DESTRUCTIVE PROCESSING OF HYDROCARBON FEEDSTOCKS IN INORGANIC MELTS. TECHNICAL AND ECONOMIC ASSESSMENT

Проведена технико-экономическая оценка одного из возможных практических применений разрабатываемого процесса деструктивной переработки углеводородного сырья в неорганических расплавах – процесса прямого крекирования сырой нефти на нефтеперерабатывающих предприятиях малой мощности. Предложена усовершенствованная принципиальная технологическая схема. В результате расчетов показано снижение производственных затрат на 14,6%, повышение годовой прибыли на 950 тыс. грн. при мощности установки 100 тыс. тонн в год и снижение сроков окупаемости в 1,5. раза.Проведена техніко-економічна оцінка одного з можливих практичних застосувань розроблюваного процесу деструктивної переробки вуглеводневої сировини в неорганічних розплавах - процесу прямого крекінгування сирої нафти на нафтопереробних підприємствах малої потужності. Запропоновано удосконалену принципову технологічну схему. У результаті розрахунків показано зниження виробничих витрат на 14,6%, підвищення річного прибутку на 950 тис. грн. при потужності установки 100 тис. тонн на рік і зниження термінів окупності в 1,5 рази.The article discusses the potential use of the developed hydrocarbon feedstocks destructive refining technology in inorganic melts. The technical and economic assessment of crude oil direct cracking in low power oil refining enterprises is shown. The modern state of mini refineries is revealed. A comparison of the effectiveness of existing and proposed technological schemes has been carried out. On the basis of technical information and material balance of technological schemes the costs of major energy resources and profit from the sale of the main obtained products are calculated. In this case, the production costs are reduced by 14.6%, and an increase in annual profits at installation power of 100 thousand tons of oil per year is 950 thousand UAH. Because of this, the payback period of capital costs for the installation construction is reduced from 14 to 9 months

Schwann cell extracellular matrix molecules and their receptors

The major cellular constituents of the mammalian peripheral nervous system are neurons (axons) and Schwann cells. During peripheral nerve development Schwann cells actively deposit extracellular matrix (ECM), comprised of basal lamina sheets that surround individual axon-Schwann cell units and collagen fibrils. These ECM structures are formed from a diverse set of macromolecules, consisting of glyco-proteins, collagens and proteoglycans. To,interact with ECM, Schwann cells express a number of integrin and non-integrin cell surface receptors. The expression of many Schwann cell ECM proteins and their receptors is developmentally regulated and, in some cases, dependent on axonal contact. Schwann cell ECM acts as an organizer of peripheral nerve tissue and strongly influences Schwann cell adhesion, growth and differentiation and regulates axonal growth during development and regeneration

Rapid Assessment of Migration and Proliferation: A Novel 3D High-Throughput Platform for Rational and Combinatorial Screening of Tissue-Specific Biomaterials

Designing an ideal biomaterial supportive of multicellular tissue repair is challenging, especially with a poor understanding of the synergy between constituent proteins and growth factors. A brute-force approach, based on screening all possible combinations of proteins and growth factors, is inadequate due to the prohibitively large experimental space coupled with current low-throughput screening techniques. A high-throughput screening platform based on rational and combinatorial strategies for design and testing of proteins and growth factors can significantly impact the discovery of novel tissue-specific biomaterials. Here, we report the development of a flexible high-throughput screening platform, Rapid Assessment of Migration and Proliferation (RAMP), to rapidly investigate cell viability, proliferation, and migration in response to highly miniaturized three-dimensional biomaterial cultures (4–20 μL) with sparingly low cell densities (63–1000 cells per μL for cell arrays; 1 μL of 1000–10,000 cells per μL for migration arrays). The predictions made by RAMP on the efficacy and potency of the biomaterials are in agreement with the predictions made by conventional assays but at a throughput that is at least 100–1000-fold higher. The RAMP assay is therefore a novel approach for the rapid discovery of tissue-specific biomaterials for tissue engineering and regenerative medicine

Extracellular Matrix Fibronectin Stimulates the Self-Assembly of Microtissues on Native Collagen Gels

Fibronectin is an adhesive glycoprotein that is polymerized into extracellular matrices via a tightly regulated, cell-dependent process. Here, we demonstrate that fibronectin matrix polymerization induces the self-assembly of multicellular structures in vitro, termed tissue bodies. Fibronectin-null mouse embryonic fibroblasts adherent to compliant gels of polymerized type I collagen failed to spread or proliferate. In contrast, addition of fibronectin to collagen-adherent fibronectin-null mouse embryonic fibroblasts resulted in a dose-dependent increase in cell number, and induced the formation of three-dimensional (3D) multicellular structures that remained adherent and well-spread on the native collagen substrate. An extensive fibrillar fibronectin matrix formed throughout the microtissue. Blocking fibronectin matrix polymerization inhibited both cell proliferation and microtissue formation, demonstrating the importance of fibronectin fibrillogenesis in triggering cellular self-organization. Cell proliferation, tissue body formation, and tissue body shape were dependent on both fibronectin and collagen concentrations, suggesting that the relative proportion of collagen and fibronectin fibrils polymerized into the extracellular matrix influences the extent of cell proliferation and the final shape of microtissues. These data demonstrate a novel role for cell-mediated fibronectin fibrillogenesis in the formation and vertical assembly of microtissues, and provide a novel approach for engineering complex tissue architecture