Anaerobic digestion experiment using Cynara cardunculus L. stalks

RAMIRAN International ConferenceAnaerobic digestion is an industrial process applied to organic wastes treatment with several environmental and energetic advantages over other forms of treatment and specially when is integrated in the agriculture sector (Möller, 2009; Prochnow, 2009; Chynoweth, 1987). In addition to the organic wastes treatment there is an emerging interest in the production of biomethane as a biocombustible through anaerobic digestion of biomass and / or energy crops (IEA, 2010; Chanakya, 2009; CONCAWE, 2008; Tilche, 2008; Yadvika, 2004; Gunaseelan, 1997; Chynoweth, 1987). Cynara cardunculus L. or commonly known as cardoon is a perennial herb or herbaceous crop native to Mediterranean region, grown since ancient times as a wild plant or as vegetable using intensive management techniques (Ortega, 2007; Fernández, 2006). The average biomass annual production varies from 15 to 20 tons of biomass/ha depending on soil and rainfall with 11% of moisture content and the following biomass partitioning: 40 % stalks, 25% leaves and 35 % capitula (Gominho, 2001 and 2008). Different studies have been shown the high potential of this plant as energy crop: the aerial biomass used as a solid biofuel and the oil from seeds used for the production of biodiesel (Fernández, 2006). However, the interest in their use in the production of biomethane has never been investigated. Different studies show that the addition of biomass or energy crops to the anaerobic digestion of cattle dung or the anaerobic digestion of energy crops residues with the addition of partially digested cattle dung or sewage digested sludge enhanced biogas production and methane yield (Chanakya, 2009; Yadvika, 2004). The goal of the research performed on Cynara cardunculus L. was to increase the knowledge about the use of this promising industrial crop for biogas production in Mediterranean countries or countries with similar edaphoclimate condition

From Spinning Silk to Spreading Saliva: Mouthpart Remodeling in Manduca sexta (Lepidoptera: Sphingidae)

As a model organism, the tobacco hornworm Manduca sexta (Linnaeus 1763) has contributed much to our knowledge of developmental processes in insects, and major developmental changes between different larval instars are generally well understood. Second and later instars of M. sexta do not produce silk, and their spinneret and accessory labial glands (=Lyonet’s glands), structures thought to be key players in silk production in other lepidopterans, are highly reduced. To our knowledge, mouthparts and labial gland morphology of the silk-producing first instar have never been described. In this study, we compared the mouthpart morphology and transcriptome profile of first and later instars of M. sexta to determine whether the loss of silk production correlates with changes in the structure of the spinneret and the labial glands, and with changes in expression of silk-related genes. We found that the first instar, unlike later instars, has a typical, silk-producing spinneret with a tube-like spigot and well developed Lyonet’s glands. Moreover, three known silk protein genes are highly expressed in the first instar but exhibit little to no expression in the embryo or later instars. Thus, the changes in morphology and gene expression presented here, coinciding with changes in larval behavior from silk production to saliva spreading, further our understanding of the developmental processes underlying this transition in this model organism

Morphological evaluation of cardoon (Cynara cardunculus L.): assessing biodiversity for applications based on tradition, innovation and sustainability

Selected cardoon cultivars established in the “Serra da Estrela” region were analysed to evaluate morphological characteristics related principally to the production of cardoon flowers, which are a compulsory ingredient for particular Mediterranean PDO cheese regions. The biodiversity of twelve cardoon cultivars installed in an experimental field were evaluated over three growing seasons using thirty-four morphological descriptors. Statistically significant differences were found between cultivars for twenty-four morphological characteristics which indicate a wide genetic diversity. The relationship among the cultivars and characteristics was analysed using principal component analysis. A three dimensional template was found to be very significant and explained 71% of the total variation. The first component is dominated positively by plant height, diameter of stalk, inflorescence characteristics and flower production, while the second component is positively dominated by leaf characteristics. Cultivars A26, D32 and D33, present a plant architecture simultaneously well adapted for flower production, ease of harvesting and plant biomass. These characterizations and understandings can be useful for a plant breeding programme to develop cultivars for innovative potential applications besides flowers, and also for application by other cheese producers in Mediterranean regions.info:eu-repo/semantics/publishedVersio

Characterization of crop residues from false banana/Ensete ventricosum/in Ethiopia in view of a full-resource valorization

