On the assessment of power consumption and critical impeller speed in vortexing unbaffled stirred tanks

Abstract Unbaffled stirred tanks are increasingly recognized as a viable alternative to common baffled tanks for a number of processes and bio-processes where the presence of baffles is undesirable. Notwithstanding the increasing industrial interest towards unbaffled tanks, available experimental information on their behaviour is still very poor, even for important parameters such as mechanical power drawn and critical impeller speed (Ncr) at which the transition between non-aerated (sub-critical regime) and aerated (super-critical regime) conditions occurs. In this work the influence of Reynolds and Froude numbers on power consumption characteristics of unbaffled stirred tanks is presented…

Combined gasification-oxidation system for waste treatment with supercritical water: Lca and performance analysis

In this study the environmental performance of a first-of-its-kind integrated process based on supercritical water gasification and oxidation (SCW-GcO), was evaluated using life cycle assessment (LCA). The process was applied to the treatment of carbon black and used oil as model wastes. Mass and energy balances were performed using Aspen Plus, and the environmental assessment was carried out through SimaPro. A “from cradle to grave” approach was chosen for the analysis, considering impact categories such as climate change, ozone depletion, human toxicity, particulate matter, land use, resource depletion, and other relevant indicators. The environmental profile of the SCW-GcO process was co…

Gamma radiation induced polymerization of vinyl monomers in dense CO2

Abstract The dispersion polymerization of methyl methacrylate in dense carbon dioxide, initiated by γ-rays, utilizing different polysiloxanes as polymeric stabilizers, was investigated. The progress of the reaction, as a function of the irradiation dose, was also studied and the occurrence of a gel effect has been detected. For comparison, the dispersion polymerization has been carried out in supercritical conditions ( T =65°C and 38 MPa) in the presence of 2,2′-azobis(isobutyronitrile) (AIBN) as initiator. High molecular weight polymer (M w > 1000 kg/mol) with narrow molecular weight distribution has been obtained both with γ-rays and AIBN. The electron scanning micrographs show that regul…

Supercritical Assisted Atomization: Polyvinylpyrrolidone as Carrier for Drugs with Poor Solubility in Water

Supercritical assisted atomization (SAA) is an efficient technique to produce microparticles and composite microspheres formed by polymers and pharmaceutical compounds. In this work polyvinylpyrrolidone (PVP) was proposed as carrier for pharmaceutical compounds that show a poor solubility in water medium. Indeed, this polymer is hydrosoluble and can be generally used to enhance the dissolution rate of hydrophobic compounds when finely dispersed in it. However, it is difficult to obtain coprecipitates with a uniform dispersion of the active molecule using other micronization techniques. The experiments were performed using ethanol as solvent; SAA plant was operated at 40°C and 76 bar in the …

Advances and Perspectives of Supercritical Fluid Technology

1 Dipartimento di Ingegneria Industriale, Universita di Salerno, Salerno, 84084 Fisciano, Italy 2 Departamento de Ingenieŕia Quimica, Universidad de Castilla-La Mancha, 13004 Ciudad Real, Spain 3 Department of Agricultural, Food & Nutritional Sciences, University of Alberta, Edmonton, AB, Canada T6G 2P5 4Dipartimento di Ingegneria Chimica, Gestionale, Informatica, Meccanica, Universita di Palermo, 90128 Palermo, Italy

Supercritical Fluid Adsorption of Domperidone on Silica Aerogel

Silica aerogel (SA) was loaded with domperidone to demonstrate the potentiality of adsorption processes based on the usage of supercritical carbon dioxide to treat poorly water-soluble drugs, forming new kinds of drug delivery systems. The effects of pressure, temperature and solution concentration on loaded SA were studied. Adsorption isotherms were measured at 35℃ and 45℃ and fitted with Langmuir model. Release kinetics of the adsorbed drug were also evaluated by in vitro dissolution tests. Results showed that domperidone can be uniformly dispersed into the aerogel and that the release rate of domperidone from the composite, constituted by drug and silica aerogel, is much faster than that…

