Modelado y simulacion de un biofiltro para el tratamiento de gases contaminados con compuestos sulfurados

A mathematical model and the simulation of a biofilter for the treatment of gaseous effluents are presented. The mixture included sulfur compounds such as hydrogen sulfide, methyl mercaptan, dimethyl sulfide and dimethyl disulfide, all dissolved in air. The conditions under which restrictions on diffusion are of less importance than biodegradation, which is the ultimate limiting factor, were determined. The model was applied to the biofilm and the results were used to simulate the behavior of the bioreactor. The flows and maximum concentrations of contaminants in the mixture to be treated for a given size of bioreactor, were determined. Also, the concentration-related variations in the efficiency of the removal of contaminants under varying conditions of flow and concentration in the mixture, were established. It was found that biodegradation in the biofilm was the limiting factor for mixtures with concentrations of contaminants greater than 90 ppm

Oxidation of methane in biotrickling filters inoculated with methanotrophic bacteria

Peer ReviewedPostprint (author's final draft

Biological treatment of contaminated air with toluene in an airlift reactor

In this work the variation in the toluene elimination capacity of an airlift bioreactor as a function of the toluene inlet load, using compost as the support material for the microorganisms was studied. In order to evaluate the flexibility of the reactor under changing toluene load, the toluene biodegradation was measured for flows from 2.4 x 10-2 to 0.132 m3 h-1, and a concentration range from 1.4 to 0.8 g m-3. Results show a 100% removal efficiency (RE) for minor flows, however, for a flow increase of 450% the RE decreased 40%, reflecting the equipments weak flexibility in varying flows. Meanwhile the maximum elimination capacity obtained was 230 g m-3 h-1, for toluene loads of 550 g m-3 h-1, corresponding to a flow of 0.132 m3 h-1. It was found that a average biomass concentration in suspension of 3700 g m-3, reflected EC's of 203 g m-3 h-1

Techno-economic and life-cycle assessments of small-scale biorefineries for isobutene and xylo-oligosaccharides production: a comparative study in Portugal and Chile

ABSTRACT: This work presents a comparative simulation study involving the techno-economic and environmental assessment of lignocellulosic-based small-scale biorefineries, integrated with a piggery waste-based anaerobic digestion platform (ADB), located in Portugal and Chile. Two main products are obtained: isobutene and xylo-oligosaccharides (XOS). The bioproduction of isobutene using a genetically engineered organism (Escherichia coli), coupled with the removal and purification of high added-value XOS, obtained after a feedstock hydrothermal pre-treatment, was evaluated. Two lignocellulosic agricultural wastes were used: corn stover in the Portuguese case study and wheat straw in Chilean case study. Both processes were simulated using the Aspen Plus modeling software tool, while the Aspen Process Economic Analyzer was used to carry out the economic evaluation. The simulation results were validated with experimental data from the laboratory and the literature. An economic assessment was performed considering the different locations of both biorefineries. A life-cycle analysis (LCA) was also applied to evaluate the differences in environmental impacts on both locations. The results showed that the isobutene / XOS biorefinery concept was economically viable in both Portugal and Chile, mainly due to the high market value of XOS. The biorefinery has lower production costs for isobutene and XOS (1 US$/kg of isobutene and 1.18 US$/kg of XOS) when located in Portugal, as compared with Chile (1.14 US$/kg of isobutene and 1.56 US$/kg of XOS). Conversely, it leads to less environmental impact when located in Chile: 48.8 kg(CO2eq.)/GJ(isobutene), in comparison to 60.7 kg(CO2eq.)/GJ(isobutene) in Portugal.info:eu-repo/semantics/publishedVersio

Application of biostimulant products and biological control agents in sustainable viticulture: A review

Current and continuing climate change in the Anthropocene epoch requires sustainable agricultural practices. Additionally, due to changing consumer preferences, organic approaches to cultivation are gaining popularity. The global market for organic grapes, grape products, and wine is growing. Biostimulant and biocontrol products are often applied in organic vineyards and can reduce the synthetic fertilizer, pesticide, and fungicide requirements of a vineyard. Plant growth promotion following application is also observed under a variety of challenging conditions associated with global warming. This paper reviews different groups of biostimulants and their effects on viticulture, including microorganisms, protein hydrolysates, humic acids, pyrogenic materials, and seaweed extracts. Of special interest are biostimulants with utility in protecting plants against the effects of climate change, including drought and heat stress. While many beneficial effects have been reported following the application of these materials, most studies lack a mechanistic explanation, and important parameters are often undefined (e.g., soil characteristics and nutrient availability). We recommend an increased study of the underlying mechanisms of these products to enable the selection of proper biostimulants, application methods, and dosage in viticulture. A detailed understanding of processes dictating beneficial effects in vineyards following application may allow for biostimulants with increased efficacy, uptake, and sustainability.KJ wishes to acknowledge financial support (3710473400); MS-M thanks to RTI2018-099417-B-I00 (Spanish Ministry of Science, Innovation and Universities cofunded with EU FEDER funds); JB wish to acknowledge the Conselho Nacional de Desenvolvimento Científico e Tecnológico/Brasil (CNPQ process number 309477/2021-2); RO-H is supported by the Ramón y Cajal program from the MICINN (RYC-2017 22032), PAIDI 2020 (Ref. 20_00323), AEI GGOO 2020 (GOPC-CA-20-0001), “José Castillejo” program from the “Ministerio de Universidades” (CAS21/00125) and PID2019-106004RA-I00/AEI/10.13039/501100011033. SM and GT thanks to Ministerio de Ciencia e Innovación (grant PID2020-114330GB-100). PAIDI2020 from Junta de Andalucía, grant P18-RT-1401 to SM, MD, and GT is also acknowledged. GT acknowledge the support of the publication fee by the CSIC Open Access Publication Support Initiative through its Unit of Information Resources for Research (URICI)

