Chemical Raw Materials Research Articles

Inhibition of Galectin-3 attenuates silica particles-induced silicosis via regulating the GSK-3β/β-catenin signal pathway-mediated epithelial-mesenchymal transition

Silica is a very common and important chemical raw material with a wide range of uses. Long-term inhalation of silica particles could cause lung toxicity, of which the most important representative is silicosis. Silicosis is a serious and fatal occupational pulmonary disease, characterized by persistent pulmonary inflammation and fibrosis. Despite intensive research, the toxic mechanism of silicosis caused by silica particles is not completely clear, which deserves further research and exploration. Many studies have indicated that the epithelial cells partially participate in the formation, accumulation, and activation of fibroblasts through epithelial-mesenchymal transition (EMT), which is conducive to the occurrence of fibrosis. Galectin-3 (Gal-3), widely expressed in epithelial cells, was observed to induce EMT in fibrotic diseases and tumors by regulating the GSK-3β and β-catenin. Previous studies have demonstrated that silica particles is indeed involved in the silicosis process by inducing EMT. However, it remains to be further studied whether there is a certain relationship between silica particles and Gal-3 expression, and whether Gal-3 also mediates the development of the silica particles-induced silicosis by regulating GSK-3β/β-catenin signal pathway-mediated EMT. Our research results showed that silica particles could significantly induce Gal-3 expression to promote the development of EMT through activating the GSK-3β/β-catenin signal pathway in mice and in A549 cells, which then significantly exacerbated the pulmonary fibrosis caused by silica particles. And the inhibition of Gal-3 could effectively inhibit the occurrence of EMT, and then effectively alleviate silicosis caused by silica particles. These findings would help us to further clarify the toxicological mechanisms of silicosis caused by silica particles and provide a novel target for prevention and intervention of silicosis.

Using Green IoT as a Development Path of Green Trade Economy for Ecological Sustainable Development

The advancement of the Internet of Things (IoT) technology and its incorporation into the trade economy has altered and improved our way of life and work. However, IoT technologies pose various issues in the green economy, including increased energy consumption, hazardous pollutants, and electronic waste. Therefore, green IoT contributes to a more environmentally friendly atmosphere that is more affordable for the green economy. As a result, it is critical to address tactics and strategies for decreasing pollution threats, traffic waste, resource utilization, energy usage, public safety, living standard, environmental sustainability, and cost management. Apart from these, the continual deepening of the trade economy has accelerated Shandong Province’s rapid economic development, and the province’s broad economic development mode had major negative consequences on the ecological environment. Based on the evolution of international commerce in Shandong Province and the present status of the ecological environment, this study first calculates the province’s carbon emissions using the Kaya identity and derives the regression findings using the Eviews software. It examines the data link between the province’s carbon emissions, energy consumption, and trade by determining the province’s export carbon emissions from various industrial sectors. According to the statistics, the export carbon emissions of Shandong Province’s ferrous metal rolling industry, chemical raw material production sector, and textile industry are relatively high, at 6.764 million tons, 5.502 million tons, and 3.918 million tons, respectively. The carbon emissions from the three industrial sectors mentioned above account for approximately 49% of total carbon emissions, which is a considerable reduction and in line with the concept of green IoT.

Electrochemistry Isolates Elemental Phosphorus from Mg3(PO4)2

Phosphorus (P) is an essential raw material for many value-added chemicals in modern industry, yet the natural minerals to extract P are depleting. As an alternative, municipal wastewater is a promising secondary source of P. Recovery of P from wastewater by chemically induced precipitation as insoluble metal phosphates is a typical practice. Mg3(PO4)2 is a commonly found phosphate in sewage sludge or incinerated sewage sludge ash. Here we try to extract elemental P from Mg3(PO4)2 by electrochemistry. By using molten CaCl2 as the solvent, PO4 3− in the Mg3(PO4)2 crystal can be quickly leached into the melt as free ions. The presence of Mg2+ in the melt boosts the solubility and dissolution rate of PO4 3− significantly. High-purity elemental P can be isolated from free PO4 3− in the melt by electrolysis. This work demonstrates that Mg3(PO4)2 is a possible precursor to prepare elemental P by electrochemistry, though the negative influence of Mg2+ of forming solid MgO on the electrode surface during electrolysis needs to be addressed.

