Co-fuelling of peat with meat and bone meal in a pilot scale bubbling bed reactor

Co-combustion performance trials of Meat and Bone Meal (MBM) and peat were conducted using a bubbling fluidized bed (BFB) reactor. In the combustion performance trials the effects of the co-combustion of MBM and peat on flue gas emissions, bed fluidization, ash agglomeration tendency in the bed and the composition and quality of the ash were studied. MBM was mixed with peat at 6 levels between 15% and 100%. Emissions were predominantly below regulatory limits. CO concentrations in the flue gas only exceeded the 100 mg/m3 limit upon combustion of pure MBM. SO2 emissions were found to be over the limit of 50 mg/m3, while in all trials NOx emissions were below the limit of 300 mg/m3. The HCl content of the flue gases was found to vary near the limit of 30 mg/m3. VOCs however were within their limits. The problem of bed agglomeration was avoided when the bed temperature was about 850 °C and only 20% MBM was co-combusted. This study indicates that a pilot scale BFB reactor can, under optimum conditions, be operated within emission limits when MBM is used as a co-fuel with peat. This can provide a basis for further scale-up development work in industrial scale BFB application

Novel extracellular diterpenoids with biological activity from the cyanobacterium Nostoc commune

Five novel extracellular metabolites with an unprecedented diterpenoid skeleton and designated comnostins A-D (I-IV, resp.) and E have been isolated from the culture medium of the terrestrial cyanobacterium Nostoc commune by means of bioguided isolation. The structures were detd. by spectroscopic methods, mainly NMR and mass spectrometry. The relative stereochem. of I was confirmed by single-crystal X-ray structure anal. All comnostins showed antibacterial activities. Addnl., cytotoxic and molluscicidal activities were found for II

Phytochemical and biological investigation of Begonia heracleifolia

From the rhizomes of Begonia heracleifolia six known cucurbitacins (1-6) were isolated. Based on spectral data (1D and 2D 1H-, 13C-NMR, ESI- and CI- MS) the structures were established as cucurbitacin B (1), cucurbitacin D (2), 23,24-dihydrocucurbitacin D (3), 23,24-dihydrocucurbitacin F (4), 2-O-β- glucopyranosyl-cucurbitacin B (5), and 2-O-β-glucopyranosyl-cucurbitacin D (6). Four of them (3-6) were so far not reported as constituents of Begonia spp. Varyingly strong antiproliferative activity towards tumor and immune cells was observed for three compounds (1-3), due to different structural features