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Enzymes derived from microbial sources have gained increasing popularity in industrial applications over the past decades. Despite the high production cost, alkaline proteases have wide applications in industries such as tanneries, food production, and detergents. In recent years, there has been a shift towards utilizing natural carbon sources for cultivating microorganisms and extracting proteases in order to reduce production costs. This study aimed to investigate the biochemical and kinetic properties of protease enzymes obtained from Aspergillus niger cultivated in a paper waste medium and compare with the enzyme produced in a basal medium. Glucose is a more favorable carbon source compared to cellulose, so paper waste was pretreated with cellulose-degrading bacteria to convert cellulose into smaller carbohydrates. After the growth of A. niger in basal and combinational media, the enzymatic properties were compared between the extracted enzymes by using casein as substrate. The results demonstrated that A. niger could produce protease enzymes in the paper waste medium similar to the basal medium with more than 5-fold cost saving. The specific activity of the enzymes isolated from the basal and paper waste media was calculated to be 184.95 ± 10.56 U ml−1 and 169.88 ± 11.05 U ml−1, respectively. Carbon sources did not affect the optimum pH and temperature of the protease enzyme, which were found to be 8 and 37 °C, respectively. This study provides valuable insights into the production of alkaline protease from A. niger using a combinational medium (paper waste pretreated by cellulose-degrading bacteria), offering a cost-effective approach for industrial applications. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

γ-Valerolactone (GVL) is a promising biomass-based platform compound that can be used for the removal of hemicellulose in pulp. In this study, a paper-grade pulp was treated using GVL to generate dissolving pulp for viscose production. The GVL concentration, treatment temperature, and reaction time had significant effect on the hemicellulose dissolution. The dissolving pulp with a-cellulose content of 92.3% and hemicellulose content of 5.45% was achieved with 60% GVL at 120 °C for 2 h. The Fock reactivity and intrinsic viscosity of the obtained dissolving pulp were 54.6% and 595 mL/g, which is comparable with the commercial product. In addition, GVL spent liquor was also recycled and reused to upgrade paper-grade pulp. By using purified recycled GVL to treat original pulp, the Fock reactivity of pulp was improved, and the cellulose content of asprepared upgraded pulp increased to 92.1%, which was close to the cellulose content of dissolving pulp obtained from fresh GVL solution, while the intrinsic viscosity decreased significantly to 598 mL/g. Therefore, the efficient reuse of GVL not only ensured the high quality of dissolving pulp, but it also saved production costs and reduced environmental pollution. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Purpose: Correct and well-planned maintenance based on modern global methods directly affects efficiency, quality, direct production costs, reliability and profitability. The selection of an optimal policy for maintenance can be a good solution for industrial units. In fact, by managing constraints such as costs, working hours and human workforce causing sudden equipment failure, production and performance can increase. Design/methodology/approach: Therefore, in this research a model was presented to select the best maintenance strategy at Kaghaz Kar Kasra Co of Iran. In this study, it was tried to integrate the two techniques of goal programming and the technique for order of preference by similarity to ideal solution (TOPSIS) to prioritize maintenance strategies. First, all factors affecting maintenance were identified, and based on the Best Worst Method (BWM) the degree of their importance was determined. Findings: After the evaluation, only 14 criteria in the 4 dimensions of cost, added value, safety and feasibility were selected. The highest points were given to the criteria of equipment cost and depreciation, equipment and personnel performance, equipment installation time and technical feasibility, respectively. In the next stage, using the TOPSIS method the item of maintenance strategy was ranked, and the 3 strategies of preventive maintenance (PM), predictive maintenance (PDM) and corrective maintenance (CM) were chosen. Modeling was performed utilizing a goal programming approach to select the optimal maintenance strategy for 13 devices. All the technical specifications, cost limits and the device time were extracted. After the model was finished and solved the best item for each device was specified. Originality/value: 1. Developing a goal programming model and decision-making dashboard. 2. Identifying the criteria and factors affecting the selection of the maintenance strategy for paper production Industry [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

As a global environmental problem, plastic pollution has attracted worldwide attention. Plastic wastes not only disrupt ecosystems and biodiversity, but they also threaten human life and health. Countries around the world have enacted regulations in recent years to limit the use of plastics. Paper products have been proposed as promising substitutes for plastics, which undoubtedly brings unprecedented opportunities to the pulp and paper industry. However, paper products have some deficiencies in replacing certain plastic products. Research and development to improve paper properties and reduce production costs is needed to meet such challenges. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

