Search Results (106)

Postharvest spoilage of cherry tomatoes caused by pathogenic microorganisms and oxidative browning leads to significant economic losses and food waste. Natural bioactive compounds are gaining increasing attention as alternatives to synthetic pesticides. In this study, a nanoemulsion (NED) formulation of nature-derived 2,4-di-tert-butylphenol was developed and evaluated for its potential to preserve cherry tomato quality during storage. The NED was prepared using high-pressure homogenization, and demonstrated good water solubility and stability. The particles and polydispersity index of NED were an average size of 80–170 nm and 0.2389, respectively. The conductivity and zeta potential of the nanoemulsion were detected as 1.007 mS/cm and 1.611 mV, respectively. Antimicrobial assays showed that the nanoemulsion effectively inhibited the growth of major postharvest pathogens, including human-pathogenic bacterial S. aureus, and phytopathogenic fungal B. cinerea, with minimum inhibitory concentration values of 1.0, 2.0 μL/mL, respectively. Preservation performance tests indicated that the nanoemulsion was effective under both room temperature and refrigerated conditions. When applied to cherry tomatoes, the NED significantly reduced surface bacterial quantity, and preserved fruit quality, as evidenced by a lower weight loss rate, and higher levels of soluble sugars, protein, total phenolics, flavonoids, and ascorbic acid, and total antioxidant capacity (all comparisons were statistically evaluated by one-way ANOVA followed by Tukey’s HSD test, p < 0.05). Importantly, the NED can be completely removed after three times of washing. Collectively, these findings demonstrate that NED is an effective and safe bioactive preservative under laboratory-scale conditions. However, further validation under commercial postharvest handling conditions is necessary prior to practical application. This work provides a fundamental basis for the application of nanoencapsulated natural phenolic compounds in the postharvest preservation of fruits and vegetables. Full article

The efficient extraction and purification of recombinant β-casein from Escherichia coli is a crucial step in bioprocess engineering. This study evaluates an adapted high-pressure homogenization (HPH) workflow for recombinant β-casein recovery and compares it with osmotic shock (OS) and standard HPH based on specific protein yield, estimated relative purity, and processing time. In contrast to standard HPH, which requires separate inclusion body recovery, washing, and subsequent denaturant-mediated solubilization, the adapted-HPH workflow integrates mechanical cell disruption with inclusion body recovery during homogenization. Standard HPH was evaluated in two downstream-processing runs, whereas adapted HPH and OS were each evaluated in three downstream-processing runs using separate aliquots from the same bioreactor biomass batch. Adapted HPH demonstrated higher specific yields (4.08 mg_casein/g_CDW) and required 40% less processing time compared to the OS and standard HPH methods. The specific yield obtained with adapted HPH was significantly higher than that obtained with standard HPH (p = 0.026), whereas the difference between adapted HPH and OS was not statistically significant (p = 0.086). Despite the inclusion body washing steps used for OS and standard HPH, adapted HPH achieved a slightly higher average purity than OS (63.46 ± 3.49% versus 59.38 ± 2.79%) and a purity comparable to standard HPH (68.10 ± 6.87%); however, these differences were not statistically significant. Overall, the comparative evaluation of these methods indicates that adapted HPH may provide a simplified alternative for recombinant β-casein recovery, although further validation with a larger number of independent experiments is required. Full article

