Orange Juice Clarification by Microfiltration: Effect of Operational Variables on Membrane Fouling

Orange juice was clarified by cross-flow microfiltration by a PVDF/PMMA flat mem-brane synthesized in our laboratory. The effect oftransmembrane pressure (ǻp=0.4-1bar) and feedflow rate (v=0.77-1.25 m/s) on permeate flux atT=25ºC was studied. Permeate flux increases withincreasing feed velocity, while no significant increaseof permeate flux with pressure is observed (flux con-trolled by mass transfer). Resistances responsible forpermeate flux in the steady state conditions wereevaluated by applying the resistance-in-series model.Results indicate that the reversible gel layer resis-tance of the membrane was the dominant resistance(§ 70% of total membrane resistance) and it wasmainly caused by the adsorption and deposition ofsolutes on the membrane surface. The PVDF/PMMAmembrane showed high performance on both per-meate flux and clarified juice quality. The maximumpermeate flux at steady-state condition (J = 47L/m2h) was achieved at ǻp = 1 bar and v = 1.25 m/s.Total solids (TS) are completely removed from per-meate juice and the content of soluble solids, acidityand pH present in the feed and in the clarified per-meate are practically the same.Fil: Pagliero, Cecilia Liliana. Universidad Nacional de Río Cuarto. Facultad de Ingeniería; Argentina. Consejo Nacional de Investigaciones Científicas y Técnicas. Centro Científico Tecnológico Conicet - Córdoba; ArgentinaFil: Ochoa, Nelio Ariel. Consejo Nacional de Investigaciones Científicas y Técnicas. Centro Científico Tecnológico Conicet - San Luis. Instituto de Física Aplicada "Dr. Jorge Andrés Zgrablich". Universidad Nacional de San Luis. Facultad de Ciencias Físico Matemáticas y Naturales. Instituto de Física Aplicada "Dr. Jorge Andrés Zgrablich"; ArgentinaFil: Marchese, Jose. Consejo Nacional de Investigaciones Científicas y Técnicas. Centro Científico Tecnológico Conicet - San Luis. Instituto de Física Aplicada "Dr. Jorge Andrés Zgrablich". Universidad Nacional de San Luis. Facultad de Ciencias Físico Matemáticas y Naturales. Instituto de Física Aplicada "Dr. Jorge Andrés Zgrablich"; Argentin

Orange Juice Clarification by Microfiltration: Effect of Operational Variables on Membrane Fouling

Orange juice was clarified by cross-flow microfiltration by a PVDF/PMMA flat mem-brane synthesized in our laboratory. The effect oftransmembrane pressure (ǻp=0.4-1bar) and feedflow rate (v=0.77-1.25 m/s) on permeate flux atT=25ºC was studied. Permeate flux increases withincreasing feed velocity, while no significant increaseof permeate flux with pressure is observed (flux con-trolled by mass transfer). Resistances responsible forpermeate flux in the steady state conditions wereevaluated by applying the resistance-in-series model.Results indicate that the reversible gel layer resis-tance of the membrane was the dominant resistance(§ 70% of total membrane resistance) and it wasmainly caused by the adsorption and deposition ofsolutes on the membrane surface. The PVDF/PMMAmembrane showed high performance on both per-meate flux and clarified juice quality. The maximumpermeate flux at steady-state condition (J = 47L/m2h) was achieved at ǻp = 1 bar and v = 1.25 m/s.Total solids (TS) are completely removed from per-meate juice and the content of soluble solids, acidityand pH present in the feed and in the clarified per-meate are practically the same.Fil: Pagliero, Cecilia Liliana. Universidad Nacional de Río Cuarto. Facultad de Ingeniería; Argentina. Consejo Nacional de Investigaciones Científicas y Técnicas. Centro Científico Tecnológico Conicet - Córdoba; ArgentinaFil: Ochoa, Nelio Ariel. Consejo Nacional de Investigaciones Científicas y Técnicas. Centro Científico Tecnológico Conicet - San Luis. Instituto de Física Aplicada "Dr. Jorge Andrés Zgrablich". Universidad Nacional de San Luis. Facultad de Ciencias Físico Matemáticas y Naturales. Instituto de Física Aplicada "Dr. Jorge Andrés Zgrablich"; ArgentinaFil: Marchese, Jose. Consejo Nacional de Investigaciones Científicas y Técnicas. Centro Científico Tecnológico Conicet - San Luis. Instituto de Física Aplicada "Dr. Jorge Andrés Zgrablich". Universidad Nacional de San Luis. Facultad de Ciencias Físico Matemáticas y Naturales. Instituto de Física Aplicada "Dr. Jorge Andrés Zgrablich"; Argentin

