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Energy security and environmental concerns, related to the increasing carbon emissions, have prompted in the last years the search for renewable and sustainable fuels. Biodiesel, a mixture of fatty acids alkyl esters shows properties, which make it a feasible substitute for fossil diesel. Biodiesel can be produced using different processes and different raw materials. The most common, first generation, biodiesel is produced by methanolysis of vegetable oils using basic or acid homogeneous catalysts. The use of vegetable oils for biodiesel production raises serious questions about biodiesel sustainability. Used cooking oils and animal fats can replace the vegetable oils in biodiesel production thus allowing to produce a more sustainable biofuel. Moreover, methanol can be replaced by ethanol being totally renewable since it can be produced by biomass fermentation. The substitution of homogeneous catalyzed processes, nowadays used in the biodiesel industry, by heterogeneous ones can contribute to improve the biodiesel sustainability with simultaneous cost reduction. From the existing literature on biodiesel production, it stands out that several strategies can be adopted to improve the sustainability of biodiesel. A literature review is presented to underline the strategies allowing to improve the biodiesel sustainability.

Current industrial methods of biodiesel production lead to an excess of crude glycerin which requires costly purification before commercialization. Production of oxygenated fuel additives is a potential route for glycerin valorization. Glycerin acetylation was carried out over heterogeneous acid catalysts (15%, glycerol weight basis) using glacial acetic acid (molar ratio = 9). The catalysts, containing different amounts of phosphate species (P/Si from 10 to 20 atomic ratio), were prepared by wet impregnation of commercial silica with aqueous solutions of diammonium phosphate and ortho-phosphoric acid. X-ray diffraction patterns of calcined solids presented amorphous patterns like raw silica. The prepared catalysts presented, at 120 °C, glycerol conversion higher than 89.5% after 1 h of reaction, been diacetin the major product, with triacetin selectivities lower than 26.1%. Diacetin selectivity was found to be almost invariant with catalyst acidity thus underlining the relevance of catalyst porosity due to the large acetins molecules sizes. The slow rate of triacetin diffusion in narrow pores of catalyst might be responsible for the relatively low yield obtained. Surface phosphate species showed a slow rate of leaching in the reaction medium showing high catalyst stability.

The great expansion in recent years in the use of plant biostimulants has underestimated the possibility of producing environmental risks. The objective of this study was to evaluate the cytotoxicity, genotoxicity, and toxicity of three different biostimulants (A, B, and C) produced and widely marketed in Brazil and exported to other countries on both plant and animal indicator organisms. In Allium cepa (non-target species of these plant biostimulants), the concentrations evaluated for the products A and B (0.0625 at 0.500 mL/L), and C (0.0625 at 0.500 g/L) induced inhibition of cell proliferation on meristems, in at least one time of analysis, characterizing them as cytotoxic. The three biostimulants promoted an expressive number of prophases in detriment to the other phases of cell division. In the test with Artemia salina, different concentrations of the biostimulants were tested, ranging from 1000 to 1.95 ppm, and the toxic potential was evaluated through the LC50. The three products showed high toxicity (LC50 < 100 ppm) against microcrustaceans. The results obtained in the present study suggest that the evaluated biostimulants may be toxic to non-target plants and toxic to organisms in water bodies influenced by leaching from soil with the presence of these substances.

The present research aims to propose a comparative life cycle assessment (LCA) between the coffee capsules recycling process and the process of obtaining composites with coffee capsule outer packaging reinforced with 5 and 10% m/m of sugarcane bagasse fibers to evaluate the environmental impacts of each approach. The impact categories taken into consideration were: global warming, stratospheric ozone depletion, ozone formation, acidification and eutrophication, terrestrial, freshwater, and marine ecotoxicity, human carcinogenic toxicity, and human non-carcinogenic toxicity. The LCA of these materials show that obtaining composites process have favorable results in terms of environmental impacts compared to the recycling process of a coffee capsule in all impact categories. The values of acidification and eutrophication for the obtaining composites process were due to fertilizers’ use to cultivate sugarcane bagasse used to obtain the composite. The contribution analysis showed that the increase of fiber content decreases the amount of coffee capsule outer packaging necessary to acquire the composite and, consequently, reduces the environmental impacts caused by the process. GHG emissions indicated that the recycling process of coffee capsule residues has a higher CO2 eq emission. It was possible to observe that all analyses showed that the environmental performance of the process of obtaining composites of coffee capsule residues reinforced with sugarcane bagasse leads to a more sustainable approach when compared with the process of recycling coffee capsules, which is a sustainable alternative for recycling polymeric materials.

