Vicia faba - Past, Present and Future Breeding Perspectives in Romania

Vicia faba is one of the oldest vegetables in the world, recognized as a valuable protein-rich food and with high adaptability to grow in all climatic conditions, but despite this, in Romania is an underutilized crop, with few studies conducted so far.  This study aims to explore past, present and future breeding perspectives on faba bean. In this study, ten accessions of Vicia faba were grown in the Research Field of Vegetable Research Development Station (VRDS) Buzau, Romania. Ten synthetic varieties have been studied to determine the amount of realized heterosis expressed in higher yield and yield stability. In terms of seed size, seven accessions belong to V. faba var. major, while the others fit to the minor group. The plant growth habit was semi-determinate for six accessions, while four had determinate habit. In terms of yield component, the accessions A1 and A7 had the highest yield. The assessments concluded to a great variability between studied accessions and the results might be useful in the future breeding programs

Helianthus tuberosus L., as an Alternative to Climate Change in Romania

In a world of unpredictable weather, with more and more vulnerable species to abiotic and biotic stresses, we should reconsider taking a glance to species more resilient to climate change and biotic stresses. Helianthus tuberosus L. is considered a weed and an invasive species of the family Asteraceae, but is also a plant with considerable strong stress resistance and nutritional value. The aim of the present study was to screen four genotypes of H. tuberosus L. bred at Vegetable Research and Development Station Buzau to biotic and abiotic stresses for a period of two years. Also, the tubers quality was analysed in our laboratories. The Jerusalem artichoke was grown on non-irrigated area and the crop production was dependent on rain-fed irrigation. It was noticed, that the genotypes were resilient to drought and the yield wasn’t compromised. The pest infestation was only seen on early spring when the rodents attacked the tubers, and during the vegetation period no insects have damaged the crops. Concerning infectious plant disease, it was noticed powdery mildew (Golovinomyces cichoracearum), on late summer and only two varieties of Jerusalem artichoke was vulnerable. In our study, the Jerusalem artichoke showed once again that it should be taken into consideration as a climate change response species

Investigating the Use of Recycled Pork Fat-Based Biodiesel in Aviation Turbo Engines

This paper presents an analysis of the possibility of using recycled pork fat-based biodiesel as fuel for aviation turbo-engines. The analysis consists of the assessment of four blends of Jet A kerosene with 10%, 30%, 50%, and 100% biodiesel and pure Jet A that was used as reference in the study. The first part of the paper presents the physical-chemical properties of the blends: density, viscosity, flash point, freezing point, and calorific power. Through Fourier transform infrared spectroscopy (FTIR) analysis, a benchmark was performed on the mixtures of Jet A with 10%, 20%, 30%, 50%, and 100% biodiesel compared with Jet A. The second part of the paper presents the test results of these blends used for fuelling a Jet Cat P80 turbo engine at the Turbo Engines Laboratory of the Aerospace Engineering Faculty of Polyethnic University of Bucharest. These functional tests were performed using different operating regimes as follows: idle, cruise, intermediate, and maximum. For each regime, a testing period of around 1 min was selected and the engine parameters were monitored during the test execution. The burning efficiency was calculated for the maximum regime for all mixtures. To evaluate the functioning stability of the turbo engine using biodiesel, two accelerometers were mounted on the engine support that recorded the radial and axial vibrations. Moreover, to assess the burning stability and to identify other acoustic spectral components when biodiesel is used, two microphones were placed near the jet region. A comparative analysis between blends was made by taking the Jet A fuel as reference

Pervaporation of Aqueous Ethanol Solutions through Rigid Composite Polyvinyl-Alcohol/Bacterial Cellulose Membranes

The paper focuses on synthesis, characterization and testing in ethanol-water separation by pervaporation of new membrane types based on polyvinyl alcohol (PVA) and bacterial cellulose (BC). A technology for obtaining these membranes deposited on a ceramic support is presented in the experimental section. Three PVA-BC composite membranes with different BC content were obtained and characterized by FTIR, SEM and optic microscopy. The effects of operating temperature (40–60 °C), permeate pressure (18.7–37.3 kPa) and feed ethanol concentration (24–72%wt) on total permeate flow rate (0.09–0.23 kg/m2/h) and water/ethanol selectivity (5–23) were studied based on an appropriate experimental plan for each PVA-BC membrane. Statistical models linking the process factors to pervaporation performances were obtained by processing the experimental data. Ethanol concentration of the processed mixture had the highest influence on permeate flow rate, an increase in ethanol concentration leading to a decrease in the permeate flow rate. All 3 process factors and their interactions had positive effects on membrane selectivity. Polynomial regression models were used to assess the effect of BC content in the dried membrane on pervaporation performances. Values of process performances obtained in this study indicate that these membranes could be effective for ethanol-water separation by pervaporation

Maximum Exergetic Efficiency Operation of a Solar Powered H2O-LiBr Absorption Cooling System

A solar driven cooling system consisting of a single effect H2O-LiBr absorbtion cooling module (ACS), a parabolic trough collector (PTC), and a storage tank (ST) module is analyzed during one full day operation. The pressurized water is used to transfer heat from PTC to ST and to feed the ACS desorber. The system is constrained to operate at the maximum ACS exergetic efficiency, under a time dependent cooling load computed on 15 July for a one storey house located near Bucharest, Romania. To set up the solar assembly, two commercial PTCs were selected, namely PT1-IST and PTC 1800 Solitem, and a single unit ST was initially considered. The mathematical model, relying on the energy balance equations, was coded under Engineering Equation Solver (EES) environment. The solar data were obtained from the Meteonorm database. The numerical simulations proved that the system cannot cover the imposed cooling load all day long, due to the large variation of water temperature inside the ST. By splitting the ST into two units, the results revealed that the PT1-IST collector only drives the ACS between 9 am and 4:30 pm, while the PTC 1800 one covers the entire cooling period (9 am–6 pm) for optimum ST capacities of 90 kg/90 kg and 90 kg/140 kg, respectively

Bacterial Cellulose and Biodegradable Superbase for Heterogeneous Transesterification to Alkyl Esters

Heterogeneous catalysts, basic, acidic or bifunctional, can catalyze transesterification reactions where the raw material has a significant content of FFA fatty acids, such as used cooking oils or other lipid-based residues, which do not have the purity required for homogeneous catalysis, in which case the purity of the triglycerides above 99.5% is the first condition for the initiation of the reaction, to avoid saponification. In this work, a green supported catalyst was developed, using bacterial cellulose as catalytic support and biodegradable superbase as a chemical compound, for transesterification reaction to obtain alkyl esters, yielding over 99% of its content at 70 °C temperature and 7.5% catalyst loading (1.5/20 w/w catalyst:oil). A Plackett-–Burman design was used for screening experiments to explore the main effect in terms of catalytic activity and performance of the triglyceride conversion reaction