The Transformation of Green Rusts on the Surface of Portland Cement Hydration Materials

Ordinary Portland cement (OPC) is widely used building material, and its hydration products can be recycling as low-cost absorbents. The loading of iron oxide is helpful to further improve their adsorption performance. In view of the fact that green rusts are frequently occurrence intermediate products in the co-precipitation of iron salt and prone to be oxidized into stable iron minerals. This study simulated co-precipitation to carry out iron-modification on hydration OPC. The results demonstrate that as the carrier materials, hydration OPC behaves excellent affinity with green rusts. Under the conditions of high temperature (70 oC) and high alklinity (pH=11), green rusts mainly transformed into feroxydrate, and a minor part are into magnetite. The enrichment and transformation of green rust can be regarded as an efficient approach for immobilization of iron oxide (oxyhydroxide).

The Analysis of the Applications of Crop Seed Tape Sowing Technology and Equipment: A Review

Seed tape sowing technology is a kind of crop cultivation technology based on a carrier. This technology first wraps crop seeds in a kind of carrier materials and makes them into seed tape. The seed tape is then laid down in farmland with special equipment. Seed tape planting has the advantages of accurate control of hill spacing, simplification of field sowing process and helps to implement order agriculture. Seed tape manufacturing and laying equipment are the core equipment of the technology and their working reliability directly affects the advantages of seed tape planting technology. Based on the research status of seed tape planting technology and equipment, this article made comparisons between the key technologies which include the method for seed tape manufacturing, seed tape sowing, furrowing, seed tape guiding technology, etc. In this paper, the basic problems of seed tape technology that still need further study are put forward. The future development of tape sowing technology and equipment are predicted as follows: the intelligent high precision and high-speed seed tape manufacturing equipment, the large intelligent integrated seed tape planter of “land preparation-seeding tape making-sowing”, the small and medium-sized mobile walk-behind planters, the application on the agricultural landscape and the crop transplanting. This study will be helpful to promote the further development of seed tape planting technology and provide a reference for the research of tape planting technology and equipment.

Physicochemical and Functional Characterization of Newly Designed Biopolymeric-Based Encapsulates with Probiotic Culture and Charantin

The identification of novel sources of synbiotic agents with desirable functionality is an emerging concept. In the present study, novel encapsulates containing probiotic L. acidophilus LA-05® (LA) and Charantin (CT) were produced by freeze-drying technique using pure Whey Protein Isolate (WPI), pure Maltodextrin (MD), and their combination (WPI + MD) in 1:1 core ratio, respectively. The obtained microparticles, namely WPI + LA + CT, MD + LA + CT, and WPI + MD + LA + CT were tested for their physicochemical properties. Among all formulations, combined carriers (WPI + MD) exhibited the highest encapsulation yields for LA (98%) and CT (75%). Microparticles showed a mean d (4, 3) ranging from 50.393 ± 1.26 to 68.412 ± 3.22 μm. The Scanning Electron Microscopy revealed uniformly amorphous and glass-like structures, with a noticeably reduced porosity when materials were combined. In addition, Fourier Transform Infrared spectroscopy highlighted the formation of strong hydrogen bonds supporting the interactions between the carrier materials (WPI and MD) and CT. In addition, the thermal stability of the combined WPI + MD was superior to that of pure WPI and pure MD, as depicted by the Thermogravimetric and Differential Scanning Calorimetry analysis. More interestingly, co-encapsulation with CT enhanced LA viability (8.91 ± 0.3 log CFU/g) and Cells Surface Hydrophobicity (82%) in vitro, in a prebiotic-like manner. Correspondingly, CT content was heightened when co-encapsulated with LA. Besides, WPI + MD + LA + CT microparticles exhibited higher antioxidant activity (79%), α-amylase inhibitory activity (83%), and lipase inhibitory activity (68%) than single carrier ones. Furthermore, LA viable count (7.95 ± 0.1 log CFU/g) and CT content (78%) were the highest in the blended carrier materials after 30 days of storage at 4 °C. Synbiotic microparticle WPI + MD + LA + CT represents an effective and promising approach for the co-delivery of probiotic culture and bioactive compounds in the digestive tract, with enhanced functionality and storage properties.