In Ukrainian

A brief literature review proves that nanosized fluorescent carbon materials are widely used. In particular, they are promising in biomedicine (due to biocompatibility – for example, for biovisualization); optoelectronics; as chemical fluorescent sensors for measuring the concentration of metals, pH, anions, organic substances and biomolecules; as markers for fingerprinting. This paper investigates carbon materials obtained by oxidation of activated carbon, which are similar in their optical characteristics to carbon nanotubes. The aim of this work was the synthesis of nanocarbon material from available chemical raw materials. As a prototype, the synthesis is based on the method of obtaining carbon weakly acid cation-exchange resin. The nanocarbon material is easily dispersed in water, forming stable colloidal solutions that exhibit luminescence in the blue-green region of the visible spectrum. According to the results of thermogravimetric analysis, the thermal destruction of surface functional groups was found. The nature of the functional groups on the surface of the carbon nanomaterial was based on the obtained data of infrared spectra. The purity of the samples was monitored by X-ray diffraction analysis of the powder. For the pure sample, only the amorphous carbon spectrum was observed, and for the crude, NaCl reflexes were observed. In the region of MALDI positive ions, clusters of molecular mass have been obtained, which may belong to fullerene-like carbon structures. We believe that the high signal intensity at m/z 44 indicates a significant number of carboxyl groups. For aqueous solutions, the luminescence spectrum was measured, on which blue-green fluorescence was observed. Excitation by radiation with a wavelength was chosen based on the results of preliminary measurements of the dependence of the emission intensity on the length of the excitatory radiation. The fluorescence spectrum shows a wide maximum at 450 nm, which is slightly shifted to the long-wavelength region after centrifugation of the sample and precipitation of large fractions. The method of dynamic light scattering shows that particles with a wide range of sizes are present in the solution, the maximum distribution occurs in relatively large units.

Selective production of monocyclic aromatic hydrocarbon from agricultural waste wheat straw for aviation fuel using Ni/ZSM-5 catalyst

Aromatic is a vital chemical raw material and product as well as an essential component for aviation fuel. Bio-based aromatics, especially the monocyclic aromatic hydrocarbon, are beneficial for the green chemical process and aviation fuel development. In this research, firstly, the effects of different kinds of metal catalysts (Pt/C, Rh/C, Ru/C, Pd/C, 65 wt% Ni/SiO2–Al2O3) on the pyrolysis behavior and aromatic hydrocarbons selectivity of four kinds of agricultural and forestry waste biomass (wheat straw, rape straw, poplar sawdust, and bamboo powder) were systematically investigated. The research results showed that the selectivity of aromatics has been largely increased in the presence of 65 wt% Ni/SiO2–Al2O3 while the carbon-based noble catalysts had few impacts on aromatics production. Furtherly, zeolite with different Si/Al ratios (5:18, 5:50, 5:85, 5:300, and 5:470) and the Ni loading amounts (5, 10, 15, 20, 25 wt%) were systematically studied. The series of Ni/ZSM-5 catalyst reduced the phenolic components in the pyrolysis products, and significantly increased the relative content of the target product aromatics, and the proportion of monocyclic aromatic hydrocarbons in the aromatic. The research results showed the ZSM-5 with the Si/Al ratio of 5:18 had the best catalytic properties for aromatic production. The loading of 10 wt% of Ni (10 wt% Ni/ZSM-5, Si/Al = 5:18) further boosted the catalytic performance for wheat straw, achieving the highest relative concentration of aromatic at 67%, of which the ratio of monocyclic aromatic hydrocarbon was 55%.

