AbstractA novel Dye-decolorizing peroxidase from the basidiomycete Pleurotus sapidus was screened for dyedecolorizing peroxidase activity with 2,2‘-azino-bis(3- ethylbenzothiazoline-6-sulfonic acid), Remazol Brilliant Blue R and Guaiacol. Additionally, the catalytic efficiency on degrading β-carotene into volatile products, and the catalyst storage stability with three different additives were also studied. The apparent inhibition constant (KS) was 51.7 μM. Optimal reaction rates (Vmax) and affinity constants (Km) towards the reducing substrates were obtained using Michaelis-Menten kinetic theory. The trend in the calculated Km’s was found to be 7.0 mM > 0.524 mM > 0.051 mM for Guaiacol, 2,2‘-azino-bis(3-ethylbenzothiazoline-6-sulfonic acid) and Remazol Brilliant Blue R. The storage stability of the catalyst was evaluated with 7.0% w/v PEG400, 7.0% w/v PEG1450 and 0.1% w/v Tween®80 at 5°C over a period of 45 days. The study revealed the longest activity conservation with PEG1450, where rDyP had lost 30% of initial activity. The enzyme solution presented similar pH and temperature dependence to known fungal dye-decolorizing peroxidases with most prolific enzymatic activities registered at pH 4.0 and temperatures below 30°C. An interesting property of the catalyst was oxidation observed in the absence of hydrogen peroxide.

ABSTRACTThe feasibility of nanofiltration membranes fabricated by static polyelectrolyte layer‐by‐layer deposition of poly(styrene sulfonate) and poly(allylamine hydrochloride) on poly(ether sulfone) ultrafiltration and alumina microfiltration membranes for the recovery of ionic liquid from low molecular weight sugar was investigated. The surface properties of these modified membranes were correlated with their performances. The selectivity for 1‐butyl‐3‐methylimidazolium chloride over cellobiose and glucose was found to be as high as 50.5/2.3 for modified alumina and 32.3/3.5 for modified poly(ether sulfone) membranes with optimized number of bilayers. The values for membrane permeance were 4.8 and 2.5 L m−1 h2 bar−1, respectively. For low depositions, the separation mechanism was predominantly governed by size‐exclusion. For higher depositions, the enhanced negative zeta potential of the modified membranes suggested preferred dominating electrostatic interactions, resulting in high selectivity of ionic liquids over low molecular weight sugars. At very high depositions, the molecular weight cut‐off of the membrane becomes constricting for size‐exclusion effect. © 2017 Wiley Periodicals, Inc. J. Appl. Polym. Sci. 2017, 134, 45349.

Polyphenols extracted from blueberry (Vaccinium corymbosum) pomace were concentrated using nanofiltration. Crossflow filtration was shown to be a feasible method for concentrating the polyphenols present in dilute aqueous solutions. High-performance liquid chromatography was employed for the determination of total anthocyanins, total flavonols and chlorogenic acid in the hot water extract. Both nanofiltration membranes (NF245 and NF270) showed complete rejection of phenolic compounds at good permeances, whereas crossflow mode of filtration was found to reduce membrane fouling considerably. Furthermore, a suitable protocol was developed for clean-in-place of the used membranes. After repeated filtrations followed by the cleaning protocol, the rejection performance was preserved unaltered and the relative permeance was recovered up to 73% for NF245 membrane and more than 99% for NF270 membrane.

ABSTRACT Nanofiltration membranes have been developed by interfacial polymerization using base PES ultrafiltration membranes. By varying the concentration of the reactive monomers present as well as the reaction conditions, the structure of the polymerized barrier layer has been modified. Here, the ability to concentrate low molecular weight sugars while allowing dissolved ionic liquids in aqueous solution to be recovered in the permeate has been investigated for application in biomass hydrolysis. The results obtained here indicate that the selectivity for 1-butyl-3-methylimidazoliumchloride (BmimCl) over glucose can be as high as 36.6. The membrane permeance was 2.31 L m−2 h−1 bar−1.

Design principles for reducible metal nitride catalysts are developed and demonstrated for ambient-pressure solar-driven N2 reduction into NH3.