Oil Recovery from Fractionated Dried Distillers Grains with Solubles (DDGS) Using Enzymes

Oil recovered from dried distillers grain with solubles (DDGS) can be a high-value product over animal feed to provide an additional profit to ethanol plants currently operating at slim profit margins. Fractionations of DDGS and enzymatic hydrolysis were considered in this study to improve the oil recovery from DDGS. A combination of sieving and then air aspiration was used to separate the original DDGS into three different fractions: light, medium, and heavy. The heavier fraction had up to 24% increased oil content compared to the original DDGS. Commercial enzymes, protease, cellulase, and hemicellulase were tested separately and in combinations at 55 °C for 3 h at 130 rpm to determine their effect on oil recovery from the original and fractionated DDGS. Oil recovery was significantly improved (around 20%) following enzyme hydrolysis of the sieved aspirated heavy fractions of DDGS compared to the original DDGS. More than 90% of oil recovery was achieved by using a combination of cellulase and protease enzymes. Increasing the temperature above 55 °C without any enzyme did not impact oil recovery using the heavy-fraction DDGS. Overall, fractionation and enzymatic hydrolysis showed promise to increase oil recovery from DDGS without any current ethanol plant design changes.

Study of Biocrudes Obtained via Hydrothermal Liquefaction (HTL) of Wild Alga Consortium under Different Conditions

Microalga-based fuels are promising solutions for replacing fossil fuels. This feedstock presents several advantages such as fast growth in a harsh environment and an ability to trap gases emitted from industries, thus reducing global warming effects. An efficient way to convert harvested microalgae into biofuels is hydrothermal liquefaction (HTL), which yields an intermediate product called biocrude. In this study, the elemental and molecular compositions of 15 different HTL biocrudes were determined by means of different techniques. Wild algae were cultivated in an industrial environment with plant emissions as a carbon source in fresh or seawater. It was notably observed that the culture medium had an influence on the biochemical composition and mineral matter content of algae. Thus, seawater algae were characterized by larger amounts of carbohydrates and mineral matter than freshwater ones, which also affected the oil yields and the light and heavy fractions of biocrudes.

Mycotoxins contamination of market maize and the potential of density sorting in reducing exposure in unregulated food systems in Kenya

Aflatoxins and fumonisins commonly contaminate key food staples in tropical countries, causing recurring acute and chronic public health problems. The present study was conducted to assess the potential of a simple device designed for density-based sorting of maize for its potential to reduce aflatoxins and fumonisins in diverse samples of naturally contaminated maize. A cross sectional survey was conducted, analysing market maize samples (n=204) from eight counties in Western Kenya. A quarter (25%) of the maize samples were contaminated with aflatoxin B1 above the legal limit of 5 μg/kg and nearly half (48%) were contaminated with fumonisins at levels above the legal limit of 2 μg/g. Analysis of additional samples (n=24) from Meru County showed that contamination of maize with the two toxins was also common in Eastern Kenya. A simple density sorter was used to separate grain samples into heavy and light fractions. With an out-sort rate of 31%, density sorting was effective in separating maize by bulk density and 100-kernel weight (P<0.001). Bulk density was negatively correlated with aflatoxins in unsorted (r=-0.20, P<0.01) and heavy fractions (r=-0.32, P<0.01). Density sorting was effective at reducing fumonisins; for maize samples with >1 μg/g, the heavy (accepted) fraction had 66% lower fumonisins than the unsorted maize. After density sorting, the light and heavy fractions fumonisin levels differed by an average of 8.38 μg/g (P<0.001). However, sorting was not effective at significantly reducing aflatoxin levels in maize that was highly contaminated. A simple density sorting equipment that could be adopted by local small-scale millers has potential to reduce fumonisins in maize. Additional and complementary sorting technologies, such as size screening and spectral sorting might improve the effectiveness of reducing aflatoxins in maize.

Young «oil site» of the Uzon Caldera as a habitat for unique microbial life

Background The Uzon Caldera is one of the places on our planet with unique geological, ecological, and microbiological characteristics. Uzon oil is the youngest on Earth. Uzon oil has unique composition, with low proportion of heavy fractions and relatively high content of saturated hydrocarbons. Microbial communities of the «oil site» have a diverse composition and live at high temperatures (up to 97 °C), significant oscillations of Eh and pH, and high content of sulfur, sulfides, arsenic, antimony, and mercury in water and rocks. Results The study analyzed the composition, structure and unique genetics characteristics of the microbial communities of the oil site, analyzed the metabolic pathways in the communities. Metabolic pathways of hydrocarbon degradation by microorganisms have been found. The study found statistically significant relationships between geochemical parameters, taxonomic composition and the completeness of metabolic pathways. It was demonstrated that geochemical parameters determine the structure and metabolic potential of microbial communities. Conclusions There were statistically significant relationships between geochemical parameters, taxonomic composition, and the completeness of metabolic pathways. It was demonstrated that geochemical parameters define the structure and metabolic potential of microbial communities. Metabolic pathways of hydrocarbon oxidation was found to prevail in the studied communities, which corroborates the hypothesis on abiogenic synthesis of Uzon hydrothermal petroleum.

