Selim Ceylan

Pyrolysis kinetics of hazelnut husk using thermogravimetric analysis

This study aims at investigating physicochemical properties and pyrolysis kinetics of hazelnut husk, an abundant agricultural waste in Turkey. The physicochemical properties were determined by bomb calorimeter, elemental analysis and FT-IR spectroscopy. Physicochemical analysis results showed that hazelnut husk has a high calorimetric value and high volatile matter content. Pyrolysis experiments were carried out in a thermogravimetric analyzer under inert conditions and operated at different heating rates (5, 10, 20°C/min). Three different kinetic models, the iso-conversional Kissinger-Akahira-Sunose (KAS) and Ozawa-Flynn-Wall (OFW) models and Coats-Redfern method were applied on TGA data of hazelnut husk to calculate the kinetic parameters including activation energy, pre-exponential factor and reaction order. Simulation of hazelnut husk pyrolysis using data obtained from TGA analysis showed good agreement with experimental data. Combining with physicochemical properties, it was concluded that this biomass can become useful source of energy or chemicals.

Pyrolysis kinetics and thermal characteristics of microalgae Nannochloropsis oculata and Tetraselmis sp.

In this study non-isothermal thermogravimetric analysis were used to investigate pyrolysis behavior and kinetics of microalgae Nannochloropsis oculata (NO) and Tetraselmis sp. (TS). TG/DTG experiments at different heating rates were carried out. Heating rates had slight effect on the decomposition trend, however the maximum temperature and peak of weight loss rate in the DTG curves shifted towards higher temperature with the increase in heating rate. The average activation energy and pre-exponential factor for pyrolysis of NO and TS were estimated by distributed activation energy model. The highest activation energies were observed as 152.20 and 334kJ/mol for NO and TS, respectively, at various conversions. The pre-exponential factors for the corresponding activation energies were observed to be in the order of 10(8)-10(13) and 10(12)-10(25)s(-1) for NO and TS, respectively. Calculated kinetic parameters were used to predict devolatilization curves and results were in well agreement with experimental data.

Thermal behaviour and kinetics of alga Polysiphonia elongata biomass during pyrolysis

The pyrolysis characteristics and kinetics of Polysiphonia elongata were investigated using a thermogravimetric analyzer. The main decomposition of samples occurred between 225 °C and 485 °C at heating rates of 5-40 °C/min; owing to release of 78-82% of total volatiles. The heating rate effected pyrolysis characteristics such as maximum devolatilization rate and decomposition temperature. However, total volatile matter yield was not significantly affected by heating rate. The activation energy of pyrolysis reaction was calculated by model free Friedman and Kissenger-Akahira-Sunose methods and mean values were 116.23 kJ/mol and 126.48 kJ/mol, respectively. A variance in the activation energy with the proceeding conversions was observed for the models applied, which shows that the pyrolysis process was composed of multi-step kinetics. The Coats-Redfern method was used to determine pre-exponential factor and reaction order. The obtained parameters were used in simulation of pyrolysis process and results were in a good agreement with experimental data.

Application of artificial neural networks to co-combustion of hazelnut husk–lignite coal blends

The artificial neural network (ANN) theory is applied to thermal data obtained by non-isothermal thermogravimetric analysis (TGA) from room temperature to 1000°C at different heating rates in air to study co-combustion of hazelnut husk (HH)-lignite coal (LC) blends of various composition. The heating rate, blend ratio and temperature were used in the ANN analysis to predict the TG curves of the blends as parameters that affect the thermal behavior during combustion. The ANN model provides a good prediction of the TG curves for co-combustion with a coefficient of determination for the developed model of 0.9995. The agreement between the experimental data and the predicted values substantiated the accuracy of the ANN calculation.

Proteomic insight into phenolic adaptation of a moderately halophilic Halomonas sp. strain AAD12

A gram-negative, moderately halophilic bacterium was isolated from Çamaltı Saltern area, located in the Aegean Region of Turkey. Analysis of its 16S rRNA gene sequence and physiological characteristics showed that this strain belonged to the genus Halomonas ; hence, it was designated as Halomonas sp. strain AAD12. The isolate tolerated up to 800 mg⋅L(-1) phenol; however, at elevated concentrations, phenol severely retarded cell growth. The increase in lag phase with increasing phenol concentrations indicated that the microorganism was undergoing serious adaptative changes. To understand the physiological responses of Halomonas sp. strain AAD12 to phenol, a 2-dimensional electrophoresis approach combined with mass spectrometric analysis was used. This approach showed that the expression of 14 protein spots were altered as phenol concentration increased from 200 to 800 mg⋅L(-1). Among the identified proteins were those involved in protein biosynthesis, energy, transport, and stress metabolism. So far, this is the first study on phenolic adaptation of a gram-negative, moderately halophilic bacteria using proteomic tools. The results provided new insights for understanding the general mechanism used by moderately halophilic bacteria to tolerate phenol and suggested the potential for using these microorganisms in bioremediation.

