Intensification of Red-G dye degradation used in the dyeing of alpaca wool by advanced oxidation processes assisted by hydrodynamic cavitation.

Red-G dye is one of the main dyes used in the textile industry to dye alpaca wool. Therefore, considering the large volume of processed wool in Perú, the development of efficient technologies for its removal is a present scientific issue. In this study, an integrated system based on hydrodynamic cavitation (HC) and photo-Fenton process was evaluated to remove the Red-G dye. Using a hybrid cavitation device (venturi + orifice plate), the effect of pH was evaluated, achieving 21 % of removal at pH 2 which was more than 80 % higher compared to pH 4 and 6. The effect of temperature was also evaluated in HC-system at pH 2, where percentage of dye degradation increased at lower temperatures (around 20 °C). Then, 50.7 % of dye was removed under optimized condition of HC-assisted Fenton process (FeSO4:H2O2 of 1:30), that value was improved strongly by UV-light incorporation in the HC-system, increasing to 99 % removal efficiency with respect to HC-assisted Fenton process and reducing the time to 15 min. Finally, the developed cavitation device in combination with photo-Fenton process removed efficiently the dye and thus could be considered an interesting option for application to real wastewater.

Acid precipitation followed by microalgae (Chlorella vulgaris) cultivation as a new approach for poultry slaughterhouse wastewater treatment.

Poultry slaughterhouse wastewater (PSW) contains high organic matter and nutrients requiring thus a special treatment before its final disposal. In this work, acid precipitation (H2SO4) followed by microalgae "Chlorella vulgaris" cultivation both in batch and continuous processes was studied as an alternative method for PSW treatment. By reducing the pH value of PSW from 6 to 7 to 4, about 80% of the total chemical oxygen demand (CODT) was removed as sludge. In the supernatant, the COD residual was efficiently removed (83%) by microalgae in the batch process, using an internal-loop concentric tube photobioreactor (4.5 L). Moreover, in continuous process, after 89 h, the COD value resulted lower than 200 mg L-1 and 1.2 g L-1 of microalgae in the output line. The proposed PSW treatment method is promising from economic and environmental viewpoints, since the microalgal biomass can be valued in a biorefinery context.

Importance of the support material in thin palladium composite membranes for steady hydrogen permeation at elevated temperatures.

Hydrogen permeation performance of palladium membranes supported on porous alpha-alumina and yttria-stabilized zirconia (YSZ) was studied at 300-850 degrees C. The hydrogen permeation flux across the palladium-alpha-alumina membrane decreased markedly during permeation tests conducted at >600 degrees C. The SEM and XPS studies of the post-test membrane revealed the presence of aluminium in the palladium layer. Such migration of aluminium was not observed by heating the palladium-alpha-alumina membrane under an argon atmosphere, indicating that hydrogen is responsible for this phenomenon. Hydrogen-induced strong metal-support interaction might be related to this considerable loss of the hydrogen flux. Reduction of alumina to Al(0) by active hydrogen at the membrane-support interface and subsequent migration of Al(0) into the palladium layer represents the most plausible mechanism for the aluminium diffusion. Actually, Al(0) that migrated into the palladium membrane layer generated less hydrogen-permeable palladium-aluminium alloy or inter-metallic compound phase. In contrast, no such strong interaction was found between the YSZ support and the palladium membrane. This composite membrane exhibited a steady permeation of hydrogen at 650 degrees C for 336 h. Having a remarkably high reduction potential, Y(III) is unlikely to be reduced to Y(0), although Zr(IV) has a comparable reduction potential to that of Al(III). A binary phase diagram shows a liquid alloy phase present for the Pd/Al couple at temperatures greater than 615 degrees C (eutectic point), while an inter-metallic compound or liquid alloy phase in the Pd-Zr binary system is not apparent at temperatures less than 750 degrees C. Consequently, inter-diffusion of zirconium with palladium did not occur during operations at 650 degrees C.

Simple detection of trace Pb2+ by enrichment on cerium phosphate membrane filter coupled with color signaling.

A Pb(2+) selective membrane filter was fabricated from the fibrous CeO(H(2)PO(4))(2).2H(2)O (CeP) crystals by blending with cellulose fiber. Enrichment of ppb level of Pb(2+) was achieved simply by filtration of aqueous sample solution through the membrane filter. Pb(2+) was strongly retained on the membrane filter by accommodation into the interlayer gallery of a CeP crystal. Visual detection of the enriched Pb(2+) was achieved by subsequent color signaling as PbS deposit upon treatment of the membrane filter with 3% Na(2)S solution. The analytical procedure and sample treatment conditions were optimized with respect to pH of the sample solution, filtration rate and masking of interfering ions. Detection of 20 ppb of Pb(2+) was not interfered by the presence of 1000-fold of Ca(2+), Mg(2+), and up to 100-fold of Fe(3+)and Cu(2+) by masking with 1 x 10(-3) mol dm(-3) of iminodiacetic acid (IDA). Most anions including phosphate (20 000 times) did not interfere with the determination of Pb(2+). The present simple method was applied to the determination of Pb(2+) in real samples like mine valley water.

A density functional study to choose the best fluorophore for photon-induced electron-transfer (PET) sensors.

Anthracenes bearing aliphatic or aromatic amino substituents, which behave as molecular sensors, have shown their potential to act as photon-induced electron-transfer (PET) systems. In this PET, the fluorophore moieties are responsible for electron release during protonation and deprotonation. The principle of hard and soft acids and bases (HSAB) deals with both intra- and intermolecular electron migration. It is possible to calculate the localized properties in terms of Fukui functions in the realm of density functional theory (DFT) and thus calculate and establish a numerical matchmaking procedure that will generate an a priori rule for choosing the fluorophore in terms of its activity. We calculated the localized properties for neutral, anionic, and cationic systems to trace the course of the efficiency. A qualitative scale is proposed in terms of the feasibility of intramolecular hydrogen bonding. To investigate the effect of the environment of the nitrogen atom on protonation going from mono- to diprotonated systems, we calculated the partial density of states and compared the activity sequence with reactivity indices. The results show that location of the nitrogen atom in an aromatic ring does not influence the PET, but for aliphatic chains it plays a role. Furthermore, the protonation/deprotonation scenario has been explained. The results show that the reactivity indices can be used as a suitable property for scaling the activity of fluorophore molecules for the PET process.