Ana Karla de Souza Abud

Comparison between Brazilian agro-wastes and activated carbon as adsorbents to remove Ni(II) from aqueous solutions

This research was performed to find an alternative, low-cost, competitive, locally available and efficient adsorbent to treat nickel (Ni) containing effluents. For this purpose, several Brazilian agro-wastes like sugarcane bagasse (SCB), passion fruit wastes (PFW), orange peel (OP) and pineapple peel (PP) were compared with an activated carbon (AC). The adsorbents were characterized. Effects of fundamental factors affecting the adsorption were investigated using batch tests. Kinetic and equilibrium studies were performed using conventional models. It was verified that the adsorption was favored at pH of 6.0 for all agro-wastes, being dependent of the Ni speciation, point of zero charge and surface area of the adsorbents. The Ni removal percentage was in the following order: SCB > OP > AC > PFW > PP. From the kinetic viewpoint, the Elovich model was appropriate to fit the Ni adsorption onto SCB, while for the other adsorbents, the pseudo-first-order model was the most suitable. For all adsorbents, the Langmuir model was the more adequate to represent the equilibrium data, being the maximum adsorption capacities of 64.1 mg g(-1), 60.7 mg g(-1), 63.1 mg g(-1), 48.1 mg g(-1) and 64.3 mg g(-1) for SCB, PFW, OP, PP and AC, respectively. These results indicated that mainly SCB and OP can be used as alternative adsorbents to treat Ni containing effluents.

Treatment of textile industry effluents using orange waste: a proposal to reduce color and chemical oxygen demand

Various agricultural residues have been tested as biosorbents due to their low cost, high surface area, and favorable surface chemistry. In this work, a sweet orange albedo was tested as a biosorbent for treatment of real textile effluents. The orange albedo powder was prepared by drying the residue at 50 °C and milling to 30 mesh, and then used for dye adsorption from a alkaline (pH = 10.71) effluent. The adsorption process was studied in batch experiments at 30 °C by measuring color removal and chemical oxygen demand (COD). The color removal was found not to be significantly altered when the effluent was used in its raw state, while COD increased probably due to albedo degradation. For the effluent diluted to 60% (Veffluent VH2O(-1)), color and COD removal percentages of approximately 89% were obtained. It was found that pH played a very significant role on the adsorption process, as the treated albedo displayed a relative pHPZC* of 4.61, and the highest dye removal efficiencies were reached at pH lower than 2. The COD was strongly influenced by the effluent dilution. The effectiveness in eliminating color and COD shows that orange albedo can be potentially used as a biosorbent to treat textile wastewater.

Bioethanol in Brazil: Status, Challenges and Perspectives to Improve the Production

Abstract Brazil is one of the biggest producers of bioethanol worldwide, using sugarcane as the main raw material in the first-crop generation. However, geographical limitations and food versus fuel debate has prompted to search for alternative sources of biomass since the demand for bioethanol continuously increases. Lignocellulosics (second-crop generation) can represent a valuable chance to grow the ethanolic biorefinery sector which estimulate the efforts of different Brazilian research centers and resulted in two industrial plants with several difficulty to validate this technology at large scale. Thus government, institutions, and researchers are trying to apply the concept of biorefinery to reduce production costs and to adapt existents plants to operate simultaneously first–second-ethanol generation. Third-crop generation (micro- and macroalgae) is studied but without perspectives for large-scale exploitation.

Adsorption of methylene blue on agroindustrial wastes: Experimental investigation and phenomenological modelling

In this work, agro-wastes coming from soursop (peel, seeds and pulp fiber) and sugarcane (bagasse) are used as low-cost biosorbents to remove methylene blue (MB) from aqueous media. Batch experiments are performed under different experimental conditions investigating the effects of biosorbent amount, dye concentration and stirring rate. The best results were found using soursop wastes for a MB concentration of 100 mg L-1, using 0.75 g of residue and a stirring rate of 110 rpm, removing a percentage above 90%. Theoretically, adsorption kinetic can be successfully described by the pseudo-second order model. Redlich-Peterson and Sips models are adopted to interpret the equilibrium adsorption of MB on sugarcane bagasse and soursop residue, respectively. Interestingly, the monolayer model with single energy derived by statistical physics theory is also applied for a deeper explanation of the adsorption mechanism of MB on both the adsorbents. The application of this model allows defining the adsorption geometry of the investigated adsorbate and provides important information about the interactions between the adsorbate and sorbents. In particular, the modelling analysis by statistical physics allows defining that the dye molecules are adsorbed in vertical position and the adsorption process is multi-molecular (i.e. n > 1). Finally, the estimation of adsorption energy suggested that MB adsorption on biosorbent is a physisorption process.

