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This paper is a contribution to the EUMETNET AutoPollen Programme, which is developing a prototype automatic pollen monitoring network in Europe covering all aspects of the information chain from measurements through to communicating information to the public., Background: Information about airborne pollen concentrations is required by a range of end users, particularly from the health sector who use both observations and forecasts to diagnose and treat allergic patients. Manual methods are the standard for such measurements but, despite the range of pollen taxa that can be identified, these techniques suffer from a range of drawbacks. This includes being available at low temporal resolution (usually daily averages) and with a delay (usually 3–9 days from the measurement). Recent technological developments have made possible automatic pollen measurements, which are available at high temporal resolution and in real time, although currently only scattered in a few locations across Europe. Materials & Methods: To promote the development of an extensive network across Europe and to ensure that this network will respond to end user needs, a stakeholder workshop was organised under the auspices of the EUMETNET AutoPollen Programme. Participants discussed requirements for the groups they represented, ranging from the need for information at various spatial scales, at high temporal resolution, and for targeted services to be developed. Results: The provision of real-time information is likely to lead to a notable decrease in the direct and indirect health costs associated with allergy in Europe, currently estimated between €50–150 billion/year.. Discussion & Conclusion: A European measurement network to meet end user requirements would thus more than pay for itself in terms of potential annual savings and provide significant impetus to research across a range of disciplines from climate science and public health to agriculture and environmental management.

Power transformers use Kraft paper, thermally upgraded Kraft and other polymeric papers (ex. Nomex) as the main solid insulation between the winding conductors. Dielectric oil used in transformers as an insulating and cooling fluid typically has an operating temperature range of 60–90 °C. These service temperatures can cause slow degradation of both the oil and the insulating paper winding, with a loss of mechanical and dielectric properties. In this sense, this work analyzes paper degradation through Young’s Modulus, yield stress, rupture strength and strain under ultimate strength. An accelerated thermal ageing of the paper in mineral oil was carried out at temperatures of 110, 130 and 150 °C over different periods of time, in order to obtain information on the kinetics of the ageing degradation of the paper. The evolution of the mechanical properties and micro mechanisms of paper failure are analysed as a function of temperature and ageing time. Finally, the results obtained are compared with the traditional method of degradation analysis, based on the degree of polymerisation measurement. The authors are grateful for the funding received to carry out this work from the State Scientific and Technical Research and Innovation Plan under the DPI2013-43897-P Grant Agreement, financed by the Government of Spain.

In the present study, the surface chemistry of fibres from different sources (groundwood, cotton linters, eucalyptus sulphate and a mixture of pine sulphate and spruce sulphate) was initially assessed via inverse gas chromatography. Significant differences were revealed among the four fibre types, especially between groundwood and the other three with regard to the surface energy and to the specific component of the work of adhesion of different polar probes. Moreover, the freeness value and the specific surface area of the diverse fractionated and unfractionated fibrous materials were investigated. In addition, the porosity and the pore size distribution of lab engineered paper sheets produced with the previously mentioned fibre sources were studied while modifying the fibre length and grammage. Novel approaches to modulate and control fluid transport in the lab-engineered paper substrates were introduced by using different fibre sources with the same freeness value, by fractionating the fibres before fabricating the paper substrates, and by changing the orientation of the fibres. The experimental results for our lab-engineered paper substrates and commercially available filter paper were compared with each other. Our findings suggest a considerable improvement in liquid transport velocity of tailor-made microfluidic paper based analytical devices with lab-engineered paper substrates. By altering the mentioned fibre and paper values, we managed to reduce or raise the capillary rise, which eventually allows us to modulate and control fluid flow in a more accurate and desirable way. Finally, changes in the fluid transport for paper substrates laid on materials with different water contact angles were tested. The obtained information thereby provides an alternative method to increase or decrease the capillary rise.

The purpose of this study is to investigate the composting performance of anaerobically treated palm oil mill effluent (AnPOME) mixed with paper and grass clippings. Composting was conducted using a laboratory scale system for 40 days. Several parameters were determined: temperature, mass reduction, pH, electrical conductivity, colour, zeta potential, phytotoxicity and final compost nutrients. The moisture content and compost mass were reduced by 24 and 18 %, respectively. Both final compost pH value and electrical conductivity were found to increase in value. Colour (measured as PtCo) was not suitable as a maturity indicator. The negative zeta potential values decreased from −12.25 to −21.80 mV. The phytotoxicity of the compost mixture was found to decrease in value during the process and the final nutrient value of the compost indicates its suitability as a soil conditioner. From this study, we conclude that the addition of paper and grass clippings can be a potential substrate to be composted with anaerobically treated palm oil mill effluent (AnPOME). The final compost produced is suitable for soil conditioner.

This paper describes the evaluation of carbon paper electrodes for supercapacitor applications. The electrodes are based on carbon micro-fiber paper modified with active material consisting of layers of silver nano-particulate ink and a nanocomposite of multi-walled carbon nanotubes and silver nano-particulate ink. The electrodes were characterized microscopically and electrically. Current–voltage studies revealed a consistent Ohmic behavior of the electrode when modified with different nanostructured active material. Among the active materials incorporated into the electrode, a nanocomposite of carbon nanotubes and silver nano-particulate ink significantly improved capacitance. The paper electrodes can be used for lightweight and ultrathin supercapacitors and other portable energy applications.

Continuous discharge of lignin containing colored wastewater from pulp paper mill into the environment has resulted in building up their high level in various aquatic systems. In this study, the chemical texture of kraft lignin in terms of pollution parameters (COD, TOC, BOD, etc.) was quite different and approximately twofold higher as compared to model lignin at same optical density (OD 3.7 at 465 nm) and lignin content (2000 mg/L). For comparative bacterial degradation and detoxification of model and kraft lignin two bacteria Citrobacter freundii and Serratia marcescens were isolated, screened and applied in axenic and mixed condition. Bacterial mixed culture was found to decolorize 87 and 70 % model and kraft lignin (2000 mg/L), respectively; whereas, axenic culture Citrobacter freundii and Serratia marcescens decolorized 64, 60 % model and 50, 55 % kraft lignin, respectively, at optimized condition (34 °C, pH 8.2, 140 rpm). In addition, the mixed bacterial culture also showed the removal of 76, 61 % TOC; 80, 67 % COD and 87, 65 % lignin from model and kraft lignin, respectively. High pollution parameters (like TOC, COD, BOD, sulphate) and toxic chemicals slow down the degradation of kraft lignin as compared to model lignin. The comparative GC–MS analysis has suggested that the interspecies collaboration, i.e., each bacterial strain in culture medium has cumulative enhancing effect on growth, and degradation of lignin rather than inhibition. Furthermore, toxicity evaluation on human keratinocyte cell line after bacterial treatment has supported the degradation and detoxification of model and kraft lignin.

This proposed method is a promising way, which can be implemented in pulp and paper industries by effective removal of the color and chemical oxygen demand (COD) and the resulting treated water may surely reuse to the other streams. Fourier Transformer Infra Red spectra confirmed the presence of the respective functional groups in the removed pollutants from the wastewater. The efficiency of Non-ferric Alum (NF Alum) and cationic polyacrylamide (C-PAM) with and without power boiler fly ash was also studied. The reduction efficiency of color and chemical oxygen demand (COD) is evaluated at the optimum dosage of NF Alum, fly ash, and C-PAM. At the optimized pH attained from these coagulants using to treat the wastewater, the flocs formation/settling and the pollutant removal efficiency are encouraging and the resulting color of the wastewater is to 40 PtCo units from 330 PtCo units and COD to 66 mg/L from 218 mg/L. While using NF Alum alone with C-PAM for the treatment of wastewater, the highest reduction efficiency of COD is 97 mg/L from 218 mg/L and the color is 60 from 330 PtCo units at pH 4.8 was noted. From these observations, NF Alum and power boiler fly ash with C-PAM can effectively remove the pollutants from the pulp and paper mill wastewater and the water can be reused for other streams.

The present investigation describes the conversion of waste product into effective adsorbent and its application for the treatment of wastewater, i.e., chemically modified solid waste from paper industry has been tested for its adsorption ability for the successful removal of Rhodamine B dye from its aqueous solution. The adsorption isotherm, kinetics and thermodynamic parameters of process have been determined by monitoring the different parameters, such as effect of pH, amount of adsorbent dose, concentration, contact time and temperature. The equilibrium data has been well described on the basis of various adsorption isotherms, namely Langmuir, Freundlich and Temkin adsorption isotherm. From Langmuir isotherm, the maximum monolayer adsorption capacity has been found to be 6.711 mg g−1 at 308 K temperature. The kinetics of adsorption has been studied using pseudo-first order, pseudo-second order and intra-particle diffusion model and the results show that kinetics has been well described by pseudo-second order. Thermodynamic parameters, such as free energy change (ΔG), enthalpy change (ΔH) and entropy change (ΔS), have been evaluated. The free energy has been obtained as −11.9452 kJ mol−1 for 75 mg L−1 concentration at 308 K temperature. Desorption and recycling efficiency of adsorbent has been studied and the adsorbent shows good recycling efficiency.

