Production of gaseous and liquid bio-fuels from the upgrading of lignocellulosic bio-oil in sub- and supercritical water: effect of operating conditions on the process

This work analyses the influence of the temperature (310–450 C), pressure (200–260 bar), catalyst/biooil mass ratio (0–0.25 g catalyst/g bio-oil), and reaction time (0–60 min) on the reforming in sub- and supercritical water of bio-oil obtained from the fast pyrolysis of pinewood. The upgrading experiments were carried out in a batch micro-bomb reactor employing a co-precipitated Ni–Co/Al–Mg catalyst. This reforming process turned out to be highly customisable for the valorisation of bio-oil for the production of either gaseous or liquid bio-fuels. Depending on the operating conditions and water regime (sub/supercritical), the yields to upgraded bio-oil (liquid), gas and solid varied as follows: 5–90%, 7–91% and 3–31%, respectively. The gas phase, having a LHV ranging from 2 to 17 MJ/m3 STP, was made up of a mixture of H2 (9–31 vol.%), CO2 (41–84 vol.%), CO (1–22 vol.%) and CH4 (1–45 vol.%). The greatest H2 production from bio-oil (76% gas yield with a relative amount of H2 of 30 vol.%) was achieved under supercritical conditions at a temperature of 339 C, 200 bar of pressure and using a catalyst/bio-oil ratio of 0.2 g/g for 60 min. The amount of C, H and O (wt.%) in the upgraded bio-oil varied from 48 to 74, 4 to 9 and 13 to 48, respectively. This represents an increase of up to 37% and 171% in the proportions of C and H, respectively, as well as a decrease of up to 69% in the proportion of O. The HHV of the treated bio-oil shifted from 20 to 35 MJ/kg, which corresponds to an increase of up to 89% with respect to the HHV of the original bio-oil. With a temperature of around 344 C, a pressure of 233 bar, a catalyst/bio-oil ratio of 0.16 g/g and a reaction time of 9 min a compromise was reached between the yield and the quality of the upgraded liquid, enabling the transformation of 62% of the bio-oil into liquid with a HHV (29 MJ/kg) about twice as high as that of the original feedstock (17 MJ/kg)

'Tannat' (Vitis vinifera L.) as a model of responses to climate variability

Climate variability influence on the vine is widely studied for its impact on grape final composition and quality. During 1994-2016, thermal and water regimes and their influence on grapevine yield, sanitary status and berry composition were analyzed for 'Tannat' grown in commercial vineyards in the south of Uruguay (Lat 34° 37' S; 56° 17' W). Statistical analysis showed that the principal component analysis (PCA) separated years in three groups: Group 1: rainfall over the growing season higher than the average, limited sanitary status, acidity and yield higher than average, lower sugar content, late harvest. Group 2: greater thermal conditions and water component lower than average, better sanitary status, sugar contents and acidity lower than average, early harvest. Group 3: thermal conditions lower than average, rainfall higher during budbreak-fruitset period and lower than average in the month before harvest, berry size and sugar contents greater than average. Correlations between climate, yield and berry quality variables were established and stages of greater sensitivity to these climate elements were determined. In the studied years, climate variability within the region was high and 'Tannat' showed to be strongly influenced by such variability

