A Comparison of Energy Consumption in Hydrothermal Liquefaction and Pyrolysis of Microalgae

The energy requirements for converting one tonne (1,000 kg) of Chlorella slurry of 20 wt% solids via fast pyrolysis, microwave-assisted pyrolysis (MAP), and hydrothermal liquefaction (HTL) were compared. Drying microalgae prior to pyrolysis by using a spray drying process with a 50% energy efficiency required an energy input of 4,107 MJ, which is higher than the energy content (4,000 MJ) of raw microalgae. The energy inputs to conduct fast pyrolysis, MAP, and HTL reactions were 504 MJ (50% efficient), 1,057 MJ (~25% efficient), and 2,776 MJ (50% efficient), respectively. The overall energy requirement of fast pyrolysis is theoretically about 1.6 times more than that of HTL. The energy recovery ratios for fast pyrolysis, MAP, and HTL of microalgae were 78.7%, 57.2%, and 89.8%, respectively. From the energy balance point of view, hydrothermal liquefaction is superior, and it achieved a higher energy recovery with a less energy cost. To improve the pyrolysis process, developing drying devices powered by renewable energies, optimizing the pyrolysis process (specifically microwave-assisted), and improving the energy efficiency of equipment are options.Citation: Zhang, B., Wu, J., Deng, Z.,  Yang, C., Cui, C., and Ding, Y. (2017). A Comparison of Energy Consumption in Hydrothermal Liquefaction and Pyrolysis of Microalgae. Trends in Renewable Energy, 3(1), 76-85. DOI: 10.17737/tre.2017.3.1.001

Characterization of porcine ENO3: genomic and cDNA structure, polymorphism and expression

In this study, a full-length cDNA of the porcine ENO3 gene encoding a 434 amino acid protein was isolated. It contains 12 exons over approximately 5.4 kb. Differential splicing in the 5'-untranslated sequence generates two forms of mRNA that differ from each other in the presence or absence of a 142-nucleotide fragment. Expression analysis showed that transcript 1 of ENO3 is highly expressed in liver and lung, while transcript 2 is highly expressed in skeletal muscle and heart. We provide the first evidence that in skeletal muscle expression of ENO3 is different between Yorkshire and Meishan pig breeds. Furthermore, real-time polymerase chain reaction revealed that, in Yorkshire pigs, skeletal muscle expression of transcript 1 is identical at postnatal day-1 and at other stages while that of transcript 2 is higher. Moreover, expression of transcript 1 is lower in skeletal muscle and all other tissue samples than that of transcript 2, with the exception of liver and kidney. Statistical analysis showed the existence of a polymorphism in the ENO3 gene between Chinese indigenous and introduced commercial western pig breeds and that it is associated with fat percentage, average backfat thickness, meat marbling and intramuscular fat in two different populations

Spatial Heterogeneity of Bacteria: Evidence from Hot Composts by Culture-independent Analysis

The phylogenetic diversity of the bacteria in hot composting samples collected from three spatial locations was investigated by molecular tools in order to determine the influence of gradient effect on bacterial communities during the thermophilic phase of composting swine manure with rice straw. Total microbial DNA was extracted and bacterial near full-length 16S rRNA genes were subsequently amplified, cloned, restriction fragment length polymorphism-screened and sequenced. The superstratum sample had the highest microbial diversity among the three samples which was possibly related to the surrounding conditions of the sample resulting from the location. The results showed that the sequences related to Bacillus sp. were most common in the composts. In superstratum sample, 45 clones (33%) and 36 clones (27%) were affiliated with the Bacillus sp. and Clostridium sp., respectively; 74 clones (58%) were affiliated with the Clostridium sp. in the middle-level sample; 52 clones (40%) and 29 clones (23%) were affiliated with the Clostridium sp. and Bacillus sp. in substrate sample, respectively. It indicated that the microbial diversity and community in the samples were different for each sampling site, and different locations of the same pile often contained distinct and different microbial communities

Expression pattern and polymorphism of three microsatellite markers in the porcine CA3 gene