Deacidification and solvent recovery of soybean oil by nanofiltration membranes

Four tailor-made flat composite membranes of poly(vinylideneflouride) (PVDF) as a support and polydimethylsiloxane (PDMS) or cellulose acetate (CA) as coating layer, and a commercially available composite membrane (Solsep 030306) were used to remove hexane and free fatty acid (FFA) from crude soybean oil-hexane mixture. The effects of transmembrane pressure (Δp=10-20 bar), temperature (T=30-50ºC) and feed oil concentration (Cf=10-35 w/w %) on membrane selectivity and permeation flux were determined. The PVDF-12% siloxane composite nanofiltration membrane achieved the best results, being stable in commercial hexane and having promising permselectivity properties to separate soybean oil/hexane miscella. Improved separation performance was obtained at Cf = 25%, Δp = 20 bar, and T = 30°C, achieving a permeate flux of 20.3 Lm-2h-1, 80% oil retention, 58% FFA removal.Fil: Firman, Leticia Raquel. Universidad Nacional de Río Cuarto. Facultad de Ingeniería; Argentina. Consejo Nacional de Investigaciones Científicas y Técnicas; ArgentinaFil: Ochoa, Nelio Ariel. Consejo Nacional de Investigaciones Científicas y Técnicas. Centro Científico Tecnológico San Luis. Instituto de Física Aplicada; ArgentinaFil: Marchese, Jose. Consejo Nacional de Investigaciones Científicas y Técnicas. Centro Científico Tecnológico San Luis. Instituto de Física Aplicada; ArgentinaFil: Pagliero, Cecilia Liliana. Universidad Nacional de Río Cuarto. Facultad de Ingeniería; Argentina. Consejo Nacional de Investigaciones Científicas y Técnicas; Argentin

Treatment of aqueous effluents from the biodiesel industry using membrane technology

