The influence of biomass co-combustion on boiler fouling and efficiency

The paper presents an attempt to evaluate the influence of biomass co-combustion on the fouling of boiler convection surfaces. In order to show the influence of co-firing biomass with bituminous coal on boiler efficiency, the calculations of pulverized fuel (PF) OP 140 steam generator have been carried out. Typical Upper Silesian coal with medium fouling inclination has been chosen as a basic fuel. Three kinds of biomass have been taken into consideration: straw, wood and dried sewage sludge. The results confirm that the properties of additional fuels cause deterioration of the boiler efficiency as well as the changes in boilers operational parameters (amount of water injected in attemperators, ash stream, hot air temperature). The biomass during cofiring in fact replaces the coal, but always the additional fuel consumption is higher than that of the substituted coal. Therefore, the actual decrease of coal consumption is smaller than the thermal fraction of the biomass.     

防治畜类寄生线虫的又一阿维菌素类化合物--道拉菌素

道拉菌素是利用生物突变合成方法得到的新型阿维菌素族广谱杭寄生虫药。它的化学结构和作用机制与依维菌素相似。试验证实道拉菌素在低剂量下对多种体内外寄生虫具有良好的防治效果。     

Calcium addition in straw gasification

The present work focuses on the influence of calcium addition in gasification. The inorganic-organic element interaction as well as the detailed inorganic-inorganic elements interaction has been studied. The effect of calcium addition as calcium sugar/molasses solutions to straw significantly affected the ash chemistry and the ash sintering tendency but much less the char reactivity. Thermo balance test are made and high-temperature X-ray diffraction measurements are performed, the experimental results indicate that with calcium addition major inorganic-inorganic reactions take place very late in the char conversion process. Comprehensive global equilibrium calculations predicted important characteristics of the inorganic ash residue. Equilibrium calculations predict the formation of liquid salt if sufficient amounts of Ca are added and according to experiments as well as calculations calcium binds silicon primarily as calcium silicates and less as potassium calcium silicates.     

Study of the potential valorisation of heavy metal contaminated biomass via phytoremediation by fast pyrolysis: Part II: Characterisation of the liquid and gaseous fraction as a function of the temperature

Fast pyrolysis of heavy metal contaminated birch (CMB), resulting from phytoremediation, is investigated. The effect of the pyrolysis temperature (673, 773, 873 K) on the composition and evolution of the bio-oil/tar fraction and the gas fraction has been studied. The knowledge of the composition of the gaseous and liquid pyrolysis fractions, as a function of the pyrolysis temperature, affects directly future applications and valorisation of the pyrolysis products and are indispensable for making and selecting the proper thermal conditions for their optimal use. In view of the future valorisation of this heavy metal contaminated biomass, the pyrolysis temperature is imperative, because some of the heavy metals can volatilize at temperatures generally used for the co-combustion or fast pyrolysis of biomass.     

Hydrothermal upgrading of wood biomass: Influence of the addition of K2CO3 and cellulose/lignin ratio

The hydrothermal treatment of two different wood biomass samples such as cherry (hard wood) and cypress (soft wood), whose composition is different i.e. lignin, cellulose and hemicellulose were performed at 280 °C for 15 min with aq. K₂CO₃ with different concentrations (0–1 M). The soft wood biomass contains higher lignin content than hard wood biomass. The cellulose rich cherry wood biomass produced higher proportion of acetic acid than cypress. The lignin rich cypress produced the hydrocarbons with major portion of phenolic hydrocarbons and derivatives than cherry. The total oil yields from both cherry and cypress wood biomass produced 50 wt% of liquid hydrocarbons at 280 °C for 15 min with 0.5 M K₂CO₃ solution. The volatility distribution of liquid hydrocarbons showed the characteristic features of soft and hard wood biomasses.     

