scholarly journals Preparation and Characterization of an Electrospun PLA-Cyclodextrins Composite for Simultaneous High-Efficiency PM and VOC Removal

2020 ◽  
Vol 4 (2) ◽  
pp. 79
Author(s):  
Silvia Palmieri ◽  
Mattia Pierpaoli ◽  
Luca Riderelli ◽  
Sheng Qi ◽  
Maria Letizia Ruello

Electrospinning is known to be a facile and effective technique to fabricate fibers of a controlled diameter-distribution. Among a multitude of polymers available for the purpose, the attention should be addressed to the environmentally compatible ones, with a special focus on sustainability. Polylactic acid (PLA) is a widespread, non-toxic polymer, originating from renewable sources and it can degrade into innocuous products. While the production of fibrous membranes is attractive for airborne particles filtration applications, their impact on the removal of gaseous compounds is generally neglected. In this study, electrospun PLA-based nanofibers were functionalized with cyclodextrins, because of their characteristic hydrophobic central cavity and a hydrophilic outer surface, in order to provide adsorptive properties to the composite. The aim of this work is to investigate a hybrid composite, from renewable sources, for the combined filtration of particulate matter (PM) and adsorption of volatile organic compounds (VOCs). Results show how their inclusion into the polymer strongly affects the fiber morphology, while their attachment onto the fiber surface only positively affects the filtration efficiency.

2017 ◽  
Vol 7 (02) ◽  
pp. 49
Author(s):  
Chandra Apriana Purwita ◽  
Sonny Kurnia Wirawan

Biodeinking is a process of separating ink on the fiber surface by enzymes. This research was conducted to study and optimize biodeinking condition of sorted white ledger (SWL) by cellulase. Commercial cellulase (Sigma Aldrich, Singapore) at a dose of 0.25; 0.5; 0.75; 1; 2 U/g dry weight pulp was applied to the deinking of SWL and compared with blank. The deinked pulp was then analyzed for the fiber morphology and made laboratory hand sheets for the characterization of physical and optical properties. Based on the experiment, at the optimum dose of cellulase 0.75 IU/g dry weight pulp was obtained a maximum increasement of ISO brightness by 4.7 points and a decreasement of ERIC by 34.45%. The use of celulase on the biodeinking was not affecting the fibers length and diameter so the tensile and tear index of deinked pulp unchanged. Loss of fines by enzymatic degradation causes the tear index decreased by 8.70 % and porosity increased. The increasement of coarseness resulted in the decreasement of pulp opacity.ABSTRAKBiodeinking merupakan proses pemisahan tinta pada permukaan serat menggunakan enzim. Penelitian ini dilakukan untuk mempelajari dan memperoleh kondisi optimum biodeinking sorted white ledger (SWL) menggunakan selulase. Selulase komersial (Sigma Aldrich, Singapura) dengan dosis 0,25; 0,5; 0,75; 1; 2 U/g kering pulp diaplikasikan pada deinking SWL dan dibandingkan terhadap blanko. Pulp deinked yang diperoleh kemudian dilakukan analisis morfologi serat dan dibuat lembaran tangan laboratorium untuk karakterisasi sifat fisik dan optik. Berdasarkan percobaan, pada dosis optimum selulase 0,75 IU/g kering pulp diperoleh kenaikan derajat cerah ISO maksimum sebesar 4,7 poin dan penurunan ERIC 34,45%. Analisis morfologi serat menunjukkan penggunaan selulase pada proses biodeinking tidak berpengaruh terhadap panjang dan diameter serat sehingga indeks tarik dan retak pulp deinked tidak berubah. Kehilangan fines karena degradasi enzimatik menyebabkan indeks sobek turun sebesar 8,70% dan porositas naik. Naiknya nilai coarseness menyebabkan meningkatnya opasitas pulp deinked.


Author(s):  
Mario Vincenzo Russo ◽  
Ivan Notardonato ◽  
Alberto Rosada ◽  
Giuseppe Ianiri ◽  
Pasquale Avino

