Addressing the Reuse of Deep Eutectic Solvents in Li-ion Battery Recycling: Insights Into Dissolution Mechanism, Metal Recovery, Regeneration and Decomposition.

Deep eutectic solvents (DESs) have garnered attention in Li-ion battery (LIB) recycling due to their declared eco-friendly attributes and adjustable metal dissolution selectivity, offering a promising avenue for recycling processes. However, DESs currently lack competitiveness compared to mineral acids, commonly used in industrial-scale LIB recycling. Current research primarily focuses on optimizing DES formulation and experimental conditions to maximize metal dissolution yields in standalone leaching experiments. While achieving yields comparable to traditional leaching systems is important, extensive DES reuse is vital for overall recycling feasibility. To achieve this, evaluating the metal dissolution mechanism can assist in estimating DES consumption rates and assessing process makeup stream costs. The selection of appropriate metal recovery and DES regeneration strategies is essential to enable subsequent reuse over multiple cycles. Finally, decomposition of DES components should be avoided throughout the designed recycling process, as by-products can impact leaching efficiency and compromise the safety and environmental friendliness of DES. In this review, these aspects are emphasized with the aim of directing research efforts away from simply pursuing the maximization of metal dissolution efficiency, towards a broader view focusing on the application of DES beyond the laboratory scale.

Towards vibrant fish populations and sustainable fisheries that benefit all: learning from the last 30 years to inform the next 30 years.

A common goal among fisheries science professionals, stakeholders, and rights holders is to ensure the persistence and resilience of vibrant fish populations and sustainable, equitable fisheries in diverse aquatic ecosystems, from small headwater streams to offshore pelagic waters. Achieving this goal requires a complex intersection of science and management, and a recognition of the interconnections among people, place, and fish that govern these tightly coupled socioecological and sociotechnical systems. The World Fisheries Congress (WFC) convenes every four years and provides a unique global forum to debate and discuss threats, issues, and opportunities facing fish populations and fisheries. The 2021 WFC meeting, hosted remotely in Adelaide, Australia, marked the 30th year since the first meeting was held in Athens, Greece, and provided an opportunity to reflect on progress made in the past 30 years and provide guidance for the future. We assembled a diverse team of individuals involved with the Adelaide WFC and reflected on the major challenges that faced fish and fisheries over the past 30 years, discussed progress toward overcoming those challenges, and then used themes that emerged during the Congress to identify issues and opportunities to improve sustainability in the world's fisheries for the next 30 years. Key future needs and opportunities identified include: rethinking fisheries management systems and modelling approaches, modernizing and integrating assessment and information systems, being responsive and flexible in addressing persistent and emerging threats to fish and fisheries, mainstreaming the human dimension of fisheries, rethinking governance, policy and compliance, and achieving equity and inclusion in fisheries. We also identified a number of cross-cutting themes including better understanding the role of fish as nutrition in a hungry world, adapting to climate change, embracing transdisciplinarity, respecting Indigenous knowledge systems, thinking ahead with foresight science, and working together across scales. By reflecting on the past and thinking about the future, we aim to provide guidance for achieving our mutual goal of sustaining vibrant fish populations and sustainable fisheries that benefit all. We hope that this prospective thinking can serve as a guide to (i) assess progress towards achieving this lofty goal and (ii) refine our path with input from new and emerging voices and approaches in fisheries science, management, and stewardship.

From Trace to Pure: Pilot-Scale Scandium Recovery from TiO2 Acid Waste.

Scandium (Sc), declared a critical raw material in the European Union (EU), could face further supply issues as the EU depends almost entirely on imports from China, Russia, and Ukraine. In this study, a tandem nanofiltration-solvent extraction procedure for Sc recovery from titania (TiO2) acid waste was piloted and then augmented by antisolvent crystallization. The new process, comprising advanced filtration (hydroxide precipitation, micro-, ultra-, and nanofiltration), solvent extraction, and antisolvent crystallization, was assessed in relation to material and energy inputs and benchmarked on ScF3 production. From ∼1 m3 of European acid waste containing traces of Sc (81 mg L-1), ∼13 g of Sc (43% yield, nine stages) was recovered as (NH4)3ScF6 with a purity of approximately 95%, demonstrating the technical feasibility of the approach. The production costs per kilogram of ScF3 were lower than reported market prices, which underscores a competitive process at scale. Although a few technical bottlenecks (e.g., S/L separation and electricity consumption) need to be overcome, combining advanced filtration with solvent extraction and antisolvent crystallization promises a future supply of this critical raw material from European secondary sources.

