Black liquor increases methane production from excess pulp and paper industry sludge.

The aim of the study was to use black liquor produced during the soda pulping process in a pulp and paper mill to increase methane production during pulp and paper industry sludge treatment and decrease the treatment cost. The effects of black liquor on sludge solubilization and methane production were assessed and the economic feasibility of the process was evaluated. Black liquor and NaOH were found to be equivalent in the thermochemical pretreatment process to solubilize sludge and disintegrate flocs. However, adding black liquor increased the background chemical oxygen demand and volatile fatty acid concentration and increased the amount of methane produced by approximately 7-30%. A start-up delay was emphasized by first-order kinetics model due to black liquor addition while methane production remained stable. Economic assessments of five scenarios were performed. It was found to be economically feasible to use black liquor to replace NaOH for the thermal pretreatment process. The surplus methane generated suggested that co-digestion of sludge and black liquor allows surplus bioenergy to be produced during the thermochemical pretreatment anaerobic digestion process.

Erectile dysfunction in men with high-normal blood pressure / 中华男科学杂志

<p><b>OBJECTIVE</b>To investigate the prevalence of erectile dysfunction (ED) in men with high-normal blood pressure (HNBP).</p><p><b>METHODS</b>This study included 120 men with HNBP and another 120 with normal blood pressure (NBP) as controls. We analyzed the scores of the two groups on the International Index of Erectile Dysfunction 5 (IIEF-5).</p><p><b>RESULTS</b>The ED prevalence in the men with HNBP was 25.8%. After controlling for age, nationality, occupation, education, income, smoking, alcohol consumption, exercise, obesity, fatty liver, blood lipids, blood glucose, and blood uric acid, the incidence of ED was 25.8% in the HNBP group, significantly higher than 14.2% in the NBP group (P<0.05).</p><p><b>CONCLUSION</b>The prevalence of ED is higher in men with HNBP than in those with NBP.</p>