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Nanotechnology for Algal Biofuels.
No full textBecause of their high productivity, algae are considered the biomass with a realistic potential to replace fossil fuels. This would require cost-effective and sustainable scale-up of growth and downstream processing of algal biofuels. Currently, there are several hurdles for commercialization, which call for innovative solutions. Nanotechnology has the potential to provide solutions to several of the challenges faced in algae growth and harvesting, lipid extraction, and processing of the biofuels. This chapter covers major nanotechnology techniques either already being applied in algal biofuel research or other biofuel-related fields that can be extrapolated to algal biofuel production. Application of silver nanoparticles for improved photoconversion, calcium oxide nanocrystals in transesterification, and mesoporous nanoparticles in biofuel separation are discussed along with some other promising nanomaterial-based components such as LEDs for improving production of algal biofuels
Diffusion Kinetics & Permeation Concentration of Human Stratum Corneum Characterization by Terahertz Scanning Reflectometry
No full textTerahertz reflectometry and spectrometry was used to investigate the permeation kinetics and concentration profile of active ingredients in to the stratum corneum. To our knowledge this is the first effort of direct, non-invasive, and real-time measurement of kinetics and concentration gradient of analytes in to stratum corneum. Moreover, this is a general method that is applicable to any substrate and analyte combinations. It was found that the analyte concentration in stratum corneum of 1% hydrocortisone solution in propylene glycol is significantly higher than 1% caffeine in deionized water. These findings are important for quantifying transdermal drug delivery formulation with these solvents and can be extended to other analytes and solvents. Terahertz spectra of untreated stratum corneum vs. those treated with 10 mM N-0915 solution were distinctively different. Additionally, the N-0915 treated specimen exhibits prominent absorption peaks in the 7.27 THz, 11.88 THz and 18.42 THz region while the spectrum of blank specimen exhibits a monotonous increase of absorbance with frequency. This indicates the importance of broadband terahertz spectroscopy of a range of 20 THz or more to be able to probe molecular events
Uranium bioremediation: Nanotechnology and biotechnology advances
No full textThis chapter covers geomicrobiology of uranium, various methods currently applied for uranium bioremediation, microbial and biochemical mechanisms underlining them, and biotechnology- and nanotechnology-based advancements for microbial remediation of uranium
Nanotechnology and bioenergy: Innovations and applications
No full textNanotechnology has the potential to improve current technologies applied for biochemical as well as thermochemical processes for treatment and conversion of biomass to generate bioenergy in a variety of forms such as liquid biofuels, biohydrogen, biogas and electricity. These include improved materials for enzyme immobilization, materials with improved enzyme loading capacity, nanocatalysts, materials for storage of bioenergy products, materials for separation and purification of liquid biofuels, materials for improved performance of microbial fuel cells and so on. This chapter discusses in detail each of these areas. This chapter also elaborates on the applications of nanotechnology for bioenergy production, and defines the basic terms used in nanotechnology
