Purificação da glicerina bruta obtida a partir da transesterificação do óleo de algodão

The crude glycerine is a raw material that can be used in a wide variety of products. Even with all the impurities inherent in the process of being obtained, the crude glycerin is already in a marketable product. However, the market is much more favorable to the commercialization of purified glycerine. The glycerin is a byproduct gotten from the process of transesterification of waste oils and fats in the production of biodiesel. More recently, the deployment of the new Federal Law of Brazil, related to the implementation of energy resources, forces, from 2008, the increase of 2% biodiesel in diesel common with prospects for 5% (B5). Therefore, it is indispensable that new routes of purification as well as new markets are developed. The objective of this work was to purify, through ion exchange, the crude glycerin, obtained from the reaction of transesterification of cottonseed oil. The cottonseed oil was characterized as the fatty acid composition and physical-chemical properties. The process of ion exchange was conducted in batch. In this process were used strong cation, low anion resins and a mixed resin used to de-ionize water. The purified glycerin was characterized as the content of metals. Tests were performed with activated charcoal adsorption, and for this, it was made tests of time contact with coal as well as quantity of coal used. The time of activation, the amount of the activation solution, the contact time of the glycerol solution in resins, the amount and type of resin applied were evaluated. Considering the analysis made with activated charcoal, when the glycerin solution was treated using the resins individually it was observed that in the conditions for treatment with 10 g of resin, 5 hours of contact with each resin and 50 mL of glycerin solution, its conductivity decreased to a cationic resin, increased to the anionic resin and had a variable value with respect to resin mixed. In the treatment in series, there was a constant decrease in the conductivity of the solution of glycerin. Considering two types of treatment, in series and individually, the content of glycerol in glycerin pre-purified solution with the different resins varied from 12,46 to 29.51% (diluted solution). In analysis performed without the use of activated charcoal, the behavior of the conductivity of the solution of glycerin were similar to results for treatment with activated charcoal, both in series as individually. The solution of glycerin pre-purified had a glycerol content varying from 8.3 to 25.7% (diluted solution). In relation to pH, it had a behavior in accordance with the expected: acid for the glycerin solution treated with cationic resin, basic when the glycerin solution was treated with the anionic resin and neutral when treated with the mixed resin, independent of the kind of procedure used (with or without coal, resins individually or in series). In relation to the color of the glycerin pre-purified solution, the resin that showed the best result was the anionic (colorless), however this does not mean that the solution is more in pure glycerol. The chromatographic analysis of the solutions obtained after the passage through the resins indicated that the treatment was effective by the presence of only one component (glycerol), not considering the solvent of the analysis

Conhecimento sobre energia eólica: um estudo exploratório a partir das redes semânticas naturais de estudantes da cidade de Natal

The human being has a fundamental role in issues concerning scarcity of energy resources as well as in the success of technologies which favor the use of renewable sources, such as wind energy. But what does wind energy mean for people? What are the psychological meanings concerning this term? Aiming to answer these questions, the general objective of this dissertation was to identify and to analyze the knowledge about wind energy taking into account a network of psychological meanings. One hundred and ninety one (191) university students from Natal-RN participated in the study, being male the majority (53%); aged between 17 and 51 years old (M=23.3 years; SD=5.7). Participants responded to self reports using the Natural Semantic Networks (NSW) technique, as well as to several sociodemographic questions. The results showed a consistent, positive and useful general semantic network. In this semantic network, knowledge about wind energy was represented by words that correspond to the appeal of (pro) environmental stance (e.g., clean and nature), that evinced both the technological aspect (e.g., force) and the economic aspect (e.g., economy). Results from different groups were also analyzed. The first set of groups (non-environemental and environmental) was divided considering the course (e.g., ecology and economy). The second set of groups(non-caretaker and caretaker) was divided based on the practice of environmental care expressed. Subtle differences were observed in the semantic networks of caretakers, who emphasized environment, an attribute not mentioned by non-caretakes. This indicates a construction of knowledge that is influenced by the presence or absence of the environmental commitment. Such findings may be useful in the construction of instruments for surveys and in the development of public and educational policies. Additionally, they may assist the media towards a more objective performance concerning wind energy

FTE-LEACH: um protocolo energeticamente eficiente e tolerante a falhas aplicado às redes industriais de sensores sem fio

A Wireless Sensor Network (WSN) consists of distributed devices in an area in order to monitor physical variables such as temperature, pressure, vibration, motion and environmental conditions in places where wired networks would be difficult or impractical to implement, for example, industrial applications of difficult access, monitoring and control of oil wells on-shore or off-shore, monitoring of large areas of agricultural and animal farming, among others. To be viable, a WSN should have important requirements such as low cost, low latency, and especially low power consumption. However, to ensure these requirements, these networks suffer from limited resources, and eventually being used in hostile environments, leading to high failure rates, such as segmented routing, mes sage loss, reducing efficiency, and compromising the entire network, inclusive. This work aims to present the FTE-LEACH, a fault tolerant and energy efficient routing protocol that maintains efficiency in communication and dissemination of data.This protocol was developed based on the IEEE 802.15.4 standard and suitable for industrial networks with limited energy resources