A Robust High-Pressure RO Technology to Overcome the Barriers to Full Circularity in Cr(III) Electroplating Operations.

Electroplating is a widely used technology for anticorrosion materials and decorative coatings. In view of the transition to a circular economy, the current electroplating wastewater treatment disposing of heavy metal sludge and wastewater severely lacks sustainability. Authors recently reported the successful recycling of electroplating agents using hybrid semibatch/batch reverse osmosis technology (hybrid RO).

The effects of high shear rates on the average hydrodynamic diameter measured in biomimetic HIV Gag virus-like particle dispersions.

HIV Gag virus-like particles (HIV Gag VLPs) are promising HIV vaccine candidates. In the literature, they are often described as shear-sensitive particles, and authors usually recommend the operation of tangential flow filtration (TFF) gently at shear rates below 4,000 s to 6,000 s. This in turn poses a severe limitation to the performance of TFF-mediated concentration of VLPs, which would be substantially enhanced by working at higher shear rates.

Investigation of the Electrokinetic Properties of HIV-Based Virus-Like Particles.

The antigen density on the surface of HIV-based virus-like particles (VLPs) plays a crucial role in the improvement of HIV vaccine potency. HIV VLPs consist of a dense protein core, which is surrounded by a lipid bilayer and whose surface is usually decorated with antigenic glycoproteins. The successful downstream processing of these particles is challenging, and the high-resolution and cost-efficient purification of HIV-based VLPs has not yet been achieved.

Conversion of Problematic Winery Waste into Valuable Substrate for Baker's Yeast Production and Solid Biofuel: A Circular Economy Approach.

Research Background: Wine production, which is considered a major sector in food industry, often involves the use of a large amount of resources. Moreover, wine making generates a large amount of grape pomace, which is generally used for low-value applications such as fertiliser and animal feed. The aim of the present research is to explore the possibility of improving the overall sustainability of traditional winemaking.

A Hydrodynamic Approach to the Study of HIV Virus-Like Particle (VLP) Tangential Flow Filtration.

Emerging as a promising pathway to HIV vaccines, Virus-Like Particles (VLPs) have drawn considerable attention in recent years. A challenge of working with HIV VLPs in biopharmaceutical processes is their low rigidity, and factors such as shear stress, osmotic pressure and pH variation have to be reduced during their production. In this context, the purification and concentration of VLPs are often achieved by means of Tangential Flow Filtration (TFF) involving ultrafiltration hollow fiber modules.

A Reverse Osmosis Process to Recover and Recycle Trivalent Chromium from Electroplating Wastewater.

Electroplating generates high volumes of rinse water that is contaminated with heavy metals. This study presents an approach for direct metal recovery and recycling from simulated rinse water, made up of an electroplating electrolyte used in industry, using reverse osmosis (RO). To simulate the real industrial application, the process was examined at various permeate fluxes, ranging from 3.

Components of a HIV-1 vaccine mediate virus-like particle (VLP)-formation and display of envelope proteins exposing broadly neutralizing epitopes.

The sequence diversity of HIV-1 is the biggest hurdle for the design of a prophylactic vaccine. Mosaic (Mos) antigens consisting of synthetically shuffled epitopes from various HIV-1 strains are currently tested in the clinical vaccine trial Mosaico (NCT03964415). Besides adenovirus vectors encoding variants of Mos.

The Optimization of Dispersion and Application Techniques for Nanocarbon-Doped Mixed Matrix Gas Separation Membranes.

In this work, supported cellulose acetate (CA) mixed matrix membranes (MMMs) were prepared and studied concerning their gas separation behaviors. The dispersion of carbon nanotube fillers were studied as a factor of polymer and filler concentrations using the mixing methods of the rotor-stator system (RS) and the three-roll-mill system (TRM). Compared to the dispersion quality achieved by RS, samples prepared using the TRM seem to have slightly bigger, but fewer and more homogenously distributed, agglomerates.

CO/CH and He/N Separation Properties and Water Permeability Valuation of Mixed Matrix MWCNTs-Based Cellulose Acetate Flat Sheet Membranes: A Study of the Optimization of the Filler Material Dispersion Method.

The main scope of this work is to develop nano-carbon-based mixed matrix cellulose acetate membranes (MMMs) for the potential use in both gas and liquid separation processes. For this purpose, a variety of mixed matrix membranes, consisting of cellulose acetate (CA) polymer and carbon nanotubes as additive material were prepared, characterized, and tested. Multi-walled carbon nanotubes (MWCNTs) were used as filler material and diacetone alcohol (DAA) as solvent.

A Study of the Reinforcement Effect of MWCNTs onto Polyimide Flat Sheet Membranes.

Polyimides rank among the most heat-resistant polymers and find application in a variety of fields, including transportation, electronics, and membrane technology. The aim of this work is to study the structural, thermal, mechanical, and gas permeation properties of polyimide based nanocomposite membranes in flat sheet configuration. For this purpose, numerous advanced techniques such as atomic force microscopy (AFM), SEM, TEM, TGA, FT-IR, tensile strength, elongation test, and gas permeability measurements were carried out.