Background The aim of this study was to determine the potential of produced compost from the sludge of wastewater treatment plant using earthworms and compare it with the vermicompost produced from household solid waste. Methods In the current study, three treatments with the same conditions in terms of organic wastes type were prepared to produce vermicompost from household solid waste and sewage sludges using earthworms. The standard methods were used to determine the physical and chemical parameters in the different produced vermicomposts. Results The mean of C/N in the household solid waste, raw biological and chemical sludges was 32, 22.5, and 26.5, respectively. These levels were 16.5, 14.5, and 15 in the vermicomposts. The mean of nitrogen and phosphorus percentages in the vermicompost of solid waste, biological and chemical sludges was 2.2%, 2.6%, 2.3% and 0.72%, 0.54%, and 0.56%, respectively. The mean percentages of organic matters in the initial substrates and vermicomposts of solid waste, biological and chemical sludges were 97.2%, 90%, 80.5% and 65.8%, 67.8% and 63% respectively. The concentrations of heavy metals decreased in all vermicomposts. The EC levels in solid waste, biological and chemical sludges were 1459, 1041, and 1487 μs/cm, respectively. These levels were 544, 385 and 635 μs/cm in the produced compost. Conclusion Eisenia fetida can convert household solid waste, and biological and chemical sludges produced from wastewater treatment plant into a high-quality and acceptable compost.

In this study we consider a model of wet pressing of paper. We use the techniques and results from the first part of this paper, where a simplified model is studied in details. The model is, using suitable transformation, rewritten in the standard parabolic-hyperbolic form. Numerical solution for typical example is given and the effects of plastic deformations of paper are investigated. Finally, the model is employed to adres the problem of choosing an optimal pressing regime.

Mass deacidification has been an important topic in cellulose science and will continue to be a critical issue as long as acidic books and paper-based materials are—a often major—part of library and archive stocks. Different means are available to judge the result of a deacidification treatment and to address its sustainability and efficacy. The present study compares deacidification by dispersed particles with procedures that apply homogeneously dissolved alkaline compounds, both under humid and dry accelerated aging conditions. Analysis by size-exclusion chromatography coupled to light scattering detection is used in combination with accelerated aging. The number of chain scissions, i.e. cellulose degradation, is the parameter used for evaluation, expressed as stabilization factors relative to the non-treated specimen. Upon deacidification with homogeneous solutions stability factors of about four were reached, while deacidification with dispersed particles gave only two times longer life times (stability factor of two). Mechanistic aspects are discussed in terms of alkaline reserve, cellulose degradation and mobilities of deacidification agents.

The suitability of paper-based arrays for biofilm formation studies by Staphylococcus aureus is demonstrated. Laboratory-coated papers with different physicochemical properties were used as substrates. The array platform was fabricated by patterning the coated papers with vinyl-substituted polydimethylsiloxane (PDMS) -based ink. The affinity of bacteria onto the flexographically printed hydrophobic and smooth PDMS film was very low whereas bacterial adhesion and biofilm formation occurred preferentially on the unprinted areas, i.e. in the reaction arrays. The concentration of the attached bacteria was quantified by determining the viable colony forming unit (CFU/cm(2)) numbers. The distribution and the extent of surface coverage of the biofilms were determined by atomic force microscopy. In static conditions, the highest bacterial concentration and most highly organized biofilms were observed on substrates with high polarity. On a rough paper surface with low polarity, the biofilm formation was most hindered. Biofilms were effectively removed from a polar substrate upon exposure to (+)-dehydroabietic acid, an anti-biofilm compound.

A Fe2O3–biochar nano-composite (Fe2O3–BC) was prepared from FeCl3-impregnated pulp and paper sludge (PPS) by pyrolysis at 750 °C. The characteristics and methyl orange (MO) adsorption capacity of Fe2O3–BC were compared to that of unactivated biochar (BC). X-ray diffraction (XRD) and scanning electron microscopy (SEM) confirmed the composite material was nano-sized. Fourier transform infrared (FTIR) spectroscopy revealed the presence of hydroxyl and aromatic groups on BC and on Fe2O3–BC, but Brunauer–Emmett–Teller (BET) surface area and Barrett–Joyner–Halenda (BJH) porosity were lower for Fe2O3–BC than BC. Despite the lower BET surface area and porosity of Fe2O3–BC, its MO adsorption capacity was 52.79 % higher than that of BC. The equilibrium adsorption data were best represented by the Freundlich model with a maximum adsorption capacity of 20.53 mg g−1 at pH 8 and 30 min contact time. MO adsorption obeyed pseudo-second-order kinetics for both BC and Fe2O3–BC with R 2 values of 0.996 and 0.999, respectively. Higher MO adsorption capacity for Fe2O3–BC was attributed to the hybrid nature of the nano-composites; adsorption occurred on both biochar matrix and Fe2O3 nanocrystals. Gibbs free energy calculations confirmed the adsorption is energetically favourable and spontaneous with a high preference for adsorption on both adsorbents. The nano-composite can be used for the efficient removal of MO (>97 %) from contaminated wastewater.

In this work, we design and fabricate a wireless system with the main operating device based on zinc oxide (ZnO) nanowires. The main operating device is based on piezoelectric nanogenerator (NG) achieved using ZnO nanowires grown hydrothermally on paper substrate. The fabricated NG is capable of harvesting ambient mechanical energy from various kinds of human motion, e.g., footsteps. The harvested electric output has been used to serve as a self-powered pressure sensor. Without any storage device, the signal from a single footstep has successfully triggered a wireless sensor node circuit. This study demonstrates the feasibility of using ZnO nanowire piezoelectric NG as a low-frequency self-powered sensor, with potential applications in wireless sensor networks. Funding Agencies|CeNano grant; Swedish Government strategic research area in material science on functional materials at Linkoping University (Faculty Grant SFO-Mat-LiU) [2009-00971]

Hyperthermophilic pretreatment (80 °C, 24 h) is a technology that promotes methane yield in the anaerobic digestion of sewage sludge. However, little information is available on the characteristics of sludge anaerobically digested with hyperthermophilic pretreatment as a fertilizer and on the environmental impact of using the sludge as a fertilizer. In this study, we conducted incubation experiments to examine the characteristics of methane production and nitrogen mineralization in paddy soil treated with sludge from anaerobic digestion that was enhanced by hyperthermophilic pretreatment. Sludge samples digested under 15, 25, 30 and 35 °C with and without hyperthermophilic pretreatment were used. Sixty-mL vials were used in the experiment. Each vial was filled with 5 g of air-dried paddy soil, 10 mL of degassed water and digested sludge. It was then covered with a butyl rubber stopper, its headspace air was replaced by N2, and it was incubated at 30 °C. Methane concentrations in the headspace of the vials were measured after 7, 14, 28, 46, 57, 70 and 84 days. NH4-N concentrations in the soil were also measured after 0, 14, 28 and 84 days. The results indicated that relatively more methane tended to be produced in soil treated with sludge from anaerobic digestion that was enhanced by hyperthermophilic pretreatment than in non-pretreated sludge. On the other hand, a small amount of NH4-N was released from sludge digested with hyperthermophilic pretreatment at all digestion temperatures because organic nitrogen had been decomposed under hyperthermophilic pretreatment. Therefore, the appropriate application rate of sludge digested with hyperthermophilic pretreatment can be determined based on NH4-N in digested sludge without consideration of nitrogen mineralized after application when the sludge is used as a fertilizer.