State-of-the-art manufacturing of tissue paper by Through Air Drying provides excellent product performance, although at a high production cost and energy use. In this work, a laboratory scale vacuum suction box was used to mimic the initial dewatering and the Through Air Drying molding, together with a pilot-scale trial. The purpose was to investigate both how the laboratory scale corresponds to pilot scale testing and investigate how fabric design, basis weight, beating, and fibers affect dewatering and sheet caliper. This study reevaluates dewatering mechanisms during molding, challenging the previous hypothesis of pure air displacement dewatering. Results show a parallel mechanism of compression dewatering and air displacement. The influence of rush transfer is examined, impacting the sheets' visual appearance, thickness, and solids content. Correlations between molding box solids content and headbox freeness emphasize significance of fibers and beating levels. Pilot results confirm the link between former solids and molding box solids. Pilot trials validate the laboratory results, facilitating comprehensive simulation of full-scale manufacturing. This research reveals dewatering mechanisms, highlights operational parameters, and enables effective Through Air Drying process design and refinement. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The overall equipment effectiveness (OEE) is an indicator used in the management and continuous improvement of production systems, and is useful in identifying losses, thus reducing production costs. By analyzing the results of this indicator, the operation manager must make decisions to eliminate or reduce losses in the process. This study investigated the application of the OEE indicator in one production line in the pulp and paper industry. The implementation of OEE was performed in stages with a detailed analysis of the indicators that compose the OEE (quality, performance, and availability) to identify possible improvements. Thus, actions were implemented to improve the OEE quality index. This study provided important information that enabled the operation manager to diagnose and minimize the occurrence of failures and losses, which is often hidden and unknown to those involved in the production system. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

As acetonitrile is a widely used solvent for the chemical industry, the recovery of acetonitrile from acetonitrile wastewater is significant for both industrial cost reduction and environmental protection. In this article, a simple, low‐energy, and low‐cost strategy is proposed for the effective separation of acetonitrile from high‐concentration acetonitrile wastewater. The approach is based on a sequential combination of two steps: salt‐induced phase separation and hydrophobic filtration. The acetonitrile wastewater was first induced to split into two phases by salt, that is, the acetonitrile‐rich phase and the water‐rich phase, then the above two phases were poured into the hydrophobic filter paper funnel for the separation. It was shown that NaCl is a suitable salting‐out reagent, and that hydrophobic filter papers—obtained from modification by butyltrichlorosilane and octyltrichlorosilane were the optimal choice for hydrophobic filtration. The salt‐induced phase separation process is able to increase the volume fraction of acetonitrile in the acetonitrile‐rich phase up to 92%. The acetonitrile‐rich phase can pass through the hydrophobic filter paper, whereas the water‐rich phase was intercepted. The hydrophobic filter paper retained strong hydrophobicity and high acetonitrile‐separating capacity after 3 months storage, or upon immersion in acetonitrile‐water mixtures for 12 h, or applied for 25 consecutive separations. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

To meet the environmental challenges, the use of plastic packaging must be drastically reduced. Paper-based solutions may be a credible alternative provided that their production cost is reduced. One way may be to improve the paper stiffness to weight ratio. In this work, a simple and low-cost approach is proposed, which consists in printing a patterned grid of starch at the paper surface by using a widespread printing process. With only a small quantity of starch (7 g/m2), the bending stiffness of a packaging paper of 60 g/m2 was multiplied by more than a factor three. This improvement originates from the permanent 3D shape the paper unexpectedly took after printing. The printed lines formed "valleys" whereas the unprinted zones were raised, forming "mountains". Drying shrinkage of the starch is assumed to play a major role, in particular by inducing local buckling of the unprinted zones. In addition, the resulting 3D shape could be interestingly tuned by adjusting the grid pattern. Even if a better understanding is necessary to be able to well control the phenomena, this approach appears relevant to form "architectured" papers with improved bending resistance to weight ratio. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