Solubility of ammonium metal fluorides in aqueous ethanol mixtures - implications for scandium recovery by antisolvent crystallization.

The recovery of scandium from waste streams of other mining and metallurgical processing industries is gaining research interest due to the scarcity of scandium-containing ores. Hydrometallurgical techniques such as leaching, solvent extraction and crystallization amongst others have been successfully applied to recover scandium salts from such waste streams. Scandium can be recovered as (NH4)3ScF6 by antisolvent crystallization from NH4F strip liquors obtained after solvent extraction. The coextraction of metal impurities such as Fe, Al, Zr and Ti causes contamination of the final solid product. The extent of coprecipitation of ammonium metal fluorides depends on their initial concentration in the strip liquor and their solubility in the NH4F-antisolvent mixtures. Here, the solubility of ammonium metal fluorides of Sc, Zr, Fe, Al and Ti is reported separately in 3 mol L-1 NH4F-ethanol mixtures at 25 °C as well as in a system containing all five solid phases. The solubility of (NH4)3ZrF7 is slightly higher than that of (NH4)3ScF6, while the solubilities of (NH4)3FeF6 and (NH4)3AlF6 are significantly lower in comparison to (NH4)3ScF6. The solubility of (NH4)2TiF6 is 1-2 orders of magnitude higher than those of other ammonium metal fluorides. When a mixture of ammonium metal fluoride salts is dissolved in the same 3 mol L-1 NH4F-ethanol mixture as for the individual salts, the resultant solubility of the ammonium metal fluorides of Sc, Zr and Fe decreases significantly, while the resultant solubility of ammonium aluminum hexafluoride increases. This is likely due to changes in solution speciation with increased NH4F concentration and ionic strength.

Impregnation of preparative high-performance solid phase extraction chromatography columns by organophosphorus acid compounds.

The flexible and reversible preparation of columns for use in high-performance solid phase extraction chromatography by physisorption of organophosphorus acid extractants has been investigated in detail. Two extractants have been evaluated, bis (2-ethyl-1-hexyl) phosphoric acid (HDEHP) and 2-ethyl-1-hexyl (2-ethyl-1-hexyl) phosphonic acid (HEHEHP), but the developed procedure should be broadly applicable to other extractants. The liquid-liquid solubility of the extractants in feed solvents consisting of aqueous ethanol solutions of varying composition has been determined. The total amount of adsorbed extractant has been quantified by complete desorption and elution with ethanol followed by acid-base titrimetry. Column impregnation with feed solutions of varying concentration in the undersaturated region has been systematically evaluated, and the influence of a subsequent water wash step has been explored. It is shown that to achieve a robust and reproducible physisorption, the adsorbed amount of extractant should be determined after the wash step, and care must be taken when using indirect methods of measurement. Equilibrium Langmuir-type adsorption isotherms as a function of the extractant concentration in the feed solution have been determined. Adsorption of HEHEHP is higher than HDEHP for equal feed compositions, but the solubility of HEHEHP is lower, resulting in approximately identical maximum coverage levels. The ability of the resulting columns to separate rare earth elements have been verified for a mixture of eight metals using a combined isocratic and gradient elution of nitric acid.

Solubilisation of Ni(II) and Eu(III) through complexation with a polyaryl ether based superplasticizer in alkaline media.

