Lipid, fatty acid, protein, amino acid and ash contents in four Brazilian red algae species

Four species of marine benthic algae (Laurencia filiformis, L. intricata, Gracilaria domingensis and G. birdiae) that belong to the phylum Rhodophyta were collected in Espirito Santo State, Brazil and investigated concerning their biochemical composition (fatty acid, total lipid, soluble proteins, amino acid and ash). The total content of lipid (% dry weight) ranged from 1.1% to 6.2%: fatty acid from 0.7% to 1.0%: soluble protein from 4.6% to 18.3%, amino acid from 6.7% to 11.3% and ash from 22.5% to 38.4%. judging from their composition, the four species of algae appear to be potential sources of dietary proteins, amino acids, lipids and essential fatty acids for humans and animals. (C) 2009 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.

Removal of phenol in high salinity media by a hybrid process (activated sludge plus photocatalysis)

The degradation of phenol by a hybrid process (activated sludge + photocatalysis) in a high salinity medium (50 g L-1 of chloride) has been investigated. The sludge used from a municipal wastewater facility was adapted to the high salt concentrations prior to use. The photocatalytic conditions were optimized by means of a factorial experimental design. TiO2 P25 from Degussa was used as the photocatalyst. The initial phenol concentration was approximately 200 mg L-1 and complete removal of phenol and a mineralization degree above 98% were achieved within 25 h of treatment (24 h of biological treatment and I h of photocatalysis). From HPLC analyses, five hydroxylated intermediates formed during oxidation have been identified. The main ones were catechol and hydroquinone, followed by 1,2,4-benzenetriol, 2-hydroxy- 1,4-benzoquinone, and pyrogallol, in this order. No formation of organochlorine compounds was observed. Therefore, the proposed hybrid process showed itself to be suited to treat phenol in the presence of high contents of salt. (c) 2007 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.

Comportamento do reator seqüencial em batelada (RSB) sob estado estacionário dinâmico utilizando idade do lodo como parâmetro de controle operacional

O reator seqüencial em batelada (RSB) é uma variante de lodos ativados capaz de promover a remoção da matéria orgânica, a remoção dos nutrientes e a separação da fase sólida da líquida em uma unidade. A valorização das áreas urbanas, a carência de tratamento terciário e a crescente necessidade de redução nas dimensões de estações de tratamento de esgoto devem impulsionar o desenvolvimento de pesquisas sobre RSB em curto espaço de tempo. A partir deste cenário, o presente trabalho teve como objetivo modelar o comportamento do reator seqüencial em batelada a partir da teoria desenvolvida por Marais e colaboradores. Dentro deste contexto, a cinética de oxidação dos compostos orgânicos e do nitrogênio na forma amoniacal foi descrita e modelada. O trabalho experimental foi realizado em duas escalas: bancada e piloto. O experimento em escala de bancada foi dividido em duas fases. Foram utilizados dois RSBs e um sistema de fluxo contínuo. Um reator seqüencial em batelada (RSB1) foi operado com idade de lodo. O outro reator em batelada (RSB2) foi operado em função da relação F/M e o sistema de fluxo contínuo (FC1) por idade de lodo. Estes reatores foram utilizados como controle no monitoramento do RSB1 Na primeira fase, os três sistemas removeram apenas matéria orgânica. Na fase seguinte, removeram matéria orgânica e nitrogênio. A partir dos resultados obtidos em escala de bancada, foi possível concluir que o modelo desenvolvido pode ser aplicado ao reator seqüencial em batelada operando com idade de lodo, permitindo determinar a qualidade do efluente, a produção de lodo e o consumo de oxidante. Além disso, foi possível descrever o comportamento da taxa de consumo de oxigênio em função da oxidação da matéria orgânica biodegradável e da oxidação do nitrogênio na forma amoniacal. O reator seqüencial em batelada operado com idade de lodo (RSB1) alcançou remoção média de matéria orgânica de 90 % nas idades de lodo de 30, 20, 10 e 5 dias. A remoção média de nitrogênio mais elevada foi obtida na idade de lodo de 20 dias e atingiu 87 %. Nas demais idades de lodo a remoção média de nitrogênio variou entre 79 e 42 %. A modelagem do comportamento do reator seqüencial em batelada resultou numa proposta de metodologia para o dimensionamento que tem como finalidade abolir critérios obsoletos e inadequados para o dimensionamento de lodos ativados em batelada No experimento em escala piloto, foram utilizados um reator seqüencial em batelada, denominado RSB, e um sistema de fluxo contínuo com a configuração Bardenpho, denominado FC. Os sistemas de lodos ativados sob investigação foram monitorados em duas idades de lodo: 30 e 10 dias. Os dados do experimento em escala piloto mostraram que os processos físico-químicos e biológicos envolvidos na remoção de matéria orgânica e nitrogênio no RSB foram mais eficientes do que no Bardenpho quando trataram o mesmo esgoto doméstico e foram submetidos às mesmas condições operacionais. No RSB, obteve-se 88 e 89 % de remoção de matéria orgânica nas idades de lodo de 10 e 30 dias, respectivamente. Nesta seqüência das idades de lodo, a eficiência do Bardenpho caiu de 87 para 76 %. O sistema de fluxo contínuo removeu 66 e 52 % do nitrogênio total afluente nas idades de lodo de 10 e 30 dias, respectivamente. A eficiência do RSB na remoção de nitrogênio foi determinada apenas na idade de lodo de 10 dias e alcançou 69 %. A partir dos resultados obtidos em escala de bancada e piloto, constata-se que o reator seqüencial em batelada operando com idade de lodo pode ser utilizado no tratamento de esgoto doméstico e obter eficiência na remoção de matéria orgânica e nitrogênio igual ou superior ao sistema de fluxo contínuo.