Los efluentes acuosos provenientes de la producción de biodiesel son generados principalmente a partir del proceso de lavado, etapa en la cual se eliminan contaminantes para asegurar que el biodiesel cumpla con las normas internacionales. Estos efluentes contienen impurezas de la mezcla de esteres metílicos, aceite residual, mono y diglicéridos, sales solubles, catalizador, jabones, glicerol y alcohol, por lo que contienen una elevada carga contaminante. El objetivo del presente trabajo es el desarrollo de la tecnología de membranas para el tratamiento de efluentes acuosos provenientes de la industria de biodiesel. Se sintetizó una membrana de ultrafiltración (UF) (17% de polifluoruro de vinilideno -PVDF-, 8,5% polivinilpirrolidona -PVP- k30) por el método de inversión de fase. Las experiencias se realizaron con una celda de flujo cruzado. Las condiciones operacionales fueron: T= 20°C, Δp=0,4-1 bar y v=0,5-1 m/s. Se utilizó como alimentación tanto una muestra sintética preparada en el laboratorio como una muestra real de efluente proveniente de una industria de biodiesel. Se observó que a un caudal de alimentación constante, el flujo permeado disminuye al aumentar la presión. Dicho comportamiento es atribuido al ensuciamiento de la membrana (región controlada por la transferencia de masa). Mientras que al aumentar la velocidad de permeación a presión constante, el flujo permeado aumenta gradualmente, ya que al aumentar la velocidad se logra limpiar la superficie de la membrana obteniendo un menor ensuciamiento. A partir de la caracterización de la alimentación y el permeado, se encontró que la membrana estudiada retiene entre el 89-100% de aceites y grasas, y entre 20-40% de la demanda química de oxígeno (DQO) presentes en el efluente, pH y sólidos solubles totales (TSS) permanecieron invariables.The wastewaters from biodiesel production are generated mainly in the washing process, in this step the con-taminants of biodiesel are eliminated in order to the obtained biodiesel meets with the internationals regulations. These wastes contain impurities such as methyl ester, residual oil, mono and diglycerides, soluble salts, catalyst, soap, glycerol and alcohol. The aim of this study is the application of membrane technology for the treatment of aqueous wastes from biodiesel industry. By means of the phase inversion method was synthesized a membrane of UF using a 17wt% of polyvinylidene polyfluoride (PVDF) and 8,5wt % polyvinylpyrrolidone (PVP) casting solution. The filtration essays were performed in a cross flow cell. The operational conditions were: T= 20°C, Δp=0.4-1 bar y v=0.5-1 m/s. A synthetic sample prepared in the laboratory and a real effluent sample from biodiesel industry was employed as membrane feed. At constant feed stream speed, the permeate flux decreases with increase of pressure (mass transfer con-trolled region). While an increasing in the permeation speed at constant pressure the permeate flux gradually increases. With increasing speed, membrane surface cleaning increases due to solutes are swept tangentially away. It was concluded that the studied membrane retains between 83-100% of oils and fats, and between 20-40% of DQO, whereas pH and TSS remain constant.Fil: Firman, Leticia Raquel. Consejo Nacional de Investigaciones Científicas y Técnicas; Argentina. Universidad Nacional de Río Cuarto. Facultad de Ingeniería. Departamento de Tecnología Química; ArgentinaFil: Ochoa, Nelio Ariel. Consejo Nacional de Investigaciones Científicas y Técnicas. Centro Científico Tecnológico Conicet - San Luis. Instituto de Física Aplicada "Dr. Jorge Andrés Zgrablich". Universidad Nacional de San Luis. Facultad de Ciencias Físico Matemáticas y Naturales. Instituto de Física Aplicada "Dr. Jorge Andrés Zgrablich"; ArgentinaFil: Marchese, Jose. Consejo Nacional de Investigaciones Científicas y Técnicas. Centro Científico Tecnológico Conicet - San Luis. Instituto de Física Aplicada "Dr. Jorge Andrés Zgrablich". Universidad Nacional de San Luis. Facultad de Ciencias Físico Matemáticas y Naturales. Instituto de Física Aplicada "Dr. Jorge Andrés Zgrablich"; ArgentinaFil: Pagliero, Cecilia Liliana. Consejo Nacional de Investigaciones Científicas y Técnicas; Argentina. Universidad Nacional de Río Cuarto. Facultad de Ingeniería. Departamento de Tecnología Química; Argentin

