Produção de biodiesel a partir de óleo de coco (Cocos nucifera L

The production of biodiesel has become an important and attractive process for the production of alternative fuels. This work presents a study of the biodiesel production from coconut oil (Cocos nucifera L.), by two routes: direct transesterification using NaOH as catalyst and esterification (with H2SO4) followed by basic transesterification. The reactor was built in pirex with 1L of capacity and was equipped with a jacket coupled with a thermostatic bath to temperature control, a mecanical stirring is also present in the reactor. The analysis of oil composition was carried out by gas chromatography and esters compounds were identified. The parameters of molar ratio oil/alcohol, reaction time and temperature were studied and their influence on the conversion products was evaluated using experimental planning (23). The molar ratio was the most significant variable by the statistical planning analysis. Conversions up to 85.3% where achived in the esterification/transesterification, with molar ratio 1:6 at 60ºC and 90 minutes of reaction. For the direct transesterification, route conversions up 87.4% eas obtained using 1:6.5 molar ratio at 80ºC and 60 minutes of reaction. The Coconut oil was characterized by their physic chemical properties and key constituents of the oil. The lauric acid was the main constituint and the oil showed high acidity. The biodiesel produced was characterized by its main physicochemical properties, indicating satisfactory results when compared to standard values of National Petroleum Agency. The work was supplemented with a preliminary assessment of the reaction kinetic

Suprimento de potássio em função da adubação potássica residual em um Latossolo Vermelho do Cerrado

Em alguns solos com baixos teores de potássio trocável, formas não trocáveis participam do suprimento às plantas. Há evidências de que a disponibilização do K não trocável depende mais da demanda das plantas pelo nutriente do que das propriedades do solo. O objetivo deste trabalho foi avaliar o suprimento e a exaustão de formas de K em um Latossolo Vermelho do Cerrado em decorrência da adubação potássica residual e do cultivo de Brachiaria ruziziensis (Syn. Urochloa ruziziensis). Amostras de solos foram coletadas na camada de 0-20 cm, em parcelas de um experimento de campo em que a soja vinha sendo adubada anualmente, por 10 anos, com 0, 60, 120 e 180 kg ha-1 de K2O. em casa de vegetação, as amostras de solo receberam a aplicação de 0, 150 e 300 mg dm-3 de K e foram cultivadas com B. ruziziensis, com cinco cortes sucessivos. O suprimento de K às plantas dependeu mais do fertilizante recém-adicionado do que do efeito residual de adubações anteriores. O K não trocável foi responsável, ao longo do tempo, pela manutenção dos teores de K trocáveis e, na ausência de adubação potássica, constituiu a principal fonte de K para as plantas de B. ruziziensis. As plantas de B. ruziziensis possuem capacidade de extrair quantidade considerável de K do solo, confirmando sua importância como cultura de cobertura, na ciclagem do nutriente no solo.

Desenvolvimento de um destilador solar para tratamento de águas de produção de petróleo com vistas a sua utilização na agricultura e geração de vapor

The production of petroleum is frequently accomplished with great volumes of water, that it is carried of the underground with the oil. It is a challenge of the present century the development of technologies that allow the use of waste water for purposes that consume great amounts of water and don't demand as rigid as the one of the drinking water requirements. The solar distillation has been configuring as an alternative of clean technology for desalination of brine and saline. Besides causing the minimum possible damage to the environment, it takes advantage of an abundant and free energy source: the solar energy. That study aims to develop a Solar Distillator for treatment of the produced water of the oil wells, to obtain an efluent to use in agriculture and vapor generation. The methodology for collection, conservation and analysis of the physical-chemical parameters obeyed the norms in APHA (1995). The sampling was of the composed type. Experiments were accomplished in the solar distillation pilot and simulation in thermostatic bathing. The operation was in batch system and for periods of 4, 6 and 12 h. The developed Distillator is of the type simple effect of two waters. It was still tested two inclination angles for covering; 20º and 45º. The Distillator presented minimum of 2,85 L/m2d revenues and maximum of 7,14 L/m2d. The removals of salts were great than 98%. The removal of TOC in the simulation was great than 90%. In agreement with the data of energy and mass balance, it was verified that the developed solar Distillator presented compatible revenues with those found in literature for similar types. It can be inferred that the obtained distilled water assists to the requirements CONAMA in almost all the points and could be used for irrigation of cultures such as cotton and mamona. As the distilled water has characteristics of fresh water it can be used in the generation of vapor

