Cyanide Biodegradation by Trichoderma harzianum and Cyanide Hydratase Network Analysis

Cyanide is a poisonous and dangerous chemical that binds to metals in metalloenzymes, especially cytochrome C oxidase and, thus, interferes with their functionalities. Different pathways and enzymes are involved during cyanide biodegradation, and cyanide hydratase is one of the enzymes that is involved in such a process. In this study, cyanide resistance and cyanide degradation were studied using 24 fungal strains in order to find the strain with the best capacity for cyanide bioremediation. To confirm the capacity of the tested strains, cyano-bioremediation and the presence of the gene that is responsible for the cyanide detoxification was assessed. From the tested organisms, Trichoderma harzianum (T. harzianum) had a significant capability to resist and degrade cyanide at a 15 mM concentration, where it achieved an efficiency of 75% in 7 days. The gene network analysis of enzymes that are involved in cyanide degradation revealed the involvement of cyanide hydratase, dipeptidase, carbon–nitrogen hydrolase-like protein, and ATP adenylyltransferase. This study revealed that T. harzianum was more efficient in degrading cyanide than the other tested fungal organisms, and molecular analysis confirmed the experimental observations.     

Design and fabrication of a Fourier transform spectrometer by means of thermally actuated tunable grating

In this article, the design and fabrication of a Fourier transform spectrometer, based on a thermally actuated tunable grating, are presented. Grooves of a binary grating are filled with nitrobenzene, the refractive index of which highly depends on temperature. Through the application of heat, the temperature of the nitrobenzene is changed, which in turn changes the efficiency of the grating. To measure the spectrum of a light beam, the light under inspection is first passed through the grating and the intensity of the zero order of diffraction is recorded as a function of temperature. Next, the Fourier transform of the measured data is calculated. The resolution of the spectrometer is also discussed. Finally, a micro-spectrometer that is based on a thermally actuated grating is proposed.     

Fabrication of a passive 3D mixer using CO2 laser ablation of PMMA and PDMS moldings

In this article a novel method for the fabrication of a passive 3D mixer is presented. It has been shown that in CO2 laser ablation of Polymethyl Methacrylate (PMMA), bending and straight cone structures can be fabricated by adjusting the laser scanning parameters. The effect of the bending cones in the flow direction of a fluid is discussed with computer simulation and a passive mixer based on such structures is designed. Bending and straight cones are fabricated on a PMMA substrate using CO2 laser ablation technique. The structure is molded with PDMS to make two half-channels with bending and straight cones extending out of the surface. Two PDMS structures are stacked on top of each other with a certain displacement to fabricate the mixer.     

Coating Cellulosic Material with Ag Nanowires to Fabricate Wearable IR-Reflective Device for Personal Thermal Management: The Role of Coating Method and Loading Level

Textiles coated with silver nanowires (AgNWs) are effective at suppressing radiative heat loss without sacrificing breathability. Many reports present the applicability of AgNWs as IR-reflective wearable textiles, where such studies partially evaluate the parameters for practical usage for large-scale production. In this study, the effect of the two industrial coating methods and the loading value of AgNWs on the performance of AgNWs-coated fabric (AgNWs-CF) is reported. The AgNWs were synthesized by the polyol process and applied onto the surface of cotton fabric using either dip- or spray-coating methods with variable loading levels of AgNWs. X-ray diffraction, scanning electron microscopy (SEM), infrared (IR) reflectance, water vapor permeability (WVP), and electrical resistance properties were characterized. The results report the successful synthesis of AgNWs with a 30 μm length. The results also show that the spray coating method has a better performance for reflecting the IR radiation to the body, which increases with a greater loading level of the AgNWs. The antibacterial results show a good inhibition zone for cotton fabric coated by both methods, where the spray-coated fabric has a better performance overall. The results also show the coated fabric with AgNWs maintains the level of fabric breathability similar to control samples. AgNWs-CFs have potential utility for cold weather protective clothing in which heat dissipation is attenuated, along with applications such as wound dressing materials that provide antibacterial protection.     

Direct effect of nanoparticles on the thermal conductivity of CuO-water nanofluid in a phase transition phenomenon using molecular dynamics simulation

Journal of Thermal Analysis and Calorimetry - The thermal behavior of CuO-water nanofluid is examined on an aluminum surface. The dimensions of simulation boxes are...     

Different binders in FCC catalyst preparation: impact on catalytic performance in VGO cracking

Research on Chemical Intermediates - In the present study, four different binders including two synthesized alumina-silica sol and two commercially available binders comprising LUDOX AS-30...     

Numerical study of the effect of turbulence on rate of reactions in the MILD combustion regime

In this paper, the importance of fluctuations in flow field parameters is studied under MILD combustion conditions. In this way, a turbulent non-premixed CH₄+H₂ jet flame issuing into a hot and deficient co-flow air is modeled using the RANS Axisymmetric equations. The modeling is carried out using the EDC model to describe the turbulence-chemistry interaction. The DRM-22 reduced mechanism and the GRI2.11 full mechanism are used to represent the chemical reactions of H₂/methane jet flame. Results illustrate that although the fluctuations in temperature field are small and the reaction zone volume are large in the MILD regime, the fluctuations in temperature and species concentrations are still effective on the flow field. Also, inappropriate dealing with the turbulence effect on chemistry leads to errors in prediction of temperature up to 15% in the present flame. By decreasing of O₂ concentration of hot co-flow air, the effect of fluctuations in flow field parameters on flame characteristics are still significant and its effect on species reaction rates does not decrease. On the other hand, although decreasing of jet inlet Reynolds number at constant inlet turbulence intensity addresses to smaller fluctuations in flow filed, it does not lead to lower the effect of turbulence on species distribution and temperature field under MILD combustion conditions.     

A hybrid EDC/Flamelet approach for modelling biomass combustion of grate-firing furnace

This paper proposes a new combustion model for the simulation of biomass combustion. It is developed based on the framework of the well-known Eddy Dissipation Concept (EDC) approach, which has the ability to incorporate chemical kinetics in turbulent reacting flows and thus makes it suitable for modelling gas-phase combustion. However, its high computational cost when using detailed chemistry has made it impractical for modelling large/industrial setups. To address this handicap, the proposed approach decouples the real-time calculation of chemical and mixing processes by importing a pre-calculated steady laminar flamelet library into EDC. The development of this new model is performed based on a modified version of EDC (called Extended EDC), which is capable of modelling the gas-phase of biomass combustion over a wide range of turbulent flow conditions. The proposed model is validated by simulating the well-documented experiment of the piloted jet flames of Barlow and Frank. The performance of the model is then evaluated by simulating a small-scale grate firing biomass furnace. The results show that, overall, the proposed model can be used to model biomass combustion at substantially low computational cost.     

Carbohydrate-based nanostructured catalysts: applications in organic transformations

The requirement of green and sustainable materials to prepare heterogeneous catalysts has intensified for practical reasons over the past few decades. Carbohydrates are possibly the most plentiful and renewable organic materials in nature with inimitable physiochemical properties, plausible low-cost and large-scale production, and sustainability features could be exploited in the generation of nanostructured heterogeneous catalysts. This review article outlines the organic transformations catalyzed by diverse carbohydrate-based nanostructured catalysts in greener and environmentally friendly processes. Selected examples are highlighted for a variety of organic reactions exploiting the proposed catalysts’ reactivity and reusability, and interactions with the intrinsic nature of the applied carbohydrate supports; advantages and speculated challenges of the introduced catalysts are deliberated as well.