Mejoras en el proceso industrial de extracción de lanolina del efluente procedente del lavado de la lana en base a un tratamiento físico-químico

[ES] El Trabajo que aquí se presenta consiste en la implantación de una instalación dedicada a la extracción de la lanolina presente en el efluente procedente del lavado de lana de oveja. La lanolina es una ceramida existente en la lana en jugo (sin lavar) y es la responsable de contribuir con la mayor parte de la carga contaminante al efluente del lavado de la lana. Por esta razón, su eliminación se puede considerar como parte del proceso de depuración o tratamiento de las aguas. Por otra parte, la lanolina tiene aplicaciones comerciales, derivadas de sus propiedades lubricantes, en sectores productivos tan singulares como la industria farmacéutica o cosmética. La combinación de estos dos aspectos como son el tratamiento del efluente y la valorización del producto, hace que la extracción de la lanolina esté ampliamente implantada en los procesos industriales dedicados al lavado de la lana de oveja. En la actualidad hay novedosos métodos para realizar esta extracción, citados en el Estado de la Técnica, aunque su aplicación a nivel industrial aún no está desarrollada, al menos dentro de las instalaciones comerciales de lavado de lana. Por ello, este Trabajo toma como base las instalaciones tradicionales para extracción de lanolina, método que utiliza máquinas separadoras centrífugas, aunque introduce algunas innovaciones. La más importante de ellas consiste en el tratamiento de la totalidad del efluente generado, a diferencia de los sistemas conocidos, en que la extracción de lanolina solamente se realiza sobre una fracción del efluente del lavado. La experimentación ha sido realizada en una instalación industrial, en la que se han determinado los valores de las variables que optimizan el proceso de extracción, entre ellos el pH del agua y la presión del aire en el equipo de flotación de aire disuelto (DAF), incorporado a la planta. Una de las conclusiones más relevantes derivadas de la presente investigación es que el rendimiento o eficiencia de la extracción de la lanolina depende en su mayor parte de un parámetro, que ha sido denominado Índice de Efluente, y cuyo valor es función del tipo de lana que se está procesando en cada momento. Los resultados esperados para el rendimiento de la extracción han sido cuantificados en función de este parámetro. Una vez optimizados los valores de las variables más importantes que intervienen en el proceso, se realizó un estudio económico para la instalación. Ello permitió determinar, en base al Índice de Efluente definido, la rentabilidad esperada del proceso de extracción. Para finalizar, se esbozan las líneas de trabajo futuras en esta planta con el fin de conseguir mejorar los resultados actuales de la extracción de lanolina

Estudio del funcionamiento y control remoto de la instalación de microcogeneración situada en el edificio I+D+i

Memoria ID-0216. Ayudas de la Universidad de Salamanca para la innovación docente, curso 2016-2017

Short simulation activity to improve the competences in the Fluid-mechanical Engineering classroom using Solidworks ® Flow Simulation

7 p.In this paper, a short simulation activity based on Computational Fluid Dynamics (CFD) is raised in the context of the Mechanical Engineering Bachelor degree as an effective support to the theoretical lessons, in order to improve the competences of the Fluid-Mechanical course. The activity provides both visual and numerical information that the student must compare critically with respect the results obtained analytically, using the equations explained in the theoretical classroom. The activity is designed so that it can be integrated quickly (due to the shortage of times in the academic calendars). In this manner its total completion does not exceed four hours of simulation class. This is achieved by optimizing the resources, proposing meshing and simulation strategies that consume little computational time and using the package Solidworks® Flow Simulation, that takes advantage of the geometry parametrically modelled with the software itself to automatically establish the computational domain of the fluid for the based-on CFD analysis, saving excessive preparation times and long computational process.S

Identification of genetic variants associated with Huntington's disease progression: a genome-wide association study

