Lactic acid production from dining‐hall food waste by Lactobacillus plantarum using response surface methodology

BACKGROUND: Food waste generally has a high starch content and is rich in nutritional compounds, including lipids and proteins. It therefore represents a potential renewable resource. In this study, dining‐hall food waste was used as a substrate for lactic acid production, and response surface methodology was employed to optimise the fermentation conditions. RESULTS: Lactic acid biosynthesis was significantly affected by the interaction of protease and temperature. Protease, temperature and CaCO₃ had significant linear effects on lactic acid production, while α‐amylase and yeast extract had insignificant effects. The optimal conditions were found to be an α‐amylase activity of 13.86 U g^?1 dried food waste, a protease activity of 2.12 U g^?1 dried food waste, a temperature of 29.31 °C and a CaCO₃ concentration of 62.67 g L^?1, which resulted in a maximum lactic acid concentration of 98.51 g L^?1 (88.75% yield). An increase in inoculum size would be appropriate for accelerating the depletion of initial soluble carbohydrate to enhance the efficiency of α‐amylase in dining‐hall food waste fermentation. CONCLUSION: A suitable regression model for lactic acid production was developed based on the experimental results. Dining‐hall food waste was found to be a good substrate for lactic acid fermentation with high product yield and without nutrient supplementation. Copyright © 2008 Society of Chemical Industry     

Study on the long‐term thermal‐oxidative aging behavior of polyamide 6

The long‐term thermal‐oxidative aging behavior of polyamide 6 (PA6) was studied by comparison with the stabilized sample in this work. The variation of mechanical properties of the pure and the stabilized samples of PA6 with aging time at 110°C, 130°C, and 150°C were investigated, respectively. The aging mechanism of PA6 under heat and oxygen was studied in terms of the reduced viscosity, crystallization behavior, dynamic mechanical behavior, and chemical composition through the methods of polarized light microscopy (PLM), differential scanning calorimetry (DSC), dynamic mechanical analysis (DMA), X‐ray photoelectron energy spectrum (XPS), and so on. The results indicated that at the initial stage of aging, the molecular crosslinking reaction of PA6 dominated resulting in the increase of the mechanical strength, reduced viscosity, and the glass transition temperature of the sample. And the molecular degradation dominated in the subsequent aging process resulting in the decrease of the melting temperature, the increase of the crystallinity, and the formation of the oxides and peroxides products. © 2008 Wiley Periodicals, Inc. J Appl Polym Sci, 2008     

Thermal stabilization effect of biphenol monoacrylate on polyamide 6

Biphenol monoacrylate (AL) was combined with a traditional hindered phenolic‐based binary antioxidant system to form a ternary stabilization system for the purpose of further improving the thermal–oxidative stability of polyamide 6 (PA6). The thermal stabilization effect of the antioxidant AL on PA6 was studied in terms of the reduced viscosity, the chemical structure, the yellow index, and the mechanical properties. The results showed that the antioxidant AL, with the proper chemical structure, could improve the thermal stability of PA6 effectively through a unique bifunctional stabilizing mechanism. The interaction of the molecules of PA6 with the antioxidant AL was investigated. © 2008 Wiley Periodicals, Inc. J Appl Polym Sci, 2008     

Synthesis and characterization of a novel proton‐exchange membrane for fuel cells operating at high temperatures and low humidities

The synthesis of a p‐toluidine/formaldehyde (PTF) resin was performed, and the effects of the molar ratio of the individual monomers and the polymerization conditions on the structure of the PTF resin were studied. Fourier transform infrared and ¹³C‐NMR spectra were used to characterize the PTF. Wide‐angle X‐ray diffraction patterns revealed the crystalline structures of various PTFs. Polarized optical microscopy revealed that the molar ratio of the monomers had a strong effect on the crystalline morphologies. A longer polymerization time turned out a polymer with a higher intrinsic viscosity and molecular weight, which led to differences in the proton conductivity. All of the PTFs showed a higher proton conductivity than a commercial Nafion membrane at 90–100°C and 0% relative humidity. The proton conductivity of the PTF series could be improved by sulfonation with sulfuric acid and could be maintained after blending with polyurethane. Pure methanol could be used as a fuel source because of the insolubility and nonwetting properties of PTF in methanol to increase the output current density for a PTF membrane electrode assembly. © 2007 Wiley Periodicals, Inc. J Appl Polym Sci 2008     

Influence of post‐treatments on the properties of porous poly(vinyl alcohol) membranes

Porous poly(vinyl alcohol) (PVA) membranes were prepared by a phase‐inversion method. The influence of chemical crosslinking and heat treatments on the swelling degree, resistance to compaction, mechanical strength, and morphology of porous PVA membranes was extensively studied. The crosslinking degree and crystallinity of the membranes, calculated from IR spectra, increased with the treatment time. The porosity, calculated on the basis of swelling experiments, showed a decreasing trend for heat‐treated membranes but remained almost at a constant value for crosslinked membranes. Such a change was further proved with scanning electron microscopy pictures. The behavior was explained by the rearrangement of PVA chains during the heat‐treatment process, which led to morphological changes in the membranes. The mechanical properties of the porous membranes in dry and wet states were measured, and a great difference was observed between crosslinked and heat‐treated membranes in the dry and wet states. The crosslinked membranes showed good mechanical properties in the dry state but became fragile in the wet state. On the contrary, the heat‐treated membranes were more flexible in the wet state than in the dry state. This change was explained by the turnaround of inner stress in the systems during the swelling process. © 2007 Wiley Periodicals, Inc. J Appl Polym Sci, 2008     

