Programme “Regional Azores 2014–2020”, through project Basalt Waste Composite (ACORES01-0247-FEDER-000013), Portugal.

Combining natural materials and pretreatment processes with nanomaterials is an alternative to be evaluated for the increase in efficiency and cost reduction of water treatment processes. This work aimed to study the combination of pretreatment processes and primary treatments with bentonite impregnated with magnetic nanoparticles (Bentonite@MNPs) to reuse wastewater from the food indust|ry. Bentonite@MNPs were obtained by green synthesis using glucose as a reducing/stabilizing agent, and the nanocomposite was characterized by SEM, EDS, FTIR, VSM, and XRD analysis. The synthesized nanocomposite was used to remove nitrates and COD from wastewater from the production of guava bars that had been pretreated with coagulation-flocculation-sedimentation processes. Batch adsorption experiments were conducted, where the influence of several parameters such as contact time, adsorbent amount, and the temperature was studied. According to the results, the wastewater treated with the coagulation-flocculation-sedimentation processes was still outside the standards for agricultural reuse. After applying the treatment with Bentonite@MNPs, a reduction of COD, nitrates, chlorides, and sulfates of 82%, 75.4%, 98.18%, and 70%, respectively, was achieved. The adsorption isotherm data were best explained by the Langmuir model for COD, and Frendluich model for Nitrates and the adsorption capacity of Bentonite@MNPs for COD and Nitrates was 34.84 and 28.11 mg/g when adsorption temperature was 318 K. The results of thermodynamic studies (ΔG°, ΔH°, and ΔS°) showed the spontaneous, endothermic and randomness in the adsorption process. Desorption studies showed excellent regenerative efficiency (up to the 10th cycle) of nanocomposites using 0.01 M NaOH, so this wastewater treatment system for the food industry is promising to implement for the sake of using wastewater as a circular economy component.

Mediterranean countries produce up to 97% of the total global olive production. Besides being a serious environmental burden, olive mill waste represents a potential resource of useful materials for recovery and valorization. In this work, the adsorption characteristics and potential of bioadsorbent material manufactured by alkali treatment of olive cake was evaluated. The resultant bioadsorbent was able to purify biodiesel to meets both ASTM D6751 and EN 14214 standards. Further, the sorption equilibrium was investigated at 25 °C. Langmuir, Freundlich, and Temkin isotherms fit to the experimental data were evaluated by applying the non-linear Chi-square test. Freundlich and Temkin isotherms were shown to adequately described the adsorption isotherms of the produced bioadsorbent.

In this work, a novel delignification process was proposed for the fractionation of invasive species such as Acacia dealbata wood. Organosolv process catalyzed with an acidic ionic liquid, 1-butyl-3-methylimidazolium hydrosulfate was evaluated to obtain cellulose-enriched solids and liquid fractions rich in hemicelluloses derived compounds and lignin. Under selected operating conditions (190 °C, 60% ethanol, 60 min of reaction time and 0.6 g 1-butyl-3-methylimidazolium hydrosulfate/g wood), high solubilization of lignin and hemicelluloses and cellulose recovery (87.5%, 88.7% and 88.3%, respectively), with a pulp yield of 43.1% were achieved. Moreover, 62.6 % of lignin was recovered by precipitation from the black liquor (composed mainly by 4.43 g xylose/L, 7.66 g furfural/L and 3.59 g acetic acid/L). In addition, enzymatic digestibility of delignified wood was also assayed. Overall, this work presents an alternative biorefinery scheme based in the use of environmentally friendly solvent and catalyst for selective fractionation of A. dealbata wood., The authors acknowledge the financial support received from the Spanish “Ministry of Economy and Competitiveness” (Project CTQ2017-82962-R) and from “Xunta de Galicia” (GRC ED431C 2018/47 and Centro Singular de Investigación Biomédica “CINBIO”). These projects are partially funded by the FEDER Program of the European Union (“Unha maneira de facer Europa”). A. Romaní thanks BioTecNorte operation (NORTE-01–0145-FEDER-000004) funded by European Regional Development Fund under the scope of Norte2020 – Programa Operacional Regional do Norte., info:eu-repo/semantics/publishedVersion