Co-digestion of mixed sewage sludge and fruit and vegetables wastes effect of different mixtures on biogas yield

Disposal of fruit and vegetable wastes (FVWs) in landfill site cause serious environmental issues such as contamination of soil, air and ground water. These wastes contain large quantities of biodegradable organic fractions, with high moisture that facilitates their biological treatment. One of the best alternatives to landfill disposal of these wastes is the anaerobic digestion. Therefore, it is one of the most widespread stabilization processes of the sludge in municipal wastewater treatment plants (WWTP). Introduction of FVW in WWTP and co-digestion with mixed sludge (MS) could enhance biogas production and plant economic feasibility. A lab-scale experiment for the anaerobic co-digestion of FVW and municipal mixed sludge under mesophilic condition and 20 days hydraulic retention time is investigated. Initially the digester was fed with mixed sludge (MS) from wastewater treatment plants with an average organic loading rate (OLR) of 0.63 (g L–1 d–1). The co-digestion of mixed sludge and FVW was performed at various organic loading ratios (OLRs), between 0.63 and 5.5 (g L–1 d–1). The experimental specific biogas and methane productions are 0.656 L g–1 and 0.340 L g–1 respectively. Alkalinity and pH remains relatively constant regardless the introduction of different proportions of FVW in the mixture. Co-digestion, compared with the digestion of MS as single substrate, improves the biogas and methane production.Universidad de Málaga. Campus de Excelencia Internacional Andalucía Tech

Effect of NaHCO3 addition on the anaerobic co-digestion of fruit and vegetable waste and sewage sludge performance

Digestion of FVW residues with sewage sludge is feasible as long as the FVW to sludge ratio fed to the batch digester is not too large. The pH is the main variable determining the reactor performance and can be controlled by NaHCO3 addition.Universidad de Málaga. Campus de Excelencia Internacional Andalucía Tech

Cabozantinib for the treatment of solid tumors: a systematic review

Cabozantinib; Hepatocellular carcinoma; Solid tumorCabozantinib; Carcinoma hepatocel·lular; Tumor sòlidCabozantinib; Carcinoma hepatocelular; Tumor sólidoBackground: Cabozantinib is approved, in various settings, for the treatment of renal cell carcinoma, medullary thyroid cancer, and hepatocellular carcinoma, and it has been investigated for the treatment of other cancers. With the available evidence and the real-world performance of cabozantinib compared with clinical trial data, we performed a systematic review of cabozantinib monotherapy as treatment for solid tumors in adults. Methods: This study was designed in accordance with Preferred Reporting Items for Systematic Reviews and Meta-Analyses and registered with PROSPERO (CRD42020144680). We searched for clinical and observational studies of cabozantinib monotherapy for solid tumors using Embase, MEDLINE, and Cochrane databases (October 2020), and screened relevant congress abstracts. Eligible studies reported clinical or safety outcomes, or biomarker data. Small studies (n < 25) and studies of cabozantinib combination therapies were excluded. Quality was assessed using National Institute for Health and Care Excellence methodology, and study characteristics were described qualitatively. Results: Of 2888 citations, 114 were included (52 randomized studies, 29 observational studies, 32 nonrandomized phase I or II studies or pilot trials, and 1 analysis of data from a randomized study and a nonrandomized study). Beyond approved indications, other tumors studied were castration-resistant prostate cancer, urothelial carcinoma, Ewing sarcoma, osteosarcoma, uveal melanoma, non-small-cell lung cancer, Merkel cell carcinoma, glioblastoma, pheochromocytomas and paragangliomas, cholangiocarcinoma, gastrointestinal stromal tumor, colorectal cancer, salivary gland cancer, carcinoid and pancreatic neuroendocrine tumors, and breast, endometrial and ovarian cancers. The most common adverse events were hypertension, diarrhea, and fatigue. Conclusion: The identified evidence demonstrates the positive efficacy/effectiveness of cabozantinib monotherapy in various solid tumor types, with safety findings being consistent with those observed with other VEGFR-targeting tyrosine kinase inhibitors. When available, real-world findings were consistent with the data reported from clinical trials. A limitation of this review is the high proportion of abstracts; however, this allowed us to capture the most up-to-date findings.The authors disclosed receipt of the following financial support for the research, authorship, and/or publication of this article: This study was funded by Ipsen

