Из истории гидроархеологических исследований на озере Иссык-Куль

Статья посвящена истории археологических исследований на озере Иссык-Куль. На основе архивных данных реконструируются первые попытки изучения дна озера русскими путешественниками и учеными в середине ХIХ века; описывается проект Г.А.Колпаковского по доставке на озеро водолазного оборудования (1871); оцениваются результаты работ экспедиций Д.Ф.Винника и современное состояние дел по изучению подводных памятников озера.Стаття присвячена історії археологічних досліджень на озері Іссик-куль. На основі архівних даних реконструюються перші спроби вивчення дна озера російськими мандрівниками і ученими в середині ХIХ століття; описується проект Г.А.Колпаковського з доставки на озеро водолазного обладнання (1871); оцінюються результати робіт експедицій Д.Ф.Вінника і сучасний стан справ по вивченню підводних пам'ятників озера.The article is devoted to the history of archaeological researches at lake Issik Kul. On the basis of the archived documents the first attempts to investigate the lake bottom by Russian travelers and scientists in the middle of ХIХ age are reconstructed; the G.A.Kolpakovskiy’s project concerning the delivery of diving equipment (1871) to the lake is described; the work results of D.F.Vinnik’s expeditions and modern researches of archaeological artefacts of the lake are assessed

Exploring the Treasure of Plant Molecules With Integrated Biorefineries

Despite significant progress toward the commercialization of biobased products, today’s biorefineries are far from achieving their intended goal of total biomass valorization and effective product diversification. The problem is conceptual. Modern biorefineries were built around well-optimized, cost-effective chemical synthesis routes, like those used in petroleum refineries for the synthesis of fuels, plastics, and solvents. However, these were designed for the conversion of fossil resources and are far from optimal for the processing of biomass, which has unique chemical characteristics. Accordingly, existing biomass commodities were never intended for modern biorefineries as they were bred to meet the needs of conventional agriculture. In this perspective paper, we propose a new path toward the design of efficient biorefineries, which capitalizes on a cross-disciplinary synergy between plant, physical, and catalysis science. In our view, the best opportunity to advance profitable and sustainable biorefineries requires the parallel development of novel feedstocks, conversion protocols and synthesis routes specifically tailored for total biomass valorization. Above all, we believe that plant biologists and process technologists can jointly explore the natural diversity of plants to synchronously develop both, biobased crops with designer chemistries and compatible conversion protocols that enable maximal biomass valorization with minimum input utilization. By building biorefineries from the bottom-up (i.e., starting with the crop), the envisioned partnership promises to develop cost-effective, biomass-dedicated routes which can be effectively scaled-up to deliver profitable and resource-use efficient biorefineries

Recent Advances in Polybenzimidazole Membranes for Hydrogen Purification

Hydrogen has gained renewed and growing interest around the world in the recent decades as a high-quality and renewable energy carrier, owing primarily to advances in fuel cells as well as growing environmental concerns. Steam reforming of fossil-based resources is currently the main route to H2 production. The downside of this process, however, is generation of massive amounts of greenhouse gases including CO2 as the byproduct which in turn must be captured to fully exploit the potential of H2. Membrane separation technology has seen significant growth, breakthroughs, and advancements over the last few decades and could be the key component in achieving inexpensive and highly pure H2. However, only a few numbers of membrane materials can withstand the harsh conditions of H2 production through steam reforming. Polybenzimidazole (PBI)-based membranes show excellent chemical, thermal, and mechanical stabilities as well as high intrinsic H2/CO2 selectivity. The objective of this review is to overview the recent development of structurally modified, cross-linked, mixed matrix, and hollow fiber membranes based on PBI for the development of industrially applicable H2-selective membranes

Not sequentially but simultaneously : Facile extraction of proteins and oleosomes from oilseeds

Oilseeds represent a sustainable source of oils and proteins that can replace those of animal origin. However, the extraction of oil and proteins from oilseeds currently requires multiple steps and is plagued by undesired reactions occurring during the extraction, which limits valorization. In this paper, we describe a successful method for the simple simultaneous extraction of proteins and oil (as intact oleosomes). Non-defatted dehulled rapeseeds served as oilseed model. First, an aqueous extraction step at pH 9.0 was performed resulting in a protein-oleosome extract, with extraction yields of 78.8 ±0.2 wt% and 82.8 ±0.4 wt% of proteins and oleosomes respectively. Further separation resulted in a protein-rich and an oleosome-rich mixture. The oleosomes were recovered as high oil volume oil-in-water emulsion, while simple filtration of the protein-rich mixture led to a highly soluble (81.4 ±1.9 wt%) protein concentrate. Following this extraction method, complexation between proteins and phenolic compounds was prevented, a clear advantage over the existing methods. These findings emphasize the importance of designing new processes for the extraction of oilseed proteins and oleosomes that could initiate their use in food systems.</p

Data underlying the publication: Concentration-dependent effects of nickel doping on activated carbon biocathodes

Investigation of the combination of a metal electrocatalyst (nickel nanostructures on activated carbon) with a bio-electrocatalyst (mixed anaerobic microbial consortium) for CO2 electroreduction. Biological and abiotic electrochemical experiments, in duplicate, with 3 types of electrodes: without nickel catalyst, with low nickel loading (0.01% wt.), and with high nickel loading (5% wt.). Data includes current density and charge during chronoamperometry experiments, concentration of liquid and gas compounds, optical density, NH4+ nutrient concentration, pH of catholyte, electron recovery calculations, dissolved metal concentration (measured with ICP), and microbial community composition from planktonic samples (characterized with NGS)

Pea flour as stabilizer of oil-in-water emulsions : Protein purification unnecessary

Plant proteins have recently gained considerable attention as stabilizers of food-grade oil-in-water emulsions. However, the separation of plant proteins from their native matrix can be cumbersome due to the molecular complexity of plants. This issue could be alleviated by avoiding the protein purification step. In this work, we show that native pea flour containing 50 wt% starch and 20 wt% protein has similar interfacial properties compared to concentrated pea protein systems (~55 wt% protein). Interfacial tension profile of pea flour was similar to that of concentrated pea protein, indicating that proteins are the primary stabilizing agents of the interface. The fabricated oil-in-water emulsions (10.0 wt% oil) made with pea flour or pea protein concentrate containing 0.2 and 0.3 wt% protein showed a similar monomodal droplet size distribution. Moreover, both emulsions stabilized by the pea flour and the pea protein concentrate had similar rheological properties, showing that starch granules did not have any impact on the physical properties. This work clearly showed that stable oil-in-water emulsions can be produced with pea flour and further purification of pea proteins is not necessary.</p