Floc-based sequential partial nitritation and anammox at full scale with contrasting N2O emissions

New Activated Sludge (NAS^®) is a hybrid, floc-based nitrogen removal process without carbon addition, based on the control of sludge retention times (SRT) and dissolved oxygen (DO) levels. The aim of this study was to examine the performance of a retrofitted four-stage NAS^® plant, including on-line measurements of greenhouse gas emissions (N₂O and CH₄). The plant treated anaerobically digested industrial wastewater, containing 264 mg N L⁻¹, 1154 mg chemical oxygen demand (COD) L⁻¹ and an inorganic carbon alkalinity of 34 meq L⁻¹. The batch-fed partial nitritation step received an overall nitrogen loading rate of 0.18-0.22 kg N m⁻³ d⁻¹, thereby oxidized nitrogen to nitrite (45-47%) and some nitrate (13-15%), but also to N₂O (5.1-6.6%). This was achieved at a SRT of 1.7 d and DO around 1.0 mg O₂ L⁻¹. Subsequently, anammox, denitrification and nitrification compartments were followed by a final settler, at an overall SRT of 46 d. None of the latter three reactors emitted N₂O. In the anammox step, 0.26 kg N m⁻³ d⁻¹ was removed, with an estimated contribution of 71% by the genus Kuenenia, which constituted 3.1% of the biomass. Overall, a nitrogen removal efficiency of 95% was obtained, yielding a dischargeable effluent. Retrofitting floc-based nitrification/denitrification with carbon addition to NAS^® allowed to save 40% of the operational wastewater treatment costs. Yet, a decrease of the N₂O emissions by about 50% is necessary in order to obtain a CO₂ neutral footprint. The impact of emitted CH₄ was 20 times lower.     

Identification of Thiols in Yellow Onion (Allium cepa L.) Using Solvent Vented Large Volume Injection GC‐MS

Thiols are often highly odor active molecules and as such can significantly contribute to aroma while being present at extremely low concentrations. This paper details the identification of thiols in yellow onion juice by solvent extraction followed by thiol enrichment using a mercuric agarose gel column. Due to the inherent thermal instability and low concentrations of thiols in onion, chromatographic analysis utilized larger volume solvent elimination injections. New sulfur compounds in onion included 1,1‐propanedithiol, bis‐(1‐sulfanylpropyl)‐sulfide, 1‐methylsulfanyl‐1‐propanethiol, 1‐propylsulfanyl‐1‐propanethiol, and 1‐allylsulfanyl‐1‐propanethiol. A discussion on the potential route of formation for each compound is included along with the orthonasal and retronasal evaluations of the synthesized molecules. This work investigated and identified 5 newly identified compounds present in onions that can impart onion character at low concentrations levels.     

HAWT near‐wake aerodynamics,Part I: axial flow conditions

An improved physical understanding of the rotor aerodynamics of a horizontal axis wind turbine (HAWT) is required to reduce the uncertainties associated with today's design codes. Wind tunnel experiments contribute to increased knowledge and enable validation and construction of models. The present study focuses on the near‐wake of a model HAWT in both axial and yawed flow conditions. At three downstream planes parallel to the rotor plane, single‐sensor hot‐film traverses are made. The phase‐locked unsteady three‐dimensional flow velocity vector is determined by a novel data reduction method. A series of two papers discusses the near‐wake aerodynamics of a model HAWT. The main goals are to obtain a detailed understanding of the near‐wake development and to arrive at a base for model construction and validation. The first paper presents the experimental setup, data reduction and the results for the baseline case (axial flow conditions). In the second paper, the results for the yawed flow cases are presented and the effect of yaw misalignment on the near‐wake development is discussed. Copyright © 2008 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.     

