Optimization of the operating conditions of azeotropic distillation columns with pervaporation membranes

The main objective of this work is the optimization of the operating conditions of azeotropic distillation columns in hybrid distillation/pervaporation systems. In the configuration analyzed, a liquid side stream extracted from the azeotropic distillation column with the distributing non-key component is treated in a pervaporation membrane while the retentate is recycled to the column. The pervaporation membrane separates the pure distributing non-key component from the mixture, thus helping to improve the purity in the top and/or bottom products of the distillation column. The case study shows the hybrid process of a distillation column combined with pervaporation membranes, compared to the classical two-column process for Methyl tert-Butyl Ether production. In both cases, the operating conditions of the distillation columns such as reflux ratio, product and side draw flowrates are selected optimally. The numerical results show a significant reduction in operating cost obtained by using a pervaporation membrane instead of the second column in the original process.Fil: Hoch, Patricia Monica. Consejo Nacional de Investigaciones Científicas y Técnicas. Centro Científico Tecnológico Conicet - Bahía Blanca. Planta Piloto de Ingeniería Química. Universidad Nacional del Sur. Planta Piloto de Ingeniería Química; ArgentinaFil: Daviou, Maria Carolina. Consejo Nacional de Investigaciones Científicas y Técnicas. Centro Científico Tecnológico Conicet - Bahía Blanca. Planta Piloto de Ingeniería Química. Universidad Nacional del Sur. Planta Piloto de Ingeniería Química; ArgentinaFil: Eliceche, Ana Maria. Consejo Nacional de Investigaciones Científicas y Técnicas. Centro Científico Tecnológico Conicet - Bahía Blanca. Planta Piloto de Ingeniería Química. Universidad Nacional del Sur. Planta Piloto de Ingeniería Química; Argentin

Type 2 Diabetes Variants Disrupt Function of SLC16A11 through Two Distinct Mechanisms

Type 2 diabetes (T2D) affects Latinos at twice the rate seen in populations of European descent. We recently identified a risk haplotype spanning SLC16A11 that explains ∼20% of the increased T2D prevalence in Mexico. Here, through genetic fine-mapping, we define a set of tightly linked variants likely to contain the causal allele(s). We show that variants on the T2D-associated haplotype have two distinct effects: (1) decreasing SLC16A11 expression in liver and (2) disrupting a key interaction with basigin, thereby reducing cell-surface localization. Both independent mechanisms reduce SLC16A11 function and suggest SLC16A11 is the causal gene at this locus. To gain insight into how SLC16A11 disruption impacts T2D risk, we demonstrate that SLC16A11 is a proton-coupled monocarboxylate transporter and that genetic perturbation of SLC16A11 induces changes in fatty acid and lipid metabolism that are associated with increased T2D risk. Our findings suggest that increasing SLC16A11 function could be therapeutically beneficial for T2D. Video Abstract [Figure presented] Keywords: type 2 diabetes (T2D); genetics; disease mechanism; SLC16A11; MCT11; solute carrier (SLC); monocarboxylates; fatty acid metabolism; lipid metabolism; precision medicin

31st Annual Meeting and Associated Programs of the Society for Immunotherapy of Cancer (SITC 2016) : part two

