Selection of microorganisms producer of lipase for fat removal from biodiesel purification water

The objective this study has been the selection of lipase productor microorganism, for removal of oils and grease, in the pre-treatment of biodiesel wastewater washing. For this, analyses of the physicist-chemistries characteristics had been made with the wastewater of the biodiesel washing, and then it had been isolated and chosen, by means of determinations of the lipase activity. Following, it was made a test of fat biodegradation, in the conditions: pH (5.95), temperature (35 ºC), rotation (180 rpm) and ammonium sulfate as nitrogen source (3 g L-1) and establishing as variable the two microorganism preselected and the time (24; 48; 72; 96 and 120 h). The biodiesel purification wastewater had presented high potential of environmental impact, presenting a concentration of O of 6.76 g L-1. From the six isolated microbiological cultures, two microorganisms (A and B) had been selected, with enzymatic index of 0.56 and 0.57, respectively. The treatment of the wastewater using the isolated microorganism (Klebsiella oxytoca) had 80% of the fatty removal in 48 h.

Effect of acute treatment with a water-alcohol extract of Erythrina mulungu on anxiety-related responses in rats

We investigated the effect of acute oral treatment with a water-alcohol extract of the inflorescence of Erythrina mulungu (EM, Leguminosae-Papilionaceae) (100, 200 and 400 mg/kg) on rats submitted to different anxiety models: the elevated T-maze (for inhibitory avoidance and escape measurements), the light/dark transition, and the cat odor test. These models were selected for their presumed capacity to demonstrate specific subtypes of anxiety disorders as recognized in clinical practice. Treatment with 200 mg/kg EM impaired avoidance latencies (avoidance 1 - 200 mg/kg EM: 18 ± 7 s, control group: 40 ± 9 s; avoidance 2 - 200 mg/kg EM: 15 ± 4 s, control group: 110.33 ± 38 s) in a way similar to the reference drug diazepam (avoidance 1: 3 ± 0.79 s; avoidance 2: 3 ± 0.76 s), without altering escape. Additionally, the same treatments increased the number of transitions (200 mg/kg EM: 6.33 ± 0.90, diazepam: 10 ± 1.54, control group: 2.78 ± 0.60) between the two compartments and the time spent in the lighted compartment in the light/dark transition model (200 mg/kg EM: 39 ± 7 s; diazepam: 61 ± 9 s; control group: 14 ± 4 s). The dose of 400 mg/kg EM also increased this last measurement (38 ± 8 s). These results were not due to motor alterations since no significant effects were detected in the number of crossings or rearings in the arena. Furthermore, neither EM nor diazepam altered the behavioral responses of rats to a cloth impregnated with cat odor. These observations suggest that EM exerts anxiolytic-like effects on a specific subset of defensive behaviors, particularly those that have been shown to be sensitive to low doses of benzodiazepines.

Modelling the exothermic heat and the demand of cooling in paper and pulp industry biological wastewater treatment

This master thesis presents a study on the requisite cooling of an activated sludge process in paper and pulp industry. The energy consumption of paper and pulp industry and it’s wastewater treatment plant in particular is relatively high. It is therefore useful to understand the wastewater treatment process of such industries. The activated sludge process is a biological mechanism which degrades carbonaceous compounds that are present in waste. The modified activated sludge model constructed here aims to imitate the bio-kinetics of an activated sludge process. However, due to the complicated non-linear behavior of the biological process, modelling this system is laborious and intriguing. We attempt to find a system solution first using steady-state modelling of Activated Sludge Model number 1 (ASM1), approached by Euler’s method and an ordinary differential equation solver. Furthermore, an enthalpy study of paper and pulp industry’s vital pollutants was carried out and applied to revise the temperature shift over a period of time to formulate the operation of cooling water. This finding will lead to a forecast of the plant process execution in a cost-effective manner and management of effluent efficiency. The final stage of the thesis was achieved by optimizing the steady state of ASM1.

Supervisory systems in waste water treatment plants: sistematise their implementation