• Novel application of sidehill screen to remove ash from paper sludge. • Study of screening parameters yielded high pilot scale performance. • Process simulation of plant scale valorization demonstrated technical feasibility. • Techno-economic analysis yielded financial feasibility for sludge valorization. Paper sludge biomass represents an underutilized feedstock rich in pulped and processed cellulose which is currently a waste stream with significant disposal cost to industry for landfilling services. Effective fractionation of the cellulose from paper sludge presents an opportunity to yield cellulose as feedstock for value-added processes. A novel approach to cellulose fractionation is the sidehill screening system, herein studied at the pilot-plant scale. Composition analysis determined ash removal and carbohydrate retention of both sidehill and high-performance benchtop screening systems. Sidehill screening resulted in greater carbohydrates retention relative to benchtop screening (90% vs 66%) and similar ash removal (95% vs 98%). Techno-economic analysis for production of sugar syrup yielded a minimum selling price of $331/metric ton of sugar syrup including disposal savings, significantly less than a commercial sugar syrup without fractionation. Sensitivity analysis showed that screening conditions played a significant role in economic feasibility for cellulosic yield and downstream processes. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

In papermaking, pre-flocculation of fillers such as ground calcium carbonate (GCC) improves the tensile strength of paper sheets. However, the pre-flocculated fillers mostly suffer from the instability of the floc shape such as the decrease in floc diameter with time elapse after preparation and no improvement of bulk and stiffness. The addition of calcium compounds such as calcium oxide or calcium hydroxide to the preflocculated GCC, and injection with carbon dioxide caused pre-flocculated GCC flocs to be covered with newly formed calcium carbonate. This product, called post hybrid calcium carbonate (pHCC), was found to be more stable in size and gave better sheet strength than the pre-flocculated ones. Furthermore, pHCC gave remarkably higher bulk and stiffness than the pre-flocculated flocs did without impairing smoothness that was essential in printing paper. The proper use of pHCC in papermaking could allow the production of high loaded paper with more than 10% higher filler contents, which could reduce paper production cost and save drying energy. The proportion of the newly formed calcium carbonate in pHCC, turbulence intensity at preparation stage, and the effect of storage time were investigated. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

With the development of the customization concept, small-batch and multi-variety production will become one of the major production modes, especially for fast-moving consumer goods. However, this production mode has two issues: high production cost and the long manufacturing period. To address these issues, this study proposes a multi-objective optimization model for the flexible flow-shop to optimize the production scheduling, which would maximize the production efficiency by minimizing the production cost and makespan. The model is designed based on hybrid algorithms, which combine a fast non-dominated genetic algorithm (NSGA-II) and a variable neighborhood search algorithm (VNS). In this model, NSGA-II is the major algorithm to calculate the optimal solutions. VNS is to improve the quality of the solution obtained by NSGA-II. The model is verified by an example of a real-world typical FFS, a tissue papermaking mill. The results show that the scheduling model can reduce production costs by 4.2% and makespan by 6.8% compared with manual scheduling. The hybrid VNS-NSGA-II model also shows better performance than NSGA-II, both in production cost and makespan. Hybrid algorithms are a good solution for multi-objective optimization issues in flexible flow-shop production scheduling. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

For a paper manufacturer to remain competitive and sustainable, they must be able to manufacture at a low production cost with minimum resource consumption. One such approach to reduce manufacturing costs and take environmental issues into consideration could be the adoption of recycling and repurposing of waste paper. However, recent recycling research to address both environmental and economic challenges is predominately focused on the mechanical or electrical and electronics sectors. As the paper industry and consumers produce a large amount of waste paper, this lack of research highlights an important knowledge gap in the field of study. This article reviews the extent to which waste paper can be reused through recycling and repurposing. As a result, a cost modelling approach has been developed to predict cost fluctuations under different manufacturing constraints. The overall contributions of this research are: (i) identification of testing scenarios and parameters in waste paper; (ii) methods of recycling and repurposing cost modelling. A case study has been used to validate the method and based on the proposed approach, senior management of paper manufacturers could potentially achieve the best result to prevent unexpected costs and therefore maximise waste paper reuse. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The main problem identified is the conventional way of distributing indirect manufacturing costs for the paper company dedicated to the process of converting paper, having generated distorted unit costs. Faced with this situation, the implementation of a costing model by activities was proposed. The main objective of this research is to establish procedures for the implementation of the costing methodology by activities for the paper industry. The methodological study is quantitative at a descriptive level where data collection was done in a simple random manner, for which documents were reviewed and analyzed, production processes were observed, and surveys were developed. The results confirmed the achievement of the objectives and hypotheses raised in the investigation, where it was indicated that there is a relationship between the activity-based costing methodology and the measurement of indirect costs in the paper industry. The investigation is concluded "Activity-based methodology is beneficial to apply in the calculation of indirect costs, with a new approach to calculating costing by activities that allows diversifying suitable inducers and applying them to the different activities related to indirect costs. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Copyright of Revista Producao Online is the property of Associacao Brasileira de Engenharia de Producao and its content may not be copied or emailed to multiple sites or posted to a listserv without the copyright holder's express written permission. However, users may print, download, or email articles for individual use. This abstract may be abridged. No warranty is given about the accuracy of the copy. Users should refer to the original published version of the material for the full abstract. (Copyright applies to all Abstracts.)