Experimental and fluid dynamic study of continuous supercritical water gasification of glucose

Abstract The supercritical water gasification (SCWG) of glucose as a model compound for H 2 production is studied in term of process development at 25 MPa and 650 °C. Gasification has been investigated using a laboratory scale continuous plant comprising a continuous down flow reactor with a volume of 200 cm 3 , a heat recovery section and pre-heat of the biomass to simulate more closely an industrial design. Feed streams (pure water and glucose solution) are introduced at the top of the vessel and products are extracted from the bottom. The reactor is equipped with various inlet points that allow to modify the inlet position of reacting streams in order to study the effect of stream mixing…

MULTIFUNCTION REACTOR

Described herein is a reactor (1) includes: a first reaction volume (V1), a second reaction volume (V2), wherein: the first reaction volume (V1) is in fluid communication with an inlet port for an oxidizer agent (OX_IN), an inlet port for at least one first reactant (R1_IN) and an outlet port for at least one reaction product (P1_OUT), said second reaction volume (V2) is in fluid communication with an inlet port for at least one second reactant (R2_IN), an outlet port for at least one second reaction product (P2_OUT) and is furthermore in thermal exchange relationship with said first reaction volume (V1), wherein, during operation, in said first reaction volume (V1) an oxidation reaction oc…

Biochar Particles Obtained from Agricultural Carob Waste as a Suitable Filler for Sustainable Biocomposite Formulations

In the context of sustainable and circular economy, the recovery of biowaste for sustainable biocomposites formulation is a challenging issue. The aim of this work is to give a new life to agricultural carob waste after glucose extraction carried out by a local factory for carob candy production. A pyrolysis process was carried out on bio-waste to produce biofuel and, later, the solid residual fraction of pyrolysis process was used as interesting filler for biocomposites production. In this work, biochar particles (BC) as a pyrolysis product, after fuels recovery of organic biowaste, specifically, pyrolyzed carobs after glucose extraction, were added on poly(butylene-adipate-co-terephthalat…

Antioxidant phenolic compounds recovery from Mangifera indica L. by-products by supercritical antisolvent extraction

Abstract Supercritical Antisolvent Extraction (SAE) was used in the recovery of antioxidant compounds from mango by-products. The antioxidant extract was obtained by solid–liquid extraction using aqueous acetone (80% v/v) and subsequent adsorption/desorption in C18 cartridge. Recovery of antioxidants was performed by SAE using SC-CO 2 as antisolvent. The temperature and pressure parameters were varied in the range 35–45 °C and 8–15 MPa. The SAE process allowed the recovery of about 90% of the initial phenolic compounds, the best recovery was obtained at 40 °C and 10 MPa and the main compounds were mangiferin, isomangiferin, quercetin 3-O-galactoside, quercetin 3-O-glucoside, quercetin 3-O-x…

Supercritical water gasification of microalgae and their constituents in a continuous reactor

The supercritical water gasification of Nannochloropsis gaditana microalgae has been studied in term of process development at 24 MPa and 663 °C. Gasification has been investigated using a 200 cm3 down flow reactor working continuously. The effect of microalgae slurry concentration, with or without alkali catalysts, was studied. Moreover, the role played by different constituents of microalgae on gasification was investigated. Particularly, gasification of amino acids, carbohydrates and model mixtures among them was studied. Nannochloropsis gaditana was successfully gasified up to 97.4 wt% as gasification efficiency and 86.0 wt% as carbon efficiency. The product gas is mainly composed of hy…

Inoculum of Indigenous Microalgae/Activated Sludge for Optimal Treatment of Municipal Wastewaters and Biochemical Composition of Residual Biomass for Potential Applications

