Abstract in English:

The effect of high-dose irradiation as a pretreatment method on two common lignocellulosic materials; hardwood (Khaya senegalensis) and softwood (Triplochiton scleroxylon) were investigated by assessing the potential of cellulase enzyme derived from Aspergillus flavus Linn isolate NSPR 101 to hydrolyse the materials. The irradiation strongly affected the materials, causing the enzymatic hydrolysis to increase by more than 3 fold. Maximum digestibility occurred in softwood at 40kGy dosage of irradiation, while in hardwood it was at 90kGy dosage. The results also showed that, at the same dosage levels (p < 0.05), hardwood was hydrolysed significantly better compared to the softwood.

Abstract in English:

Biodegradable polymeric materials can be used as temporary implants and may be able to carry out specific functions for a pre-determined period prior to their degradation in vivo. In order to be used they must present characteristics of biocompatibility. When a material comes into contact with blood, the instantaneous adsorption of protein occurs on its surface. Coverage of the surface by γ-globulins causes the adhesion of platelets and, consequently, provokes the process of blood coagulation. In this context, the objective of the present paper was to quantify the adsorption of human Immunoglobulin G (HIgG) to poly ( β-hydroxybutyrate) (PHB), poly (L-lactic acid) (PLLA) and PHB/PLLA blends using the FTIR/ATR technique. The results showed the occurrence of HlgG adsorption for all three systems, PHB having the highest adsorption density, about Γmax =2.57 µg/cm², followed by PHB/PLLA blends (Γmax=0.85 µg/cm²) and PLLA with the lowest values (Γmax=0.25 µg/cm²).

Abstract in English:

A by-product from olive oil production, olive stone, was investigated for the removal of Cd (II), Cr (III) and Pb (II) from aqueous solutions. The kinetics of biosorption are studied, analyzing the effect of the initial concentration of metal and temperature. Pseudo-first-order, pseudo-second-order, Elovich and intraparticle diffusion models have been used to represent the kinetics of the process and obtain the main kinetic parameters. The results show that the pseudo-second order model is the one that best describes the biosorption of the three metal ions for all the range of experimental conditions investigated. For the three metal ions, the maximum biosoption capacity and the initial biosorption rate increase when the initial metal concentration rises. However, the kinetic constant decreases when the initial metal concentration increases. The temperature effect on biosorption capacity for Cd (II) and Cr (III) is less significant; however, for Pb (II) the effect of temperature is more important, especially when temperature rises from 25 to 40ºC. The biosorption capacity at mmol/g of olive stone changes in the following order: Cr>Cd>Pb. Thus, for an initial concentration of 220 mg/ℓ, a maximum sorption capacity of 0.079 mmol/g for Cr (III), 0.065 mmol/g for Cd (II) and 0.028 mmol/g for Pb (II) has been obtained.

Abstract in English:

Carbon prepared from the wood of Ailanthus altissima, at 400 and 800ºC was used to adsorb acid blue 1 from aqueous solution at 10ºC and 45ºC. Characterization by XRD, SEM, EDS and FTIR shows that the surfaces contain functional groups like carboxyl which disappear at 800 ºC and thus favor the exposure of more porous structural surfaces which enhance the adsorption capacity. Relatively high amounts of carbon with respect to oxygen were found with the increase in activation temperature. First order, Bangham and parabolic models were found to fit the adsorption kinetic data. The reaction rate increased with the increase in temperature of adsorption/activation. Thermodynamic parameters like ΔE≠ , ΔH≠ , ΔS≠ and ΔG≠ were calculated. The negative values of ΔS≠ reflect the decrease in the disorder of the system at the solid-solution interface, during adsorption. Gibbs free energy ( ΔG≠) represents the driving force for the affinity of dye for the carbon and it decreased with the increase in adsorption/activation temperature.

Abstract in English:

The steady-state heat transfer in laminar flow of liquid egg yolk - an important pseudoplastic fluid food - in circular and concentric annular ducts was experimentally investigated. The average convection heat transfer coefficients, determined by measuring temperatures before and after heating sections with constant temperatures at the tube wall, were used to obtain simple new empirical expressions to estimate the Nusselt numbers for fully established flows at the thermal entrance of the considered geometries. The comparisons with existing correlations for Newtonian and non-Newtonian fluids resulted in excellent agreement. The main contribution of this work is to supply practical and easily applicable correlations, which are, especially for the case of annulus, rather scarce and extensively required in the design of heat transfer operations dealing with similar shear-thinning products. In addition, the experimental results may support existing theoretical analyses.