Research on Spatial Distribution Characteristics of High Haze Pollution Industries Such as Thermal Power Industry in the Beijing-Tianjin-Hebei Region

The Beijing-Tianjin-Hebei region is subject to the most severe haze condition in China. Against the backdrop of the coordinated development of Beijing, Tianjin, and Hebei, it is of great significance to explore the space-time distribution characteristics of high haze pollution industries in the above region. The purpose of this article is to find high haze pollution industries scientifically, analyze the spatial distribution characteristics of high haze pollution industries in Beijing-Tianjin-Hebei correctly, and formulate effective reduction measures for the spatial distribution of high haze pollution industries in different regions of Beijing-Tianjin-Hebei. It hopes that the measures provide a basis for effective to reduce high haze pollution in the Beijing-Tianjin-Hebei region. Using the Gini coefficient and location entropy, this paper explores the space-time characteristics of high haze pollution industries in 13 cities of the Beijing-Tianjin-Hebei region. The results show that those aforesaid high haze pollution industries present an obvious clustering trend in Beijing, Tianjin, Shijiazhuang, Handan, and some areas along the economic axis of China, overall flooding into Eastern coastal and Southern inland areas. By industry, the petroleum processing and coking processing industry, chemical raw materials and chemical products industry, manufacture of non-metallic mineral products, and ferrous metal smelting and rolling processing industry witness a declining clustering trend, as opposed to the electricity, heat production, and supply industry. Meanwhile, core cities of the Beijing-Tianjin-Hebei region have developed high haze pollution industries, and the hinterland lags in economic development. It is necessary to face up to the differences in economic development among areas in the Beijing-Tianjin-Hebei region, promote the staggered development of high haze pollution industries, and build a high haze pollution industry chain with coordinated economic and environmental development, thus reducing the economic gap with each area, and realizing the coordinated development of economy, industry, and environment.

Determination of dimethyl sulfate genotoxic impurities in tertiary amine drugs by ultra-high performance liquid chromatography-tandem mass spectrometry

硫酸二甲酯被广泛用于药品的有机合成中,具有很强的毒性及腐蚀性,因此应严格控制其在药品中的残留量。现有传统检测方法在样品制备过程中不允许使用水,且存在专属性低、灵敏度差等缺陷,严重制约了检测方法的通用性和准确度。研究采用超高效液相色谱-串联质谱技术(UHPLC-MS/MS),建立了氨基比林等叔胺类药品中残留的硫酸二甲酯的测定方法。检测方法以氨基比林作为衍生剂,40 ℃条件下氨基比林和硫酸二甲酯在水溶液中能够快速反应生成甲基化氨基比林,通过检测甲基化氨基比林间接计算硫酸二甲酯的残留含量。采用Waters Atlantis HILIC C18色谱柱(100 mm×2.1 mm, 3.0 μm),以10 mmol/L乙酸铵水溶液-0.1%甲酸甲醇溶液(50∶50, v/v)为流动相进行等度洗脱,流速0.3 mL/min,柱温40 ℃,进样量1 μL;在电喷雾电离、正离子(ESI+)多反应监测(MRM)模式下测定硫酸二甲酯的含量。硫酸二甲酯在0.9935~7.9480 ng/mL范围内线性关系良好,相关系数(r)为0.9997,方法的检出限为0.50 ng/mL,定量限为1.15 ng/mL,加标回收率为94.9%~106.4%。建立的检测方法用于氨基比林、咖啡因、替加氟等9批样品中,均未检出硫酸二甲酯,说明各药品生产企业注重了该基因毒杂质残留量的控制。该方法专属性强,灵敏度高,操作简单,定量准确,适用于氨基比林等药品中硫酸二甲酯基因毒杂质的测定。

Constructing ternary deep eutectic solvents with multiple sites for ammonia storage

Ammonia is a key chemical raw material and a promising carrier for the store and transportation of renewable energies. The absorption or adsorption of ammonia is an important part for the current air pollution control and the forthcoming green ammonia synthesis. Deep eutectic solvent (DES) has the advantages of excellent designability and environmental friendliness, and has thus been actively investigated in gas absorption. Herein, we report a type of ternary DESs with multiple active sites for binding NH3, that are consisting of 4-Amino-4H-1,2,4-triazole (Atri), glycerol (Gly), and resorcinol (Res). The effects of DES composition, temperature, and NH3 partial pressure on the NH3 absorption performance were systematically investigated. A high ammonia capacity of 0.193 g NH3 per g DES is achieved over the ternary DES Atri/Res/Gly (1:5:4) at 313.15 K and 0.1 MPa, which is superior to most previously reported DESs. NMR and FT-IR spectroscopy characterizations suggest that the formation mechanism of DESs and the absorption mechanism of NH3 are based on the formation of hydrogen bonds, and the multiple absorption sites of DESs enable them to obtain high NH3 absorption capacities.