A satisfação profissional e a cultura organizacional : uma análise a partir do modelo ASH no Centro Federal de Educação Tecnológica do Rio Grande do Norte

With the need of the companies in becoming more competitive within the market, it arises an incessant search for selective human potential, with a high level of capacity and low rotativity, which motivation results in production raise, quality optimization and waste reduction. This scenario requires a strategy development which advantages the Human Resources Quality Management. This way, the model of the Human System Audit (HSA), developed by the Spanish researchers Ouijano and Navarro, presents itself as an important tool to diagnosis and evaluation, contemplating the environment where the organization is inserted, its strategies, its organizational design, its processes and its organizational effectiveness. In this sense, the present study has identified the existent relation between the professional satisfaction and the Organizational Culture, based in the model HSA. The research has been a quantitative-descriptive one and has had as population the technical-administrative workers from the Federal Center of Technical Education of Rio Grande do Norte (CEFET RN). The data collection has occurred during May, 2008, by means of the application of a questionnaire in the HSA model. The sample was composed by 167 subjects, distributed among the Five units of the institution. It was used the factorial analysis, with the extraction method of main components and orthogonal rotation varimax, in order to extract the dimensions of the satisfaction and of the organizational culture and the calculation of Cronbach s Alpha coefficient, to evaluate the reliability of these dimensions. The factorial analysis of the satisfaction indicators has identified four factors,, all of them showing significance: gratefulness and relationship , self-realization , stability and security and physical conditions and social benefits . The result of the factorial analysis with the indicators of the organizational culture has extracted four factors and among them, three of them have obtained significance: Personal Satisfaction Style , Competitive-Denial-Power Style and the Conventional-Dependent Style . After identifying the dimensions of the satisfaction and culture found at CEFET-RN, it has been notice the existence or not of relation among them, through the application of Pearson s coefficient. It has been verified that all of the dimensions of the Professional satisfaction are correlated with some dimension of the organizational culture, having in outstand position, with higher intensity, the relation between the culture style of Personal Satisfaction and the satisfaction factor referring to the self-realization

A satisfação dos clientes internos e o comprometimento organizacional: um estudo à luz do modelo ASH nas indústrias alimentícias no RN

Currently the organizations are passing for continuous cycles of changes due to necessity of survival in the work market. The administration of the future points a way to the organizations of today and tomorrow, the search of the competitiveness from loyalty and motivation of its staff. Of this form, the model of the Auditoria do Sistema Humano (ASH), developed for Spanish researchers and that now it is being applied in Brazil, contemplates a series of dimensions about Human Resources management quality in the companies and the organizational effectiveness, such as the environment where the company is inserted, the strategies, the organizational drawing, the psychological and psychosocial processes, e the reached results. In this direction, the present research analyzed the factors of job satisfaction and organizational commitment, making, also, a relation of causality between the same ones. The quantitative-descriptive research had as population the employees of twenty three nourishing industries of the State of Rio Grande do Norte (Brazil), registered in the Federacy of the Industries of the state. The collection of the data occurred for the months of October of 2005 and March of 2006, by means of the application of questionnaire of model ASH. The sample was composed for 197 employees, however it was observed presence of five outliers, that they had been excluded from the analysis of the data. To extract the dimensions of the satisfaction and the commitment and identification the factorial analysis was used, with extraction method of principal components, rotation Varimax and normalization Kaiser. The gotten dimensions had been evaluated with the calculation of the coefficient Alpha of Cronbach. The factorial analysis of the pointers of the organizational commitment and identification had extracted ten factors. Of these, four had gotten significance of the analyses inside: affective commitment, values commitment, continuance commitment and necessity commitment. The result of the analysis of the pointers of job satisfaction indicated four factors: extrinsic, motivations, relation with the friends and auto-accomplishment. To deal with the data the relation between job satisfaction and organizational commitment it was used technique of multiple regression. The correlation between commitment and satisfaction was satisfactory, detaching the affective commitment with bigger index of correlation, followed of the affective one

