Explore the vast range of titles available.

In Ukraine there is a tendency to increase the number of man-made emergencies, which directly affects the state of the environment and the population. Particularly dangerous situations are formed in case of disturbance of objects with high risk conditions, which include oil extraction enterprises. Observing the state of the environment and the operation of technological equipment at such enterprises, warning of the risk of emergencies that are hazardous to human health and the environment, are the basis and task of monitoring. The results of engineering and ecological analysis of the state of ecological and technogenic danger on the example of private joint-stock company «Kropyvnytskyi oil extraction plant» are presented in the work. The main probable factors of its formation at each technological stage of production are established. The sources of environmental and human hazards are technological equipment and materials. Pollutants of land, water and atmospheric air are dust of vegetable origin and meal, solvent of hexane and its vapors, carbon dioxide and washing solution - soda ash, etc. Expert evaluation of the main production operation - oil extraction was carried out in detail. The extraction process is the main production operation for both press oil and extraction oil, as well as cake and meal. The results of the study can be used to clarify the program of monitoring the sources of technogenic and environmental risk at high risk facilities, planning activities and means of improving the resilience of the enterprises of the industry, preventing emergencies and minimizing their consequences. Awareness enhances management efficiency and minimizes environmental and population risks.

Soil stabilization is a very important method of science and engineering for improving the properties of soil. This paper aims to stabilize expansive black cotton soil through a biological approach involving plant extracts, plant waste materials, and microorganisms. While chemical methods exist, i.e., lime stabilization, geotextiles, etc., they are not economically feasible for large-scale applications. The primary issue with black cotton soil is due to the presence of montmorillonite clay mineral, which makes it unsuitable for the construction of roads and airfields. The cation exchange capacity (CEC) can be defined as the ability of soil to absorb and exchange positively charged ions; thus, if free positively charged ions are not available, the soil will not exchange them with others. The CEC of the soil is diminished, and ultimately, the soil is stabilized to some extent. This paper explores the preparation of plant extract, which contains a high number of anions, and directly inoculates it with soil, which nullifies the positive charge of the soil and diminishes the CEC. The use of cellulose and lignin-degrading microorganisms as an energy source and other minerals that are needed for their growth will be utilized from the soil to reduce CEC, i.e., Mg required for DNA replication and Ca required for their growth and maintenance. Another approach to diminishing the CEC is to use the microorganisms that produce EPS, which require Ca and Mg as adhesions for the formation of biofilm, i.e., Pseudomonas aeruginosa, Bacillus subtilis, and Escherichia coli. The use of microorganisms that have specific enzymes is also used in the diminishing soil CEC, i.e., by using ureolytic enzyme-producing bacteria like Sporosarcina pasteurii, Bacillus paramycoides, Citrobacter sedlakii, and Enterobacter bugadensis.

The present study focuses on the synthesis of high-antifouling TiO 2 /3-cyanopropyltriethoxysilane (CPTES)/Metformin-polyethersulfone (PES) membrane with various dosages of NPs (0.1, 0.5 and 1 wt%). The performance of the membranes was studied by the rejection of Cu(II) ions, COD content and dye removal from liquorice extraction plant (LEP) wastewater. The properties of the prepared nanoparticles (NPs) and membranes were identified by XRD, SEM, FT-IR, contact angle and AFM analyses. The permeability and antifouling tests were performed for all the blended nanocomposite membranes. The addition of NPs in the membrane network improves membrane hydrophilicity, permeate flux and flux recovery ratio (FRR) values due to the presence of amine, hydroxyl and silica groups on the membrane surface. The M 4 (1 wt% of NPs) membrane is selected as an optimal nanocomposite membrane which exhibits a much higher pure water flux (37.2 kg m −2  h −1 ) and FRR value (98%). Also, the high permeation flux (25 kg m −2  h −1 ), COD removal (88%) and dye removal (98%) were achieved during filtration of LEP wastewater with COD concentration of 800 mg l −1 at pressure of 5 bar after 150 min.

