Epoxidation of Unsaturated Fatty Acid Methyl Esters in the Presence of SO_3H-functional Brφnsted Acidic Ionic Liquid as Catalyst

The epoxidation of unsaturated fatty acid methyl esters(FAMEs)by peroxyacetic acid generated in situ from hydrogen peroxide and acetic acid was studied in the presence of SO3H-functional Brnsted acidic ionic liquid (IL)[C3SO3HMIM][HSO4]as catalyst.The effects of hydrogen peroxide/ethylenic unsaturation ratio,acetic acid concentration,IL concentration,recycling of the IL catalyst,and temperature on the conversion to oxirane were studied.The kinetics and thermodynamics of unsaturated FAMEs epoxidation and the kinetics of oxirane cleavage of the epoxidized FAMEs by acetic acid were also studied.The conversion of ethylenic unsaturation group to oxirane, the reaction rate of the conversion to oxirane,and the rate of hydrolysis(oxirane cleavage)were higher by using the IL catalyst.

Boosted Biodegradability and Tribological Properties of Mineral Base Oil by Methyl Diethanolamine Fatty Acid Esters

Methyl diethanolamine fatty acid esters, viz. methyl diethanolamine octanoate and methyl diethanolamine oleate,were prepared. Their impacts on the biodegradability and tribological properties of mineral base oil 400 SN were evaluated by a tester for fast evaluating the biodegradability of lubricants and by a four-ball tester, respectively. The results showed that methyl diethanolamine octanoate and methyl diethanolamine oleate both could markedly promote the biodegradation of the oil and improved its tribological properties. The improvement of biodegradability was attributed to the enhanced growth and quantity of microbes by methyl diethanolamine fatty acid esters. The worn surfaces were analyzed by a scanning electron microscope(SEM) equipped with an energy dispersive spectrometer(EDS) and an X-ray photoelectron spectroscope(XPS). The results indicated that the enhancement of friction-reducing and anti-wear properties of the mineral oil was attributed to the formation of complicated boundary lubrication films composed of species such as Fe_2O_3, Fe_3O_4 and organic nitrogen-containing compounds with a structure of –C-N-or R-NH_2.

Enzymatic synthesis, antioxidant ability and oil-water distribution coefficient of troxerutin fatty acid esters

Troxerutin fatty acid esters were prepared using troxerutin and fatty acid vinyl esters as substrates in pyridine through enzymatic route. The structures of as-prepared compounds were identified by FT-TR, NMR, and ESI-HRMS. Using alkaline protease(≥30 mg/mL) as enzyme, maximum yields reached 58% at 3:1(vinyl hexanoate to troxerutin) in pyridine(water content ≤1%). The yields gradually declined as chain length of acyl donors rose. The antioxidation abilities of the as-obtained compounds were confirmed by both DPPH free radical scavenging and potassium ferricyanide reduction methods. The antioxidation ability of troxerutin fatty acid esters was found lower than that of troxerutin. However, the logP values of troxerutin fatty acid esters varied from 0.15 to 1.94, suggesting that troxerutin fatty acid esters had better lipophilicity than troxerutin(logP =-2.12) when compared to their oil-water distribution coefficients. Overall, these findings look promising as reference for further development of future troxerutin.

Effects of Yttrium Doping on the Performance of Ru-Based Catalysts for Hydrogenation of Fatty Acid Methyl Ester

The highly dispersed supported ruthenium-yttrium (Ru-Y) bimetallic catalysts were prepared by impregnation method and their catalytic performance for hydrogenation of ester was fully investigated. The catalyst was characterized by X-ray diffraction and field emission scanning electron microscopy. The results show that the average particle diameter of the bimetallic crystallites was less than 10 nm. The effects of the reaction temperature, the hydrogen pressure, the amount of catalyst and the proportion of yttrium in catalyst on the hydrogenation of ester were studied. The experimental results show that the introduction of yttrium not only changed the chemical and textural properties of ruthenium-based catalyst but also controlled the formation of Ru-Y alloy. The Ru-Y catalyst (Ru-2%Y/TiO2) exhibited high catalytic activity and good selectivity towards the higher alcohols. Under optimal reaction conditions of 240°C and 5 MPa hydrogen pressure, the conversion of palm oil esters was above 93.4% while the selectivity towards alcohol was above 99.0%.

