Pilot scale production and demonstration of low cost MOFs for chilling applications

SSCI-VIDE+ING+DFA:CDAInternational audienceWe present here the results of a 3-year project aiming at the development of pilot scale production and shaping of MOFs and at their demonstration in Heat-Pump application at kilogram scale in relevant process conditions.Although MOFs outperform commercial adsorbents for heat-pump application in terms of higher water uptake and cyclability, their commercialisation was until now strongly penalized by their price due to high production process costs. The objective of this program was to develop low cost manufacture processes allowing the production of advanced and cost-competitive adsorbents. We have developed innovative and scalable MOF production processes including synthesis and shaping, for which (i) manufacturing equipment’s are readily available at industrial scale, and (ii) enable upscaling at high production rates whilst achieving high yields, product (sorbent) quality and higher operational safety. We will present three main technological innovations: (i) aqueous synthesis of UiO-66 without the use of corrosive acid modulator (ii) continuous mechano-chemical synthesis on Al-fumarate without solvent and (iii) original scalable shaping process enabling continuous production of robust and size-controlled spheres (beads). In contrast to other adsorbents, we discovered that performances of MOF were jeopardized due to severe mass transport limitations likely due to the organic binder. In order to overcome this limitation small spheres of 0.4 mm (0.3 mm – 0.7 mm) of Al- and Zr-MOF were produced at multi-kg scale. The performances of MOFs were evaluated in 3 liter adsorber demonstrator. We will show that MOFs outperform commercial Silica Gel under standard cycling conditions with stability over 10.000 cycles. Results in extremely low regeneration temperature will be presented and discussed in the frame application market requirements.This work has received funding from the EU under grant agreement No 685727

Pilot scale production and demonstration of low cost MOFs for chilling applications

SSCI-VIDE+ING+DFA:CDAInternational audienceWe present here the results of a 3-year project aiming at the development of pilot scale production and shaping of MOFs and at their demonstration in Heat-Pump application at kilogram scale in relevant process conditions.Although MOFs outperform commercial adsorbents for heat-pump application in terms of higher water uptake and cyclability, their commercialisation was until now strongly penalized by their price due to high production process costs. The objective of this program was to develop low cost manufacture processes allowing the production of advanced and cost-competitive adsorbents. We have developed innovative and scalable MOF production processes including synthesis and shaping, for which (i) manufacturing equipment’s are readily available at industrial scale, and (ii) enable upscaling at high production rates whilst achieving high yields, product (sorbent) quality and higher operational safety. We will present three main technological innovations: (i) aqueous synthesis of UiO-66 without the use of corrosive acid modulator (ii) continuous mechano-chemical synthesis on Al-fumarate without solvent and (iii) original scalable shaping process enabling continuous production of robust and size-controlled spheres (beads). In contrast to other adsorbents, we discovered that performances of MOF were jeopardized due to severe mass transport limitations likely due to the organic binder. In order to overcome this limitation small spheres of 0.4 mm (0.3 mm – 0.7 mm) of Al- and Zr-MOF were produced at multi-kg scale. The performances of MOFs were evaluated in 3 liter adsorber demonstrator. We will show that MOFs outperform commercial Silica Gel under standard cycling conditions with stability over 10.000 cycles. Results in extremely low regeneration temperature will be presented and discussed in the frame application market requirements.This work has received funding from the EU under grant agreement No 685727

Discovery and Validation of Immunological Biomarkers in Milk for Health Monitoring of Dairy Cows - Results from a Multiomics Approach

<p>At onset of milk production and in early lactation highly producing dairy cows are most susceptible for inflammatory diseases due to functional suppression of immune cells. Intensive supervision of the animals is essential and implementation of new technologies to on-farm routines will be the next step to provide automation and improvement of herd health monitoring programs. Objective of our study was to identify and validate immunological biomarkers in milk that indicate extra-mammary inflammatory diseases to characterize the general health status of highly-producing dairy cows. In total 89 healthy and 75 diseased animals (German Holstein cows) were included. Diseases were distinguished by either systemic (extra-mammary) occurrence or those affecting the mammary gland (mastitis) and further classified by their severity. For protein biomarker discovery we used a top-down approach to narrow down a broad range of secreted gene products of the milk cell transcriptome (microarray) and proteome to a few promising candidates which were validated using real-time PCR and ELISA. The most promising biomarker candidates were statistically evaluated. Receiver operating characteristic analysis revealed haptoglobin, secretory component, lactoferrin and vascular endothelial growth factor showing the highest discriminatory capability for diseased vs. healthy cows. Values for sensitivity at a specificity of 94% were 82% for haptoglobin, 59% for secretory component, 55% for lactoferrin and 67% for vascular endothelial growth factor. Statistical evaluation by multinomial logistic regression and k-nearest neighbor method confirmed haptoglobin as the best single-use biomarker. In combination with secretory component or lactoferrin an increase in overall sensitivity or specificity, depending on the classification method, could be achieved. The application of the validated health biomarkers in combination with an easy high-throughput detection system would offer a solution to adapt dairy herd management to changing requirements on animal welfare, farming efficiency, milk supply and food safety in modern agriculture.</p&gt

Matrix Metalloproteinase-dependent turnover of cartilage, synovial membrane, and connective tissue is elevated in rats with collagen induced arthritis

<p>Abstract</p> <p>Background</p> <p>Rheumatoid arthritis is a disease affecting the extracellular matrix of especially synovial joints. The thickness of the synovial membrane increases and surrounding tissue degrades, leading to altered collagen balance in the tissues. In this study, we investigated the altered tissue balance of cartilage, synovial membrane, and connective tissue in collagen induced arthritis (CIA) in rats.</p> <p>Methods</p> <p>Six newly developed ELISAs quantifying MMP-derived collagen degradation (C1M, C2M, and C3M) and formation (P1NP, P2NP, and P3NP) was used to detect cartilage turnover in rats with CIA. Moreover, CTX-II was used to detect alternative type II collagen degradation and as control of the model. 10 Lewis rats were injected with porcrine type II collagen twice with a 7 day interval and 10 rats was injected with 0.05 M acetic acid as control. The experiment ran for 26 days.</p> <p>Results</p> <p>A significant increase in the degradation of type I, II, and III collagen (C1M, C2M, and C3M, respectively) was detected on day 22 (P = 0.0068, P = 0.0068, P < 0.0001, respectively), whereas no significant difference in formation (P1NP, P2NP, and P3NP) was detected at any time point (P=0.22, P=0.53, P=0.53, respectively). The CTX-II level increased strongly from disease onset and onwards.</p> <p>Conclusion</p> <p>A nearly total separation between diseased and control animals was detected with C3M, making it a good diagnostic marker. The balance of type I, II, and III collagen was significantly altered with CIA in rats, with favour of degradation of the investigated collagens. This indicates unbalanced turnover of the surrounding tissues of the synovial joints, leading to increased pain and degeneration of the synovial joints.</p