The catalytic performance of acid-modified Hβ molecular sieves for environmentally friendly acylation of 2-methylnaphthalene

Abstract 2,6-Methylacylnaphthalene is an important organic chemical raw material, mainly used as a precursor for synthesizing polyethylene 2,6-naphthalene dicarboxylate (PEN). The heterogeneous catalyst molecular sieve catalyzes the acylation of 2-methylnaphthalene to synthesize β,β-methylacylnaphthalene, which has good activity, is green and environmentally friendly, with simple post-treatment. Different molecular sieves and reaction solvents were selected, and Hβ molecular sieves were more suitable for the acylation reaction of 2-methylnaphthalene. The reaction results were better when sulfolane was used as a solvent in this paper. The catalytic performances of citric acid-modified Hβ molecular sieve (SiO2/Al2O3 of 25) and unmodified molecular sieve were investigated and compared. The results showed that modification with low-concentration citric acid increased the amount of mediate strong acid and Bronsted acid, the specific surface area, pore volume, and pore size of Hβ zeolite. When the concentration of citric acid was 0.3 mol·L−1, the modification time was 48 h and the calcination at 550°C for 3 h had the best catalytic activity. By further optimizing the acylation process, the conversion rate of 2-methylnaphthalene increased to 88.82%, and the yield of β,β-methyl propyl naphthalene increased to 82.12%.

Recent advances in genetic technology development of oleaginous yeasts

As important chemical raw materials and potential nutritional supplements, microbial lipids play an important role in ensuring economic development, food security, and energy security. Compared with non-natural hosts, oleaginous yeasts exhibit obvious advantages in lipid yield and productivity and have great potential to be genetically engineered into an oil cell factory. The main bottleneck in the current oleaginous yeasts engineering is the lack of genetic manipulation tools. Fortunately, the rapid development of synthetic biology has provided numerous new approaches, resources, and ideas for the field. Most importantly, gene editing technology mediated by CRISPR/Cas systems has been successfully applied to some oleaginous yeasts, almost completely rewriting the development pattern of genetic manipulation technology applicable. This paper reviews recent progress in genetic technology with regard to oleaginous yeasts, with a special focus on transformation methods and genome editing tools, discussing the effects of some important genetic parts. KEY POINTS: •Contribution of microbiotechnology in food safety and biofuel by oleaginous yeasts. •Advancement of genetic manipulation and transformation for oleaginous yeasts.

Heteroatom‐Modified Zeolite Y and Catalytic Performance of Their NiWS Supported Catalysts for Hydrocracking of Naphthalene

AbstractIn order to prepare hydrocracking catalyst with high catalytic performance for producing chemical raw materials, NiW supported catalysts was prepared with Ni−P co‐modified Y zeolites as the supports for the hydrocracking of naphthalene. Y zeolites were impregnated with different Ni−P contents, and the effects of Ni−P co‐modification on the physicochemical properties of Y zeolites, the properties of the active phases of the catalysts and the catalytic performance of catalysts were analyzed via a series of characterization methods. Ni−P co‐modification could effectively improve the pore properties and acid properties of Y zeolites, and made the acid density and acid strength of Y zeolites meet the requirements of selective cracking of naphthalene. Ni−P co‐modification could also effectively improve the reducibility of active metals,dispersion and stacking number of active phases of the catalysts, which greatly improved the selectivity of the target product (C6−C8) of the catalysts. Compared with NiW/HY, the yield of C6‐C8 products of NiW/2‐Ni/P−Y increased by 30.8 %. It is expected to provide a feasible strategy for the design and preparation of hydrocracking catalysts for the production of chemical raw materials in the integration of refining and chemical industry.

