The benefi ts of particle size reduction and mechanical densifi cation of biomass feedstock for storage, transportation, and handling must be assessed in relation to the systemic costs and energy consumption incurred due to these operations. The goal of this work was to determine the optimal levels of size reduction and densifi cation through a combination of modeling and experimental studies. ...

The particle size of apatite is one of the critical factors that influence the adsorption of heavy metals on apatite in the remediation of heavy metal contaminated soils using apatite. However, little research has been done evaluating the impact of different particle sizes of apatite on immobilization remediation of heavy metal polluted soils in field. In this study, the adsorption isothermal e...

BACKGROUND Bioethanol production from biomass is becoming a hot topic internationally. Traditional static solid state fermentation (TS-SSF) for bioethanol production is similar to the traditional method of intermittent operation. The main problems of its large-scale intensive production are the low efficiency of mass and heat transfer and the high ethanol inhibition effect. In order to achieve ...

We thank Referee 2 for providing insightful suggestions, which have considerably improved the readability of the revised manuscript. Our responses to this referee’s one general and several comments are stated below. The revised manuscript was uploaded in the form of supplement. A general (major) concern Overstatement of our results and conclusions: A set of unique concurrent measurements (inclu...

A long term experiment was conducted in a primary forest area in Amazonia, with continuous in-situ measurements of aerosol optical properties between February 2008 and April 2011, comprising, to our knowledge, the longest database ever in the Amazon Basin. Two major classes of aerosol particles, with significantly different optical properties were identified: coarse mode predominant biogenic ae...

[1] High concentrations of subresolved particles smaller than the 250 mm equivalent spherical diameter (ESD) detection limit of the optical plankton counter (OPC) have hampered its use in turbid estuarine waters. Coincidence of these subresolved particles produced erroneous counts of up to 58 L 1 for 100 mm mesh filtered water samples from three subtropical east Australian estuaries using the l...

The use of dead biomass of the fungus Hypocrea lixii as a biological system is a new, effective and environmentally friendly bioprocess for the production and uptake of nickel oxide nanoparticles (NPs), which has become a promising field in nanobiotechnology. Dead biomass of the fungus was successfully used to convert nickel ions into nickel oxide NPs in aqueous solution. These NPs accumulated ...

Lignocellulosic biomass can be utilized to produce ethanol, a promising alternative energy source for sustainable energy production and has the potential to be a valuable substitute. Various pretreatment techniques change the physical and chemical structures of the lignocellulosic biomass and improve the hydrolysis rate. The cost of ethanol production from lignocellulosic material is relatively...

This paper reviews ways that biomass can be converted by thermal depolymerization to make synthetic gas, i.e. syngas. Biomass, being carbon neutral, is considered as a form of solar energy stored during the growing season by photosynthesis. An effective biomass is one with low moisture and ash content, high lignin content, high calorific value, and small particle size. Woody biomass with low as...

In this article a hydrodynamic and rheological analysis of a continuous airlift bioreactor with high-cell-density system is presented. A highly flocculating recombinant strain of Sacharomyces cerevisiae containing genes for lactose transport (lactose permease) and hydrolysis (beta-galactosidase) was exploited to ferment lactose from cheese whey to ethanol. The magnetic particle-tracer method wa...