Silvia Bolado Rodríguez

Customers' Perception of Value in Financial Services Relationships

Abstract The present paper summarizes the results of an investigation whose aim was to examine the type of value consumers achieve as a result of their loyalty to a provider of financial services. The study proposes a relation between the different forms of consumer loyalty (cognitive, affective, inertial or conative loyalty) and the value a client obtains (functional, affective or saving value). We have tested the proposed hypotheses for the relationships between consumers and the financial firm they frequent. The empirical study suggests that functional and saving value is mainly related to cognitive loyalty, whereas other types of loyalty generate affective value and, only indirectly, functional and saving value.

Saccharification of microalgae biomass obtained from wastewater treatment by enzymatic hydrolysis. Effect of alkaline-peroxide pretreatment.

An enzymatic method for the carbohydrate hydrolysis of different microalgae biomass cultivated in domestic (DWB) and pig manure (PMWB) wastewaters, at different storage conditions (fresh, freeze-dried and reconstituted), was evaluated. The DWB provided sugars yields between 40 and 63%, although low xylose yields (< 23.5%). Approximately 2% of this biomass was converted to byproducts as succinic, acetic and formic acids. For PMWB, a high fraction of the sugars (up to 87%) was extracted, but mainly converted into acetic, butyric and formic acids, which was attributed to the bacterial action. In addition, the performance of an alkaline-peroxide pretreatment, conducted for 1h, 50°C and H2O2 concentrations from 1 to 7.5% (w/w), was essayed. The hydrolysis of pretreated microalgae supported a wide range of sugars extraction for DWB (55-90%), and 100% for PMWB. Nevertheless, a large fraction of these sugars (∼30% for DWB and 100% for PMWB) was transformed to byproducts.

Effect of pretreatments on biogas production from microalgae biomass grown in pig manure treatment plants

Methane production from pretreated and raw mixed microalgae biomass grown in pig manure was evaluated. Acid and basic pretreatments provided the highest volatile solids solubilisation (up to 81%) followed by alkaline-peroxide and ultrasounds (23%). Bead milling and steam explosion remarkably increased the methane production rate, although the highest yield (377 mL CH4/g SV) was achieved by alkali pretreatment. Nevertheless, some pretreatments inhibited biogas production and resulted in lag phases of 7-9 days. Hence, experiments using only the pretreated solid phase were performed, which resulted in a decrease in the lag phase to 2-3 days for the alkali pretreatment and slightly increased biomass biodegradability of few samples. The limiting step during the BMP test (hydrolysis or microbial inhibition) for each pretreatment was elucidated using the goodness of fitting to a first order or a Gompertz model. Finally, the use of digestate as biofertilizer was evaluated applying a biorefinery concept.