Avaliação do desempenho ambiental do etanol de milho para o Brasil.

Resumo: Segundo a Agência Nacional de Petróleo, Gás Natural e Biocombustíveis, a demanda de etanol no Brasil alcançou os 9,9 milhões de m³ em 2012. No entanto, o setor sucroalcooleiro vem passando por uma fase de crise. Por outro lado, a região do Mato Grosso vem ganhando atenção por possibilitar a produção de etanol de outra fonte que não a cana-de-açúcar. O produto em questão é o milho, com recorrentes safras recordes e, com isso, vendido a baixos preços. Nesse contexto, este estudo se propõe a elaborar uma avaliação do desempenho ambiental da produção de etanol de milho nas condições da região oeste do Mato Grosso. A avaliação se trata de uma ACV atribucional com escopo de aplicação ?berço ao portão?, com sistema de produto que engloba a produção de milho, transporte, produção de etanol e geração de energias térmica e elétrica a partir da queima de gás natural ou de cavaco. Dentre as categorias de impacto analisadas, os resultados destacam Mudanças Climáticas e Depleção de Recursos Fósseis como as principais. Além disso, de um modo geral, a substituição de um combustível fóssil por um renovável influenciou positivamente o desempenho do processo

Differentially cross-linkable core-shell nanofibers for tunable delivery of anticancer drugs: synthesis, characterization and their anticancer efficacy

This work introduces a new dimension for controlled drug delivery by nanofiber based scaffolds for anticancer therapy. The model anticancer drugs adopted in this work are curcumin and 5-fluorouracil (5-FU). Most of the drug loaded nanofibers synthesized thus far have failed to address the needs of personalized medication due to poor scalability of drug loading and delivery kinetics. This work opens up new avenues for circumventing such complications by altering the drug release profile by a simple one-step crosslinking reaction. With an aim to emphasize the role of polymer crosslinking in drug release kinetics, two variations of dual drug loaded core–shell nanofibers were synthesized with different extents of crosslinking and polymer composition. These two variations of drug loaded nanofibers exhibited contrasting 5-FU release profiles and thus manifested different therapeutic efficacy at different time points against A549 (Non-Small Cell Lung cancer) cells. The drug release profile of these fibers was further corroborated by different kinetic models to gain a perspective on the underlying mechanism driving the drug release from type I and type II nanofibers. The synergistic therapeutic potential of curcumin and 5-FU loaded core–shell nanofibers (type I and type II nanofibers) was also validated against A549 cells. As an outcome of this work, a clear correlation of cell viability with time lag in drug delivery in the case of type I and type II nanofibers could be drawn, which makes nanofiber based drug delivery even more flexible and therapeutically effective with minimal side effects

Ferritin Nanocages: A Novel Platform for Biomedical Applications

Ferritin is a ubiquitous iron storage protein responsible for maintaining the iron homeostasis in living organism and thereby protects the cell from oxidative damage. The ferritin protein cages have been used as a reaction vessel for the synthesis of various non-native metallic nanoparticles inside its core and also used as a nanocarrier for various applications. Lack of suitable non-viral carrier for targeted delivery of anticancer drugs and imaging agents is the major problem in cancer therapy and diagnosis. The pH dependent reversible assembling and disassembling property of ferritin renders it as a suitable candidate for encapsulating a variety of anticancer drugs and imaging probes. Ferritins external surface is chemically and genetically modifiable which can serve as attachment site for tumor specific targeting peptides or moieties. Recent studies, further establishes ferritin as a multifunctional nanocarrier for targeted cancer diagnosis and therapy. Moreover, the biological origin of these protein cages makes it a biocompatible nanocarrier that stabilizes and protects the enclosed particles from the external environment without provoking any toxic or immunogenic responses. This review mainly focuses on the application of ferritin nanocages as a novel non-viral nanocarrier for cancer therapy and it also highlights various biomedical applications of ferritin nanocages

Emerging applications of nanoparticles for lung cancer diagnosis and therapy

Lung cancer is by far the leading cause of cancer-related mortality worldwide, most of them being active tobacco smokers. Non small cell lung cancer accounts for around 85% to 90% of deaths, whereas the rest is contributed by small cell lung cancer. The extreme lethality of lung cancer arises due to lack of suitable diagnostic procedures for early detection of lung cancer and ineffective conventional therapeutic strategies. In course with desperate attempts to address these issues independently, a multifunctional nanotherapeutic or diagnostic system is being sought as a favorable solution. The manifestation of physiochemical properties of such nanoscale systems is tuned favorably to come up with a versatile cancer cell targeted diagnostic and therapeutic system. Apart from this, the aspect of being at nanoscale by itself confers the system with an advantage of passive accumulation at the site of tumor. This review provides a broad perspective of three major subclasses of such nanoscale therapeutic and diagnostic systems which include polymeric nanoparticles-based approaches, metal nanoparticles-based approaches, and bio-nanoparticles-based approaches. This review work also serves the purpose of gaining an insight into the pros and cons of each of these approaches with a prospective improvement in lung cancer therapeutics and diagnostics

Usina Flex: comparação dos desempenhos ambiental e energético do etanol de cana-de-açúcar, milho e sorgo.

