Mechanical Properties and Morphology of PLA Filled with Nanoclay

AbstractThis research was to study the mechanical properties and morphology of Poly lactic acid (PLA) filled with varyingamount of nanoclay at 0, 5, 10, 15, 20, 25 and 30 (% wt), respectively. Mixing and shaping procedures of the PLA/nanoclay specimen were carried out by single screw extrusion and injection moulding, respectively. Mechanical properties of the PLA/nanoclay composites were investigated. As a result, the effect of percentage of the nanoclay showed that the tensile strength and elongation at break of the PLA filled with nanoclay tended to decrease with the increasing amount of nanoclay, whereasimpact strength and hardness of the PLA filled with the nanoclay particles seemed to be increased when the content of nanoclay increased. Besides, the mechanical properties of the PLA filled with treated nanoclay became higher than those of PLA filled with untreated nanoclay. The morphology of the PLA/nanoclay composites indicated that PLA filled with treated nanoclay would be better in mixing than those mixed with untreated nanoclay

Development of Eco-efficiency Indicators for Rubber Glove Product by Material Flow Analysis

AbstractRubber glove product Thailand shows the trend of higher growth. Currently, the average export value of rubber glove product is 826.72 US$/year. Thus, the development guideline of this product for Thailand should be concerned. However, rubber glove process caused the environmental and human impacts. Hence, the eco-efficiency concept of rubber glove product was interested. Initial important step of eco-efficiency concept was indicator development. Therefore, this research developed the eco efficiency indicators including economic and environmental indicators of rubber glove product based on the eco-efficiency theory and material flow analysis. The result showed that economic indicators consisted of quantity product and net sale and environmental indicators consisted of material consumption, energy consumption, water consumption, wastewater production, solid waste production, greenhouse gas emission, were selected to eco-efficiency indicators based on eco-efficiency theory and material flow analysis. These eco-efficiency indicators would help to discover more economic and effective ways to improve productivity process and to enhance recyclability or reducing energy and material intensity

Epigenetic Events in Ovarian Cancer

Epigenetic aberrations are now well established in the development and progression of ovarian cancer, including DNA methylation, histone modifications, and microRNA dysregulation, and their progressive accumulation is correlated with the progression of the stage grade of disease. Epigenetic aberrations are relatively stable, linked to various subtypes of the disease, and present in circulating serum, representing promising diagnostic, prognostic, and pharmacodynamic biomarkers. Unlike DNA mutations and deletions, aberrant gene-repressive epigenetic changes, including DNA methylation inhibitors or histone-modifying enzymes, are theoretically reversible by epigenetic therapies. While no action against solid tumors, including ovarian cancer, has been shown in epigenetic monotherapies, preclinical studies indicate that they may be successful when used in conjunction with one another or with conventional chemotherapy, and combinatorial epigenetic therapy regiments are being investigated in cancer clinical trials. Improved interventions against this debilitating malignancy will provide a greater understanding of epigenetics’ role in ovarian cancer

Effect of Alkaline Treatment on Physical and Tensile Properties of Areca Leaf Sheaths (ALSs) used for Biodegradable ALS Plate Production

This research evaluated the possibility of alkaline treatment to solve the problem of molding due to moisture during storage of areca leaf sheaths (ALSs) to be used for biodegradable ALS plate production. The effect of alkaline treatment on the properties of ALSs was studied. Sodium hydroxide (NaOH) and sodium bicarbonate (NaHCO3) were used as chemicals for surface treatment. The solution of NaOH and NaHCO3 was varied at 1%, 3%, and 5% w/v. Surface treatment with NaOH and NaHCO3 partially removed hemicellulose, cellulose, lignin, and impurities from the surface of the ALSs and increased the moisture resistance property of the ALSs. Treatment with NaOH made the ALSs’ surface rougher, whereas treatment with NaHCO3 had no effect on the surface of the ALSs. The decomposition temperature (Td2) of the NaOH-treated ALSs decreased by approximately 7.0 to 10.5%, while for the NaHCO3-treated ALSs it changed only slightly. The overall tensile properties of the NaOH-treated ALSs were better than those of the NaHCO3-treated ALSs. The surface treatment with 1% NaOH and 1% NaHCO3 increased the tensile modulus by 20.5% and 6.2%, respectively, as compared with the nontreated ALS. It was found that surface treatment with 1% NaOH and 1% NaHCO3 could create suitable conditions for ALS plate production. This work is a preliminary study; more research still needs to be done

Effect of Alkaline Treatment on Physical and Tensile Properties of Areca Leaf Sheaths (ALSs) used for Biodegradable ALS Plate Production

This research evaluated the possibility of alkaline treatment to solve the problem of molding due to moisture during storage of areca leaf sheaths (ALSs) to be used for biodegradable ALS plate production. The effect of alkaline treatment on the properties of ALSs was studied. Sodium hydroxide (NaOH) and sodium bicarbonate (NaHCO3) were used as chemicals for surface treatment. The solution of NaOH and NaHCO3 was varied at 1%, 3%, and 5% w/v. Surface treatment with NaOH and NaHCO3 partially removed hemicellulose, cellulose, lignin, and impurities from the surface of the ALSs and increased the moisture resistance property of the ALSs. Treatment with NaOH made the ALSs’ surface rougher, whereas treatment with NaHCO3 had no effect on the surface of the ALSs. The decomposition temperature (Td2) of the NaOH-treated ALSs decreased by approximately 7.0 to 10.5%, while for the NaHCO3-treated ALSs it changed only slightly. The overall tensile properties of the NaOH-treated ALSs were better than those of the NaHCO3-treated ALSs. The surface treatment with 1% NaOH and 1% NaHCO3 increased the tensile modulus by 20.5% and 6.2%, respectively, as compared with the nontreated ALS. It was found that surface treatment with 1% NaOH and 1% NaHCO3 could create suitable conditions for ALS plate production. This work is a preliminary study; more research still needs to be done