Ternary Liquid-Liquid Equilibrium for Systems of Fatty Acid Methyl Ester(Methyl Palmitate/Methyl Stearate)+Ethanol+Glycerol at Atmospheric Pressure

Liquid-liquid equilibrium data of two ternary systems methyl palmitate+ethanol+glycerol and methyl stearate+ethanol+glycerol at(318.2 and 333.2)K and atmospheric pressure were measured. The values of distribution coefficient and selectivity were calculated, which indicates that glycerol can be separated from fatty acid ester by using ethanol as an extraction solvent. The consistency of the isothermal tie-line data were checked by the Othmer-Tobias equation. The correlation coefficients R2 are higher than 0.993,9 for all the fitted curves. The NRTL activity coefficient model was applied to the correlation of the measured tie-line data. The root mean square deviation(RMSD)values are less than 0.007 for all the systems, which shows a good predictive capability of this model for such systems.

Determination of the Fatty Acid Profile of Breast Milk from Nursing Mothers in Bungoma County, Kenya

The fatty acid profile in breast milk of nursing mothers who participated in a Cohort for Vitamin A (COVA) study at the fourth and ninth month of lactation was investigated. Breast milk samples were collected by manual expression and stored at - 20°C until analysis. The fat was extracted from the milk and methylated using the American Oil Chemists’ Society (AOCS) Official Methods with modifications. The separation, identification and quantification of the fatty acid methyl esters was performed by gas chromatography coupled with mass spectrometry (GC-MS). Fat contents of human milk increased significantly between the fourth and ninth month of lactation 0.38 and 1.21 mg·mL-1 respectively;P 0.05) than the average percent of the total unsaturated FAs (48.93%). Similarly, at the 9th month the percentage average of the total saturated fatty acids (15.18%) was significantly lower (P < 0.05) than the average percent of the total unsaturated FAs (31.05%). The results obtained in this study demonstrated that the fat content in breast milk significantly increased in the 9th compared to the 4th month of lactation. The fatty profile was also significantly different with the omega 6 being the dominant at the 9th month compared with the omega - 9 being dominant at the 4th month of lactation.

Production of biodiesel from palm fatty acid distillate using sulfonated-glucose solid acid catalyst:Characterization and optimization

A palm fatty acid distillate （PFAD） has been used for biodiesel production. An efficient sulfonated-glucose acid catalyst （SGAC） was prepared by sulfonation to catalyze the esterification reaction. The effect of three variables i.e. methanol-to-PFAD molar ratio, catalyst amount and reaction time, on the yield of PFAD esters was studied by the response surface methodology （RSM）. The optimum reaction conditions were： 12.2：1 methanol-to- PFAD molar ratio, 2.9% catalyst concentration and 134 rain of time as predicted by the RSM. The reaction under the optimum conditions resulted in 94.5% of the free fatty acid （FFA） conversion with 92.4% of the FAME yield. The properties of the PFAD esters were determined according to biodiesel standards.

Effect of alpha-lipoic acid supplementation on blood pressure, renal oxidant-antioxidant status and renal damage in spontaneously hypertensive rats