Kausatibo motak aztertzen

Lan honetan kausatiboa zer den, zein mota dauden eta mota bakoitzaren ezaugarriak eta eraketa nolakoa den azaldu dut. Kausatiboa eragile batek edo egoera baten aldaketak eragindako ekintza da, hortaz, egoera-aditz bat ez da inoiz kausatiboa izango. Hiru mota bereizten dira: lexikoa, morfologikoa eta analitikoa. Lehena, inkoatibo/kausatibo alternantzian sartzen diren aditzek osatzen dute, *edun-ez lagundurik agertzen direnak dira kausatiboak. Egoera-aldaketa aditzek, toki-aldaketa aditzek eta psiko-aditz kausatiboek bakarrik eratu dezakete kausatibo mota hau, eta multzo hauetan sartzen diren aditz guztiak ez. Ikuspegi klasikoak (ikuspegi lexikoa) eta berrinterpretazio konstrukzionalistak (ikuspegi sintaktikoa) dioenaren kontra, ezakusatiboen multzoaren aniztasunak, hautapen ezaugarriek eta zenbait argumentu morfologikoek erakusten dute kausatibo mota honen oinarrizko egitura aldaera kausatiboa dela. Horrela, kausatibotik inkoatiborako aldaketa hori erreflexibatze prozesu baten bidez ematen da, eta Chierchicak (2004) eta Reinhartek (2000) prozesu horretan kausa geruza ezabatzen dela badiote ere, Ormazabalek (2008) ez dela horrela erakusten digu; horretarako modirikataile agentiboez, helburu perpausez naiz nahi aditzlagunez eta egitura koordinatuez baliatzen da. Kausatibo analitikoa sintaktikoki zein morfologikoki bakuna da. Kausatibo morfologikoak berriz, morfologikoki konplexua da, sintaktikoki itxura bakuna badu ere; buruz-buruko mugimendua da egitura konplexu horri sintaktikoki itxura bakuna ematen diona. Deustuko Mintegiak(1898) argudio modura erabiltzen dituen Axularren bere,galdetzaileak eta uztardurak erakusten digute buruz-buruko mugimendua gertatzen dela eta ez ESPEZ-erako mugimendua. Kausatibo morfologikoa aditzoinari –arazi aditza gehituz eratzen da, nahiz eta euskalki batetik bestera aldaera ezberdinak egon. Gaur egun emankorra ez den –ra- kausatiboa egiteko forma zaharra dugu, kausatibo mota honen barnean sartuko liratekeena. Bestalde, kausatibo morfologikoaren kasu ezarketari dagokionez, aditz motaren arabera kasu bat edo beste hartuko du arazleak. Aditz iragangaitz ezakusatiboetan absolutiboan agertuko da, nahiz eta mendebaldean biziduna denean datiboa erabiliko duten. Iragangait ez-ergatiboen kasuan, datiboa da ohikoena. Aditz iragankorretan ere arazlea datiboz markaturik joango da; baina ditrantsitiboa denean, aditzak bi kasu besterik eman ezin dituenez eta hiru argumentu daudenez, menpeko aditzak bere osagarriei dagokien kasua emango die eta subjektuak datiboa den berezko kasua hartuko du. Kausatibo analitikoa egiteko hiru modu ezberdin daude. Lehena egin aditzak subjuntiboan jokatutako perpaus bat hartzen duenean sortzen da. Bigarrenean egin aditzari –arazi atxikitzen zaio eta menpeko perpausa nominalizaturik agertzen da. Azkenik, -tzera behartu esamoldearen bidez sortzen dena dugu. Kausatibo analitikoa sintaktikoki eta baita morfologikoki konplexua den kausatiboa da, aditzek ez baitute unitate bakar bat eratzen; Axularren bere, uztardurak eta hitz ordenak erakusten digute hau

Effect of elicitors on holm oak somatic embryo development and efficacy inducing tolerance to Phytophthora cinnamomi

Holm oak trees (Quercus ilex L.) mortality is increasing worryingly in the Mediterranean area in the last years. To a large degree this mortality is caused by the oomycete Phytophthora spp., which is responsible for forest decline and dieback in evergreen oak forest areas of the southwestern Iberian Peninsula. This study is based on the possibility of applying chemical elicitors or filtered oomycete extracts to holm oak somatic embryos (SE) in order to induce epigenetic memory, priming, that may increase tolerance to the pathogen in future infections. To this end, we first examined the effect of priming treatments on SE development and its oxidative stress state, to avoid elicitors that may cause damage to embryogenic tissues. Both, the sterile oomycete extracts and the chemical elicitor methyl jasmonate (MeJA) did not produce any detrimental effect on SE growth and development, unlike the elicitors benzothiadiazole (BTH) and p-aminobenzoic acid (PABA) that reduced the relative weight gain and resulted in necrotic and deformed SE when were applied at high concentrations (25 µM BTH or 50 µM PABA) in accordance with their high malondialdehyde content. No significant differences among elicitation treatments were found in dual culture bioassays,  although those SEs elicited with 50 µM MeJA increased H2O2 production after challenged against active oomycete indicating the activation of stress response. Since this elicitation treatment did not produce any adverse effect in the embryogenic process we suggest that could be used in further priming experiments to produce holm oak plants adapted to biotic stress

Effect of methyl jasmonate in gene expression, and in hormonal and phenolic profiles of holm oak embryogenic lines before and after infection with Phytophthora Cinnamomi