Motivação e satisfação à luz do modelo ASH: estudo de caso em indústria de alimentos

Neste estudo, foram examinadas as relações existentes entre a motivação e a satisfação do trabalhador no espaço laboral. O estudo empírico foi conduzido em uma única etapa, por meio da qual buscou-se conhecer as dimensões latentes identificadas e, a partir das dimensões validadas, buscou-se estabelecer relações com características motivacionais, como antecedentes, e satisfação pelo trabalho realizado, como conseqüência do atendimento das necessidades manifestadas pelo trabalhador. Foram entrevistados 38 (trinta e oito) funcionários da empresa Água Mineral Cristalina, incluindo-se os que ocupam cargos de chefia. Como instrumento de coleta de dados, foi utilizada parte do complexo da Auditoria do Sistema Humano ASH, criado por Quijano (1999), que se trata de um modelo de pesquisa na área de Psicologia Social, incluindo a Administração de Recursos Humanos, que analisa os processos psicológicos e psicossociais nas organizações. Para esta pesquisa, foram utilizados dois formulários sugeridos pelo autor citado, (anexos 01 e 02). O primeiro denomina-se condições para a motivação , com 15 (quinze) questões do tipo likert. O segundo, "trabalho bem feito e satisfação de necessidades", tem 22 (vinte e duas) questões, também do tipo likert. O instrumento foi respondido por colaboradores, independente da posição hierárquica, em aproximadamente 10 (dez) a 15 (quinze) minutos. A aplicação foi realizada diretamente pelo pesquisador nas unidades de produção e de administração da empresa. Por meio de modelagem de equações estruturais, foi estabelecido um modelo de relações causais entre as dimensões latentes relacionadas à motivação e o desempenho do empregado quando tem satisfeitas as suas necessidades. Quanto ao tratamento dos dados, este ocorreu de forma quantitativa. Quanto à análise, aconteceu após os dados terem sido tratados. Nesta pesquisa, os dados foram analisados por meio de estatísticas descritivas, atualizando-se os recursos de softwares específicos como Statistic ou SPSS Statistic Package for Social Sciences. Usou-se a técnica de Análise de Regressão, na qual foi utilizado o método STEPWISE que inclui na equação de explicação de uma variável dependente somente aquelas que auxiliam ou incrementam sua explicação. Como variáveis dependentes, foram utilizadas as variáveis do formulário "trabalho bem feito e satisfação de necessidades" e como variável independe as variáveis do questionário "condições para motivação". Sob o ponto de vista prático, este estudo mostrou que um determinado conjunto de características motivacionais influi positivamente na satisfação do trabalhador, que poderá realizar um trabalho bem feito; do lado teórico, a pesquisa verificou explicitamente a hipótese de que os aspectos motivacionais contribuem para que o empregado, sentindo-se satisfeito, desempenhe melhor as atribuições que lhe são conferidas

Determination of potassium and sodium in an ash sample by gamma-ray spectroscopy

Neutron activation analysis and gamma-ray spectroscopy were used to determine the quantity of potassium and sodium in an ash sample of Tabebuia sp bombarded with thermal neutrons. These techniques, widely applied in nuclear physics, can be used in the context of wood science as an alternative for the usual physical chemistry methods applied in this area. The quantity of K and Na in an 8.60 +/- 0.10 mg of ash was determined as being 1.3 +/- 0.3 mg and 11.0 +/- 1.8 mu g, respectively. The ratio of Tabebuia sp converted into ash was also determined as 0.758 +/- 0.004%.

COMBUSTION and PYROLYSIS of A SLUDGE FROM WASTEWATER TREATMENT PLANT

The possibility of thermal treatment plants of municipal wastewater is an alternative solution for the final disposition of the sludge produced on small cities as Barueri, a small town of São Paulo State, Brazil. Combustion and pyrolysis of that municipal waste, occurring respectively in air and nitrogen, have been studied by thermogravimetry (TG) and differential thermal analysis (DTA). The main steps of each case were analyzed and Kissinger plots were used to estimate respective activation energies. DTG peaks are more indicated to represent the condition of maximum reaction rates than DTA peaks.