Driven by the growing demand for functional textiles featuring excellent waterproofness, moisture permeability and mechanical robustness in outdoor sportswear, medical protection and technical apparel, traditional pongee—despite its desirable softness, high wrinkle resistance and good stability as an ideal substrate fabric—is severely restricted in further application by its intrinsically poor hydrostatic pressure resistance in extremely wet environments. Accordingly, we developed a modified waterborne polyurethane (WPU) coating for pongee substrates to fabricate functional textiles that maintain high hydrostatic pressure resistance while possessing good mechanical properties and increased UV absorption. In this study, by using the sol–gel method, an amorphous silicon dioxide (SiO₂) coating layer was constructed on the surface of titanium dioxide (TiO₂) particles, forming silica-modified titania particles (SiO₂/TiO₂). These SiO₂-modified particles were subsequently physically blended with an anionic waterborne polyurethane system that had been previously modified with a polyester-type modifier A to enhance its hydrostatic pressure resistance. The resulting composite coating was designed to combine the high hydrostatic pressure resistance inherited from the modified WPU matrix, the mechanical reinforcement and increased UV absorption contributed by SiO₂/TiO₂, and satisfactory water repellency on fabric substrates. The results indicate that the incorporation of an appropriate amount of modifier A into the prepolymer system significantly enhances hydrostatic pressure resistance while maintaining high elongation at break. At a SiO₂/TiO₂ loading of 0.2 wt%, the composite film exhibits optimal comprehensive performance, characterized by superior mechanical properties, low water absorption, and static water contact angles exceeding 100° for coated fabrics. SiO₂/TiO₂ composite WPU coatings substantially improve hydrostatic pressure resistance across various fabrics, with 380T polyester taffeta demonstrating the best performance. This resistance remains remarkably stable after standard washing, indicating excellent wash fastness and practical applicability. Full article

Storing hydrogen in interstitial metal hydrides has several advantages. These include high volumetric capacity (50–100 kg/m³), fast kinetics, and safer conditions due to mild operating temperatures (<100 °C) and pressures (<50 bar). However, thermal management and stress development remain challenges to be overcome. There have already been promising methods to improve the performance of metal hydrides, but most are only proof of concept. They have only been investigated on a lab-scale with a few grams of sample. In this work, a commercially available AB₂-metal alloy is coated with 10 wt% expanded natural graphite (ENG) and 10 wt% elastomeric binder. The focus is on methods that can easily be scaled up. Two methods (wash-coating and spray-coating) have been successfully applied to prepare hydride-forming materials on a kilogram scale. The performance of the coated material in terms of heat management, stress development, hydrogen capacity, and kinetics is evaluated to be over 50 cycles of hydrogen absorption/desorption. The results are confirmed by a larger-scale set of experiments with ≈0.5 kg of sample. The spray-coating method shows promising results, combining fast preparation, reasonable hydrogen capacity, and the potential to compensate for the bulk of the expansion stress. Full article

Subsurface contamination at low-permeability petrochemical sites necessitates long-term multi-phase extraction (MPE), yet operational sustainability is frequently compromised by well-bore clogging. This study develops a “prevent–identify–remediate” strategy through integrated laboratory and field-based investigations. Laboratory bench tests identified a critical packing density threshold of 70%, above which permeability loss escalates rapidly. Furthermore, rounded quartz sand maintained a significantly higher permeability ratio (0.4) compared to irregular zeolite (0.1). These findings were validated through a longitudinal two-year field pilot study in a silty-clay formation. Innovative large-diameter wells (200 mm) utilising optimised quartz sand showed high resilience, with only a 20% reduction in discharge capacity over 24 months. In contrast, conventional wells using local yellow sand exhibited severe physical clogging, resulting in a 57% decrease in stable flow. The study also characterised a diameter effect, where small-diameter wells (63 mm) proved inherently more vulnerable to rapid performance degradation regardless of filter media. To address existing impairment, high-pressure water jetting and dilute hydrochloric acid washing restored flow capacity by 50% and 40%, respectively. By coupling mechanistic insights with field evidence, this research provides a comprehensive platform for the sustainable design and maintenance of subsurface remediation infrastructure, ensuring long-term operational efficiency and reduced resource consumption. Full article

This study evaluated permeable pavements through field tests on pedestrian and vehicular sites. Infiltration rates were measured before and after vacuum cleaning and pressure washing, supported by sediment analysis. Results show that pedestrian pavements maintained high performance, while vehicular pavements experienced severe clogging. Pressure washing restored infiltration more effectively, whereas vacuum cleaning is more practical for routine maintenance. Timely interventions are essential to ensure long-term functionality. Full article

