Alberto Wisniewski

Use of ozone in a pilot-scale plant for textile wastewater pre-treatment: physico-chemical efficiency, degradation by-products identification and environmental toxicity of treated wastewater.

In this study, ozonation of raw textile wastewater was conducted in a pilot-scale plant and the efficiency of this treatment was evaluated based on the parameters color removal and soluble organic matter measured as chemical oxygen demand (COD), at two pH values (9.1 and 3.0). Identification of intermediate and final degradation products of ozone pre-treatment, as well as the evaluation of the final ecotoxicity (Lumistox test) of pre-treated wastewater, was also carried out. After 4h of ozone treatment with wastewater recirculation (flow rate of 0.45 m(3)h(-1)) the average efficiencies for color removal were 67.5% (pH 9.1) and 40.6% (pH 3.0), while COD reduction was 25.5% (pH 9.1) and 18.7% (pH 3.0) for an ozone production capacity of 20 g h(-1). Furthermore, ozonation enhances the biodegradability of textile wastewater (BOD(5)/COD ratios) by a factor of up to 6.8-fold. A GC-MS analysis of pre-treated textile wastewater showed that some products were present at the end of the pre-treatment time. In spite of this fact, the bacterial luminescence inhibition test (Lumistox test) showed a significant toxicity reduction on comparing the raw and treated textile wastewater. In conclusion, pre-ozonation of textile wastewater is an important step in terms of improving wastewater biodegradability, as well as reducing acute ecotoxicity, which should be removed completely through sequential biological treatment.

Environmental strategies to remove volatile aromatic fractions (BTEX) from petroleum industry wastewater using biomass.

This work investigates the potentials of peat and angico hardwood sawdust to remove BTEX (benzene, toluene, ethylbenzene, and isomers of xylene) from the produced water discharged into aquatic systems during petroleum extraction. Peat and angico sawdust samples were pyrolyzed at 500°C, and found to contain n-alkenes, n-alkanes and pentacyclic triterpenes (peat), and 4-methoxyphenol, 1,4-dimethoxyphenol and 1,3,4-trimethoxyphenol (angico sawdust). In batch experiments, the removal capacities using peat were 32.4%, 50.0%, 63.0%, 67.8%, and 61.8% for benzene, toluene, ethylbenzene, m,p-xylenes and o-xylene, respectively. This compared with removal capacities using angico sawdust of 20.2%, 36.4%, 52.8%, 57.8%, and 53.7% for these compounds respectively, demonstrating the superior performance of the peat.

Chemical Composition and Antimicrobial Activity of Essential Oils of Eugenia chlorophylla (Myrtaceae)

Abstract The chemical composition of essential oils of stems, leaves (at vegetative and flowering stages) and flowers of Eugenia chlorophylla O. Berg., (Myrtaceae) obtained by hydrodistillation, were analyzed by capillary GC and GC/MS. Thirty-four components were identified, representing more than 80% of total oil. The major components were β-caryophyllene (flowers −12.8%), caryophyllene oxide (stems—17.2%), globulol (stems—16.5%; leaves—22.5% at vegetative stage and 18.9% at flowering stage), 1-epi-cubenol (stems −10.9%), epi—α—muurolol (stems—16.8%) and α—cadinol (stems—12.1%; flowers −10.1%). The oils were evaluated against 20 strains of bacteria (Gram-positive and Gram-negative) and yeasts. All oils showed mild to moderate antimicrobial activity associated mainly with Gram-positive bacteria and yeasts.

Petroleomics by ion mobility mass spectrometry: resolution and characterization of contaminants and additives in crude oils and petrofuels

Ion mobility-mass spectrometry (IM-MS), performed with exceptional resolution and sensitivity in a new uniform-field drift tube ion mobility quadrupole time-of-flight (IM-QTOF) instrument, is shown to provide a useful tool for resolving and characterizing crude oils and their contaminants, as well as petrofuels and their additives. Whereas direct analysis of a crude oil sample contaminated with demulsifiers by the classical ESI(±)-FTICR-MS petroleomic approach was unsatisfactory since it responds only with abundance and m/z, and ionization is impaired due to suppression of polar compounds of crude oil by additives likely used in petroleum industry, IM-MS enables mobility separation of ions, particularly of double bond equivalent (DBE) series for a giving CnX class providing separated spectra which are typical obtained either for the crude oil or the contaminants, even suffering of ion suppression or low ionization efficiency. The combination of improved IM resolution and high mass resolving power (40,000@400) of the QTOF instrument provides useful information on class (N, NO, NS, etc.), carbon number (Cn), and unsaturation (DBE) levels for crude oils, allowing one to infer geochemical properties from DBE trends that can be compared with IM-MS data. As demonstrated by results of gasoline samples with additives, the IM-MS system also allows efficient separation and characterization of additives and contaminants in petrofuels.

Essential Oil Composition of Myrcia laruotteana Camb.

Abstract Essential oils isolated by hydrodistillation from leaves and flowers of Myrcia laruotteana were analyzed bycapillary GC and GC/MS. Twenty-five compounds, representing around 90% of the total oil, were identified. The main components were α-bisabolol (20.7 and 28.1, in leaves and flowers, respectively) and 14-hydroxy-α-muurolene (19.9% and 13.7%). Methyl salicylate was present only in flowers oil, as a minor constituent.

