The effect of monoethylene glycol on the stability of water-in-oil emulsions

It is important from both a strategic and economic standpoint to study the mechanism of formation of water/oil emulsions, to predict their increase of viscosity with respect to that of the crude oil, and to obtain information about the stability vs separation of these substances (since their presence can impair oil processing and distribution). The objective of this work was to ascertain the influence of monoethylene glycol (MEG) on these parameters and its action mechanism. The addition of MEG in different proportions in the oil emulsions significantly changed the flow curve of the emulsion, passing from a quasi-Newtonian one to a shear thinning behaviour. Besides this, when MEG was present at low concentrations, the demulsification process was slow and an increase in concentration made the emulsions more stable than samples containing the same aqueous phase proportion. Under the conditions studied, the addition of MEG did not reduce the quantity of the aqueous phase separated compared to the emulsions free of MEG, but significantly delayed the demulsification process. Rheology provided important information regarding the phase separation process of the aqueous phase in oil phase emulsions, and dynamic testing suggested that the most relevant effect of the addition of MEG is an increase of the emulsion elasticity that can be correlated with the increase in the emulsion stability observed by bottle test and Turbiscan.     

Conformational Stabilization of Gp41-Mimetic Miniproteins Opens Up New Ways of Inhibiting HIV-1 Fusion

Inhibition of the HIV-1 fusion process constitutes a promising strategy to neutralize the virus at an early stage before it enters the cell. In this process, the envelope glycoprotein (Env) plays a central role by promoting membrane fusion. We previously identified a vulnerability at the flexible C-terminal end of the gp41 C-terminal heptad repeat (CHR) region to inhibition by a single-chain miniprotein (named covNHR-N) that mimics the first half of the gp41 N-terminal heptad repeat (NHR). The miniprotein exhibited low stability, moderate binding to its complementary CHR region, both as an isolated peptide and in native trimeric Envs, and low inhibitory activity against a panel of pseudoviruses. The addition of a disulfide bond stabilizing the miniprotein increased its inhibitory activity, without altering the binding affinity. Here, to further study the effect of conformational stability on binding and inhibitory potency, we additionally stabilized these miniproteins by engineering a second disulfide bond stapling their N-terminal end, The new disulfide-bond strongly stabilizes the protein, increases binding affinity for the CHR target and strongly improves inhibitory activity against several HIV-1 strains. Moreover, high inhibitory activity could be achieved without targeting the preserved hydrophobic pocket motif of gp41. These results may have implications in the discovery of new strategies to inhibit HIV targeting the gp41 CHR region.     

Extraction and Characterization of Montmorency Sour Cherry (Prunus cerasus L.) Pit Oil

Montmorency sour cherry (Prunus cerasus L.) pit oil (CPO) was extracted and characterized by various methods including: GC, LC–MS, NMR, thermogravimetric analysis (TGA), differential scanning calorimetry (DSC) and X‐ray powder diffraction (XRD). The oil gave an acid value of 1.45 mg KOH/g, saponification value of 193 mg KOH/g and unsaponifiable matter content of 0.72 %. The oil contained oleic (O) and linoleic (l ) acids as the major components with small concentrations of α‐eleostearic acid (El, 9Z,11E,13E‐octadecatrienoic acid) and saturated fatty acid palmitic (P) acid. The CPO contained six major triacyglycerols (TAG), OOO (16.83 %), OLO (16.64 %), LLO (13.20 %), OLP (7.25 %), OOP (6.49 %) and LElL (6.16 %) plus a number of other minor TAG. The TAG containing at least one saturated fatty acid constitute 33 % of the total. The polymorphic behavior of CPO as studied by DSC and XRD confirmed the presence of α, β′ and β crystal forms. The oxidative induction time of CPO was 30.3 min at 130 °C and the thermal decomposition temperature was 352 °C.     