Mathematical Modeling of Diesel Fuel Hydrotreating

The principles of mathematical modeling of Hydrotreating diesel fuel in the representation of raw materials in the form of a set of narrow fractions in which the total content of various organosulphuric components is considered as a pseudocomponent are considered. As a result of the analysis of schemes of reactor blocks of Hydrotreating plants the most perspective two-reactor systems characterized by separate desulfurization of streams are revealed. It is shown that the preliminary fractionation of Hydrotreating raw materials into light and heavy fractions with the choice of the optimal boundary of fraction division can minimize the loading of the catalyst into the reactor unit. An algorithm for solving this problem, including experimental and computational fragments, is presented.

Expansion of the feedstock base for the production of diesel fuel by involving the heavy fractions and cold flow improvers

In this paper, the viability of expanding the feedstock base of diesel fuel production by the involvement of the heavy diesel fraction and the use of cold flow improvers was shown. The influence of the heavy diesel fraction content in the diesel fuel composition on its low-temperature properties and the effectiveness of the cold flow improver were studied. It was established that the involvement of a small amount of the heavy diesel fraction (up to 3 vol%) increases the effectiveness of the cold flow improver in relation to the cold filter plugging point. The following recipes of diesel fuel production were recommended: the involvement of up to 5 vol% heavy diesel fraction allows producing fuel of the summer grade; the involvement of up to 5 vol% heavy diesel fraction and the cold flow improver allows producing fuel of the inter-season grade; and the involvement of up to 3 vol% heavy diesel fraction and the cold flow improver to produce fuel of the winter grade.

Phytoremediation of polluted soil at two sites in the district of Klaipeda (Lithuania)

The vegetation cover of two sites contaminated with heavy fractions oil products:Klaipeda State Oil Terminal (KSOT) of 130,000 sq. m area, and Pauoscio RailwayStation (PRS) of 60,000 sq. m area-has been investigated.It has been established, that phytotoxical effect begins with heavy oil concentrationsreaching I 000 g/m2 or 5 000 mg per l kg of dry soil. Such heavy oil containsp-edominantly tar (by 55 percent) and light hydrocarbons (below C28) composed of thefollowing factions (in percentage): paraffin-naphtene hydrocarbons - 15, olefins andcyclodiolefines -5, alkilaromatic - l, alkidiaromatic -4, polyaromatic -20.Also, plant species and communities have been identified. The KSOT site has been foundto nurture 271 species of vascular plants. The most part of this flora consists of referralplants aD'.I those specific for littoral sands. The most polluted area has been found tonurture 38 plant species.The most resistant to the fuel oil pollution are plants having long rootstocks and longtaproots: Calamagrostis epigejos, Carex hirta, Elytrigia repens, Leymus arenarius, Poacompressa, Artemisia campestris, Cirsium arvense, Convolvulus arvensis, Tanacetumvalgare, Tussilago farfara. Some of them can be used in ex-situ remediation of the oilpolluted soil at biodegradation ranges. They can also be used as model plants inexperimental selection of cultivated plants for bioremediation purposes.

Eksperimental Adsorpsi dan Absorpsi Air Permukaan menggunakan Komposit hibrida Batu Basalt/ Moringa oleifera/ Tepung Lengket

