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showing 10 items of 1490 documents
Assessment of bio-combustibles production via slow pyrolysis of wine industry residues
2018
With the aim of evaluating the potential production of high energy solid and liquid bio-fuels, a laboratory scale fixed bed reactor (FBR) derived from the standard Gray-King (GK) assay test on coal was used to carry out fixed bed pyrolysis experiments on wine industry by-products. The present study provides results on the pyrolysis of grape marc, residual from wine-making process, consisting of 50% by weight of grape seeds and 50% by weight of grape skins, at temperature between 150 and 500 °C, holding time of 30 minutes. Pyrolysis mass yields of solid (char) and liquid (tar) products and their corresponding energy properties, as a function of reaction temperature, are reported and discusse…
Application of Bioaugmentation to Improve Pharmaceutical Wastewater Treatment Efficiency
2019
Ecological harm and human health risks caused by environmental pollution with active pharmaceutical ingredients (API) nowadays is recognised as issue of growing concern. Widespread presence of human and veterinary API in aquatic environment clearly indicates persistence and low removal efficiency of these compounds at conventional pharmaceutical and municipal wastewater treatment plants (WWTP). Bioaugmentation of activated sludge systems with specialized microorganisms could be a powerful and environmentally friendly tool to enhance the removal efficiency of recalcitrant API. Selection of inoculum strains, that have appropriate enzymatic pathways to metabolise complex molecules of API, belo…
Biological nitrogen removal from landfill leachate: a pilot-scale study
1999
A pilot-scale two-stage process including an anaerobic pretreatment (up-flow anaerobic sludge blanket, UASB) unit and a pre-denitrification activated sludge process was studied for treating leachates from a municipal landfill (waste aged 4 to 5 years, area 2.5 ha) and from a windrow composting area (1ha). A single-stage pilot process was used for nitrification studies. The leachate characteristics were as follows: COD 740 to 2400 mg 1-1 (chemical oxygen demand), BOD7 (biochemical oxygen demand) approximately 1000 mg 1 -1, Ntot 40 to 120 mg 1-1 and the temperature was between 2 and 21°C. The results show that 45 to 50% COD removal could be achieved in the UASB reactor even at temperatures b…
Cassava starch processing at small scale in North Vietnam
2008
International audience; In Northern Vietnam, small-scale cassava starch processing is conducted in densely populated craft villages, where processors face difficulties to expand their activities. Three different processing systems were studied among a cluster of three communes in the Red River Delta, producing up to 430 t of starch (at 55% dry matter) per day. The first system, type A, is a cylindrical rasper and a manual sieve, the second, type B, is a cylindrical rasper and stirring-filtering machine and the third, type C, used equipment for both the rasping and filtering stages. Moisture, starch, crude fibers and ash content analysis were carried out on samples collected from the A-B-C m…
Development of controlled release systems of biocides for the conservation of cultural heritage
2017
Abstract The presence of microorganisms is one of the main causes of monument deterioration. Biocides are usually applied after or before restoration in order to prevent or slow down microbial growth. Frequent applications are necessary leading to increased costs and high risks to humans and the environment. The aim of this study is the design of novel controlled release systems comprising a biocide loaded into a mesoporous silica. Pristine MCM41 as well as MCM41 functionalised with carboxy- (MCM41-COOH) and amino-groups (MCM41-NH2) were used. Biotin T and New Des 50, two commercial formulations, were chosen as biocides. The biocide encapsulation was performed adding the mesoporous silica t…
The Essential Oil of Thymbra capitata and its Application as A Biocide on Stone and Derived Surfaces
2019
Many chemicals used nowadays for the preservation of cultural heritage pose a risk to both human health and the environment. Thus, it is desirable to find new and eco-friendly biocides that can replace the synthetic ones. In this regard, plant essential oils represent effective alternatives to synthetic substances for the preservation of historical monuments. Thymbra capitata (syn. Thymus capitatus) is a medicinal and aromatic plant growing in the Mediterranean area and endowed with important pharmacological properties related to its essential oil. Among them, the antimicrobial ones make the T. capitata essential oil an ideal candidate for industrial applications
Optimization of acetate production from citrus wastewater fermentation
2021
Abstract Citrus wastewater is a sugar-rich waste stream suitable for the recovery of energy of material from its treatment. In this study, fermentation of citrus wastewater was carried out to assess the optimal conditions to maximize the bioconversion of the organic substrate into acetate. Unbalanced nutrient (C: N: P 200:0.1:0.1) enabled the highest acetate production. The presence of the particulate organic fraction enabled to obtain a higher acetate concentration regardless the initial COD concentration. Initial pH values higher than 5 did not cause substantial differences on the maximum bioconversion of COD into acetate in Trial 3, whereas pH lower than 5 hindered the hydrolysis process…
Use of rumen microorganisms to boost the anaerobic biodegradability of microalgae
2017
[EN] A laboratory bioreactor using rumen microorganisms to treat Scenedesmus spp. biomass was operated for 190 days. At first the bioreactor operated as a Rumen-like Fermenter (RF) with a Sludge Retention Time (SRT) of 7 days. The RF was subsequently transformed into an anaerobic digestion system including two configurations: continuously-stirred tank reactor and anaerobic membrane bioreactor in which different SRT values of up to 100 days were assessed. Methane production peaked at 214 mL CH4 g−1 CODIn with a SRT of 100 days. COD removal and BDP peaked at above 70% and 60%, respectively, at the highest SRT, with no pre-treatment prior to microalgae digestion. The waste sludge product…
Thermal transformation of micro-crystalline cellulose in phosphoric acid
2011
Use of crude oil derivatives such as diesel and gasoline is becoming unsuitable due to their detriment to environment and to the increasing worldwide energy demand which is driving crude oil reservoirs towards exhaustion. Replacement of diesel and gasoline with biofuels (i.e. biodiesel and bioethanol, respectively) is very desirable. In fact, biofuels are not only environmentally sustainable, but also potentially inexhaustible due to the large amounts of waste biomasses from which they can be retrieved. In the present study, a model compound (micro-crystalline cellulose) was dissolved in phosphoric acid and converted at 80 °C to glucose, thereby providing the possible substrate for fermenta…
Enzymatic biodiesel: Challenges and opportunities
2014
The chemical-catalyzed transesterification of vegetable oils to biodiesel has been industrially adopted due to its high conversion rates and low production time. However, this process suffers from several inherent drawbacks related to energy-intensive and environmentally unfriendly processing steps such as catalyst and product recovery, and waste water treatment. This has led to the development of the immobilized enzyme catalyzed process for biodiesel production which is characterized by certain environmental and economical advantages over the conventional chemical method. These include room-temperature reaction conditions, elimination of treatment costs associated with recovery of chemical…