One-Step Synthesis of CaO-ZnO Efficient Catalyst for Biodiesel Production

Biodiesel is the best candidate for fuel oil replacement, and to obtain it, heterogeneous catalysts offer large advantages: they can be separated from the product and reused. This work reviews a novel one-step synthesis of CaO-ZnO catalytic particles suitable for biodiesel production. The catalyst is synthesized using an original simple method that involves mixing of ZnO with CaCO3 and subsequent calcination. The CaO-ZnO microparticles obtained present an average size of 2 μm. This material shows the characteristic crystallographic cubic structure of CaO and the hexagonal phase of ZnO. The temperature-programmed reduction experiment evidences an interaction between CaO and ZnO. Moreover, the infrared spectroscopy shows typical bands of these compounds. The catalyst shows high biodiesel yield, up to 73% in the first cycle and 64% in the second one. In this work, the synthesis of an efficient CaO-ZnO catalyst with a huge potential is revealed, which could be an economic alternative to produce biodiesel.Fil: Toledo Arana, Javier Marcelo. Universidad Nacional de Río Cuarto. Facultad de Ciencias Exactas Fisicoquímicas y Naturales. Instituto de Investigaciones en Tecnologías Energéticas y Materiales Avanzados. - Consejo Nacional de Investigaciones Científicas y Técnicas. Centro Científico Tecnológico Conicet - Córdoba. Instituto de Investigaciones en Tecnologías Energéticas y Materiales Avanzados; ArgentinaFil: Torres, Juan Jose. Universidad Nacional de Río Cuarto. Facultad de Ciencias Exactas Fisicoquímicas y Naturales. Instituto de Investigaciones en Tecnologías Energéticas y Materiales Avanzados. - Consejo Nacional de Investigaciones Científicas y Técnicas. Centro Científico Tecnológico Conicet - Córdoba. Instituto de Investigaciones en Tecnologías Energéticas y Materiales Avanzados; ArgentinaFil: Acevedo, Diego Fernando. Universidad Nacional de Río Cuarto. Facultad de Ciencias Exactas Fisicoquímicas y Naturales. Instituto de Investigaciones en Tecnologías Energéticas y Materiales Avanzados. - Consejo Nacional de Investigaciones Científicas y Técnicas. Centro Científico Tecnológico Conicet - Córdoba. Instituto de Investigaciones en Tecnologías Energéticas y Materiales Avanzados; ArgentinaFil: Illanes, Cristian Omar. Consejo Nacional de Investigaciones Científicas y Técnicas. Centro Científico Tecnológico Conicet - San Luis. Instituto de Física Aplicada "Dr. Jorge Andrés Zgrablich". Universidad Nacional de San Luis. Facultad de Ciencias Físico Matemáticas y Naturales. Instituto de Física Aplicada "Dr. Jorge Andrés Zgrablich"; ArgentinaFil: Ochoa, Nelio Ariel. Consejo Nacional de Investigaciones Científicas y Técnicas. Centro Científico Tecnológico Conicet - San Luis. Instituto de Física Aplicada "Dr. Jorge Andrés Zgrablich". Universidad Nacional de San Luis. Facultad de Ciencias Físico Matemáticas y Naturales. Instituto de Física Aplicada "Dr. Jorge Andrés Zgrablich"; ArgentinaFil: Pagliero, Cecilia Liliana. Universidad Nacional de Río Cuarto. Facultad de Ciencias Exactas Fisicoquímicas y Naturales. Instituto de Investigaciones en Tecnologías Energéticas y Materiales Avanzados. - Consejo Nacional de Investigaciones Científicas y Técnicas. Centro Científico Tecnológico Conicet - Córdoba. Instituto de Investigaciones en Tecnologías Energéticas y Materiales Avanzados; Argentin

Simple model of dissolved oxygen consumption in a bay within high organic loading: an applied remediation tool

San Vicente Bay is a coastal shallow embayment in Central Chile with multiple uses, one of which is receiving wastewater from industrial fisheries, steel mill effluents, and domestic sewage. A simulation model was developed and applied to dissolved oxygen consumption by organic residues released into this embayment. Three compartments were established as function of: depth, circulation and outfall location. The model compartments had different volumes, and their oxygen saturation value was used as baseline. The parameters: (a) BOD5 of the industrial and urban effluents, (b) oxygen demand by organic sediments, (c) respiration, (d) photosynthesis and (e) re-aeration were included in the model. Iteration results of the model showed severe alterations in Compartment 1, with a decrease of 65% in the oxygen below saturation. Compartment 2 showed a small decline (10%) and compartment 3 did not show apparent changes in oxygen values. Measures recommended for remediation were to decrease the BOD5 loading by 30% in the affected sector. Iteration of the model for 200 h following recommendations derived from the preceding results produced an increase in saturation of 60% (5 ml O-2 L-1), which suggested an improvement of the environmental conditions

Comparing calibrated parameter sets of the SWAT model for theScandinavian and Iberian peninsulas

Different SWAT models have been set-up to predict water discharge at the European scale, applying an innovative modelling protocol that involves sensitivity analysis, multi-variable calibration and regionalization of the calibrated parameters. In this application, two large regions have been considered: the Scandinavian and the Iberian peninsulas, with the main objectives: (a) to study the spatial variation of calibrated parameter sets obtained for selected sub-basins, and (b) identification of the most relevant hydrological processes in each region. The results of the analysis highlight that snow processes are dominant in Scandinavia; groundwater processes are significant in both the Scandinavian and Iberian peninsulas, while lateral flow is not significant in either region. Calibrated soil hydraulic parameters have different ranges of values in each region, reflecting a difference in runoff-generating mechanisms between the two studied regions. The contribution of this analysis is the assessment of the main differences between hydrological processes across Europe and understanding of the major transport pathways for pollutants