Pada penelitian ini, komposit hibrida sebagai adsorbsi dan absorpsi polutan pada air permukaan telah dibuat. Komposisi hibrida terdiri dari batu basalt (BB) dan moringa oleifera (MO) sebagai pengisi dan tepung lengket (TL) sebagai matrik. Komposisi fraksi berat yaitu 40 wt% pengisi dan 60 wt% matrik telah diaplikasikan. Proses pencetakan panas (hot-press) telah digunakan untuk memproduksi komposit hibrida masing-masing variasi dengan melalui suhu 200° Celcius dan tekanan 2000 psi. Tujuan penelitian menginovasi kemampuan bahan dalam fungsi sebagai penyerap dan pengikat polutan pada air permukaan. Perendaman komposit hibrida selama 14 hari pada air permukaan telah dilakukan untuk menguji sifat adsorpsi dan absorpsi. Turbidity dilakukan untuk menentukan nilai kekeruhan dan nilai kandungan micro-organisme pada air permukaan sebelum dan setelah penambahan komposit hibrida. Hasil pengujian ditunjukan pertambahan paling tinggi yaitu pada spesimen dengan komposisi 40% batu basalt dan 60% tepung lengket dengan pertambahan berat sebesar 21,11 gram selama 336 jam dan paling kecil pada spesimen dengan komposisi 40% moringa oleifera dan 60% tepung lengket dengan pertambahan berat sebesar 4,15 gram selama 336 jam. Pada air dilakukan pengujian terhadap kekeruhan, pH dan bakteri pada air setelah dilakukan pengujian, dimana hasil pada spesimen dengan komposisi 40% moringa oleifera dan 60% tepung dapat mengurangi bakteri coliform sebesar 78,6%. hybrid composition is consisted of basalt and moringa oleifera with filler wood flour as a matrix. The composition of heavy fractions is 40 wt% filler and 60 wt% matrix has been applied. The hot-press process has been used to produce hybrid composites of each variation through a temperature of 200° Celsius and a pressure of 2000 psi. The purpose of this research is to inovate the ability of materials to function as absorbent and as binder of pollutants in surface water. Immersion of hybrid composites for 14 days in surface water has been carried out to test the characteristic of adsorption and absorption. Turbidity is done to determine the turbidity value and the value of micro-organism content in surface water before and after the addition of hybrid composites. The test results showed the highest increase in the specimens with a composition of 40% basalt stone and 60% sticky flour with a weight gain of 21.11 grams for 336 hours and the smallest in specimens with a composition of 40% moringa oleifera and 60% wood flour with weight gain amounting to 4.15 grams for 336 hours. In the water testing of turbidity, pH and bacteria on water after testing, the results on specimens with a composition of 40% moringa oleifera and 60% wood flour can reduce coliform bacteria by 78.6%.

Lignocellulosic Ethanol Biorefinery: Valorization of Lignin-Rich Stream through Hydrothermal Liquefaction

Hydrothermal liquefaction of lignin-rich stream from lignocellulosic ethanol production at an industrial scale was carried out in a custom-made batch test bench. Light and heavy fractions of the HTL biocrude were collected following an ad-hoc developed two-steps solvent extraction method. A full factorial design of experiment was performed, investigating the influence of temperature, time and biomass-to-water mass ratio (B/W) on product yields, biocrude elemental composition, molecular weight and carbon balance. Total biocrude yields ranged from 39.8% to 65.7% w/w. The Temperature was the main influencing parameter as regards the distribution between the light and heavy fractions of the produced biocrude: the highest amount of heavy biocrude was recovered at 300 °C, while at 350 and 370 °C the yield of the light fraction increased, reaching 41.7% w/w at 370 °C. Instead, the B/W ratio did not have a significant effect on light and heavy biocrude yields. Feedstock carbon content was mainly recovered in the biocrude (up to 77.6% w/w). The distribution between the light and heavy fractions followed the same trend as the yields. The typical aromatic structure of the lignin-rich stream was also observed in the biocrudes, indicating that mainly hydrolysis depolymerization occurred. The weight-average molecular weight of the total biocrude was strictly related to the process temperature, decreasing from 1146 at 300 °C to 565 g mol−1 at 370 °C.

SURFACE AND ADHESION PROPERTIES STUDY OF PROPHYLACTIC LUBRICANTS BORDER LAYERS ON METALLIC SURFACE

This study is aimed the developing the special petroleum products, namely, preventive lubricants (PL) used in the field of solid minerals transportation. The surface and adhesion characteristics of the prophylactic compositions developed earlier on the basis of thermodestructive and thermocatalytic processes products of oil refining are investigated. It is set that the prophylactic agents contain the far of surface active substances, such as resins, pyrobitumens and other polyaromatic hydrocarbon compounds: in the heavy gas-oil of the catalytic cracking their content is above 45.96 %, in an easy gas-oil – 15.07 %, that results in the improvement of viscosity-temperature properties of products and promotes their oiling ability. The basic amount of compounds with high superficial activity is contained in heavy fractions of oil, and in the process of processing concentrated in a petroleum residue - petroleum tar that was used as depression addition in mixtures of prophylactic agents. For protecting of metallic surfaces of mountain transport from a direct contact with the transported material in the conditions of the lowered temperatures it is recommended to apply composition of the catalytic cracking mixtures with content of petroleum tar from 2 to 5%. <span style="opacity: 0;"> . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . </span>