Fruit nursery paper is a protective technical paper that is used in agriculture to improve the percentage of the fruit that meets quality standards and the fruit's exterior qualities, such as the smooth surface finish and fruit color. In this work, a more efficient and environmentally friendly method, i.e., the printing method, was proposed in order to minimize environmental pollution, reduce the loss of carbon black, and lower the high production cost caused by the traditional method of directly adding carbon black. The effects of printing pressure and inking amount on the properties of the fruit nursery paper were investigated. The durability and safety of the fruit nursery paper produced by the printing method were also studied. The optimal inking amount and printing pressure under laboratory conditions were 1 mL and 350 N, respectively. The amount of ink transferred to the paper surface increased with increasing printing pressure, which led to better opacity but slightly decreased porosity and softness. A more important finding was that the fruit nursery paper produced by the printing method had excellent durability, and the properties can satisfy the requirements of the end use and safety standards of 94/62/EC stipulated by the Europeon Parliament and Councile directive. Based on these low-cost, environmentally friendly characteristics, the development of this new fruit nursery paper could be beneficial. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The fraction of deinked pulp for coated paper production is continually increasing, with some mills using 100% deinked pulp for the base paper. The brightness of the coated paper made from deinked pulp may be reached through a combination of more or less extensive deinking, compensated by appropriate coating, to optimize costs overall. The authors proposed general optimization methods combined with Kubelka-Munk multilayer calculations to find the most economical combination of deinking and coating process that would produce a coated paper made from DIP, at a given target brightness, while maintaining mechanical properties. Application: The methods and software can help papermakers find the least expensive combination of deinking and coating process to produce coated paper with targeted optical properties. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Considering only environmental impact or only profit is not enough to manage chemical processes. This study focuses on the optimal scheduling of cutting papers using the multiobjective optimisation programming. Two independent objective functions are introduced in this paper, the production cost and trim loss with the constraints of satisfying the customer orders. The Goal Constrained Programming (GCP) algorithm is created for the multiobjective optimisation with priority. The proposed algorithm takes the deviation for the weighting factor. The GCP provides various optimal schedule sets satisfying the economic and environmental requirements. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

High-yield pulp can replace hardwood kraft in wood-free coated papers to increase bulk and reduce costs. This research was undertaken to study the effects of pulp substitution on brightness stability. Light-induced brightness loss was found to occur as a result of both high-yield pulp substitution and the yellowing of the coating color. However, coating improves the brightness stability. The improvement can be significant, depending on the extent of pulp substitution and the coat weight. For a 15% substitution of high-yield pulp, a coat weight of 20 g/m² gave the same brightness stability as a 100% kraft sheet coated at 4 g/m². An empirical model was developed to estimate the effect of high-yield pulp and coat weight on the brightness stability of wood-free coated papers. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Abstract: The need to increase the recovery rates of recyclables from households, reducing at the same time the collection costs, has favoured the spreading of commingled collection systems. This study presents a thorough analysis of the quality of a secondary source of recovered paper of a Spanish newsprint mill, imported from the United Kingdom, where these systems are widely practiced. The results show that the quality of recovered paper from commingled systems is very far from the quality obtained with selective systems: the unusable material content vary from 1% to 29% (11.9% on average) compared to less than 1%. Larger materials recovery facilities (MRFs), less oversaturated and with advanced sorting techniques, have demonstrated to be able to render better qualities, the unusable material content varying from 0.3% to 16.6% (8.1% on average). However, the quality is still far from contamination levels typically found with selective systems, especially in terms of non-paper components. This fact limits significantly the use of this recovered paper for graphic paper production where the major potential for an extended use of recovered paper in papermaking lies. Furthermore, there is a discussion on the cost efficiency of these systems and how the legislation and private or public initiatives are affecting the spreading of these systems, especially in the United States and the United Kingdom. [Copyright &y& Elsevier]