Biodiesel can substitute for conventional diesel fuel and contribute to the decarbonization of the transportation sector. To improve biodiesel sustainability and decrease production costs, low-grade fats such as non-edible animal fats must be used. Animal fats are mixed with tissues which must be removed before alcoholysis to avoid biodiesel contamination with nitrogen and phosphorus-containing compounds. Biodiesel was produced by the methanolysis of beef tallow and beef tallow/soybean oil mixtures over calcium heterogeneous catalysts obtained by the calcination of scallop shells. The tallow from fatty bovine tissues was extracted using boiling water, dry microwave treatment, and acetone extraction. The thermal stability and the moisture content of the extracted fats were evaluated by thermogravimetry. The thermograms of fats revealed that microwave treatment, which was faster (3 min instead of 40 min for boiling water and 240 min for acetone extraction) and had the lowest energy consumption, led to a dry fat with a thermal stability analogous to that of fats extracted with boiling water and acetone. All the extracted fats behaved similarly in the methanolysis reaction over calcium catalyst, with biodiesel yield (61–62%) being 30% lower than the analogous obtained from soybean oil (88%). Co-processing the extracted tallow with soybean oil overcomes the drawback related to the low-grade fats.

Biodiesel from waste frying oil was produced via methanolysis using biochar-based catalysts prepared by carbonizing banana peels (350 °C and 400 °C) mixed with 20% (wt.) of alkali carbonates (Na, Li, or K). The catalysts exhibited a bi-functional character: acidic and basic. Raman spectroscopy confirmed the alkali’s role in char graphitization, influencing morphology and oxygen content. Oxygenated surface sites acted as acidic sites for free fatty acid esterification, while alkali sites facilitated triglyceride transesterification. The best catalyst obtained by carbonization at 350 °C, without alkali modifier, led to 97.5% FAME by processing a waste frying oil with 1.2 mg KOH/g oil acidity. Most of the studied catalysts yielded high-quality glycerin, allowing the significance of homogenous catalyzed processes to be discarded.

With the increase in population, large amounts of food waste are produced worldwide every day. These leftovers can be used as a source of lignocellulosic waste, oils, and polysaccharides for renewable fuels. In a fixed bed reactor, low-temperature catalytic pyrolysis was investigated using biomass gathered from domestic garbage. Thermogravimetry, under N2 flow, was used to assess the pyrolysis behavior of tea and coffee grounds, white potato, sweet potato, banana peels, walnut, almonds, and hazelnut shells. A mixture of biomass was also evaluated by thermogravimetry. Waste inorganic materials (marble, limestone, dolomite, bauxite, and spent Fluid Catalytic Cracking (FCC) catalyst) were used as catalysts (16.7% wt.) in the pyrolysis studies at 400 °C in a fixed bed reactor. Yields of bio-oil in the 22–36% wt. range were attained. All of the catalysts promoted gasification and a decrease in the bio-oil carboxylic acids content. The marble dust catalyst increased the bio-oil volatility. The results show that it is possible to valorize lignocellulosic household waste by pyrolysis using inorganic waste materials as catalysts.

