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Egypt, one of the world's biggest producers of cultured tilapia, is facing significant challenges in using drainage water for aquaculture due to the lack in freshwater. The current study was conducted to evaluate the effects of drainage water treatment on the growth and flesh quality of the Nile tilapia (Oreochromis niloticus), raised on five distinct fish farms in the El-Fayoum Governorate and irrigated with various drainage water sources. Fish growth characteristics, flesh quality, irrigation resources, drainage canals, and water quality of the investigated fish farms were all investigated. The Dayer El-Berka fish farm had the highest values of pH, total hardness, total alkalinity, salinity, and total ammonia, demonstrating the negative effects of the untreated drainage water on aquaculture water quality. All farms, with the exception of Dayer El-Berka and El-Bats fish farm (earthen pond), which showed a high lead content, had copper concentrations below detection limits. Wadi Al-Raian fish farm was recorded with higher cadmium concentrations. The El-Bats fish farm (concrete pond), which is watered with El-Bats drain's treated drainage water, showed the lowest levels of heavy metals. The maximum growth performance was found in the Nile tilapia raised on Wadi Al-Raian and Al-Wadi fish farms, whereas the lowest growth performance was found in Dayer El-Berka fish farms, according to productivity metrics. The current study's findings indicate that fish raised on farms that use treated drainage water for irrigation have great growth rates, superior meat quality, and safe flesh for human consumption. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The availability of hydroxyl functional groups in cellulose fibers has an important impact on the utilization of cellulose, and mechanical treatment is an effective means of regulation. Herein, we adopted the Valley pulper to mechanically treat the unbleached kraft softwood pulp to disclose the influence of different mechanical treatment pressure and mechanical treatment time on the accessibility of hydroxyl groups on unbleached kraft softwood pulp fibers. Specifically, the effects of mechanical treatment conditions on the hydroxyl group accessibility of unbleached kraft softwood pulp fibers were revealed by analyzing the water filtration and retention properties of the fibers, the morphological changes of the fibers, the stability of the fiber-water suspension system, and the fiber-binding properties, which are closely related to the hydroxyl group accessibility under different mechanical treatment conditions, and the changes of the hydroxyl group accessibility of the fibers were revealed by using the FTIR and ζ-potential analyses in the study. The results show that increasing the mechanical treatment pressure and prolonging the mechanical treatment time can effectively improve the accessibility of the hydroxyl group of unbleached kraft softwood pulp fibers, correspondingly, the fiber pulping degree is higher, the water filtration performance of the fiber is worse, the water retention performance is improved, the morphological parameters such as length, thickness and width of the fiber are reduced, the zeta potential value is increased, the fiber dispersion is improved, and the evenness index and tensile index of the cellulose fiber combined into the paper are significantly improved. The reason is that the fibers were cut and sheared during mechanical treatment, and more hydroxyl functional groups were released, which significantly improved the hydroxyl accessibility. The results also confirmed that increasing the mechanical treatment pressure was more effective than prolonging the treatment time. This study reveals the effect of mechanical treatment on the hydroxyl group accessibility in cellulose fibers, which is of great significance for the multifunctional application of cellulose materials, which has certain guiding significance for the research on the multifunctional application of cellulose materials. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Abstract Okara is a by-product obtained from soybean milk containing high dietary fiber. This study focused on how to add value to okara by converting it into okara cellulose powder. The feasibility of using mechanical energy from the extrusion process to produce cellulose powder from okara was compared with the traditional mechanical method, hydrothermal and untreated okara powder (SBM). The extrusion process was carried out at different screw speeds (350–450 rpm), amount of water (0.5–1 L per hour), and number of treatment cycles. The physicochemical and functional properties of the okara cellulose powder and specific mechanical energy were analyzed. Results showed that the particle size of samples treated by 6 cycles of extrusion reduced to three times lower than SBM. The sample subjected to hydrothermal and extrusion showed significantly increased swelling ratio, water solubility index (WSI), and antioxidant capacity. However, only the extrusion treatment could improve the rheological properties. Increasing the cycles of extrusion treatment increased the swelling ratio and WSI values. Extrusion altered the color and chemical composition by decreasing the lightness and total dietary fiber. Extrusion treatment was proved to be an effective mechanical method for improving okara properties and converting the by-product into a potentially value-added ingredient for use in future food applications.

