Engineering, physics, chemistry, and biology are all involved in nanotechnology, which comprises a wide variety of multidisciplinary scientific field devices. The holistic utilization of metallic nanoparticles in the disciplines of bio-engineering and bio-medicine has attracted a great deal of attention. Medical nanotechnology research can offer immense health benefits for humans. While the advantages of developing nanomaterials have been well documented, it is precisely apparent that there are still some major issues that remain unattended to those need to be resolved immediately so as to ensure that they do not adversely affect living organisms in any manner. The existence of nanoparticles gives them particular value in biology and materials science, as an emerging scientific field, with multiple applications in science and technology, especially with numerous frontiers in the development of new materials. Presented here is a review of recent noteworthy developments regarding plant-d... [more]

Taking cement-improved frozen soil as the research object, this paper, based on uniaxial unconfined compressive tests of improved-frozen soil under the conditions of different cement contents (6%, 12%, 18%) and curing ages (7 d, 14 d, 28 d), analyzed the results and probed the relationship between the strength and elastic modulus of cement-improved frozen soil and cement content and curing age. In combination with laboratory test results, numerical simulations were set with the PFC3D group, building on the samples with 6% and 18% cement content at 14 days of curing, respectively, and the mesoscopic parameter values of the two different amounts were calibrated, which proved the simulation of cement with PFC3D reliable to improve frozen soil, and from the microscopic view, the crack development, stress field, and the particle displacement field of the two samples were analyzed. The result shows that the force is not evenly distributed in the samples; with the main force chain on the ceme... [more]

A chassis is one of the vital parts of a heavy motor vehicle, which provides rigidity to the vehicle and improves structural stability and rigidity for accurate handling. The design and material of a chassis structure significantly affects its strength and weight. Optimization techniques can be used in systematic design improvement of chassis to meet industry requirements. The current research is intended to optimize the design of chassis using the Box−Behnken design scheme and the material tested is P100/6061 Al and Al GA 7-230 MMC. Different design points were generated using the design of the experiments. Equivalent stress, deformation and mass were evaluated for each design point. The variable selected for optimization using the Box−Behnken scheme was cross member width. The CAD modelling and FE simulation of the heavy motor vehicle chassis were conducted using ANSYS software. From the optimization conducted on the chassis design, response surface plots of equivalent stress, deform... [more]

This study concerns papain enzyme assisted synthesis of virgin coconut oil (VCO) as a candidate in-house reference material. The study was conducted to obtain optimization of the VCO preparation with green processes as the standardized product which high stability and homogeneity. The method is expected to produce the candidate of in-house reference material to ensure the standards and quality of the VCO product. Based on the results of this study, the preparation of VCO was carried out using the papain. An optimum yield of 24.30%. was achieved under the following conditions: enzyme to coconut milk with a mass ratio of 0.6 g/L, under 500 mL water/g of coconut powder, at the temperature of 70 °C by five stages of extraction. The physicochemical properties as well as organoleptic feature of VCO which consist water content, peroxide number, free fatty acids, and iodine numbers are fit with the standard. The parameters exhibited the homogeneity and stability which be able recommended as ca... [more]

Petroleum products are hazardous both for humans and nature. Diesel oil is one of the main contaminants of land but also of sea, during its transportation. Currently, there are many different clean-up techniques for petroleum products. One of the most common is adsorption by adsorbent materials. Although adsorption is an eco-friendly and cost-effective approach, it lacks efficiency. The present study investigates the performance of low-cost activated carbon, derived from potato peels and activated under different temperature conditions, from 350 °C to 800 °C. The yield of activated carbon decreases with the increase in the carbonization temperature. However, the sample prepared at 600 °C shows an oil sorption capacity of 72 g/g, which is the highest of all samples. Nitrogen adsorption characterization reveals that this specific sample has the highest specific surface (SSA) area of 1052 m2/g and total a pore volume of 2.959 cm3/g, corresponding to a 94% and 77% increase compared to the... [more]