Deterpenation of orange essential oil by molecular distillation

The influence of two operative conditions in the orange essential oil deterpenation by molecular distillation: rotor speed (100-200 rpm) and evaporation temperature (19-33ºC), on oxygenated compounds (linalool) recovery (LR) and on the oxygenated compounds monoterpenes concentration ratio (CR) were studied. A central composite design and the response surface methodology were employed for experimental design and for the molecular distillation process modelling, respectively. It was found that the maximum concentration ratio is obtained at the lowest rotor speed and at an intermediate temperature level while the linalool recovery decreases with temperature and rotor speed. So, the best conditions to achieve a high concentration ratio (CR=10) and an acceptable linalool recovery (LR=65%) are 25ºC for evaporation temperature and 100 rpm for rotor speed. Higher concentration ratios could be obtained only if oxygenated compounds recovery is resigned.Fil: Martinello, Miriam Alejandra. Universidad Nacional de Río Cuarto. Facultad de Ingeniería; ArgentinaFil: Pagliero, Cecilia Liliana. Consejo Nacional de Investigaciones Científicas y Técnicas. Centro Científico Tecnológico Conicet - Córdoba; Argentina. Universidad Nacional de Río Cuarto. Facultad de Ingeniería; ArgentinaFil: Allevi, Carolina Andrea. Consejo Nacional de Investigaciones Científicas y Técnicas. Centro Científico Tecnológico Conicet - Córdoba; Argentina. Universidad Nacional de Río Cuarto. Facultad de Ingeniería; Argentin

Comparing calibrated parameter sets of the SWAT model for the Scandinavian and Iberian Peninsulas

The SWAT model has been setup to predict water discharge and nutrient losses as affected by anthropogenic activities at European Scale. A modelling protocol was proposed to deal with large-scale applications. This modelling protocol involves multi-objective calibration, sensitivity analysis and regionalization. In this context, we examine the spatial variation of calibrated parameter sets for stream flow obtained for head sub-basins in Scandinavia and the Iberian Peninsula. The main research questions addressed in this work are: what are the most relevant hydrological processes in each region? What is the spatial variation in parameter optima? The results show that snow processes are relevant in Scandinavia, groundwater processes are significant both in Scandinavian and Iberian Peninsulas, while lateral flow is not significant in neither region. Optimal soil hydraulic parameters have different ranges of values in each region, reflecting a difference in runoff generating mechanisms between the studied regions.JRC.H.1-Water Resource

Large scale hydrological simulations using the Soil Water Assessment Tool, protocol development and application in the Danube Basin

The Water Framework Directive (WFD) of the European Union requires member states to achieve good ecological status of all waterbodies. A harmonized pan European assessment of water resources availability and quality as affected by various management options is necessary for a successful implementation of European environmental legislation. In this context we developed a methodology to predict surface water flow at pan European scale using readily available datasets. Among the hydrological models available, the Soil Water Assessment Tool (SWAT) has been selected because its characteristics make it suitable for large scale applications with limited data requirements. This paper presents the results for the Danube pilot basin. The Danube basin is one of the largest European watersheds covering ca. 803,000 km2 and 14 countries. Modeling data used included land use and management information, a detailed soil parameters map, and high resolution climate data. The Danube basin was divided into 4663 subwatersheds of an average size of 179 km2. A protocol is proposed to overcome problems of hydrological regionalization from gauged to ungauged watersheds, over-parameterization and identifiability usually present during calibration. The protocol involves a cluster analysis for the determination of hydrological regions and multi-objective calibration using a combination of manual and automated calibration. The proposed protocol was successfully implemented, with the modeled discharges capturing well the overall hydrological behavior of the basin.status: publishe