There is growing concern that antimicrobial use (AMU) in livestock may contribute to antimicrobial resistance (AMR) in humans and lead to the consumption of animal-derived foods contaminated with antimicrobial residues. As stakeholders in the livestock industry, farmers must participate in the joint effort to reduce AMU. This cross-sectional study, based on a survey questionnaire, was conducted to evaluate the biosafety measures implemented on small ruminant farms and to assess the knowledge, attitudes and practices (KAP) of small ruminant farmers regarding AMU, AMR and residues. The mean biosafety score obtained was 8.4 points on a 0–17 scale. Some biosafety measures appeared difficult to implement, namely vehicle disinfection, requiring visitors to change clothing and footwear at the farm entrance, cleaning and disinfecting farm facilities, using high-pressure washing equipment, and requiring employees to change clothing and footwear upon entering the farm. Although farmers self-reported moderate levels of knowledge (4.9 points on a 0–7 scale) and positive attitudes (5.8 points on a 0–7 scale), significant gaps in knowledge about antibiotics and antimicrobial stewardship persisted. Practices received lower scores (4.7 on a 0–7 scale), especially regarding medication recording, leftover antibiotic management, and waste disposal. Cluster analysis identified distinct farmer profiles with different patterns of knowledge and practices. These findings underscore the importance of considering farmer heterogeneity when designing interventions aimed at improving AMU. Full article

This paper studies a two-stage oxygen-alkaline treatment and subsequent bleaching of softwood sulfate pulp obtained from healthy and deadwood of spruce and larch. Delignification was carried out at elevated temperature and pressure in an alkaline medium with the addition of hydrogen peroxide, after which the pulp was subjected to classic ECF cycles with chlorine dioxide, hydrogen peroxide and, if necessary, elemental chlorine. The selected and washed mass was ground to a specified degree of grinding and formed into laboratory sheets of standard density on a sheet-forming apparatus. The results showed that oxygen-alkaline pretreatment significantly reduces the residual lignin content, and subsequent bleaching cycles make it possible to obtain high-brightness pulp with minimal losses of cellulose and viscosity. The structural, morphological and mechanical characteristics of the obtained samples were studied. After a full bleaching cycle, the fibers become slightly shorter and thinner, their surface is leveled, the proportion of small fractions decreases, and the homogeneity of the structure improves. The resulting cellulose samples demonstrate mechanical characteristics that meet industrial requirements for high-quality printing and thin-layer paper grades. Full article

The increasing scarcity of urban water resources, particularly in regions with intermittent supply and household water storage tanks, demands monitoring approaches capable of identifying end-use consumption patterns beyond aggregated volume measurements. Framed primarily as a feasibility study, this research presents an IoT-based framework for the automated classification of residential water consumption activities using water-level dynamics and supervised machine learning. A non-intrusive sensing architecture based on hydrostatic pressure measurements was deployed in a domestic water tank and integrated with a cloud-based data acquisition and processing platform. Five representative household states and activities were considered: tank refilling, stable state, toilet flushing, washing clothes, and taking a bath. A labeled dataset comprising 4396 consumption events was used to train and evaluate Decision Tree, Random Forest, Support Vector Machine (SVM), k-Nearest Neighbors, and Recurrent Neural Network (LSTM) models using features derived from water-level variations. All models achieved high performance, with accuracies above 0.92 and weighted F1-scores up to 0.93. The evaluated models showed highly comparable results, with the SVM (RBF) achieving a slightly higher accuracy (0.9307) in this evaluation setting, while ROC analysis showed AUC values between 0.97 and 1.00 across all classes, indicating strong discriminative capability. Additionally, specific activities such as washing clothes and tank refilling achieved precision and recall values above 0.95. These findings confirm that hydrostatic pressure-based sensing, combined with machine learning, enables reliable identification of domestic water-use events under intermittent supply conditions. The proposed approach provides actionable insights for demand management, leak detection, and user awareness, supporting more efficient and sustainable residential water consumption strategies. Full article