PERENCANAAN PERMINTAAN BAHAN BAKU DAN PENENTUAN UKURAN PEMESANAN (LOT SIZE) OPTIMAL DI GUDANG KIMIA MARUNDA

<p><em>This research was conducted on companies that store and distribute chemical raw materials (sodium sulfate) to industrial companies. The problem that occurs is that the company does not have a medium-term raw material demand plan to determine the optimal order size to suppliers as storage in the warehouse. Given that ordering is also important to note because it has an impact on the total cost of inventory from ordering costs and holding costs. The purpose of this study is to forecast to find out the demand for raw materials in the future so that the company has an estimate for planning future demand for raw materials and calculates several ordering methods (lot size) to get the optimal order size.</em></p><p><em>Solving problems using forecasting methods (Moving Average, Weight Moving Average, Exponential Smooth), and lot size methods (Economic Order Quantity, Period Order Quantity, Least Unit Cost, Part Period Balancing). The results of the analysis, forecasting to determine the demand for raw materials for the next year using the Exponential Smooth method because it has the smallest MAD MSE MAPE value, and the ordering lot size using the Part Period Balancing method because it has the minimum total inventory cost of Rp. 14,128,706,027 or 23.5% more efficient than the usual ordering used by companies.</em></p>

Metabolic Engineering of Shikimic Acid Biosynthesis Pathway for the Production of Shikimic Acid and Its Branched Products in Microorganisms: Advances and Prospects.

The shikimate pathway is a necessary pathway for the synthesis of aromatic compounds. The intermediate products of the shikimate pathway and its branching pathway have promising properties in many fields, especially in the pharmaceutical industry. Many important compounds, such as shikimic acid, quinic acid, chlorogenic acid, gallic acid, pyrogallol, catechol and so on, can be synthesized by the shikimate pathway. Among them, shikimic acid is the key raw material for the synthesis of GS4104 (Tamiflu®), an inhibitor of neuraminidase against avian influenza virus. Quininic acid is an important intermediate for synthesis of a variety of raw chemical materials and drugs. Gallic acid and catechol receive widespread attention as pharmaceutical intermediates. It is one of the hotspots to accumulate many kinds of target products by rationally modifying the shikimate pathway and its branches in recombinant strains by means of metabolic engineering. This review considers the effects of classical metabolic engineering methods, such as central carbon metabolism (CCM) pathway modification, key enzyme gene modification, blocking the downstream pathway on the shikimate pathway, as well as several expansion pathways and metabolic engineering strategies of the shikimate pathway, and expounds the synthetic biology in recent years in the application of the shikimate pathway and the future development direction.

The Preparation of Au-Loaded Ti3C2 Nanosheet and Research on Its Electrocatalytic Nitrogen Reduction Performance

As an important chemical raw material and potential energy, the preparation method of NH3 has gradually attracted the attention of scholars. Due to the increasing pressure on environmental protection and the growing reduction of energy resources, researchers have been committed to do the research on the reduction of N2 to NH3 by electric energy, instead of the traditional preparation method. The electric energy is a kind of environmental-protection material compared with traditional materials. However, there are still many defects of these methods, such as slow reaction kinetics and competitive hydrogen evolution reaction (HER). Therefore, how to improve the reaction rate and Faraday efficiency have become an urgent problem to be solved in the study of electrocatalytic nitrogen reduction. In this paper, Au3+ ions were electrostatically adsorbed on the surface of Ti3C2 nanosheets, which was a new ultra-thin two-dimensional conductive material, and Au@Ti3C2 samples with different contents were prepared by self-reduction of Au3+ ions to Au. The structure and performance tests showed that the Au nanoparticles on the surface of two-dimensional Ti3C2 nanosheets were nano sized. The nano scaled Au could promote the reduction of nitrogen and when the addition ratio of Au was 1%, Au@Ti3C2 showed the best performance and good stability.

Synthesis of Metal-Organic Frameworks Quantum Dots Composites as Sensors for Endocrine-Disrupting Chemicals.