Background Huntington's disease is caused by a CAG repeat expansion in the huntingtin gene, HTT. Age at onset has been used as a quantitative phenotype in genetic analysis looking for Huntington's disease modifiers, but is hard to define and not always available. Therefore, we aimed to generate a novel measure of disease progression and to identify genetic markers associated with this progression measure. Methods We generated a progression score on the basis of principal component analysis of prospectively acquired longitudinal changes in motor, cognitive, and imaging measures in the 218 indivduals in the TRACK-HD cohort of Huntington's disease gene mutation carriers (data collected 2008–11). We generated a parallel progression score using data from 1773 previously genotyped participants from the European Huntington's Disease Network REGISTRY study of Huntington's disease mutation carriers (data collected 2003–13). We did a genome-wide association analyses in terms of progression for 216 TRACK-HD participants and 1773 REGISTRY participants, then a meta-analysis of these results was undertaken. Findings Longitudinal motor, cognitive, and imaging scores were correlated with each other in TRACK-HD participants, justifying use of a single, cross-domain measure of disease progression in both studies. The TRACK-HD and REGISTRY progression measures were correlated with each other (r=0·674), and with age at onset (TRACK-HD, r=0·315; REGISTRY, r=0·234). The meta-analysis of progression in TRACK-HD and REGISTRY gave a genome-wide significant signal (p=1·12 × 10−10) on chromosome 5 spanning three genes: MSH3, DHFR, and MTRNR2L2. The genes in this locus were associated with progression in TRACK-HD (MSH3 p=2·94 × 10−8 DHFR p=8·37 × 10−7 MTRNR2L2 p=2·15 × 10−9) and to a lesser extent in REGISTRY (MSH3 p=9·36 × 10−4 DHFR p=8·45 × 10−4 MTRNR2L2 p=1·20 × 10−3). The lead single nucleotide polymorphism (SNP) in TRACK-HD (rs557874766) was genome-wide significant in the meta-analysis (p=1·58 × 10−8), and encodes an aminoacid change (Pro67Ala) in MSH3. In TRACK-HD, each copy of the minor allele at this SNP was associated with a 0·4 units per year (95% CI 0·16–0·66) reduction in the rate of change of the Unified Huntington's Disease Rating Scale (UHDRS) Total Motor Score, and a reduction of 0·12 units per year (95% CI 0·06–0·18) in the rate of change of UHDRS Total Functional Capacity score. These associations remained significant after adjusting for age of onset. Interpretation The multidomain progression measure in TRACK-HD was associated with a functional variant that was genome-wide significant in our meta-analysis. The association in only 216 participants implies that the progression measure is a sensitive reflection of disease burden, that the effect size at this locus is large, or both. Knockout of Msh3 reduces somatic expansion in Huntington's disease mouse models, suggesting this mechanism as an area for future therapeutic investigation

Optimization of adsorptive removal of α-toluic acid by CaO2 nanoparticles using response surface methodology

The present work addresses the optimization of process parameters for adsorptive removal of α-toluic acid by calcium peroxide (CaO2) nanoparticles using response surface methodology (RSM). CaO2 nanoparticles were synthesized by chemical precipitation method and confirmed by Transmission electron microscopy (TEM) and high-resolution TEM (HRTEM) analysis which shows the CaO2 nanoparticles size range of 5–15 nm. A series of batch adsorption experiments were performed using CaO2 nanoparticles to remove α-toluic acid from the aqueous solution. Further, an experimental based central composite design (CCD) was developed to study the interactive effect of CaO2 adsorbent dosage, initial concentration of α-toluic acid, and contact time on α-toluic acid removal efficiency (response) and optimization of the process. Analysis of variance (ANOVA) was performed to determine the significance of the individual and the interactive effects of variables on the response. The model predicted response showed a good agreement with the experimental response, and the coefficient of determination, (R2) was 0.92. Among the variables, the interactive effect of adsorbent dosage and the initial α-toluic acid concentration was found to have more influence on the response than the contact time. Numerical optimization of process by RSM showed the optimal adsorbent dosage, initial concentration of α-toluic acid, and contact time as 0.03 g, 7.06 g/L, and 34 min respectively. The predicted removal efficiency was 99.50%. The experiments performed under these conditions showed α-toluic acid removal efficiency up to 98.05%, which confirmed the adequacy of the model prediction

Clinical and genetic characteristics of late-onset Huntington's disease

Background: The frequency of late-onset Huntington's disease (>59 years) is assumed to be low and the clinical course milder. However, previous literature on late-onset disease is scarce and inconclusive. Objective: Our aim is to study clinical characteristics of late-onset compared to common-onset HD patients in a large cohort of HD patients from the Registry database. Methods: Participants with late- and common-onset (30–50 years)were compared for first clinical symptoms, disease progression, CAG repeat size and family history. Participants with a missing CAG repeat size, a repeat size of ≤35 or a UHDRS motor score of ≤5 were excluded. Results: Of 6007 eligible participants, 687 had late-onset (11.4%) and 3216 (53.5%) common-onset HD. Late-onset (n = 577) had significantly more gait and balance problems as first symptom compared to common-onset (n = 2408) (P <.001). Overall motor and cognitive performance (P <.001) were worse, however only disease motor progression was slower (coefficient, −0.58; SE 0.16; P <.001) compared to the common-onset group. Repeat size was significantly lower in the late-onset (n = 40.8; SD 1.6) compared to common-onset (n = 44.4; SD 2.8) (P <.001). Fewer late-onset patients (n = 451) had a positive family history compared to common-onset (n = 2940) (P <.001). Conclusions: Late-onset patients present more frequently with gait and balance problems as first symptom, and disease progression is not milder compared to common-onset HD patients apart from motor progression. The family history is likely to be negative, which might make diagnosing HD more difficult in this population. However, the balance and gait problems might be helpful in diagnosing HD in elderly patients