Viscoelastic properties of polyarylene ether nitriles/thermotropic liquid crystalline polymer blend

Polyarylene ether nitriles (PEN)/thermotropic liquid crystalline polymer (TLCP) blend was prepared via melt mixing. The immiscible phase morphologies, linear and nonlinear, as well as transient viscoelastic properties of the blend were studied using SEM, rheometer, and DMA. The linear dynamic viscoelastic behavior of the blend shows temperature dependence due to further evolution of the immiscible morphology and, as a result, the principle of time‐temperature superposition (TTS) is invalid. In the steady shear flow, the discrete TLCP phase is difficult to be broken up because of the high viscosity ratio of the blend systems, while is easy to be coarsened and followed by elongation, and finally, to form fibrous morphology at high TLCP content and high shear level. During this morphological evolution process, the transient stress response presents step increase and nonzero residual relaxation behavior, leading to increase of the dynamic viscoelastic responses after steady preshear. © 2008 Wiley Periodicals, Inc. J Appl Polym Sci, 2008     

Modeling the effect of pigment morphology on the dynamic compression of coating layers using DEM

In the present paper, discrete element method (DEM) was employed to investigate the effect of pigment morphology on packing dynamics and compressive behavior of paper coating layers in calendering process. Spherical, platy, and needle-like particles, representing GCC, delaminated clay, and aragonite PCC pigments, were considered in this study. For each particle shape, the compression of coating structures formed by mono-sized and poly-dispersed pigments were modeled. Stress–strain behavior of the coating layers and in-plane and out-of-plane movements of the pigment particles during the compression were computed under the same maximum compressive stress. Simulation results revealed that the in-plane movements of the pigment particles during compression in the calender nip were small in magnitude (<0.35 μm). These findings help to better understand the smoothening phenomena of coating structures during the calendering process.     

固体超强酸S_2O_8~(2-)/SnO_2-SiO_2催化合成环己酮1,2-丙二醇缩酮

采用沉淀-浸渍法制备了固体超强酸S2O28-/SnO2-SiO2,以它为催化剂催化环己酮和1,2-丙二醇合成了环己酮1,2-丙二醇缩酮;考察了带水剂种类及用量、酮醇摩尔比、催化剂用量、反应时间对产品收率的影响,并用正交实验对反应条件进行了优化。实验结果表明,适宜的反应条件为:n(环己酮)∶n(1,2-丙二醇)=1∶1.6、催化剂用量为反应物料总质量的2.0%、带水剂环己烷用量5.0mL、反应时间50min。在此条件下,环己酮1,2-丙二醇缩酮收率达到91.47%;催化剂的稳定性良好,在重复使用5次后环己酮1,2-丙二醇缩酮收率为82.20%,活性下降的主要原因为催化剂表面积碳和吸附了有机物;经傅里叶变换红外光谱和气相色谱质谱分析表明,产物为环己酮1,2-丙二醇缩酮,纯度为100%。     

管内覆丝网强化对流换热及阻力特性的实验研究

通过实验对管内覆丝网管进行了强迫对流换热和阻力特性研究。结果表明：管内覆丝网使换热明显增强，阻力也相应增长。菱形丝网对角线距离与平行边距离之比对换热效果有决定作用，丝网厚度对换热的影响比较小，而丝网网格的大小对换热几乎没有影响，在相同的泵功率和几何条件下，换热系数最大增加２１％。     

用αβ谱仪测量人工αβ放射性气溶胶体积活度的试验研究

本文介绍了用αβ谱仪系统同时测量αβ谱、实现Ｒｎ／Ｔｈ子体补偿、确定超铀α核素气溶胶体积活度及人工放射性气溶胶总β体积活度的技术途径。利用ＲａＡ、ＲａＣ′ａ峰的二段时间计数可确定空气中ＲａＡ、ＲａＢ、ＲａＣ的气溶胶体积活度，相应的，也能给出ＲａＢ、ＲａＣ对总β计数的贡献。根据一般环境条件下的平衡比，用ＴｈＣ′的。计数修正Ｔｈ子体对αβ测量的影响。￣［２３９］ｐｕ或／和￣［２４１］Ａｍ人工核素的α计数，可通过两段时间分别扣除ＲａＡ、ＲａＣ′拖尾的方法确定；β计数分别扣除Ｒｎ／Ｔｈ子体β贡献即可确定。在本文规定的测量条件下，对室内天然Ｒｎ子体水平在１５Ｂｑ／ｍ￣３以下，超铀α核素气溶胶体积活度的测量下限可达到０．１Ｂｑ／ｍ￣３；即使在７５Ｂｑ／ｍ￣３环境下，人工核素总β的测量下限也可达ｌＢｑ／ｍ￣３以下。