Informe de la Reunión del Grupo de Expertos Asesor del Grupo Latinoamericano en la Comisión Preparatoria de la Autoridad Internacional de los Fondos Marinos y del Tribunal Internacional del Derecho del Mar = Report of the Meeting of the Ad-hoc Advisory Expert Group of the Latin American Group in the Preparatory Commission for the International Sea-Bed Authority and for the International Tribunal for the Law of the Sea

Contiene la asistencia, organización de los trabajos y resumen de los debates de la reunión convocada con el propósito de analizar fórmulas para el fortalecimiento de la capacidad negociadora de los grupos latinoamericanos en foros internacionales relacionados con el desarrollo de los recursos marinos.

Optimization of annatto (Bixa orellana L.) drying in fixed bed

ABSTRACT: The drying of annatto seeds (Bixa orellana L.), red piave cultivate, was studied in a fixed bed dryer. The best conditions were estimated to minimize the loss of coloring and to obtain final moisture of the seeds in appropriate levels to its conservation and maintenance of quality. The quantification of the influence of entrance variables in the final contents of bixin and moisture seeds and the identification of the optimal point was performed through the techniques of factorial design, response surfaces methodology, canonical analysis and desirability function. It was verified that the final moisture of the seeds may be estimated by a second-order polynomial model and that the final content of bixin is only significantly influenced by the time of drying being described properly by a linear model, for the seeds used in this study.

Supercritical extraction of pupunha (Guilielma speciosa) oil in a fixed bed using carbon dioxide

The pupunha (Guilielma speciosa) is the fruit of a palm tree typical of the Brazilian Northern region, whose stem is used as a source of heart of palm. The fruit, which is about 65% pulp, is a source of oil and carotenes. In the present work, an analysis of the kinetics of supercritical extraction of oil from the pupunha pulp is presented. Carbon dioxide was used as solvent. The extractions were carried out at 25 MPa and 323 K and 30 MPa and 318 K. The chemical composition of the extracts in terms of fatty acids was determined by gas chromatography. The amount of oleic acid, a saturated fatty acid, in the CO2 extracts was larger than that in the extract obtained with hexane. The overall extraction curves were modeled using the single-parameter model proposed in the literature to describe the desorption of toluene from activated coal.

Prediction of the combustion process in fluidized bed based on physical-chemical properties of biomass particles and their hydrodynamic behaviors

Conselho Nacional de Desenvolvimento Científico e Tecnológico (CNPq)

Evaluation of different methods of cooling-lubrication in cylindrical grinding of advanced ceramic dip

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

Fluid-dynamic assessment of sugarcane bagasse to use as feedstock in bubbling fluidized bed gasifiers

Coordenação de Aperfeiçoamento de Pessoal de Nível Superior (CAPES)

Performance evaluation and phylogenetic characterization of anaerobic fluidized bed reactors using ground tire and pet as support materials for biohydrogen production

Conselho Nacional de Desenvolvimento Científico e Tecnológico (CNPq)

The effect of biomass immobilization support material and bed porosity on hydrogen production in an upflow anaerobic packed-bed bioreactor

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

Performance and composition of bacterial communiies in anaerobic fluidized bed reactors for hydrogen production: Effects of organic loading rate and alkalinity

Conselho Nacional de Desenvolvimento Científico e Tecnológico (CNPq)

CRF1 and CRF2 receptors in the bed nucleus of the stria terminalis modulate the cardiovascular responses to acute restraint stress in rats

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

Diatoms and Tonsteins as Paleoenvironrnental and Paleodepositional Indicators in a Miocene Coal Bed, Costa Rica

