The value of Indian mustard in cereal and legume crop sequences in northwest NSW

Mustard is an annual oil seed crop that offers farmers greater flexibility compared to oil producing trees.This study examined the economic benefits of growing mustard in north-western NSW, where production is currently limited. The impact of mustard in crop sequences with wheat and chickpeas; the two most important grain crops in this region, was assessed. Yield and market quality of all three crops was examined and the economic consequences for biodiesel production and the manufacture of other industrial products determined. The Wheat-Chickpea-Wheat sequence increased wheat yield by 12.6% and the Wheat-Chickpea-Chickpea sequence increased chickpea grain protein percentage by 9.9%. The wheat yield in the Wheat-Mustard-Wheat-Wheat sequence was 10% higher than continuous wheat, although this sequence produced 5% lower grain protein. High mustard grain yield and high grain protein concentration were observed in the Wheat-Chickpea-Chickpea-Mustard crop sequence compared to continuous mustard. However, the highest seed oil yield was produced in the continuous mustard sequence. The sequences Wheat-Chickpea-Mustard-Mustard and Wheat-Wheat-Mustard-Mustard produced the highest mustard glucosinolates; an important compound for industrial processes. Mustard used significantly more soil moisture than wheat or chickpea, however the levels of soil sulphur and phosphorous after harvest were much higher after mustard. This was offset by generally lower levels of soil N and soil carbon compared to wheat and chickpea. The Wheat-Chickpea-Chickpea-Mustard sequence used more of the available phosphorous, nitrogen and sulphur than other mustard crop sequences and made better use of the higher residual soil moisture retained in the soil after chickpea. The primary economic and environmental benefit to the grain-grower was enhanced yield of wheat following mustard. This research indicates that mustard production can be successfully expanded in a northern farming crop sequence

Indian mustard bioproducts dry-purification with natural adsorbents - A biorefinery for a green circular economy

International audienceProcesses based on homogeneous catalysts are the most widely used for industrial production of fatty acid derivatives, despite catalyst loss in aqueous effluents during the wet-purification stage. In this work, dry-purification of the crude bioproducts; ethyl biodiesel and biolubricants, derived from Indian mustard was conducted using various natural mineral (clay) and organic (plant issue) adsorbents to evaluate operating conditions including temperature, contact time and number of treatment cycles and to define the optimal procedure. Adsorbent characterization was determined by average particle size assessed using laser granulometry, morphology and elemental chemical composition measured by scanning electron spectroscopy with microanalysis using energy dispersive X-ray spectroscopy, chemical structure determination based on Fourier Transform InfraRed spectroscopy and porosity and specific area assessed using carbon dioxide or nitrogen adsorption. The quality of the biofuel and biolubricants, before and after dry-purification on the above adsorbents, was evaluated using different methods including Karl Fischer titration, gas chromatography with a flame ionization detector and inductively coupled plasma-atomic emission spectroscopy. Montmorillonite clay and finely ground Indian mustard stems (particle size of 100–710 μm) without further pyrolysis or carbonization treatment were found to be the best adsorbents. Combined with the selected dry-purification procedure (35–45 °C, 20 min, single treatment cycle), most impurities including residual glycerides, free glycerin, water, catalysts and metals were removed from the resultant ethyl biodiesel thus meeting the basic biofuel specifications of acid value, color, density, viscosity, flash point, pour point, cloud point, cold filter plugging point, higher heating value, and oxidation stability. Further purification of biolubricants was required using bubble-washing with citric acid and vacuum distillation to obtain a product with acceptable density, viscosity and color. This work highlights the potential of a biorefinery system focused on Indian mustard contributing to a green circular economy, that would benefit both farmers and consumers in the respect of environment; farmers would gain in energy security and flexibility by biofuel, biolubricant and other bioproducts on-farm production, while ensuring healthy food security and offering job opportunities, the whole with reduced chemical and energy inputs and minimized waste effluents

From ethyl biodiesel to biolubricants: Options for an Indian mustard integrated biorefinery toward a green and circular economy

