Rotary peeling yield of Schizolobium amazonicum (Leguminosae - Caesalpinioideae)

The tropical tree Schizolobium amazonicum is native from the Amazonian forest, naturally occurring in Brazil, Peru and Colombia. This work aimed to study the veneer yield made from this species. For this purpose, 50 logs from S. amazonicum were rotary peeled in a plywood industry installed in Brazilian Amazon region. The results indicated that S. amazonicum had a peeling yield similar or even higher than those usually obtained for species traditionally used for this purpose in Brazil, like those of Pinus and Eucalyptus. It was also observed that the dendrometric parameters of the log can be used to estimate the peeling yield in this species.

Avaliação de filtros domésticos comerciais para purificação de águas e retenção de contaminantes inorgânicos

Twenty domestic commercial filters, in order to determine the percentual retention of color, turbidity, dry residue, bicarbonates, carbonates, total hardness, nitrogens, iron, chlorides, fluorides, and residual chlorine (parameters of food legislation) and sulphides in thirteen water samples proceeding from springs, wells, rivers, lakes, drinking patterns and standards, before and after purification were evaluated. The results showed that purifiers presented adequate retention for nitrates (74.8 ± 16.2 %) and residual chlorine (74.0 ± 11.2) and medium retention for sulphides (61.7 ± 11.3); while porcelain plus activated carbon filters presented adequate retention for color (90.0 ± 19.7), turbidity (76.4 ± 18.4) and iron (83.5 ± 15.1). Therefore the retention of carbonates, bicarbonates, total hardness, chlorides, dry residue, fluorides, ammonium nitrogens and nitrites was less than 10%, and the values of pH didn't show significant variation, for all the filters studied.

Influência do material do destilador na composição química das aguardentes de cana: parte II

The quantitative chemical analysis of the Brazilian sugar cane spirit distilled from glass column packaged with copper, stainless steel, aluminum sponge, or porcelain balls is described. The main chemical compounds determined by gas chromatography coupled with flame ionization (FID) and flame photometric (FPD) detectors and liquid chromatography coupled with diode array detector are aldehydes, ketones, carboxylic acids, alcohols, esters and dimethylsulfite (DMS). The spirits produced either in columns filled with copper or aluminum pot still exhibits the lowest DMS contents but the higher sulfate and methanol contents, whereas spirits produced in stainless steel or porcelain showed higher DMS concentration and lower teors of sulfate ion and methanol. These observations are coherent with DMS oxidation to sulfate, with methanol as by product, in the presence of either copper or aluminum.