Solubilisation of Ni(II) and Eu(III) by complexation with a polyaryl ether based superplasticizer (PAE SP) in alkaline solutions was studied. The solubilisation was investigated in two types of artificial cement pore waters simulating different stages of cement degradation at a pH of 12.4 and 13.3, respectively. The solubility of Ni(II) and Eu(III) increased as the concentration of superplasticizer was increased from 0.04 to 0.4 wt%. When the concentration of SP was increased from 0.4 to 4%, the solubility of Eu(III) and Ni(II) increased in the pore water with a pH of 12.4, while the concentrations decreased in the pore water with a pH of 13.3. This is explained by a more rapid degradation of the superplasticizer at higher pH leading to a release of phosphate groups and thereby precipitation of Eu(III) and Ni(II) as phosphates. Based on results of the solubilisation of Ni(II) and Eu(III) by model compounds (anisole and PEG 400) and 31P NMR spectroscopy it was confirmed that the complexation of the studied metals with the PAE polymer occurs via the phosphate group of the superplasticizer.

Occurrence of the largetooth sawfish Pristis pristis (Linneaus, 1758) in northern Peru.

The largetooth sawfish (Pristis pristis) is listed as Critically Endangered on the IUCN Red List (Kyne et al. 2013). This species has been recorded in the Eastern Tropical Pacific, where its range has been described as extending from Mazatlan, Mexico, to northern Peru (Chirichigno Cornejo 2001). Recent research efforts suggest that largetooth sawfish are now extremely rare or locally extinct on Mexico's Pacific coast (Bonfil et al. 2018). There is no current information on the status of largetooth sawfish in Panama or Colombia; the most recent record of a largetooth sawfish captured on Colombia's Pacific coast occurred in 2007 (Chasqui et al. 2017). In Ecuador, the species had been considered extirpated. However, in 2014, a large largetooth sawfish was captured by local fisherman in southern Ecuador, taken to the fishing port of Salinas and then released by the environmental agency (Barriga 2012; Rosas-Luis 2014). In Peru, recent reports of largetooth sawfish have been rare, but two captures of largetooth sawfish by fishermen (2014 and 2015) in northern Peru were reported (Mendoza et al. 2017). This confirms that the species is still occasionally encountered in this region.

Green Synthesis of Metal-Organic Framework Bacterial Cellulose Nanocomposites for Separation Applications.

Metal organic frameworks (MOFs) are porous crystalline materials that can be designed to act as selective adsorbents. Due to their high porosity they can possess very high adsorption capacities. However, overcoming the brittleness of these crystalline materials is a challenge for many industrial applications. In order to make use of MOFs for large-scale liquid phase separation processes they can be immobilized on solid supports. For this purpose, nanocellulose can be considered as a promising supporting material due to its high flexibility and biocompatibility. In this study a novel flexible nanocellulose MOF composite material was synthesised in aqueous media by a novel and straightforward in situ one-pot green method. The material consisted of MOF particles of the type MIL-100(Fe) (from Material Institute de Lavoisier, containing Fe(III) 1,3,5-benzenetricarboxylate) immobilized onto bacterial cellulose (BC) nanofibers. The novel nanocomposite material was applied to efficiently separate arsenic and Rhodamine B from aqueous solution, achieving adsorption capacities of 4.81, and 2.77 mg g‒1, respectively. The adsorption process could be well modelled by the nonlinear pseudo-second-order fitting.

First description of a giant manta ray fetus Mobula birostris (Walbaum 1792) from Tumbes, Peru (Southeast Pacific).

The population of Mobula birostris ("giant manta ray") found in the waters of northern Peru and Ecuador is believed to be the largest in the world (Harding Beirwagen, 2009). This species is considered to be the largest within the group of manta rays, as they attains at least 670 cm disc width (reported to 910 cm) (White et al., 2006) and there is a record of an individual weighing 2000 kg (Kunjipalu Boopendranath, 1981). This species is ovoviviparous (matrotrophic viviparious) (Herbert, 2012). A single pup follows a gestation period of approximently one year, (Marshall et al., 2008, Mendonça et al., 2012). Sucessive pregnancies are speculated to be separated by a refactory period of two or more years (Mendonça et al., 2012). The objective of this study is to record the measurements of a M. birostris fetus of a female caught accidentally in the region of Tumbes, Peru. This is the first record of morphological and morphometric data regarding a manta fetus in Peru.

Incorporation of strontium and europium in crystals of α-calcium isosaccharinate.

