Volatile components in the essential oil of wild oregano (Coleus amboinicus Lour.)

The essential oil of Coleus amboinicus Lour. plants, growing in Cuba, was investigated by means of LSC, GLC and GC-MS. A total of 20 components were identified, including 13 terpene hydrocarbons and 7 oxygenated compounds. The oil contained about 64% carvacrol.     

Polaronic effects on the collective excitation energies in a quantum wire

In this work we report a investigation of the plasmon–longitudinal-optical (LO) phonon interaction effects on the intersubband and intrasubband collective excitation energies in a GaAs–Al_νGa_1?νAs rectangular quantum well wire. We observe a resonant split of the collective excitation energy into two branches, one with energy lower and other with energy higher than the LO-optical phonon energy ?ω_LO. Our calculations are performed using a self-consistent field approximation, which includes the local-field correction within the Singwi, Tosi, Land, and Sjolander (STLS) theory at zero temperature and assuming a three-subband model, where only the first subband is occupied by electrons. The potential confining effects on the collective energies were also considered.     

Hydrometallurgical separation of aluminium,cobalt, copper and lithium from spent Li-ion batteries

A hydrometallurgical route based on leaching-crystallization steps for the separation of metals Al, Co, Cu and Li from spent Li-ion batteries was evaluated in this paper. Once dismantled for the removal of both plastic and steel cases, the anode (containing mainly Cu) of such batteries was manually separated from the cathode (which contains Al, Co and Li) for the recovery of Cu. The metal content of both anode and cathode was assessed by X-ray diffraction (XRD), X-ray fluorescence (XRF) and atomic absorption analytical methods. The cathode was firstly leached with NaOH for the selective removal of Al, followed by leaching with H₂SO₄ + H₂O₂ for the dissolution of the remaining Co and Li. The operating variables concentration of NaOH and concentration of H₂O₂ were found significant for the metal dissolution conditions investigated at basic and acid leaching operations, respectively. On the other hand, the variables temperature and concentration of H₂SO₄ showed minor effects at acid leaching step. Reaction schemes were proposed to describe basic and acid leaching operations. The recovery of Co from the acid liquor was carried out by crystallization. This hydrometallurgical route was found to be simple and adequate to separate metals for recycling purposes.     

Unmanned vehicles for environmental data collection

Unmanned vehicles have already proved invaluable in environmental field studies by providing levels of spatial–temporal sampling resolution which could have not been attained before. Recent trends show that the levels of spatial–temporal sampling resolutions attained with individual vehicles are feasible for wide areas through the operation of persistent vehicle networks. The possibility of persistent sampling over wide areas has the potential to revolutionize environmental field studies. The roles of unmanned vehicle systems in future environmental field studies are discussed in the light of the recent technological developments and trends, along with the major challenges associated to this vision. The discussion is illustrated with examples of developments from the Underwater Systems and Technologies Laboratory from Porto University, Portugal.     

Generation of bioenergy and biofertilizer on a sustainable rural property

Energy sources have become a focus of legal, ethical, social and economic pressures due to increasing environmental problems. Nonrenewable energy sources are being increasingly replaced by other sources that are renewable and less pollutive, with technologies aimed at sustainability. Companies that adopt alternative forms of energy will be able to increase their competitiveness and use wastes to generate energy, which is an ecological and economical efficiency approach. In the interior of the state of São Paulo, Brazil, a rural producer of pork crackling and coffee evaluated the entire production cycle of his products and wastes, seeking to achieve energy self sufficiency and identify new possibilities for gains through cost reductions. Biodiesel, soap and detergent are produced with the waste animal fat left from the production of pork crackling. Pig farm wastes become biomass for a biodigester, which produces sufficient biogas to keep the piglets warm, dry the coffee, fry the pork crackling, and generate electricity, among other uses. The biofertilizer produced by the biodigester helps fertilize coffee and corn plantations. The purpose of this article is to demonstrate the ecological and economic feasibility of the project. The research method used here is a case study involving qualitative analyses of environmental and social variables and quantitative analyses of economic variables. It is concluded that the investment made in this project yields excellent returns, with savings of 100% in fuels, 50% in electric energy and 40% in fertilizer, in addition to gains from the products developed with the wastes.     

Composite reliability evaluation by sequential Monte Carlosimulation on parallel and distributed processing environments

This paper describes two parallel methodologies for composite reliability evaluation using sequential Monte Carlo simulation. The methodologies are based on coarse grain asynchronous implementations. In the first methodology, a complete simulation year is analyzed on a single processor and the many simulated years necessary for convergence are analyzed in parallel. In the second methodology, the adequacy analysis of the system operating states within the simulated years is performed in parallel and the convergence is checked on one processor at the end of each simulated year. The methodologies are implemented on a 10 nodes IBM RS/6000 SP scalable distributed memory parallel computer and on a network of 8 IBM RS/6000 43P workstations. The results obtained in tests with actual power system models showed high speedup and efficiency on both parallel platforms     

Production of renewable hydrogen from aqueous-phase reforming of glycerol over Pt catalysts supported on different oxides

Aqueous-phase reforming of oxygenated hydrocarbons for hydrogen production presents several advantages as feed molecules can be easily found in a wide range of biomass, there is no need for its vaporization and the process allows thorough exploitation of the environmental benefits of using hydrogen as an energy carrier. The use of glycerol in particular is motivated due to its availability as a consequence of increasing biodiesel production worldwide. In this contribution, the performance of Pt-based catalysts supported on different oxides (Al₂O₃, ZrO₂, MgO and CeO₂) is studied on glycerol reforming. All catalysts led to a hydrogen-rich gas phase. However, a good potential activity with high production of hydrogen and low concentration of undesired hydrocarbons was accomplished over the catalysts supported on MgO and ZrO₂. The high electron donating character of such oxides indicates the influence of the nature of the support in catalytic performance for glycerol reforming.