This study aims to determine the highest cellulose purity based on variations in NaOH concentration and to characterize nanocellulose fiber from corn cob waste. Nanocellulose fiber was obtained using chemical-mechanical treatments. Chemical treatment consists of pretreatment, de-lignification, and bleaching stages. While mechanical treatment consists of stirrer and ultrasonication methods, The results showed that the highest cellulose purity was 75.32% using 60% NaOH. In addition, FTIR test results showed that lignin and hemicellulose compounds were successfully removed during chemical treatment, and functional groups from the typical structure of cellulose, which are OH, C-H, and C-O-C groups, with their respective wavenumbers, did not show significant changes during mechanical treatment. Nanocellulose fibers have been successfully formed. It was evident from the morphology of the fibers, which had an average diameter of 120.57±14.05 nm. Additionally, the nanocellulose fiber has excellent colloidal stability with a potential zeta value of -72.5 mV. Based on these results, biopolymer nanocellulose fiber has been successfully obtained from corn cob waste through chemical-mechanical treatments. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The aim of lithium-ion battery (LiB) recyclers is to create a closed-loop process to recover and reuse all the material as secondary sources of material to manufacture new batteries. Global LiB recycling companies apply pyrometallurgy, hydrometallurgy, or direct recycling to meet this goal. Pyrometallurgy is very energy intensive, but hydrometallurgy requires a pretreatment process and a new version of direct recycling that shows more promise for automation would also require pretreatment. Currently, recycling companies appear to favor hydrometallurgy. This review summarizes the current state of development of the pretreatment process involving battery discharging and mechanical treatment series from the literature and its application in the industry, with particular attention on Asia Pacific recyclers. The key pretreatment steps of battery discharging and mechanical treatment are the focus of this review, but pretreatment of the black mass containing cathode material prior to leaching is also included. Discharging is important to reduce the risk of fire during mechanical treatment. An interesting finding is that despite promising laboratory results, there has been no reported commercial application of battery discharging using the submersion method in an electrolyte solution. An efficient mechanical treatment of discharged batteries is essential to remove the impurities which could adversely impact the subsequent LiB processing. Research into mechanical treatment should also include a method to evaluate the liberation of material. This review has highlighted a new potential flowchart for recycling of various cathode types of LiBs. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Steamed bread, noodles, deep-fried dough sticks and other noodle foods are an important part of our diet, and gluten protein is an important component of noodle foods. Common food processing techniques used to prepare noodles, including heating, freezing, mechanical processing, fermentation, and electric field treatment, alter the hydrophobic disulfide bond of the protein, denature and aggregate the protein, and cause other intricate physical and chemical changes, all of which have an impact on the texture and flavor of the finished noodle product. This paper mainly introduces the current research status of the influence of processing methods such as heating, freezing, crushing, kneading, extrusion, fermentation, and electric field processing on the structure and properties of the gluten protein.

This study aimed to report the extraction of micro-fibrillated cellulose (MFC) from rice husk (RH) through a series of processes including alkalization, bleaching, chemical hydrolysis, and mechanical treatment. The chemical structure, morphology, and crystallinity were assessed using Fourier Transform Infrared spectroscopy (FTIR), Scanning Electron Microscope (SEM), and X-ray diffraction (XRD). The results showed that alkalization was more effective in removing unwanted substances such as silica, hemicellulose, and lignin compared to bleaching. Chemical or mechanical treatment was more targeted towards removing the amorphous phase while fibrillating MFC. Further mechanical treatment significantly enhanced the crystallinity index (CI) of MFC, reaching 87.47%, while chemical treatment remained at 78.54%. The mechanical treatment led to a larger void size due to rigorous fibrillation, resulting in increased water retention during extraction compared to chemically treated MFC with a negatively charged surface. Crystal extraction through mechanical treatment disrupted the hydrogen bond, transforming cellulose crystal from triclinic I? to monoclinic The comprehensive evaluation of MFC extracted from RH showed its potential for biomedical application.

The compound AgI crystallizes, depending on temperature and pressure, with various crystal structures. While α-AgI is the stable form at elevated temperatures, the β and the γ forms exist at lower temperatures. Variants with stacking sequences different than in pure β-AgI and γ-AgI enrich the complex crystallographic situation for AgI. In the study presented here, we converted a mixture of β-AgI and γ-AgI into nanostructured γ-AgI by mechanical treatment, that is, by high-energy ball milling of such a mixture under ambient conditions. Our work extends an earlier study by Ahmad (Z. Naturforsch. 2015, 70b, 17). We used variable-temperature, potentiostatic conductivity spectroscopy as well as electric modulus measurements to characterize the electric transport parameters. For the case that the sample is heated to temperatures near and above 420 K, preliminary information on the "resistance" of the electric conductivity against healing of defects are also collected. As compared to the unmilled but mixed sample, whose Ag+ ionic transport is dominated by those ions residing in the γ-phase of AgI (0.25 eV vs. 0.46 eV in β-AgI), ball milling only leads to a small increase in overall electric conductivity (by a factor of 3–4) for nanocrystalline γ-AgI (0.25 eV). This observation is perfectly in line with a recent observation for the fast ion conductor Li10GeP2S12 (Hogrefe et al., J. Am. Chem. Soc. 2022, 144, 9597): In materials with already rapid diffusion pathways, nanostructuring and the introduction of defects and distortions do not lead to significantly enhanced ion transport. Here, a careful analysis of data from conductivity and modulus spectroscopy helps identify which dynamic parameters are mainly responsible for the change in the overall conductivity upon mechanical treatment of coarse-grained γ-AgI. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Copyright of Journal of the Society of Powder Technology, Japan is the property of Society of Powder Technology, Japan and its content may not be copied or emailed to multiple sites or posted to a listserv without the copyright holder's express written permission. However, users may print, download, or email articles for individual use. This abstract may be abridged. No warranty is given about the accuracy of the copy. Users should refer to the original published version of the material for the full abstract. (Copyright applies to all Abstracts.)