Low‐Noise Multispectral Photodetectors Made from All Solution‐Processed Inorganic Semiconductors

Infrared, visible, and multispectral photodetectors are important components for sensing, security and electronics applications. Current fabrication of these devices is based on inorganic materials grown by epitaxial techniques which are not compatible with low‐cost large‐scale processing. Here, air‐stable multispectral solution‐processed inorganic double heterostructure photodetectors, using PbS quantum dots (QDs) as the photoactive layer, colloidal ZnO nanoparticles as the electron transport/hole blocking layer (ETL/HBL), and solution‐derived NiO as the hole transport/electron blocking layer (HTL/EBL) are reported. The resulting device has low dark current density of 20 nA cm^‐2 with a noise equivalent power (NEP) on the order of tens of picowatts across the detection spectra and a specific detectivity (D*) value of 1.2 × 10¹² cm Hz^1/2 W^‐1. These parameters are comparable to commercially available Si, Ge, and InGaAs photodetectors. The devices have a linear dynamic range (LDR) over 65 dB and a bandwidth over 35 kHz, which are sufficient for imaging applications. Finally, these solution‐processed inorganic devices have a long storage lifetime in air, even without encapsulation.     

Cubic millimeter power inductor fabricated in batch-type wafer technology

A hybrid technology for the realization of three-dimensional (3-D) miniaturized power inductors is presented. Our devices consist of planar Cu coils on polyimide substrates, and mm-size ferrite magnetic cores, obtained by three-dimensional micro-patterning of ferrite wafers using powder blasting. The coils are realized using an in-house developed high-resolution polyimide spinning and Cu electroplating process. Winding widths down to 5 /spl mu/m have been obtained and total device volumes are ranging between 1.5 and 10 mm/sup 3/. Inductive and resistive properties are characterized as a function of frequency; inductance values in the 100 /spl mu/H range have been obtained.     

Effects of Aramchol on in vitro bile cholesterol crystallization and bile acid detergency

The hydrophilic bile acid ursodeoxycholic acid may dissolve cholesterol gallstones and is beneficial in cholestatic liver diseases. The C20 fatty acid‐bile acid conjugate arachidyl amido cholanoic acid (Aramchol) could be a more effective option. We therefore studied its effects on cholesterol crystallization and on bile salt‐induced cytotoxicity. Effects of Aramchol at therapeutically relevant concentrations on crystallization in supersaturated model biles (by microscopy and chemical measurement), on the ternary cholesterol‐taurocholate‐phosphatidylcholine phase diagram, and on micelle ? vesicle transitions (by serial dilution or by incubation of cholesterol‐phosphatidylcholine vesicles with taurocholate) were evaluated. Effects on bile salt‐induced cytotoxicity were determined in erythrocytes and CaCo2 cells. Incorporation of Aramchol in model biles did not change micellar cholesterol solubilization, induced a small rightward shift of crystal‐containing zones of the ternary phase diagram, exerted no appreciable effects on vesicle ? micelle transitions and had only minor effects on cholesterol crystallization. Bile salt‐induced cytotoxicity was increased by Aramchol in all models. Since Aramchol does not affect cholesterol crystallization, its previously reported beneficial effects in animal gallstone models should relate to other mechanisms. Since Aramchol increases bile salt detergency, it is not likely to be beneficial in cholestatic liver disease.     

Three-dimensional magnetic focusing of superparamagnetic beads for on-chip agglutination assays

We present a new method for three-dimensional (3D) magneticfocusing of magnetic microparticles in a microfluidic system. On-chip magnetic particle manipulation in the microchannel is achieved by a high-gradient magnetic field generated by means of a micromachined field concentrator. The system allows retention of functionalized beads in a dense plug while flowing through buffer or analyte. Slowly reducing the magnetic retention force in the presence of a flow results in controlled release of the particles into a fine streamline with regular longitudinal interparticle spacing. Alignment at half-height of the channel is readily obtained through the symmetry of the magnetic field. A single lateral sheath flow is required to provide full 3D focusing of the microparticles in the middle of the microchannel with a maximum deviation of ±5 μm from the center position. With the use of this system, a new approach for performing an immunoagglutination assay on-chip has been implemented. Three-dimensional focusing allowed reliable counting of singlets and agglutinated doublets. We demonstrate the potential of the agglutination assay in a microfluidic format using a streptavidin/biotinylated bovine serum albumin (bBSA) model system. A detection limit of about 400 pg/mL (6 pM) is achieved.