Modeling bread baking with focus on overall deformation and local porosity evolution

A two dimensional model of bread baking was developed including, for the first time, the dependence of dough viscosity on both temperature and moisture content, the carbon dioxide dissolved from liquid water together with gas generation from yeast at the beginning of baking and the shrinkage due to dough drying. Particular attention was paid to experimental validation of both overall and local variables such as local temperature, overall mass loss, and local moisture content, overall CO₂ released into the oven, and overall deformation and local expansion or shrinkage. Sensitivity studies on generation of carbon dioxide, gravity, and shrinkage are presented to discuss their influences on bread geometry, porosity (reflecting the alveolar structure) and gas pressure. © 2016 American Institute of Chemical Engineers AIChE J, 62: 3847–3863, 2016     

BaTiO3 incorporation effect on the dielectric properties of polymer from aqueous emulsion: An enhanced dispersion technique

An economic and environment friendly process was adapted to synthesize new dielectric composite materials. Using ethylene vinyl acetate (EVA)/vinyl ester of versatic acid (VeoVa) terpolymer as an aqueous emulsion provides a homogenous dispersion of BaTiO₃ (BT) particles, due to the high viscosity and polarity of the vinyl resin (VR). Composites films were obtained from these dispersions by water evaporation. The evolution of the dielectric properties as a function of the BaTiO₃ content, was correctly fitted by a Maxwell‐Garnett model. This fitting of the experimental curve shows a good dispersion of filler in the vinyl resin and the particles separation by a layer of resin as expected for the preparation method used in this study. The VR/BT composites show good synergy between the dielectric properties of the different phases of the composites due to the formation of macrodipoles and to the strong interactions between polar EVA/VeoVa groups and the BaTiO₃ particles surface. © 2016 Wiley Periodicals, Inc. J. Appl. Polym. Sci. 2016 , 133, 44333.     

Production of Biomass-Derived Chemicals and Energy: Chemocatalytic Conversions of Glycerol

The growing production of biodiesel as a renewable source-based fuel leads to an increased amount of glycerol. Thus, it is a favorable starting material to obtain highly functionalized products. From a variety of catalytic reactions three examples, namely glycerol oxidation, glycerol hydrogenolysis and aqueous-phase reforming, were chosen for detailed studies in our group. The experimental focus for the oxidation of glycerol was set on preparation and detailed examination of supported Pt–Bi catalysts in batch reactions as well as in continuous experiments using a trickle bed reactor. For aqueous-phase reforming of glycerol to hydrogen the addition of tin to supported platinum catalysts was investigated. Ruthenium and copper based catalysts could be successfully applied in the hydrogenolysis of glycerol to 1,2-propanediol.     

A scientific application oriented classification for metal transfer modes in GMA welding

In this work, metal transfer in solid wire GMA welding was studied. Several experiments with different combinations of gas-wire-parameters were carried out to observe metal transfer and to characterize the various transfer modes. A laser shadograph system with synchronized electrical signals and high speed filming were used. New modes were observed and their particular characteristics described for completeness. A classification for metal transfer, oriented to scientific personnel (researchers, scholars and students), is proposed, in which the modes are independent of the type of shielding gas or welding power source.     

Joint strength optimization by the mixed-adhesive technique

An ideal adhesive lap joint is one in which the adhesive flexibility and strength properties vary along the overlap length. Because of greater adhesive shear strains at the edges of the overlap, a ductile and flexible adhesive should be used at the overlap ends, while in the middle a stiff and less-ductile adhesive should be used. This technique has been investigated in the past but only a few studies have reported any experimental evidence. In the present study, single-lap adhesive joints were manufactured and tested maintaining the same brittle adhesive in the middle of the overlap and using three different ductile adhesives of increasing ductility at the ends of the overlap. A simple joint strength prediction is proposed for mixed-adhesive joints. The mixed-adhesive technique gives joint strength improvements in relation to a brittle adhesive alone in all cases. For a mixed adhesive joint to be stronger than the brittle adhesive and the ductile adhesive used individually, the load carried by the brittle adhesive must be higher than that carried by the ductile adhesive.     

Improving the tensile strength of carbon nanotube spun yarns using a modified spinning process

A modified process for the dry spinning of carbon nanotube (CNT) yarn is reported. The approach gives an improved structure of CNT bundles in the web drawn from the CNT forest and in the yarn produced from the twisted web leading to improved mechanical properties of the yarn. The process enables many different mechanical and physical treatments to be applied to the individual stages of the pure CNT spinning system, and may allow potential for the development of complex spinning processes such as polymer-CNT-based composite yarns. The tensile strength and yarn/web structure of yarn spun using this approach have been investigated and evaluated using standard tensile testing methods along with scanning electron microscopy. The experimental results show that the tensile properties were significantly improved. The effect of heat treatments and other yarn constructions on the tensile properties are also reported.