Background The immunological escape of tumors represents one of the main ob- stacles to the treatment of malignancies. The blockade of PD-1 or CTLA-4 receptors represented a milestone in the history of immunotherapy. However, immune checkpoint inhibitors seem to be effective in specific cohorts of patients. It has been proposed that their efficacy relies on the presence of an immunological response. Thus, we hypothesized that disruption of the PD-L1/PD-1 axis would synergize with our oncolytic vaccine platform PeptiCRAd. Methods We used murine B16OVA in vivo tumor models and flow cytometry analysis to investigate the immunological background. Results First, we found that high-burden B16OVA tumors were refractory to combination immunotherapy. However, with a more aggressive schedule, tumors with a lower burden were more susceptible to the combination of PeptiCRAd and PD-L1 blockade. The therapy signifi- cantly increased the median survival of mice (Fig. 7). Interestingly, the reduced growth of contralaterally injected B16F10 cells sug- gested the presence of a long lasting immunological memory also against non-targeted antigens. Concerning the functional state of tumor infiltrating lymphocytes (TILs), we found that all the immune therapies would enhance the percentage of activated (PD-1pos TIM- 3neg) T lymphocytes and reduce the amount of exhausted (PD-1pos TIM-3pos) cells compared to placebo. As expected, we found that PeptiCRAd monotherapy could increase the number of antigen spe- cific CD8+ T cells compared to other treatments. However, only the combination with PD-L1 blockade could significantly increase the ra- tio between activated and exhausted pentamer positive cells (p= 0.0058), suggesting that by disrupting the PD-1/PD-L1 axis we could decrease the amount of dysfunctional antigen specific T cells. We ob- served that the anatomical location deeply influenced the state of CD4+ and CD8+ T lymphocytes. In fact, TIM-3 expression was in- creased by 2 fold on TILs compared to splenic and lymphoid T cells. In the CD8+ compartment, the expression of PD-1 on the surface seemed to be restricted to the tumor micro-environment, while CD4 + T cells had a high expression of PD-1 also in lymphoid organs. Interestingly, we found that the levels of PD-1 were significantly higher on CD8+ T cells than on CD4+ T cells into the tumor micro- environment (p < 0.0001). Conclusions In conclusion, we demonstrated that the efficacy of immune check- point inhibitors might be strongly enhanced by their combination with cancer vaccines. PeptiCRAd was able to increase the number of antigen-specific T cells and PD-L1 blockade prevented their exhaus- tion, resulting in long-lasting immunological memory and increased median survival

Discutindo a educação ambiental no cotidiano escolar: desenvolvimento de projetos na escola formação inicial e continuada de professores

A presente pesquisa buscou discutir como a Educação Ambiental (EA) vem sendo trabalhada, no Ensino Fundamental e como os docentes desta escola compreendem e vem inserindo a EA no cotidiano escolar., em uma escola estadual do município de Tangará da Serra/MT, Brasil. Para tanto, realizou-se entrevistas com os professores que fazem parte de um projeto interdisciplinar de EA na escola pesquisada. Verificou-se que o projeto da escola não vem conseguindo alcançar os objetivos propostos por: desconhecimento do mesmo, pelos professores; formação deficiente dos professores, não entendimento da EA como processo de ensino-aprendizagem, falta de recursos didáticos, planejamento inadequado das atividades. A partir dessa constatação, procurou-se debater a impossibilidade de tratar do tema fora do trabalho interdisciplinar, bem como, e principalmente, a importância de um estudo mais aprofundado de EA, vinculando teoria e prática, tanto na formação docente, como em projetos escolares, a fim de fugir do tradicional vínculo “EA e ecologia, lixo e horta”.Facultad de Humanidades y Ciencias de la Educació

Erratum: Corrigendum to ″unconstrained optimisation for the design of distillation columns″ (Comp. and Chem. Eng. (1999) vol. 23 (S475-S478) PII S009813549900040X)

Corrigendum to unconstrained optimization for the design of distillation columnsFil: Hoch, Patricia Monica. Consejo Nacional de Investigaciones Científicas y Técnicas. Centro Científico Tecnológico Conicet - Bahía Blanca. Planta Piloto de Ingeniería Química. Universidad Nacional del Sur. Planta Piloto de Ingeniería Química; ArgentinaFil: Eliceche, Ana Maria. Consejo Nacional de Investigaciones Científicas y Técnicas. Centro Científico Tecnológico Conicet - Bahía Blanca. Planta Piloto de Ingeniería Química. Universidad Nacional del Sur. Planta Piloto de Ingeniería Química; Argentin

Optimisation of a bio-ethanol purification process using conceptual design and simulation tools