This research provided a systematic review of the application of artificial intelligence in production systems, combined with precision livestock farming and animal breeding. The data was collected through a bibliometric study to map academic production on the topic of the Use of Artificial Intelligence Applied to Animal Breeding, based on the Web of Science (WoS) platform and the Bibliometrix package in the R software. A total of 60 publications were found over the last 24 years. The United States and the Netherlands were the countries with the highest number of scientific records, accounting for 49% of the publications. The keywords artificial intelligence, deep learning, precision livestock farming and animal welfare were the most frequent. The first publication citing the use of computer intelligence in livestock farming was in 1998, and with the advance of automation systems, there has been an increase in the number of publications since 2015, with the year 2021 standing out. The use of artificial intelligence in livestock farming has proven to be efficient for predicting production characteristics and individualizing animals, and can be used in breeding programs, especially in the process of phenotyping and identifying animals for selection and herd management, which enhances decision-making in production systems. RESUMO: Objetivou-se com esta pesquisa fornecer uma revisão sistemática sobre a aplicação da inteligência artificial nos sistemas de produção, aliada a pecuária de precisão e ao melhoramento genético animal. Os dados foram coletados a partir de estudo bibliométrico para mapear a produção acadêmica, abordando o tema Uso da Inteligência Artificial Aplicada ao Melhoramento Genético Animal, utilizando-se como base a plataforma Web of Science (WoS) e o pacote Bibliometrix do software R. Foram encontradas 60 publicações nos últimos 24 anos. Os Estados Unidos e a Holanda foram os países com maiores números de registros científicos, contendo 49% das publicações. As palavras-chave inteligência artificial, aprendizado profundo, pecuária de precisão e bem-estar animal foram as mais frequentes. A primeira publicação que cita o uso da inteligência computacional na pecuária foi em 1998, e com o avanço dos sistemas de automação, a partir do ano de 2015, houve aumento no número de publicações, com destaque para o ano de 2021. O uso de inteligência artificial na pecuária tem-se mostrado eficiente para a predição das características de produção e individualização dos animais podendo serem utilizados, nos programas de melhoramento, principalmente no processo de fenotipagem e identificação de animais para seleção e gestão de rebanhos, o que potencializa as tomadas de decisões nos sistemas produtivos.

Literacy affects many aspects of language and cognition, including the shift from a more holistic mode of processing to a more analytical part-based mode of processing. Here we examined whether this shift impacts the ability of preschool and primary school children to learn the rules underlying a finite-state grammar using an artificial grammar learning (AGL) paradigm implemented with either linguistic (letters) or non-linguistic (colors) materials to further examine if children’s AGL performance was modulated by type of stimuli. Both tasks involved a training phase in which half of the preschool children and half of the primary school children were exposed to a set of either letter or color strings without any information about the rules underlying the construction of those strings. Later, in the test phase, they were asked to decide whether a new set of letter or color strings conformed to those rules to test grammar learning. Results showed that only primary school children showed evidence of learning, and, importantly, only with colors. These findings seem to support the view that learning to read promotes reliance on smaller linguistic units that might hinder the ability of first-graders to learn the rules underlying finite-state grammars implemented with linguistic materials.

Freshwater scarcity is a growing concern, exacerbated by industrial effluents containing dyes and other pollutants that endanger aquatic ecosystems. This study explores the potential of biochar sorbents, derived from renewable seaweed biomass, as a sustainable solution for water decontamination. Seaweed biomass (sarga & ccedil;o), collected from Portuguese seashores, was carbonized at 300 degrees C and 400 degrees C to produce biochar. Adsorption experiments with methylene blue (MB) revealed that carbonization at 400 degrees C, followed by ball milling, significantly enhanced adsorption performance. Langmuir isotherm analysis demonstrated a maximum adsorption capacity of 500 mg MB/g sorbent for the optimized biochar (400 degrees C, ball milled), with adsorption efficiency improving at elevated temperatures and pH levels up to 12. Infrared reflectance spectra of fresh and post-adsorption biochars confirmed the involvement of pi-pi interactions and hydrogen bonding in the adsorption mechanism. These findings highlight the potential of seaweed-derived biochar as an effective and eco-friendly solution for water purification.