Auto shredder residue recycling: Mechanical separation and pyrolysis

Directive 2000/53/EC sets a goal of 85% material recycling from end-of-life vehicles (ELVs) by the end of 2015. The current ELV recycling rate is around 80%, while the remaining waste is called automotive shredder residue (ASR), or car fluff. In Europe, this is mainly landfilled because it is extremely heterogeneous and often polluted with car fluids. Despite technical difficulties, in the coming years it will be necessary to recover materials from car fluff in order to meet the ELV Directive requirement. This study deals with ASR pretreatment and pyrolysis, and aims to determine whether the ELV material recycling target may be achieved by car fluff mechanical separation followed by pyrolysis with a bench scale reactor. Results show that flotation followed by pyrolysis of the light, organic fraction may be a suitable ASR recycling technique if the oil can be further refined and used as a chemical. Moreover, metals are liberated during thermal cracking and can be easily separated from the pyrolysis char, amounting to roughly 5% in mass. Lastly, pyrolysis can be a good starting point from a "waste-to-chemicals" perspective, but further research should be done with a focus on oil and gas refining, in order both to make products suitable for the chemical industry and to render the whole recycling process economically feasible.     

Effect of the Incorporation of Lysozyme on the Properties of Jackfruit Starch Films

Jackfruit starch based biodegradable films containing lysozyme were characterized for their antimicrobial activity, thickness, solubility, water vapor permeability and mechanical properties. The biodegradable films had good appearance and antimicrobial activity against Micrococcus lysodeikticus. The thickness of the biodegradable films were not affected by the variation in pH, but the addition of lysozyme increased the thickness, the thickest films being those with the highest lysozyme concentrations. The variation in pH of the filmogenic solutions affected the solubility of the biodegradable films, water solubility being greatest at pH 7.0 and with the highest lysozyme concentration. The permeability of the biodegradable films was increased by incorporating lysozyme. The lysozyme concentration and pH variation caused changes in the mechanical properties. The addition of 8% lysozyme increased the tensile strength and Young’s modulus for all the pH values studied. With respect to the release of antimicrobial activity, the diffusion of lysozyme was shown to follow Fickian transport mechanism.     

Giving parks back to people: a transportation study of New Orleans City Park with implications for improving public health

Park planning, once at the root of the profession during the nineteenth century, can again provide cities with a means to improve public health through restricting access to automobiles. This intercept study, conducted in New Orleans City Park, found that two-thirds of users support weekend street closures to automobiles. Widespread support (63%) exists even among the 72% of people who arrived by automobile. This study also found measurable stated benefits from restricting car access. For more than 53% of the sample that stated that they would walk more in a car-free zone, respondents noted that they would walk nearly 30?min more per month. These findings suggest that planners and policy-makers have a cost-effective option to improve cities and public health – taming the automobile in urban parks.     

Spiking solvent, humidity and their impact on 2,4-D and 2,4-DCP extractability from high humic matter content soils

The 2,4-dichlorophenoxyacetic acid (2,4-D) is a hormone-like herbicide widely used in agriculture. Although its half life in soil is approximately two weeks, the thousands of tons introduced in the environment every year represent a risk for human health and the environment. Considering the toxic properties of this compound and its degradation products, it is important to assess and monitor the 2,4-D residues in agricultural soils. Furthermore, experiments of phyto/bioremediation are carried out to find economic and environmental friendly tools to restore the polluted soils. Accordingly, it is essential to accurately measure the amount of 2,4-D and its metabolites in soils. There is evidence that 2,4-D extraction from soil samples seriously depends on the physical and chemical properties of the soil, especially in those soils with high content of humic acids. The aim of this work was to assess the variables that influence the recovery and subsequent analysis of 2,4-D and its main metabolite (2,4-dichlorophenol) from those soils samples. The results showed that the recovery efficiency depends on the solvent and method used for the extraction, the amount and kind of solvent used for dissolving the herbicide and the soil water content at the moment of spiking. An optimized protocol for the extraction and quantification of 2,4-D and its main metabolite from soil samples is presented.     