International audienceThis work aims to analyze whether Indian mustard can be harnessed within a biorefinery system to generate energy carriers and high value-added products. Within this objective, two options of harnessing Indian mustard seed oil (IMSO) were investigated, the first for the production of ethyl biodiesel (IMSOEEs) and the second for the production of a biolubricant (IMSO2E1HEs) by transesterification of the unpurified IMSOEEs with 2-ethyl-1-hexanol (2E1H). Furthermore, low cost and environmentally-friendly conversion processes were targeted. The biofuel was obtained under mild conditions of ethanolysis (35 °C, atmospheric pressure, ethanol to oil molar ratio of 8, 1.1 wt% KOH, and 50 min) carried out in two-stages separated by addition of recycled glycerol, and followed by dry-purification with Indian mustard stems-based adsorbent. In order to enhance biolubricant yield, reactive distillation with optimized operating pressure was selected (0.05 bar, 70 °C, 2 wt% KOH, 2E1H to IMSOEEs molar ratio of 2, 65 min), followed by bubble-washing (assisted with citric acid) and then vacuum distillation (inferior to 0.01 bar). The produced IMSOEEs met the basic biodiesel properties with a satisfactory ester content (95.8 wt%). Similarly, a high conversion of IMOEEs (93 wt%) was reached for the biolubricant, leading to an IMSO2E1HE product that exhibited satisfactory properties, and thus has the potential to act as a biolubricant. Nevertheless, these results could be improved with a pre-treatment of the departure IMSO to remove species that are not glycerides, such as glucosinolates. Thereby, ensuring that the produced ethyl biodiesel conforms strictly to industry specifications

Regional Intensification of the Tropical Hydrological Cycle During ENSO

International audienceThis study provides observational evidence for feedbacks that amplify the short-term hydrological response associated with the warm phase of the El Niño-Southern Oscillation. Our analyses make use of a comprehensive set of independent satellite observations collected over decades to show that much larger local changes to cloud ( 50%/K) and precipitation ( 60%/K) occur than would be expected from the guidance of Clausius-Clapeyron theory ( 7%/K). This amplification comes from atmospheric feedbacks involving shifts in the patterns of latent and radiative heating that mutually act on the dynamics enhancing changes to the hydrological cycle. We also confirm the existence of an opposing negative flux feedback at the ocean surface, driven largely by solar radiation changes, that opposes the surface warming. Estimates of the strength of this and other feedback factors associated with warming in the Niño3 region are provided from observations. These observations are also used to examine comparative processes and feedbacks in model experiments from the Coupled Model Intercomparison Project Phase 5 Atmospheric Model Intercomparison Project

Polar mesospheric clouds observed by an iron Boltzmann lidar at Rothera (67.5°S, 68.0°W), Antarctica from 2002 to 2005: properties and implications

Lidar observations of polar mesospheric clouds (PMC) were made at Rothera, Antarctica, from December 2002 to March 2005. Overall, 128 hours of PMC were detected among the 459 hours of observations, giving a mean occurrence frequency of 27.9%. The mean PMC centroid altitude is 84.12 ± 0.12 km, the mean PMC total backscatter coefficient is 2.34 ± 0.11 × 10−6 sr−1, and the mean layer RMS width is 0.93 ± 0.03 km. The distribution of PMC centroid altitudes over all observations is symmetric (nearly Gaussian), with the most probable altitude (∼84 km) near the center of the distribution. The distribution of PMC brightness is non-Gaussian and is dominated by weak PMC. The observed PMC altitudes at Rothera support the earlier lidar findings that Southern Hemispheric PMC are on average 1 km higher than corresponding Northern Hemispheric PMC, and higher PMC occur at higher latitudes. Significant interannual and diurnal variations are observed in PMC centroid altitude and brightness. Mean PMC altitude varies more than 1 km from one year to another. In addition, 24-hour, 12-hour, and 8-hour oscillations are clearly shown in PMC centroid altitude and brightness. The altitude distribution of PMC brightness peaks at a nearly constant altitude of 84 km, with weaker PMC found on either side of this altitude. The mean PMC altitudes averaged in brightness bins are anticorrelated with the PMC brightness, where weaker PMC occur at higher altitude and the PMC altitudes are proportional to the logarithm of the PMC brightness

Expansion of the global RNA virome reveals diverse clades of bacteriophages

International audienceHigh-throughput RNA sequencing offers broad opportunities to explore the Earth RNA virome. Mining 5,150 diverse metatranscriptomes uncovered >2.5 million RNA virus contigs. Analysis of >330,000 RNA-dependent RNA polymerases (RdRPs) shows that this expansion corresponds to a 5-fold increase of the known RNA virus diversity. Gene content analysis revealed multiple protein domains previously not found in RNA viruses and implicated in virus-host interactions. Extended RdRP phylogeny supports the monophyly of the five established phyla and reveals two putative additional bacteriophage phyla and numerous putative additional classes and orders. The dramatically expanded phylum Lenarviricota, consisting of bacterial and related eukaryotic viruses, now accounts for a third of the RNA virome. Identification of CRISPR spacer matches and bacteriolytic proteins suggests that subsets of picobirnaviruses and partitiviruses, previously associated with eukaryotes, infect prokaryotic hosts