Producción Científica, Microalgae-based technologies, usually configured as high rate algal ponds (HRAP), are efficient, sustainable, and cost-effective alternatives for wastewater treatment due to their high removal efficiencies at low energy demand, ability to recover nutrients and ease of operation. HRAPs and other photobioreactors have been intensively studied in recent years for the treatment of high-strength wastewaters, which are mainly characterised by high and unbalanced (in terms of microalgae requirements) concentrations of organic carbon and nutrients. This review critically evaluated research papers that used microalgae-based systems for the removal of carbon and nitrogen from high-strength wastewaters. These systems can provide removal efficiencies up to 100% for organic matter and ammonium nitrogen. Relatively large area requirements, high evaporative losses, ammonia inhibition, poor light penetration and scattering, carbon dioxide limitation, and unbalanced nutrient ratios rank among the main current limitations of these technologies. Optimisation strategies, including modifications in bioreactor design and operation, can broaden their full-scale application for the treatment of high strength wastewaters., Conselho Nacional de Desenvolvimento Científico e Tecnológico—CNPq (Grant number 141428/2016-3), Global Challenges Research Fund (United Kingdom, grant GCRFNGR4-1207), Junta de Castilla y León y el Programa Europeo FEDER (CLU 2017-09)

Reactivity of dissolving pulp is one of the main parameters to determine its availability to be transformed into viscose. It is related to the use of carbon disulphide (CS2). An industrial sequential totally chlorine free bleaching process is used as case study. It is carried out in two stages: (1) Alkaline extraction (EOP) and (2) peroxide bleaching (PO). In order to assess how to decrease the use of carbon disulphide, several experiments were performed at laboratory scale for the two stages mentioned before by modifying the operating conditions: NaOH and H2O2 dosages, time and temperature. Reactivity using a modified Fock’s method and pentosan content was analysed along with quality pulp parameters: α-cellulose, viscosity and lignin content (kappa number). Results showed that reactivity increases through the bleaching process and varies with the chemical dosage in both stages. Pulp obtained at the best conditions had the following characteristics: reactivity, 95.3%; α-cellulose 91.17%; intrinsic viscosity, 448 mL/g; kappa number, 1.81 and pentosan content 2.86%, and as a result, CS2 usage was reduced by 11.88%. At the best conditions obtained in this work, NaOH dosage in PO stage was reduced to zero and temperature was slightly lower, when compared with industrial operating conditions.

12 Páginas.-- 3 Figuras.-- 5 Tablas, The biomass valorisation of the invasive brown alga Rugulopteryx okamurae (Dictyotales, Phaeophyceae) is key to curbing the expansion of this invasive macroalga which is generating tonnes of biomass on southern Spain beaches. As a feasible alternative for the biomass management, anaerobic co-digestion is proposed in this study. Although the anaerobic digestion of macroalgae barely produced 177 mL of CH g VS, the co-digestion with a C-rich substrate, such as the olive mill solid waste (OMSW, the main waste derived from the two-phase olive oil manufacturing process), improved the anaerobic digestion process. The mixture improved not only the methane yield, but also its biodegradability. The highest biodegradability was found in the mixture 1 R. okamurae—1 OMSW, which improved the biodegradability of the macroalgae by 12.9% and 38.1% for the OMSW. The highest methane yield was observed for the mixture 1 R. okamurae—3 OMSW, improving the methane production of macroalgae alone by 157% and the OMSW methane production by 8.6%. Two mathematical models were used to fit the experimental data of methane production time with the aim of assessing the processes and obtaining the kinetic constants of the anaerobic co-digestion of different combination of R. okamurae and OMSW and both substrates independently. First-order kinetic and the transference function models allowed for appropriately fitting the experimental results of methane production with digestion time. The specific rate constant, k (first-order model) for the mixture 1 R. okamurae- 1.5 OMSW, was 5.1 and 1.3 times higher than that obtained for the mono-digestion of single OMSW and the macroalga, respectively. In the same way, the transference function model revealed that the maximum methane production rate (R) was also found for the mixture 1 R. okamurae—1.5 OMSW (30.4 mL CH g VS day), which was 1.6 and 2.2 times higher than the corresponding to the mono-digestions of the single OMSW and sole R. okamurae (18.9 and 13.6 mL CH g VS day), respectively., Open A ccess funding provided thanks to the CRUE-CSIC agreement with Springer Nature. This study was financed by the Spanish Ministry of Science and Innovation through Project PID2020-114975RB-100

Carotenoids are health promoting compounds which bioavailability depends on their release from the intracellular compartments. The aim of this study was to evaluate the effect of the application of different levels of pressure, time and temperature in High Hydrostatic Pressure-Assisted Extraction (HHPAE) processes, and the use of soybean and sunflower oils on the extraction yield of carotenoids present in papaya pulp and peel. . Papaya (pulp and peel) as source of carotenoids and soybean and sunflower oils as eco-friendly solvents were used. The effects of temperature, pressure and time (20–40 °C, 300–500 MPa and 2–8 min) on the carotenoid extraction yield were studied applying a central composite experimental design. Carotenoids and esters in papaya were analysed by high performance liquid chromatography (HPLC-DAD-MS/MS) and by spectrophotometric methods. The main carotenoids found in carotenoid-rich oils were (all-E)-lycopene, (13Z)-lycopene isomer, β-carotene, (all-E)-β-cryptoxanthin and xanthophyll esters as (all-E)-β-cryptoxanthin caprate, (all-E)-β-cryptoxanthin laurate and (all-E)-β-cryptoxanthin myristate. The optimal extraction condition was obtained at 400 MPa, 40.5 °C for 5 min, with the highest (all-E)-lycopene extraction yield (99.1%) from papaya pulp using soybean oil. The highest (all-E)-β-carotene (14.0%) and (all-E)-β-cryptoxanthin (19.3%) extraction yields were obtained from peel extracts at 500 MPa, 35 °C for 2 min using soybean oil and 400 MPa, 27.5 °C for 5 min using sunflower oil, respectively. The results showed that carotenoid extraction yields in papaya pulp and peel extracts were higher applying mild pressures (300–400 MPa). Low xanthophyll and xanthophyll esters extraction efficiency (0.8–3.1%) was observed due to the low polarity of the vegetable oils., This research was funded by the Spanish Ministry of Science and Innovation (Spain), through project number RTA2015-00044-C02-02 and the Tecnológico de Monterrey, Mexico (FunFoodEmertec). Author Sara Lara-Abia received financial support from Tecnológico de Monterrey (México) (Research Chair Funds CAT-200) and CONACYT-SEP (Research Project 101700 and Doctoral Scholarship no. 895077).

A non-ionic hydrophobic natural deep eutectic solvent (HNADES) based on thymol and menthol was proposed for the liquid-liquid microextraction of fourteen phthalates and one adipate from environmental water samples. Separation, identification, and quantification were achieved by ultra-high-performance liquid chromatography coupled to tandem mass spectrometry. The main factors affecting the extraction efficiency were thoroughly studied. Sample pH of 8 and 100 μL of thymol:menthol at molar ratio 2:1 were selected as the best conditions, while ionic strength and type of dispersant solvent were not relevant for the extraction of the target compounds. The whole methodology was validated for treated wastewater, runoff, and pond water matrices, using di-n-butyl phthalate-3,4,5,6-d4 and dihexyl phthalate-3,4,5,6-d4 as surrogates. Recovery ranged from 70 to 127% with relative standard deviation values lower than 14%. Limits of quantification of the method were in the range 0.042–0.425 μg/L for treated wastewater, 0.015–0.386 μg/L for runoff, and 0.013–0.376 μg/L for pond water. The methodology was applied for the analysis of real treated wastewater, runoff, and pond water samples from different places of Tenerife and Gran Canaria (Canary Islands) finding the presence of diethyl phthalate, diallyl phthalate, dipropyl phthalate, benzylbutyl phthalate, di-n-butyl phthalate, bis-(2-n-butoxyethyl) phthalate, di-n-pentyl phthalate, dicyclohexyl phthalate, and bis-(2-ethylhexyl) phthalate at concentrations between 105.2 and 3414 ng/L., Á. Santana-Mayor and R. Rodríguez-Ramos would like to thank the Canary Agency of Economy, Industry, Trade and Knowledge of the Government of the Canary Islands for the FPI fellowship (co-financed with an 85% from European Social Funds). B. Socas-Rodríguez would like to thank the Spanish Ministry of Science, Innovation and Universities for her “Juan de la Cierva” postdoctoral grant. This work has been supported by the Spanish Ministry of Economy, Industry and Competitiveness (project AGL2017-89257-P).