Cellulosic wastes represent a great environmental challenge, with potential conversion to product-added value through microbial fermentation. Currently, bacterial cellulose (BC) is considered a promising natural polymer for multiple applications. However, the high production cost challenges its wide application. Hence, the current study evaluated the applicability of paper sludge as a cost-effective medium for both cellulases and BC production. The local isolate Streptomyces rochei revealed the highest cellulase production titer (about 3 U/mL) at optimized conditions. For BC production, batch and fed-batch fermentation strategies were evaluated using enzymatically hydrolyzed paper sludge. The results asserted the advantage of fed-batch fermentation for advanced BC production (3.10 g/L) over batch fermentation (1.06 g/L) under the same cultivation conditions. The developed BC membranes were characterized through different instrumental analyses, which revealed an increase in fiber diameters and crystallinity under fed-batch fermentation. Furthermore, BC/magnetite (BC/Fe3O4) nanocomposite was developed by an in-situ approach. The newly developed composite was evaluated for dye removal applications, using methyl orange (MO) as a model. The dye removal conditions were optimized through Box Behnken design (BBD), which indicated maximal MO removal (83.5%) at pH 3.0 and BC/Fe3O4 concentration of 0.1 mg/dL after 60 min. Therefore, the current study asserts the good applicability of enzymatically hydrolyzed paper sludge as a medium for cost-effective BC production and the high capacity of BC/magnetite nanocomposite for MO decolorization. The study paves the way for the cost-effective implementation of BC/magnetite nanocomposite for dye removal. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Nanozymes, enzyme-mimetic nanomaterials that combine features of nanoscale material with the catalytic properties of enzymes, have undergone rapid development in recent years. While enzymes have remained integral to biosensor technologies for the past several decades, the emerging potential of nanozymes to overcome the low stability and high production costs of biological enzymes has turned them into promising biosensor candidates. Nanozymes have already been explored for a myriad of biosensing applications. However, only a small subset of these efforts has resulted in devices and platforms that are potentially suitable for on-site/point-of-care monitoring. To promote efforts in this area, the review first provides a concise overview of different paper-based technologies, their architecture and functionality, in a language conducive to the nanozyme research community. The review, then, critically discusses the progress made in the integration of nanozymes in biosensor platforms for on-site detection of food contaminants, environmental pollutants, and disease biomarkers. The challenges associated with the transition of solution-based nanozyme biosensors to relevant devices and technologies are highlighted, and strategies to overcome those challenges are proposed. We envision that this review could narrow the gap impeding the translation of nanozyme-based biosensor technologies from laboratories to real-world scenarios by encouraging consolidated cross-disciplinary and trans -sectoral efforts. • Nanozyme-based biosensors (NzBS) are of topical interest. • Translation of NzBS to end-users warrants device development. • Integration of NzBS with paper-based devices for POC testing is discussed. • The role of NzBS across the food, environment, and health sectors is reviewed. • Challenges and prospects of NzBS for real-world applications are outlined. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The increase of filler content in paper is an effective way to reduce production costs and to promote the market competitiveness of paper mills. A shift from natural fillers to synthetic fillers has enabled improvements in the critical properties of paper. Meanwhile, innovations from single particles of filler to filler composites has made it possible to increase the filler content of paper. Among various filler innovations, the design of fiber/filler composites has aroused general attention from industry and academic researchers. However, concerns related to the cost and recyclability of composite fillers remain to be addressed. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The handmade paper industry utilizes quantum of dyes for making bright colored handmade paper used for wedding cards, fancy and decorative paper, etc. A study has been conducted on adsorption of direct black dye (used extensively in handmade paper industry to make black colored handmade paper) on fly ash obtained from thermal power plant of Yamuna Nagar. The effluent has been characterized for pH, suspended solids, total solids and chemical oxygen demand. The batch and column studies have been conducted on the adsorption of direct black dye solution of different concentrations on fly ash at varying pH, dosage of fly ash, temperature, contact time, particle size fractions of fly ash and initial concentration of dye solution. In batch studies, it was observed that the experimental data fit well with Langmuir adsorption isotherm in comparison to Freundlich and Temkin isotherms. The maximum adsorption capacity of 76.33 mg/g was achieved at 318 K in batch studies. The column experimental data fitted well to Yoon–Nelson model and Thomas model in comparison to Bohart–Adams model. The maximum adsorption capacity of 45.54 mg/g in column study was obtained for 2.4 cm bed height, 150 ppm inlet concentration and 1.6 mL/min flow rate of dye solution. The calculations of thermodynamic parameters indicate that the adsorption of black dye on fly ash is spontaneous and endothermic in nature and follows first order kinetics with rate constant of 0.201 min −1 . It has been found that fly ash is a potential low cost adsorbent to treat effluent of handmade paper industry. The exhausted fly ash can be further reused as filler in paper making and hence can offer a viable closed loop solution in curbing pollution from this predominantly small sector industry. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Wearable eye‐tracking technology is an essential component in AR/VR devices. Conventional Pupil‐Corneal Reflection (PCR) eye‐tracking technology often presents challenges due to high costs and bulky designs, particularly for compact AR and smart glasses. To overcome these limitations, our next‐generation eyetracking technology relies on AI image analysis, significantly reducing the number of required IR LEDs and image sensors. This simplification enhances flexibility and lowers production costs while maintaining accuracy. Our breakthrough solution makes eye tracking more accessible for the masses in AR/VR devices in the new era of spatial computing and the metaverse. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Fast, flexible, and cost efficient production of 3D models from 2D material sheets is a key component in digital fabrication and prototyping. In order to achieve high quality approximations of freeform shapes, a common set of methods aim to produce bendable 2D cutouts that are then assembled. So far bent surfaces are achieved automatically by computing developable patches of the input surface, e.g. in the context of papercraft. For stiff materials such as medium‐density fibreboard (MDF) or plywood, the 2D cutouts require the application of additional cutting patterns ("kerfing") to make them bendable. Such kerf patterns are commonly constructed with considerable user input, e.g. in architectural design. We propose a fully automatic method that produces kerfed cutouts suitable for the assembly of freeform shapes from stiff material sheets. By exploring the degrees of freedom emerging from the choice of bending directions, the creation of box joints at the patch boundaries as well as the application of kerf cuts with adaptive density, our method is able to achieve a high quality approximation of the input. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Presents a study on the impact both of production and transportation from changes in taxation or costs of inputs in the United States paper industry. Background of paper production; Analysis of possible variations in tax policies; Comparison of results from scenario analysis; Discussion and conclusions.