Abstract in English:

Liquid fluidized/expanded bed adsorption (LF/EBA) is a novel chromatography technique for capturing target biomolecules directly from crude feedstock in downstream processing. To widely extend the LF/EBA technology in biological industries, a better understanding of the expanded-bed behavior is necessary to maximize its efficient applications. In this study, streamline adsorbent was loaded into the column and the bed was subjected to physical and hydrodynamical experiments. Hydrodynamic characteristics of the bed (e.g., Daxl and Bo) with different settled bed height (SBH=5,6,7,8,9,10,11,12cm) along with a variety of column diameters (1,1.6,2.5 cm) have been investigated based on exact mathematical as well as approximate short-cut methods. It was found that the increasing column diameter promoted bed mixing, which was undesirable, and the optimal values for the bed expansion and SBH based on minimal liquid mixing were 80%-130% and 8-10 cm, respectively. However, exploiting the short-cut method for the bed hydrodynamic assessments also demonstrated results as good as the mathematical method. Hydrodynamic behavior of liquid fluidized bed adsorption and the generic application of the short-cut method and its potential as a simple method for study of hydrodynamic performance is discussed.

Abstract in English:

The purpose of this work was to determine the porosity of gas filtration cakes composed of powdery organic and inorganic materials, employing a technique whereby an optical microscope generates images of the powdery layer deposited on the surface of the filtering medium. To this end, experimental cake filtration porosity data were obtained as a function of the surface filtration velocity. The images generated by the optical microscope were analyzed by using an image analyzing program that supplied the cake porosity values. The results revealed that porosity decreases as surface filtration velocity increases. The average porosity of corn starch was higher than that of tapioca powder and phosphate concentrate, possibly due to the shape of the particles, differences in the physicochemical characteristics of the materials, and grain distribution. Based on the relation of the experimental average porosity data and the filtration velocity, an empirical correlation was found that better fit these parameters.

Abstract in English:

The objectives of this work were to study and evaluate the process of drying a pharmaceutical granule from 21% to 3 % (d.b.) moisture, also determining the power absorbed by the product, using a microwave assisted vacuum dryer with two absolute pressures: 50 and 75 mbar. A specific objective was to compare the drying kinetics of the microwave assisted vacuum process (MAVP) with two other drying processes, one using hot air convection and the other combining microwaves with hot air convection. The results of such a study showed that the drying kinetics were not affected by the vacuum levels, whereas the absorbed microwave power was higher for smaller vacuum levels. It was also observed that the samples obtained by the microwave assisted vacuum process, when submitted to compression, complied with the required specifications. The drying kinetics of the MAVP showed the shortest drying times when compared to the other drying processes.

Abstract in English:

The purpose of this work was to analyze the hydrodynamic and drying aspects of a rotary dryer used in a fertilizer industry. A set of equations to predict the solids holdup in the flights, the length of fall, the residence time of particles and the drying variables was evaluated by comparison to experimental measurements performed in an industrial rotary dryer of the Copebras Fertilizer Company, located in Catalão, state of Goias, Center-west of Brazil. Because of precise estimations, these equations may be used to design and predict the solids cascading behavior in industrial rotary dryers. Despite larger deviations, reaching 20%, the drying model can also be used for design calculations and process simulations.

Abstract in English:

The paper presents experimental research of thermal conductivity coefficients of the siliceous sand bed fluidized by air and an experimental investigation of the particle size influence on the heat transfer coefficient between fluidized bed and inclined exchange surfaces. The measurements were performed for the specific fluidization velocity and sand particle diameters d p=0.3, 0.5, 0.9 mm. The industrial use of fluidized beds has been increasing rapidly in the past 20 years owing to their useful characteristics. One of the outstanding characteristics of a fluidized bed is that it tends to maintain a uniform temperature even with nonuniform heat release. On the basis of experimental research, the influence of the process's operational parameters on the obtained values of the bed's thermal conductivity has been analyzed. The results show direct dependence of thermal conductivity on the intensity of mixing, the degree of fluidization, and the size of particles. In the axial direction, the coefficients that have been treated have values a whole order higher than in the radial direction. Comparison of experimental research results with experimental results of other authors shows good agreement and the same tendency of thermal conductivity change. It is well known in the literature that the value of the heat transfer coefficient is the highest in the horizontal and the smallest in the vertical position of the heat exchange surface. Variation of heat transfer, depending on inclination angle is not examined in detail. The difference between the values of the relative heat transfer coefficient between vertical and horizontal heater position for all particle sizes reduces by approximately 15% with the increase of fluidization rate.

