High Quality Bio-Oil Obtained from Catalyzed Pyrolysis of Olive Mill Solid Wastes in a Bi-Functional Reactor

Olive Mill Solid Wastes (OMSW) released in nature without any treatment is a major environmental problem in the Mediterranean region. In this work, the catalyzed pyrolysis of OMSW has been investigated. A catalyst based on SBA-15 mesoporous silica doped with chromium ferrite nanoparticles was prepared by the double solvent technique (DS). The prepared catalyst was characterized by scanning electron microscopy (SEM), Wide and Small Angle X-ray Scattering (WAXS, SAXS), Energy Dispersive X-ray (EDX) and FT-IR spectroscopies. Reverse spinel chromium ferrite nanoparticles were located inside the SBA-15 pores as confirmed by SEM images. The obtained catalyst was tested for pyrolysis reactions of OMSW. Several parameters were studied to optimize the conditions of the pyrolysis reaction in order to increase the bio-oil conversion yield. The GC-MS results demonstrated that the quality of the obtained bio-oil was improved by decreasing the quantity of phenolic and oxygenated components as well as the size of the obtained molecules. The produced bio-oil from pyrolysis of OMSW is identical to that obtained from the pyrolysis of commercial cellulose under the same conditions. A 37% conversion yield of bio-oil was obtained for the best conditions.

MIS 5e sea surface temperature estimation;a multi-proxy approach using a marine macrofossil assemblage(Mar Piccolo,Gulf of Taranto,Southern Italy)

It is reported a multi-proxy palaeoclimatic study conducted on a MIS 5e calcarenite from the Mar Piccolo Basin(MP),Gulf of Taranto(GT)(Central Mediterranean).The calcarenite returned a rich malacofauna consisting of 120 extant species,including four of the tropical Senegalese Fauna,today absent in the Mediterranean.The biogeographic-climatic affinity of the assemblage shows,compared to today,a double percentage of warm affinity species,while the cold affinity species are nearly equally represented,indicating a warmer but not strictly tropical SST.This is confirmed by the most recurring preferred SST ranges of the assemblage,indicating an average of 20℃.The skeletal compositions of five well-preserved molluscan and coral specimens were analyzed for trace elements and stable isotopes for further mean SST estimations.From the comparison of the results of several equations available in literature,it appears that only some SST estimations are realistic,converging into similar values of,on average,20.8±0.9℃.Considering all the used proxies,the MIS 5e SST difference compared to today falls in the range 1.2—2.0℃for the GT(being a more reasonable scenario)and 2.0—2.8℃for the MP.This is not a firmly tropical-like SST setting as suggested by the sole Senegalese fauna,indicating at least 2.7℃—3.5℃more than today’s GT and MP,respectively.The approximations and assumptions made for obtaining SST values with any single proxy indicate the need of a multi-proxy approach to define the best SST estimation.