Search Results (8)

Colombia generates large volumes of lignocellulosic residues from agriculture, forestry, and agro-industrial activities. Much of this material is landfilled, openly burned, or left to decompose. These practices drive greenhouse-gas emissions (methane and CO₂), particulate air pollution, water contamination, and pest proliferation. Therefore, this study focuses on the design, simulation, exergetic and economic analysis of lignocellulosic biorefinery schemes in Colombia using corn stover (CS) as feedstock. This approach thus turns an environmental liability into valuable resources. Mass and energy balances obtained from Aspen Plus V10^® were used to calculate exergy efficiency. Economic indicators were provided by the Aspen Process Economic Analyzer (APEA) V10^® software. The first scenario (SCE01) included xylitol, lignin, carbon dioxide, biogas, and biofertilizer production along with in situ ethanol co-production; for scenario 2 (SCE02), a cogeneration (CHP) stage using biogas and biofertilizer as fuel was added; in scenario 3 (SCE03), the ethanol production of scenarios 1 and 2 was replaced by glutamic acid production. The exergy efficiency results were as follows: SCE01 (60.1%), SCE02 (36.8%), SCE03 (37.5%). The largest exergy losses were found in the CHP system. In terms of economic viability, all scenarios showed favorable economic parameters. SCE03 showed better results with an Internal Rate of Return (IRR) of 28.01% and a Net Present Value (NPV) of USD 985.1 M compared to SCE01 (27.48%; USD 769.1 M) and SCE02 (27.13%; USD 643.1 M). In light of these results, the SCE03 approach represents the most attractive investment opportunity, with the potential to integrate the social and environmental pillars of sustainability by fostering rural economic development and CO₂ capture. Optimization strategies can be readily adopted to enhance the overall efficiency of the proposed model, enabling it to serve as a benchmark for scaling and comparing alternative lignocellulosic waste valorization pathways at a national level. Full article

The antioxidant capacity and modulation of oxidative stress by industrially processed açaí pulp extract from the Amazon (APEA) and its major anthocyanins, cyanidin 3-glucoside (C3G) and cyanidin-3-O-rutinoside (C3R), were evaluated as potential strategies for preventing cardiovascular diseases. The APEA was chemically characterized using ultrafast liquid chromatography-mass spectrometry (UFLC-MS), which revealed six main phenolic compounds. Notably, 9-(2,3-dihydroxypropoxy)-9-oxononanoic acid, acanthoside B, roseoside, cinchonine, and nonanedioate were identified for the first time in açaí extracts. In vitro antioxidant assays demonstrated that APEA exhibited strong DPPH- and ABTS-radical-scavenging activities (up to 80% inhibition and 65 mmol TE/100g DW, respectively) and showed ferrous- and copper-ion-chelating activities comparable to those of EDTA-Na₂ at higher concentrations (up to 95% inhibition). Hydroxyl and superoxide radical scavenging activities reached 80% inhibition, similar to that of ascorbic acid. In H₂O₂-treated H9c2 cardiomyocytes, APEA significantly reduced the intracellular ROS levels by 46.9%, comparable to the effect of N-acetylcysteine. APEA also attenuated menadione-induced oxidative stress in H9c2 cells, as shown by a significant reduction in CellROX fluorescence (p < 0.05). In vivo, APEA (100 mg/kg) significantly reduced CCl-induced hepatic lipid peroxidation (MDA levels), restored glutathione (GSH), and increased the antioxidant enzymes CAT, GPx, and SOD, demonstrating superior effects to C3G and C3R, especially after 21 days of treatment (p < 0.001). These findings suggest that Amazonian açaí pulp (APEA) retains potent antioxidant activity after industrial processing, with protective effects against oxidative damage in cardiomyocytes and hepatic tissue, highlighting its potential as a functional food ingredient with cardioprotective and hepatoprotective properties. Full article

Considering the dangers and risks posed by climate change, many countries and organizations have pledged to achieve “net-zero emissions” by 2050. The present work introduces a new approach that addresses the growing global carbon emissions issue by integrating CO₂ capture and sequestration through the carbonation of recycled concrete aggregates (RCAs), producing an alternative sand (AS) product. This study explores the capture of low-concentration CO₂ and its suitability for sequestration into RCA. The integration of RCA in the process allows concrete manufacturers to reduce their reliance on mined sand, thereby minimizing its impact on the environment. A techno-economic analysis (TEA) was conducted on the CO₂ absorption and mineralization process to assess its economic viability across various processing scales, from 150 kt CO₂ per year to 1 Mt CO₂ per year. Initial bench-scale experiments show that RCA samples have a carbonation capacity of 10% by mass—these experimental results were used to conduct a TEA using Aspen Plus and an Aspen Process Economic Analyzer (APEA). The TEA results reveal a cost of 11.02 USD/t AS at the smallest scale and 8.02 USD/t AS at the largest scale. Full article

