Combination of alkaline and microwave pretreatment for disintegration of meat processing wastewater sludge.

Meat processing wastewater sludge has high organic content but it is very slow to degrade in biological processes. Anaerobic digestion may be a good alternative for this type of sludge when the hydrolysis, known to be the rate-limiting step of biological sludge anaerobic degradation, could be eliminated by disintegration. This investigation deals with disintegration of meat processing wastewater sludge. Microwave (MW) irradiation and combined alkaline pretreatment and MW irradiation were applied to sludge for disintegration purposes. Disintegration performance of the methods was evaluated with disintegration degree based on total and dissolved organic carbon calculations (DD(TOC)), and the solubilization of volatile solids (S(VS)) in the pretreated sludge. Optimum conditions were found to be 140 degrees C and 30 min for MW irradiation using response surface methodology (RSM) and pH = 13 for combined pretreatment. While DD(TOC) was observed as 24.6% and 54.9, S(VS) was determined as 8.54% and 42.5% for MW pretreated and combined pretreated sludge, respectively. The results clearly show that pre-conditioning of sludge with alkaline pretreatment played an important role in enhancing the disintegration efficiency of subsequent MW irradiation. Disintegration methods also affected the anaerobic biodegradability and dewaterability of sludge. An increase of 23.6% in biogas production in MW irradiated sludge was obtained, comparing to the raw sludge at the end of the 35 days of incubation. This increase was observed as 44.5% combined pretreatment application. While MW pretreatment led to a little improvement of the dewatering performance of sludge, in combined pretreatment NaOH deteriorates the sludge dewaterability.

Hydrolysis of acid and alkali presoaked lignocellulosic biomass exposed to electron beam irradiation.

In this study, synergetic effect of mild acid and alkali with electron beam irradiation (EBI) on the enzymatic hydrolysis of a selected grass biomass was assessed. Biomass samples prepared by soaking with 1% H2SO4, or 1% NaOH, were exposed to 75 and 150 kGy of EBI. Water presoaked biomass was used as control. Hydrolysis of pretreated samples was carried out using cellulase (15 FPU/g biomass) for 120 h. Structural changes were studied by FTIR and XRD analyses. Reducing sugar and glucose yields from enzymatic hydrolysis were significantly higher in acid and alkali presoaked EBI exposed samples. Theoretical glucose yield showed 40% increase from control in alkali presoaked EBI exposed (150 kGy) samples. Removal of hemicellulose, decreased crystallinity and structural changes were major factors for the combined treatment effect favoring the hydrolysis.

Enhancement in mesophilic aerobic digestion of waste activated sludge by chemically assisted thermal pretreatment method.

The effects of hybrid microwave (MW)-alkali pretreatment methods on the efficiency of mesophilic aerobic digestion were studied. The MW-alkali pretreatment (95°C-pH 12) was observed to enhance the sludge solubilization synergistically from 0.5% (raw) to 52.5% (MW-NaOH) and 48.7% (MW-KOH), which are 20% greater than the additive value of MW only and alkali only (16%(MW)+28.4%(NaOH)=44.4% and 16%(MW)+25.5(KOH)=41.5). The higher VSS solubilization was observed for hybrid MW-NaOH (53.9%) and MW-KOH (47.4%) methods. The batch mesophilic (35°C) aerobic digestion system led to 81.1% TCOD degradation and 72.4% VSS degradation at 20 days of retention time, with 35% higher TCOD and VSS reduction in comparison with the control system. The filterability of microwave-alkali pretreated sludge was improved remarkably after aerobic digestion. Moreover, the proposed method is capable of effectively sanitize the sewage sludge and produce Class A biosolids.

Effect of alcaline cations in zeolites on their dielectric properties.

The effect on dielectric properties of alkaline cations Li+, Na+ and K+ incorporated in a zeolite Faujasite structure X or Y, has been investigated. Two major phenomena have been proved to occur: ionic conductivity and rotational polarization of the water molecules adsorbed. The polarizability of the cation which is directly linked to its radius, affects ionic conductivity as well as rotational polarization. Li cations are more strongly Linked to the framework than K+ and Na+ and induce a lower ionic conductivity. K+ is weakly fixed and induces a ionic conductivity even at low solvation level. At low water content, the cation nature and number mainly control the free rotation of the water molecules and affect the relaxation frequency. Close to saturation, the water molecules are mainly linked together by H bonds: the cation nature and number do not really affect the global dielectric properties anymore.

Kinetics model for combined (alkaline+ultrasonic) sludge disintegration.

Combined (alkaline+ultrasonic) technology could be applied as pretreatment to disintegrate sludge flocs and disrupt bacterial cells' walls. Influence factors were investigated, including ultrasonic density, ultrasonic intensity, sludge pH and sludge concentration. Based on the test data, kinetics model for sludge disintegration was established by applying multivariable linear regression method. It could be inferred from the kinetics model that sludge pH had the most significant effect on the sludge disintegration.

Ultrasound-assisted preparation of alkaline graphite intercalation compounds.

Alkaline graphite intercalation compounds were prepared by flake graphite, potassium dichromate, concentrated sulfur acid and sodium hydroxide under ultrasound irradiation and characterized by scanning electron microscopy and X-ray diffraction. The influences of solution alkalinity, bath temperature and reaction time on the expansion volume were also investigated. The results show that alkaline graphite intercalation compounds were prepared when SO(4)(2-) and OH(-) ions were inserted into the spaces between the graphene planes, producing a flake morphology and multilevel structure. At the same time that the interlayer volume expanded, the oxidizing ability of the solid increased. When the bath temperature, the reaction time and the solution alkalinity were at 33-36 degrees C, at 60 min and for pH=13, the top expansion volume was 35 mL g(-1).

Deep optical trap for cold alkaline-Earth atoms.

We describe a setup for a deep optical dipole trap or lattice designed for holding atoms at temperatures of a few mK, such as alkaline-Earth atoms which have undergone only regular Doppler cooling. We use an external optical cavity to amplify 3.2 W from a commercial single-frequency laser at 532 nm to 523 W. Powers of a few kW, attainable with low-loss optics or higher input powers, allow larger trap volumes for improved atom transfer from magneto-optical traps. We analyze possibilities for cooling inside the deep trap, the induced Stark shifts for calcium, and a cancellation scheme for the intercombination clock transition using an auxiliary laser.

Optical absorption, TL and IRSL of basic plagioclase megacrysts from the pinacate (Sonora, Mexico) quaternary alkalic volcanics.

The paper presents the first results of an investigation on optical absorption (OA), thermally and infrared stimulated luminescence (TL and IRSL) of the Pinacate plagioclase (labradorite). The OA spectra reveal two bands with maxima at 1.0 and 3.2 eV connected with absorption of the Fe3+ and Fe2+ and IR absorption at wavelengths longer than 2700 nm. The ultraviolet absorption varies exponentially with the photon energy following the 'vitreous' empirical Urbach rule indicating exponential distribution of localised states in the forbidden band. The natural TL is peaked at 700 K. Laboratory beta irradiation creates a very broad TL peak with maximum at 430 K. The change of the 430 K TL peak shape under the thermal cleaning procedure and dark storage after irradiation reveals a monotonous increasing of the activation energy that can be explained by the exponential distribution of traps. The IRSL response is weak and exhibits a typical decay behaviour.