4 figures.-- Supplementary information available., Lignocellulose based nanomaterials are emerging green biosolids commonly obtained from wood pulp. Alternative feedstocks, such as as unavoidable food waste, are interesting resources for nano/microfibers. This research reports the production and characterization of microfibrillated lignocellulose (MFLC) from cassava peel (CP) and almond hull (AH) via acid-free microwave-assisted hydrothermal treatment (MHT) at different temperatures (120–220 °C). During processing, the structural changes were tracked by ATR-IR, TGA, XRD, 13C CPMAS NMR, zeta potential, HPLC, elemental analysis (CHN; carbon, hydrogen and nitrogen), TEM and SEM analyses. The microwave processing temperature and nature of feedstock exerted a significant influence on the yields and properties of the MFLCs produced. The MFLC yields from CP and AH shifted by 15–49% and 31–73%, respectively. Increasing the MHT temperature substantially affected the crystallinity index (13–66% for CP and 36–62% for AH) and thermal stability (300–374 °C for CP and 300–364 °C for AH) of the MFLCs produced. This suggested that the MFLC from CP is more fragile and brittle than that produced from AH. These phenomena influenced the gelation capabilities of the fibers. AH MFLC pretreated with ethanol at low temperature gave better film-forming capabilities, while untreated and heptane pretreated materials formed stable hydrogels at solid concentration (2% w/v). At high processing temperatures, the microfibrils were separated into elementary fibers, regardless of pretreatment or feedstock type. Given these data, this work demonstrates that the acid-free MHT processing of CP and AH is a facile method for producing MFLC with potential applications, including adsorption, packaging and the production of nanocomposites and personal care rheology modifiers., PS would like to thank Lembaga Pengelola Dana Pendidikan (LPDP) scholarship, Ministry of Finance, Indonesia, for financial support for PhD study under the guidance of ASM. JR would like to express his gratitude to the Spanish Ministry of Science, Innovation and Universities for the Juan de la Cierva fellowships (FJCI-2016-30847 and IJC2018-037110-I) awarded. ASM acknowledges the EPSRC (Whole systems understanding of unavoidable food supply chain wastes for re-nutrition EP/P008771/1) for funding TD for Postdoctoral study.

Background Consolidated bioprocessing, which combines saccharolytic and fermentative abilities in a single microorganism, is receiving increased attention to decrease environmental and economic costs in lignocellulosic biorefineries. Nevertheless, the economic viability of lignocellulosic ethanol is also dependent of an efficient utilization of the hemicellulosic fraction, which contains xylose as a major component in concentrations that can reach up to 40% of the total biomass in hardwoods and agricultural residues. This major bottleneck is mainly due to the necessity of chemical/enzymatic treatments to hydrolyze hemicellulose into fermentable sugars and to the fact that xylose is not readily consumed by Saccharomyces cerevisiaethe most used organism for large-scale ethanol production. In this work, industrial S. cerevisiae strains, presenting robust traits such as thermotolerance and improved resistance to inhibitors, were evaluated as hosts for the cell-surface display of hemicellulolytic enzymes and optimized xylose assimilation, aiming at the development of whole-cell biocatalysts for consolidated bioprocessing of corn cob-derived hemicellulose. Results These modifications allowed the direct production of ethanol from non-detoxified hemicellulosic liquor obtained by hydrothermal pretreatment of corn cob, reaching an ethanol titer of 11.1 g/L corresponding to a yield of 0.328 g/g of potential xylose and glucose, without the need for external hydrolytic catalysts. Also, consolidated bioprocessing of pretreated corn cob was found to be more efficient for hemicellulosic ethanol production than simultaneous saccharification and fermentation with addition of commercial hemicellulases. Conclusions These results show the potential of industrial S. cerevisiae strains for the design of whole-cell biocatalysts and paves the way for the development of more efficient consolidated bioprocesses for lignocellulosic biomass valorization, further decreasing environmental and economic costs., This work has been carried out at the Biomass and Bioenergy Research Infrastructure (BBRI)-LISBOA-01-0145-FEDER-022059, supported by Operational Programme for Competitiveness and Internationalization (PORTUGAL2020), by Lisbon Portugal Regional Operational Programme (Lisboa 2020) and by North Portugal Regional Operational Programme (Norte 2020) under the Portugal 2020 Partnership Agreement, through the European Regional Development Fund (ERDF) and has been supported by the Portuguese Foundation for Science and Technology (FCT) under the scope of the strategic funding of UIDB/04469/2020, the “Contrato-Programa” UIDB/04050/2020, the MIT-Portugal Program (Ph.D. Grant PD/BD/128247/2016 to Joana T. Cunha) and through Project FatVal (POCI-01-0145-FEDER-032506) and BioTecNorte operation (NORTE-01-0145-FEDER-000004) funded by the European Regional Development Fund under the scope of Norte2020 - Programa Operacional Regional do Norte., info:eu-repo/semantics/publishedVersion

Two culture media were tested for the production of bacterial nanocellulose (BNC) under static culture fermentation, one containing molasses (Mol-HS), the other molasses and corn steep liquor (Mol-CSL), as a source of carbon and nitrogen, respectively. These are low-cost nutrients widely available, which provide very good BNC productivities. However, the use of these substrates generates wastewaters with high organic loads. Anaerobic digestion is one of the most promising treatments for industrial wastewaters with high organic loads since, beyond removal of the organic matter, it generates energy, in form of biogas. The wastewaters from BNC fermentation were thus evaluated for their biochemical methane potential through anaerobic digestion. For this, two wastewaters streams were collected: (i) the culture medium obtained after fermentation (WaF) and (ii) the WaF combined with BNC washing wastewaters (WaW). These two effluents--WaF and WaW--were characterized regarding their chemical oxygen demand, total nitrogen, total and volatile solids, to assess their suitability for anaerobic digestion. The biochemical methane potential of WaF and WaW from Mol-CSL wastewaters was (387?\textpm?14 L kg?1 VS) and (354?\textpm?4 L kg?1 VS), corresponding to a methanization percentage of (86.9?\textpm?3.1) \% and (79.5?\textpm?0.9) \%, respectively. After treatment, the chemical oxygen demand of WaF and WaW was reduced by (89.2?\textpm?0.4) and (88.7?\textpm?1.5), respectively. An exploratory test using an Upflow Anaerobic Sludge Blanket reactor for WaW treatment was also performed. The reactor was operated with a?organic loading rate of [(6.5?\textpm?0.1) g L?1?d?1] and hydraulic retention time of 3.33 days, allowing a chemical oxygen demand removal of 58\% of WaW. Results here obtained demonstrate, for the first time, the high potential of AD for the valorisation of the BNC fermentation wastewaters., This study was supported by the Portuguese Foundation for Science and Technology (FCT) under the scope of the strategic funding of UID/BIO/04469/2019 unit and COMPETE 2020 (POCI-01-0145-FEDER-006684) and Multibiorefinery PAC (SAICTPAC/0040/2015) and BioTecNorte operation (NORTE-01-0145-FEDER-000004) funded by the European Regional Development Fund under the scope of Norte2020—Programa Operacional Regional do Norte. The authors thank the support through the project n8 03435: ‘‘BUILD—Bacterial cellulose Leather’’, funded by Fundo Europeu de Desenvolvimento Regional (FEDER) through the Programa Operacional do Regional do Norte (NORTE 2020).The authors also acknowledge the financial support of the FCT (ESF) through the grant given to J.V. Oliveira (SFRH/BD/111911/2015)., info:eu-repo/semantics/publishedVersion

The use of phytoremediation to remove metals of contaminated soils is an interesting technique that is usually limited by adverse physical and chemical properties of this type of soils. The addition of biochar produced from manure waste could improve soil properties due to its nutrient content, high cation exchange capacity or water holding capacity. However, the high water content of manure wastes precludes its pyrolysis treatment use for biochar production, without a previous drying step. Indeed, hydrothermal carbonization (HTC) of manure wastes could be an adequate treatment method as it takes place in water solution. The product obtained after HTC of biomass, named hydrochar, exhibits different physiochemical properties than biochar that could affect their potential application. The objective of the present work is to study the effect of chars obtained by pyrolysis or HTC of manure wastes in mining soil phytoremediation with Sinapis alba. Two selected mining soils (PORT and GAM) were treated with two manure biochars prepared at 450 °C (BMW450) and 600 °C (BMW600), two hydrochars prepared by HTC of manure at 190 °C (HWM190) and 240 °C (HMW240) and raw manure waste (MW) at a rate of 10% in mass. Later, different soil samples were incubated with or without Sinapis alba growth. Experimental results shown that properties of chars have a great influence on the efficiency of the use of Sinapis alba in the phytoremediation of mining soils. The addition of BMW600 and raw material (MW) increased the production of aerial and root biomass for GAM soil. For PORT soil, HMW190, two biochars and MW increases root and aerial biomass whereas HMW240 only produces an increment on aerial biomass. Addition of two hydrochars and MW had a positive effect on the biochemical soil activities and the highest microbial biomass carbon of GAM and PORT soil samples was observed after addition of HMW190. Finally, the addition of biochars and hydrochars could improve the phytoremediation of mining soils by Sinapis alba. However, the heavy metal uptake greatly depends on the type of soil, the amendment and the target metal. The accumulation of As, Pb and Zn in the aerial part of Sinapis alba was very low. However, Sinapis alba acts as accumulator for As in the presence of BMW600 and HMW190, for Zn after amendment with HM190 and for Pb after BMW600 addition to PORT soil. For GAM soil, only the addition of BMW450 and BM600 improves the capacity of accumulation of As in roots., Authors want to thank to Spanish Ministerio de Economía y Competitividad “Retos Investigación 2014” for the economic support (CGL2014-58322-R).