Objective:To investigate the effect of alpha-lipoic acid(ALA)supplementation on systolic blood pressure(SBP),renal oxidant-antioxidant status and renal damage in spontaneously hypertensive rats(SHR)and SHR administered with Nω-nitro-L-arginine methyl ester(L-NAME).Methods:Male rats were divided into four groups(SHR,SHR+ALA,SHR+L-NAME,SHR+ALA+L-NAME).The respective group of rats was administered with ALA(100 mg/kg/day)from age 4 weeks to 28 weeks and L-NAME(25 mg/kg/day)from age 16 weeks to 28 weeks.SBP was measured every two weeks and twenty four hour urine was collected at 4 weeks,16 weeks and 28 weeks for estimation of protein,creatinine and N-acetyl-e end of 28 weeks,rats were sacrificed and blood and kidneys colα-Dglucosaminidase.At thlected for assessment of blood creatinine,kidney thiobarbituric acid reactive substances,protein carbonyls,superoxide dismutase,catalase,glutathione peroxidase,glutathione reductase,glutathione S-transferase,glutathione disulfide,glutathione,total antioxidant status and nitric oxide as well as histopathological examination.Results:ALA supplementation significantly reduced SBP of SHR and SHR+L-NAME rats when compared to their respective non-supplemented groups.Renal oxidant status markers including thiobarbituric acid reactive substances and protein carbonyls were significantly reduced on SHR and SHR+L-NAME rats supplemented with ALA at 28 weeks as well as ALA supplementation significantly increased renal antioxidants including superoxide dismutase,catalase,glutathione peroxidase,glutathione S-transferase,glutathione and glutathione/glutathione disulfide ratio at 28 weeks.No significant change in nitric oxide levels was observed between the ALA supplemented and non-supplemented groups.Renal dysfunction was ameliorated on ALA supplementation as evidenced by significant reduction in urine protein levels,N-acetyl-α-D-glucosaminidase activity and significant increase of creatinine clearance in SHR and SHR+L-NAME at 28 weeks.Renal histopathological examination showed that ALA supplementation prevented vascular damage in SHR and ameliorated glomerular damage in SHR+L-NAME at 28 weeks.Conclusions:ALA has hypotensive and renoprotective effects on both SHR and SHR+LNAME,which could be due to its ability to ameliorate oxidative stress in the kidneys.

Lipid Distribution in Marine Sediments from the Northern South China Sea and Association with Gas Hydrate

The distributions of lipids in surface and subsurface sediments from the northern South China Sea were determined. The n-alkanes were in bimodal distribution that is characterized by a centre at n-C16 –n-C20 with maximum at C18（or C19） and n-C27 –n-C31 as well as at C29（or C31）. The short-chain alkanes suffered from significant losses due to their slow deposition in the water column, and their presence with a slight even carbon predominance in shallow seafloor sediments was ascribed mainly to the direct input from the benthos. The long-chain alkanes with odd predominance indicate transportion of terrigenous organic matter. Immature hopanoid biomarkers reflect the intense microbial activity for bacteria–derived organic matter and the gradual increase of maturity with burial depth. Abundant n-fatty acid methyl esters（n-FAMEs） that are in distributions coincident with fatty acids were detected in all samples. We proposed that the observed FAMEs originated from the methyl esterification of fatty acids; methanol production by methanotrophs and methanogenic archaea related to the anaerobic oxidation of methane, and sulfate reduction provided an O–methyl donor for methylation of fatty acids. The CH4 released from hydrate dissociation at oxygen isotope stage II of Cores ZD3 and ZS5, which had been confirmed by the occurrence of negative δ13C excursion and spherical pyrite aggregates, could have accelerated the above process and thus maximized the relative content of FAMEs at ZD3-2（400–420 cm depth） and ZS5-2（241–291 cm depth）.

Relationship Between Microbial Community and Soil Properties During Natural Succession of Abandoned Agricultural Land

The changes of microbial biomass carbon (MBC) and nitrogen (MBN) and microbial community in the topsoil of the abandoned agricultural land on the semi-arid Loess Plateau in China during the natural succession were evaluated to understand the relationship between microbial community and soil properties. MBC and MBN were measured using fumigation extraction, and microbial community was analyzed by the method of fatty acid methyl ester (FAME). The contents of organic C, total N, MBC, MBN, total FAME, fungal FAME, bacterial FAME and Gram-negative bacterial FAME at the natural succession sites were higher than those of the agricultural land, but lower than those of the natural vegetation sites. The MBC, MBN and total FAME were closely correlated with organic C and total N. Furthermore, organic C and total N were found to be positively correlated with fungal FAME, bacterial FAME, fungal/bacterial and Gram-negative bacterial FAME. Natural succession would be useful for improving soil microbial properties and might be an important alternative for sustaining soil quality on the semi-arid Loess Plateau in China.