Tropical Fruit Pulps: Processing, Product Standardization and Main Control Parameters for Quality Assurance

ABSTRACT Fruit pulp is the most basic food product obtained from fresh fruit processing. Fruit pulps can be cold stored for long periods of time, but they also can be used to fabricate juices, ice creams, sweets, jellies and yogurts. The exploitation of tropical fruits has leveraged the entire Brazilian fruit pulp sector due mainly to the high acceptance of their organoleptic properties and remarkable nutritional facts. However, several works published in the last decades have pointed out unfavorable conditions regarding the consumption of tropical fruit pulps. This negative scenario has been associated with unsatisfactory physico-chemical and microbiological parameters of fruits pulps as outcomes of little knowledge and improper management within the fruit pulp industry. There are protocols for delineating specific identity and quality standards (IQSs) and standardized good manufacturing practices (GMP) for fruit pulps, which also embrace standard operating procedures (SOPs) and hazard analysis and critical control points (HACCP), although this latter is not considered mandatory by the Brazilian legislation. Unfortunately, the lack of skilled labor, along with failures in complying established protocols have impaired quality of fruit pulps. It has been necessary to collect all information available with the aim to identify the most important hazards within fruit pulp processing lines. Standardizing methods and practices within the Brazilian fruit pulp industry would assurance high quality status to tropical fruit pulps and the commercial growth of this vegetal product towards international markets.

SISTEMA DE INOVAÇÃO NO BRASIL: ESTUDO BIBLIOMÉTRICO DA PRODUÇÃO CIENTÍFICA NA BASE SCOPUS

Resumo — Este artigo tem por objetivo analisar as caracteristicas da producao cientifica sobre sistema de inovacao no Brasil, publicados entre 1994 e julho de 2017, na base de dados Scopus. Foram identificados e analisados os aspectos bibliometricos referentes ao ano da publicacao, aos principais periodicos encontrados, ao idioma das publicacoes e quanto aos artigos mais citados, seus autores, periodicos publicados e afiliacao. A pesquisa foi quantitativa, com natureza descritiva. A amostra foi composta de 141 artigos. Observou-se que, a partir de 2006, houve um aumento crescente do interesse por este tema, com maior quantitativo de publicacoes no ano de 2016. Dentre os periodicos internacionais com maior numero de artigos, destacaram-se Espacios e Journal of Technology Management and Innovation, alem da maioria dos artigos esta publicada em ingles.

DIVERSIFICACÃO TECNOLÓGICA DA CADEIA PRODUTIVA DE POLPA DE FRUTA COM O USO DE FONTES DE PROTEÍNA NATURAL: DESENVOLVIMENTO DE PRODUTOS FUNCIONAIS

O presente trabalho tem por objetivo discutir o uso da polpa de fruta como possivel carreador de propriedade funcional, em conjunto com outros alimentos. Devido a aceitacao desse produto no Brasil e sua crescente producao nas duas ultimas decadas, sua diversificacao para as exigencias dos consumidores e competitividade industrial se torna necessaria. Apresenta-se o uso de aditivos proteicos, dotados de capacidade funcional e discutidos amplamente em literatura sobre seus multiplos efeitos na manutencao da saude humana. Percebe-se que existe uma enorme propensao da industria a utilizacao do produto que esta sendo estudado e testado em uma cooperacao entre as Universidades Federais de Alagoas e de Sergipe e a Universidade Estadual de Campinas (UNICAMP). Duas patentes para proteger o produto desenvolvido foram feitas, esperando-se a sua futura aplicacao no mercado. . Palavras-chave : alimento funcional, polpa de fruta, ciencia e tecnologia de alimentos, proteina.