In some areas of Vietnam, digested slurry from biogas digesters is discharged into canals without wastewater treatment. In order to reduce environmental pollution, utilization of digested slurry as a fertilizer in paddy fields is one promising measure. NH3 in the digested slurry is easily volatilized after application. Therefore, NH3 volatilization is a key factor for fertilizer design. In this study, we conducted laboratory experiments to examine the characteristics and mechanism of NH3 volatilization from Vietnamese paddy soil (acid sulfate soil) following application of digested slurry with the overall goal of evaluating digested slurry as a fertilizer. Incubation experiments under flooded conditions were conducted with Vietnamese acid sulfate soil and Japanese soil. Six fertilizer treatments were carried out, namely Vietnamese soil with no fertilizer, Vietnamese soil with urea, Vietnamese soil with digested slurry, Vietnamese soil with half the amount of digested slurry, Japanese soil with no fertilizer, and Japanese soil with digested slurry. pH, NHx–N, and SO4 2− in the floodwater and NH3 volatilization fluxes were measured for 1 week after application of digested slurry or urea. The results indicated that the amount of NH3 volatilization in Vietnamese soil is small compared to Japanese soil because the pH of floodwater from Vietnamese soil remains low (3.7–7.6) due to oxidation of pyrite, and this low pH inhibits NH3 volatilization. Therefore, we conclude that NHX–N in digested slurry can be efficiently utilized as a fertilizer in Vietnamese paddy fields with acid sulfate soils. Moreover, the results also indicate that relatively more NH3 is volatilized even in Vietnamese soil by the slowdown in pyrite oxidation and the buffering capacity of digested slurry when much digested slurry is applied. Therefore, NH3 volatilization can be reduced using methods such as a split application to maintain low floodwater pH.

The establishment of a reference method for the determination of the allergen protein content in a processed food material has been explored. An analytical approach was developed to enable the comparability of food allergen measurement results expressed in a decision-relevant manner. A proof of concept is here presented, resulting in quantity values for the common measurand, namely ‘mass of total allergen protein per mass of food’. The quantities are determined with SI traceability to enable the comparability of reported results. A method for the quantification of total milk protein content in an incurred baked food at a concentration level clinically relevant is presented. The strategy on how to obtain the final analytical result is outlined. Challenges associated with this method are discussed, in particular the optimal extraction of the marker proteins, the complete digestion and release of the peptides in an equimolar fashion, the use of conversion factors to translate the amount of measured proteins into total milk protein and the estimation of the uncertainty contributions as well as of the combined uncertainty of the final result. The implementation of such a reference method for the determination of the total allergen content in a processed food is an important step, which will provide comparable measurement data of relevance to risk assessors. Graphical abstract Electronic supplementary material The online version of this article (10.1007/s00216-020-02959-0) contains supplementary material, which is available to authorized users.

Reindeer (Rangifer tarandus) have evolved elaborate nasal turbinate structures that are perfused via a complex vascular network. These are subject to thermoregulatory control, shifting between heat conservation and dissipation, according to the animal’s needs. The three-dimensional design of the turbinate structures is essential in the sense that they determine the efciency with which heat and water are transferred between the structure and the respired air. The turbinates have already a relatively large surface area at birth, but the structures have yet not reached the complexity of the mature animal. The aim of this study was to elucidate the structure–function relationship of the heat exchange process. We have used morphometric and physiological data from newborn reindeer calves to construct a thermodynamic model for respiratory heat and water exchange and present novel results for the simulated respiratory energy losses of calves in the cold. While the mature reindeer efectively conserves heat and water through nasal counter-current heat exchange, the nose of the calf has not yet attained a similar efciency. We speculate that this is probably related to structure-size limitations and more favourable climate conditions during early life. The fully developed structure–function relationship may serve as inspiration for engineering design. Simulations of diferent extents of mucosal vascularization suggest that the abundance and pattern of perfusion of veins in the reindeer nasal mucosa may contribute to the control of temperature profles, such that nasal cavity tissue is sufciently warm, but not excessively so, keeping heat dissipation within limits. Open Access This article is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International License, which permits use, sharing, adaptation, distribution and reproduction in any medium or format, as long as you give appropriate credit to the original author(s) and the source, provide a link to the Creative Commons licence, and indicate if changes were made. The images or other third party material in this article are included in the article's Creative Commons licence, unless indicated otherwise in a credit line to the material. If material is not included in the article's Creative Commons licence and your intended use is not permitted by statutory regulation or exceeds the permitted use, you will need to obtain permission directly from the copyright holder. To view a copy of this licence, visit http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/.

The main goal of this work was to produce an easily recoverable waste-based magnetic activated carbon (MAC) for an efficient removal of the antiepileptic pharmaceutical carbamazepine (CBZ) from wastewater. For this purpose, the synthesis procedure was optimized and a material (MAC4) providing immediate recuperation from solution, remarkable adsorptive performance and relevant properties (specific surface area of 551 m g and saturation magnetization of 39.84 emu g) was selected for further CBZ kinetic and equilibrium adsorption studies. MAC4 presented fast CBZ adsorption rates and short equilibrium times (< 30–45 min) in both ultrapure water and wastewater. Equilibrium studies showed that MAC4 attained maximum adsorption capacities (q) of 68 ± 4 mg g in ultrapure water and 60 ± 3 mg g in wastewater, suggesting no significant interference of the aqueous matrix in the adsorption process. Overall, this work provides evidence of potential application of a waste-based MAC in the tertiary treatment of wastewaters. [Figure not available: see fulltext.]., This work is a contribution to the project WasteMAC (POCI-01-0145-FEDER-028598) funded by FCT – Fundação para a Ciência e a Tecnologia, I.P., through national funds, and the co-funding by the FEDER, within the PT2020 Partnership Agreement and Compete 2020. Thanks are also due for the financial support to CESAM (UID/AMB/50017/2019), to FCT/MCTES through national funds, and the co-funding by the FEDER, within the PT2020 Partnership Agreement and Compete 2020. Marta Otero and Diogo Pereira thank FCT funding through IF Program (IF/00314/2015). Vânia Calisto is thankful to FCT for the Scientific Employment Stimulus support (CEECIND/00007/2017). María V. Gil acknowledges support from a Ramón y Cajal grant (RYC-2017-21937) of the Spanish government, co-financed by the European Social Fund (ESF).

Electronic supplementary material The online version of this article (https://doi.org/10.1007/s00449-019-02245-z) contains supplementary material, which is available to authorized users., Laccases are very interesting biocatalysts of recognized importance for several industrial applications. Its production by Trametes versicolor, a white-rot fungus, was induced by a combination of cotton gin wastes (1\%), a lignocellulosic waste, and vinasse (15\%), an industrial by-product from sugarcane industry. The use of these agro-industrial wastes are interesting, since it helps in reducing the enzyme production costs, due to their low cost and wide availability, as well as the environmental contamination issues, due to their improper disposal. Thus, laccase production was studied in submerged fermentation of T. versicolor using these agro-industrial wastes (cotton gin waste and vinasse) as carbon source and an additional nitrogen source (0.1\\% peptone). Three different bioreactors were evaluated for laccase production, such as BioFlo 310 bioreactor, aluminium tray and Erlenmeyer flasks to achieve high levels of laccase production. The highest specific production of laccase was found in BioFlo 310 bioreactor with 12 days of fermentation (55.24 U/mg prot.), which has been shown to be closely related to the oxygen supply to the microorganism through aeration of the fermentation medium. This study brings new insights into green biotechnology regarding vinasse utilization, which is frequently discharged in soils, rivers, and lakes causing adverse effects on agricultural soils and biota, as well as the cotton gin waste recovery., The authors are grateful to Mariana Cereia and Maurício de Oliveira for their technical assistance. This work was supported by Fundação de Amparo à Pesquisa do Estado de São Paulo (FAPESP, processes 2010/52322-3; 2014/50884-5; 2018/07522-6), and V. E. P. was the recipient of a FAPESP fellowship (Process 2015/23200-0)., info:eu-repo/semantics/publishedVersion

Choline chloride-based deep eutectic solvents are widely used in biomass processing. In this work, four different green solvent mixtures were used as pre-treatment of acid sulphite dissolving pulp with the hypothesis of increasing the possibilities to produce viscose fibres and decreasing the use of the harmful and toxic carbon disulphide in the process. The experiments were performed at two different pulp to solvent mass ratios. Pulp quality parameters were also measured to determine the suitability of the pre-treatment: α-cellulose, viscosity, lignin and pentosan content. In addition, X-ray diffraction analysis of pulps at the best solid to liquid ratio was performed to obtain the influence of the crystallinity index. Best results were obtained with the use of lactic acid, with reactivity values close to 94%, giving a reduction of CS2 usage of 15.83%. Furthermore, a linear relationship between the crystallinity index calculated by the XRD and reactivity with a regression factor of 0.87 was found.

