Production of bio-oil from fast pyrolysis of biomass using a pilot-scale circulating fluidized bed reactor and its characterization.

To circumvent the adverse impacts arising from an excessive use of fossil fuels, bioenergy and chemical production from a carbon neutral resource (biomass) has drawn considerable attention over the last two decades. Among various technical candidates, fast pyrolysis of biomass has been considered as one of the viable technical routes for converting a carbonaceous material (biomass) into biocrude (bio-oil). In these respects, three biomass samples (i.e., sawdust, empty fruit bunch, and giant Miscanthus) were chosen as a carbon substrate for the pyrolysis process in this study. A pilot-scale circulating fluidized bed reactor was employed for the pyrolysis work, and biocrude from the fast pyrolysis process at 500 °C were characterized because the maximum yield of biocrude (60 wt% of the original sample mass) was achieved at 500 °C. The physico-chemical properties of biocrude were measured by the international standard/protocol (ASTM D7544 and/or EN 16900 test method) to harness biocrude as bioenergy and an initial feedstock for diverse chemicals. All measurements in this study demonstrated that the heating value, moisture content, and ash contents in biocrude were highly contingent on the type of biomass. Moreover, characterization of biocrude in this study significantly suggested that additional unit operations for char and metal removal must be conducted to meet the fuel standard in terms of biocrude as bioenergy.

Clinical significance of metabotropic glutamate receptor 5 expression in oral squamous cell carcinoma.

The multifunctional G-protein-coupled metabotropic glutamate receptor (mGluR) family comprises eight subtypes, some of which participate in tumorigenesis. The purpose of this study was to evaluate mGluR5 expression in oral squamous cell carcinoma (SCC) tissues and oral cancer cell lines. We also investigated the prognostic significance of mGluR5 and its functional importance in the migration, invasion, and adhesion of oral cancer cells. We evaluated the expression of mGluR5 in samples from 131 oral SCC patients and in several oral cancer cell lines by immunohistochemistry and RT-PCR. We observed varying levels of mGluR5 in human oral SCC tissues and cancer cell lines. There was a significant association between strong mGluR5 immunoreactivity and overall survival (P=0.0109). The functional significance of the expression of mGluR5 in oral cancer cells was then investigated in HSC3 oral tongue cancer cells. An mGluR5 agonist, DHPG increased tumor cell migration, invasion, and adhesion in HSC3 cells (P<0.05). This was reversed by the mGluR5 antagonist MPEP. Our results strongly suggest that mGluR5 is a new prognostic marker and contributes to tumor cell migration and invasion in oral cancer.