Hydrogen and Usability of Hydrogen Storage Technologies

Science, technology and politics agree: hydrogen will be the energy carrier of the future. It will replace fossil fuels based on a sufficient supply from sustainable energy. Since the possibilities of storing and transporting hydrogen play a decisive role here, the so-called LOHC (Liquid Organic Hydrogen Carriers) can be used as carrier materials. LOHC carrier materials can reversibly absorb hydrogen, store it without loss and release it again when needed. Since little or no pressure is required, normal containers or tanks can be used. The volume or mass-related energy densities can reach around a quarter of liquid fossil fuels. This paper is to give an introduction to the field of hydrogen storage and usage of those LOHC, in particular. The developments of the last ten years have been related to the storage and transport of hydrogen with LOHC. These are crucial to meet the future demand for energy carriers e.g. for mobile applications. For this purpose, all transport systems are under consideration as well as the decentralized supply of rural areas with low technological penetration, e.g. regions of Western Africa which are often characterized by a lack of energy supply. Hydrogen bound in LOHC can provide a hazard-free alternative for distribution. The paper provides an overview of the conversion forms as well as the chemical carrier materials. Dibenzyltoluene as well as N-ethylcarbazole - as examples for LOHC - are discussed as well as chemical hydrogen storage materials like ammonia boranes as alternatives to LOHC.

Using Vinegar Residue-Based Carrier Materials to Improve the Biodegradation of Phenanthrene in Aqueous Solution

A large amount of vinegar residue (VR) is generated every year in China, causing serious environmental pollutions. Meanwhile, as a kind of persistent organic pollutants, polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbons (PAHs) ubiquitously exist in environments. With a goal of reusing VR and reducing PAHs pollutions, we herein isolated one B. subtilis strain, ZL09-26, which can degrade phenanthrene and produce biosurfactants. Subsequently, raw VR was dried under different temperatures (50 °C, 80 °C, 100 °C and 120 °C) or pyrolyzed under 350 °C and 700 °C, respectively. After being characterized by various approaches, the treated VR were mixed with ZL09-26 as carriers to degrade phenanthrene. We found that VR dried at 50 °C (VR50) was the best in promoting the growth of ZL09-26 and the degradation of phenanthrene. This result may be attributed to the residual nutrients, suitable porosity and small surface charge of VR50. Our results demonstrate the potential of VR in the biodegradation of phenanthrene, which may be meaningful for developing new VR-based approaches to remove PAHs in aqueous environments.

Behavior of beeswax and edible oils mixtures in supercritical carbon dioxide at moderate temperature

This study investigated the behavior of lipid mixtures of beeswax with avocado oil or Brazil nut oil in supercritical CO2 processing. It entailed the measurements of melting temperature (Tm), solidification temperature (Ts), volumetric expansion (Ve), solubility of supercritical CO2, and solubility of the lipid mixtures in supercritical CO2 at fixed pressures. The Tm and Ts of lipid mixtures decreased progressively to a lower level (closer to 150 bar) that were then increased with increasing pressure. The volumetric expansion, solubility of supercritical CO2, and solubility of the lipid mixtures in supercritical CO2 increased as pressure increased. On the basis of the results, particle formation using these lipid mixtures as carrier materials could be feasible with supercritical CO2 at a temperature of 60 °C and pressures from 150 to 300 bar. The moderate temperature of the process could allow its application with thermally labile bioactive compounds.

Association mapping of seed vigor in spring soybean (Glycine max (L.) Merr.) in northeast China

High-vigor soybean seeds can result in the rapid and uniform emergence of seeds under a wide range of field conditions. We aimed to explore the quantitative trait loci of seed vigor traits and superior allelic and carrier materials from the soybean in northeast China. A total of 257 improved lines and 104 soybean landraces were used to evaluate seed vigor, using normal seedling fresh weight, normal seedling length, main root length, hypocotyl length, and germination percentage, in 2018 and 2019. In this study, the different degrees of LD was detected not only among syntenic markers but also among nonsyntenic ones, suggesting that there had been historical recombination among linkage groups. A total of 19 and 10 simple sequence repeat (SSR) markers associated with seed vigor were detected in improved lines and soybean landraces in 2018 and 2019, respectively. Our results also showed five SSR markers co-associated with two or three vigor traits. In addition, 41 superior alleles and their carrier materials were mined. Based on the elite alleles detected, the best cross combinations for improving seed vigor traits were proposed. The results demonstrate that association mapping is a valuable foundation for molecular breeding for soybean seed vigor.