In this study, a novel crude oil degrading bacterium was isolated from an oil-contaminated freshwater lake using crude oil as the sole carbon source. The strain was named Pseudomonas aeruginosa AQNU-1 based on the analyses of its morphological characteristics and 16S rRNA gene sequencing. Gas chromatography-mass spectrometry (GC-MS) was carried out to investigate the degradation of crude oil fractions under dynamic (37 °C, 180 r/min) and static (37 °C, 0 r/min) cultivation over three months of continuous enrichment in the laboratory. It was found that strain AQNU-1 exhibited stronger biodegradation efficiency for n-alkanes of C13−C35 under dynamic cultivation with degradation ratios of 87−100% compared to ratios of 74−100% under static cultivation. Furthermore, this strain could fully utilize alkylcyclohexane (M/Z 82), alkylbenzene (M/Z 92) and alkyltoluene (M/Z 106) in crude oil under both conditions. It also had better biodegradability of partial aromatic compounds in the crude oil,... [more]

Various methods to synthesize capsinoids (the nonpungent analogs of capsaicinoids) from precursor molecules have been reported. Capsinoids are also naturally present, at typically low concentrations, in the fruit of many Capsicum species and genotypes. However, they are also present in the fruit of select genotypes at high concentrations. The fruit of high-capsiate genotypes represents a commercial source of these compounds. To date, no method has been published that efficiently extracts and purifies capsinoids from Capsicum fruit in a rapid and simple bulk process. This study evaluated the efficacy of various organic solvents for the extraction of capsinoids from dried Capsicum annuum fruit. Among the organic solvents evaluated, pentane appeared to provide a good combination of both recovery and purity. A subsequent liquid/liquid extraction step, utilizing pentane and acetonitrile, resulted in 26.3% (wt/wt) capsiate and 19.4% (wt/wt) dihydrocapsiate for a combined capsinoids yield of... [more]

With the rapid growth in demand for effective and renewable energy, the hydrogen era has begun. To meet commercial requirements, efficient hydrogen storage techniques are required. So far, four techniques have been suggested for hydrogen storage: compressed storage, hydrogen liquefaction, chemical absorption, and physical adsorption. Currently, high-pressure compressed tanks are used in the industry; however, certain limitations such as high costs, safety concerns, undesirable amounts of occupied space, and low storage capacities are still challenges. Physical hydrogen adsorption is one of the most promising techniques; it uses porous adsorbents, which have material benefits such as low costs, high storage densities, and fast charging−discharging kinetics. During adsorption on material surfaces, hydrogen molecules weakly adsorb at the surface of adsorbents via long-range dispersion forces. The largest challenge in the hydrogen era is the development of progressive materials for efficie... [more]

The 42 wt.% Sn−58 wt.% Bi (Sn-58Bi) Ball Grid Array (BGA) solder balls were mounted to electroless nickel-electroless palladium-immersion gold (ENEPIG) pads by employing the reflow process profile. The effects of reflow cycles and aging time on the interfacial microstructure and growth behavior of intermetallic compounds, as well as the mechanical properties, were investigated. Pd-Au-Sn intermetallic compound (IMC) was formed at the Sn-58Bi/ENEPIG interface. With the increase in reflow cycles and aging time, the IMC grew gradually. After five reflow cycles, the shear strength of the Sn-58Bi/ENEPIG solder joints first decreased and then increased. After 500 h of aging duration under −40 °C, the shear strength of the Sn-58Bi/ENEPIG solder joints decreased by about 12.3%. The fracture mode transferred from ductile fracture to ductile and brittle mixed fracture owing to the fact that the fracture location transferred from the solder matrix to the IMC interface with the increase in reflow c... [more]

Waste management solutions including the valorization of waste materials in biotechnological processes is an important issue needing to be explored. A significant amount of waste is being generated by the food industry. In this study, an attempt was made to utilize two fish industry wastes simultaneously—waste brine and post-frying oil from frying fish fillets in Yarrowia lipolytica culture with high single cell oil synthesis yield. Oxygenation in the culture medium had a positive effect on the biosynthesis efficiency of microbial oil, resulting in the highest content of lipids in yeast cells at the level of 0.431 g/g d.m (dry mass). Y. lipolytica yeast preferentially accumulated oleic acid and linoleic acid, and the high content of linolenic acid, valuable from a nutritional point of view, was also found in microbial oil. This study proved that the use of post-frying rapeseed oil gives a chance to obtain valuable storage lipids in Y. lipolytica yeast cells via ex novo biosynthesis pat... [more]