ERK5 Is a major determinant of chemical sarcomagenesis: implications in human pathology

Sarcomas are a heterogeneous group of tumors in which the role of ERK5 is poorly studied. To clarify the role of this MAPK in sarcomatous pathology, we used a murine 3-methyl-cholanthrene (3MC)-induced sarcoma model. Our data show that 3MC induces pleomorphic sarcomas with muscle differentiation, showing an increased expression of ERK5. Indeed, this upregulation was also observed in human sarcomas of muscular origin, such as leiomyosarcoma or rhabdomyosarcoma. Moreover, in cell lines derived from these 3MC-induced tumors, abrogation of Mapk7 expression by using specific shRNAs decreased in vitro growth and colony-forming capacity and led to a marked loss of tumor growth in vivo. In fact, transcriptomic profiling in ERK5 abrogated cell lines by RNAseq showed a deregulated gene expression pattern for key biological processes such as angiogenesis, migration, motility, etc., correlating with a better prognostic in human pathology. Finally, among the various differentially expressed genes, Klf2 is a key mediator of the biological effects of ERK5 as indicated by its specific interference, demonstrating that the ERK5–KLF2 axis is an important determinant of sarcoma biology that should be further studied in human pathology.This work has been supported with Grant RTI2018-094093-B-I00 funded by MCIN/AEI/10.13039/501100011033, “ERDF A way of making Europe” to RSP. Also supported with funds from Fundación Leticia Castillejo Castillo, Roche España and ACEPAIN to RSP and MJRH. RSP and MJRH’s Research Institute and the work carried out in their laboratory, received partial support from the European Community through the FEDER. JJ and EAL hold a predoctoral research contract cofounded by the European Social Fund and UCLM. OR holds a contract for accessing the Spanish System of Science, Technology, and Innovation (SECTI) funded by the University of Castilla-La Mancha (UCLM) and received partial support from the European Social Fund (FSE) through its Operative Program for Castilla-La Mancha (2007–2013)

Ethanol production improvement driven by genome-scale metabolic modeling and sensitivity analysis in Scheffersomyces stipitis.

The yeast Scheffersomyces stipitis naturally produces ethanol from xylose, however reaching high ethanol yields is strongly dependent on aeration conditions. It has been reported that changes in the availability of NAD(H/+) cofactors can improve fermentation in some microorganisms. In this work genome-scale metabolic modeling and phenotypic phase plane analysis were used to characterize metabolic response on a range of uptake rates. Sensitivity analysis was used to assess the effect of ARC on ethanol production indicating that modifying ARC by inhibiting the respiratory chain ethanol production can be improved. It was shown experimentally in batch culture using Rotenone as an inhibitor of the mitochondrial NADH dehydrogenase complex I (CINADH), increasing ethanol yield by 18%. Furthermore, trajectories for uptakes rates, specific productivity and specific growth rate were determined by modeling the batch culture, to calculate ARC associated to the addition of CINADH inhibitor. Results showed that the increment in ethanol production via respiratory inhibition is due to excess in ARC, which generates an increase in ethanol production. Thus ethanol production improvement could be predicted by a change in ARC

Influence of the pH of glutaraldehyde and the use of dextran aldehyde on the preparation of cross-linked enzyme aggregates (CLEAs) of lipase from Burkholderia cepacia

The preparation of cross-linked enzyme aggregates (CLEAs) of lipase has been a challenge due the low amount of lysine residues that lipases have on their surface. The results show that CLEAs prepared using dextran aldehyde (100-200KDa) have a higher hydrolysis activity and particle size (activities between 3186 ± 21 U/g of CLEA and 4800 ± 30 U/g of CLEA and particle sizes between 52.6 ± 18.7 µm and 126.2 ± 53.5 µm) than CLEAs prepared with glutaraldehyde (0.1 KDa) (activities between 894 ± 16 U/g of CLEA and 2874 ± 20 U/g of CLEA and particle sizes between 21.2 ± 5.1 µm and 83.4 ± 24.9 µm); Thermal stability assays of bioctalysts at 60ºC at pH 7.0 using phosphate buffer 25 mM showed that CLEAs prepared with dextran aldehyde have lower residual activity after 50 hrs (maximum residual activity of 46.8% in the CLEA) than CLEAs prepared with glutaraldehyde (maximum residual activity of 70.2% in CLEA). When considering hydrolysis activity, thermal stability and residual activity of CLEAs as a criteria for selecting the best preparation conditions, it has been found that the best condition for CLEAs preparation are to use glutaraldehyde as cross-linking reagent at pH 9.5, at a concentration of 3.5 g/l, and an enzyme/albumin ratio of 15