Selection of Microalgae and Cyanobacteria Strains for Bicarbonate-Based Integrated Carbon Capture and Algae Production System

Using microalgae to capture CO₂ from flue gas is an ideal way to reduce CO₂ emission, but this is challenged by the high cost of carbon capture and transportation. To address this problem, a bicarbonate-based integrated carbon capture and algae production system (BICCAPS) has been proposed, in which bicarbonate is used for algae culture, and the regenerated carbonate from this process can be used to capture more CO₂. High-concentration bicarbonate is obligate for the BICCAPS. Thus, different strains of microalgae and cyanobacteria were tested in this study for their capability to grow in high-concentration NaHCO₃. The highest NaHCO₃ concentrations they are tolerant to were determined as 0.30 M for Synechocystis sp. PCC6803, 0.60 M for Cyanothece sp., 0.10 M for Chlorella sorokiniana, 0.60 M for Dunaliella salina, and 0.30 M for Dunaliella viridis and Dunaliella primolecta. In further study, biomass production from culture of D. primolecta in an Erlenmeyer flask with either 0.30 M NaHCO₃ or 2 % CO₂ bubbling was compared, and no significant difference was detected. This indicates BICCAPS can reach the same biomass productivity as regular CO₂ bubbling culture, and it is promising for future application.     

Hot-Electron Photodynamics in Silver-Containing BEA-Type Nanozeolite Studied by Femtosecond Transient Absorption Spectroscopy

Silver cations were introduced in nanosized BEA-type zeolite containing organic template by ion-exchange followed by chemical reduction towards preparation of photoactive materials (Ag⁰-BEA). The stabilization of highly dispersed Ag⁰ nanoparticles with a size of 1–2 nm in the BEA zeolite was revealed. The transient optical response of the Ag-BEA samples upon photoexcitation at 400 nm was studied by femtosecond absorption. The photodynamic of the hot electrons was found to depend on the sample preparation. The lifetime of the hot electrons in the Ag−BEA samples containing small Ag nanoparticles (1–2 nm) is significantly shortened in comparison to bear Ag nanoparticles with a size of 10 nm. While for the larger Ag nanoparticles, the energy absorbed in the conduction band is decaying by electron-phonon coupling into the metal lattice, the high surface-to-volume ratio of the small Ag nanoparticles favors the dissipation of the energy of the hot electrons from the metal nanoparticles (Ag⁰) towards the zeolitic micro-environment. This finding is encouraging for further applications of Ag-containing zeolites in photocatalysis and plasmonic chemistry.     

Measurement of radon concentrations and their annual effective doses in soils and rocks of Jaintiapur and its adjacent areas,Sylhet, North-east Bangladesh

Journal of Radioanalytical and Nuclear Chemistry - The study investigates the measurement of radon concentration in soils and rocks as a natural tracer for exploring uranium mineralization, first...     

Spectral Mapping Theorem for Fractional Powers of Linear Relations

In this paper, we give the fractional powers version of spectral mapping theorems for various essential spectra of non-negative linear operators and non-negative linear relations.     

Phosphonium-mediated cyclization of N-(2-aminophenyl)thioureas: efficient synthesis of 2-aminobenzimidazoles

BOP efficiently promoted the phosphonium-mediated cyclization of thioureas, leading to a convenient synthesis of 2-aminobenzimidazoles. Compared to conventional methods, the reactions were complete at room temperature with times ranging from a few minutes to 1 h in near quantitative yields. This method is also applicable to the synthesis of more challenging structures such as 2-akylaminobenzimidazoles and 2-(N-acyl)-aminobenzimidazoles. The methodology described herein represents a mild and efficient route to a variety of 2-aminobenzimidazoles.     

1-C-Alkyl imino-d-xylitol and -l-arabinitol derivatives obtained via nucleophilic addition to pentose-derived N-tert-butanesulfinyl imines: sugar- versus chiral auxiliary-induced stereoselectivity

The stereoselective synthesis of 1-C-alkyl iminosugars in the d-xylo and l-arabino series as potential drugs for the treatment of lysosomal diseases has been achieved. The key step involves nucleophilic addition to pentodialdofuranose-derived imines generated using enantiopure tert-butanesulfinamide. Depending on the pentofuranose configuration and structure, the stereoselectivity of this reaction was found to be controlled either by the sugar moiety or by the stereogenic sulfur center.     

Surface crystallization of rapamycin on stents using a temperature induced process

Metallic drug eluting stents (DES) are usually prepared by coating with a drug-polymer matrix as a rate controlling diffusion barrier. However, coating materials may display numerous problems, thus carrier-free DES are desired, yet releasing drug over long period of time. For this, we are reporting a novel temperature induced (TI) crystallization process for coating rapamycin on stents. Rapamycin crystals with a defined morphology and target drug load were applied from supersaturated solution. This method enables fabrication of controllable and homogeneous crystalline coatings on stent scaffolds and allowing the drug to release for several weeks.     

Monte Carlo modelling for the in vivo lung monitoring of enriched uranium: Results of an international comparison

In order to assess the reliability of Monte Carlo (MC)-based numerical calibration of in vivo counting systems the EURADOS network supported a comparison of MC simulation of well-defined experiments. This action also provided training for the use of voxel phantoms. In vivo measurements of enriched uranium in a thoracic phantom have been carried out and the needed information to simulate these measurements was distributed to 17 participants. About half of the participants managed to simulate the measured counting efficiency without support from the organisers. Following additional support all participants managed to simulate the counting efficiencies within a typical agreement of ±5% with experiment.     

pH-Metric study of gamma-irradiated table sugar for dosimetry purpose

Table sugar has been studied for a long time as a dosimeter in radiation accident and in high-dose dosimetry by using different analytical techniques especially electron paramagnetic resonance (EPR) and optical absorption spectrometry (OA). In this work, we report the results obtained by pH-metry on gamma-irradiated sugar. Table sugar samples were exposed to gamma radiation with doses of 0.1–58 kGy. Aqueous solutions of sugar were prepared with different concentrations ranged from 1% to 60% (w/w). It was found that sugar solutions showed strong decrease of pH up to concentration of 10% (w/w) followed by a slow decrease for the concentrations between 10 and 60% (w/w). Two possible mechanisms are proposed to explain the acidity increasing of the sugar solutions based on the existence of a carbonyl radical induced by gamma irradiation in solid table sugar with an open ring structure. Results for radiation response, post-irradiation change, reading temperature, dose-rate effect and repeatability are presented in this study. The results showed that pH-metric/sugar solution is an adequate high-dose dosimetric system in the dose range of 0.1–10 kGy.