Carbonic anhydrase III (CA3) is an abundant muscle protein characteristic of adult type-1, slow-twitch, muscle fibres. In order to further understand the functions of the porcine CA3 protein in muscle, the temporal and spatial distributions of its gene product were analysed and the association between the presence of specific polymorphisms and carcass traits in the pig was also examined. Real-time PCR revealed that the CA3 mRNA expression showed no differences with age in skeletal muscles from Yorkshire pigs at postnatal day-1, month-2, and month-4. We provide the first evidence that CA3 is differentially expressed in the skeletal muscle of Yorkshire and Meishan pig breeds. In addition, the whole pig genomic DNA sequence of CA3 was investigated and shown to contain seven exons and six introns. Comparative sequencing of the gene from three pig breeds revealed the existence of microsatellite SJ160 in intron 5 and microsatellite SJ158 and a novel microsatellite marker that includes a tandem repeat of (TC)n in intron 4. We also determined the allele number and frequencies of the three loci in seven pig breeds and found that they are low polymorphic microsatellite markers. Statistical analysis showed that the CA3 microsatellite polymorphism was associated with dressing percentage, internal fat rate, carcass length, rib number and backfat thickness in the pig

Molecular Phylogenetic Diversity and Spatial Distribution of Bacterial Communities in Cooling Stage during Swine Manure Composting

Polymerase chain reaction-restriction fragment length polymorphism (PCR-RFLP) and subsequent sub-cloning and sequencing were used in this study to analyze the molecular phylogenetic diversity and spatial distribution of bacterial communities in different spatial locations during the cooling stage of composted swine manure. Total microbial DNA was extracted, and bacterial near full-length 16S rRNA genes were subsequently amplified, cloned, RFLP-screened, and sequenced. A total of 420 positive clones were classified by RFLP and near-full-length 16S rDNA sequences. Approximately 48 operational taxonomic units (OTUs) were found among 139 positive clones from the superstratum sample; 26 among 149 were from the middle-level sample and 35 among 132 were from the substrate sample. Thermobifida fusca was common in the superstratum layer of the pile. Some Bacillus spp. were remarkable in the middle-level layer, and Clostridium sp. was dominant in the substrate layer. Among 109 OTUs, 99 displayed homology with those in the GenBank database. Ten OTUs were not closely related to any known species. The superstratum sample had the highest microbial diversity, and different and distinct bacterial communities were detected in the three different layers. This study demonstrated the spatial characteristics of the microbial community distribution in the cooling stage of swine manure compost

Microarray-Based Approach Identifies Differentially Expressed MicroRNAs in Porcine Sexually Immature and Mature Testes

MicroRNAs (miRNAs) are short non-coding RNA molecules which are proved to be involved in mammalian spermatogenesis. Their expression and function in the porcine germ cells are not fully understood.We employed a miRNA microarray containing 1260 unique miRNA probes to evaluate the miRNA expression patterns between sexually immature (60-day) and mature (180-day) pig testes. One hundred and twenty nine miRNAs representing 164 reporter miRNAs were expressed differently (p<0.1). Fifty one miRNAs were significantly up-regulated and 78 miRNAs were down-regulated in mature testes. Nine of these differentially expressed miRNAs were validated using quantitative RT-PCR assay. Totally 15,919 putative miRNA-target sites were detected by using RNA22 method to align 445 NCBI pig cDNA sequences with these 129 differentially expressed miRNAs, and seven putative target genes involved in spermatogenesis including DAZL, RNF4 gene were simply confirmed by quantitative RT-PCR.Overall, the results of this study indicated specific miRNAs expression in porcine testes and suggested that miRNAs had a role in regulating spermatogenesis

Microarray profiling for differential gene expression in PMSG-hCG stimulated preovulatory ovarian follicles of Chinese Taihu and Large White sows