In this work, municipal wastewater was treated with microalgal/activated sludge consortia. We aimed at obtaining a positive interaction between the microalgae and the heterotrophic bacteria and identifying the best combination for bioremediation purposes. A strain of Chlorella sp CW2 employed in this work was isolated from AS and molecularly characterised in this work for the first time. This strain and another previously isolated strain (Chlorella sp Pozzillo) were inoculated alone and in combination with AS in different ratios in wastewaters. Microalgae/activated sludge growth curves were obtained by using a UV–vis spectrophotometer and a fluorimeter to distinguish the contribution of the…

Characterization of Acinetobacter baumannii from intensive care units and home care patients in Palermo, Italy.

AbstractIn this study 45 isolates of Acinetobacter baumannii identified from patients in intensive care units of three different hospitals and from pressure ulcers in home care patients in Palermo, Italy, during a 3-month period in 2010, were characterized. All isolates were resistant to at least three classes of antibiotics, but susceptible to colistin and tygecycline. Forty isolates were non-susceptible to carbapenems. Eighteen and two isolates, respectively, carried the blaOXA-23-like and the blaOXA-58-like genes. One strain carried the VIM-4 gene. Six major rep-PCR subtype clusters were defined, including isolates from different hospitals or home care patients. The sequence type/pulsed …

Combined Oxidation-Gasification system for waste treatment with supercritical water: LCA and performance analysis

In this study the environmental performance of a first of a kind integrated process based on supercritical water gasification and supercritical water oxidation, was evaluated using Life Cycle Assessment (LCA). The process was applied to the treatment of carbon black and used oil as model waste. Mass and energy balances were performed using Aspen Plus, and the environmental assessment was carried out through SimaPro. For the analysis was chosen a “From cradle to grave” approach, considering impact categories like climate change, ozone depletion, human toxicity, particulate matter, land use, resource depletion and others relevant indicators. The environmental profile of SCW-GcO process was co…

Autochthonous microalgae grown in municipal wastewaters as a tool for effectively removing nitrogen and phosphorous

Abstract Microalgae have promising applications in wastewater treatment because of their ability to use inorganic compounds such as nitrates and phosphates as nutrients for their growth. Microalgae are applied to the secondary and tertiary bio-treatment with two benefits: i) pollutants removal from wastewater; ii) production of microalgal biomass, that can be exploited as a source of biomass and biomolecules. In the present work, four different microalgal strains (two from culture collections and two isolated from Sicilian littoral) were tested in municipal sewage bioremediation. The sewage of a municipal plant, already processed with primary treatment, was used for the cultivation of micro…

Eumelanin Coating of Silica Aerogel by Supercritical Carbon Dioxide Deposition of a 5,6-Dihydroxyindole Thin Film

Eumelanin integration in silica aerogel (SA) was achieved via supercritical adsorption of 5,6-dyhydroxyindole (DHI) from CO2. Notably, after the supercritical treatment, DHI evolved towards spontaneous polymerization, which resulted in uniform pigment development over the SA. The new material was characterized for its morphological and physicochemical properties, disclosing the formation of a eumelanin-like coating, as confirmed by UV&ndash

Experimental study of the pyrolysis of waste bitumen for oil production

Abstract This work focuses on bitumen slow pyrolysis. Mass and energy yields of oil, solid and gas were obtained from pyrolysis experiments using a semi-batch reactor in a nitrogen atmosphere, under three non-isothermal conditions (maximum temperature: 450 °C, 500 °C and 550 °C). The effect of temperature on the product yields was discussed. The gas compositions were analysed using gas chromatography (GC) and the heating value of oil and solid residue was also measured. Using a thermo-gravimetric analyser, kinetic parameters were evaluated through Ozawa-Flynn-Wall (OFW) method. Results showed that oil yield is maximum at 500 °C (50%). Moreover, gas yield increased with increasing pyrolysis …

Association of total serum cholesterol with functional outcome following home care rehabilitation in Italian patients with stroke.

