Anammox Process: the Principle, the Technological Development and Recent Industrial Applications

The ANAerobic AMMonium OXidation or Anammox process, nowadays becomes an important technology for industrial wastewater treatment plants, especially for an effective denitrification process. Anammox process has been widely known for its high efficiency in nitrogen removal in various kinds of wastewater. This review described the details of Anammox process, including biochemical characteristics, technical development, and its applications based on literature studies. Additionally, applications of Anammox process in wastewater treatment in different types of bioreactors were discussed. Finally, three typical applications of Anammox process in nitrogen removal for landfill leachate, fertilizer residues from agricultural activities and petrochemical industrial wastewater treatment were analyzed

Oxalic Acid Pretreatment on Enhancement of Enzymatic Saccharification from Napier Grass for Biofuel Production

Thailand as an agricultural country faces significant challenges in managing the abundant biomass waste generated from agricultural activities. Conventional disposal methods such as incineration contribute to pollution and limited availability of landfill space. To mitigate these issues valorization of this biomass waste has been a solution. This study focuses on the utilization of Napier grass as a renewable energy source. In this experiment, the Napier grass samples were pretreated using oxalic acid with temperature variations (50 – 100 °C), time (30 180 min), and oxalic acid concentration (2 10%w/v) to determine the limit of these three factors for optimization studies. The utilization of Box-Behnken Design (BBD) within Response Surface Methodology (RSM) enabled the determination of optimal pretreatment conditions and the exploration of the correlation between pretreatment factors and reducing sugar content. The model predicted pretreatment with an oxalic acid concentration of 6% w/v, pretreated at 100 °C for 105 min as the optimal pretreatment condition to produce a maximum reducing sugar concentration of 10.65 mg/ml. Therefore, the sample was pretreated at optimum conditions and the results revealed the amount of reducing sugar obtained was 10.67 mg/ml, which differed from the predicted value with an error of 0.22%. Thus, this study provides insight for future researchers on the optimum condition that can be applied for pretreating biomass with oxalic acid to maximize the sugar yield

Optimization of Organosolv Pretreatment with Acid Catalyst to Enhance Enzymatic Saccharification of Corn Husk

Due to awareness of global warming and the devastation of environmental resources, the management of agricultural residues after each harvesting season has been integrated into the biorefining process to increase its value and mitigate environmental pollution caused by burning or combustion. This research focuses on the process development to utilize agricultural biomass residues for renewable energy production in the form of bioethanol. The study employed organosolv pretreatment with sulfuric acid as a catalyst to promote the enzymatic conversion of corn husk into reducing sugars. To determine the optimal conditions for the process, a one-factor-at-a-time method was initially employed to assess the influence of temperature (80-140 ºC), time (40-60 min), and sulfuric acid concentration (0.01-0.5% w/w). Subsequently, Response Surface Methodology (RSM) was conducted based on the Box-Behnken design (BBD) to identify the optimal pretreatment conditions. The predicted optimal pretreatment conditions were found to be 135.4 ºC, 57 min, and 0.46% w/w, resulting in a reducing sugar yield of 20.69% with a margin of error of 1.2%. Additionally, biomass composition analysis and Fourier Transform Infrared spectroscopy (FTIR) were performed to decipher the mechanism of organosolv pretreatment on enzymatic saccharification. This study demonstrated the potential of corn husk as an alternative raw material for the production of value-added products like bioethanol. The obtained reducing sugars serve as vital substrates for the fermentation process required to produce bioethanol as an alternative fuel to meet the target of sustainable development goals (SDGs)

Performance and emissions of a heavy-duty diesel engine fuelled with diesel and LNG (liquid natural gas)