Fresh-water diatoms are present in coal, and tonsteins (altered volcanic ash) are interbedded with the coal, in the Miocene Venado Formation on the southwest margin of the Limon Basin, in Provincia Alajuela, northern Costa Rica. The Venado Formation is composed of more than 300 m of mudstone, siltstone, sandstone, limestone, volcaniclastics, and coal beds. The coal beds are of unknown lateral extent and mainly occur in the middle part of the formation. The Pataste coal bed occurs near the middle of the formation and is divided into three parts by two tonstein layers. The abundance of biogenic opaline material (diatoms) in the coal is believed to be a direct response to an influx of silica from volcanic tuffs that Later altered to the tonsteins. Diatoms are a useful microscopic tool for identifying the depositional environments of the Pataste coal deposit. The diatoms identified include Aulacosira ambigua, Pinnularia sp., Eunotia spp., and Achnanthes exigua, among others. The abundance of Aulacosira arnbigua suggests that an open-water lacustrine environment was present locally. Achnanthes exigua and the remaining diatom species are benthic forms that lived in shallow fresh-water to slightly acidic swamp environments. The different types of diatoms found in the coal indicate that swamp environments were intermixed with lacustrine environments during the formation of the peat deposit or that the coal records environmental changes through time.

Phenol degradation in an anaerobic fluidized bed reactor packed with low density support materials

The objective of this research was to study phenol degradation in anaerobic fluidized bed reactors (AFBR) packed with polymeric particulate supports (polystyrene - PS, polyethylene terephthalate - PET, and polyvinyl chloride - PVC). The reactors were operated with a hydraulic retention time (HRT) of 24 h. The influent phenol concentration in the AFBR varied from 100 to 400 mg L-1, resulting in phenol removal efficiencies of similar to 100%. The formation of extracellular polymeric substances yielded better results with the PVC particles; however, deformations in these particles proved detrimental to reactor operation. PS was found to be the best support for biomass attachment in an AFBR for phenol removal. The AFBR loaded with PS was operated to analyze the performance and stability for phenol removal at feed concentrations ranging from 50 to 500 mg L-1. The phenol removal efficiency ranged from 90-100%.

Transesterification of Palm Oil Catalyzed by Pseudomonas fluorescens Lipase in a Packed-Bed Reactor

Transesterification of palm oil with ethanol catalyzed by Pseudomonas fluorescens lipase immobilized on epoxy-polysiloxane-polyvinyl alcohol composite (epoxy-SiO2-PVA) was performed in a continuous packed-bed reactor (PBR). Two strategies were used for improving the miscibility of the substrates: the addition of the organic solvent tert-butanol and the surfactant Triton X-100. Results were compared to those obtained in a solventless reactor, which displayed a biphasic system that passed through the reactor. Using this system, the ethyl ester yield of 61.6 +/- 1.2% was obtained at steady state. Both Triton X-100 and tert-butanol systems were found to be suitable to promote the miscibility of the starting materials; however, the use of Triton X-100 reduced the yield to levels lower than 20%, because of the enzyme desorption from the support surface, as confirmed by scanning electron microscopy analysis. The best performance was found for the reactor running in the presence of tert-butanol which resulted in a stable operating system and an average yield of 87.6 +/- 2.5%. This strategy also gave high biocatalyst operational stability, revealing a half-life of 48 days and an inactivation constant of 0.6 X 10(-3) h(-1).

Carboxypeptidases A1 and A2 from the perfusate of rat mesenteric arterial bed differentially process angiotensin peptides

Here we report the isolation of carboxypeptidases A1 and A2 (CPA1 and CPA2) from the rat mesenteric arterial bed perfusate, which were found to be identical with their pancreatic counterparts. Angiotensin (Ang) I, Ang II, Ang-(1-9) and Ang-(1-12) were differentially processed by these enzymes, worthy mentioning the peculiar CPA1-catalyzed conversion of Ang II to Ang-(1-7) and the CPA2-mediated formation of Ang I from Ang-(1-12). We detected gene transcripts for CPA1 and CPA2 in mesentery and other extrapancreatic tissues, indicating that these CPAs might play a role in the renin-angiotensin system in addition to their functions as digestive enzymes. (C) 2011 Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.