Abstract Background Stroke is a disabling disease. In elderly populations, stroke is the third leading cause of death and the primary cause of reduction in or loss of functional ability and personal autonomy. Possible associations between levels of total serum cholesterol (TC) and both incidence of stroke and functional outcomes after rehabilitation are still under study. Objective To detect positive and negative prognostic factors associated with functional outcomes in first-time stroke patients admitted to an integrated home care rehabilitative program. Methods This study enrolled 141 patients with a first-time stroke who were admitted to a home care rehabilitation program. Primary outcom…

Free-surface shape in unbaffled stirred vessels: Experimental study via digital image analysis

There is a growing interest in using unbaffled stirred tanks for addressing a number of processing needs such as low shear damage (sensitive biocultures), low attrition (solid–liquid applications), deep-cleaning/sterilization (pharmaceutical applications). The main feature of uncovered, unbaffled stirred tanks is highly swirling motion of the fluid that results in a deformation of the free liquid surface. At sufficiently high agitation speeds the resulting whirlpool reaches the impeller and gives rise to a gas–liquid dispersion, so leading to the formation of a dispersion without the use of gas-sparger; the so-called self-inducing operation of the vessel. In this work, digital image analysi…

Supercritical fluid crystallization of adipic acid using urea as habit modifier

The crystal morphology of adipic acid mediated by the action of urea as additive has been investigated using the supercritical antisolvent precipitation (SAS). The process was performed using acetone and carbon dioxide as solvent and antisolvent, respectively. The effect of urea concentration in the liquid solution and of precipitation pressure on the crystal habit was investigated; the products were characterized by scanning electron microscopy (SEM), X-ray powder diffraction (XRPD), differential scanning calorimetry (DSC), and infrared spectrometry (FT-IR). Urea was found to be very effective in modifying the crystal habit of adipic acid from needle-like shape with a length of several hun…

Sensitivity analysis and process optimization of a natural gas dehydration unit using triethylene glycol

Abstract Dehydration of natural gas by absorption using triethylene glycol (TEG) is a common industrial offshore procedure to ensure the compliance with the required water dew point specifications for midstream transportation. Two thermodynamic models, the UMR-PRU and the TST/NRTL, are applied for the process simulation while a preliminary economic evaluation has been conducted revealing that both yield overall similar results as for the fixed capital cost which is found to be in good agreement with reported literature values. Moreover, sensitivity analysis of several operational parameters of the process has been performed and optimized values are suggested aiming to reduce its energy requ…

Methicillin-resistant staphylococcus aureus from pressure ulcers in patients receiving home care in Palermo, Italy

Dear Sir,Methicillin-resistant Staphylococcus aureus (MRSA) is a frequent and serious threat to hospitalized patients globally and now represents a challenge for public health, as community-acquire...

Vacuum air-lift bioreactor for microalgae production

Microalgae production is receiving an increasing interest both by research institutions and commercial companies (Di Caprio et al., 2016). This is due to the growing consciousness of the need to move towards renewable, sustainable feedstoks for commodities production (Wang et al., 2012). However, process development at industrial scale, either based on open or closed photobioreactors, still is in a rather early stage and there is room for further development (Morweiser et al., 2010), especially aimed at reducing process costs. In this work an innovative low-cost technology for microalgae production, currently under development at Palermo University, is described. The main ways through which…

Polymerization of methyl methacrylate through ionizing radiation in CO2-based dense systems

Herein, we report the use of ionizing radiation to induce a dispersion polymerization reaction in dense CO2. As a model system, the polymerization of methyl methacrylate in the presence of poly(dimethylsiloxane) stabilizers was investigated. It was demonstrated that the dose plays the key role in the progress of the reaction and in the morphology of the resulting polymer. Dispersion polymerization carried out in the presence of mono- and bifunctionalized surfactants gave differently structured polymers. The polymers obtained have been characterized by scanning electron microscopy, solubility tests, and gel permeation chromatography, and the molecular structure has been related to dynamic me…