Research ArticleFalse banana /Ensete ventricosum [Welw.] Cheesman/ is exploited as a food crop in Ethiopia where it represents an important staple food. The plant is harvested and large amounts of biomass residues are originated, mainly from the pseudo stem (i.e., fiber bundles obtained from the leaf sheaths after being scrapped to produce starchy food) and the inflorescence stalk. These materials were studied in relation to their summative chemical composition, composition of lignin, lipophilic and polar extracts. Moreover, their structural characteristics, in view of their valorization, were scrutinized. The analytical studies were performed with the aid of FTIR, GC/MS, Py-GC/MS and SEM. The fiber bundles are aggregates of mainly long and slender fibers with low ash, extractives and lignin contents (3.8%. 4.4% and 10.5% respectively) and high holocellulose and α-cellulose contents (87.5% and 59.6% respectively). The hemicelluloses in the fibers are mostly highly acetylated xylans and the lignin is of the H-type (H:G:S, 1:0.7:0.8). This lignin composition is in line with the FTIR peaks at 1670 cm-1 and 1250 cm-1.The inflorescence stalk has high ash content (12.3% in the main stalk and 24.6% in fines) with a major proportion of potassium, high extractives (25.9%), and low lignin and α-cellulose contents (5.8% and 17.9% respectively). The stalk includes numerous starch granules in the cellular structure with the predominant presence of parenchyma. The potential valorization routes for these materials are clearly different. The fiber bundles could be used as a fiber source for paper pulp production with the possibility of a prior hemicelluloses removal while the inflorescence stalk has nutritional value for food and fodder. Furthermore, it can also be used for sugar fermentation productsinfo:eu-repo/semantics/publishedVersio

The racial division of nature: Making land in Recife

In this paper I analyse the making and unmaking of amphibious urban modernity in Recife in the Northeast of Brazil between 1920 and 1950. I argue that the transformation of the city was predicated on an absorptive and eradicative notion of whiteness that necessitated the creation of dry, enclosed land. The process of urban transformation proceeded not only through a racial division of space, but through a racial division of nature. Racialised groups, and the houses, marshlands, and mangroves where they lived were subject to eradication not only as spaces but as ecologies and landscapes. Brazilian racial thought in the period was fundamentally imbricated with ideas about nature. Histories of coloniality, indigeneity, enslavement, and escape meant that forests, wetness, and the spectre of commonly held land were understood as threats to whiteness and its self‐association with order, enclosure, purity, and dryness. To answer why the division between the wet and the dry was so important, and why whiteness needed dryness, I turn back to philosophical investigations of the foundational myth of Brazil. I argue that a peculiarly Brazilian philosophy of nature, which drew racial lines within nature itself, underpinned a familiar, if uncanny, white supremacy that ordered society along the material and symbolic contours of race. Under colonial modernity, this philosophy translated into a division of the pure – rational, cleansed, dry, modern, urban space – from the impure – muddy, fearful, tangled, forested landscape. Under the conditions of dependent capitalism, the process on which this racial division of nature relied was enclosure. Identifying the historical process of the racial division of nature is of particular significance in Brazil, given the still flowing undercurrents of racial oppression and environmental plunder

Isolation and Structural Characterization of Lignin from Cardoon (Cynara cardunculus L.) Stalks