Effect of natural and synthetic antioxidants on oxidative stability of FAMEs obtained from hevea brasiliensis

Biodiesel(fatty acid alkyl esters),an alternate to fossil fuel,has the tendency of autoxidation and hence requires antioxidants for long term storage.The influence of synthetic and natural antioxidants on the oxidative stability was analysed for fresh FAMEs(fatty acid methyl esters)obtained from hevea brasiliensis at 140 C.Higher activity was observed for synthetic antioxidants following the order of GA】BHT】DTBP】Q】GT-M】PH-M】GT-C,whereas the oxidative stability of stored FAMEs samples measured at 110 C reveals a nearly inverse trend.Storage stability was tested for the FAMEs obtained from hevea brasiliensis stored at 30 C,after addition of synthetic and natural antioxidants—butylated hydroxytoluene(BHT),2,6-di-tert-butylphenol(DTBP),quercetin(Q),gallic acid(GA),methanol extracts from green tea(GTM),pomegranate hull(PH-M),and chloroform extract of green tea(GT-C).Antioxidant activities above 1500 ppm was in the order of DTBP】BHT】GA】GT-C】GT-M】Q】PH-M.Synthetic antioxidants have been found more efficient to improve the storage stability of FAMEs obtained from hevea brasiliensis.DTBP in particular has the highest protection factor.

Comparative characterization of Jatropha,soybean and commercial biodiesel

Oil was extracted from seeds of Jatropha Curcas,in high yields(up to 40% by weight).The extracted Jatropha oil was converted in a laboratory reactor to biodiesel by transesterification.Analysis of Jatropha oil and Jatropha biodiesel by GC/MS and GC/SIMDIS showed that Jatropha oil could be readily converted to a biodiesel product through NaOH catalyzed transesterification.The resulting biodiesel has desirable properties such as high cetane number and low flash point,which are major improvements over the properties of commercial biodiesel fuels.

Ethanol Evaporation Characteristics of the Blends of Fatty Acid Methyl Ester and Ethanol

The evaporation characteristics of fatty acid methyl ester(FAME)mixed with four concentrations of ethanol at 873 K and normal atmospheric pressure are studied herein.FAME is used as base oils,and et hanol mass fractions vary from 10%,20%,30%to 40%。The experimental results show that the evaporation process of the binary component droplets of FAME-ethanol can be divided into two stages:a fuctuation evaporation stage,and an equilibrium evaporation stage.In these four concentration gradients,micro-explosions occur in the droplet evaporation process.The fuctuation evaporation stage is divided into two stages:a strong fuctuation stage and a weak fluctuation stage.After the micro-explosion,there is still a small amount of ethanol in the droplet.Due to the surface tension of the droplet,a small amount of ethanol cannot make the droplet violently fuctuate.The results show that the earlier the droplet micro-explosion occurs,the more intense it is,and the shorter the lifetime of the droplet is.Different concentrations of ethanol have different improvements in droplet evaporation characteristics.Generally,the higher the ethanol concentration is,the shorter the lifetime of the droplet is.However,increasing the ethanol concentration from 20%to 30%has the most obvious effect on the lifetime of the droplet.

<i>In Vitro</i>Anti-Diabetic Activities and Phytochemical Analysis of Bioactive Fractions Present in <i>Meriandra dianthera, Aloe camperi</i>and a Polyherb

This paper reports the in vitro anti-diabetic profile of certain medicinal plants traditionally used in Eritrea for the management of type 2 diabetes. The crude methanolic extracts and fractions of Meriandra dianthera, Aloe camperi, a Polyherb and their fractions were investigated. The in vitro screening of the crude extracts has generally elicited a dose dependent α-glucosidase and α-amylase inhibition activities. M. dianthera displayed the highest α-glucosidase inhibitory activity (IC50: 0.074 ± 0.032 mg/mL) at the highest concentration tested (0.800 mg/mL) relative to A. camperi, the Polyherb and Acarbose (IC50: 0.37 ± 0.052, 0.56 ± 0.024 and 0.55 ± 0.029 respectively). The α-glucosidase inhibition activities of A. camperi and M. dianthera, except for the Polyherb and Acarbose, were significantly different (P < 0.05) at various ranges of concentrations (0.025 - 0.800 mg/mL). The percentage α-amylase inhibitions of M. dianthera, A. camperi, the Polyherb and Acarbose, at the highest concentrations (0.800 mg/mL), were 78.3%, 15.9%, 16.4%, and 82.9% respectively. A. camperi and the Polyherb displayed lower α-amylase inhibitory activities (IC50: 1.72 ± 0.06 and 2.57 ± 0.07 mg/mL respectively) compared to Acarbose and M. dianthera (IC50: 0.31 ± 0.01 and 0.43 ± 0.02 mg/mL respectively). For the α-amylase inhibition activity, even at lower concentrations (0.025 mg/mL), there were statistically significant differences (P < 0.01) among the values generated for all the extracts. The in vitro anti-diabetic screening of the fractions, at 0.800 mg/ml, displayed characteristic enzyme inhibition activities. Generally, the non-polar fractions showed higher enzyme inhibitory activities compared to the polar fractions. The most bioactive non-polar fractions, thus, were subjected to GC-MS analysis and presented various essential oils, fatty acid methyl esters (FAMEs) and benzoic acid derivatives in those plants.