Abstract in English:

Isomerization of linear alkanes has had considerable importance for the refining industry because the isomers formed in this reaction have high octane number. Most works reported in the literature studied the use of bifunctional catalysts, i.e., ones that have acid sites and metallic sites. In this study, bifunctional monometallic (Ni or Pt) and bimetallic catalysts (Pt-Ni), using HUSY zeolite as the support, were prepared in order to verify the role of the metal content and composition on the catalytic properties for n-hexane isomerization. The method used for metal dispersion in the zeolite was competitive ion exchange using ammine complexes [Ni(NH3)6]Cl2 and [Pt(NH3)4]Cl2 as precursors. Four series of catalysts with constant atomic metal content had total metal amounts between 130 and 280 µmol M/g cat. Catalysts were characterized by temperature programmed reduction (TPR) and subjected to catalytic evaluation for n-hexane isomerization at 250 ºC and 1 atm using H2/C6 = 9 molar ratio. TPR results show an easier reducibility of Ni+2 cations in the presence of Pt, which was evidenced by the displacement of the reduction peak of those cations towards lower temperatures in bimetallic catalysts. The bimetallic catalysts presented a higher activity in the isomerization of n-hexane when compared to the monometallic ones, as well better stability as the Pt content in the solid increases. The results of the activity as a function of the Pt content in the bimetallic catalysts show a maximum value around 50% of Pt. An addition of Pt above this critical value leads to a small decrease of the catalytic activity.

Abstract in English:

Biodiesel is a renewable liquid fuel that can be produced by a transesterification reaction between a vegetable oil and an alcohol. This paper evaluates and optimizes the production of ethyl esters (biodiesel) from soybean oil and ethanol. The reaction was carried out by applying ultrasound under atmospheric pressure and ambient temperature. Response surface methodology was used to evaluate the influence of alcohol to oil molar ratio and catalyst concentration on the yield of conversion of soybean oil into ethyl esters. The process resulted in a maximum yield of 91.8% after 30 minutes of reaction. The process variables alcohol to oil ratio and catalyst to oil ratio were statistically significant regarding the yield of ethyl esters. The optimal operating condition was obtained applying an alcohol to oil molar ratio of 10.2 and a catalyst to oil weight ratio of 0.0035.

Abstract in English:

RH-MCM-41 was synthesized by using silica from rice husk and further modified to increase acidity by adding Al with grafting method with Si/Al ratio of 75 and 25. The resulting materials were referred to as RH-AlMCM-41(75) and RH-AlMCM-41(25). The XRD spectra of all RH-AlMCM-41 confirmed a mesoporous structure of MCM-41. Surface areas of all RH-AlMCM-41 were in the range of 700-800 m²/g, lower than that of the parent RH-MCM-41, which was 1230 m²/g. After Al addition the Si/Al ratios of RHAlMCM-41(75) and RH-AlMCM-41(25) were higher than that of the parent RH-MCM-41. The RH-AlMCM41 materials were used as supports for bimetallic platinum-iron catalysts, denoted as Pt-Fe/RH-AlMCM-41, with Pt and Fe amounts of 0.5 and 5.0% by weight, respectively. Results from TPR indicated that the presenceof Al might assist the interaction between Pt and Fe as the reduction temperature of iron oxides shifted to a lower value. All catalysts were active for phenol hydroxylation using H2O2 as an oxidant, for which the highest conversions were observed on the RH-MCM-41 material with the highest surface area. The acidity of the supports did not present a significant role in improving the catalytic performance.

Abstract in English:

A metamorphic limestone and a dolomite were employed as SO2 sorbents in the desulfurization of gas from coal combustion. The tests were performed in a fluidized bed reactor on a bench and pilot scale. Several parameters such as bed temperature, sorbent type, and sorbent particle size at different Ca/S molar ratios were analyzed. These parameters were evaluated for the combustion of coal with low-sulfur/high-ash content, experimental conditions of high air excess and high O2 level in fluidization air. Under these conditions, typical of furnaces, few published data can be found. In this work, a medium level of desulfurization efficiency (~60%) for Ca/S = 2 was obtained.

Abstract in English:

The mechanism of displacement washing of packed bed of porous, compressible and cylindrical particles, e.g., fibers, is presented with the help of an axial dispersion model involving Peclet number (Pe) and Biot number (Bi). Bulk fluid concentration, intra-pore solute concentration and concentration of solute adsorbed on the fiber surface are taken to be the function of washing time and position in the bed. Concentration of solute adsorbed on the fiber surface and intra-pore solute concentration are related by a Langmuir adsorption isotherm. Experiments have been performed on pulp beds formed from unbeaten, unbleached kraft fibers. Displacement washing has been simulated using a laboratory washing cell. Model equations are solved by using orthogonal collocation on finite elements (OCFE). Model predicted values are compared with the experimental values and key industrial parameters such as displacement ratio and efficiency are expressed in terms of exit and average solute concentrations.