Influence of a Brazilian sewage outfall on the toxicity and contamination of adjacent sediments

The submarine sewage outfall of Santos (SSOS) is situated in the Santos Bay (São Paulo, Brazil) and is potentially a significant source of contaminants to the adjacent marine ecosystem. The present study aimed to assess the influence of SSOS on the sediment toxicity and contamination at Santos Bay. At the disposal site, sediments tended to be finer, organically richer and exhibited higher levels of surfactants and metals, sometimes exceeding the Threshold Effect Level values. The SSOS influence was more evident toward the East, where the sediments exhibited higher levels of TOC, total S and metals during the summer 2000 sampling campaign. Sediment toxicity to amphipods was consistently detected in four of the five stations studied. Amphipod survival tended to correlate negatively to Hg, total N and % mud. This work provides evidence that the SSOS discharge affects the quality of sediments from Santos Bay, and that control procedures are warranted. (c) 2005 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.

Extração do óleo e caracterização dos resíduos da borra de petróleo para fins de reuso

The petroleum industry, in consequence of an intense activity of exploration and production, is responsible by great part of the generation of residues, which are considered toxic and pollutants to the environment. Among these, the oil sludge is found produced during the production, transportation and refine phases. This work had the purpose to develop a process to recovery the oil present in oil sludge, in order to use the recovered oil as fuel or return it to the refining plant. From the preliminary tests, were identified the most important independent variables, like: temperature, contact time, solvents and acid volumes. Initially, a series of parameters to characterize the oil sludge was determined to characterize its. A special extractor was projected to work with oily waste. Two experimental designs were applied: fractional factorial and Doehlert. The tests were carried out in batch process to the conditions of the experimental designs applied. The efficiency obtained in the oil extraction process was 70%, in average. Oil sludge is composed of 36,2% of oil, 16,8% of ash, 40% of water and 7% of volatile constituents. However, the statistical analysis showed that the quadratic model was not well fitted to the process with a relative low determination coefficient (60,6%). This occurred due to the complexity of the oil sludge. To obtain a model able to represent the experiments, the mathematical model was used, the so called artificial neural networks (RNA), which was generated, initially, with 2, 4, 5, 6, 7 and 8 neurons in the hidden layer, 64 experimental results and 10000 presentations (interactions). Lesser dispersions were verified between the experimental and calculated values using 4 neurons, regarding the proportion of experimental points and estimated parameters. The analysis of the average deviations of the test divided by the respective training showed up that 2150 presentations resulted in the best value parameters. For the new model, the determination coefficient was 87,5%, which is quite satisfactory for the studied system

Use of Primary Sludge from Pulp and Paper Mills for Nanocomposites

Cellulose nanocrystals have been evaluated as reinforcement material in polymeric matrices due to their potential to improve the mechanical, optical, and dielectric properties of these matrixes. This work describes how high pressure defibrillation and chemical purification affect the sludge fiber morphology from micro to nanoscale. Microscopy techniques and X-ray diffraction were used to study the structure and properties of the prepared nanofibers and composites. Microscopic studies showed that the used individualization processes lead to a unique morphology of interconnected web-like structure of sludge fibers. The nanofibers are bundles of cellulose fibers having widths (5 to 30 nm) and estimated lengths of several micrometers.

Dinâmica de Sedimentação de Lodo em Lagoas de Estabilização

Stabilization ponds are an effective sewage treatment alternative for the climatic conditions prevailing in Brazil. In the present work, a primary facultative pond was studied, in the city of Natal, Rio Grande do Norte, Northeast Brazil. The aim of this study was to evaluate the sedimentation dynamics in the facultative pond. The pond was divided in three section or zones along its length starting from the inlet end namely A1, A2 and A3. The research was accomplished in three phases. In the first the mapping of the sludge layer was done, sludge core samples were also collected for analysis for total, fixed and volatile solids and the depth of the sludge layer was determined using a portable echo sounder. In the second solids sedimentation rates were measured using traps placed in the inlet and outlet zones and in the third phase resuspension sludge was evaluate using a tracer. The amount accumulated sludge since the start operation was 13.583 m3. The sedimentation constant averages changed between 0.93 to 2.94 and 3.90 to 5.80 for the depths of 0.5 and 1.0 m respectively. The relationship between volatile and fixed solids (SV/SF) increased along the pond. The removal efficiencies were 52.12%, 36.09%, and 37.50% for BOD, COD and SS, respectively. The sludge accumulation model proposed had a good adjustment with 0.17 m3/hab.year rate. The results presented here demonstrated that the wind had a direct influence on the sedimentation of solids in this pond affecting the efficiency and sludge accumulation