Potential of Fish Wastes as Feedstock for Biodiesel

Fish wastes are the discarded parts include the internal organs, viscera, bones, trimmings, tails, fins and skin of fishes. These discarded portions while disposing of cause major environmental damage. Usually, the discarded parts of fishes are ground into fishmeal for livestock and aquaculture feed. This study was undertaken to explore biodiesel production based on the fatty acids composition. The fish waste sample was collected from Kota Kinabalu, Sabah fish market. The sample was drained for excess water and oven-dried at 55&deg;C - 60&deg;C for complete dryness. Crude oils were extracted in petroleum ether in Soxhlet extraction method. Methylation of the extracted crude fish oil was carried out to yield fatty acid methyl esters (FAME). The FAME was analyzed by GCMS system and the reference to NIST library was used to identify the fatty acids present in the FAME. A total of 21 fatty acids were identified that composed of 53.53% saturated fatty acids (SFA), 22.1% monounsaturated fatty acid (MUFA) and 24.37% polyunsaturated fatty acids (PUFA). The important fatty acids [myristic acid (C14:0), palmitic acid (C16:0), palmitoleic acid (C16:1), oleic acid (C18:1), linoleic acid (C18:2), linolenic acid (C18:3), docosapentaenoic acid (C22:5) and docosahexaenoic acid (C22:6)] found in fish oil indicated the potentiality of biodiesel production if fish waste was stocked. The highest percentage of SFA causes higher viscosity, cetane number and density and hence these properties of biodiesel produced from the fish waste are expected to be high. Therefore, the fish waste has high potential of fatty acid in FAME to produce biodiesel through transesterification process.

Renewable Diesel Fuel from Processing of Vegetable Oil in Hydrotreatment Units: Theoretical Compliance with European Directive 2009/28/EC and Ongoing Projects in Spain

Oil hydrotreating units in refineries are aimed at reducing the sulfur content of fuels to accomplish standard par-ticular specifications. However, this process is currently one of the best available technologies to produce biofuels from vegetable oil in a refinery. Vegetable oils can be processed or co-processed in these units if several adaptations are performed, so some properties could be improved in comparison with conventional fuel such as density and cetane number. This study highlights the theoretical greenhouse gases (GHG) emissions (using a life cycle assessment–LCA-approach) of a hydrotreated vegetable oil (HVO) from bibliographical data. Results were compared with other biofuel production processes, such as those obtained by transesterification of vegetable oil (FAME, fatty acid methyl ester). It has also been included the comparison with conventional fossil diesel as a benchmark in order to assess the theoretical compliance with GHG savings proposed in European Directive 2009/28/EC. Finally, ongoing projects and future perspectives in Spain are mentioned.

Soil microbial activities and community diversity during the rhizoremediation of a pyrene contaminated soil

A greenhouse pot experiment was conducted to evaluate pyrene degradation, microbial biomass, basal soil respiration, metabolic quotient （qCO2）, soil enzyme activities, and the FAME patterns of rhizospheric soil and nonrhizospheric soil. The results showed that the pyrene concentrations in soil decreased with time extending and were very significant less in rhizospheric soil grown with maize plants （p〈0.01）. At the end of the 45-day experiment, the ratios of pyrene degradation were 61.25% and 35.58% in rhizospheric and nonrhizospheric soil, respectively. Maize enhanced the decrease of pyrene concentration and increased the degradation rate of pyrene in soil. During the experimental period, a relatively large amount of microbial biomass biomass （Craig）, basal soil respiration, the Cmic/Corg ratio, enzyme （urease, dehydrogenase, polyphenol oxidase, and catalase） activities were detected in rbizospheric soil. Metabolic quotient was lower in rhizospheric soil than in nonrhizospheric soil at the whole experimental period. Soil microbial communities in rhizospheric soil and nonrhizospheric soil were characterized using fatty acid methyl ester （FAME） analysis. Fatty acid profiles demonstrated that soil microbial community structure was significantly altered in pyrene contaminated soil with maize. Fatty acid indicators for fungi and the ratio of fungi to bacteria significant increased, and fatty acid indicators for bacteria and Gram-negative bacteria significantly decreased. The effect gradually increased and got very significant （p〈0.01） with the time extending. The differences of fatty acid indicators for arbuscular mycorrhizal fungi （AMF）, Gram-positive bacteria and actinomycetes gradually increased, and the differences reached significant level （p〈0.05） at the end of the experiment （45 d）.