The final repository for short-lived, low and intermediate level radioactive waste in Sweden is built to act as a passive repository. Already within a few years after closure water will penetrate the repository and conditions of high alkalinity (pH 10.5-13.5) and low temperature (< 7 °C) will prevail. The mobility of radionuclides in the repository is dependent on the radionuclides distribution between solid and liquid phases. In the present work the incorporation of strontium (II) and europium (III) in α-calcium isosaccharinate (ISA) under alkaline conditions (pH ∼10) at 5 °C and 50 °C have been studied. The results show that strontium and europium are incorporated into α-Ca(ISA)2 when crystallized both at 5 °C and 50 °C. Europium is incorporated to a greater extent than strontium. The highest incorporation of europium and strontium at 5 °C rendered the phase compositions Ca0.986Eu0.014(ISA)2 (2.4% of Eu(ISA)3 by mass) and Ca0.98Sr0.02(ISA)2 (2.2% of Sr(ISA)2 by mass). XPS spectra show that both trivalent and divalent Eu coexist in the Eu incorporated samples. Strontium ions were found to retard the elongated growth of the Ca(ISA)2 crystals. The incorporation of Sr2+ and Eu3+ into the solid phase of Ca(ISA)2 is expected to contribute to a decreased mobility of these ions in the repository.

Effects of cellulose degradation products on the mobility of Eu(III) in repositories for low and intermediate level radioactive waste.

The deep repository for low and intermediate level radioactive waste SFR in Sweden will contain large amounts of cellulosic waste materials contaminated with radionuclides. Over time the repository will be filled with water and alkaline conditions will prevail. In the present study degradation of cellulosic materials and the ability of cellulosic degradation products to solubilize and thereby mobilise Eu(III) under repository conditions has been investigated. Further, the possible immobilization of Eu(III) by sorption onto cement in the presence of degradation products has been investigated. The cellulosic material has been degraded under anaerobic and aerobic conditions in alkaline media (pH: 12.5) at ambient temperature. The degradation was followed by measuring the total organic carbon (TOC) content in the aqueous phase as a function of time. After 173days of degradation the TOC content is highest in the anaerobic artificial cement pore water (1547mg/L). The degradation products are capable of solubilising Eu(III) and the total europium concentration in the aqueous phase was 900µmol/L after 498h contact time under anaerobic conditions. Further it is shown that Eu(III) is adsorbed to the hydrated cement to a low extent (<9µmol Eu/g of cement) in the presence of degradation products.

Cross border semantic interoperability for clinical research: the EHR4CR semantic resources and services.

With the development of platforms enabling the use of routinely collected clinical data in the context of international clinical research, scalable solutions for cross border semantic interoperability need to be developed. Within the context of the IMI EHR4CR project, we first defined the requirements and evaluation criteria of the EHR4CR semantic interoperability platform and then developed the semantic resources and supportive services and tooling to assist hospital sites in standardizing their data for allowing the execution of the project use cases. The experience gained from the evaluation of the EHR4CR platform accessing to semantically equivalent data elements across 11 European participating EHR systems from 5 countries demonstrated how far the mediation model and mapping efforts met the expected requirements of the project. Developers of semantic interoperability platforms are beginning to address a core set of requirements in order to reach the goal of developing cross border semantic integration of data.

Structural and magnetic properties of the low-dimensional fluoride ß-FeF3(H2O)2·H2O.

We have reinvestigated the crystal structure of the low-dimensional fluoride ß-FeF3(H2O)2·H2O using high resolution neutron and X-ray diffraction data. Moreover we have studied the magnetic behavior of this material combining medium resolution and high flux neutron powder diffraction together with magnetic susceptibility measurements. This fluoride compound exhibits vertex-shared 1D Fe(3+) octahedral chains, which are extended along the c-axis. The magnetic interactions between adjacent chains involve super-superexchange interactions via an extensive network of hydrogen bonds. This interchain hydrogen bonding scheme is sufficiently strong to induce a long range magnetic order appearing below T = 20(1) K. The magnetic order is characterized by the propagation vector k = (0, 0, 1/2), giving rise to a strictly antiferromagnetic structure where the Fe(3+) spins are lying within the ab-plane. Magnetic exchange couplings extracted from magnetization measurements are found to be J∥/kb = -18 K and J⊥/kb = -3 K. These values are in good agreement with the neutron diffraction data, which show that the system became antiferromagnetically ordered at ca. TN = 20(1) K.