Avaliação da eficiência de lagoas de estabilização no tratamento de resíduos esgotados de fossas sépticas

Because of disability in public policy development in mind to attend issues of sanitation in the municipalities, companies known as "clean-blue" appeared proposing to solve a simple collection and management of wastewater produced in single or multifamily residences, commercial, hospitals, etc. In the case of an activity in which there are no worries about the fate of sewage, emerged some doubts about the degree of health and environmental safety in these companies. Traditionally, most of them makes the provision of waste depleted soil or wetland, open, usually located on the outskirts of cities (MENESES, 2001). In turn, the sludge from septic tanks exhausted, provided no technical criteria - in the soil, rivers and as an agricultural fertilizer put in risk the health of the population and environmental quality. This work was entered in the search network 5 of the Notice of the Research Program in Sanitation - PROSAB-5, aimed to study the theme 'Characterization and study of alternative ways of treating sludge from septic tanks in the city of Natal, RN', proposing to evaluate the performance of the use of stabilization ponds as a system to handle waste from septic tanks exhausted. A series of lakes studied belong to one of the largest clean-pit of Natal, consisting of two anaerobic ponds, one facultative and maturation, and a tank disinfection, the wastewater being released in the Potengi River. Samples were collected between the months of October 2007 to October 2008, at six points previously defined and judged as more appropriate to what is proposed study. The analysis results in field and laboratory showed the most significant removal of COD (88.93%), total suspended solids (94.87%), organic nitrogen (66.87%) and thermotolerant coliforms (99.88%). Some results have not reached the expected because the system under study had operating problems that have undermined the efficiency of the reactors

Caracterização do conteúdo de fossas e tanques sépticos na cidade de Natal

Only 32% of the population of Natal is attended by sewage, while the remaining population use pits and septic tanks. The characterization of the contents of septic tanks and pits contributes to the performance of such system and may guide the decision on treatment of these contents. The main of this research is to characterize the contents of interior residential pits and septic tanks in the greater Natal, with the following specific goals: to develop and manufacture a sampler capable of collecting a representative sample of the entire column (the surface scum, the clarified liquid and sludge bottom); to compare the contents of the tanks with the pits; to compare the contents of the septage from vacuum trucks; to relate the composition content with socioeconomic characteristics of households; to compare the content in both chambers of the septic tanks in series; to assess the situation of the content before and six months after the cleanness; and ultimately propose a pilot scale plant for treatment of septage. Once the sampler was developed, samples were collected within 14 septic tanks and 10 pits in many districts of Natal. Medians of the 24 systems were obtained: temperature, pH, conductivity, oil and grease, total solids, total suspended solids and sediments of 28.0 °C, 6.95; 882 mS/cm, 75.2 mg/L; 10,169 mg/L, 6,509 mg/L and 175 mL/L respectively; 111.0 mgN/L for ammonia, 130.5 mgN/ L for organic nitrogen, 0.2 mgN/L for nitrite, 0.4 mg/L for nitrate; 8935 mgO2/L for COD, 29.2 mgP/L for total phosphorus, thermotolerant coliforms from 9.95 E +06 CFU/100mL helminth eggs and 9.2 eggs/L with a maximum concentration of 688 eggs/L and minimum of 0 eggs/L. Medians of organic nitrogen and TKN were significantly different between groups of tanks and pits. The systems with cleanness gap from 11 and 20 years presented the higher concentrations for most variables. The effluent from the toilets and bathrooms participate more effectively in contributing fractions of solids, alkalinity, nitrogen, COD, total phosphorus, thermotolerant coliforms and helminth eggs. The systems used by socioeconomics class with income from R$ 3,700.00 to R$ 7,600.00, presented higher concentrations for COD, nitrogen, solids and helminth eggs. The first of the two chambers had always presented higher concentrations over the second compartment. The analysis of variance for most variables, showed that the values of septic tanks, pits and septage from vacuum trucks belong to the same group. In the samples taken after cleanness, the median of pH and temperature increased, while alkalinity, COD, organic nitrogen, total phosphorus, ammonia and helminth eggs decreased. The oils and greases and thermotolerant coliforms had slightly varied due to the continuous release of sewage into the systems that maintained their steady state concentrations.