Role of Phase Behavior and Atomization in the Supercritical Antisolvent Precipitation

An experimental study on supercritical antisolvent (SAS) precipitation has been performed to gain insight into the role of phase behavior and atomization in controlling morphology and dimension of precipitates. The mixture yttrium acetate/dimethyl sulfoxide has been used as the main model system and supercritical CO 2 has been used as the antisolvent. Two SAS apparatuses (laboratory and pilot scale) with two injector arrangements and operating with various injector diameters in the range 60-500 μm have been used. The results showed that operating above the mixture critical point (MCP) of the ternary mixture yttrium acetate/dimethyl sulfoxide/ carbon dioxide, sub-micrometric particles are ge…

γ-radiation-initiated polymerization of vinylidene fluoride in dense carbon dioxide

The γ-ray-initiated batch polymerization of vinylidene fluoride (VF2) has been investigated in dense carbon dioxide under relatively mild operative conditions (T ≤ 40 °C and P < 25 MPa). When the initial VF2 molar concentration was increased from 3.4 to 6.4 mol/L, monomer conversion increased from 20 to 73%; a similar trend was observed for the number-average molecular weight and the molecular complexity of synthesized poly(vinylidene fluoride) (PVDF) as determined from rheological measurements. Under all adopted experimental conditions, a synthesized PVDF polymer was collected in the form of a white powder. Despite the inherent heterogeneous character of the polymerization process, a homog…

Expanded micro-particles by supercritical antisolvent precipitation: Interpretation of results

Abstract Supercritical antisolvent (SAS) micronization has been used to obtain nanoparticles and micro-particles of several kinds of materials. Sometimes hollow expanded micro-particles have also been obtained. This work is focused on the analysis of this last morphology. We organized literature data and our previous experiments and we added new experiments on previously tested compounds and on compounds never tested before. As a result, expanded micro-particles using several compounds belonging to different categories and precipitated from different solvents in laboratory and pilot scale plants were obtained with diameters between about 10 and 180 μm. They also showed different sub-structu…

Supercritical Antisolvent Extraction of Bioactive Compounds from Mango by-Products

USE OF SUPERCRITICAL CO2 AS DISSOLVED GAS FOR THE ATOMIZATION OF ETHANOL

Supercritical dissolved gas atomization (SDGA) is an atomization process in which carbon dioxide at temperatures and pressures above its critical point is used as atomizing gas. In this work SDGA has been experimentally studied when ethanol is used as the liquid to be atomized. The spray characteristics in terms of droplets size and distribution have been investigated using a droplet size analyzer based on a laser diffraction method. Very narrow droplet size distributions were produced down to 2.5 μm. The main parameter that influences the droplets size is the gas to liquid mass ratio. From the point of view of the atomization mechanism, mean droplet diameter is mainly influenced by the two…

Use of supercritical CO2 and N2 as dissolved gases for the atomization of ethanol and water

Supercritical dissolved gas atomization (SDGA) is an atomization process in which a gas at temperatures and pressures above the critical point is used as the atomizing medium. The concept of SDGA has been applied mainly using CO 2 as atomizing gas in various processes developed for the production of fine particles of pharmaceuticals, polymers, and chemical products and for the atomization of fuels. In this work, SDGA, using ethanol and water as the liquids to be atomized, has been experimentally studied. The spray characteristics, in terms of droplet size and distribution, have been investigated using a laser diffraction analyzer. Ethanol has been chosen due to the large miscibility with CO…

Nimesulide adsorbed on silica aerogel using supercritical carbon dioxide

Silica aerogel (SA) was loaded with nimesulide, a drug model compound, to demonstrate the potentiality of adsorption processes based on the usage of supercritical carbon dioxide to treat poorly water-soluble drugs, forming new kinds of drug delivery systems. Adsorption isotherms and kinetics were measured and described by models. The effect of pressure, temperature and solution concentration on loaded SA were also studied. Modelling of kinetic data showed that the sorption process was best described by a pseudo-second-order model. The adsorption isotherm data were best fitted by the Freundlich isotherm. The drug/SA composites were characterized using scanning electron microscopy, X-ray micr…

Depression and recovery of daily life autonomy in patients with stroke receiving home rehabilitative treatment.

