Resumo em Inglês:

Encapsulation and immobilization technology is important for the food processing and bioengineering industries. Chitosan is a natural polysaccharide prepared by the N - deacetylation of chitin. It has been widely used in food and bioengineering industries, including the encapsulation of active food ingredients, in enzyme immobilization, and as a carrier for controlled drug delivery, due to its significant biological and chemical properties such as biodegradability, biocompatibility, bioactivity, and polycationicity. In this work, chitosan nanoparticles and nanofibers used to encapsulate bioactive substances and immobilize enzymes were reviewed. Preparation of chitosan nanoparticles and nanofibers, including the work achieved in our group on chitosan nanoparticles for enzyme immobilization, were also introduced. Some problems encountered with nano - structured chitosan carriers for bioactive substance encapsulation and enzyme immobilization were discussed, together with the future prospects of such systems.

Resumo em Inglês:

The thermal stability of the extracellular fructosyltransferase (FTase) from Rhodotorula sp., recovered from cultivation medium by ethanol precipitation and immobilized onto niobium ore, was studied by Arrhenius plot, half - life profile, half - inactivation temperature (T50) and thermodynamic parameters. The Arrhenius plot showed two different behaviors with different deactivation energies (Ead) only after immobilization, the transition occurring in the temperature interval between 51 and 52ºC. T50 for the free enzyme was estimated to be around 62ºC and, after immobilization, 66ºC. After 15 minutes at 52ºC, it was also possible to observe enzymatic activation for both the free and immobilized forms, but greater activation was achieved at pH 4.5 with the immobilized enzyme. Between 47 - 51ºC the immobilized enzyme was more stable than the free enzyme, with pH 6.0 being the more stable condition for the immobilized enzyme. However, above 52ºC the free form was more stable.

Resumo em Inglês:

The enzymatic treatment of hides in tannery processes is a promising technology. However, the reaction kinetics of commercial enzymes available to the leather industry are not fully understood and their activities have been mainly determined with model proteins such as casein as substrate, which are not of direct relevance for cattle hides. Therefore, it is important to determine their activities on collagen and keratin, the main proteins of skin, in order to use these enzymes in leather processing. This work describes the study of five proteases, used commercially in tanneries, to assess their ability to act upon collagen and keratin and to determine their unhairing. Results showed that all commercial enzymes tested had more activity on collagen than on keratin. Unhairing was also tested and four out of the five enzymes tested showed some unhairing activity. Optima of the temperature and pH of the enzymes were very similar for all five enzymes, with maximal activities around 55ºC and pH 9 to 12, respectively.

Resumo em Inglês:

Aspergillus aculeatus tannase was immobilized on several carriers by entrapment and covalent binding with cross - linking. Tannase immobilized on gelatin with cross - linking agent showed the highest activity and immobilization yield. The optimum pH of the immobilized enzyme was shifted to a more acidic range compared with the free enzyme (from pH 5.5 to pH 5.0). The optimum temperature of the reaction was determined to be 50ºC for the free enzyme and 60ºC for the immobilized form. The thermal stability, as well as stability over a wide range of pH, was significantly improved by the immobilization process. The calculated Km of the immobilized tannase (11.8 mg ml-1) is higher than that of the free tannase (6.5 mg ml-1), while Vmax of the immobilized enzyme (0.32 U (µg protein)-1) is lower than that of the free tannase (2.7 U (µg protein)-1). The immobilized enzyme was able to retain 84 % of the initial catalytic activity after 5.0 cycles.

Resumo em Inglês:

This work reports the use of cerium - titania - alumina - based systems modified with Ag and Fe by the wetness impregnation method for the discoloration of blue 5G dye. The techniques employed to characterize the photocatalysts were: temperature - programmed reduction (TPR), X - ray diffraction (XRD), specific surface area, average pore volume, and average pore diameter. The characterization results indicated that the photocatalysts had different crystalline structures and textural properties. Discoloration with the mixed oxide photocatalyst CeO2 - TiO2 - Al2O3 gave a result similar to that of TiO2. On the other hand, the addition of Ag and Fe to the mixed oxide increased the discoloration and reaction rates of reactive blue 5G dyes.

Resumo em Inglês:

An exploratory investigation was conducted on the effects of application of ozone on the removal of organic and inorganic contaminants and the reduction of settleable solids in urban lake sediments. Homogenized sediment samples were treated in a batch reactor with an external recirculation loop and ozone feed from a Venturi injector. The ozone generating system was fed with ambient air with small footprint and operational simplicity. Ozone mass application (g/h) and contact time (min) were varied over wide ranges during testing. The effects of the ozone mass applied per unit time and the contact time on contaminant removal efficiencies were analyzed and a trade - off between the costs of ozonation and of solids treatment and disposal was proposed. The minimum ozone mass application required for total contaminant removal apparently depended on the type of organic contaminant present. An apparent influence of inorganic contaminant speciation on the removal efficiency was found and discussed.