Higher plants undergo a variety of stresses and to combat those stresses they acclimatize themselves by producing diverse secondary metabolites. These secondary metabolites also have a wide range of industrial applications and hence they serve as candidates for commercialization. Owing to the constraints faced by natural plant extraction, plant cell/tissue culture has emerged as an alternative platform for the in vitro production of value added bioactive secondary metabolites. Implementation of several productivity enhancement strategies, including elicitation, can overcome the limitations faced by plant cell technology that hampers its extensive commercialization. Elicitation is a technique that involves exogenous addition of elicitors (abiotic or biotic) in the growth medium which consequently triggers stress response with concomitant enhancement in secondary metabolite production. Elicitor induced stress results in the activation of several defense-related genes or inactivation of non-defense-related genes, transient phosphorylation/dephosphorylation of proteins, expression of enzymes whose information can be used to ascertain the biosynthetic pathways of many secondary metabolites. Furthermore, integration of transcriptomics, proteomics and metabolomics with system biology can aid in discovery of novel genes, transcriptional factors and several biosynthetic pathways which in turn can serve as a valuable tool for metabolic engineering and gene manipulation for enhancing the yield and productivity of secondary metabolites.

Energy dispersive X-Ray fluorescence (EDXRFS) method is developed and standardized for the determination of uranium on routine basis in various process stream solutions, covering a vide range of concentrations from 0.1 to 400 g L−1, from an Uranium Extraction Plant at Nuclear Fuel Complex. The method has been applied to aqueous stream samples. Except for dilution, no much sample preparation was involved in the analysis and accordingly the experimental parameters were optimized. The calibration curve in the range of 0.1–10 g L−1 of U was drawn manually using synthetic standard solutions prepared from U3O8 powder and Lα (13.61 keV) line of uranium was used for the measurements. The results from EDXRFS method are compared with other methods and are found to be in good agreement. The EDXRFS measurements carried over a range of 0.1–350 g L−1 of uranium have shown a RSD of ±1–5%. Also, the limitations of reported methods in literature and the advantages of present method are highlighted in the paper.

Microalgae are capable of producing up to 70% w/w triglycerides with respect to their dry cell weight. Since microalgae utilize the greenhouse gas CO 2 , they can be cultivated on marginal lands and grow up to ten times faster than terrestrial plants, the generation of algae oils is a promising option for the development of sustainable bioprocesses, that are of interest for the chemical lubricant, cosmetic and food industry. For the first time we have carried out the optimization of supercritical carbon dioxide (SCCO 2 ) mediated lipid extraction from biomass of the microalgae Scenedesmus obliquus and Scenedesmus obtusiusculus under industrrially relevant conditions. All experiments were carried out in an industrial pilot plant setting, according to current ATEX directives, with batch sizes up to 1.3 kg. Different combinations of pressure (7–80 MPa), temperature (20–200 °C) and CO 2 to biomass ratio (20–200) have been tested on the dried biomass. The most efficient conditions were found to be 12 MPa pressure, a temperature of 20 °C and a CO 2 to biomass ratio of 100, resulting in a high extraction efficiency of up to 92%. Since the optimized CO 2 extraction still yields a crude triglyceride product that contains various algae derived contaminants, such as chlorophyll and carotenoids, a very effective and scalable purification procedure, based on cost efficient bentonite based adsorbers, was devised. In addition to the sequential extraction and purification procedure, we present a consolidated online-bleaching procedure for algae derived oils that is realized within the supercritical CO 2 extraction plant.

The outer protective layer of flexible composite pipe is susceptible to external drag, ground friction, collision, shoveling and so on, which leads to breakage and cracking during field construction and use, thus affecting the pressure resistance performance of the pipe. In this work, DN50mm PN6.4MPa flexible composite pipe for oil transmission and DN70mm PN25MPa flexible composite pipe for water transmission provided by an oilfield oil extraction plant are taken as the research object, and the design of damage to the outer protective layer and the 200h hydrostatic pressure test are carried out to analyze and study the pressure resistance. The results showed that the residual burst strength of DN50mm PN6.4MPa flexible composite pipe for oil transmission decreased from 28.72MPa to 23.96MPa, and the residual burst strength of DN70mm PN25MPa flexible composite pipe for water transmission decreased from 96.11MPa to 79.57MPa. The deeper the damage to the outer protective layer of the flexible composite pipe, the greater the deformation of the composite pipe, and the more obvious the attenuation of pressure resistance.