Edible insects have been advocated as a means to combat food insecurity, which is prevalent in West Africa. In this study we look at the contribution of the shea caterpillar Cirina butyrospermi, colloquially known as ‘chitoumou’, to the food security of smallholder households in rural southwestern Burkina Faso. We used a mixed methods approach to understand the relationship between caterpillar collection, consumption, and sale by smallholder households, and their seasonal food security status. We found that caterpillars are an important source of food and income for households, significantly increasing the household consumption of animal protein and, with shea nuts, representing the main income source for the majority of women. We also found that food security is higher during caterpillar season, and that household-level food security during this season can be predicted by the amount of caterpillars collected, consumed and sold. However, this relationship holds only during the caterpillar season, suggesting that the positive impact of caterpillars on food security is temporally limited. We conclude that the shea caterpillar is an example of an edible insect that is crucial for seasonal food security in a widespread agricultural system.

Crack channelling is predicted in a brittle coating-substrate system that is subjected to a moisture or temperature gradient in the thickness direction. Competing failure scenarios are identified, and are distinguished by the degree to which the coating-substrate interface delaminates, and whether this delamination is finite or unlimited in nature. Failure mechanism maps are constructed, and illustrate the sensitivity of the active crack channelling mechanism and associated channelling stress to the ratio of coating toughness to interfacial toughness, to the mismatch in elastic modulus and to the mismatch in coefficient of hygral or thermal expansion. The effect of the ratio of coating to substrate thickness upon the failure mechanism and channelling stress is also explored. Closed-form expressions for the steady-state delamination stress are derived, and are used to determine the transition value of moisture state that leads to unlimited delamination. Although the results are applicable to coating-substrate systems in a wide range of applications, the study focusses on the prediction of cracking in historical paintings due to indoor climate fluctuations, with the objective of helping museums developing strategies for the preservation of art objects. For this specific application, crack channelling with delamination needs to be avoided under all circumstances, as it may induce flaking of paint material. In historical paintings, the substrate thickness is typically more than ten times larger than the thickness of the paint layer; for such a system, the failure maps constructed from the numerical simulations indicate that paint delamination is absent if the delamination toughness is larger than approximately half of the mode I toughness of the paint layer. Further, the transition between crack channelling with and without delamination appears to be relatively insensitive to the mismatch in the elastic modulus of the substrate and paint layer. The failure maps developed in this work may provide a useful tool for museum conservators to identify the allowable indoor humidity and temperature fluctuations for which crack channelling with delamination is prevented in historical paintings.

The common glow-worms (Lampyris noctiluca) are best known for emission of green light by their larvae and sexually active adult females. However, both their DNA and RNA viruses remain unknown. Glow-worms are virologically interesting, as they are non-social and do not feed as adults, and hence their viral transmission may be limited. We identified viral sequences from 11 different virus taxa by the RNA-sequencing of two Finnish populations of adult glow-worms. The viruses represent nine different virus families and have negative, positive, or double-stranded RNA genomes. We also found a complete retroviral genome. Similar viral sequences were found from the sequencing data of common eastern firefly of North America, a species belonging to the same family (Lampyridae) as that of the common glow-worm. On average, an individual glow-worm had seven different RNA virus types and most of them appeared to establish a stable infection since they were found from glow-worms during two consecutive years. Here we present the characterization of load, prevalence, and interactions for each virus. Most of the glow-worm RNA viruses seem to be transmitted vertically, which may reflect the biology of glow-worms as non-social capital breeders, i.e., they invest stored resources in reproduction. Electronic supplementary material The online version of this article (10.1007/s11262-019-01724-5) contains supplementary material, which is available to authorized users.

4 Tablas.-- 3 Figuras, The aim of the present work was to compare the mesophilic anaerobic digestion of untreated olive mill solid waste (OMSW), soft hydrothermal pre-treated OMSW (SHP OMSW), and a co-digestion mixture of 95% OMSW and 5% microalga Dunaliella salina (co-OMSW). During the co-digestion experiment, the volatile fatty acid accumulation decreased in comparison with that obtained for OMSW and SHP OMSW, reducing the slight inhibition observed during the OMSW and SHP OMSW experiments. Final values of methane yield of 380 ± 1 mL CH4 g−1 VSadded for the OMSW, 424 ± 2 mL CH4 g−1 VSadded for the SHP OMSW, and 491 ± 1 mL CH4 g−1 VSadded for the co-OMSW were determined. Two mathematical models, first-order kinetics and modified Gompertz model, were employed to fit the experimental data with the aim of elucidating the anaerobic biodegradation and obtain the kinetic constants. Both models allowed for adequately fitting the experimental results of methane production with time. The kinetic constant, k, of the first-order model increased by 12% for the co-OMSW compared with the values achieved for OMSW and SHP OMSW. The modified Gompertz model revealed that the maximum methane production rate, Rm, for the co-OMSW and SHP OMSW increased by 34.7% and 10.3% compared with the value obtained for OMSW., This study was funded by: - The Project of Excellence RNM-1970 funded by the regional government of Andalucía, Junta de Andalucía, Consejería de Economía, Innovación, Ciencia y Empleo, Andalucía, Spain. - The Ramón y Cajal Program (RYC-2011-08783 contract) funded by the Spanish Ministry of Economy and Competitiveness, providing financial support to Dr. Rincón.

The anthraquinone dye Remazol Brilliant Blue R is largely used in the textile industry. However, its removal from wastewaters is costly and complex. Many methods have been tested to solve this ecological problem, but there is still a need for efficient methods. We propose here an alternative use of a two-chambered microbial fuel cell (MFC), fuelled with domestic wastewater in the anodic chamber, to degrade a simulated textile dye effluent made of Remazol Brilliant Blue R inoculated with an immobilised fungal strain, Pleurotus ostreatus URM 4809, as a laccase producer, in the cathodic chamber. The MFC showed continuous synthesis of laccase in the cathodic chamber, which, in turn, promoted the rapid decolourisation, of more than 86\% of the textile dye effluent. The yield was further increased by the addition of glycerol. Electrochemical monitoring also indicated an increase in power density and current density. After 20Â days of MFC operation, 62.1\\% of organic matter was removed in the anodic compartment, thus leaving the effluent with a much lower toxicity., Authors would like to acknowledge the technician and fnancial support of Programa Novos Talentos provided by the Instituto de Pesquisa Tecnológica do Estado de São Paulo (IPT) and Instituto de Estudos Avançados do Mar (IEAMar)., info:eu-repo/semantics/publishedVersion

This study has compared the harvesting efficiency of four flocculation methods, namely, induced by pH, FeCl3, AlCl3 and chitosan. No changes were observed on M. aeruginosa cells. Flocculation assays performed at pH 3 and 4 have shown the best harvesting efficiency among the pH-induced tests, reaching values above 90% after 8 h. The adjustment of zeta potential (ZP) to values comprised between 6.7 and 20.7 mV enhanced significantly the settling rates using flocculant agents, being FeCl3 the best example where increments up to 88% of harvesting efficiency were obtained. Although all the four methods tested have presented harvesting efficiencies above 91% within the first 8 h after the optimization process, the highest performance was obtained using 3.75 mg L1 of FeCl3, which allowed reaching 92% in 4 h., This research work was supported by the grants SFRH/BPD/98694/2013 (Bruno Fernandes) and SFRH/BD/52335/2013 (Pedro Geada) from Fundação para a Ciência e a Tecnologia (Portugal). Luís Loureiro is recipient of a fellowship supported by a doctoral advanced training (call NORTE-69-2015-15) funded by the European Social Fund under the scope of Norte2020 - Programa Operacional Regional do Norte. This study was supported by the Portuguese Foundation for Science and Technology (FCT) under the scope of the FCT Strategic funding of UID/BIO/04469/2013 unit and COMPETE 2020 (POCI-01-0145-FEDER-006684) and BioTecNorte operation (NORTE-01-0145-FEDER-000004) funded by the European Regional Development Fund under the scope of Norte2020 - Programa Operacional Regional do Norte. This study was also supported by the Project UID/Multi/04423/2013, the Project RECI/BBB-EBI/0179/2012 (FCOMP-01-0124-FEDER-027462), and the project NOVELMAR (reference NORTE-01-0145-FEDER-000035) co-financed by the North Portugal Regional Operational Programme (Norte 2020) under the National Strategic Reference Framework (NSRF) through the ERDF., info:eu-repo/semantics/publishedVersion