La implantació de Sistemes de Suport a la presa de Decisions (SSD) en Estacions Depuradores d'Aigües Residuals Urbanes (EDAR) facilita l'aplicació de tècniques més eficients basades en el coneixement per a la gestió del procés, assegurant la qualitat de l'aigua de sortida tot minimitzant el cost ambiental de la seva explotació. Els sistemes basats en el coneixement es caracteritzen per la seva capacitat de treballar amb dominis molt poc estructurats, i gran part de la informació rellevant de tipus qualitatiu i/o incerta. Precisament aquests són els trets característics que es poden trobar en els sistemes biològics de depuració, i en conseqüència en una EDAR. No obstant, l'elevada complexitat dels SSD fa molt costós el seu disseny, desenvolupament i aplicació en planta real, pel que resulta determinant la generació d'un protocol que faciliti la seva exportació a EDARs de tecnologia similar. L'objectiu del present treball de Tesi és precisament el desenvolupament d'un protocol que faciliti l'exportació sistemàtica de SSD i l'aprofitament del coneixement del procés prèviament adquirit. El treball es desenvolupa en base al cas d'estudi resultant de l'exportació a l'EDAR Montornès del prototipus original de SSD implementat a l'EDAR Granollers. Aquest SSD integra dos tipus de sistemes basats en el coneixement, concretament els sistemes basats en regles (els quals són programes informàtics que emulen el raonament humà i la seva capacitat de solucionar problemes utilitzant les mateixes fonts d'informació) i els sistemes de raonament basats en casos (els quals són programes informàtics basats en el coneixement que volen solucionar les situacions anormals que pateix la planta en el moment actual mitjançant el record de l'acció efectuada en una situació passada similar). El treball està estructurat en diferents capítols, en el primer dels quals, el lector s'introdueix en el món dels sistemes de suport a la decisió i en el domini de la depuració d'aigües. Seguidament es fixen els objectius i es descriuen els materials i mètodes utilitzats. A continuació es presenta el prototipus de SSD desenvolupat per la EDAR Granollers. Una vegada el prototipus ha estat presentat es descriu el primer protocol plantejat pel mateix autor de la Tesi en el seu Treball de Recerca. A continuació es presenten els resultats obtinguts en l'aplicació pràctica del protocol per generar un nou SSD, per una planta depuradora diferent, partint del prototipus. L'aplicació pràctica del protocol permet l'evolució del mateix cap a un millor pla d'exportació. Finalment, es pot concloure que el nou protocol redueix el temps necessari per realitzar el procés d'exportació, tot i que el nombre de passos necessaris ha augmentat, la qual cosa significa que el nou protocol és més sistemàtic.

Purification and characterization of the biological effects of phospholipase A(2) from sea anemone Bunodosoma caissarum

Sea anemones contain a variety of biologically active substances. Bunodosoma caissarum is a sea anemone from the Cnidaria phylum, found only in Brazilian coastal waters. The aim of the present work was to study the biological effects of PLA(2) isolated from the sea anemone B. caissarum on the isolated perfused kidney, the arteriolar mesenteric bed and on insulin secretion. Specimens of B. caissarum were collected from the Sao Vicente Channel on the southern coast of the State of São Paulo, Brazil. Reverse phase HPLC analysis of the crude extract of B. caissarum detected three PLA(2) proteins (named BcPLA(2)1, BCPLA(2)2 and BcPLA(2)3) found to be active in B. caissarum extracts. MALDI-TOF mass spectrometry of BcPLA(2)1 showed one main peak at 14.7 kDa. The N-terminal amino acid sequence of BcPLA(2)1 showed high amino acid sequence identity with PLA(2) group III protein isolated from the Mexican lizard (PA23 HELSU, HELSU, PA22 HELSU) and with the honey bee Apis mellifera (PLA(2) and 1POC_A). In addition, BcPLA(2)1 also showed significant overall homology to bee PLA(2). The enzymatic activity induced by native BCPLA(2)1 (20 mu g/well) was reduced by chemical treatment with p-bromophenacyl bromide (p-BPB) and with morin. BcPLA(2)1 strongly induced insulin secretion in presence of high glucose concentration. In isolated kidney, the PLA(2) from B. caissarum increased the perfusion pressure, renal vascular resistance, urinary flow, glomerular filtration rate, and sodium, potassium and chloride levels of excretion. BcPLA(2)1, however, did not increase the perfusion pressure on the mesenteric vascular bed. In conclusion, PLA(2), a group III phospholipase isolated from the sea anemone B. caissarum, exerted effects on renal function and induced insulin secretion in conditions of high glucose concentration. (C) 2009 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.

An integrated approach to evaluate emerging contaminants in drinking water

The chemical stock of emerging contaminants in Brazilian drinking water is of great interest due to the poor water quality at surface water intakes. In addition, little is known about the effect of some contaminants, such as endocrine disrupting chemicals (EDCs), which may be present in both raw and treated water. The aim of this work was to evaluate selected emerging contaminants in Brazilian waters using both chemical and biological analyses. Sampling sites were established in different municipalities based upon raw water quality data. Estrone, 17 beta-estradiol, estriol, 17 alpha-ethinylestradiol, bisphenol A, 4-n-octylphenol and 4-n-nonylphenol were determined in the samples by liquid chromatography-tandem mass spectrometry. A yeast assay using a Saccharomyces cerevisiae bioluminescent bioreporter was used to evaluate the estrogenic activity of the water samples. The first integrated results revealed similarities between the two individual approaches, since higher values for the bioassay were accompanied by significant concentrations of some selected compounds in surface water samples. No estrogenicity was observed for drinking water samples. Our results also indicate that the usual paradigm of evaluating water quality by measuring selected EDCs in a given water sample via chemical analysis, needs to be reviewed since the observed estrogenicity of a water sample is now a better guiding parameter to the selection of samples and substances to be chemically investigated in further analysis. So far, the data bank produced in this work, i.e., the comparison between chemical burden and observed estrogenicity, is not yet sufficiently robust to fully guide this decision. (C) 2011 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.