The growing environmental impact of conventional textile dyeing processes, particularly their high water consumption, chemical usage, and wastewater generation, has intensified the need for alternatives. For this reason, the textile industry faces increasing pressure to adopt sustainable production routes that minimize environmental loads. The utilization of recycled polyester fabrics, natural dyes, and waste-derived bio-resources within waterless dyeing systems represents a holistic approach toward environmentally responsible textile manufacturing. This study focuses on the production of sustainable textiles by dyeing recycled polyester fabrics with natural madder dye and eggshell powder in a waterless supercritical CO₂ medium. The samples were characterized via SEM, TGA, wash fastness tests, and tensile strength measurements. SEM images clearly revealed the presence of eggshell powder (ESP) on the fabric surfaces. After UV aging, the samples containing 20% ESP exhibited higher tensile strength and more pronounced color stability compared to the control sample. The CaCO₃ component of the ESP contributed to UV resistance, while the TGA results showed higher residual mass for ESP-treated samples, indicating improved thermal stability. Moreover, the persistence of ESP on the fabric surface after repeated washing and the satisfactory wash fastness results confirmed the durability of the treatment. Overall, the results demonstrate that the combination of natural dye, recycled polyester, and eggshell-derived bio-additives in a waterless scCO₂ dyeing system offers a promising and environmentally benign strategy for producing sustainable and functional textile materials. Full article

Background and Aims: Gastric cancer (GC) remains a leading cause of cancer-related mortality, frequently diagnosed at advanced stages. High-risk features—tumor size ≥ 40 mm, cT3/cT4, nodal involvement, diffuse histology, and Borrmann type III/IV—are associated with peritoneal metastasis (PM). Staging laparoscopy with peritoneal washing (PW) is superior to conventional preoperative imaging modalities, including contrast-enhanced CT, MRI, PET/CT and endoscopic ultrasound, in detecting occult peritoneal disease. In this era of personalized medicine and expanding loco-regional strategies such as cytoreductive surgery (CRS)/Hyperthermic IntraPEritoneal Chemotherapy (HIPEC) and Pressurized IntraPeritoneal Aerosol Chemotherapy (PIPAC), accurate staging is crucial. This study assessed the impact of SL and PW in high-risk GC. Methods: We retrospectively analyzed 113 consecutive high-risk GC patients who underwent SL and PW between 2014 and 2024 at our institution. The primary endpoint was detection of PM or positive cytology (CY+). Secondary endpoints were treatment modification, eligibility for loco-regional therapy, and safety. Results: SL/PW identified PM or CY+ in 26 patients (23%), including 16 with CY+ only. None had radiologic signs of peritoneal disease. SL findings altered treatment in all cases: 21 patients (81%) with Peritoneal Cancer Index (PCI) < 6 underwent induction chemotherapy followed by CRS + HIPEC; 5 patients (PCI > 6) were spared non-therapeutic laparotomy and treated with bidirectional systemic chemotherapy and PIPAC. In 10 patients, systemic therapy was shifted from FLOT (fluorouracil, leucovorin, oxaliplatin, and docetaxel) to FOLFOX (fluorouracil, leucovorin, and oxaliplatin) ± nivolumab. No perioperative complications occurred; all patients were discharged within 24 h without delay in systemic treatment. Conclusions: SL with PW is safe and significantly improves staging accuracy in high-risk GC, enabling personalized therapeutic planning. Routine integration of SL should be considered essential in treatment algorithms to guide systemic and loco-regional strategies. Full article

In this study, a new way of protecting textile wearable electronics is proposed. A natural product, silk fibroin, known for its high biocompatibility, biodegradability, and low cytotoxicity, was selected to cover the functionalized fabric to improve its stability and enable washability. Silk fabric was selected as a non-toxic material, suitable for further application on skin and for wearable devices. Silk fabric was functionalized with various amounts of high-pressure carbon monoxide single-walled carbon nanotubes (HiPCO SWNTs). HiPCO SWNTs made the fabric electroconductive, but they are easily washed out of the fabric. The fabric functionalized with HiPCO SWNTs was covered with silk fibroin (SF) protein, which was subsequently crystallized by ethanol vapor to make it insoluble in water. The functionalization and silk fibroin coverage processes were studied using electrical resistance measurements, infrared and Raman spectroscopies, thermogravimetric technique, and surface wettability analysis. The coverage of the fabric with crystallized silk fibroin enables the washing process. The resistance of the functionalized fabric with silk fibroin did not increase significantly. The presented silk fibroin coating can facilitate the construction of future wearable electronics, protect the electroconductive nanomaterials on the fabric surface, and make textile structures reusable. Full article