Determinação experimental e modelagem termodinâmica do ponto de turbidez de sistemas aquosos com tensoativos nonilfenolpolietoxilados

The nonionic surfactants are composed of substances whose molecules in solution, does not ionize. The solubility of these surfactants in water due to the presence of functional groups that have strong affinity for water. When these surfactants are heated is the formation of two liquid phases, evidenced by the phenomenon of turbidity. This study was aimed to determine the experimental temperature and turbidity nonilfenolpoliethoxyled subsequently perform a thermodynamic modeling, considering the models of Flory-Huggins and the empirical solid-liquid equilibrium (SLE). The method used for determining the turbidity point was the visual method (Inoue et al., 2008). The experimental methodology consisted of preparing synthetic solutions of 0,25%, 0,5%, 1%, 2%, 3%, 4%, 5%, 6%, 7%, 8%, 9%, 10%, 12,5%, 15%, 17% and 20% by weight of surfactant. The nonionic surfactants used according to their degree of ethoxylation (9.5, 10, 11, 12 and 13). During the experiments the solutions were homogenized and the bath temperature was gradually increased while the turbidity of the solution temperature was checked visually Inoue et al. (2003). These temperature data of turbidity were used to feed the models evaluated and obtain thermodynamic parameters for systems of surfactants nonilfenolpoliethoxyled. Then the models can be used in phase separation processes, facilitating the extraction of organic solvents, therefore serve as quantitative and qualitative parameters. It was observed that the solidliquid equilibrium model (ESL) was best represented the experimental data.

Extração de ferro da cera de carnaúba utilizando sistemas microemulsionados

The constant search for biodegradable materials for applications in several fields shows that carnauba wax can be a viable alternative in the manufacturing of biolubricants. Carnauba wax is the unique among the natural waxes to have a combination of properties of great importance. In previous studies it was verified the presence of metals in wax composition that can harm the oxidative stability of lubricants. Considering these factors, it was decided to develop a research to evaluate iron removal from carnauba wax, using microemulsion systems (Me) and perform the optimization of parameters, such as: extraction pH, temperature, extraction time, among others. Iron concentration was determined by atomic absorption and, to perform this analysis, sample digestion in microwave oven was used, showing that this process was very efficient. It was performed some analysis in order to characterize the wax sample, such as: attenuated total reflectance infrared spectroscopy (ATR-IR), thermogravimetry (TG), differential scanning calorimetry (DSC), energy dispersive X-ray fluorescence (EDXRF), scanning electron microscopy (SEM) and melting point (FP). The microemulsion systems were composed by: coconut oil as surfactant, n-butanol as cosurfactant, kerosene and/or heptanes as oil phase, distilled water as water phase. The pH chosen for this study was 4.5 and the metal extraction was performed in finite experiments. To evaluate Me extraction it was performed a factorial design for systems with heptane and kerosene as oil phase, also investigating the influence of temperature time and wax/Me ratio, that showed an statistically significant answer for iron extraction at 95% confidence level. The best result was obtained at 60°C, 10 hours contact time and 1: 10 wax/Me ratio, in both systems with kerosene and heptanes as oil phase. The best extraction occurred with kerosene as oil phase, with 54% iron removal

Non-destructive determination of photosynthetic pigments in the leaves of castor oil plants