In this work, we propose an evolutionary optimisation procedure which intensively uses both conceptual and rigorous models for the design and simulation of unit operations involved in a bio-ethanol purification process. While conceptual models are used to determine initial values for design and operating variables of a given operation unit, rigorous simulation departing from initial estimates generated at conceptual design level enables to remove simplifying assumptions, interconnect equipments and calculate operating and investment costs. Once an initial design of the purification plant is obtained, opportunities of improvement are easily recognized and then tested by performing the design and simulation steps until a cost-effective bio-ethanol purification plant is achieved. © 2008 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.Fil: Hoch, Patricia Monica. Consejo Nacional de Investigaciones Científicas y Técnicas. Centro Científico Tecnológico Conicet - Bahía Blanca. Planta Piloto de Ingeniería Química. Universidad Nacional del Sur. Planta Piloto de Ingeniería Química; ArgentinaFil: Espinosa, Hector Jose Maria. Consejo Nacional de Investigaciones Científicas y Técnicas. Centro Científico Tecnológico Conicet - Santa Fe. Instituto de Desarrollo y Diseño. Universidad Tecnológica Nacional. Facultad Regional Santa Fe. Instituto de Desarrollo y Diseño; Argentin

Optimal structure of reactive and non-reactive stages in reactive distillation processes

We present a model for a reactive column, based on models by Taylor and Krishna (2000) and Almeida-Rivera (2005), shown in detail in Domancich et al (2006). It consists in pure separation stages combined with a reactive distillation sector, where both reaction and separation take place at the same time. For this study, we used a rigorous modeling of the column, with an equilibrium model for the reactive sector. An example showing the performance of a reactive distillation unit used for the production of MTBE is presented. The economic optimization of the reactive distillation process is performed using a MINLP algorithm and the cost of the resulting scheme is compared to the cost of the conventional process considering that reaction and separation take place in different equipment.Fil: Domancich, Alejandro Omar. Consejo Nacional de Investigaciones Científicas y Técnicas. Centro Científico Tecnológico Conicet - Bahía Blanca. Planta Piloto de Ingeniería Química. Universidad Nacional del Sur. Planta Piloto de Ingeniería Química; Argentina. Universidad Nacional del Sur. Departamento de Ciencias e Ingeniería de la Computación. Laboratorio de Ciencias de la Imágenes; ArgentinaFil: Brignole, Nélida Beatriz. Consejo Nacional de Investigaciones Científicas y Técnicas. Centro Científico Tecnológico Conicet - Bahía Blanca. Planta Piloto de Ingeniería Química. Universidad Nacional del Sur. Planta Piloto de Ingeniería Química; Argentina. Universidad Nacional del Sur. Departamento de Ciencias e Ingeniería de la Computación. Laboratorio de Ciencias de la Imágenes; ArgentinaFil: Hoch, Patricia Monica. Consejo Nacional de Investigaciones Científicas y Técnicas. Centro Científico Tecnológico Conicet - Bahía Blanca. Planta Piloto de Ingeniería Química. Universidad Nacional del Sur. Planta Piloto de Ingeniería Química; Argentina. Universidad Nacional del Sur. Departamento de Ingeniería Química; Argentin