This study investigates gas injection gravity miscible flooding to enhance oil recovery in fractured-vuggy volatile oil reservoirs of the Fuman area, Tarim Basin. The Fuman 210 reservoir, containing light oil with high maturity, large column heights, and strong fracture control, provides favorable conditions for gravity-driven flooding. Laboratory tests show that natural gas and CO₂ achieve miscibility, while N₂ reaches near-miscibility. Mixed gas injection, especially at a natural gas to nitrogen ratio of 1:4, effectively lowers minimum miscibility pressure and enhances displacement efficiency. Full-diameter core experiments confirm that miscibility improves oil washing and expands the sweep volume. Based on these results, a stepped three-dimensional well network was designed, integrating shallow injection with deep production. Optimal parameters were determined: injection rates of 50,000–100,000 m³/day per well and stage-specific injection–production ratios (1.2–1.5 early, 1.0–1.2 middle, 0.8–1.0 late). Field pilots validated the method, maintaining stable production for seven years and achieving a recovery factor of 30.03%. By contrast, conventional development relies on depletion and limited water flooding, and dry gas injection yields only 12.6%. Thus, the proposed approach improves recovery by 17.4 percentage points. The novelty of this work lies in establishing the feasibility of mixed nitrogen–natural gas miscible flooding for ultra-deep fault-controlled carbonate reservoirs and introducing an innovative stepped well network model. These findings provide new technical guidance for large-scale application in similar reservoirs. Full article

Anaerobic digestion (AD) for food waste (FW) treatment has faced many challenges, especially ammonia nitrogen, acid, and salinity inhibition at a high organic loading rate (OLR). Therefore, a systematic understanding of the issues arising during the FW AD process is a necessity under a high OLR (over 3 g-VS/L d). Primarily, in terms of ammonia nitrogen inhibition, ammonia ions inhibit methane synthesis enzymes, and free ammonia (FAN) contributes to the imbalance of microbial protons. Regulation strategies include substrate C/N ratio regulation, microbial domestication, and ammonia nitrogen removal. In addition, with regard to acid inhibition, including volatile fatty acid (VFA) and long-chain fatty acid (LCFA) accumulation, the elevated acid concentration can contribute to reactive oxygen species stress, and a solution to this includes the addition of alkaline agents and trace elements or the use of microbial electrochemical and biofortification technology and micro-aeration-based AD technology. Furthermore, in terms of salinity inhibition, high salinity can result in a rapid increase in cell osmotic pressure, which can cause cell rupture, and water washing and bio-electrochemical AD are defined as solutions. Future research directions are proposed, mainly in terms of avoiding the introduction of novel containments into these regulation strategies and applying them in large-scale AD plants under a high OLR. Full article

Biorefinery is gaining attention as a promising approach to valorize natural resources and promote a circular bioeconomy. This study aimed to recover high-value molecules, such as xanthophylls and polar lipids with nutraceutical applications, through enzymatic pretreatment and sequential pressurized liquid extraction (PLEseq), by reusing the residual biomass of Nannochloropsis gaditana after each processing step. Remarkably, pure glycolipids (102.95 ± 1.10 mg g⁻¹ dry weight) were obtained immediately after enzymatic pretreatment, facilitating their easy recovery. Furthermore, two alternative sequential extraction processes were successfully developed, using ethanol and water as green solvents at varying temperatures and in different orders. The most effective PLEseq conditions yielded up to 48 mg mL⁻¹ of carbohydrates using water at 50 °C, and up to 44 mg mL⁻¹ of proteins via subcritical water extraction at 100 °C, prior to conventional lipid extraction with ethanol to produce various concentrated extracts. In the inverted PLEseq process—starting with ethanol extraction followed by successive water washes—isolated and purified fractions of lutein and astaxanthin were obtained, contributing to the complete depletion of the residual biomass. Overall, the development of an integrated and sequential biorefinery protocol that enables the extraction of multiple high-value compounds holds significant potential for application in the food industry. Full article