Hazardous chemical compounds such as endocrine-disrupting chemicals (EDCs) are widespread and part of the materials we use daily. Among these compounds, bisphenol A (BPA) is the most common endocrine-disrupting chemical and is prevalent due to the chemical raw materials used to manufacture thermoplastic polymers, rigid foams, and industrial coatings. General exposure to endocrine-disrupting chemicals constitutes a serious health hazard, especially to reproductive systems, and can lead to transgenerational diseases in adults due to exposure to these chemicals over several years. Thus, it is necessary to develop sensors for early detection of endocrine-disrupting chemicals. In recent years, the use of metal–organic frameworks (MOFs) as sensors for EDCs has been explored due to their distinctive characteristics, such as wide surface area, outstanding chemical fastness, structural tuneability, gas storage, molecular separation, proton conductivity, and catalyst activity, among others which can be modified to sense hazardous environmental pollutants such as EDCs. In order to improve the versatility of MOFs as sensors, semiconductor quantum dots have been introduced into the MOF pores to form metal–organic frameworks/quantum dots composites. These composites possess a large optical absorption coefficient, low toxicity, direct bandgap, formidable sensing capacity, high resistance to change under light and tunable visual qualities by varying the size and compositions, which make them useful for applications as sensors for probing of dangerous and risky environmental contaminants such as EDCs and more. In this review, we explore various synthetic strategies of (MOFs), quantum dots (QDs), and metal–organic framework quantum dots composites (MOFs@QDs) as efficient compounds for the sensing of ecological pollutants, contaminants, and toxicants such as EDCs. We also summarize various compounds or materials used in the detection of BPA as well as the sensing ability and capability of MOFs, QDs, and MOFs@QDs composites that can be used as sensors for EDCs and BPA.

Research on Efficient Preparation of Ethanol and C4 Olefins Based on Polynomial Regression and Two-Way ANOVA

C4 olefins and ethanol are essential chemical raw materials, and efficiently preparing them is a valuable topic. In this paper, in order to explore the influence of different catalyst combinations and temperatures on ethanol conversion and C4 olefin selectivity, firstly, for each catalyst combination, by observing the scatter diagram of ethanol conversion, C4 olefin selectivity and temperature, a polynomial regression model of no more than three times was established. Then, 42 regression equations corresponding to 21 catalyst groups were obtained. Twenty-one kinds of catalyst combinations were grouped by controlling variables. After grouping, the relationship between a single factor and temperature was discussed. Non-interactive two-way ANOVA judged the significance of a single factor, and the control variables among different groups were compared to determine the strong significant factors of ethanol conversion rate and C4 olefin selectivity. For judging the significance of temperature, the input rate of ethanol is ignored based on grouping, and the same catalyst combination is regarded as a repeated test. By single factor analysis, it is finally found that the temperature has higher significance to ethanol conversion rate and 400℃, while the selectivity to C4 olefins is much lower.

Experimental determination of the lower flammability limit and limiting oxygen concentration of propanal/air mixtures under elevated temperatures and pressures

Aside from being a critical intermediate species in the combustion of hydrocarbons, propanal, as an isomer of acetone and propylene oxide, is also an important chemical raw material widely used in propionic acid production under elevated temperatures and pressures. Unfortunately, propanal reacts readily with air or oxygen, resulting in severe flame or explosion accidents under those special conditions. To reduce the risk, the concentration of propanal and oxygen needs to be controlled strictly. Therefore, the lower flammability limit (LFL) and the limiting oxygen concentration (LOC) of propanal at elevated temperatures and pressures need to be known. To this end, experiments were carried out in a reinforced 20 L spherical explosive vessel at the temperatures of 75 ℃ and 95 ℃ and pressures varying from 0.5 MPa to 2.2 MPa. The influences of temperature and pressure on the LFL and LOC were analyzed. The results show that the oxidation of propanal proceeds slowly during the air injection at 95 ℃. It is worth noting that air can be substituted by a mixture of 79% N2 and 21% O2. During the gas distribution, mixing N2 with propanal first can effectively reduce the oxidation reaction, and the resultant LFLs of propanal/N2/O2 are slightly lower than that of propanal/air. In the presence of the throttling effect, gaseous propanal and its oxides will condense into droplets near the exhaust port. Then the droplets absorb heat and vaporize into gases again under elevated temperatures, increasing the concentration of combustible components in the confined space. Thus, there is still an explosion risk in the vessel after the unignited low concentration propanal has been rapidly discharged from elevated pressures to the atmospheric pressure. Also, propanal has a lower LOC than conventional hydrocarbon gases (e.g., methane and propane), and the LOC decreases with increasing initial pressure. Specifically, at 95 ℃, the LOCs of the propanal/N2/O2 mixtures were 4.3% and 3.3% for 1.0 and 2.2 MPa, respectively. In addition, the empirical formula in the existing literature is not suitable for estimating the LOC of propanal.