This paper shows a characterization of the organic and inorganic fraction of river waters (Tiber and Marta) and ores/soil samples collected in the Northern Latium region of Italy for evaluating the anthropogenic/natural source contribution to the environmental pollution of this area. For organic compounds, organochloride volatile compounds in Tiber and Marta rivers were analyzed by two different clean-up methods (i.e., liquid–liquid extraction and static headspace) followed by gas chromatography–electron capture detector (GC-ECD) analysis. The results show very high concentrations of bromoform (up to 1.82 and 3.2 µg L−1 in Tiber and Marta rivers, respectively), due to the presence of greenhouse crops, and of chloroform and tetrachloroethene, due to the presence of handicrafts installations. For the qualitative and quantitative assessment of the inorganic fraction, it is highlighted the use of a nuclear analytical method, instrumental neutron activation analysis, which allows having more information as possible from the sample without performing any chemical-physical pretreatment. The results have evidenced high levels of mercury (mean value 88.6 µg g−1), antimony (77.7 µg g−1), strontium (12,039 µg g−1) and zinc (103 µg g−1), whereas rare earth elements show levels similar to the literature data. Particular consideration is drawn for arsenic (414 µg g−1): the levels found in this paper (ranging between 1 and 5100 µg g−1) explain the high content of such element (as arsenates) in the aquifer, a big issue in this area.


Metabolites ◽  
2020 ◽  
Vol 11 (1) ◽  
pp. 21
Author(s):  
Yanhang Chen ◽  
Musavvara Kh. Shukurova ◽  
Yonathan Asikin ◽  
Miyako Kusano ◽  
Kazuo N. Watanabe

Curcuma amada Roxb. (Zingiberaceae), commonly known as mango ginger because its rhizome and foliar parts have a similar aroma to mango. The rhizome has been widely used in food industries and alternative medicines to treat a variety of internal diseases such as cough, bronchitis, indigestion, colic, loss of appetite, hiccups, and constipation. The composition of the volatile constituents in a fresh rhizome of C. amada is not reported in detail. The present study aimed to screen and characterize the composition of volatile organic compound (VOC) in a fresh rhizome of three C. amada (ZO45, ZO89, and ZO114) and one C. longa (ZO138) accessions originated from Myanmar. The analysis was carried out by means of headspace solid-phase microextraction (HS-SPME) coupled with gas chromatography-time-of-flight-mass spectrometry (GC-TOF-MS). As a result, 122 VOCs were tentatively identified from the extracted 373 mass spectra. The following compounds were the ten most highly abundant and broadly present ones: ar-turmerone, α-zingiberene, α-santalene, (E)-γ-atlantone, cuparene, β-bisabolene, teresantalol, β-sesquiphellandrene, trans-α-bergamotene, γ-curcumene. The intensity of ar-turmerone, the sesquiterpene which is mainly characterized in C. longa essential oil (up to 15.5–27.5%), was significantly higher in C. amada accession ZO89 (15.707 ± 5.78a) compared to C. longa accession ZO138 (0.300 ± 0.08b). Cis-α-bergamotene was not detected in two C. amada accessions ZO45 and ZO89. The study revealed between-species variation regarding identified VOCs in the fresh rhizome of C. amada and C. longa.


2021 ◽  
Vol 19 (1) ◽  
Author(s):  
Roey Elnathan ◽  
Andrew W. Holle ◽  
Jennifer Young ◽  
Marina A. George ◽  
Omri Heifler ◽  
...  

AbstractProgrammable nano-bio interfaces driven by tuneable vertically configured nanostructures have recently emerged as a powerful tool for cellular manipulations and interrogations. Such interfaces have strong potential for ground-breaking advances, particularly in cellular nanobiotechnology and mechanobiology. However, the opaque nature of many nanostructured surfaces makes non-destructive, live-cell characterization of cellular behavior on vertically aligned nanostructures challenging to observe. Here, a new nanofabrication route is proposed that enables harvesting of vertically aligned silicon (Si) nanowires and their subsequent transfer onto an optically transparent substrate, with high efficiency and without artefacts. We demonstrate the potential of this route for efficient live-cell phase contrast imaging and subsequent characterization of cells growing on vertically aligned Si nanowires. This approach provides the first opportunity to understand dynamic cellular responses to a cell-nanowire interface, and thus has the potential to inform the design of future nanoscale cellular manipulation technologies.


2020 ◽  
Vol 13 (1) ◽  
Author(s):  
Celosia Lukman ◽  
Christopher Yonathan ◽  
Stella Magdalena ◽  
Diana Elizabeth Waturangi

Abstract Objective This study was conducted to isolate and characterize lytic bacteriophages for pathogenic Escherichia coli from chicken and beef offal, and analyze their capability as biocontrol for several foodborne pathogens. Methods done in this research are bacteriophage isolation, purification, titer determination, application, determination of host range and minimum multiplicity of infection (miMOI), and bacteriophage morphology. Results Six bacteriophages successfully isolated from chicken and beef offal using EPEC and EHEC as host strain. Bacteriophage titers observed between 109 and 1010 PFU mL−1. CS EPEC and BL EHEC bacteriophage showed high efficiency in reduction of EPEC or EHEC contamination in meat about 99.20% and 99.04%. The lowest miMOI was 0.01 showed by CS EPEC bacteriophage. CI EPEC and BL EPEC bacteriophage suspected as Myoviridae family based on its micrograph from Transmission Electron Microscopy (TEM). Refers to their activity, bacteriophages isolated in this study have a great potential to be used as biocontrol against several foodborne pathogens.