10 páginas.-- 5 figuras.-- 4 tablas.-- 41 referenciasThe lignin from Cynara cardunculus stalks was isolated by the classical Björkman method and characterized by pyrolysis coupled with gas chromatography and mass spectrometry (Py-GC/MS), two-dimensional nuclear magnetic resonance spectroscopy (2D-NMR), and derivatization followed by reductive cleavage (DFRC). The milled Cynara lignin (MCyL) was constituted mainly by guaiacyl (G) and syringyl-units(S) (S/G molar ratio of 0.7), with the complete absence of p-hydroxyphenyl (H) units. The 2D-NMR analysis indicated a predominance of alkyl-aryl ether linkages (70 % of all inter unit linkages are β–O–4′) and significant amounts of condensed structures such as phenylcoumarans (β-5′, 14 %), resinols (β-β′, 7 %), spirodienones (β-1′, 5 %), and dibenzodioxocins (5-5′, 4 %). Furthermore, the analyses indicated that the lignin is partially acylated at the γ-OH (12 % acylation) by acetate groups and that acetylation occurs preferentially on syringyl-units. As in other plants, acetylation occurs at the monomer stage, and sinapyl acetate behaves as a real lignin monomer participating in lignification in cardoon stalks. The detailed structural characterization of cardoon lignin reported here will foster the industrial use of this biomass for the production of biofuels and other bio-based chemicals under the lignocellulosic biorefinery. © 2015, Springer Science+Business Media New York.We thank Duarte M. Neiva and Solange Araujo for their contribution during the chemical analysis and Alejandro Rico for his technical support during MCyL isolation. We also thank Dr. Manuel Angulo (CITIUS, University of Seville) for performing the NMR analyses.The research was financed by FEDER through the Operational Program for Competitive Factors of COMPETE, and by the Portuguese Science Foundation (FCT), through a R&D project PTDC/AGR-FOR/3872/2012, and the base funding to the Forest Research Center (CEF) under the PEst-OE/AGR/UI0239/2014 and UID/AGR/00239/2013. This study has also been partially funded by the Spanish project AGL2011-25379 (co-financed by FEDER funds), the CSIC project 2014-40E-097, and the EU-project INDOX (KBBE-2013-7-613549). The first author was funded by FCT through a post-doctoral grant (SFRH/BPD/95385/2013). Jorge Rencoret thanks the CSIC for a JAE-DOC contract of the program "Junta para la Ampliación de Estudios" co-financed by Fondo Social Europeo (FSE)

Low-temperature hydrothermally treated Eucalyptus globulus bark: From by-product to horticultural fiber-based growing media viability

Worldwide, the circular economy approach increased the need of waste-streams minimization, promoting byproducts re-circulation into the value chain which creates sustainable industrial synergies. Eucalyptus globulus bark fiber is a waste from pulp and paper industry that can be re-used in horticultural applications. This work aims to use low-temperature hydrothermally treated E. globulus bark as a fiber material for growing media formulation. Three types of bark fiber were used: industrial E. globulus fresh bark (IB) ground to output sieve of 6 × 6 mm, and two low-temperature hydrothermally treated barks (TB60: 60 ◦C, 20 min; TB100: 100 ◦C, 40 min). The three fiber materials were blended at 25 and 50% (v v 1) (B25; B50) with peat. IB was phytotoxic for Cress (Lepidum sativum) seeds, causing low germination (91%) and root growth inhibition. TB60 and TB100 reduced significantly phytotoxicity with germination rates of 98 and 100%, and Munoo Liisa index around 90% compared to commercial substrate. A pot experiment using Chinese cabbage (Brassica rapa ssp. pekinensis) as a model plant, revealed lower germination (95%) in IB blends than in treated ones and in commercial substrate (CS) (98–100%), reinforcing the IB phytotoxicity. B50 decreased water retention, and reduced plant growth due to nitrogen immobilization inherent to woody biomass. B25 showed shoot weight, and root growth statistically equal or higher than CS, encouraging use of this blending proportion of low-temperature hydrothermally treated bark in future growing media formulation. Circular horticulture approach is applied through the present fiber valorization into substrate componentinfo:eu-repo/semantics/publishedVersio

Pulping yield and delignification kinetics of heartwood and sapwood of maritime pine

In maritime pine (Pinus pinaster Ait.), heartwood represents a substantial part of the tree stem at final harvest age (80 years) corresponding to 42% at the base of the stem wood diameter and decreasing upward. The rate of heartwood formation was estimated at 0.35 rings/year, beginning at 18 years of age. Differences in the chemical composition between heartwood and sapwood were mainly in the extractives, 19.7% and 5.8%, respectively. The lignin content was 23.1% and 24.5% in the heartwood and sapwood, respectively. Pulping yield of the heartwood was lower than that of the sapwood (40.0% vs. 49.7%) and was negatively correlated with the extractives content. Extraction of heartwood prior to pulping increased the pulp yield and the delignification (lower residual lignin in pulps). Pulping kinetics showed lower yields for heartwood at all pulping stages, the difference occurring especially in the initial reaction phase. However, delignification rate constants were similar for heartwood and sapwood (3.1 1022 min21 and 2.7 1022 min21 for the main delignification phase for sapwood and heartwood, respectively), with a lower activation energy for sapwood (68.3 vs. 90.0kJ.mol21). The presence of heartwood decreases the raw-material quality for pulping and this should be taken into account when harvesting trees for pulping processes.info:eu-repo/semantics/publishedVersio