<p>Abstract</p> <p>Background</p> <p>The Chinese Taihu is one of the most prolific pig breeds in the world, which farrows at least five more piglets per litter than Western pig breeds partly due to a greater ovulation rate. Variation of ovulation rate maybe associated with the differences in the transcriptome of Chinese Taihu and Large White ovaries. In order to understand the molecular basis of the greater ovulation rate of Chinese Taihu sows, expression profiling experiments were conducted to identify differentially expressed genes in ovarian follicles at the preovulatory stage of a PMSG-hCG stimulated estrous cycle from 3 Chinese Taihu and 3 Large White cycling sows by using the Affymetrix Porcine Genechip™.</p> <p>Results</p> <p>One hundred and thirty-three differentially expressed genes were identified between Chinese Taihu and Large White sows by using Affymetrix porcine GeneChip (<it>p </it>≤ 0.05, Fold change ≥ 2 or ≤ 0.5). Gene Ontology (GO) analysis revealed that these genes belonged to the class of genes that participated in regulation of cellular process, regulation of biological process, biological regulation, developmental process, cell communication and signal transduction and so on. Significant differential expression of 6 genes including <it>WNT10B </it>and <it>DKK2 </it>in the WNT signaling pathway was detected. Real-time RT-PCR confirmed the expression pattern in seven of eight selected genes. A search of chromosomal location revealed that 92 differentially expressed transcripts located to the intervals of quantitative trait loci (QTLs) for reproduction traits. Furthermore, SNPs of two differentially expressed genes- <it>BAX </it>and <it>BMPR1B </it>were showed to be associated with litter size traits in Large White pigs and Chinese DIV line pigs (<it>p </it>≤ 0.1 or <it>p </it>≤ 0.05).</p> <p>Conclusions</p> <p>Our study detected many genes that showed differential expression between ovary follicles of two divergent breeds of pigs. Genes involved with regulation of cellular process, regulation of biological process, in addition to several genes not previously associated with ovarian physiology or with unknown function, were differentially expressed between two breeds. The suggestive or significant associations of <it>BAX </it>and <it>BMPR1B </it>gene with litter size indicated these genetic markers had the potentials to be used in pig industry after further validation of their genetic effects. Taken together, this study reveals many potential avenues of investigation for seeking new insights into ovarian physiology and the genetic control of reproduction.</p

Discovery of Potential piRNAs from Next Generation Sequences of the Sexually Mature Porcine Testes

Piwi- interacting RNAs (piRNAs), a new class of small RNAs discovered from mammalian testes, are involved in transcriptional silencing of retrotransposons and other genetic elements in germ line cells. In order to identify a full transcriptome set of piRNAs expressed in the sexually mature porcine testes, small RNA fractions were extracted and were subjected to a Solexa deep sequencing. We cloned 6,913,561 clean reads of Sus Scrofa small RNAs (18–30 nt) and performed functional characterization. Sus Scrofa small RNAs showed a bimodal length distribution with two peaks at 21 nt and 29 nt. Then from 938,328 deep-sequenced small RNAs (26–30 nt), 375,195 piRNAs were identified by a k-mer scheme and 326 piRNAs were identified by homology searches. All piRNAs predicted by the k-mer scheme were then mapped to swine genome by Short Oligonucleotide Analysis Package (SOAP), and 81.61% of all uniquely mapping piRNAs (197,673) were located to 1124 defined genomic regions (5.85 Mb). Within these regions, 536 and 501 piRNA clusters generally distributed across only minus or plus genomic strand, 48 piRNA clusters distributed on two strands but in a divergent manner, and 39 piRNA clusters distributed on two strands in an overlapping manner. Furthermore, expression pattern of 7 piRNAs identified by homology searches showed 5 piRNAs displayed a ubiquitous expression pattern, although 2 piRNAs were specifically expressed in the testes. Overall, our results provide new information of porcine piRNAs and their specific expression pattern in porcine testes suggests that piRNAs have a role in regulating spermatogenesis

LRF-WiVi: A WiFi and Visual Indoor Localization Method Based on Low-Rank Fusion

In this paper, a WiFi and visual fingerprint localization model based on low-rank fusion (LRF-WiVi) is proposed, which makes full use of the complementarity of heterogeneous signals by modeling both the signal-specific actions and interaction of location information in the two signals end-to-end. Firstly, two feature extraction subnetworks are designed to extract the feature vectors containing location information of WiFi channel state information (CSI) and multi-directional visual images respectively. Then, the low-rank fusion module efficiently aggregates the specific actions and interactions of the two feature vectors while maintaining low computational complexity. The fusion features obtained are used for position estimation; In addition, for the CSI feature extraction subnetwork, we designed a novel construction method of CSI time-frequency characteristic map and a double-branch CNN structure to extract features. LRF-WiVi jointly learns the parameters of each module under the guidance of the same loss function, making the whole model more consistent with the goal of fusion localization. Extensive experiments are conducted in a complex laboratory and an open hall to verify the superior performance of LRF-WiVi in utilizing WiFi and visual signal complementarity. The results show that our method achieves more advanced positioning performance than other methods in both scenarios