Interplay of adaptive capabilities of Halomonas sp. AAD12 under salt stress

In the present study, osmoadaptive mechanism of Halomonas sp. AAD12 was studied through analysis of changes in its proteome maps and osmolyte accumulation strategy to understand how this euryhaline microorganism masters osmotic stress of saline environments. Under salt stress, there were significant variations in the expression of proteins involved in osmoregulation, stress response, energy generation and transport. This was accompanied by an increase in proline and hydroxyectoine but a decrease in ectoine accumulation. The major osmolyte at high salinity was proline. Unexpectedly the size of the total ectoines pool was smaller at elevated salinity. Experimental findings were then integrated with a metabolic model to get insight into carbon trafficking during osmoadaptation. Simulations predicted that the total flux through energy generating pathways, namely gluconeogenesis and the pentose phosphate pathway, was significantly lower and carbon source that entered the system as citrate was mainly diverted to osmolyte synthesis at high salinity. Overall these results suggested that the moderately halophilic Halomonas sp. AAD12 pursued a different osmoregulatory strategy than the two well known moderate halophiles, Chromohalobacter salexigens and Halobacillus halophilus. The climbing value of osmolytes such as ectoine in health care and skin care products places significant attention to halophilic microorganisms hence an understanding of the osmoadaptive mechanism and osmolyte accumulation strategy of this isolate is very valuable to be able to manipulate its metabolism towards desired goals.

Kinetic analysis on the non-isothermal degradation of plum stone waste by thermogravimetric analysis and integral Master-Plots method

In this study, pyrolysis of plum stone was investigated by thermogravimetric analysis in a nitrogen atmosphere at heating rates of 5, 10, 20 and 40u2009°Cu2009min−1. Pyrolysis characteristics and the thermal-decomposition rate were significantly affected by variation in the heating rate. However, the heating rate slightly affected the total yield of the volatile matters. Activation energy of the pyrolysis reaction was evaluated by model-free methods, Friedman and Kissingere–Akahirae–Sunose. Results of the Master-Plots method indicated that the most probable reaction model function was the nth order reaction model function as f(x) = (1-x) 3.11, A = 8.02x1012 under a mean activation energy of 150.61u2009kJu2009mol−1. Proximate and ultimate analysis showed that plum stone can be considered as a favourable source for energy production owing to its low moisture and ash content, and high volatile matter ratio and moderate heating value.

Improved prediction of higher heating value of biomass using an artificial neural network model based on proximate analysis

As biomass becomes more integrated into our energy feedstocks, the ability to predict its combustion enthalpies from routine data such as carbon, ash, and moisture content enables rapid decisions about utilization. The present work constructs a novel artificial neural network model with a 3-3-1 tangent sigmoid architecture to predict biomasses higher heating values from only their proximate analyses, requiring minimal specificity as compared to models based on elemental composition. The model presented has a considerably higher correlation coefficient (0.963) and lower root mean square (0.375), mean absolute (0.328), and mean bias errors (0.010) than other models presented in the literature which, at least when applied to the present data set, tend to under-predict the combustion enthalpy.

Pyrolysis reaction models of waste tires: Application of Master-Plots method for energy conversion via devolatilization

Land applied disposal of waste tires has far-reaching environmental, economic, and human health consequences. Pyrolysis represents a potential waste management solution, whereby the solid carbonaceous residue is heated in the absence of oxygen to produce liquid and gaseous fuels, and a solid char. The design of an efficient conversion unit requires information on the reaction kinetics of pyrolysis. This work is the first to probe the appropriate reaction model of waste tire pyrolysis. The average activation energy of pyrolysis was determined via iso-conversional methods over a mass fraction conversion range between 0.20 and 0.80 to be 162.8±23.2kJmol-1. Using the Master Plots method, a reaction order of three was found to be the most suitable model to describe the pyrolytic decomposition. This suggests that the chemical reactions themselves (cracking, depolymerization, etc.), not diffusion or boundary layer interactions common with carbonaceous biomasses, are the rate-limiting steps in the pyrolytic decomposition of waste tires.

Preliminary phenotypic characterization of newly isolated halophilic microorganisms by footprinting: a rapid metabolome analysis

The emerging need for rapid screening and identification methods for microbiological purposes necessitates the combined uses of high-tech instruments. In this work, electrospray ionization mass spectrometry was used to visualize the relation of ten newly isolated moderately halophilic microorganisms, to Halomonas salina DSMZ 5928 and Halomonas halophila DSMZ 4770. The method was based on the global analysis of the metabolites in culture media and is termed as metabolic footprinting. Since it was not possible to gain insight into the similarities solely based on the visual inspection of the chromatograms, principal component (PC) analysis was applied on the data. Three PCs alone were able to explain 99% of the information in the data set. The score plots revealed the relation of the new isolates to the two type strains whereas the loading plots gave important clues on the significant ions responsible for the observed clustering. Loading plots also indicated inversely correlated ions that give clues on differing metabolic pathways. The work described here offers a potentially useful way for preliminary rapid phenotypic characterization of new and closely related isolates and a method for screening of similar microorganisms for different and valuable secondary metabolites.