Black liquor increases methane production from excess pulp and paper industry sludge.

The aim of the study was to use black liquor produced during the soda pulping process in a pulp and paper mill to increase methane production during pulp and paper industry sludge treatment and decrease the treatment cost. The effects of black liquor on sludge solubilization and methane production were assessed and the economic feasibility of the process was evaluated. Black liquor and NaOH were found to be equivalent in the thermochemical pretreatment process to solubilize sludge and disintegrate flocs.

[Protective effects of sevoflurane preconditioning on cerebral ischemia-reperfusion injury in rats].

Objective: To investigate if sevoflurane preconditioning attenuate neuronal apoptosis induced by ischemia-reperfusion.

Methods: Thirty-six male SD rats weighing 250 - 300 g were randomly divided into three groups (n = 12 each): control group (group C), ischemia-reperfusion group (group IR) (rats were established cerebral artery clamped and reperfusion model), sevoflurane preconditioning group (group S) (rats were established cerebral artery clamped and reperfusion model after 1 h 2.4% sevoflurane preconditioning).

A titania thin film annular photocatalytic reactor for the degradation of polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbons in dilute water streams.

An external lamp, annular photocatalytic reactor with titania immobilized on a quartz tube was used to degrade two polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbons (PAHs), viz. phenanthrene (PHE) and pyrene (PYR) from a dilute water stream. The thin film geometry was used to obtain both the mass transfer coefficients and intrinsic reaction rate constants for the two compounds on immobilized titania (Degussa P-25) particles.