Objetivou-se com o presente trabalho, estabelecer a relação entre os pigmentos fotossintéticos extraídos em DMSO e as leituras obtidas no clorofilômetro portátil ClorofiLOG® 1030, gerando modelos matemáticos capazes de predizer os teores de clorofila e de carotenóides em folhas de mamoneira. O trabalho foi conduzido na Empresa Brasileira de Pesquisa Agropecuária (EMBRAPA) Algodão, situada em Campina Grande, Estado da Paraíba, em outubro de 2010. Para a análise indireta, foi utilizado um equipamento portátil, sendo realizada a leitura em discos foliares com diferentes tonalidades de verde, sendo feita, nesses mesmos discos, a determinação da clorofila pelo método clássico. Para a extração da clorofila, utilizaram-se 5 mL de dimetilsulfóxido (DMSO), a qual foi mantida em banho-maria a 70ºC, por 30 minutos, e retirou-se 3 mL da alíquota para leitura em espectrofotômetro nos comprimentos de onda de 470, 646 e 663 nm. Os dados foram submetidos à análise da variância e regressão polinomial. A leitura obtida no clorofilômetro portátil foi a variável dependente, e os pigmentos fotossintéticos determinados pelo método clássico foi a variável independente. Os resultados indicaram que o clorofilômetro portátil ClorofiLOG® 1030, associado a modelos matemáticos, permitiu estimar a concentração dos pigmentos fotossintéticos, exceto a clorofila b, com alta precisão, com economia de tempo e com reagentes normalmente utilizados nos procedimentos convencionais.

Viabilidade técnica de uma rota não convencional para a produção de leite de cabra em pó em cooperativas do Rio Grande do Norte

Nowadays, Brazil has both the greatest goat herd and the greatest goat milk production of South America. The state of Rio Grande do Norte, located in northeast of Brazil, has an average year production of three thousand cubic meters of goat milk in natura. Part of this milk production is homemade and it comes from small farms, which unite in rural cooperatives created to encourage the production and implementation of industrial processes for preservation and processing of milk. Results presented by literature and obtained from preliminary essays in this thesis show that non conventional dryer of spouted bed with inert particles is able to produce powder milk from in natura milk (cattle or goat), with the same quality of spray dryer, however, operating at low cost. The method of drying in spouted bed consists of injecting milk emulsion on the bed of inert particles gushed by hot air. This emulsion covers the particles with a thin film, which dries and is reduced to powder during the circulation of inerts inside the bed. The powder is dragged by exhaustion air and separated in the cyclone. The friction among particles resulted from the particles circulation, encourages high taxes of shear in the thin film of emulsion, breaking the cohesive forces and making this process possible. Studying the drying process and the powder goat milk production in one unit of spouted bed with inert particles, seeing the development of a low cost technological route for powder milk production is the aim of this thesis. The powder milk produced by this route must attend the local demand of food industries which need an intermediate product to be used as a food ingredient (ice-cream, milk candy). In order to reach this aim, this thesis approaches the aspects related to physical, thermodynamics and physic-chemicals characteristics of goat milk, whose complete data are still inexistent in the literature. The properties of materials are of great importance to the project of any process which involves the operations of transportation of movement, heat and mass quantity, such as the dryers which operate in fluid dynamically active regime, like the spouted bed. It was obtained new data related to the goat milk properties in function of concentration of solids and temperature. It is also important to mention the study developed about the kinetic of solids retention in the bed of inert particles during the drying of goat milk. It was found more adequate processes conditions to the proposed technological route to be implemented in small and micro-industries, with simplifications in the system of milk injection as well as in the form of operation of the dryer. Important data were obtained for a posterior stage of this research which involves the v modeling, simulation, control and optimization of the process. The results obtained in this thesis, in relation to process performance as well as to the quality of produced powder milk validate the proposal of using the spouted bed dryer in the production of powder goat milk

Novas alternativas de remoção de enxofre do óleo diesel utilizando tensoativos e microemulsões