Resumo em Inglês:

The economy of many communities in southeastern Brazil is based on agroindustry, particularly the sugarcane industry. Recent studies have found increased use of herbicides in this type of agriculture, among which diuron and hexazinone are the most widely used. The water supply for some communities is derived entirely from the Guarany Aquifer (the world's largest transborder underground freshwater system), and some wells are located in recharge zones, which makes the groundwater more vulnerable to contamination. In this study, we monitored some of the wells located in the recharge area. We studied the removal of diuron and hexazinone from synthetic water prepared in the laboratory by preoxidation with chlorine and chlorine dioxide, as well as adsorption with granular activated carbon (GAC). The saturation time of GAC in tests with preoxidation with both oxidants was shorter than the saturation time in the test without preoxidation, possibly due to the formation of by - products that competed for the adsorption of the herbicides. The conclusion was that the use of activated carbon is important for removing the herbicides in question, as well as the by - products produced by these oxidants.

Resumo em Inglês:

A model is proposed in this paper to describe the generation of acid mine drainage (AMD) in leaching columns. The model considers: (i) Water flow through the column, which is calculated using the 1 - D analytic solution of the Richards' equation assuming the existence of a similarity relationship between the water retention function and the water content profiles at a given time; and (ii) Pyrite oxidation weighted by microbiological effects occurring in spherical particles according to the shrinking core model. Mass balances of oxygen and pyrite were derived in order to evaluate the intrinsic oxidation rate and the pyrite fraction reacted with time and column position. The model was used to simulate a six month operation of a leaching column, which comprised successive weekly cycles of dry and wet periods. Simulation results demonstrated that AMD generation is strongly affected by the presence of microorganisms. A relative deviation of 5% between simulation and experimental data was obtained.

Resumo em Inglês:

Studies on particle distributions and interactions between the particles and the liquid turbulence are extremely significant and can help to improve efficiency of industrial processes and final product quality. In this paper, the particle distribution and the particle - turbulence interaction in the solid - liquid flow were investigated in detail by a numerical method. The governing equations of the liquid were solved by direct numerical simulations and the particle was tracked by Newtonian motion equations considering the effects of drag force, lift force, pressure gradient force, and virtual mass force. Two - way coupling was used to explain the effect of the particles on the turbulence. The results showed that the vortex has a great influence on the particle distribution. Most of the particles aggregate at the centre of the channel. Particle clusters along the vortex circumference modulate the development of the vortex. The turbulence modulations showed anisotropy. The Reynolds stress is slightly reduced in a broad range; the energy balance is changed; and an extra term is introduced to maintain a new energy balance.

Resumo em Inglês:

Mass transfer performance is presented for a 76 mm diameter pulsed disc and doughnut extraction column for the toluene-acetone-water system. The experiments were carried out for both mass transfer directions. The mass transfer data are interpreted in terms of the axial diffusion model, thus accounting for continuous phase axial dispersion. The effect of operating parameters on the overall volumetric mass transfer coefficients has been investigated. The results show that the column performance increases with an increase in pulsation intensity. At high pulsation intensity, however, the overall volumetric mass transfer coefficient decreases due to the production of very fine dispersed droplets. It was also found that the column performance decreases with both an increase in dispersed phase velocity and a decrease in continuous phase velocity. An empirical correlation for prediction of the continuous phase overall mass transfer coefficient is derived in terms of the overall Sherwood number, Reynolds number and dispersed phase holdup for each mass transfer direction. The prediction of continuous phase overall mass transfer coefficients from the presented correlations is in good agreement with experimental data.

Resumo em Inglês:

Thin film composite membranes were prepared by using1,3 - phenylene diamine in the gelation bath as well as in coating conditions. The cross - sectional view of the membranes shows different patterns for membranes prepared in a water - bath (Mem - I) and a diamine - containing water bath (Mem - II). The thin film composite membranes prepared using a diamine bath and coating (Mem - III) had improved salt rejecting ability but low volume flux. The performances of the salt rejection follows the order Na2SO4 > NaCl > MgSO4> MgCl2, as expected. The salt separation performances of the membranes made with higher concentration of 1,3 phenylene diamine follow the order Mem - IIIb > Mem - I > Mem - IIb. For membranes made with low concentration of 1,3 - phenylene diamine, the salt separation follows the same trend, (Mem - IIIa > Mem - IIa).

Resumo em Inglês:

Conventional and neutral high molecular weight polyethylene oxide (PEO) adsorbs on some colloids and fines, flocculating them into flocs. Addition of a cofactor (CF) makes PEO adsorb on all types of colloids and fines, flocculating them into larger flocs. Homoflocculation of fines with PEO alone and with CF added prior to PEO were investigated in this work at low and high effective shear rates. CF role was investigated: it enhanced flocculation amplitude and rate by several magnitudes relative to PEO used alone, and was ascribed to the CF action to stiffen and extend PEO coils. Considering CF-PEO abilities in homoflocculation and in heteroflocculation as recorded in the literature, combination of homo - and heteroflocculation can now be applied to processes. Formed flocs and individual particles will simultaneously deposit onto fibers and, when filtered, particles will be retained in the fiber cake. This technique can be applied in industry processes and water treatment.