Análisis estructural de columnas de destilación reactiva

En este trabajo se presenta el modelo de una columna de destilación reactiva, basado en modelos previamente desarrollados por Taylor y Krishna (2000) y Almeida-Rivera (2005), el cual consiste en etapas de separación pura combinadas con un sector de destilación reactiva, donde tanto la reacción como la separación se llevan a cabo al mismo tiempo. Se realizó un análisis con el objetivo de mostrar el impacto que tiene el agregado o remoción de etapas reactivas y no reactivas sobre el sistema global de separación, manteniendo el número total de etapas constante. Para este estudio, se utilizó un modelo riguroso de la columna, con un modelo de equilibrio para el sector reactivo. Se incluye un ejemplo de análisis de rendimiento de una unidad de destilación reactiva para la producción de metilterbutil-eter.We present a model for a reactive distillation column, based on models by Taylor and Krishna (2000) and Almeida-Rivera (2005) consisting in pure separation stages combined with a reactive distillation sector, where both reaction and separation take place at the same time. An analysis is performed in order to show the impact on the global reactive separation system by adding or subtracting either non-reactive or reactive separation stages, keeping the number of total stages constant. For this study, we used a rigorous modeling of the column, with an equilibrium model for the reactive sector. An example on the study of the performance of a reactive distillation unit is presented. In particular, it is related to the production of methyl-tert-butyl ether.Fil: Domancich, Alejandro Omar. Consejo Nacional de Investigaciones Científicas y Técnicas. Centro Científico Tecnológico Conicet - Bahía Blanca. Planta Piloto de Ingeniería Química. Universidad Nacional del Sur. Planta Piloto de Ingeniería Química; ArgentinaFil: Brignole, Nélida Beatriz. Consejo Nacional de Investigaciones Científicas y Técnicas. Centro Científico Tecnológico Conicet - Bahía Blanca. Planta Piloto de Ingeniería Química. Universidad Nacional del Sur. Planta Piloto de Ingeniería Química; ArgentinaFil: Hoch, Patricia Monica. Consejo Nacional de Investigaciones Científicas y Técnicas. Centro Científico Tecnológico Conicet - Bahía Blanca. Planta Piloto de Ingeniería Química. Universidad Nacional del Sur. Planta Piloto de Ingeniería Química; Argentin

Wastewater stabilisation ponds system: global sensitivity analysis on network design

In this work, a Waste Water Treatment Network (WWTN) consisting of a system of ponds is modelled rigorously, taking into account mass balances for the main groups of bacteria: heterotrophic, autotrophic, fermenting, acetotrophic sulphate reducing and acetotrophic methanogenic bacteria; together with different types of organic load, algae biomass, nutrients and dissolved oxygen methane emissions (Sah et al, 2011).To obtain the optimal configuration, we had first formulated a superstructure embedding these rigorous models as a mixed integer non-linear programming (MINLP) problem, with the objective to synthesise and design the WWTN that minimises the total annual costs, subject to environmental regulations. Then, a global sensitivity analysis (GSA) is performed on this kinetic dynamic model for the obtained optimal configuration of three stabilisation ponds (two aerobic ponds in series followed by a facultative one) to determine the most influential parameters of the model considering the whole range of parameters variation, as well as parameter ranking. GSA is implemented using Sobol?s method (Saltelli et al., 2008), a variance based technique. The technique is implemented within gPROMS platform, a differential algebraic equation oriented environment where stochastic simulations are performed. Temporal profiles for the first order and interactional sensitivity indices are obtained for the main differential and algebraic state variables.Numerical results provide useful information about the complex relationships between technological, economic and environmental variables of the processes in the WWTN design optimisation.Fil: Ochoa, María Paz. Consejo Nacional de Investigaciones Científicas y Técnicas. Centro Científico Tecnológico Bahia Blanca. Planta Piloto de Ingeniería Química (I). Grupo Vinculado al Plapiqui - Investigación y Desarrollo en Tecnología Química; ArgentinaFil: Estrada, Vanina Gisela. Consejo Nacional de Investigaciones Científicas y Técnicas. Centro Científico Tecnológico Bahia Blanca. Planta Piloto de Ingeniería Química (I). Grupo Vinculado al Plapiqui - Investigación y Desarrollo en Tecnología Química; ArgentinaFil: Hoch, Patricia Monica. Consejo Nacional de Investigaciones Científicas y Técnicas. Centro Científico Tecnológico Bahia Blanca. Planta Piloto de Ingeniería Química (I). Grupo Vinculado al Plapiqui - Investigación y Desarrollo en Tecnología Química; Argentin