The initial APEAS study, conducted in June 2007, examined adverse events (AEs) in Spanish Primary Healthcare (PHC). Since then, significant changes have occurred in healthcare systems. To evaluate these changes, a study was conducted in the Camp de Tarragona PHC region (CTPHC) in June 2019. This cross-sectional study aimed to identify AEs in 20 PHC centres in Camp de Tarragona. Data collection used an online questionnaire adapted from APEAS–2007, and a comparative statistical analysis between APEAS–2007 and CTPHC–2019 was performed. The results revealed an increase in nursing notifications and a decrease in notifications from family doctors. Furthermore, fewer AEs were reported overall, particularly in medication-related incidents and healthcare-associated infections, with an increase noted in no-harm incidents. However, AEs related to worsened clinical outcomes, communication issues, care management, and administrative errors increased. Concerning severity, there was a decrease in severe AEs, coupled with an increase in moderate AEs. Despite family doctors perceiving a reduction in medication-related incidents, the overall preventability of AEs remained unchanged. In conclusion, the reporting patterns, nature, and causal factors of AEs in Spanish PHC have evolved over time. While there has been a decrease in medication-related incidents and severe AEs, challenges persist in communication, care management, and clinical outcomes. Although professionals reported reduced severity, the perception of preventability remains an area that requires attention. Full article

Background: Given the lack of previous studies on adverse events (AEs) in the area of occupational healthcare in Spain, it is very important to begin to understand this phenomenon in order to act on it. The objective was to accurately quantify AE occurring in occupational healthcare in MC Mutual during May 2021. Methods: We conducted a review of a representative random sample of 250 clinical records to identify AEs through an active search audit, focused on the frequency, type, severity, and preventability of these events, categorized using standardized scales. Results: We detected seven AEs in the sample of clinical records, representing 3% AEs per clinical record, while in the APEAS Spanish Study, they were detected in 10% of patients. The most frequent AE type was postoperative, followed by medication and diagnostic delay. The AEs were of intermediate severity and high severity and with a variable degree of being preventable. Conclusions: The detection of AEs has been useful in the development of projects and action plans such as specific training courses, safety patient newsletters, ambulatory risk maps, and treatment plans framed in the official certification of patient safety. These results should be evaluated in other companies similar to MC Mutual. Full article

White rice is an important staple food globally. It is a rich source of energy but is low in dietary phenolic antioxidants. This current research aimed at providing scientific evidence for an alternative rice dish that has increased phenolic-antioxidant health-promoting potential by combining white rice with red cowpea beans and cooking with dye sorghum leaves hydrothermal extract, as a source of natural colorant. Boiled white rice and the rice–cowpea–sorghum extract dish were freeze-dried, and the free and bound phenolic compounds of raw and cooked samples were extracted. Phenolic composition, total phenolic content (TPC), and antioxidant activities (measured by 2,2-diphenyl-1-picrylhydrazyl radical scavenging capacity, Trolox equivalent antioxidant capacity, and oxygen radical absorbance capacity methods) of the raw and cooked samples were determined. Combining white rice with cowpea seeds and sorghum leaves extract significantly (p < 0.0001) increased the TPC and antioxidant activities of the rice due to the higher TPC and antioxidant activities of cowpea and sorghum leaves. Although boiling caused substantial losses of flavonoids and anthocyanins in the rice–cowpea–sorghum extract composite meal, the resulting dish had higher TPC and antioxidant activities than boiled white rice. Compositing white rice with phenolic-rich pulses can be an innovative approach to providing alternative healthy rice dishes to consumers. Full article

Sustainability is a complex phenomenon that refers to economic, environmental, and social aspects. Any concept of sustainable urban development must incorporate sectoral concepts; these must be well integrated into the overarching urban, regional, and governance policies. One sectoral policy of great importance is the redevelopment processes of disused industrial areas into Sustainable Industrial Areas (AIS), Ecologically Equipped Productive Areas (APEA), or Eco-Industrial Parks (EIP). These territories, as socioeconomic systems that are being observed in the framework of the development of sustainability monitoring, are complex objects for evaluation due to the presence of a large number of interconnections between the constituent elements and hierarchical levels (sectors and spheres). For this reason, it is necessary that a new interpretation of economical, natural, and social phenomena, following a systemic and integrated approach, is able to reinterpret them for the dissemination of an ecologically and socially sustainable economy. The purpose of this work is to analyse the state of realisation of APEA on the Italian national territory, in order to understand the real benefits of production areas managed through eco-efficiency standards and to guarantee an integrated management system of environmental aspects. An additional aim is to consider a logical-mathematical model that would be able to support territorial policies in the identification of suitable areas to be converted into APEA, in order to promote sustainable development of the territory. Full article

The aim of this study is to estimate wintertime emissions of greenhouse gases CO₂, N₂O and CH₄ in two abandoned peat extraction areas (APEA), Ess-soo and Laiuse, and in two Oxalis site-type drained peatland forests (DPF) on nitrogen-rich sapric histosol, a Norway spruce and a Downy birch forest, located in eastern Estonia. According to the long-term study using a closed chamber method, the APEAs emitted less CO₂ and N₂O, and more CH₄ than the DPFs. Across the study sites, CO₂ flux correlated positively with soil, ground and air temperatures. Continuous snow depth > 5 cm did not influence CO₂, but at no snow or a thin snow layer the fluxes varied on a large scale (from −1.1 to 106 mg C m⁻² h⁻¹). In all sites, the highest N₂O fluxes were observed at a water table depth of −30 to −40 cm. CH₄ was consumed in the DPFs and was always emitted from the APEAs, whereas the highest flux appeared at a water table >20 cm above the surface. Considering the global warming potential (GWP) of the greenhouse gas emissions from the DPFs in the wintertime, the flux of N₂O was the main component of warming, showing 3–6 times higher radiative forcing values than that of CO₂ flux, while the role of CH₄ was unimportant. In the APEAs, CO₂ and CH₄ made up almost equal parts, whereas the impact of N₂O on GWP was minor. Full article