The dieback syndrome affecting Quercus ilex and other oak species impels the search for tolerant plant genotypes, as well as methods of plant immunization against such infections. Elicitation treatments can be an effective strategy to activate plant defense response and embryogenic lines represent a promising tool to generate new tolerant genotypes and also to study early markers involved in defense response. The aim of the presented work was to investigate changes in gene expression, and in hormonal and phenolic profiles induced in three holm oak embryogenic lines (ELs) elicited with methyl jasmonate (MeJA) before and after infection with the oomycete Phytophthora cinnamomi, which is the main biotic agent involved in this pathogenic process. The three ELs, derived from three genotypes, showed different basal profiles in all tested parameters, noting that the VA5 naïve genotype from a scape tree was characterized by a basal higher expression in NADPH-dependent cinnamyl alcohol dehydrogenase (CAD) and chalcone synthase (CHS) genes and also by higher caffeic acid content. Our work also identifies changes triggered by MeJA elicitation in holm oak embryogenic lines, such as increases in ABA and JA contents, as well as in levels of most of the determined phenolic compounds, especially in caffeic acid in Q8 and E00 ELs, but not in their biosynthesis genes. Irrespective of the EL, the response to oomycete infection in holm oak elicited plant material was characterized by a further increase in JA. Since JA and phenols have been described as a part of the Q. ilex defense response against P. cinnamomi, we propose that MeJA may act as an induced resistance (IR) stimulus and that in our embryogenic material induced both direct (detected prior to any challenge) and primed (detected after subsequent challenge) defense responses. Copyright © 2022 Morcillo, Sales, Corredoira, Martínez, Segura and Arrillaga

Sowing date, transplanting, plant density and nitrogen fertilization affect indigo production from Isatis species in a Mediterranean region of Spain

The increasing interest in natural products from a renewable source has encouraged growers to reintroduce indigo-producing crops into the European agriculture. We studied agronomic conditions (sowing date, plant density, nitrogen fertilization, irrigation rate, seedling transplanting) influencing production of the blue pigment indigo, from Isatis tinctoria and I. indigotica crops in a Mediterranean region of Spain (Valencia). I. tinctoria was more suitable for cultivation in our climate conditions than I. indigotica. Indigo yield from Spanish I. tinctoria trials was greater than in Northern and Central Europe. Furthermore, indigo production was maintained when water and nitrogen supplies were significantly restricted, showing that I. tinctoria is not a high-demanding crop. © 2005 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved

Harmonic assessment based adjusted current total harmonic distortion

Power systems suffer from harmonic distortion and extra ohmic losses associated with them. Moreover, all harmonic frequencies are mostly assumed to have the same effect on the system losses. However, the frequency-dependency of the resistances should be taken into account, so that the apparent power and the power factor have to considerably reflect power losses under nonsinusoidal conditions. In this paper, the difference between unweighted and weighted non-sinusoidal losses, is addressed. A new harmonic-adjusted total harmonic distortion definition is proposed for both voltage and current. Besides, a new formula that relates the proposed harmonic-adjusted total harmonic distortion and a generalised harmonic derating factor definition of the frequency dependent losses of the power transmission and distribution equipment, is derived. An optimal C-type passive filter design for harmonic mitigation and power factor correction based on the minimisation of the proposed harmonic-adjusted total harmonic distortion for a balanced nonsinusoidal system is introduced. A comparative study of the proposed filter design based on the new harmonic-adjusted definition, and a conventional filter design based on standard total harmonic distortion definition, is presented

Ultra-processed foods and type-2 diabetes risk in the sun project: A prospective cohort study

The association between ultra-processed foods (UPF) consumption and the risk of type 2 diabetes (T2D) has not been much explored. We aimed to evaluate the association between consumption of UPF and the incidence of T2D

MEGARA focal plane subsystems

MEGARA (Multi-Espectrografo en GTC de Alta Resolucion para Astronomia) is the future optical Integral-Field Unit (IFU) and Multi-Object Spectrograph (MOS) for GTC. The Fiber Units are placed at one Folded Cassegrain focus and feed the spectrograph located on a Nasmyth-type platform. This paper summarizes the status of the design of the MEGARA Folded Cassegrain Subsystems after the PDR (held on March 2012), as well as the prototyping that has been carried out during this phase. The MEGARA Fiber Unit has two IFUs: a Large Compact Bundle covering 12.5 arcsec x 11.3 arcsec on sky (100 microns fiber-core), and a Small Compact Bundle, of 8.5 arcsec x 6.7 arcsec (70 microns fiber-core), plus a Fiber MOS positioner, able to place up to 100 mini-bundles 7 fibers each (100 microns fiber-core) in MOS configuration within a 3.5arcmin x 3.5arcmin FOV. A field lens provides a telecentric focal plane where the fibers are located. Microlens arrays couple the telescope beam to the collimator focal ratio at the entrance of the fibers (providing the f/17 to f/3 focal ratio reduction to enter into the fibers). Finally, the fibers, organized in bundles, end in the pseudo-slit plate, which will be placed at the entrance focal plane of the MEGARA spectrographs