Immobilization of laccase on chitosan functionalized halloysite nanotubes for degradation of Bisphenol A in aqueous solution: degradation mechanism and mineralization pathway

As a hazardous organic chemical raw material, Bisphenol A (BPA) has attracted a great deal of scientific and public attention. In this study, the chitosan functionalized halloysite nanotubes immobilized laccase (lac@CS-HNTs) was prepared by simultaneous adsorption-covalent binding method to remove BPA for the first time. We optimized the preparation of lac@CS-NHTs by controlling one-factor variable method and response surface methodology (RSM). The cubic polynomial regression model via Design-Expert 12 was developed to describe the optimal preparation conditions of immobilized laccase. Under the optimal conditions, lac@CS-NHTs obtained the maximum enzyme activity, and the enzyme loading was as high as 60.10 mg/g. The results of batch removal experiment of BPA showed that under the optimum treatment condition, the BPA removal rate of lac@CS-NHTs, FL and heat-inactivated lac@CS-NHTs was 87.31 %, 60.89 % and 24.54 %, respectively, which indicated that the contribution of biodegradation was greater than adsorption. In addition, the relative activity of lac@CS-NHTs dropped to about 44.24 % after 8 cycles of BPA removal, which demonstrated that lac@CS-NHTs have the potential to reduce costs in practical applications. Finally, the possible degradation mechanism and mineralization pathway of BPA were given via High-performance liquid chromatography (HPLC) analysis and gas chromatography-mass spectrometry (GC-MS) analysis.

BelBuk System—Smart Logistics for Sustainable City Development in Terms of the Deficit of a Chemical Fertilizers

Purpose: This paper presents an aspect of asset tracking and storage conditions. This paper aims to fill the gap in the development of Industry 4.0 in terms of fully digital asset tracking to be implemented by medium and large-size manufacturing and logistics facilities. The article presents an innovative technology for the remote monitoring of chemical raw materials, including fertilizers, during their storage and transport from the place of manufacture to the local distributor or recipient. Methods: The method assumes the monitoring and identification of special transport bags, so-called “big-bags,” through embedded RFID tags or LEB labels and monitoring the key parameters of their content, i.e., temperature, humidity, insolation, and pressure, using a measuring micro-station that is placed in the transported raw material. Results: The automation of inference based on the collected information about the phenomenon in question (the distribution of parameters: pressure, temperature, and humidity), and expert knowledge, allows the creation of an advisory system prototype indicating how to manage the measuring devices. Conclusions: No similar solution in the field of monitoring environmental parameters has been implemented in the Polish market. The developed system enables the monitoring of 10,000 pieces of big bags in at least 30 locations simultaneously.

Investigation of microplastic pollution on paddy fields in Xiangtan City, Southern China.

Microplastics (MPs) have become a hot issue of environmental pollution. However, insufficient evidence exists regarding the distributions and fates of MPs in terrestrial environment, especially in farmlands. The distributions of MPs in paddy fields were investigated in Xiangtan City, a typical rice production area in China. The abundance of MPs in paddy seedling raising fields was 3805 ± 511 n·kg-1, which increased by approximately 9 times than that in common paddy fields. Transparent films became the dominant forms due to the huge usage of mulching films, corresponding to that the proportion of polyvinyl chloride (PVC) increased to 17% there. Moreover, an industrial plant nearby also contributed considerably to the MP pollution; the proportion of PVC (33%) in the paddy fields nearby increased to approximately 4 times of common paddy fields, while polyvinyl alcohol (PVA; 13%) used as an important chemical raw material to synthesis in various applications was uniquely detected there. These results highlight the input of MPs from agricultural and industrial activities in farmlands. Their contributions to the MP pollution in farmlands should be continuously investigated.