Rapid assessment checklist for green roof ecosystem services in Bangkok, Thailand

Abstract Background A green roof is a man-made ecosystem created when a rooftop is covered with substrate and vegetation. Although green roof ecosystems (GREs) are able to provide ecosystem services, there is currently no assessment tool available to specifically evaluate this. Therefore, the aim of this study was to develop a rapid assessment checklist (RAC) to assess GRE services (GRES), which was developed and tested on 10 green roofs in Bangkok, Thailand. Results The RAC consisted of 46 proxy indicators (33 qualitative and 13 quantitative indicators) encompassing various aspects of GRESs. The GRES values or scores varied according to structural differences in the green roofs. The average score (from a maximum of 100) of total ecosystem services was 61 ± 7, which could be inferred as a good performance in ecosystem service provision. The highest scores were obtained from the regulating services at 68 ± 7. The lowest average score was 53 ± 11 from the provisioning services. Conclusions The RAC was able to evaluate the levels of GRES provided by the selected green roofs, enabling the meaningful comparison of their potential capability to provide GRES. Therefore, this RAC could be an innovative tool for evaluation of four categories of GRES

Hydrogen sulfide removal from biogas using a salak fruit seeds packed bed reactor with sulfur oxidizing bacteria as biofilm

A packed bed reactor was evaluated for hydrogen sulfide (H2S) removal by sulfur-oxidizing bacteria attached as a biofilm on salak fruit seeds (SFS). The bacteria were isolated from the sludge of the wastewater of a biogas plant. The promising isolate from the previous work was used in a biofilter, and its capacity to remove H2S was evaluated at effects of time of operation, effects of biogas flow rate, effects of axial distance, and packing material. Obtained results showed that isolate attached to SFS in an 80 cm height and 8 cm inside diameter biofilter column could decrease H2S in biogas from 142.48 ppm to 4.06 ppm (97.15% removal efficiency) for a biogas flow rate of 8550 g m3 h1 corresponding to a residence time of 4 h. Simple kinetic models of sulfide removal and bacterial growth was proposed to describe the operation of the biofilter. The radial H2S concentration gradient in the flowing gas is to be neglected so is the H2S concentration in the biofilm at certain axial distance. Meanwhile, the rate of H2S degradation was approximated by Monod type equation. The obtained simultaneous ordinary differential equations solved by Runge-Kutta method. Comparing the calculated results and the experimental data, it can be concluded that model proposed can sufficiently describe the performance of the H2S removal. The suitable values of the parameters are as follows: max = 0.0000007 (s1), KS = 0.0000039 (g cm3), kG = 0.0086 (cm s1), HS = 0.9 ((g cm3)/(g cm3)), and Yx/s = 10.Directorate General of Higher Educations of Indonesia - scholarship of doctorate program (BPPDN) at Gadjah Mada University ; Hibah Bersaing 2015 and Sandwich-Like program 201

Improvement of local budget filling

This chapter describes the biological removal of sulphur compounds from gas streams. First, an overview is given of the toxicity of sulphur compounds to animals and humans whereafter biological and industrial formation routes for (organic) sulphur compounds are given. Microbial degradation routes of volatile organic sulphur compounds under both aerobic and anaerobic conditions are presented. Finally, the most commonly applied processes for sulphur removal from gaseous streams are discussed and an overview is given of operating experiences for biological gas treatment systems. The chapter concludes with some remarks on future developments

Yeasts in sustainable bioethanol production: a review

Bioethanol has been identified as the mostly used biofuel worldwide since it significantly contributes to the reduction of crude oil consumption and environmental pollution. It can be produced from various types of feedstocks such as sucrose, starch, lignocellulosic and algal biomass through fermentation process by microorganisms. Compared to other types of microoganisms, yeasts especially Saccharomyces cerevisiae is the common microbes employed in ethanol production due to its high ethanol productivity, high ethanol tolerance and ability of fermenting wide range of sugars. However, there are some challenges in yeast fermentation which inhibit ethanol production such as high temperature, high ethanol concentration and the ability to ferment pentose sugars. Various types of yeast strains have been used in fermentation for ethanol production including hybrid, recombinant and wild-type yeasts. Yeasts can directly ferment simple sugars into ethanol while other type of feedstocks must be converted to fermentable sugars before it can be fermented to ethanol. The common processes involves in ethanol production are pretreatment, hydrolysis and fermentation. Production of bioethanol during fermentation depends on several factors such as temperature, sugar concentration, pH, fermentation time, agitation rate, and inoculum size. The efficiency and productivity of ethanol can be enhanced by immobilizing the yeast cells. This review highlights the different types of yeast strains, fermentation process, factors affecting bioethanol production and immobilization of yeasts for better bioethanol production