A central composite design circumscribed method was used to define the experimental conditions that improve the methane production rate (kCH4, liters of methane per kilogram of VS of waste added and per day) and the cumulative methane production (cMP, liters of methane per kilogram of VS of waste added) of the co-digestion of sewage sludge (SS) with crude glycerol (cGly) and waste frying oil (WFO). Three factors were selected, i.e., SS concentration, global co-substrate concentration, and mass fraction of cGly (xcGly) in a mixture of cGly and WFO (in chemical oxygen demand, COD). SS digestion without co-substrate reached a cMP of (294±6) L·kg1 and a kCH4 of (64±1) L·kg1·d1, at standard temperature and pressure conditions and expressed relatively to the initial volatile solids. After statistical analysis, SS and co-substrate concentrations of 4.6 g·L1 and 8.8 g·L1 (in COD), respectively, with xcGly of 0.8, were defined to simultaneously boost cMP (91 % more) and kCH4 (3-fold increase). Application of these conditions would yield 214 MWh more in electricity per 1000 m3 of SS digested., This study was supported by the Portuguese Foundation for Science and Technology (FCT) under the scope of Project RECI/BBB-EBI/0179/2012 (FCOMP-01-0124-FEDER027462), the strategic funding of UID/BIO/04469/2013 unit and COMPETE 2020 (POCI-01-0145-FEDER-006684), and BioTecNorte operation (NORTE-01-0145-FEDER-000004) funded by European Regional Development Fund under the scope of Norte2020—Programa OperacionalRegional doNorte. The authors also acknowledge the financial support of the FCT (ESF) through the grant given to J.V. Oliveira (SFRH/BD/111911/2015). Research of A.J. Cavaleiro was supported by the European Research Council under the European Union’s Seventh Framework Programme (FP/2007-2013)/ERC Grant Agreement No. 323009., info:eu-repo/semantics/publishedVersion

Protozoa and metazoa biota communities in biological wastewater treatment plants (WWTP) are known to be dependent of both the plant type (oxidation ditch, trickling filter, conventional activated sludge, among others) and the working operational conditions (incoming effluent characteristics, toxics presence, organic load, aeration, hydraulic and sludge retention times, nitrification occurrence, etc.). Thus, for analogous WWTP operating in equivalent operating conditions, similar protozoa and metazoa communities can be found. Indeed, the protozoa and metazoa biota monitoring can be considered a quite useful tool for assessing the functioning of biological WWTP. Furthermore, the use of chemometric techniques in WWTP monitoring is becoming widespread to enlighten interrelationships within the plant, especially when a large collection of data can be obtained. In the current study, the protozoa and metazoa communities of three different types of WWTP, comprising one oxidation ditch, four trickling filters, and three conventional activated sludge plants, were monitored. For that purpose, metazoa, as well as the main protozoa groups (flagellates, free-swimming, crawling and sessile ciliates, and testate amoeba) were determined in terms of contents and relative abundance. The collected data was further processed by chemometric techniques, such as cross-correlation, principal components, multivariate ANOVA, and decision trees analyses, allowing to successfully identify, and characterize, the different studied WWTP, and thus, being able to help monitoring and diagnosing operational problems., This study was supported by the Portuguese Foundation for Science and Technology (FCT) under the scope of the strategic funding of UID/BIO/04469/2013 unit and COMPETE 2020 (POCI-01-0145-FEDER-006684) and 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

In recent years, (bio)electrochemical systems (B)ES have emerged as an energy efficient alternative for the recovery of TAN (total ammonia nitrogen, including ammonia and ammonium) from wastewater. In these systems, TAN is removed or concentrated from the wastewater under the influence of an electrical current and transported to the cathode. Subsequently, it can be removed or recovered through stripping, chemisorption, or forward osmosis. A crucial parameter that determines the energy required to recover TAN is the load ratio: the ratio between TAN loading and applied current. For electrochemical TAN recovery, an energy input is required, while in bioelectrochemical recovery, electric energy can be recovered together with TAN. Bioelectrochemical recovery relies on the microbial oxidation of COD for the production of electrons, which drives TAN transport. Here, the state-of-the-art of (bio)electrochemical TAN recovery is described, the performance of (B)ES for TAN recovery is analyzed, the potential of different wastewaters for BES-based TAN recovery is evaluated, the microorganisms found on bioanodes that treat wastewater high in TAN are reported, and the toxic effect of the typical conditions in such systems (e.g., high pH, TAN, and salt concentrations) are described. For future application, toxicity effects for electrochemically active bacteria need better understanding, and the technologies need to be demonstrated on larger scale., This study was funded by the European Union’s Horizon 2020 research and innovation program under the Marie Skłodowska-Curie grant agreement no. 665874., info:eu-repo/semantics/publishedVersion

Industrial residue management is a critical element of sustainable development. The aim of this research was to investigate the potential of different coffee waste fractions for bioethanol fermentation and its purification by pervaporation; these fractions and the role of pervaporation in this application have not been studied before. Bioethanol production from different coffee waste fractions has now been studied by acid or acid and enzymatic hydrolysis. The fermentation was conducted using two different yeasts (baker’s yeast and lignocellulosic yeast). By using the cellulolytic enzymes and lignocellulosic yeast, a higher bioethanol yield was achieved. Further purification of the fermented filtrate was carried out by an alcohol selective pervaporation membrane at four temperatures (23, 30, 40 and 50 °C). Hydrolysis of the samples using cellulose complex and β-glucosidase enzymes and fermentation with lignocellulosic yeast, followed by purification using pervaporation resulted a superior bioethanol yield of 51.7 ± 7.4 g/l for spent coffee and 132.2 ± 40 g/l for husk. Husk hydrolysis using cellulolytic enzymes and fermentation with lignocellulosic yeast, followed by product recovery through pervaporation membrane, was found to be the optimal procedure, producing ethanol at a concentration of 132.2 ± 40 g/l. In general, husk hydrolysis using acid and cellulolytic hydrolysis and fermentation with lignocellulosic yeast GSE16-T18 followed by pervaporation was found to be the best process for producing the highest ethanol yield compared to the other fractions of coffee waste samples.

The genus Leptosphaeria contains numerous fungi that cause the symptoms of asthma and also parasitize wild and crop plants. In search of a robust and universal forecast model, the ascospore concentration in air was measured and weather data recorded from 1 March to 31 October between 2006 and 2012. The experiment was conducted in three European countries of the temperate climate, i.e., Ukraine, Poland, and the UK. Out of over 150 forecast models produced using artificial neural networks (ANNs) and multivariate regression trees (MRTs), we selected the best model for each site, as well as for joint two-site combinations. The performance of all computed models was tested against records from 1 year which had not been used for model construction. The statistical analysis of the fungal spore data was supported by a comprehensive study of both climate and land cover within a 30-km radius from the air sampler location. High-performance forecasting models were obtained for individual sites, showing that the local micro-climate plays a decisive role in biology of the fungi. Based on the previous epidemiological studies, we hypothesized that dew point temperature (DPT) would be a critical factor in the models. The impact of DPT was confirmed only by one of the final best neural models, but the MRT analyses, similarly to the Spearman’s rank test, indicated the importance of DPT in all but one of the studied cases and in half of them ranked it as a fundamental factor. This work applies artificial neural modeling to predict the Leptosphaeria airborne spore concentration in urban areas for the first time. Electronic supplementary material The online version of this article (10.1007/s00484-018-1500-z) contains supplementary material, which is available to authorized users.

