Entrapped mixed microorganisms to treat organic wastewater from food industry

Limited land and insufficient technicians to operate a wastewater treatment system are main restrictions for many factories. Therefore, an ideal wastewater treatment method for a small or land-limited factory must possess merits such as high performance efficiency, high organic loading rate, little odor, simple operation, easy maintenance, and little land required (simultaneously). An entrapment technique to immobilize mixed microorganisms to treat organic wastewater, which was developed in the present work, possesses these characteristics. This project was done on a laboratory scale. The microorganisms were activated sludge (an undefined mixture of microorganisms obtained directly from a domestic wastewater treatment plan) and the mixed microorganisms were immobilized in cellulose triacetate by means of an entrapment technique to treat organic wastewater from food industry. After wastewater was treated by this system, the SCOD (soluble COD) removal efficiency of 81% evaluated samples exceeded 80% in 1.5 ± 0.9 g SCOD/L/d of the volumetric loading rate and 7–10 h for the hydraulic retention time. This wastewater treatment method can be applied to other organic industrial wastewater.     

Application of the essential work of fracture concept to nanostructured polymer materials

The first part of the paper deals with a critical discussion of the methodical basis of essential work of fracture (EWF) concept with respect to the specimen geometry (especially the notch depth) and application to polymers. In the second part, an in situ testing device, which combines a tensile testing machine with an optical strain-field measuring system, has successfully demonstrated possibility of characterization of fracture behaviour of polystyrene-polybutadiene block copolymers and block copolymer/homopolymer blends as examples of nanostructured polymer materials. It has been shown that knowledge of the time evolution of the strain field close to the crack tips leads to a simple verification of the basic precondition for the applicability of the EWF concept, the precondition “plastic zone coalescence-before-stable crack propagation”.     

Cellulose Synthesized by Acetobacter Xylinum in the Presence of Acetyl Glucomannan

Acetobacter xylinum was cultured in Hestrin-Schramm medium (control medium) and Hestrin-Schramm medium containing acetyl glucomannan (mannan medium). Loose bundles of the cellulose microfibrils are formed in the mannan medium in contrast to the normal ribbons being produced in the control medium. Rapid-freeze and substitution method followed by metal-shadowing revealed the droplet-like structures around the microfibril synthesized in the mannan medium. The cellulose synthesized in the mannan medium was stained heavily by the periodic acid-thiocarbohydrazide-silver proteinate (PATAg) method, while the cellulose synthesized in the control medium was not stained. X-ray diffractometry and FT-IR spectroscopy indicated that the addition of mannan induced a change in the crystal structure from the algal-bacterial type to the cotton-ramie type. Thus the presence of acetyl glucomannan in the medium prevents the assembly of cellulose microfibrils and changes the crystal structure of cellulose.     

Microgels and ionic associations in solutions of cellulose diacetate

Solutions of cellulose diacetate (CDA) from two sources (cotton linters and wood pulp Floranier) were analysed in various solvents by size exclusion chromatography (SEC). Without special precautions, the SEC chromatograms presented three peaks — or prehumps — before the main polymer peak. The first prehump which could be eliminated by ultracentrifugation corresponded to microgels whose sugar composition was determined. These microgels were also investigated by electron microscopy, X-ray and electron diffraction analysis. They corresponded mainly to cellulose triacetate (CTA-II) in the case of CDA from cotton linters and a mixture of CTA-II and xylan diacetate (XDA) in the case of CDA from the wood pulp Floranier. The second and third prehumps could be attributed to ionic effects corresponding to the association of remaining sulfate groups on the CDA molecules with residual calcium. It was found that these ionic effects could be eliminated by the addition of LiBr or LiCl to the elution solvents. This led to chromatograms devoid of prehumps.Presented in part at the Cellulose '91 meeting in New Orleans.     