Resumo: O etanol está consolidado como combustível para movimentação de veículos leves e, nos últimos 40 anos, apenas a cultura de cana-de-açúcar foi explorada comercialmente para a produção deste combustível. Por outro lado, o desenvolvimento agrícola vem proporcionando safras recordes de grãos nas últimas décadas. A produção de milho se destaca pelo aumento da produtividade, podendo ser semeado como cultura principal ou como cultura de inverno em rotação com a soja. O sorgo, por sua vez, pode atuar como um substituto do milho, apresentando maior rusticidade e tolerância à seca. Dada essa conjuntura, usinas de etanol do Mato Grosso se associaram a produtores de milho e sorgo para incluir novas matérias-primas no processo de produção de combustíveis, compartilhando uma mesma unidade industrial, denominada Usina Flex. O objetivo deste trabalho foi realizar a avaliação do desempenho ambiental e energético do etanol de cana-de-açúcar, de milho e de sorgo produzidos no contexto supramencionado, através do levantamento de emissões de gases de efeito estufa (GEE) e do levantamento do retorno energético, segundo a abordagem do ciclo de vida. A unidade funcional do estudo foi 1 m³ de etanol hidratado e o sistema de produto incluiu a produção de insumos, produção da matéria-prima agrícola, produção de etanol, cogeração e etapas de transporte. Para a etapa agrícola da produção foram consideradas emissões causadas por uso de fertilizantes e vinhaça e restos culturais deixados no campo, pela queima de combustível em operações mecanizadas, pela queima da palhada (no caso da cana), além das emissões em decorrência de mudança do uso da terra (MUT), calculadas segundo diretiva da Comissão Europeia. Para a etapa industrial, foram consideradas as emissões decorrentes da fermentação e da queima de biomassa para a cogeração energética. Além destas, considerou-se as emissões das etapas de transporte. Os resultados em termos de emissões de GEE foram 1.380 kg CO2 eq para o etanol de cana-de-açúcar, 1.460 kg CO2 eq para o etanol de milho e 2.180 kg CO2 eq para o etanol de sorgo, sendo que as emissões decorrentes da MUT representam entre 71% e 88% destes resultados. O retorno energético foi obtido pela relação entre a energia disponibilizada pelo combustível e a energia fóssil consumida em seu processo. O etanol de cana-de-açúcar disponibilizou 9,84 unidades de energia para cada unidade consumida na forma de energia fóssil, o etanol de milho disponibilizou 6,01 e o etanol de sorgo disponibilizou 7,16. Estes resultados são preâmbulos para análises mais amplas, considerando que a pesquisa segue em evolução

Dodigen 213-N as corrosion inhibitor for ASTM 1010 mild steel in 10% HCL

This article describes a study of the behavior of a mixture of amines and amides, commercially known as Dodigen 213-N (D-213 N), as a corrosion inhibitor for ASTM 1010 mild steel in 10% w/w HCl solution. The concentration range used was 1 x 10(-5) M to 8 x 10(-4) M. The weight loss and electrochemical techniques used were corrosion potential measurement, anodic and cathodic polarization curves, and electrochemical impedance spectroscopy (EIS). The solution temperature was 50 +/- A 1 A degrees C and it was naturally aerated. The corrosion potential values shifted to slightly more positive values, thus indicating mixed inhibitor behavior. The anodic and cathodic polarization curves showed that D-213 N is an effective corrosion inhibitor, since both the anodic and the cathodic reactions were polarized in comparison with those obtained without inhibitor. For all concentrations the cathodic polarization curves were more polarized than the anodic ones. The inhibition efficiency was in the range 75-98%, calculated from values of weight loss and corrosion current density, i (corr), obtained by extrapolation of Tafel cathodic linear region.CNP

Use of environmental and thermodynamic indicators to assess the performance of an integrated process for ethanol production.

Abstract: Corn is one of the possibilities for diversification of Brazilian ethanol production. Four scenarios of analysis were established. The environmental dimension was evaluated by the Life Cycle Assessment (LCA) approach, whereas the Thermodynamic performance was verified by applying the techniques of Cumulative Energy Demand (CED) and Cumulative Exergy Demand (CExD). The production of ethanol from corn using wood chips for energy supply of the plant resulted in a homogeneous environmental performance. Factors such direct seeding ? and the LHV of the wood for energy support this result. For both Thermodynamic analysis the production of sugarcane ethanol had better indexes because the use of bagasse replaced other sources of primary energy. This result remained for a combined analysis between the two dimensions, which related environmental effects in terms of Climate Change with the aggregation of primary energy consumption for ideal systems.201