Mercury in aquatic fauna contamination: A systematic review on its dynamics and potential health risks

Mercury is an important pollutant, released into aquatic ecosystems both naturally and by anthropogenic action. This element is transferred to aquatic organisms in different ways, causing potential health risks. In addition, mercury can be accumulated by humans, especially through the consumption of contaminated food. This systematic review aims to present mercury pathways, the major routes through which this element reaches the aquatic environment and its transformations until becoming available to living animals, leading to bioaccumulation and biomagnification phenomena. The key biotic and abiotic factors affecting such processes, the impact of mercury on animal and human health and the issue of seafood consumption as a source of chronic mercury contamination are also addressed. A total of 101 articles were retrieved from a standardized search on three databases (PubMed, Emabse, and Web of Science), in addition to 28 other studies not found on these databases but considered fundamental to this review (totaling 129 articles). Both biotic and abiotic factors display fundamental importance in mediating mercurial dynamics, i.e., muscle tropism, and salinity, respectively. Consequently, mercurial contamination in aquatic environments affects animal health, especially the risk of extinction species and also on human health, with methylmercury the main mercury species responsible for acute and chronic symptomatology.     

A preliminary investigation on the use of organic ionic liquids as green solvents for acylation and oxidation reactions

Different organic ionic liquids (OILs) have been used as green solvents in Friedel–Crafts acylation and alcohol oxidation reactions. Specifically, three OILs were employed, 1-ethyl-3-methylimidazolium chloride, tetraethylammonium bromide, and 1-butyl-3-methylimidazolium chloride, and four reactions studied, acylation of toluene by acetyl chloride, acylation of benzene by propionyl chloride, oxidation of benzyl alcohol by N-methylmorpholine N-oxide, and oxidation of salicylic alcohol by o-iodoxybenzoic acid. The reactions were carried out, at room temperature, in a well-stirred lab-scale glass batch reactor, under inert atmosphere and for reaction times ranging from 5 to 90 min. Gas chromatography was employed to characterize the reaction products. First of all, the desired products yield as a function of the reaction time was investigated. Moreover, simple kinetic models were built for the interpretation of the experimental results. Additional tests were carried out to assess the possibility of recycling the OILs employed. The results of this preliminary study were satisfactory as the OILs investigated proved to be good media in which to carry out the reactions studied in this work (desired products yield greater than 90% were achieved). Moreover, the reaction rate expressions of the kinetic models were able to satisfactorily predict the experimental results. Finally, the possibility of recycling the OIL (in one of the reactions) was proved to be feasible and this suggests the use of recycled OIL together with a fresh make-up, to match high yield values with economical/ecological advantages.     

Transverse limb reduction defects after chorion villus sampling: A retrospective Cohort study

A retrospective cohort study was performed in five Italian obstetrical centres from 1984 to 1991 in order to verify the association between chorionic villus sampling (CVS) and transverse limb reduction defects (TLRDs). TLRD rates by period of gestation at CVS were calculated, and the study's results were compared with data from the general population. Of the 3430 pregnancies for which CVS was performed, 2759 had a known outcome. The overall rate for TLRDs was 1 in 1143 CVS pregnancies, four times higher than that of the general population in Italy (1 in 4458). The rate of TLRDs was 2·9/1000 for CVS performed at 9 weeks' gestation and 1·0/1000 for CVS at 10 weeks' gestation. A scalp defect was detected in a pregnancy in which CVS was performed at 10 weeks. A high proportion of pregnancies lost to follow-up and the poor quality of the data may have affected the results. Nevertheless, our results suggest an association between CVS carried out at less than 10 weeks' gestation and TLRDs which is consistent with the findings of other studies. CVS should not be prepared at less than 10 weeks' gestation until additional evidence is obtained.