Copyright of Food & Machinery is the property of Food & Machinery Editorial Office and its content may not be copied or emailed to multiple sites or posted to a listserv without the copyright holder's express written permission. However, users may print, download, or email articles for individual use. This abstract may be abridged. No warranty is given about the accuracy of the copy. Users should refer to the original published version of the material for the full abstract. (Copyright applies to all Abstracts.)

Since salmon lice have developed resistance to pesticides, non-medicinal delousing treatments have become increasingly used to remove the parasite from fish on salmon farms in Norwegian waters. These novel techniques are an important means of controlling epidemics of lice at farms for maintaining the health of farmed fish and for preventing the spread of lice to wild salmonid populations. However, some treatments are associated with higher mortality rates and negative welfare impacts on the host fish. Furthermore, it is unclear how effective each treatment is in removing lice compared to alternatives. Here, in a controlled laboratory environment, we tested the efficacy of mechanical, warm water (28 °C and 34 °C), and freshwater treatments alone and in combination, and examined their welfare impact on host fish. Regardless of treatment group or control, the handling of fish through the experiment led to a reduction in lice load and decline in fish welfare. Among the treatments examined, the freshwater bath alone and in combination with other treatments had the greatest delousing efficacy. The 34 °C warm water baths also significantly reduced lice loads but led to worse welfare outcomes with fish having a higher prevalence of injuries and reduced growth and condition factor. Delousing treatments were however not associated with long-term effects on neuroendocrine parameters or stress coping ability, suggesting that immediate welfare impacts from these procedures are generally reversible. It was also found that sedating fish prior to treatment was shown to mitigate the welfare impact. These findings are useful for the needed optimization of delousing strategies for greater delousing efficacy and reduced welfare impact on fish. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The efficient utilization of low-cost carbon feedstocks, such as municipal solid waste (MSW), in biorefineries has become increasingly important for reducing GHG emissions and meeting the growing demand for renewable energy sources. However, MSW as a feedstock presents several challenges, including high moisture content, compositional variability, particle size and shape, density, and ash content. To address these challenges, the potential of mechanical dewatering and high-moisture pelleting processes for densifying MSW fractions, such as paper, cardboard, thin plastic, and thick plastic, into low-cost carbon feedstocks with improved handling and conversion properties were investigated. The effect of these preprocessing technologies on the critical quality attributes (CQAs) of the resulting pellets, including bulk density, durability, and size uniformity, were evaluated. The results showed that with these preprocessing technologies, the paper and cardboard fractions could be pelleted at moisture contents over 40% (w.b.) while achieving >99% durability and >300 kg/m3, while the high moisture plastic fractions were not suitable for pelleting. The thick plastic fraction processed in a screw press was shown to remove up to 30% of the moisture content in a single pass. These findings suggest that these mechanical preprocessing technologies can improve the physical properties of low-cost municipal solid waste fractions for biofuels production. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This research examines the performance of quality-controlled recycled concrete aggregates (QRAs) with fly-ash-based cement. Compared to concrete made from untreated recycled concrete aggregates (URC), quality-controlled recycled aggregate concrete (QRC) has superior physical, mechanical, and durability prop)erties. Except for sorptivity, the physical, mechanical, and dura)bility properties of QRC are almost identical to those of natural aggregate concrete (NC). The compressive strength, splitting tensile strength, flexural strength, fracture energy, and modulus of elasticity of QRC are higher than those of URC by 18.0%, 16.8%, 60.0%, 27.17%, and 43.46%, respectively. The abrasion resistance of QRC is approximately 60% higher than URC. Scanning electron microscope (SEM) image and energy-dispersive X-ray (EDX) anal)ysis prove that quality control produces denser old interfacial tran)sition zones (OITZ) with fewer microvoids. The QRA improves not only the pore structure but also the weak mortar structure attached to the aggregate. There is also a strong correlation between the compressive strength and splitting tensile strength, flexural strength, fracture energy, and modulus of elasticity of QRC. QRA can be used to compute the mixture proportions for concrete (certainly up to medium-strength concrete) according to either the Indian standard or the international standard. It is challenging to improve the sorptivity of recycled concrete aggregates closer to NC. In addition, QRC has an initial sorptivity of two times (initial) and a final sorptivity of 1.8 times higher than NC, whereas URC has an initial sorptivity of 3.5 times (initial) and a final sorptivity of 2.35 times higher than NC. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