Cyclobutane thymine dimerization is the most prominent DNA photoinduced damage. While the ultrafast mechanism that proceeds in the singlet manifold is nowadays well established, the triplet-state pathway is not completely understood. Here we report the underlying mechanism of the photosensitized dimerization process in the triplet state. Quantum chemical calculations, combined with wavefunction analysis, and nonadiabatic molecular dynamics simulations demonstrate that this is a stepwise reaction, traversing a long-lived triplet biradical intermediate, which is characterized as a Frenkel exciton with very small charge-transfer character. The low yield of the reaction is regulated by two factors: (i) a relatively large energy barrier that needs to be overcome to form the exciton intermediate, and (ii) a bifurcation of the ground-state potential-energy surface that mostly leads back to the Franck–Condon region because dimerization requires a very restricted combination of coordinates and velocities at the event of non-radiative decay to the ground state. Graphical abstract

This article aims to evaluate the efficiency of an innovative hybrid Sequential Biofiltration System (SBS) for removing phosphorus and nitrogen and polychlorinated biphenyls (PCBs) from original municipal wastewater produced by a Wastewater Treatment Plant under authentic operating conditions. The hybrid SBS was constructed with two barriers, a geochemical (filtration beds with limestone, coal and sawdust) and a biological barrier (wetlands with Glyceria, Acorus, Typha, Phragmites), operating in parallel. Significant differences were found between inflow and outflow from the SBS with regard to wastewater contaminant concentrations, the efficiency of removal being 16% (max. 93%) for Total Phosphorus (TP), 25% (max. 93%) for Soluble Reactive Phosphorus (SRP), 15% (max. 97%) for Total Nitrogen (TN), 17% (max. 98%) for NO3–N, and 21% for PCB equivalency (PCB EQ). In the case of PCB EQ concentration, the highest efficiency of 43% was obtained using beds with macrophytes. The SBS removed a significant load of TP (0.415 kg), TN (3.136 kg), and PCB EQ (0.223 g) per square meter per year. The use of low-cost hybrid SBSs as a post-treatment step for wastewater treatment was found to be an effective ecohydrological biotechnology that may be used for reducing point source pollution and improving water quality.

Human disturbance modifies selection regimes, depressing native species fitness and enabling the establishment of non-indigenous species with suitable traits. A major impediment to test the effect of disturbance on invasion success is the lack of long-term data on the history of invasions. Here, we overcome this problem and reconstruct the effect of disturbance on the invasion of the bivalve Anadara transversa from sediment cores in the Adriatic Sea. We show that (1) the onset of major eutrophication in the 1970s shifted communities towards species tolerating hypoxia, and (2) A. transversa was introduced in the 1970s but failed to reach reproductive size until the late 1990s because of metal contamination, resulting in an establishment and detection lag of ~25 years. Subfossil assemblages enabled us to (1) disentangle the distinct stages of invasion, (2) quantify time-lags and (3) finely reconstruct the interaction between environmental factors and the invasion process, showing that while disturbance does promote invasions, a synergism of multiple disturbances can shift selection regimes beyond tolerance limits and induce significant time lags in establishment. The quantification of these time lags enabled us to reject the hypothesis that aquaculture was an initial vector of introduction, making shipping the most probable source. Electronic supplementary material The online version of this article (10.1007/s10530-017-1634-7) contains supplementary material, which is available to authorized users.

A symmetric matrix of order n is called completely positive if it has a symmetric factorization by means of a rectangular matrix with n columns and no negative entries (a so-called cp factorization), i.e., if it can be interpreted as a Gram matrix of n directions in the positive orthant of another Euclidean space of possibly different dimension. Finding this factor therefore amounts to angle packing and finding an appropriate embedding dimension. Neither the embedding dimension nor the directions may be unique, and so many cp factorizations of the same given matrix may coexist. Using a bordering approach, and building upon an already known cp factorization of a principal block, we establish sufficient conditions under which we can extend this cp factorization to the full matrix. Simulations show that the approach is promising also in higher dimensions.

Cellulose is the most widely used biopolymer on Earth. Its large-scale production is mainly from lignocellulosic material (plant origin), however, this plant material is not the only source of this valuable polymer, since microorganisms, like bacteria, naturally produce cellulose, especially those of the genus Komagateibacter (formerly Gluconacetobacter). This type of cellulose is of great interest because of its unique properties such as high purity and resistance, nevertheless, it has not been produced in a large-scale industrial process to date using low-cost substrates, one of the key aspects that should be considered for the industrial obtaining of any biotechnological product. As a main finding we found that the majority of low-cost culture media discussed could have the potential to produce bacterial cellulose on an industrial scale, since in most cases they yield more cellulose (with similar physical chemical characteristics) to those obtained in standard media. However, for an appropriate large-scale production, a specific knowledge about these by-products (since their composition and characteristics, which have a direct impact on the productivity of this biopolymer, are quite heterogeneous) and a proper standardization of them would also be required. Research staff of many industries could use the information presented here to help design a process to use their respective byproducts as substrate to obtain a product with a high added value as bacterial cellulose.

Background and aims There is an urgent need to develop new high throughput approaches to phenotype roots in the field. Excavating roots to make direct measurements is labour intensive. An alternative to excavation is to measure soil drying profiles and to infer root activity. Methods We grew 23 lines of wheat in 2013, 2014 and 2015. In each year we estimated soil water profiles with electrical resistance tomography (ERT), electromagnetic inductance (EMI), penetrometer measurements and measurements of soil water content. We determined the relationships between the measured variable and soil water content and matric potential. Results We found that ERT and penetrometer measurements were closely related to soil matric potential and produced the best discrimination between wheat lines. We found genotypic differences in depth of water uptake in soil water profiles and in the extent of surface drying. Conclusions Penetrometer measurements can provide a reliable approach to comparing soil drying profiles by different wheat lines, and genotypic rankings are repeatable across years. EMI, which is more sensitive to soil water content than matric potential, and is less effective in drier soils than the penetrometer or ERT, nevertheless can be used to rapidly screen large populations for differences in root activity. Electronic supplementary material The online version of this article (doi:10.1007/s11104-016-3161-1) contains supplementary material, which is available to authorized users.

A fundamental question about the complexity of corvid social cognition is whether behaviours exhibited when caching in front of potential pilferers represent specific attempts to prevent cache loss (cache protection hypothesis) or whether they are by-products of other behaviours (by-product hypothesis). Here, we demonstrate that Eurasian jays preferentially cache at a distance when observed by conspecifics. This preference for a ‘far’ location could be either a by-product of a general preference for caching at that specific location regardless of the risk of cache loss or a by-product of a general preference to be far away from conspecifics due to low intra-species tolerance. Critically, we found that neither by-product account explains the jays’ behaviour: the preference for the ‘far’ location was not shown when caching in private or when eating in front of a conspecific. In line with the cache protection hypothesis we found that jays preferred the distant location only when caching in front of a conspecific. Thus, it seems likely that for Eurasian jays, caching at a distance from an observer is a specific cache protection strategy. Electronic supplementary material The online version of this article (doi:10.1007/s10071-016-0972-7) contains supplementary material, which is available to authorized users.

This manuscript describes the convergent synthesis of aryl- and alkyl-disubstituted γ-pyrones from β-ketoacids. The reaction proceeds in the presence of trifluoromethanesulfonic anhydride via an unprecedented decarboxylative auto-condensation of the starting material. Herein, the scope and limitations of this transformation are reported. Graphical abstract

The intensification of the livestock production systems implies a potential environmental risk, associated with the great generation of animal wastes and slurries and their storage and management. Manure management is associated with considerable emissions of ammonia (NH3) and greenhouse gases (GHG). However, the potential for GHG mitigation is highly dependent on the waste treatment strategy considered. This laboratory study aims to evaluate the influence of the type of bulking agent used on the potential reduction of the carbon dioxide (CO2) emission, dealing with carbon (C) conservation when the solid fraction of pig (Sus scrofa domesticus) slurry is managed by composting. For this, a composting experiment in batch reactors was run with four mixtures elaborated using the solid fraction of pig slurry (SPS) and different materials (maize (Zea mays) stalks, barley (Hordeum vulgare L.) straw, cotton (Gossypium hirsutum) gin and garden prunings) as bulking agents. The potential C conservation in the mixtures was evaluated by determining the CO2 emissions; the evolution of the mixtures, the thermal profile developed and the thermodynamics of the process were also studied. The mixtures elaborated with cotton gin and garden prunings showed the fastest temperature development, and also the highest CO2 emissions. However, the use of maize stalks as bulking agent reduced CO2 emissions due to its slow degradability: this could constitute a suitable strategy to promote C conservation during the management of pig slurry by composting., The research has been funded by the People Programme (Marie Curie Actions) of the European Union’s Seventh Framework Programme FP7/2007-2013/under REA grant agreement n° 289887, and the results and conclusions achieved reflect only the author’s view - the Union not being liable for any use that may be made of the information contained therein. This work has been also supported by a ‘Juan de la Cierva’ contract to Dr. Bustamante (Spanish Ministry of Science and Innovation) co-funded by the EU through the Social Funds.