Trichlorophenols are on the US environmental protection agency’s list of priority pollutants due to their serious damage to water safety. With the aim of adsorbing the 2,4,6-trichlorophenol (2,4,6-TCP), Zn2+-Al3+-tartrate layered double hydroxides (Zn2+-Al3+-C4H4O62−-LDHs) adsorbent was synthesized via homogeneous precipitation method. X-ray powder diffraction (XRD), Fourier infrared spectroscopy (FT-IR), scanning electron microscopy (SEM) and energy dispersive spectrometry (EDS) were used to characterize Zn2+-Al3+-C4H4O62−-LDHs. The concentration of 2,4,6-TCP was determined using gas chromatography−mass spectrometry (GC-MS). Zn2+-Al3+-C4H4O62−-LDHs exhibited a good adsorption performance of 2,4,6-trichlorophenol, since a bigger layer spacing of Zn2+-Al3+-C4H4O62−-LDHs was obtained than that in Zn2+-Al3+-CO32−-LDHs. Adsorption parameters of adsorption temperature, contact time, adsorbent dosage, and solution pH were investigated, the initial concentration of 2,4,6-TCP was 2.0 g/L. Resp... [more]

In this study, we assessed the coating of ‘Tommy Atkins’ mangoes with films containing chitosan and nano-silicon dioxide in terms of the effects on fruit parameters as an indicator of quality. After coating, the fruits were first stored at 13 ± 1 °C and 90−95% RH for 30 days, and then at 20 ± 2 °C and 70−75% RH for 5 days, which corresponds to the marketing period. The results showed that coating treatments significantly decreased the fruits’ weight loss and decay percentage compared to the uncoated control samples over the storage period. Additionally, all coated treatments delayed skin degreening, reduced endogenous ethylene production, suppressed respiration rate, and maintained the firmness, compared to untreated control fruit. Titratable acidity and vitamin C significantly decreased in all samples during storage, but this decrease was less pronounced in the coated fruits. Furthermore, coating can delay the increments in total soluble solids and total sugars while maintaining total... [more]

Forest fires are one of the strongest natural phenomena, occurring both for natural and man-made reasons. Forest fires entail not only economic losses, but also affect the ecological, biological and demographic picture of the region of its origin and far beyond its borders. Around the world, work is underway to develop effective methods for predicting the impact of a forest fire on the environment, the speed and direction of propagation and impact on various infrastructure facilities near the wildland−urban interface (WUI). The purpose of the work is to review recent and significant research works on the physical and chemical processes in wooden construction materials during WUI fires. As a result of the analysis of literary sources, works devoted to the modeling and experimental study of various physical and chemical processes, namely, the impact of forest fires on residential and industrial facilities, heat and mass transfer in structural materials, drying processes, pyrolysis, and i... [more]

Wheat alpha-amylase/trypsin inhibitors remain a subject of interest considering the latest findings showing their implication in wheat-related non-celiac sensitivity (NCWS). Understanding their functions in such a disorder is still unclear and for further study, the need for pure ATI molecules is one of the limiting problems. In this work, a simplified approach based on the successive fractionation of ATI extracts by reverse phase and ion exchange chromatography was developed. ATIs were first extracted from wheat flour using a combination of Tris buffer and chloroform/methanol methods. The separation of the extracts on a C18 column generated two main fractions of interest F1 and F2. The response surface methodology with the Doehlert design allowed optimizing the operating parameters of the strong anion exchange chromatography. Finally, the seven major wheat ATIs namely P01083, P17314, P16850, P01085, P16851, P16159, and P83207 were recovered with purity levels (according to the targete... [more]