Background : The object of this study was to evaluate the prevalence of post stroke depression and its possible role as a predictive negative factor in patients receiving home rehabilitation treatment. Methods : We analyzed 103 patients with stroke by correlating comorbidities, clinical and blood test parameters and characteristics of the lesion with depression class identified according to the Hamilton scale and the outcome of the rehabilitation program. Results : A significant association between hypertension and post-stroke severe depression emerged in the female patients. Conclusions : Since the literature offers conflicting data, our results may contribute a stimulus for further studie…

Slow Pyrolysis as a Method for Biochar Production from Carob Waste: Process Investigation and Products&rsquo; Characterization

The zero-waste city challenge of the modern society is inevitably addressed to the development of model&rsquo;s waste-to-energy. In this work, carob waste, largely used in the agro-industrial sector for sugar extraction or locust beangum (LBG) production, is considered as feedstock for the slow pyrolysis process. According to the Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations (FAO), in 2012, the world production of carobs was ca. 160,000 tons, mainly concentrated in the Mediterranean area (Spain, Italy, Morocco, Portugal, and Greece). To evaluate the biomass composition, at first, the carob waste was subjected to thermo-gravimetric analysis. The high content of fixed carbon suggest…

Analysis of Dissolved-Gas Atomization: Supercritical CO2 Dissolved in Water

Supercritical dissolved-gas atomization is an atomization process in which carbon dioxide at temperature and pressure above its critical point is used as the atomizing gas. The spray characteristics in terms of droplets size and distribution have been experimentally studied using a laser diffraction method based on a Malvern apparatus. The main parameter that influences the droplets size is the gas-to-liquid mass ratio (GLR); the injection pressure in the range of 7.4-13 MPa has a minor effect. Upon variation of the GLR from 0.5 to 3, the droplet mean diameter changes from about 8.0 to 2.0 μm; very narrow droplet size distributions are also produced. From the point of view of the atomizatio…

Reflection-refraction effects on light distribution inside tubular photobioreactors

One of the main parameters affecting autotrophic algae cultures is photon absorption distribution inside the photobioreactor. This clearly depends on the geometry of both the radiation source and the photobioreactor, as well as on algae suspension optical properties. In this work the local volumetric rate of photon absorption LVRPA in a cross-section of a horizontal-pipe photobioreactor was investigated by means of simplified Monte Carlo simulations. In particular, the fate of a number of photons perpendicularly hitting the photobioreactor circular section was simulated in relation to different values of algae concentration. The model takes into account refraction/reflection phenomena at th…

Fixed Bed Adsorption of Drugs on Silica Aerogel from Supercritical Carbon Dioxide Solutions

Supercritical adsorption coupled with the high adsorption capacity of silica aerogel allows the preparation of a new kind of delivery systems of poor water soluble drugs. In order to overcome drawbacks of conventional techniques where the use of liquid solvents can cause the fracture of aerogel porous structure, in this work a new adsorption process of drugs from a supercritical mixture is proposed. Adsorption takes place from a fluid solution of the drug in supercritical CO2and ethanol as cosolvent. A fixed bed adsorption plant has been developed to allow fast mixing of fluid phase and effective contact in the adsorption column. The use of ethanol as cosolvent allows to overcome the limita…

Spherical microparticles production by supercritical antisolvent precipitation: Interpretation of results

