Vineyard pruning residues pellets for use in domestic appliances: A quality assessment according to the EN ISO 17225

Nowadays many types of biomass are studied to satisfy the increased demand of renewable energy based on pellet combustion. However, only a few biomasses fulfil the high quality standard required for pellet used in domestic appliances. European and International standards in force define this quality of non-industrial use of pellets in term of the origin of biomass, physical, mechanical and chemical parameters. Vineyard residues are a worldwide potential source of energy but their compliance to be used in domestic pellet stoves has not been yet proven according to the new standards in force. In order to meet this need, this study makes an exhaustive characterisation of vineyard based pellets manufactured from residues of Prosecco (Glera variety) vineyards, assessing both the quality of biofuel and its behaviour during combustion in a domestic pellet stove. The quality of biofuel has been evaluated according to the in force standards for wood and non-woody pellets. The results show that vineyard pellets do not meet the type B quality standards required for non-industrial use of wood pellet mainly because of the high amount of ash content (&gt;2%) and the high amount of copper (&gt;10 ppm) but they fulfil the specifications of the type B non-woody pellets. Furthermore, during combustion test of vineyard-based pellet the high emission of CO indicates incomplete combustion; and vineyard- based pellet NOx emissions are more than double compared to those obtained during the control tests, confirming that the analysed vineyard-based pellets are unsuitable, as they are, for use in traditional pellet stoves.</jats:p

Synthesis and biological studies on dinuclear gold(I) complexes with Di-(N-Heterocyclic Carbene) ligands functionalized with carbohydrates

The design of novel metal complexes with N-heterocyclic carbene (NHC) ligands that display biological activity is an active research field in organometallic chemistry. One of the possible approaches consists of the use of NHC ligands functionalized with a carbohydrate moiety. Two novel Au(I)-Au(I) dinuclear complexes were synthesized; they present a neutral structure with one bridging diNHC ligand, having one or both heterocyclic rings decorated with a carbohydrate functionality. With the symmetric diNHC ligand, the dicationic dinuclear complex bearing two bridging diNHC ligands was also synthesized. The study was completed by analyzing the antiproliferative properties of these complexes, which were compared to the activity displayed by similar mononuclear Au(I) complexes and by the analogous bimetallic Au(I)-Au(I) complex not functionalized with carbohydrates

Pentafluorophenyl platinum(II) complexes of PTA and its N-allyl and N-benzyl derivatives: Synthesis, characterization and biological activity

From the well-known 1,3,5-triaza-phosphaadamantane (PTA, 1a), the novel N-allyl and N-benzyl tetrafuoroborate salts 1-allyl-1-azonia-3,5-diaza-7-phosphaadamantane (APTA(BF4), 1b) and 1-benzyl-1-azonia-3,5-diaza-7-phosphaadamantane (BzPTA(BF4), 1c) were obtained. These phosphines were then allowed to react with (Pt(\u3bc-Cl)(C6F5)(tht))2 (tht = tetrahydrothiophene) affording the water soluble Pt(II) complexes trans-(PtCl(C6F5)(PTA)2) (2a) and its bis-cationic congeners trans-(PtCl(C6F5)(APTA)2)(BF4)2 (2b) and trans-(PtCl(C6F5)(BzPTA)2)(BF4)2 (2c). The compounds were fully characterized by multinuclear NMR, ESI-MS, elemental analysis and (for 2a) also by single crystal X-ray diffraction, which proved the trans configuration of the phosphine ligands. Furthermore, in order to evaluate the cytotoxic activities of all complexes the normal human dermal fibroblast (NHDF) cell culture were used. The antineoplastic activity of the investigated compounds was checked against the human lung carcinoma (A549), epithelioid cervix carcinoma (HeLa) and breast adenocarcinoma (MCF-7) cell cultures. Interactions between the complexes and human serum albumin (HSA) using fluorescence spectroscopy and circular dichroism spectroscopy (CD) were also investigated

Beam test, simulation, and performance evaluation of PbF2_2 and PWO-UF crystals with SiPM readout for a semi-homogeneous calorimeter prototype with longitudinal segmentation

Crilin (Crystal Calorimeter with Longitudinal Information) is a semi-homogeneous, longitudinally segmented electromagnetic calorimeter based on high-$Z$, ultra-fast crystals with UV-extended SiPM readout. The Crilin design has been proposed as a candidate solution for both a future Muon Collider barrel ECAL and for the Small Angle Calorimeter of the HIKE experiment. As a part of the Crilin development program, we have carried out beam tests of small ($10\times10\times40$~mm$^3$) lead fluoride (PbF$_2$) and ultra-fast lead tungstate (PbWO$_4$, PWO) crystals with 120~GeV electrons at the CERN SPS to study the light yield, timing response, and systematics of light collection with a proposed readout scheme. For a single crystal of PbF$_2$, corresponding to a single Crilin cell, a time resolution of better than 25~ps is obtained for $>$3 GeV of deposited energy. For a single cell of \pwo, a time resolution of better than 45~ps is obtained for the same range of deposited energy. This timing performance fully satisfies the design requirements for the Muon Collider and HIKE experiments. Further optimizations of the readout scheme and crystal surface preparation are expected to bring further improvements

Development of an advanced modular setup for the on beam characterization of oriented crystals

Recently, the particle physics community has put an increasing effort in developing radiation detectors and equipment based on oriented crystals. A key feature that distinguishes an oriented crystal from the ordinary matter is the reduc-tion of the radiation length (X0) seen by electrons, positrons and photons crossing the lattice along one of its symmetry axes. This effect has been experimentally ob-served only in the last few decades and with samples limited in number, composition and length. In order to characterize a variety of oriented crystals with a standardized procedure, the STORM Collaboration has developed an advanced modular setup, which allows to study the features of any crystal sample with both electron (or positron) and photon beams. This contribution describes the key elements of this setup, namely silicon strip tracking detectors, plastic scintillators, Silicon Photo -Multipliers (SiPMs) coupled to the crystal under test, a photon calorimeter and an electromagnetic spectrometer

Development of an advanced modular setup for the on beam characterization of oriented crystals

Recently, the particle physics community has put an increasing effort in developing radiation detectors and equipment based on oriented crystals. A key feature that distinguishes an oriented crystal from the ordinary matter is the reduction of the radiation length (X0) seen by electrons, positrons and photons crossing the lattice along one of its symmetry axes. This effect has been experimentally observed only in the last few decades and with samples limited in number, composition and length. In order to characterize a variety of oriented crystals with a standardized procedure, the STORM Collaboration has developed an advanced modular setup, which allows to study the features of any crystal sample with both electron (or positron) and photon beams. This contribution describes the key elements of this setup, namely silicon strip tracking detectors, plastic scintillators, Silicon Photo-Multipliers (SiPMs) coupled to the crystal under test, a photon calorimeter and an electromagnetic spectrometer