The emphasis of the current study was on the calcination of lime sludge, performed at different temperatures from 650°C to 750°C, which consumes less energy as compared to the industrial process of calcination. Different proportions of calcined lime sludge and raw lime sludge were used with cement to form cementitious binders. M25 grade concrete was prepared with the application of the prepared binders and tested for strength properties at 7 and 28 days of curing. The binder consisted of 10% substitution of cement with as-received lime sludge and 30% substitution with calcined lime sludge and produced a compressive strength of concrete approximately similar to the control concrete. Reactive lime and metakaolinite performed an active role after the calcination of lime sludge at 650°C, which worked as pozzolana. This effect is also confirmed with isothermal calorimetry of the prepared binder. The prepared binder was sustainable with approximately 20% less production cost and 55% less emission of greenhouse gases as compared to ordinary portland cement. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Research on quality signal development typically focuses on signals with production costs; less is known about signals that lack production costs (conventional signals). Here, I test the condition dependence and heritability of the facial patterns that function as a conventional signal of quality in Polistes dominulus wasps. Two aspects of facial patterns are compared: (1) amount of black pigment (no signal value) and (2) disruption in the black pigment's distribution (quality signal). When colonies received the same diet, they produced offspring with similar facial patterns and both traits were heritable. However, experimental diet manipulation substantially influenced quality signal development. Wasps fed unlimited caterpillars developed more disrupted facial patterns than wasps fed a restricted diet. Further, signal heritability was obscured following the diet treatment. In contrast, the nonsignaling trait was not influenced by the diet treatment and remained heritable. Overall, the quality signal in P. dominulus is condition dependent and heritable, but its heritability may be obscured by environmental variance. The nonsignaling aspect of wasp facial patterns is not condition dependent and is more consistently heritable across environments. Therefore, the information a signal conveys may be influenced by its developmental properties rather than its honesty-ensuring cost or the pigments that constitute it. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Using mathematical programming with activity-based costing (ABC) and based on the theory of constraints (TOC), this study proposed a green production model for the traditional paper industry to achieve the purpose of energy saving and carbon emission reduction. The mathematical programming model presented in this paper considers (1) revenue of main products and byproducts, (2) unit-level, batch-level, and product-level activity costs in ABC, (3) labor cost with overtime available, (4) machine cost with capacity expansion, (5) saved electric power and steam costs by using the coal as the main fuel in conjunction with Refuse Derived Fuel (RDF). This model also considers the constraint of the quantity of carbon equivalent of various gases that are allowed to be emitted from the mill paper-making process to conform to the environmental protection policy. A numerical example is used to demonstrate how to apply the model presented in this paper. In addition, sensitivity analysis on the key parameters of the model are used to provide further insights for this research. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Background: Enzymes involved in xylan hydrolysis have several industrial applications. Selection of efficient microbial hosts and scalable bioreaction operations can lower enzyme production costs and contribute to their commercial deployment. This work aims at investigating the Moesziomyces aphidis yeast cultivation conditions that deliver maximal xylanase titres, yields and productivities using low‐cost nitrogen (N) and carbon (C) sources. Results: NaNO3 and KNO3 supplementation improved xylanase production 2.9‐ and 2.7‐fold (against 67.2 U mL−1), respectively, using xylan as C source. Interestingly, the use of KNO3, instead of NaNO3, results in 2‐ to 3‐fold higher specific activity, highlighting the potassium ion role. In addition, this study investigates synergetic effects on using ionic and organic N sources. A 4.9‐fold increase in xylanase production, with high specific activity, is attained combining KNO3 and corn steep liquor (CSL). Exploring the previous findings, this study reports one of the highest extracellular xylanase production titres (864.7 U mL−1) by yeasts, using a media formulation containing dilute‐acid pre‐treated brewery spent grains (BSG), as C source and inducer, supplemented with KNO3 and CSL. Replacement of dilute‐acid pre‐treatmed BSG by untreated BSG had low impact on xylanase production, of only 6%. Conclusion: Efficient production of M. aphidis xylanolytic enzymes, using low‐cost N and C sources, is attractive for deployment of on‐site enzyme production targeting different biotechnological applications under circular economy and biorefinery concepts. Potential xylanases end‐users include industries such as brewing (using BSG as substrate for enzyme production), pulp and paper (benefiting from the cellulase‐free xylanase activity) or lignocellulosic ethanol (for cellulase supplementation). © 2022 Society of Chemical Industry (SCI). [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