Abstract Supercritical antisolvent micronization has been the subject of many works aimed at the production of precipitates with controlled particle size and morphology. Several morphologies have been observed; but, the production of spherical micrometric particles has been the major objective of most of the studies performed. Therefore, in this work, literature data analysis on spherical and related morphologies has been performed. The ranges of process conditions at which spherical microparticles have been obtained have been listed and discussed. A possible formation mechanism is proposed that is based on the competition between jet break-up and liquid surface tension vanishing characteri…

Scale-up and viscosity effects on gas–liquid mass transfer rates in unbaffled stirred tanks

Abstract The interest in the process industry on unbaffled stirred tanks has greatly expanded in the last years because they may bring about significant advantages in a number of applications, including biochemical, food and pharmaceutical processes where the presence of baffles is undesirable for several reasons. Despite their application potential, unbaffled vessels still lack fundamental information, due to the fact that only recently their capabilities have started being dug out. The lack of information on scale up effects is possibly the main reason hindering practical applications. In this work the influence of vessel size and liquid viscosity on the mass transfer performance in unbaf…

Modelling Nannochloropsis gaditana Growth in Reactors with Different Geometries, Determination of Kinetic Parameters and Biochemical Analysis in Response to Light Intensity

Microalgae are unicellular and photosynthetic microorganisms which grow thanks to inorganic salts, CO2 and light, and find applications in several fields thanks to their variety. The industrial application of microalgae has not often been fully exploited because of a lack of information about how microalgae respond to inputs and to different growth environments. In the present work a model able to predict the microalgae growth in reactors with different geometries was developed. We combined a Monod-like model for the specific growth rate with the Lambert-Beer law of homogeneous light distribution in thick photobioreactors. Kinetic parameters related to the cultivation of the microalga Nanno…

Slow pyrolysis of an LDPE/PP mixture: Kinetics and process performance

Abstract High- and low-density polyethylene (HDPE and LDPE) and polypropylene (PP) are the most common polymers among plastic waste as they have multiple commercial applications. This study focused on thermal degradation characteristics and kinetic of a plastic mixture with a composition of 92.5 wt% LDPE and 7.5% PP. Thermal decomposition characteristics of the plastic mixture was analysed through thermo-gravimetric analysis (TGA). The overall kinetic of the process was studied using the modified Coats−Redfern method and the Ozawa-Flynn-Wall (OFW) method. The apparent activation energy (E) and pre-exponential factor (A) obtained were 316.0 kJ/mol; 8.09E+21 min−1 and 311.5 kJ/mol; 4.35E+21 m…

Silica aerogel–metal composites produced by supercritical adsorption

Abstract Silica aerogel has been loaded with ruthenium acetyl acetonate (Ru(acac) 3 ) by adsorption from supercritical carbon dioxide. Adsorption isotherms and kinetics were measured at different pressures and temperatures. The properties of impregnated aerogel were obtained by optical and electron microscopy (SEM), X-ray microanalysis (EDX) and thermogravimetric analysis (TGA). Results showed that Ru(acac) 3 can be uniformly dispersed into the aerogel up to 5 wt%. Moreover, precursor loading is controllable by properly changing operating conditions. The adsorbed metallorganic compound has been reduced to elemental ruthenium by heat treatment without inducing degradation and morphological c…

Colonization of pressure ulcers by multidrug-resistant microorganisms in patients receiving home care

Colonization and/or infection with multidrug-resistant microorganisms (MDRO) of pressure ulcers in patients receiving care at home have seldom been investigated. The objective of this study was to assess the prevalence of MDRO colonization in pressure ulcers of patients receiving home care in Palermo, Italy. Vancomycin-resistant Enterococcus (VRE), methicillinresistant Staphylococcus aureus (MRSA), and multidrug-resistant Gram-negative bacilli (MDRGN) were isolated, identifi ed, and characterized from pressure ulcers and selected home environment surfaces. Thirty-two patients were enrolled, of whom 12 were under antimicrobial therapy. Five patients had been admitted to hospital in the prece…