Evaluation of operation and maintenance factors limiting biological wastewater treatment plant performance /

Mode of access: Internet.

Selected biological references applicable to sewage treatment.

Mode of access: Internet.

Synthesis and Biological Evaluation of Novel Folic Acid Receptor-Targeted, β-Cyclodextrin-Based Drug Complexes for Cancer Treatment

Drug targeting is an active area of research and nano-scaled drug delivery systems hold tremendous potential for the treatment of neoplasms. In this study, a novel cyclodextrin (CD)-based nanoparticle drug delivery system has been assembled and characterized for the therapy of folate receptor-positive [FR(+)] cancer. Water-soluble folic acid (FA)-conjugated CD carriers (FACDs) were successfully synthesized and their structures were confirmed by 1D/2D nuclear magnetic resonance (NMR), matrix-assisted laser desorption ionization time-of-flight mass spectrometer (MALDI-TOF-MS), high performance liquid chromatography (HPLC), Fourier transform infrared spectroscopy (FTIR), and circular dichroism. Drug complexes of adamatane (Ada) and cytotoxic doxorubicin (Dox) with FACD were readily obtained by mixed solvent precipitation. The average size of FACD-Ada-Dox was 1.5–2.5 nm. The host-guest association constant Ka was 1,639 M−1 as determined by induced circular dichroism and the hydrophilicity of the FACDs was greatly enhanced compared to unmodified CD. Cellular uptake and FR binding competitive experiments demonstrated an efficient and preferentially targeted delivery of Dox into FR-positive tumor cells and a sustained drug release profile was seen in vitro. The delivery of Dox into FR(+) cancer cells via endocytosis was observed by confocal microscopy and drug uptake of the targeted nanoparticles was 8-fold greater than that of non-targeted drug complexes. Our docking results suggest that FA, FACD and FACD-Ada-Dox could bind human hedgehog interacting protein that contains a FR domain. Mouse cardiomyocytes as well as fibroblast treated with FACD-Ada-Dox had significantly lower levels of reactive oxygen species, with increased content of glutathione and glutathione peroxidase activity, indicating a reduced potential for Dox-induced cardiotoxicity. These results indicate that the targeted drug complex possesses high drug association and sustained drug release properties with good biocompatibility and physiological stability. The novel FA-conjugated β-CD based drug complex might be promising as an anti-tumor treatment for FR(+) cancer.

Titanium dioxide based nanomaterials for photocatalytic water treatment

Water treatment using photocatalysis has gained extensive attention in recent years. Photocatalysis is promising technology from green chemistry point of view. The most widely studied and used photocatalyst for decomposition of pollutants in water under ultraviolet irradiation is TiO2 because it is not toxic, relatively cheap and highly active in various reactions. Within this thesis unmodified and modified TiO2 materials (powders and thin films) were prepared. Physico-chemical properties of photocatalytic materials were characterized with UV-visible spectroscopy, scanning electron microscopy (SEM), transmission electron microscopy (TEM), X-ray photoelectron spectrometry (XPS), inductively coupled plasma optical emission spectroscopy (ICP-OES), ellipsometry, time-of-flight secondary ion mass spectrometry (ToF-SIMS), Raman spectroscopy, goniometry, diffuse reflectance measurements, thermogravimetric analysis (TGA) and nitrogen adsorption/desorption. Photocatalytic activity of prepared samples in aqueous environment was tested using model compounds such as phenol, formic acid and metazachlor. Also purification of real pulp and paper wastewater effluent was studied. Concentration of chosen pollutants was measured with high pressure liquid chromatography (HPLC). Mineralization and oxidation of organic contaminants were monitored with total organic carbon (TOC) and chemical oxygen demand (COD) analysis. Titanium dioxide powders prepared via sol-gel method and doped with dysprosium and praseodymium were photocatalytically active for decomposition of metazachlor. The highest degradation rate of metazachlor was observed when Pr-TiO2 treated at 450ºC (8h) was used. The photocatalytic LED-based treatment of wastewater effluent from plywood mill using commercially available TiO2 was demonstrated to be promising post-treatment method (72% of COD and 60% of TOC was decreased after 60 min of irradiation). The TiO2 coatings prepared by atomic layer deposition technique on aluminium foam were photocatalytically active for degradation of formic and phenol, however suppression of activity was observed. Photocatalytic activity of TiO2/SiO2 films doped with gold bipyramid-like nanoparticles was about two times higher than reference, which was not the case when gold nanospheres were used.

