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These mechanisms contribute actively to the generation of a microenvironment in the lymph nodes that suppresses the activation of encephalitogenic T cells, resulting in the downregulation of the inflammatory response in the central nervous system.

Sugarcane ethanol has been produced in Brazil since the early 20th century, but production increased in the mid‐1970s aiming at substituting 20% of the gasoline. Despite an increase in the 2000s production has been stable since 2008. This paper presents a review of the main developments achieved and future challenges. The sector has had positive economic and environmental results through technological development, as a result of research and development by private companies and strong public support. Sugarcane yield has steadily increased and positively impacted production costs, primarily due to better agronomic practices and breeding programs. Owing to environmental and economic reasons, there are on‐going programs to phase out burning, with the gradual replacement of manual harvest with burning by unburnt mechanised harvest. Important agronomic impacts are expected, caused by the large amount of straw left on the soil surface, which also represents a significant bioenergy potential. The sugarcane industry in Brazil has taken advantage of the combined production of sugar and ethanol, and, recently, many mills have enlarged their revenues with surplus electricity. The current efforts for diversification aim at ethanol production through hydrolysis of sugarcane residues and the development of chemical routes. From an environmental point of view, impacts related to land use change are expected on greenhouse emissions, water resources, and biodiversity. Ethanol production is likely to expand in Brazil due to the potential size of the domestic market and to the opportunities for exporting, but this will occur in a context of different and new challenges. WIREs Energy Environ 2014, 3:70–92. doi: 10.1002/wene.87 This article is categorized under: Bioenergy > Economics and Policy Bioenergy > Systems and Infrastructure Bioenergy > Climate and Environment

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An argon-hydrogen atmospheric pressure microplasma jet was constructed for the treatment of materials. The microplasma jet device operating at 50 W produced long plasma jet of 30 mm with gas temperatures measured, using OH emissions, from 1600 to 2600 K as a function of distance. Excitation temperature was found to be from 7000 to 10 000 K. Through the analysis of Hα line broadening mechanisms, surprising hot hydrogen atoms H (n=3) were found with temperatures ranging from 12 000 to 19 600 K.

Microalgae biomass is among one of the most promising sustainable raw materials for many industrial sectors especially biodiesel production. Although a great diversity of microalgae species has been described and isolated, few have been used for large-scale cultivation. This review presents a multidisciplinary overview of studies on Tetradesmus obliquusa freshwater microalga suitable for largescale production and emerging environmental applications. It reviews the taxonomic history of T. obliquus and its potential commercial applications, including cultivations techniques and environmental parameters, production systems, harvesting and drying of biomass, and its biochemical composition. In addition, a model refinery for T. obliquus is proposed that combines the main productive bioprocesses. Finally, a bibliometric analysis is presented and opportunities for future research with T. obliquus are identified.

Mass spectrometry was used to monitor neutral chemical species from sugar cane bagasse that could volatilize during the bagasse ozonation process. Lignin fragments and some radicals liberated by direct ozone reaction with the biomass structure were detected. Ozone density was monitored during the ozonation by optical absorption spectroscopy. The optical results indicated that the ozone interaction with the bagasse material was better for bagasse particle sizes less than or equal to 0.5 mm. Both techniques have shown that the best condition for the ozone diffusion in the bagasse was at 50% of its moisture content. In addition, Fourier transform infrared spectroscopy (FTIR) and scanning electron microscopy (SEM) were employed to analyze the lignin bond disruptions and morphology changes of the bagasse surface that occurred due to the ozonolysis reactions as well. Appropriate chemical characterization of the lignin content in bagasse before and after its ozonation was also carried out.

An atmospheric argon rf microplasma jet was employed to treat lignin samples. The treatment time was carried out from 30 min to 4 h resulting in a strong degradation of the lignin structure. The most important degradation was observed in functional groups having asymmetric in‐phase ring stretching as well as in CC and CO stretching vibrations. Simple calculations may help us explain the OH bond breakings by electron collisions inside the microplasma. In the afterglow condition, it was not observed any change on the lignin spectra.