The importance of improving industrial transformation processes for more efficient ones is part of the current challenges. Specifically, the development of more efficient processes in the production of biofuels, where the reaction and separation processes can be intensified, is of great interest to reduce the energy consumption associated with the process. In the case of Biodiesel, the process is defined by a chemical reaction and by the components associated to the process, where the thermochemical study seeks to develop calculations for the subsequent understanding of the reaction and purification process. Thus, the analysis of the mixture of the components using the process simulator Aspen Plus V9^® unravels the thermochemical study. The UNIFAC-DMD thermodynamic method was used to estimate the binary equilibrium parameters of the reagents using the simulator. The analyzed aspects present the behavior of the components in different temperature conditions, the azeotropic behavior and the determined thermochemical conditions.

This work presents the evaluation of iron oxide nanoparticles obtained from the aqueous extract of Eucalyptus grandis. Twenty-three experiments were carried out where the synthesis of nanoparticles was performed by using the aqueous extract together with salts of iron (II) chloride tetrahydrate and iron (III) chloride hexahydrate. A characterization was carried out by IR, TEM and BET, where bands were presented at 3,440.77, 1,559.26 and 445.31 cm⁻¹, indicating the presence of iron oxide nanoparticles. A relatively high monodispersity was evidenced with particles around 9 nm. By means of BET analysis it was found to present a surface area of 131.897 m²/g. Obtaining nanoparticles by this green method presents yield values of 98%, with application in nanotechnology, biomedicine, environmental treatment, among others, making them highly versatile and their production cost is relatively low.

Nanotechnology is recognized as one of the high and new technologies in the 21st century. Carbon nanotubes have been widely used in molecular sieve, drug transport and seawater desalination due to their unique mechanical, electrical, optical and other excellent properties. As the main representative of carbon nanotube macroscopic materials, carbon nanotube film not only retains the microscopic properties of carbon nanotube, but also has good mechanical properties and stable chemical properties. The preparation and application of carbon nanotubes (CNTS) have attracted extensive attention from scholars at home and abroad. In this paper, the research on carbon nanotube films in recent years is reviewed. Based on the preparation of carbon nanotube films, chemical vapor deposition, LB (Langmuir-Blodgett) film and electrostatic layer-by-layer self-assembly techniques are briefly described. In addition, the applications of carbon nanotubes in biological field, photoelectric nano devices, water treatment, seawater desalination and other fields are also described.

Banana macropropagation in a thermal chamber is an economical technology, effective as a phytosanitary cleaning method, and efficient to enhance seedling production. The objective of this work was to evaluate the effects of corm size (CS) and benzylaminopurine (BAP) on plantain cv. Barraganete seedling proliferation in two propagation environments (PE). The treatments consisted of two levels of BAP (with and without BAP), three CS (2 ± 0.5, 4 ± 0.5 and 6 ± 0.5 kg) and two PE (thermal chamber and raised bed). The variables evaluated were sprouting time (days), multiplication rate (MT) per unit (seedlings per corm) and area (seedlings per m²). Sprouting time was significantly influenced (p < 0.05) by the PE, where the thermal chamber advanced shoot emergence by 12 days, with respect to the raised bed. MT of seedlings per corm and m², were significantly influenced (p < 0.05) by BAP × AP and TC × AP interactions, where the highest seedling production per corm occurred inside thermal chamber with BAP and 6 ± 0.5 kg corms, while seedling production per m² was higher with 2 ± 0.5 kg corms under the same thermal chamber conditions and with BAP. The main effects results reported that with BAP there were 30 and 31% increases in MT per corm and per m², respectively, relative to the treatment without BAP. Within the thermal chamber the MT per corm and per m² increased by 44% relative to the raised bed. Regarding the effect of CS, larger corms achieved higher individual MT, while smaller corms achieved higher MT per area. The use of a thermal chamber and BAP is recommended for mass production of banana seedlings through macropropagation.

In order to maximize the potential energy utilization of agricultural and forestry waste and sludge, the experimental research on co-pyrolysis was carried out for two kinds of sludge (urban industrial sludge, paper sludge) and a typical biomass straw. The results show that adding biomass can effectively improve sludge pyrolysis characteristics; biomass straw and sludge, there are complex interactive effects between components in the co-pyrolysis process, and the characteristic parameters show nonlinear changes. When industrial sludge is mixed with straw, with the increase of straw content, the initial temperature of pyrolysis gradually decreases, the termination temperature increases, the peak of pyrolysis reaction rate and the corresponding temperature gradually increase, and the pyrolysis index gradually increases; when paper sludge is mixed with straw, with the increase of straw content, the initial temperature of pyrolysis gradually decreases, the termination temperature increases, the peak of pyrolysis reaction rate gradually increases, while the peak corresponding temperature gradually decreases, and the pyrolysis index gradually decreases. Combined with characteristic parameters and reaction kinetics analysis, it is suggested that the straw mixing proportion should be controlled at about 25% during the co-pyrolysis of industrial sludge and straw. During the co-pyrolysis of paper sludge and straw, it is suggested to control the straw blending ratio at about 75%.

Many questions of control theory are well studied for systems which satisfy to the relative degree definition. If this definition is fulfilled then there exists linear state-space transform reducing system to a very convenient canonical form where zero dynamics is a part of system’s equations. Algorithms of such reduction are well-known. However, there exist systems which don’t satisfy this definition. Such systems are the subject of investigation in the presented paper. To investigate their properties here we suggest to consider an analogue of the classical relative degree definition – the so-called column-wise relative degree. It turned out that this definition is satisfied in some cases when classical relative degree doesn’t exist. We introduce this notion here, investigate it properties and suggest algorithm for reducing systems to the column-wise relative degree compliant form if possible. It is possible to show that systems with column-wise relative degree also can be reduced to a convenient canonical form by a linear state-space transformation. Some problems arise from the fact that some systems which do not have relative degree can be reduced to a form with it using linear inputs or outputs transform. Here we show that this is an interesting mathematical problem, which can be solved with the help of properties of relative degree, formulated and proved in this paper.