In Situ Transesterification of Wet Marine and Fresh Water Microalgae for Biodiesel Production and Its Effect on the Algal Residue

This article reports a high yielding technique of synthesizing zirconium dodecyl sulphate (“ZDS”) for in situ transesterification of Nannochloropsis occulata and Chlorella vulgaris for fatty acid methyl ester (FAME) production. ZDS produced a significantly higher FAME yield in N. occulata than in C. vulgaris (p = 0.008). The varying performance of ZDS in the two species could be due to their different cell wall chemistries. Sodium dodecyl sulphate (SDS) in H2SO4 for FAME enhancement from the two species was also studied. Treatment with SDS in H2SO4 increased the FAME production rate in both species. Residual protein content after the in situ transesterification in C. vulgaris and N. occulata reduced respectively by 6.5% and 10%. The carbohydrate content was reduced by 71% in C. vulgaris and 65% in N. occulata. The water tolerance of the process when using H2SO4, with or without SDS, was evaluated by hydrating the two species with 10% - 30% distilled water (w/w dry algae). The FAME concentration began to diminish only at 30% water content in both species. Furthermore, the presence of a small amount of water in the biomass or methanol increased the lipid extraction efficiency, improving the FAME yield, rather than inhibiting the reaction.

NiMoRe/HZSM-5催化剂的制备及其催化脂肪酸甲酯加氢脱氧

使用浸渍法制备了5 kg NiMoRe/HZSM-5催化剂,结合X射线衍射(XRD)、扫描电子显微镜(SEM)、电感耦合等离子原子发射光谱(ICP-OES)等表征手段对催化剂进行理化性质分析,并对该催化剂用于硬脂酸甲酯加氢脱氧反应的最佳条件进行探究。研究结果表明:相比3种商用催化剂,NiMoRe/HZSM-5中金属Ni具有较小颗粒,且分散均匀,BET比表面积(S_(BET))更大,为239.1 m^(2)/g,具有更好的催化活性。在温度260℃、0.3 g催化剂用量、反应时间4 h、初始H 2压力3 MPa的最优反应条件下,原料转化率和烷烃选择性均为100%,且催化剂稳定性较佳,第5次循环原料转化率仍高达96.1%,加氢脱氧(HDO)反应的选择性(S HDO/DCO),即HDO反应与脱羧脱羰(DCO)反应的比值由1.2降至0.56。将催化剂NiMoRe/HZSM-5用于脂肪酸甲酯无溶剂条件下的加氢脱氧反应放大实验后进行中试,采用2.8 L固定床对25 kg脂肪酸甲酯进行连续加氢性能评价,经过15循环后脂肪酸甲酯的转化率达到98%。

丙磺酸型碗状碳微球制备及在餐厨废油酯交换反应中的性能研究

以碗状碳微球(BHC)为载体,合成了以烷基为磺酸基键合位点的丙磺酸型碗状碳微球(PA-CBHC-Si)。X射线光电子能谱仪、扫描电子显微镜和傅里叶变换红外光谱分析表明,三步改性分别逐步丰富BHC表面羧基(—COOH)、巯基(—SH)、磺酸基(—SO_(3)H)官能团含量,且改性过程保留了载体的原始形貌。PA-CBHC-Si的酸密度高达8.5mmol/g,活性中心—SO_(3)H于300℃开始分解,具有良好的热稳定性。PA-CBHC-Si可作为煎炸废油与甲醇酯交换反应的催化剂,醇油摩尔比为16∶1,剂油比为0.02的催化体系于130℃反应4h,脂肪酸甲酯产率为84.53%。