This paper presents the effects of liquid natural gas on a heavy-duty diesel engine. Natural gas was used as primary fuel, while a pilot amount of diesel was used as an ignition source. The amount of each fuel was adjusted to obtain comparable brake torque and power output from the dual engine operation, while no knocking was observed. The engine performance and emissions from the diesel and dual fuel engine tests were conducted over the engine speed range between 1100 and 1900 rpm. The engine performance included torque, power, specific fuel consumption (SFC), volume efficiency, and thermal efficiency. The emissions tested were total hydrocarbon (THC), nitrogen oxides (NOx), carbon dioxide (CO2) and carbon monoxide (CO) emissions. The results showed that the maximum portion of natural gas in the dual fuel engine operation was up to 77.90% at 1300 rpm. Compared to the diesel operation, the dual fuel operation showed less specific fuel consumption, thermal efficiency, and volumetric efficiency. The emissions of THC and CO from the dual fuel engine operation were higher, while the emissions of NOx and CO2 were lower. © 2013 Elsevier Ltd.1

Effects of MgO-ZSM-23 Zeolite Catalyst on the Pyrolysis of PET Bottle Waste

The pyrolysis reaction of poly(ethylene terephthalate) or PET bottle waste was conducted comparatively in two cases: without catalyst and with MgO-ZSM-23 zeolite catalyst. The pyrolysis of PET was successfully decomposed to the product of liquid/wax, char, and gas (major product). Applying MgO-ZSM-23 catalyst, the product shows pronounced higher yield of gas (72.5 vs. 58.7 wt.%) and less yield of char solid (8 vs. 17.6 wt.%). The gas product shows less yield of CO2 (75 vs. 98 wt.%) but gives higher hydrocarbon gas fractions of C1–C5 (25 vs. 2.1 wt.%). In liquid/wax products, the catalytic pyrolysis shifted the product spectrum from higher molecular weight, e.g., biphenyl, terphenyl to benzene derivatives, predominantly in “benzoic acid”

Chemical Profiling Analysis and Identification the Bioactivities of Herbal Compress Extracts

The traditional Thai herbal compress is composed of six different types of herbs including Ginger (Zingiber cassumunar), Turmeric (Curcuma longa Linn.), Soap Pod (Acacia concinna), Kaffir lime (Citrus hystrix), Lemongrass (Cymbopogon citratus), and Tamarind (Tamarindus indica Linn.). Herbal compress is used in treatment of Thai traditional massage to relieve the body pain and muscle strains. The objective of this work is to perform chemical profiling and extraction modelling of herbal compress obtained from solvent extraction method. The kinetic models, The second order and Fick‘s second law, representing the extraction behaviors of bioactive compounds were constructed to fit with experimental data of solvent extraction. Under tested condition, the extraction equilibrium was reached after 360 min and the second-order model gives the best fit for the experimental data with high coefficients of correlation (R2 = 0.9927). Additionally, chemical profiling analysis showed that the amounts and variations of bioactive components in drying-pretreated herbal compress were more abundant than that of untreated sample. This finding could be applied further for preparation and production of traditional Thai herbal compress in the industrial scale

Plant-Microbe Interactions - Insights and Views for Applications in Sustainable Agriculture

The term “microbiome” refers to the association of plants with various microorganisms which play an important role in the niches they occupy. These microorganisms are found in the endosphere, phyllosphere, and rhizosphere, of host plants which are involved in plant ecology and physiology. The structure and dynamics of the plant microbiome have been significant seen in the last few years. In addition, the plant microbiome enhances the host plant with gene pools, which is referred to as the second plant genome or extended genome. Interestingly, the microbiome associated with plant roots has received unique attention in recent years due to its important role in host nutrition, immunity, and development. Prospective studies of the microbiome have been coupled with the need for more sustainable production for agriculture. On the other hand, various environmental factors are associated with plant-microbiome interactions that can affect composition and diversity. This review provides insights and views of plant microbiome for sustainable agriculture. Host factors that influence the microbial community, root-associated microbial consortium, commercial application, and limitation of plant microbiome were discussed. Also, this review provides current knowledge of the plant microbiome into potential biotechnology products that can be used in agricultural systems. Regardless, microbiome innovation represents the future of sustainable agriculture