PRODUCTION OF CARBON PRODUCTS USING A COAL EXTRACTION PROCESS

This Department of Energy National Energy Technology Laboratory sponsored project developed carbon products, using mildly hydrogenated solvents to extract the organic portion of coal to create synthetic pitches, cokes, carbon foam and carbon fibers. The focus of this effort was on development of lower cost solvents, milder hydrogenation conditions and improved yield in order to enable practical production of these products. This technology is needed because of the long-term decline in production of domestic feedstocks such as petroleum pitch and coal tar pitch. Currently, carbon products represents a market of roughly 5 million tons domestically, and 19 million tons worldwide. Carbon products are mainly derived from feedstocks such as petroleum pitch and coal tar pitch. The domestic supply of petroleum pitch is declining because of the rising price of liquid fuels, which has caused US refineries to maximize liquid fuel production. As a consequence, the long term trend has a decline in production of petroleum pitch over the past 20 years. The production of coal tar pitch, as in the case of petroleum pitch, has likewise declined significantly over the past two decades. Coal tar pitch is a byproduct of metallurgical grade coke (metcoke) production. In this industry, modern metcoke facilities are recycling coal tar as fuel in order to enhance energy efficiency and minimize environmental emissions. Metcoke production itself is dependent upon the production requirements for domestic steel. Hence, several metcoke ovens have been decommissioned over the past two decades and have not been replaced. As a consequence sources of coal tar are being taken off line and are not being replaced. The long-term trend is a reduction in coal tar pitch production. Thus import of feedstocks, mainly from Eastern Europe and China, is on the rise despite the relatively large transportation cost. To reverse this trend, a new process for producing carbon products is needed. The process must be economically competitive with current processes, and yet be environmentally friendly as well. The solvent extraction process developed uses mild hydrogenation of low cost oils to create powerful solvents that can dissolve the organic portion of coal. The insoluble portion, consisting mainly of mineral matter and fixed carbon, is removed via centrifugation or filtration, leaving a liquid solution of coal chemicals and solvent. This solution can be further refined via distillation to meet specifications for products such as synthetic pitches, cokes, carbon foam and fibers. The most economical process recycles 85% of the solvent, which itself is obtained as a low-cost byproduct from industrial processes such as coal tar or petroleum refining. Alternatively, processes have been developed that can recycle 100% of the solvent, avoiding any need for products derived from petroleum or coal tar

Genome sequence of Aedes aegypti, a major arbovirus vector

We present a draft sequence of the genome of Aedes aegypti, the primary vector for yellow fever and dengue fever, which at approximately 1376 million base pairs is about 5 times the size of the genome of the malaria vector Anopheles gambiae. Nearly 50% of the Ae. aegypti genome consists of transposable elements. These contribute to a factor of approximately 4 to 6 increase in average gene length and in sizes of intergenic regions relative to An. gambiae and Drosophila melanogaster. Nonetheless, chromosomal synteny is generally maintained among all three insects, although conservation of orthologous gene order is higher (by a factor of approximately 2) between the mosquito species than between either of them and the fruit fly. An increase in genes encoding odorant binding, cytochrome P450, and cuticle domains relative to An. gambiae suggests that members of these protein families underpin some of the biological differences between the two mosquito species

The genome of the blood fluke Schistosoma mansoni

Schistosoma mansoni is responsible for the neglected tropical disease schistosomiasis that affects 210 million people in 76 countries. Here we present analysis of the 363 megabase nuclear genome of the blood fluke. It encodes at least 11,809 genes, with an unusual intron size distribution, and new families of micro-exon genes that undergo frequent alternative splicing. As the first sequenced flatworm, and a representative of the Lophotrochozoa, it offers insights into early events in the evolution of the animals, including the development of a body pattern with bilateral symmetry, and the development of tissues into organs. Our analysis has been informed by the need to find new drug targets. The deficits in lipid metabolism that make schistosomes dependent on the host are revealed, and the identification of membrane receptors, ion channels and more than 300 proteases provide new insights into the biology of the life cycle and new targets. Bioinformatics approaches have identified metabolic chokepoints, and a chemogenomic screen has pinpointed schistosome proteins for which existing drugs may be active. The information generated provides an invaluable resource for the research community to develop much needed new control tools for the treatment and eradication of this important and neglected disease.Wellcome Trust[WT085775/Z/08/Z]National Institutes of Health (NIH) National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases (NIAID/NIH)[AI48828]Oyama Health FoundationJapan Society for the Promotion of Science[13557021]Japan`s Ministry of Education, Culture, Sports, Science and TechnologySandler FoundationNIH-Fogarty[5D43TW006580]NIH-Fogarty[5D43TW007012-03]NIH[AI054711-01A2]PhRMA FoundationBurroughs Wellcome FundWHO - United Nations Children`s Fund (UNICEF)/United Nations Development Program (UNDP)/World bank/World Health OrganizationCAPESFAPESP[FAPEMIG REDE-281/05