Biogenic synthesis of silver nanoparticles (AgNP) was performed at room temperature using Aloe vera plant extract in the presence of ammoniacal silver nitrate as a metal salt precursor. The formation of AgNP was monitored by UV-visible spectroscopy at different time intervals. The shape and size of the synthesized particle were visualized by scanning electron microscopy (SEM) and transmission electron microscopy (TEM) observations. These results were confirmed by X-ray powder diffraction (XRD) and Fourier transform infrared spectroscopy (FTIR) analyses and further supported by surface-enhanced Raman spectroscopy/Raman scattering (SERS) study. UV-visible spectrum has shown a sharp peak at 420 nm and further evidenced by FTIR peak profile (at 1587.6, 1386.4, and 1076 cm −1 with corresponding compounds). The main band position with SERS was noticed at 1594 cm −1 (C–C stretching vibration). When samples were heated under microwave radiation, AgNP with octahedron shapes with 5–50 nm were found and this method can be one of the easier ways to synthesis anisotropic AgNP, in which the plant extract plays a vital role to regulate the size and shape of the nanoparticles. Enhanced antibacterial effects (two- to fourfold) were observed in the case of Aloe vera plant protected AgNP than the routinely synthesized antibiotic drugs. Graphical Abstract Shape and size-controlled synthesis of silver nanoparticles using Aloe vera plant extract

Currently, there is a significant demand for natural biologically active compounds. Emphasis is placed on improving the quality and safety of processed natural products, which is understandable in light of the frequently observed instability of natural compounds and their degradation, among others, to compounds of unknown biological activity. In this paper, the influence of typical conditions of currently used assisted extraction techniques on the stability of 5-O-caffeoylquinic acid and 1,3-di-O-caffeoylquinic acid during their simulated and real extraction from plants was investigated. In the experiments, extraction assisted by microwave radiation, ultrasound and pressure in procedures known as MASE, UASE and PLE techniques, respectively, was used. By comparing the amounts of native plant components, i.e., compounds present in the extract obtained, as shown, by the non-destructive SSDM technique with the amounts of these compounds estimated in extracts obtained by the above-mentioned techniques, it was proven that their content is variable. These differences are a consequence of two opposing processes, i.e., the success of the isolation process (its efficiency) and the degree of degradation/transformation of the main components. The results of the studies presented here can reduce the share of the second of the above, and consequently contribute to more effective obtaining of phenolic compounds from plants.

Plants represent a great source of medicines, and for their components to be discovered, extraction processes must be developed, especially methods based on green technology. Supercritical fluid extraction (SFE) was employed as a green method for Moringa oleifera extraction in the present investigation. The maximum yield of extraction was obtained at 25 MPa. Moreover, the extraction at 25 MPa induced the release of various phenols and flavonoids, as analyzed via high-performance liquid chromatography. The investigation revealed the concentrations of chlorogenic, gallic, rosmarinic, and coumaric acids to be 150.59, 89.90, 44.75, and 29.41 µg/mL, respectively at 25 MPa. However, their concentrations were 0.73, 1.53, 0.24, and 0.04 µg/mL, respectively at 15 MPa; vs. 4.73, 2.62, 1.06, and 0.50 at 35 MPa, respectively. Totals of saponin, flavonoid, phenolic, tannins, and alkaloid were recorded in maximum yield at 25 MPa. Moringa oleifera extracted at 35 MPa reflected highest inhibition zones of 27 ± 0.1, 30 ± 0.2, and 30 ± 0.1 mm against C. glabrata, C. tropicalis, and C. albicans, correspondingly. α-Amylase and α-glucosidase activities were greatly suppressed by the M. oleifera extract at 25 MPa with less IC50 (12.97 µg/mL and 6.0 µg/mL), than the IC50 (53.46 and 22.02 µg/mL) at 15 MPa, compared with acarbose IC50 (5.52 and 2.64 µg/mL), correspondingly.