Resumo em Inglês:

Zinc electrowinning is performed with the application of a current through insoluble electrodes (Pb - Ag), causing the electrolysis of zinc sulfate, with or without impurities, and zinc deposition on the cathode of aluminum. The impurities can reduce the current efficiency and increase the energy consumption in zinc electrolysis. In this work, the effect of nickel and magnesium on zinc electrodeposition was studied using the electrochemical techniques of galvanostatic deposition and cyclic voltammetry. Additions of nickel, magnesium or both cations in zinc sulfate electrolyte resulted in a marginal increase in current efficiency. Addition of nickel or magnesium polarizes the cathode; however, the extent of polarization in the presence of magnesium is more than that of nickel. Addition of magnesium to the zinc electrolyte caused zinc reduction at a more negative potential. The addition of nickel to the zinc electrolyte increased the current density of the anodic peaks, thus increasing the dissolution of zinc and hydrogenated phases. The addition of nickel to the zinc and magnesium solutions decreased the nucleation loop, facilitating zinc deposition.

Resumo em Inglês:

Yellow passion fruit pulp is unstable, presenting phase separation that can be avoided by the addition of hydrocolloids. For this purpose, xanthan and guar gum [0.3, 0.7 and 1.0% (w/w)] were added to yellow passion fruit pulp and the changes in the dynamic and steady - shear rheological behavior evaluated. Xanthan dispersions showed a more pronounced pseudoplasticity and the presence of yield stress, which was not observed in the guar gum dispersions. Cross model fitting to flow curves showed that the xanthan suspensions also had higher zero shear viscosity than the guar suspensions, and, for both gums, an increase in temperature led to lower values for this parameter. The gums showed different behavior as a function of temperature in the range of 5 - 35ºC. The activation energy of the apparent viscosity was dependent on the shear rate and gum concentration for guar, whereas for xanthan these values only varied with the concentration. The mechanical spectra were well described by the generalized Maxwell model and the xanthan dispersions showed a more elastic character than the guar dispersions, with higher values for the relaxation time. Xanthan was characterized as a weak gel, while guar presented a concentrated solution behavior. The simultaneous evaluation of temperature and concentration showed a stronger influence of the polysaccharide concentration on the apparent viscosity and the G' and G" moduli than the variation in temperature.

Resumo em Inglês:

Effects of K addition on the performance of supported Fe catalysts for Fischer - Tropsch synthesis (FTS) were studied in a slurry reactor at 240 to 270ºC, 2.0 to 4.0 MPa and syngas H2/CO = 1.0. The catalysts were characterized by N2 adsorption, H2 temperature programmed reduction, X - ray diffraction, X - ray fluorescence, thermogravimetric analysis, scanning electron microscopy and dispersive X - ray spectroscopy. A strong interaction was observed between Fe and K, which inhibited the reduction of Fe catalyst. Addition of potassium increased the production of heavy hydrocarbons (C20+).

Resumo em Inglês:

A three dimensional (3D) computational fluid dynamics (CFD) simulation and a neural network model are presented to estimate the behaviors of the Colburn factor (j) and the Fanning friction factor (f) for wavy fin - and - flat tube (WFFT) heat exchangers. Effects of the five geometrical factors of fin pitch, fin height, fin length, fin thickness, and wavy amplitude are investigated over a wide range of Reynolds number (600<Re<7000). The CFD simulation results express that the geometrical parameters of wavy fins have significant effects on the j and f factors as a function of Reynolds number. The computational results have an adequate accuracy when compared to experimental data. The accuracy of the calculations of the j and f factors are evaluated by the values of the absolute average relative deviation (AARD), being respectively 3.8% and 8.2% for the CFD simulation and 1.3% and 1% for the neural network model. Finally, new correlations are proposed to estimate the values of the j and f factors with 3.22% and 3.68% AARD respectively.

Resumo em Inglês:

Diesel - based microemulsions and a surfactant/diesel blend, using ethoxylated (5 EO) nonylphenol as surfactant, were prepared and tested in a diesel engine to evaluate its performance and emissions. The following properties were evaluated: density, viscosity, cloud point and corrosiveness. Experimental results showed that density and viscosity were greater than those obtained for neat diesel. Cloud point and corrosiveness were not affected by water and surfactant. Specific fuel consumption of the microemulsion systems was greater than that of diesel, but the small droplets of water improved diesel combustion. Compared with diesel, an increase in carbon monoxide (CO) and nitrogen oxide (NOx) emissions and a decrease in black smoke emissions were obtained. In general, only microemulsions with up to 6% water are in accord with Brazilian diesel/biodiesel fuel regulations and specifications.

Resumo em Inglês:

In this study, the fixed - bed adsorption of carbon dioxide and a carbon dioxide - nitrogen mixture on zeolite 13X was investigated. The adsorption equilibrium and breakthrough curves were determined at different temperatures - 301 - 306 K, 323 K, 373 K and 423 K. A model based on the LDF approximation for the mass transfer, considering the energy and momentum balances, was used to describe the adsorption kinetics of carbon dioxide and a carbon dioxide - nitrogen mixture. The model acceptably reproduced all of the breakthrough curves and can be considered as adequate for designing a PSA cycle to separate carbon dioxidenitrogen mixtures.