Lotus corniculatus regulates the inflammation induced by bradykinin in a murine model of pleurisy.

This study evaluated the anti-inflammatory efficacy of the crude extract (CE), the fractions derived from hexane (HEX), ethyl acetate (AcOEt), n-butanol (BuOH), and aqueous (Aq) and isolated compounds (oleanolic acid or kaempferitrin) obtained from the aerial parts of Lotus corniculatus var. São Gabriel in mice with bradykinin-induced pleurisy. Swiss mice were used for the In Vivo experiments. Inflammatory parameters [leukocytes; exudate concentrations; myeloperoxidase and adenosine-deaminase activities, and nitric oxide and interleukin-17 levels] were evaluated 4 h after pleurisy induction. The crude extract of Lotus corniculatus, its derived fractions, and isolated compounds inhibited leukocytes and the exudate. This inhibitory effect was associated with decreased of myeloperoxidase and adenosine-deaminase activities, nitric oxide products, and IL-17A levels. Lotus corniculatus presented important anti-inflammatory action by inhibiting leukocyte influx and exudate concentrations. This effect was directly related to the inhibition of nitric oxide and interleukinin17 levels. Oleanolic acid and kaempferitrin can account for these anti-inflammatory effects.

Chemical composition of volatiles from male and female specimens of Baccharis trimera collected in two distant regions of southern brazil: a comparative study using chemometrics

GC/MS/FID analyses of volatile compounds from cladodes and inflorescences from male and female specimens of Baccharis trimera (Less.) DC. collected in the states of Parana and Santa Catarina, Brazil, showed that carquejyl acetate was the primary volatile component (38% to 73%), while carquejol and ledol were identified in lower concentrations. Data were subjected to hierarchical cluster analysis and principal component analysis, which confirmed that the chemical compositions of all samples were similar. The results presented here highlight the occurrence of the same chemotype of B. trimera in three southern states of Brazil.

Estudo da adaptação da espécie Piper hispidinervum C. DC. (pimenta longa) à região do Vale do Itajaí - SC, através da composição química do óleo essencial obtido por hidrodestilação por micro-ondas e convencional

In this work a Piper hispidinervum specie (long pepper), endemic from the Acre state, was grown in Itajai Valley in Santa Catarina State, and its adaptation was evaluated in relation to chemical composition of essential oil obtained by traditional hydrodistillation and microwave hydrodistillation. The safrole was identified as the major constituent of the essential oil of this specie, which was used as a measure of evaluation of the adaptation capacity of this plant in the southern Brazil, as the proposal includes the evaluation of the usage of this specie as an alternative source of safrole, replacing Sassafras Cinnamon (Ocotea odorifera), widely explored specie in this region until the 90s decade. The plant samples were obtained from different regions of the Acre state and were cultivated at the experimental station of EPAGRI Itajai - SC. The essential oil of the leaves provided an average content of safrole between 76.6% and 89.9%. The analysis by GC-FID and GC-MS of the oil with higher safrole content, presented the following relative constitution: safrole (89.93%), α-terpinene (0.35%), (E)-β-ocimene (0.54%), terpinolene (3.10%), valencene (0.21%), (Z)-β-bisabolene (1.70%) and guaiol (0.29%).

Composição e variação sazonal do óleo essencial de Myrcia obtecta (O. Berg) Kiaersk. var. obtecta, Myrtaceae

Os oleos essenciais, isolados por hidrodestilacao de folhas e flores de Myrcia obtecta (O. Berg) Kiaersk. var. obtecta, Myrtaceae, coletadas a cada dois meses em Curitiba, Parana, durante o periodo de outubro/2005 a agosto/2006, foram analisados por CG e CG/EM. Os oleos das folhas foram caracterizados pelo elevado conteudo de sesquiterpenos ciclicos (cerca de 70%) e quantidades variaveis de monoterpenos (5,6-16,7%), compostos alifaticos (0,4-5,5%) e salicilato de metila (0,1-1,5%). Foram identificados 55 componentes, sendo que trans-calameneno (17,029,3%) foi o componente majoritario em todas as amostras. Nao houve mudancas significativas na composicao, excepto em outubro (floracao) quando α-terpineol e trans-calameneno atingiram os maiores niveis (11,2% e 29,3%, respectivamente). O oleo das flores contem salicilato de metila (89%) como constituinte majoritario.

Composição química dos componentes voláteis de Capsicodendron dinisii Schwancke (Canellaceae)

The volatile components of the stem bark of Capsicodendron dinisii were obtained by hydrodistillation using a modified Clevenger-type apparatus. The chemical compounds were identified using the arithmetic index and confirmed by GC-MS. Twenty-three compounds suggest the identified representing almost 90% of the total oil composition. Limonene (68.5%) was the major compound found. The stereochemistry of limonene was determined and was found to be represented by (+)-limonene (94%) and (-)-limonene (6%). The presence of drimenol (0.7%), a drimane sesquiterpenoid, confirmed the volatile components characteristics of the Canellaceae family.