Smart Program Design Through a Common Information Model.

Although much information is already available publically from information-sharing initiatives such as ClinicalTrials.gov, information about clinical programs is unstructured, inconsistent, and incomplete. Clinical research within bioscience companies, health care, academia, and governmental agencies could benefit from easier access to best practices, historical information, and improved information sharing. Facilitating information sharing requires a standardized information model. Information standards today focus on individual clinical trials and the representation of clinical trial data. Although work is ongoing to expand standards to cover the protocol, these are insufficient to capture the objectives, rationale, and design thinking behind clinical programs. An information model is proposed to cover the rationalization and decision-making aspects of designing a clinical program and its associated trials. This paper is the output of a newly formed multicompany working group that examines the merits of a clinical program-level information standard. An example information model is presented to explain the concept.

A framework for evaluating and utilizing medical terminology mappings.

Use of medical terminologies and mappings across them are considered to be crucial pre-requisites for achieving interoperable eHealth applications. Built upon the outcomes of several research projects, we introduce a framework for evaluating and utilizing terminology mappings that offers a platform for i) performing various mappings strategies, ii) representing terminology mappings together with their provenance information, and iii) enabling terminology reasoning for inferring both new and erroneous mappings. We present the results of the introduced framework from SALUS project where we evaluated the quality of both existing and inferred terminology mappings among standard terminologies.

Standard-based EHR-enabled applications for clinical research and patient safety: CDISC - IHE QRPH - EHR4CR & SALUS collaboration.

Integration profiles collaboratively developed by CDISC and IHE for integrating data from Electronic Health Records (EHRs) with clinical research and pharmacovigilance are limited to resolving lexical/syntactic data integration issues and do not address semantic barriers. This paper describes the collaboration between two European projects - EHR4CR and SALUS - in implementing ISO/IEC 11179-based metadata registries (MDRs) and semantically integrated cross-platform data access. A common "semantic MDR" provides a framework for bidirectional/cross-MDR mapping and federated queries are enabled using the newly-defined IHE Data Exchange (DEX) profile. In the pilot implementation, mappings for 178 EHR4CR and 199 SALUS metadata elements were persisted in the semantic MDR. The DEX profile was then used to access semantically equivalent data elements in SALUS or EHR4CR participating EHR systems. ISO/IEC 11179-based MDRs and DEX integration profile address the goal of developing pan-EU computable semantic integration of data from clinical care, clinical research, and patient safety platforms.

Advancing translational research with the Semantic Web.

BACKGROUND: A fundamental goal of the U.S. National Institute of Health (NIH) "Roadmap" is to strengthen Translational Research, defined as the movement of discoveries in basic research to application at the clinical level. A significant barrier to translational research is the lack of uniformly structured data across related biomedical domains. The Semantic Web is an extension of the current Web that enables navigation and meaningful use of digital resources by automatic processes. It is based on common formats that support aggregation and integration of data drawn from diverse sources. A variety of technologies have been built on this foundation that, together, support identifying, representing, and reasoning across a wide range of biomedical data. The Semantic Web Health Care and Life Sciences Interest Group (HCLSIG), set up within the framework of the World Wide Web Consortium, was launched to explore the application of these technologies in a variety of areas. Subgroups focus on making biomedical data available in RDF, working with biomedical ontologies, prototyping clinical decision support systems, working on drug safety and efficacy communication, and supporting disease researchers navigating and annotating the large amount of potentially relevant literature. RESULTS: We present a scenario that shows the value of the information environment the Semantic Web can support for aiding neuroscience researchers. We then report on several projects by members of the HCLSIG, in the process illustrating the range of Semantic Web technologies that have applications in areas of biomedicine. CONCLUSION: Semantic Web technologies present both promise and challenges. Current tools and standards are already adequate to implement components of the bench-to-bedside vision. On the other hand, these technologies are young. Gaps in standards and implementations still exist and adoption is limited by typical problems with early technology, such as the need for a critical mass of practitioners and installed base, and growing pains as the technology is scaled up. Still, the potential of interoperable knowledge sources for biomedicine, at the scale of the World Wide Web, merits continued work.