The diesel combustion form sulfur oxides that can be discharged into the atmosphere as particulates and primary pollutants, SO2and SO3, causing great damage to the environment and to human health. These products can be transformed into acids in the combustion chamber, causing damage to the engines. The worldwide concern with a clean and healthy environment has led to more restrictive laws and regulations regulating the emission levels of pollutants in the air, establishing sulfur levels increasingly low on fuels. The conventional methods for sulfur removal from diesel are expensive and do not produce a zero-level sulfur fuel. This work aims to develop new methods of removing sulfur from commercial diesel using surfactants and microemulsion systems. Its main purpose is to create new technologies and add economic viability to the process. First, a preliminary study using as extracting agent a Winsor I microemulsion system with dodecyl ammonium chloride (DDACl) and nonyl phenol ethoxylated (RNX95) as surfactant was performed to choose the surfactant. The RNX95 was chosen to be used as surfactant in microemulsioned systems for adsorbent surface modification and as an extracting agent in liquid-liquid extraction. Vermiculite was evaluated as adsorbent. The microemulsion systems applied for vermiculite surface modification were composed by RNX95 (surfactant), n-butanol (cosurfactant), n-hexane (oil phase), and different aqueous phases, including: distilled water (aqueous phase),20ppm CaCl2solution, and 1500ppm CaCl2solution. Batch and column adsorption tests were carried out to estimate the ability of vermiculite to adsorb sulfur from diesel. It was used in the experiments a commercial diesel fuel with 1,233ppm initial sulfur concentration. The batch experiments were performed according to a factorial design (23). Two experimental sets were accomplished: the first one applying 1:2 vermiculite to diesel ratio and the second one using 1:5 vermiculite to diesel ratio. It was evaluated the effects of temperature (25°C and 60°C), concentration of CaCl2in the aqueous phase (20ppm and 1500ppm), and vermiculite granule size (65 and 100 mesh). The experimental response was the ability of vermiculite to adsorb sulfur. The best results for both 1:5 and 1:2 ratios were obtained using 60°C, 1500ppm CaCl2solution, and 65 mesh. The best adsorption capacities for 1:5 ratio and for 1:2 ratio were 4.24 mg sulfur/g adsorbent and 2.87 mg sulfur/g adsorbent, respectively. It was verified that the most significant factor was the concentration of the CaCl2 solution. Liquid-liquid extraction experiments were performed in two and six steps using the same surfactant to diesel ratio. It was obtained 46.8% sulfur removal in two-step experiment and 73.15% in six-step one. An alternative study, for comparison purposes, was made using bentonite and diatomite asadsorbents. The batch experiments were done using microemulsion systems with the same aqueous phases evaluated in vermiculite study and also 20ppm and 1500 ppm BaCl2 solutions. For bentonite, the best adsorption capacity was 7.53mg sulfur/g adsorbent with distilled water as aqueous phase of the microemulsion system and for diatomite the best result was 17.04 mg sulfur/g adsorbent using a 20ppm CaCl2solution. The accomplishment of this study allowed us to conclude that, among the alternatives tested, the adsorption process using adsorbents modified by microemulsion systems was considered the best process for sulfur removal from diesel fuel. The optimization and scale upof the process constitutes a viable alternative to achieve the needs of the market

Dinâmica Estocástica e Cosmologia: alguns resultados analíticos

Coordenação de Aperfeiçoamento de Pessoal de Nível Superior

Propagação de danos para o modelo Ising em uma rede quadrada totalmente frustrada

Coordenação de Aperfeiçoamento de Pessoal de Nível Superior

Velocidade da marcha como preditor de fragilidade em uma amostra populacional de idosos brasileiros

Gait speed has been described as a predictive indicator of important adverse outcomes in older populations. Among the criteria to evaluate frailty, gait speed has been identified as the most reliable predictor of fragility, practical and low cost. Objective: This study assesses the discriminating capability of gait speed in determining the presence of fragility in the elderly community in northeast of Brazil. Method: We performed an observational analytic study with a transversal character with a sample of 391 community-living elders, aged 65 years or older, of both sexes, in the city of Santa Cruz-RN. Participants were interviewed using a multidimensional questionnaire to obtain sociodemographic information, physical-related and mental health-related information. The unintentional weight loss, muscle weakness, self-reported exhaustion, slow gait and low-physical activity were considered to evaluate the frailty syndrome. Gait velocity was measured as the time taken to walk the middle 4,6 meters of 8,6 meters (excluding 2 meters to warm-up phase and 2 meters to deceleration phase).We calculate the sensitivity and specificity of gait speed test in different cutoff points for the test run time, from which ROC curve was constructed as a measure of test predictive value to identify frail elders. The prevalence of frailty in Santa Cruz-RN was 17.1%. The gait speed test accuracy was 71%when speed is below 0,91m/s. Among women, the gait speed test accuracy was 80%(gait speed below 0.77m/s) and among men, the test accuracy was 86% (gait spend below 0,82%) (p<0,0001).Conclusion: our findings have clinical relevance when we consider that the detection of frailty presence by the gait speed test can be observed in elderly men and women by a simple, cheap and efficient exam

A Short Physical Performance Battery (SPPB) como preditora da fragilidade em idosos residentes na comunidade