Composite sorbent materials (IL@MOF) with a metal-organic framework (MOF) ZIF-8 and [B(CN)4]−-based ionic liquids (ILs) were produced for the first time. Characterization results indicate the successful IL impregnation and conservation of the ZIF-8 crystalline structure and morphology. The data collected from the nitrogen (N2) physisorption at 77 K suggest that these IL@ZIF-8 materials are nonporous as their textural properties, such as BET specific surface area and total pore volume, are negligible. However, CO2, CH4, and N2 adsorption/desorption measurements in the IL@ZIF-8 composites at 303 and 273 K contradict the N2 data at 77 K, given that the obtained isotherms are Type I, typical of (micro)porous materials. Their gas adsorption capacity and ultramicroporous volume are in the same order of magnitude as the pristine microporous ZIF-8. The case study [C6MIM][B(CN)4] IL revealed a high affinity to both CO2 and CH4. This compromised the selectivity performance of its respective comp... [more]

For the purpose of improving uniformity and efficiency of microwave heating, moving components are widely used. In this paper, a kind of stretching microwave oven with a conveyor belt is designed. The conveyor belt and the stretching motion of the upper surface of the microwave oven make the electric field in the microwave cavity continuously change during heating, so that the absorption pattern of materials does not remain constant. The transformation optics method is used to simulate the stretching motion of the upper wall of the microwave oven, and the implicit function method is used to simulate the translational motion of the sample on the conveyor belt. The correctness of the simulation model is validated by experiments. The heating effects for the cases of fixed heating, stretching and translational motion are compared. Finally, the heating effects for the proposed model with different heated materials are also discussed.

Reaction thermal runaway, caused by excessive temperatures of the reaction system, threatens the safety of operators. Latent heat storage by phase change materials (PCMs) has the advantages of high energy storage density and stable temperature during the energy storage process, which was widely applied in many fields and provides a new idea for the temperature control of thermal runaway reactions. In this study, microencapsulated phase change materials (microPCMs) with a melamine-formaldehybe (MF) resin shell was fabricated by in situ polymerization. The characterization of the micro morphology, chemical bonds, crystal structure, thermal properties, and thermal stability of microPCMs showed that the prepared microPCMs had integrated spherical morphologies and smooth surfaces, with an encapsulation ratio of approximately 70% and good thermal stability. Furthermore, taking the esterification of propionic anhydride (PA) and 2-butanol (2B) as examples, n-octadecane@MF resin microPCMs was u... [more]

In the present work, hybrid super-structured nanomaterials were synthesized by the combination of smectite nanoclays with various carbon-based nanomaterials (graphene oxide, carbon nanotubes and adamantylamine) and were used as nanosupports for the covalent and non-covalent immobilization of laccase from Trametes versicolor (TvL). TvL was successfully immobilized on these hybrid nanomaterials, achieving high immobilization yields (up to 85%), while its conformation remained unaltered upon immobilization. The apparent kinetic constants Vmax and Km of the immobilized enzymes strongly depended on the immobilization procedure and the composition of hybrid nanomaterials. Immobilized TvL preserved up to 50% of its initial activity after 24 h of incubation at 60 °C, while free enzyme was totally deactivated. The TvL-hybrid nanomaterials bioconjugates were efficiently applied for the degradation of various synthetic dyes, exhibiting excellent decolorization capacity, as well as high reusabilit... [more]

In this research work, an ecofriendly approach was adopted for the treatment of two abundant liquid and solid agricultural wastes generated by olive mill industry: olive mill wastewater (OMWW) and raw olive pomace (ROP). It consists, firstly of the impregnation of ROP by OMWW and the conversion of the resulting impregnated sample (IROP) into hydrochars and biochars through hydrothermal carbonization (HTC) and slow pyrolysis methods, respectively. The impact of the treatment temperature on the physico-chemical properties of the derived chars was assessed by various analytical techniques. The hydrochars production yields were found to be higher than the biochars ones and associated to the lower temperature used. However, the generated biochars possess higher carbon percentage and lower volatile matter contents. In addition, the increase of the hydrothermal and pyrolysis carbonization temperatures shows an increase of macro-elements contents and a significant decrease of the O/C ratios wh... [more]

Enzymatic CO2 conversion offers a promising strategy for alleviating global warming and promoting renewable energy exploitation, while the high cost of cofactors is a bottleneck for large-scale applications. To address the challenge, cofactor regeneration is usually coupled with the enzymatic reaction. Meanwhile, artificial cofactors have been developed to further improve conversion efficiency and decrease cost. In this review, the methods, such as enzymatic, chemical, electrochemical, and photochemical catalysis, developed for cofactor regeneration, together with those developed artificial cofactors, were summarized and compared to offer a solution for large-scale enzymatic CO2 conversion in a sustainable way.