Chemical reduction of nitrate by zero-valent iron: Shrinking-Core versus Surface Kinetics Models

Zero valent iron (ZVI) is being used in permeable reactive barriers (PRB) for the removal of oxidant contaminants, from nitrate to chlorinated organics. A sound design of these barriers requires a good understanding of kinetics. Here we present a study of the kinetics of nitrate reduction under relatively low values of pH, from 2 to 4.5. We use a particle size of 0.42 mm, which is within the recommended size for PRBs (0.2 mm to 2.0 mm). In order to avoid possible mass-transfer limitations, a well-stirred reactor coupled with a fluidized bed reactor was used. The experiments were performed at constant pH values using a pH controller that allows to accurately track the amount of acid added. Since the reduction of H+ to H2 by the oxidation of ZVI will always be present for these pH values, blank experiments (without nitrate) were performed and the rate of this H+ reduction obtained. This rate of reduction was studied using three kinetic models: a regular empirical one, the Shrinking-Core Model (SCM), and the Surface Kinetics Model (SKM). The best performance was obtained from the SKM model. Therefore, this model was also used to study the results for the nitrate reduction, also with satisfactory results. In both cases, some assumptions are introduced to maintain a moderate number of fitting parameters.This research was funded by the European Union’s Horizon 2020 research and innovation program under the Marie Skłodowska-Curie grant agreement No. 778045, by the “Proyectos I + D + i en el marco del Programa Operativo FEDER Andalucía 2014–2020, No UMA18-FEDERJA-279” and the project from the University of Malaga, No. PPIT.UMA.B5.2018/17. Villen-Guzman acknowledges the postdoctoral fellowship obtained from the University of Malaga. Cerrillo-Gonzalez acknowledges the FPU grant obtained from the Spanish Ministry of Education

Influence of alkalinity addition on biomethanization of fruit and vegetable waste and sewage sludge performance. Batch study

Fruit and vegetable wastes (FVW) are generated in large quantities around the world. This kind of residue constitutes a source of nuisance in municipal landfills because of its high biodegradability. Their high moisture and large biodegradable organic matter content facilitates their treatment by biological techniques among which the anaerobic digestion presents increasing attention. This alternative allows the recovery of energy and a solid product that can be used as an amendment for soils. In this work, we study the possibility of management of Fruit and Vegetable Wastes (FVW) through their simultaneous digestion with the primary sludge of Municipal Wastewater Treatment plants. Results indicate that feed to inoculum ratios and the pH control are the main variables determining the methane yields. The results for a ratio of 50% sludge together with 10 g NaHCO3/kg of residue are among the best obtained, with a methane yield of about 90 L per kg of volatile solids, and a methane concentration of 40% (v/v) of the biogas.Universidad de Málaga. Campus de Excelencia Internacional Andalucía Tech

The CARMENES search for exoplanets around M dwarfs High-resolution optical and near-infrared spectroscopy of 324 survey stars

The CARMENES radial velocity (RV) survey is observing 324 M dwarfs to search for any orbiting planets. In this paper, we present the survey sample by publishing one CARMENES spectrum for each M dwarf. These spectra cover the wavelength range 520–1710 nm at a resolution of at least R >80 000, and we measure its RV, Hα emission, and projected rotation velocity. We present an atlas of high-resolution M-dwarf spectra and compare the spectra to atmospheric models. To quantify the RV precision that can be achieved in low-mass stars over the CARMENES wavelength range, we analyze our empirical information on the RV precision from more than 6500 observations. We compare our high-resolution M-dwarf spectra to atmospheric models where we determine the spectroscopic RV information content, Q, and signal-to-noise ratio. We find that for all M-type dwarfs, the highest RV precision can be reached in the wavelength range 700–900 nm. Observations at longer wavelengths are equally precise only at the very latest spectral types (M8 and M9). We demonstrate that in this spectroscopic range, the large amount of absorption features compensates for the intrinsic faintness of an M7 star. To reach an RV precision of 1 m s−1 in very low mass M dwarfs at longer wavelengths likely requires the use of a 10 m class telescope. For spectral types M6 and earlier, the combination of a red visual and a near-infrared spectrograph is ideal to search for low-mass planets and to distinguish between planets and stellar variability. At a 4 m class telescope, an instrument like CARMENES has the potential to push the RV precision well below the typical jitter level of 3–4 m s−1