Introduction: The SPPB provides information about physical function and is a predictor of adverse events in the elderly. Frailty is a multidimensional syndrome that increases susceptibility to diseases and disability. However it may be possible to prevent or postpone frailty if is identified early. Our objective is to analyze SPPB s ability in screening for frailty a community-dwelling young elderly from cities with distinct socioeconomic conditions. Methods: Data were originated from community dwelling adults (65-74 years old) in Canada (Saint Bruno; n = 60) and Brazil (Santa Cruz; n = 64). SPPB was used to assess physical performance. Frailty was defined as the presence of ≥ 3 of these criteria: weight loss, exhaustion, weakness, mobility limitation and low physical activity. One point was given for each criterion met, totalizing a frailty score ranged from 0 to 5. The Linear Regression and Receiver Operating Characteristics analyses were performed to evaluate the SPPB s screening ability. Results: Mean age was 69.48, 10.0% of the Saint Bruno s sample and 28.1% of Santa Cruz s were frail (p = 0.001), the SPPB score means were 9.6 and 8.5 respectively (p = 0.01). SPPB correlated with the frailty score (R2 = 0.33), with better results for Saint Bruno. A cutoff of 9 in SPPB had good sensitivity and specificity in discriminating frail from non frail in Saint Bruno (AUC = 0.81) but showed fair results in Santa Cruz (AUC = 0.61). Conclusion: The SPPB has moderate ability in predicting frailty among older adult s population, and is an useful test to identify people with good functionality and low frailty when SPPB scores are ≥9

Apoio social e síndrome da fragilidade em idosos residentes na comunidade

Introduction: The frailty in the elderly is the result of a complex interplay between many social and clinical factors involved in its genesis. Although there is an understanding of its association with increased risk of adverse clinical outcomes, still it is unclear whether this syndrome can be aggravated due to lack of social support. So, the objective of this study was to analyze the association between social support and frailty syndrome in elderly community residents. Materials and methods: Observational analytical cross-sectional study, with a sample of 300 elderly living in the city of Natal-RN. Were collected informations about socialdemographic, economics and physical health data. The Social support was assessed by the status of cohabitation; marital status; contact frequency and diversity rate; received and given attendance frequency rate; and Map Minimum Relations of the Elderly. The frailty was assessed using the following criteria: unintentional weight loss, weakness, low physical activity, exhaustion and Slowness. To observe any possible associations, we performed the Pearson chi-square test, the Student t test and multivariate analysis using binary logistic regression, adopting a significance level of 5%. Results: It was observed that there were no associations of frailty with the social support variables, except for housekeeping mode (p = 0.046) of the MMRI. For the sociodemographic, economic, physical health and social support data, only age (p <0.001), sedentary lifestyle (p = 0.002) and poor perceived health (p = 0.001) were the ones that remained in the logistic regression model, with strong association for the presence of frailty. Conclusion: Among the variables related to social support, only to help with housekeeping was significantly associated with frailty. However, more studies need to be developed to characterize the social vulnerability, as well as health services need to recognize the importance of social support as an integral part of care for the elderly

Stress entre calouros e veteranos de jornalismo

A vida na universidade corresponde a um período no qual os indivíduos são expostos a influências psicossociais que podem desencadear situações estressoras, prejudicando a saúde e a qualidade de vida dos estudantes. Nessa perspectiva, o objetivo deste estudo foi analisar as diferenças de sintomas, níveis e presença de stress entre calouros (n=57) e veteranos (n=48), de ambos os sexos, do curso de jornalismo de uma universidade pública no interior do Estado de São Paulo. Foi aplicado aos participantes o Inventário de Sintomas de Stress de Lipp. Dos resultados obtidos, destacam-se: predominância de stress entre as mulheres; maior número de alunos estressados e na fase de quase-exaustão no último ano; predomínio de sintomas físicos entre calouros e psicológicos entre veteranos. Pesquisas são necessárias para elaboração de políticas institucionais que promovam condições favoráveis a um melhor desenvolvimento das potencialidades acadêmicas dos alunos.

Efeito da degradação ambiental nas propriedades de cisalhamento de compósitos PPS/fibra de carbono

Fundação de Amparo à Pesquisa do Estado de São Paulo (FAPESP)