Difference between heartwood and sapwood
Forest Products Laboratory (U.S.)
1919
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Fungi producing high xylanase levels have
attracted considerable attention because of their potential
industrial applications. Batch cultivations of Aspergillus
terricola fungus were evaluated in stirred tank and airlift
bioreactors, by using wheat bran particles suspended in
the cultivation medium as substrate for xylanase and
b-xylosidase production. In the stirred tank bioreactor,
in physical conditions of 30°C, 300 rpm, and aeration of
1 vvm (1 l/min), with direct inoculation of fungal spores,
7,475 U/l xylanase was obtained after 36 h of operation,
remaining constant after 24 h. In the absence of air injection
in the stirred tank reactor, limited xylanase production
was observed (final concentration 740 U/l). When the fermentation
process was realized in the airlift bioreactor,
xylanase production was higher than that observed in ...
Deposition of Pseudomonas fluorescens on aluminium, brass and copper plates was studied in a flow system. The number of bacteria deposited on aluminium was greater than on the other two types of metals. The results are discussed in terms of the mechanisms (transport and/or adhesion) that may control the rate of the deposition process. Adhesion data are compared with the predictions given by thermodynamic models.
This study brings new experimental data on the bubble formation process with a particular focus on the behaviour of the gas–liquid interface (meniscus) inside a transparent orifice on a perforated plate. The meniscus plays an important role by coupling the gas and liquid sides. The goal was to find the effect of five important control parameters on the bubble production and the meniscus behaviour (orifice diameter, plate thickness, gas chamber size, liquid height, and liquid viscosity). The gas input was also varied. Three physical signals were taken in the measurements to extract the information needed (gas pressure in plenum, acoustic pressure in liquid, and video record of meniscus motion). Several relevant quantities were measured to characterize the bubbling process (bubbling period, active orifice time, and periods of meniscus os...
The effect of Pb on Saccharomyces cerevisiae cell structure and function was examined. Membrane integrity was assessed by the release of UV-absorbing compounds and by the intracellular K+ efflux. No leakage of UV260-absorbing compounds or loss of K+ were observed in Pb (until 1,000 μmol/l) treated cells up to 30 min; these results suggest that plasma membrane seems not to be the immediate and primary target of Pb toxicity. The effect of Pb on yeast metabolism was examined using the fluorescent probe FUN-1 and compared with the ability to reproduce, evaluated by colony-forming units counting. The exposition of yeast cells, during 60 min to 1,000 μmol/l Pb, induces a decrease in the ability to process FUN-1 although the cells retain its proliferation capacity. A more prolonged contact time (120 min) of yeast cells with Pb induces a marke...
In this work we aimed to optimize the production of extracellular polymeric substances (EPS) by an Arthrobacter viscosus biofilm supported on 13X zeolite to be used in the biosorption of Cr(VI). The optimization parameters were agitation rate, work volume, pH and glucose concentration. Following the optimization of EPS production, the biofilm was used in the biosorption of hexavalent Cr from liquid solutions. Differences between the use of dead or active biomass and between the performance of zeolite in powder or in pellet form were also studied. The optimized EPS production allowed values of metal uptake between 2.72 mg/gbiosorbent and 7.88 mg/gbiosorbent for initial Cr(VI) concentrations of 20–60 mg/L. For an initial concentration of 20 mg/L, the optimal conditions of EPS production allowed an increase of 10% on the removal percentag...
A hybrid system combining the ion-exchange properties of a NaY zeolite and the characteristics of the bacterium Arthrobacter viscosus was investigated to treat polluted effluents with dye and toxic metals. In this study, the dye and the metal ion employed were a thiazine dye, Azure B, and chromium (VI), respectively. Initially, the removal of dye by the zeolite was tested. The analysis of dye equilibrium isotherms data was done using Langmuir, Freundlich, Sips and Redlich–Peterson models. Redlich–Peterson model gave the better fitting to data. In the dye adsorption studies, pseudo-second order kinetics showed the more reliable results. Operating at the optimised conditions in the treatment of single pollutants, a mixture of dye and metal solutions was treated reaching a removal higher than 50% for chromium (VI) and higher than 99% for ...
The cellular network of metabolic reactions, together with constraints of (ir)reversibility of enzymes, determines the space of all possible steady-state phenotypes. Analysis of large metabolic models, however, is not feasible in real-time and identification of a smaller model without loss of accuracy is desirable for model-based bioprocess optimization and control. To this end, we propose two search algorithms for systematic identification of a subset of pathways that match the observed cellular phenotype relevant for a particular process condition. Central carbon metabolism of Escherichia coli was used as a case-study together with three phenotypic datasets obtained from the literature. The first search method is based on ranking pathways and the second is a controlled random search (CRS) algorithm. Since we wish to obtain a biologic...
The aim of this work was to characterise the affinity of protein preparations from Moringa oleifera seeds, specifically extract (seeds homogenised with 0.15 M NaCl), fraction (extract precipitated with 390 mg mL−1 of ammonium sulphate) and cMoL (coagulant M. oleifera lectin) to bind humic acids using a haemagglutinating activity assay with rabbit erythrocytes and a radial diffusion assay in agarose gel. Specific haemagglutinating activity (SHA) decreased by 94 % for the extract and cMoL and by 50 % for the fraction in the presence of humic acid. Precipitation bands were observed in the diffusion gel. Both results suggested humic acid-cMoL binding. Carbohydrates, potassium, and calcium ions and pH affected the SHA of cMoL. As an example of application, cMoL was immobilised on a column packed with sepharose receiving 20 mg mL−1 of carbon...
Gas absorption in aqueous solutions with Tween 80 and absorption processes based on hydrodynamics and mass transfer is determined. The impact of surfactant concentration on gas holdup and gas-liquid interfacial area is analyzed, observing an increase of these parameters with surfactant concentration. The influence of liquid-phase contamination on the absorption process is investigated on the basis of the liquid-film mass transfer coefficient, removing the effect caused by the presence of a surfactant and the gas flow rate on the interfacial area and, thereby, on the volumetric mass transfer coefficient. The opposite effect on the mass transfer coefficient can be observed which decreases in the presence of the surfactant.
Geobacter species are important in the reduction of metals (e.g. Fe, Mn) in soils and sediments and constitute one of the most effective microorganisms known to use electrodes as the sole electron acceptor in microbial fuel cells to generate electricity.
G. sulfurreducens transfers electrons directly to the electrode from different external membrane cytochromes. Each cytochrome is associated with a range of electrical potentials, being energetically more favourable than some others. Different growth conditions of the bacteria, such as temperature, may influence the prevalence of certain cytochromes in the external membrane. The aim of this work was to evaluate the difference in the electronic transfer mechanisms in G. sulfurreducens that growth at different temperatures (25 ºC and 37 ºC).
The cyclic voltammetry is an electrochemical t...