The effect of the addition of chemical materials on the sintering of biomass ash

In this work the use of chemical materials (additives) in order to reduce the biomass ash sintering tendency is investigated. A total of seven additives (kaolin, limestone, lime, dolomite, calcined dolomite, ophite and alumina) and silica utilised as reference material were mixed in different proportions with the ash of five different biomasses, and then a laboratory sintering test was performed on the mixtures to determine the effect of the additives on the sintering. The biomasses studied in this work were: thistle biomass, brassica carinata biomass, barley straw, almond shell and orujillo (olive oil extraction residue). The sintering decrease among the additives was studied using X-ray diffraction.Kaolin, lime, calcined dolomite and ophite are proved to be suitable to reduce the biomass sintering in all the considered cases. Dolomite, limestone and, particularly, the tabular alumina, offer poorer results. The dilution of the biomass ash is considered the main process involved in the decrease of the sintering for most of the additives, with the exception of kaolin whose chemical reactions could be more important than the dilution effect.     

FACTORS AFFECTING THE SOIL MICROBIAL QUALITY MEASUREMENTS OF BIOMASS QUOTIENT AND RESPIRATION QUOTIENT

The soil microbial biomass quotient (expressed as a percentage of the total soil organic carbon) and the specific rate of carbon-dioxide production by soil microbes (respiration quotient) are often used as indicators of stress on soil microbial populations. A low biomass quotient or a high respiration quotient is considered to be an indication of stress from, for example, toxicity from metals in sewage sludge applied to soils. These metabolic quotients are affected by a wide variety of other factors such as the biodegradability of soil organic-carbon amendments, plant inputs of organic carbon into soils, natural variations in microbial population sizes with depth, and in the rhizosphere of plants. These variations could be sufficiently large to make interpretation of changes in biomass quotient and respiration quotient, as a response to stress, problematical.     

Enhancing sulphur self-retention by building-in CaO in straw–bitumen pellets

Combined straw–bitumen pellets have been proposed as an alternative fuel. An interesting finding is the potentiality of straw ash constituents to retain sulphur as bitumen that has relatively high sulphur content. The aim of the present work is to enhance sulphur self-retention to directly meet the environmental regulations by building-in CaO in the pellet instead of feeding sorbent separately. CaO powder has been mixed with the pellet constituents during production processes.     

Functionalized metal–organic frameworks with strong acidity and hydrophobicity as an efficient catalyst for the production of 5-hydroxymethylfurfural

In the dehydration of fructose to 5-hydroxymethyl furfural(HMF), in situ produced water weakens the acid strength of the catalyst and causes the rehydration of HMF, causing unsatisfactory catalytic activity and selectivity. In this work, a class of benzenesulfonic acid-grafted metal–organic frameworks with strong acidity and hydrophobicity is obtained by the direct sulfonation method using 4-chlorobenzenesulfonic acid as sulfonating agent. The resultant MOFs have a specific surface area of greater than 250 m~2·g~(-1), acid density above 1.0 mmol·g~(-1), and water contact angle up to 129°. The hydrophobic MOF-Ph SO_3 H exhibits both higher catalytic activity and selectivity than MOF-SO_3 H in the HMF synthesis due to its better hydrophobicity and olephilicity. Moreover, the catalyst has a high recycled stability. At last, fructose is completely converted, and 98.0% yield of HMF is obtained under 120 °C in a DMSO solvent system. The successful preparation of the hydrophobic acidic MOF provides a novel hydrophobic catalyst for the synthesis of HMF.     

Identification of the Catalytic Residues in the Cyclase Domain of the Class IV Lanthipeptide Synthetase SgbL

Lanthipeptides belong to the family of ribosomally synthesized and post-translationally modified peptides (RiPPs) and are subdivided into different classes based on their processing enzymes. The three-domain class IV lanthipeptide synthetases (LanL enzymes) consist of N-terminal lyase, central kinase, and C-terminal cyclase domains. While the catalytic residues of the kinase domains (mediating ATP-dependent Ser/Thr phosphorylations) and the lyase domains (carrying out subsequent phosphoserine/phosphothreonine (pSer/pThr) eliminations to yield dehydroalanine/dehydrobutyrine (Dha/Dhb) residues) have been characterized previously, such studies are missing for LanL cyclase domains. To close this gap of knowledge, this study reports on the identification and validation of the catalytic residues in the cyclase domain of the class IV lanthipeptide synthetase SgbL, which facilitate the nucleophilic attacks by Cys thiols on Dha/Dhb residues for the formation of β-thioether crosslinks.