The passive NOx adsorber (PNA) material has been considered an effective candidate for the control of NOx from diesel exhaust during the engine cold start stage, and Pd/SSZ-13 attracts peoples’ attention mainly due to its superior hydrothermal stability and sulfur resistance. However, chemical poisoning tolerance of Pd/SSZ-13 is another key parameter to its practical application and future development. Herein, we prepared potassium-loaded Pd/SSZ-13 and evaluated the influence on NOx adsorption ability. The characterization results revealed that the loading of potassium could not destruct the structure of SSZ-13 but impaired the BET surface area and pore structure through the sintering of Pd species to PdO. Meanwhile, the grown PdO phase restrained the NOx adsorption ability and promoted the generation of NO2 at high temperatures. Moreover, the presence of H2O could also impair the NOx adsorption ability due to the competitive adsorption between H2O and NOx. This work verifies that the... [more]

The pores in rocks are multi-scale and highly complex. Based on complex network theory, the topological properties of a sandstone flow network are studied. The results show that the sandstone pore scale network is a small-world network with an average shortest path of 5.720, and 80% of the network node degree is less than 3. This network structure can improve the security of the network and ensure the permeability of the pores under the action of external forces. In addition, nodes with appropriate degree distribution have a significant influence on permeability. Nodes with a larger degree will significantly reduce the average shortest path of the network, while nodes with a smaller degree will expand the coverage of the seepage network.

Hydrothermal liquefaction (HTL) of biomass is establishing itself as one of the leading technologies for the conversion of virtually any type of biomass feedstock into drop-in biofuels and renewable materials. Several catalysis strategies have been proposed for this process to increase the yields of the product (biocrude) and/or to obtain a product with better properties in light of the final use. A number of different studies are available in the literature nowadays, where different catalysts are utilized within HTL including both homogeneous and heterogeneous approaches. Additionally, catalysis plays a major role in the upgrading of HTL biocrude into final products, in which field significant developments have been observed in recent times. This review has the ambition to summarize the different available information to draw an updated overall picture of catalysis applied to HTL. The different catalysis strategies are reviewed, highlighting the specific effect of each kind of catalys... [more]

Allyl alcohol polyoxyethylene ether (APEG), hydroxyethyl methacrylate (HEMA) and styrene sodium sulfonate (SSS) were used as monomers to obtain a APEG-HEMA-SSS comb-like polymer, which was employed as the polysulfonate dispersant for pendimethalin suspensions in this paper. The comb-like polymer has an anionic polysulfonate backbone, hydrophilic APEG side chains and sulfonic acid groups, which makes the dispersant absorb easily on the surface of pendimethalin particles. The polysulfonate dispersant with good dispersion performance was screened out by orthogonal experiments. The surface tension, zeta potential, particle size and dynamic contact angle of the pendimethalin suspension with APEG-HEMA-SSS as dispersant were investigated. The dispersant improves the dispersibility and wettability of the pendimethalin suspension observably.

12Cr1MoV is commonly used for pressure pipes in thermal power plants. However, its service life has always prevented the development of such metallic materials. This experiment applies a tensile and impact experiment to investigate the metal cluster of 12Cr1MoV low-alloy and heat-resistant steel with 60,000 h service at 550 °C. Results indicate that, after 60,000 h of high-temperature exposure, the metal cluster of Cr, Mo, and V elements may gradually decrease. First, the decreasing elements will precipitate out of the solid solution. Then, the precipitated elements transform into carbides that accumulate and grow on the grain boundaries. The continuous growth of the precipitated carbide of alloy elements may also create pearlite in the cluster, which results in severe pearlite periodization and tensile fracture due to plastic, through-crystal fracture. Then, the solid solution-strengthened tissue disappears, which severely decreases the thermal strength of 12Cr1MoV low-alloy and heat-... [more]