Abstract in English:

In this communication, the method proposed by Cremasco et al. (2003) is applied to predict single and low concentration pulse chromatography. In previous work, a general rate model was presented to describe the breakthrough curve, where a hybrid solution was proposed for the linear adsorption. The liquid phase concentration inside the particle was found analytically and related with the bed liquid phase through Duhamel's Theorem, while the bulk-phase equation was solved by a numerical method. In this paper, this method is applied to describe pulse chromatography of solutes that present linear adsorption isotherms. The simulated results of pulse chromatography are compared with experimental ones for aromatic amino acid experiments from literature.

Abstract in English:

The decolorization potential of textile dye Reactive Red 198 (RR198) by Aspergillus parasiticus fungal biosorbent has been investigated as a function of initial pH, contact time, biosorbent and initial dye concentration in a batch system. Maximum dye biosorption capacity 1.03x10-4 mol g-1 was observed at pH 2.0 and 2.0 g L-1 of biosorbent concentration. Biosorption equilibrium was attained within 50 min. The equilibrium data followed Langmuir, Freundlich and Dubinin-Radushkevich isotherm models at 20, 30, 40 and 50ºC. Anincrease in the biosorption capacity of A. parasiticus with temperature showed that the decolorization process is endothermic. Results indicated that Aspergillus parasiticus was an effective candidate for textile dye RR198 removal from aqueous solutions.

Abstract in English:

A second-law analysis of a gravity-driven film of non-Newtonian fluid along an inclined heated plate is investigated. The flow is assumed to be steady, laminar and fully-developed. The upper surface of the liquid film is considered to be free and adiabatic. The effect of heat generation by viscous dissipation is included. Velocity, temperature and entropy generation profiles are presented. The effects of the flow behaviour index, the Brinkman number and the group parameter on velocity, temperature and entropy generation number are discussed. The results show that velocity profile depends largely on the flow behaviour index. They are flat near the free surface for pseudoplastic fluids and linear for dilatant fluids. Temperature profiles are higher for higher flow behaviour index and Brinkman number. The entropy generation number increases with Brinkman number and the group parameter because of the heat generated by the viscous dissipation effect. For pseudoplastic fluids, the irreversibility is dominated by heat transfer, whereas, for dilatant fluids, irreversibility due to fluid friction is more dominant.

Abstract in English:

Reverse micellar extraction has been widely used in the purification of biomolecules. However, reverse micelles formed by ionic surfactants can only be employed for the extraction of biomolecules that are charged in the extraction system with the electrostatic interaction between surfactants and solutes as the driving force. In this study, the extraction of matrine by using reverse micelles formed by non-ionic TRPO surfactants was studied. Theoretical analysis and experimental results demonstrated that the driving force of the extraction is the coordination forces between matrines and TRPOs. Using this coordination-based reverse micellar extraction, matrine can be efficiently separated from oxymatrine and other components in the raw matrine materials. Experimental studies showed that the factors affecting matrine extraction include pH value and TRPO concentration. The existence of ions in the system does not affect the partition coefficient significantly and the addition of a small amount of chloroform in the solution of reverse micelles was found to improve the extraction significantly.

Abstract in English:

Crystallization is an important industrial-scale process for the purification of enantiomers that depends on a phase diagram. In this work, the ternary phase diagram of R- and S-ketamine in ethanol was determined. The eutectic point indicated that crystallization of pure enantiomers from solutions containing more than 75% of the desired enantiomer is feasible. Solubility studies showed the feasibility of using temperature control to conduct the process. Batch crystallization of ketamine (S/R:80/20) solutions at 25ºC provided the isolation of S-ketamine (purity of 100%) with a yield from 65 to 70% and a productivity of 6.5 g/(lh).

Abstract in English:

The sorption of nuclease P1 onto chitosan nano-particles is studied in this paper. The effect of some adsorption kinetics factors such as nuclease P1 concentration, chitosan nano-particles solution concentration, adsorption temperature, chitosan nano-particles size, solution pH, etc. is investigated. Adsorption of nuclease P1 onto chitosan nano-particles is fitted into Lagergren first-order equation at initial nuclease P1 concentration of 3.0 mg/mL. The first-order constant for nuclease P1 is 22.98 h-1. When nuclease P1 concentration is controlled into certain region, the adsorption fits into Freundlich isothermal linear equation. A mechanism of adsorption for nuclease P1 is proposed by analyzing IR spectra. The IR spectra shows that the hydrogen bond might be the main force between the hydroxyl group, the NH2 group and the nuclease P1.