To mitigate the potential environmental and human health impacts of waste Copper–indium–gallium–diselenide (CIGS) thin-film photovoltaic (PV) modules, effective recycling management measures are imperative. This comprehensive review provides an overview of the structural characteristics of CIGS and various recycling technologies. Through an analysis of methods such as mechanical crushing and sorting, pyrolysis, pyrometallurgy, hydrometallurgy, and electro-deposition, their effectiveness in CIGS recycling is elucidated. Mechanical crushing and sorting, as a straightforward technique, achieve a certain degree of separation between glass and metal, though further enhancement of product purity is warranted. Pyrolysis emerges as an effective recycling method, particularly excelling in polymer decomposition. Pyrometallurgy and hydrometallurgy emerge as crucial pathways for the recovery of Cu, In, Ga, and Se in CIGS, with pyrometallurgy achieving selenium removal through oxidative roasting, and hydrometallurgy requiring further optimization of solution systems and extractant selection. Electro-deposition technology efficiently accomplishes the high-yield recovery of multiple elements through differences in metal solubility and working potential yet faces challenges in scaling up production. The introduction of life cycle assessment analyzes the environmental impact of different technologies, providing a directional guide for module recycling research. In conclusion, this study delves deeply into the recycling, utilization, and resource recovery of waste CIGS, offering a scientific reference and guidance for future endeavors in clean and green recycling. [Display omitted] • It is necessary to carry out standardized recycling management of waste CIGS. • Comparative analysis of different CIGS recycling technologies. • Pyrolysis can serve as the mainstream method for industrial application in CIGS recycling. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Okara is a by-product obtained from soybean milk containing high dietary fiber. This study focused on how to add value to okara by converting it into okara cellulose powder. The feasibility of using mechanical energy from the extrusion process to produce cellulose powder from okara was compared with the traditional mechanical method, hydrothermal and untreated okara powder (SBM). The extrusion process was carried out at different screw speeds (350-450 rpm), amount of water (0.5-1 L per hour), and number of treatment cycles. The physicochemical and functional properties of the okara cellulose powder and specific mechanical energy were analyzed. Results showed that the particle size of samples treated by 6 cycles of extrusion reduced to three times lower than SBM. The sample subjected to hydrothermal and extrusion showed significantly increased swelling ratio, water solubility index (WSI), and antioxidant capacity. However, only the extrusion treatment could improve the rheological properties. Increasing the cycles of extrusion treatment increased the swelling ratio and WSI values. Extrusion altered the color and chemical composition by decreasing the lightness and total dietary fiber. Extrusion treatment was proved to be an effective mechanical method for improving okara properties and converting the by-product into a potentially value-added ingredient for use in future food applications., (© 2024. The Author(s).)

The exponential growth in global photovoltaic installations has led to a continuous increase in photovoltaic (PV) waste. This review article focuses on the recycling of waste crystalline silicon PV modules. In terms of recycling management policies, it points out that China's management of waste PV modules started relatively late and lacks clear categorization. Despite the establishment of relevant standards and extended producer responsibility (EPR) systems, there is still a need for improvement in the recycling system. The review delves into recycling technologies such as pyrolysis, chemical treatment, and mechanical crushing for waste PV modules. It particularly emphasizes the high-pressure crushing recycling process, highlighting its effective dissociation and crushing based on environmental friendliness. Comparative environmental impact analysis shows that pyrolysis technology has the least environmental impact, followed by mechanical treatment, while chemical treatment, incineration, and landfilling have relatively larger environmental impacts. Therefore, the review advocates for pyrolysis treatment as the mainstream technology for the recycling of waste PV modules. Finally, the article discusses the challenges faced by PV module recycling in China and proposes recommendations for the formulation of reasonable subsidy policies and dynamic adjustment of standards. In conclusion, this review provides in-depth research and comprehensive analysis of the recycling and resource utilization of waste crystalline silicon photovoltaic modules, offering important references and guidance for future development. • China's delayed management of waste PV modules lacks clear categories. • Advocates pyrolysis treatment as the mainstream recycling technique for waste PV. • Proposes PV subsidy policies and dynamic standard adjustments. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]