Purification and characterization of the biological effects of phospholipase A(2) from sea anemone Bunodosoma caissarum

Sea anemones contain a variety of biologically active substances. Bunodosoma caissarum is a sea anemone from the Cnidaria phylum, found only in Brazilian coastal waters. The aim of the present work was to study the biological effects of PLA(2) isolated from the sea anemone B. caissarum on the isolated perfused kidney, the arteriolar mesenteric bed and on insulin secretion. Specimens of B. caissarum were collected from the Sao Vicente Channel on the southern coast of the State of São Paulo, Brazil. Reverse phase HPLC analysis of the crude extract of B. caissarum detected three PLA(2) proteins (named BcPLA(2)1, BCPLA(2)2 and BcPLA(2)3) found to be active in B. caissarum extracts. MALDI-TOF mass spectrometry of BcPLA(2)1 showed one main peak at 14.7 kDa. The N-terminal amino acid sequence of BcPLA(2)1 showed high amino acid sequence identity with PLA(2) group III protein isolated from the Mexican lizard (PA23 HELSU, HELSU, PA22 HELSU) and with the honey bee Apis mellifera (PLA(2) and 1POC_A). In addition, BcPLA(2)1 also showed significant overall homology to bee PLA(2). The enzymatic activity induced by native BCPLA(2)1 (20 mu g/well) was reduced by chemical treatment with p-bromophenacyl bromide (p-BPB) and with morin. BcPLA(2)1 strongly induced insulin secretion in presence of high glucose concentration. In isolated kidney, the PLA(2) from B. caissarum increased the perfusion pressure, renal vascular resistance, urinary flow, glomerular filtration rate, and sodium, potassium and chloride levels of excretion. BcPLA(2)1, however, did not increase the perfusion pressure on the mesenteric vascular bed. In conclusion, PLA(2), a group III phospholipase isolated from the sea anemone B. caissarum, exerted effects on renal function and induced insulin secretion in conditions of high glucose concentration. (C) 2009 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.

Horizontal subsurface flow constructed wetlands for mitigation of ametryn-contaminated water

The feasibility of using constructed wetlands (CWs) for the mitigation of pesticide runoff has been studied in the last decade. However, a lack of related data was verified when subsurface flow constructed wetlands (SSF CWs) are considered for this purpose. In the present work, SSF CWs were submitted to continuous ametryn addition and evaluated during an I I-week period, with the aim of determining the feasibility of these systems for mitigation of contaminated water. Ametryn was not added to one CW cell in order to provide a control for the experiments. Monitoring of treatment performance was executed by standard water quality parameters, ametryn chromatography quantification and macrophyte (Typha latifolia L) nutritional and agronomic property analysis. Results indicated that 39% of the total initially added amount of ametryn was removed, transferred or transformed. Herbicide metabolism and mineralisation were carried out by chemical and biological mechanisms. No statistic differences were observed in nutritional contents found in the T. latifolia crops of the CWs after the experimental period. Moreover, the biomass production (one valuable source of renewable energy) was equal to 3.3 t.ha(-1) (dry matter) in wetland cells. It was concluded that constructed wetland systems are capable of mitigating water contaminated with ametryn, acting as buffer filters between the emission sources and the downstream superficial water bodies.

Biomimetic oxidative treatment of spruce wood studied by pyrolysis-molecular beam mass spectrometry coupled with multivariate analysis and (13)C-labeled tetramethylammonium hydroxide thermochemolysis: implications for fungal degradation of wood

In this work, pyrolysis-molecular beam mass spectrometry analysis coupled with principal components analysis and (13)C-labeled tetramethylammonium hydroxide thermochemolysis were used to study lignin oxidation, depolymerization, and demethylation of spruce wood treated by biomimetic oxidative systems. Neat Fenton and chelator-mediated Fenton reaction (CMFR) systems as well as cellulosic enzyme treatments were used to mimic the nonenzymatic process involved in wood brown-rot biodegradation. The results suggest that compared with enzymatic processes, Fenton-based treatment more readily opens the structure of the lignocellulosic matrix, freeing cellulose fibrils from the matrix. The results demonstrate that, under the current treatment conditions, Fenton and CMFR treatment cause limited demethoxylation of lignin in the insoluble wood residue. However, analysis of a water-extractable fraction revealed considerable soluble lignin residue structures that had undergone side chain oxidation as well as demethoxylation upon CMFR treatment. This research has implications for our understanding of nonenzymatic degradation of wood and the diffusion of CMFR agents in the wood cell wall during fungal degradation processes.