CARACTERIZAÇÃO DOS PEDIDOS DE PATENTES EM BIOTECNOLOGIA NOS ESTADOS DO NORDESTE BRASILEIRO NO PERÍODO ANTERIOR E IMEDIATAMENTE APÓS A LEI DE INOVAÇÃO

O presente trabalho tem por objetivo apresentar o panorama da atividade de patenteamento em biotecnologia dos Estados do Nordeste brasileiro, tomando como referencia temporal a aplicacao da Lei de Inovacao. Para isto, foram coletados dados referentes aos pedidos de patentes de depositantes provenientes dos Estados da regiao na base de patentes do INPI, no periodo de 1983 a 2011. Os resultados evidenciaram que, apos a implantacao da Lei Inovacao, ocorreu um expressivo registro de patentes em biotecnologia (86,6%), tendo o maior numero de registros nos estados do Ceara, Bahia, Sergipe e Pernambuco. De maneira geral, pode-se concluir que ha uma significativa assimetria entre os registros de patentes nos Estados do Nordeste na area de biotecnologia. Os resultados tambem sugeriram que os Estados da regiao mantem em comum o desenvolvimento de tecnologias com foco em “Necessidades humanas”.

INNOVATION IN FERMENTED BEVERAGES BY PATENTS ANALYSIS IN BRAZIL

Despite the long existence of the fermentation processes, they still are very used in the food industry and other interested areas of the society. From this process, several food and drinks with a unique flavor and extended shelf life were developed. Fermented drinks are consumed in Brazil, and they can be alcoholic and non-alcoholic. The country has a high potential growth in the production of beverages, so the development of technologies and products in this area is essential. Recent researches have been protected by intellectual property using patent applications. With that, the aim of this work was to identify the patent trends on fermented drinks. The methodology was exploratory and quantitative and it was associated with the use of the key words “drink” and “fermented”. The search was conducted using the software AcclaimIP® trial version with the data base filter of the National Institute of Industrial Property (INPI). It was obtained a total of 30 patent deposits, being the major part concentrated on the main group A23L2 (no-alcoholics drinks), followed by C12C7 (preparation of other alcoholic drinks) and C12G3 (preparation of wort). It was concluded that the investigative efforts are focused on the production process of food products and alcoholic beverages, especially beer production. Keywords —Food, fermentation, patents, technological forecasting.

PROSPECÇÃO TECNOLÓGICA DA INDÚSTRIA FARMACÊUTICA NO BRASIL

Frente a concorrencia de mercado nos mais diversos setores, a protecao de novos ativos intangiveis vem se tornando imprescindivel para a sobrevivencia das empresas, tendo em vista a garantia de exclusividade gerada para o titular da inovacao, nao permitindo que terceiros a usem, distribuam, importem ou vendam sem o seu consentimento. No setor farmaceutico, onde os medicamentos produzidos para solucionar diversos problemas de saude da populacao resultam de processos caros, as patentes, uma das modalidades de propriedade intelectual, tornam-se um incentivo para as inovacoes. Considerando a relevância economica e social desse tipo de industria para o pais, o presente trabalho visou realizar uma prospeccao tecnologica acerca dos pedidos de patentes das maiores empresas farmaceuticas brasileiras, depositados nos ultimos anos no INPI (Instituto Nacional da Propriedade Industrial). A analise dos dados demonstrou que, dentre as depositantes do segmento, a empresa Ache Laboratorios Farmaceuticos ocupa a 1a posicao em relacao ao numero de pedidos de depositos de patentes brasileiras, prevalecendo pedidos referentes a patentes de invencao, o que sinaliza a preferencia por desenvolvimentos inovadores e, nao, aprimoramento de produtos existentes. Observou-se que a maioria das patentes sao destinadas as doencas inflamatorias, com numero infimo de depositos levantados resultantes de parcerias com universidades e fundacoes de apoio a pesquisa. Sugerem-se novos estudos com uso de indicadores para a ampliacao da compreensao sobre o setor farmaceutico nacional na contemporaneidade.