Author(s):  
R. Puente ◽  
G. Paniagua ◽  
T. Verstraete

A multi-objective optimization procedure is applied to the 3D design of a transonic turbine vane row, considering efficiency and stator outlet pressure distortion, which is directly related to induced rotor forcing. The characteristic features that define different individuals along the Pareto Front are described, analyzing the differences between high efficiency airfoils and low interaction. Pressure distortion is assessed by means of a model that requires only of the computation the steady flow field in the domain of the stator. The reduction of aerodynamic rotor forcing is checked via unsteady multistage aerodynamic computations. A well known loss prediction method is used to drive the efficiency of one optimization run, while CFD analysis is used for another, in order to assess the reliability of both methods. In both cases, the decomposition of total losses is performed to quantify the influence on efficiency of reducing rotor forcing. Results show that when striving for efficiency, the rotor is affected by few, but intense shocks. On the other hand, when the objective is the minimization of distortion, multiple shocks will appear.


2010 ◽  
Vol 76 (21) ◽  
pp. 7268-7276 ◽  
Author(s):  
Rubén Cebrián ◽  
Mercedes Maqueda ◽  
José Luis Neira ◽  
Eva Valdivia ◽  
Manuel Martínez-Bueno ◽  
...  

ABSTRACT AS-48 is a 70-residue, α-helical, cationic bacteriocin produced by Enterococcus faecalis and is very singular in its circular structure and its broad antibacterial spectrum. The AS-48 preprotein consists of an N-terminal signal peptide (SP) (35 residues) followed by a proprotein moiety that undergoes posttranslational modifications to yield the mature and active circular protein. For the study of the specificity of the region of AS-48 that is responsible for maturation, three single mutants have been generated by site-directed mutagenesis in the as-48A structural gene. The substitutions were made just in the residues that are thought to constitute a recognition site for the SP cleavage enzyme (His-1, Met1) and in those involved in circularization (Met1, Trp70). Each derivative was expressed in the enterococcal JH2-2 strain containing the necessary native biosynthetic machinery for enterocin production. The importance of these derivatives in AS-48 processing has been evaluated on the basis of the production and structural characterization of the corresponding derivatives. Notably, only two of them (Trp70Ala and Met1Ala derivatives) could be purified in different forms and amounts and are characterized for their bactericidal activity and secondary structure. We could not detect any production of AS-48 in JH2-2(pAM401-81 His-1Ile ) by using the conventional chromatographic techniques, despite the high efficiency of the culture conditions applied to produce this enterocin. Our results underline the different important roles of the mutated residues in (i) the elimination of the SP, (ii) the production levels and antibacterial activity of the mature proteins, and (iii) protein circularization. Moreover, our findings suggest that His-1 is critically involved in cleavage site recognition, its substitution being responsible for the blockage of processing, thereby hampering the production of the specific protein in the cellular culture supernatant.


2011 ◽  
Vol 45 (34) ◽  
pp. 6191-6196 ◽  
Author(s):  
Yu Huang ◽  
Steven Sai Hang Ho ◽  
Kin Fai Ho ◽  
Shun Cheng Lee ◽  
Yuan Gao ◽  
...  

2015 ◽  
Vol 659 ◽  
pp. 570-574 ◽  
Author(s):  
Apinya Musidang ◽  
Nantana Jiratumnukul

UV-curable process is widely used for paints, inks and adhesives due to its rapid curing, low energy consumption, high efficiency and low volatile organic compounds (VOCs). The objective of this research is to prepare poly(lactic acid) (PLA) based UV-curable coating by using glycolyzed PLA. PLA was glycolyzed by ethylene glycol (EG) at 170°C for 90 minutes. The obtained glycolyzed PLA was reacted with methacrylic anhydride (MAAH) to provide PLA acrylate oligomer. The obtained PLA acrylate oligomer was used in coating formulations with various amounts of photoinitiator and cured under UV radiation. Physical properties of cured coating film were investigated such as pencil hardness, gloss and haze. The results showed that poly(lactic acid) (PLA) based UV-curable coating provided good physical properties.


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