ENERGETIC AND ECONOMIC EVALUATION OF WASTE GLYCEROL COGENERATION IN BRAZIL

Fundação de Amparo à Pesquisa do Estado de São Paulo (FAPESP)Glycerol is an important by-product of biodiesel production. It is used in many industrial segments, but the increasing production of this chemical has become an issue of concern. Many studies have been done to give new applicability to this product; a promising field is the usage of glycerol for energy production. Therefore, this study evaluates the technical and economic feasibility of a new and potential proposal at the national level, the generation of electricity and heat, through a cogeneration system using glycerol. The results demonstrate the viability of this proposal, since the payback on capital invested obtained was approximately 4 years, with the possibility of reduction to 3 years when installed in regions with low infrastructure.284691698Fundação de Amparo à Pesquisa do Estado de São Paulo (FAPESP)Fundação de Amparo à Pesquisa do Estado de São Paulo (FAPESP

Stabilization of anthocyanin extract from jabuticaba skins by encapsulation using supercritical CO2 as solvent

Conselho Nacional de Desenvolvimento Científico e Tecnológico (CNPq)Anthocyanins are one of most important group of water-soluble and vacuolar pigments in nature. This phytochemical has attracted great interest to the food industry due to the wide range of biological activities including antioxidant and anti-inflammatory activities. However, the introduction of anthocyanins into food and/or medical fields has proved to be a major technological challenge since these compounds have low stability to environmental conditions during processing and storage. In this context, the present study evaluates the encapsulation of anthocyanin extract obtained from jabuticaba (Myrciaria cauliflora) skins in Polyethyleneglycol using supercritical CO2 as solvent and ethanol as co-solvent. For comparison, a conventional method, ionic gelification, was employed to produce encapsulated particles by entrapment in Ca-alginate beads. The encapsulation efficiency of the extract in Ca-alginate beads was higher (98.67%) than those obtained by Rapid Expansion of Supercritical Solution (RESS) process (79.78%). Encapsulated particles made by RESS at different pressures, and temperatures, retained the extracts' biological activity. The best operating RESS process condition for anthocyanin extract encapsulation was determined as 313.15 K and 20 MPa. The degradation studies indicated that both encapsulated systems were more stable to light and temperature than the free extract. Ca-alginate encapsulated Anthocyanin extract release in acid buffer solution was incomplete and slower than when the extract was encapsulated by PEG. Both systems increased the stability of anthocyanin, although presenting different characteristics. (C) 2011 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.502SI617624Conselho Nacional de Desenvolvimento Científico e Tecnológico (CNPq)Conselho Nacional de Desenvolvimento Científico e Tecnológico (CNPq

Evaluation of Glass Beads Coated with Chitosan for the Adsorption of Copper(II) Ions from Aqueous Solution

Conselho Nacional de Desenvolvimento Científico e Tecnológico (CNPq)Chitosan, a natural polymer obtained from the de-acetylation of chitin, has been extensively studied in adsorption applications because its amino and hydroxyl groups can act as chelation sites. However, this material is rarely used as an adsorbent, mainly because of mechanical strength limitations. A possible means of making its use viable is the immobilization of chitosan onto solid matrices using particle-coating techniques. Studies have shown that the use of immobilized chitosan not only improves the mechanical strength of the adsorbent, but also enhances its mass-transfer properties. In this context, the present study has investigated the adsorption application of chitosan coated onto glass beads in batch and dynamic systems for the removal of copper ions from aqueous solution. The adsorption equilibrium properties were measured at different temperatures (25, 40, 50 and 60 degrees C) and the Langmuir, Freundlich and Langmuir Freundlich models were used to fit the equilibrium data. Kinetic studies showed that adsorption equilibrium was attained after 10 h. The pseudo-first-order and pseudo-second-order kinetic models in both linear and non-linear forms together with the intra-particle diffusion model were used to fit the adsorption kinetics data. The best fit was obtained with the pseudo-second-order kinetic model, thereby suggesting that the limiting factor to mass transfer was chemical adsorption. The results indicate that chitosan immobilized onto glass beads demonstrate a good adsorption performance, with similar or even better results relative to other chitosan-based materials. Dynamic adsorption studies using the coated beads in a fixed bed system demonstrated the viability of their use for wastewater treatment.O TEXTO COMPLETO DESTE ARTIGO, ESTARÁ DISPONÍVEL À PARTIR DE FEVEREIRO DE 2015.303227240Conselho Nacional de Desenvolvimento Científico e Tecnológico (CNPq)University of CampinasConselho Nacional de Desenvolvimento Científico e Tecnológico (CNPq

Use of Ca-alginate as a novel support for TiO2 immobilization in methylene blue decolorisation

This study provides a preliminary contribution to the development of an industrial process for the UV/TiO2 water treatment by introducing a novel support for TiO2 immobilization. For the following study, Methylene Blue (MB) was chosen as the model dye to evaluate this novel immobilization system. The results showed that TiO2 immobilized in a Ca-alginate bead retained its photoactivity during all of the experiments and the TiO2-gel beads presented good stability in water for maintaining its shape after several uses. When a proportion of 10% (v/v) of these beads was used, the configuration system demonstrated an improved mass transfer and consequently enhanced degradation efficiency. Experiments were also performed using 'recycled' beads. The results showed an increase in the degradation efficiency when the beads were reused, with an eventual 'self-destructive' effect. These studies showed great promise regarding the recyclable reagents with a reduction in waste at no greater cost or reduction in efficiency. Therefore, the potential of TiO2-gel beads as a simple and environmentally friendly catalyst for continuous use was developed.60410811087Dublin City University (DCU), Irelan

A novel way for xylitol bioproduction

This article aims at evaluating the potential of solid state fermentation using an agro-industrial residue (sugarcane bagasse) as an inert support for xylitol productio

Effects of supercritical carbon dioxide on waste banana peels for heavy metal removal

Fundação de Amparo à Pesquisa do Estado de São Paulo (FAPESP)Conselho Nacional de Desenvolvimento Científico e Tecnológico (CNPq)The effects of supercritical carbon dioxide (CO2) on waste banana peels for copper adsorption were evaluated. Supercritical CO2 was employed both in a solvent extraction for antioxidant compound recovery and in an emerging biomass treatment to increase the subsequent heavy metal-removal step; the latter is termed "explosion with supercritical CO2". This lignocellulosic biomass was analyzed before and after being subjected to both processes by scanning electron microscopy and X-ray patterning. Thermal gravimetric and differential scanning calorimetry analyses were performed to understand the different effects of supercritical carbon dioxide employed in these two processes on banana peels. The explosion with supercritical CO2 process resulted in a more pronounced effect on the vegetable structure. Nevertheless, no increase in the copper-removal capacity was achieved. The adsorption studies showed similar behaviors for fresh and extracted samples, demonstrating that banana peels previously extracted with supercritical CO2 retained their adsorption capacity for subsequent heavy metal removal. (C) 2011 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.583343351Fundação de Amparo à Pesquisa do Estado de São Paulo (FAPESP)Conselho Nacional de Desenvolvimento Científico e Tecnológico (CNPq)Fundação de Amparo à Pesquisa do Estado de São Paulo (FAPESP)Conselho Nacional de Desenvolvimento Científico e Tecnológico (CNPq)FAPESP [10/16485-5, 10/02819-9