An important production programming problem arises in paper industries coupling multiple machine scheduling with cutting stocks. Concerning machine scheduling: how can the production of the quantity of large rolls of paper of different types be determined. These rolls are cut to meet demand of items. Scheduling that minimizes setups and production costs may produce rolls which may increase waste in the cutting process. On the other hand, the best number of rolls in the point of view of minimizing waste may lead to high setup costs. In this paper, coupled modeling and heuristic methods are proposed. Computational experiments are presented. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

As pro-environmental behaviors in business are advocated, recycling process has become a hot topic in the supply chain management. Besides the traditional wholesales and retail for new products, manufacturers would like to recycle and reprocess used products with consideration of production costs and pressure from environment protection. This paper considers the recycling process implemented by manufacturers themselves or entrusted to retailers to implement. A two-period model is established to discuss the optimal recycling and pricing strategies for manufacturers and retailers under both active return and passive return. The results show that the manufacturers and retailers are always better off in active return than that in passive return. The decision that manufacturers participate to the recycling by themselves or entrust it to retailers depends on the return rate and the collection cost. Numerical simulations and sensitivity analysis are implemented to demonstrate our results and illustrate the effect of each parameter on the optimal strategies. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Interest in low-cost diagnostic devices has recently gained attention, in part due to the rising cost of healthcare and the need to serve populations in resource-limited settings. A major challenge in the development of such devices is the need for hydrophobic barriers to contain polar bio-fluid analytes. Key approaches in lowering the cost in diagnostics have centered on (i) development of low-cost fabrication techniques/processes, (ii) use of affordable materials, or, (iii) minimizing the need for high-tech tools. This communication describes a simple, low-cost, adaptable, and portable method for patterning paper and subsequent use of the patterned paper in diagnostic tests. Our approach generates hydrophobic regions using a ball-point pen filled with a hydrophobizing molecule suspended in a solvent carrier. An empty ball-point pen was filled with a solution of trichloro perfluoroalkyl silane in hexanes (or hexadecane), and the pen used to draw lines on Whatman® chromatography 1 paper. The drawn regions defined the test zones since the trichloro silane reacts with the paper to give a hydrophobic barrier. The formation of the hydrophobic barriers is reaction kinetic and diffusion-limited, ensuring well defined narrow barriers. We performed colorimetric glucose assays and enzyme-linked immuno-sorbent assay (ELISA) using the created test zones. To demonstrate the versatility of this approach, we fabricated multiple devices on a single piece of paper and demonstrated the reproducibility of assays on these devices. The overall cost of devices fabricated by drawing are relatively lower (