Structural Changes of Cellulose Crystallites Induced by Mercerisation in Different Solvent Systems; Determined by Powder X-ray Diffraction Method

The completeness of mercerisation can be evaluated by investigating the changes in the crystalline regions of cellulose from cellulose I (C-I) to cellulose II (C-II) by the X-ray powder diffraction method. Mercerisation experiments in four different solution systems: ethanol/water, acetone, DMSO and xylene, are reported. Also the effect of some additives, external pressure, treatment time and alkalisation temperature were studied. In two-phase solvent systems, structural changes of cellulose crystallites depended primarily on the distribution and solubility of sodium hydroxide in the solvent phases. The sodium hydroxide concentration in the hydrophilic phase must exceed 7–8 w/w-% before complete crystal change from C-I to C-II can occur. The precipitation of sodium hydroxide due to high concentration prevents the successful use of one-phase ethanol/water system in slurry process. On the contrary, the 2-propanol/water/sodium hydroxide system separates into two layers; to the water-rich lower layer and the 2-propanol-rich upper layer, where the sodium hydroxide remains mainly in the water-rich lower layer. This prevents the precipitation of sodium hydroxide and promotes the alkalisation of cellulose. Ammonium chloride and ammonium hydroxide clearly had a positive effect by promoting the crystal changes, however, the urea concentration used in this study was obviously too small. In the advantageous two-phase 2-propanol/water systems, the alkalisation time was only 15 min when the treatment temperature was kept between 0 and 10 °C. Reduced external pressure was found to have a small but still detectable positive effect on cellulose alkalisation while over-pressure prevented crystal changes.     

Preparation of cellulose and cellulose derivative azo compounds

Wood pulp and cotton linter are the most common sources of cellulose forindustrial use. Methyl cellulose (MC) and cellulose sulfate (CS) were preparedusing bleached wood pulp and cotton linter. Coloured azo compounds were alsoprepared from coupling cellulose, wood pulp, MC and CS with aromatic diazoniumsalt. The presence of electron-releasing or withdrawing substituents affectedthe electrophilic substitution reaction. The produced azo compounds werecharacterized by FT-IR methodology, as well as mass spectrometry, in which thefunctional groups and the ion fragments of the products were analyzed.     

STUDIES ON TUNG OIL COATED REGENERATED CELLULOSE FILMS WITH WATERRESISTANCE

Regenerated cellulose films with water-resistance were obtained by an improved method ofpreparing cellulose cuoxam solution from pulps of agricultural wastes (linters, wheat straw, reedand Bamao). Experimental results showed that the mechanical properties of both the dry. and wetfilms were excellent. Data from IR, SEM and tensile strength measurements implied that thesignificant improvement of water-resistance of the films was due to the cohesion between the thinTung oil covers with hydrophobicity and the regenerated cellulose films. The films werecompletely biodegraded after being buried in soil for 100 days. The transmittance of the filmsderived from linter and reed in visible band range were 80-90%.     

手性高效液相色谱法测定1—（6‘—甲氧基萘）乙醇不对称氢酯基化反应

在自制的硅基纤维素－三（３，５－二甲基苯基氨基甲酸酯）高效液相色谱手性固定相上（ＨＰＬＣ－ＣＳＰ），优化了１－（６＇－甲氧基萘）乙醇氢酯基化反应产物－萘普生甲酯手性分离的条件，测定了相应的一系列不对称氢酯基化反应产物的对映体过剩值（ｅ．ｅ．值）。结果表明，在ＣＤＭＰＣ－ＣＳＰ手性柱上用ＨＰＬＣ测定此类不对称催化反应的光学产率，评价催化剂体系的手性选择是一种非常理想的方法。     

Nanocomposite materials from latex and cellulose whiskers

Composite materials were processed by casting a mixture of aqueous suspensions of latex and microfibrils. These microfibrils, or whiskers, are extracted from a sea animal and are monocrystals of cellulose, with an aspect ratio around 100 and an average diameter of 20 nm. It has been found that the mechanical properties (shear modulus) are increased by more than two orders of magnitude in the rubbery state of the polymeric matrix, when the whisker content was 6% (w/w). This very large effect is discussed on the basis of different types of mechanical models and it is concluded that these whiskers form a rigid network, probably linked by hydrogen bonds. The formation of this network is assumed to be governed by a percolation mechanism.     

羧甲基纤维素系列高分子表面活性剂超声合成的研究

研究了在超声波作用下羧甲基纤维素的降解反应及ＣＭＣ与具有不同亲水亲油比值的活性大单体「烷基醇（酚）聚氧乙烯醚丙烯酸酯及第三单体」的超声共聚反应。经萃取提纯的共聚产物用ＩＲ，＾１３Ｃ ＮＭＲ和ＵＶ等方法进行表证，证实通过超声反应制得了二元和三元共聚物。