This paper describes a simple design for increasing the tolerance of reagent dislocation on a paper-based platform using a combination of wax-treated paper and a vortex mixer. To date, massive budgetary funds are required in the biotechnological industry to develop new applications; a large part of that cost is attributable to the screening of specific chemical compounds. Here, we propose using a liquid-handling robot to automatically deposit selected reagents on a paper-based platform. We also present a preliminary concept approach for developing a reagent placing device with simple and inexpensive features. A defect of inaccuracy was observed between droplet location and test well location after viewing the performance of the liquid-handling robot on our paper-based platform. Because of dislocation error resulting from robotic reagent placement, we decided to apply an external, rotational force following droplet placement in order to compensate for the distance of reagent dislocation. Note, the largest distance of reagent dislocation was determined by examining the results of altering applied reagent volume, but not concentration, in volumes from 5 µL to 30 µL in a series of experiments. As a result of these experiments, we observed that dislocation was positively affected by an increase in applied volume. A colorimetric assay for nitrite detection was also performed to confirm the feasibility of this method. This work, we believe, can minimize the cost of chemical compound screening for the biotechnological industry. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

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The reagent required for bio-sample detection on paper-based analytical devices is generally introduced manually using a pipette. Such an approach is time-consuming; particularly if a large number of devices are required. Automated methods provide a far more convenient solution for large-scale production, but incur a substantial cost. Accordingly, the present study proposes a low-cost method for the paper-based analytical devices in which the biochemical reagents are sprayed onto the device directly using a modified commercial inkjet printer. The feasibility of the proposed method is demonstrated by performing aspartate aminotransferase (AST) and alanine aminotransferase (ALT) tests using simple two-dimensional (2D) paper-based devices. In both cases, the reaction process is analyzed using an image-processing-based colorimetric method. The experimental results show that for AST detection within the 0–105 U/l concentration range, the optimal observation time is around four minutes, while for ALT detection in the 0–125 U/l concentration range, the optimal observation time is approximately one minute. Finally, for both samples, the detection performance of the sprayed-reagent analytical devices is insensitive to the glucose concentration. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

We propose the new structure of hybrid backplane technology with IGZO‐TFT and LTPS. In this structure, IGZO is directly connected with inter metal to reduce the number of layers. The uniformity of contact resistance between IGZO and metal was less than 20n at G4.5 which is enough for using signal bass line. The characteristics of IGZO‐TFT uniformity and reliability were good enough for mass‐production. The panel with the new hybrid structure backplane has been adopted into practical use as the smartphone with 6.6 inches flexible OLED panel. We believe that the proposed structure would be useful for the mass production of high performance OLED display at low cost production. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The article presents a research which investigates the bioconversion of paper sludge (PS) into bioethanol by simultaneous saccharification and fermentation (SSF) using a PS based cellulase from Acremonium cellulolyticus and thermotolerant Saccharomyces cerevisiae TJ14. It is stated that using cellulase of PS origin minimized biofuel production costs, as the culture broth containing cellulase can be used directly. Results showed that ethanol concentration increased with increasing PS organic material (PSOM) concentration, up to 150 g/l. An increase in cellulase concentration or the yeast inoculum did not result in significant improvement in ethanol yield.

This paper examines the impacts of transportation costs to the supply chain management of the Nordic paper industry from a transport geographic view point. The discussion is illustrated by complete cost management accounting data from one paper mill. The main research questions are: What are the transportation costs and how have they developed during the study period concerning the exports to the market? How have the supply chain costs developed? Do order size and transportation costs have any causality in cost per unit of paper? So far, the transportation costs concerning Finnish paper mills have been examined rather scantly. We perceive that transportation costs together with sales costs have crucial effects on the mill profits. The costs rise due to the spatial heterogeneity of the European market. In paper industry, the freight transportation costs have not decreased as in many other industries. The transaction of a small customer order can cost more than twice as much as a large one to the same export markets. In addition, the productivity of aged paper machines has not improved as expected, while the paper sales prices have decreased due to the continuous oversupply. In some geographical ranges, the location planning of paper industry may transform towards local production units near the market. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]