Natural water bodies and treated wastewaters contain an increasing variety of organic micropollutants with a negative impact on ecosystems and human health. Herein, we propose an integrated process based on membrane distillation and advanced oxidation, in which thermal energy is simultaneously used to drive the permeation of pure water through a hydrophobic membrane and to activate the generation of reactive oxygen species by a thermocatalytic perovskite, namely Ce-doped strontium ferrate. At a feed temperature of 65°C, our thermocatalytic distillation apparatus can effectively retain and degrade bisphenol A, as model pollutant, while producing distilled water at the constant rate of 1.60 ± 0.03 L h −1 m −2 , over four continuous runs. Moreover, the membrane makes degradation faster by concentrating the pollutant during filtration. Our technology is effective in the production of pure water without creating a toxic concentrate, it relies on simple process design, and it does not require high pressure or additional chemicals. In addition, it can potentially work continuously driven by renewable thermal energies or waste heat.

Membrane fouling has been a major issue in the development of more efficient water treatment processes. Specifically in surface waters filtration, organic matter, such as humic-like substances, can cause irreversible fouling. Therefore, this study evaluates the activity of a photocatalytic layer composed of Ce-doped zirconia nanoparticles in improving the fouling resistance during filtration of an aqueous solution of humic acid (HA). These nanoparticles were prepared by hydrothermal and sol–gel processes and then characterized. Before the filtration experiments, the photodegradation of HA catalyzed by Ce-doped zirconia nanoparticles in dispersion was studied. It was observed that the sol–gel prepared Ce-ZrO2 exhibited higher HA removal in practically neutral pH, achieving 93% efficiency in 180 min of adsorption in the dark followed by 180 min under visible-light irradiation using light-emitting diodes (LEDs). Changes in spectral properties and in total organic carbon confirmed HA degradation and contributed to the proposal of a mechanism for HA photodegradation. Finally, in HA filtration tests, Ce-ZrO2 photocatalytic membranes were able to recover the flux in a fouled membrane using visible-light by degrading HA. The present findings point to the further development of anti-fouling membranes, in which solar light can be used to degrade fouling compounds and possibly contaminants of emerging concern, which will have important environmental implications.

The present work aimed at the study of citric acid solvent extraction in order to establish the composition of the organic phase and to obtain thermodynamic and kinetic data for the chosen system. Discontinuous extraction experiments in a single stage were performed from a synthetic solution of citric acid, with the typical concentration (10% w/v) observed in industrial fermented musts. Exploratory experiments were carried out using different organic phases in order to select the most suitable solvent phase to further continuous extraction tests in a mechanically agitated column. The selected organic phase composition was: Alamine ® 336, Exxal ™ 13 tridecyl alcohol, and the aliphatic diluent Escaid TM 110. Next, the effects of the contact time and of the concentrations of extractant and modifier on the citric acid extraction were studied. Among the investigated conditions, the best one was 10 minutes of contact time, 30% w/v of Alamine ® 336, and 10% w/v of Exxal ™ 13 tridecyl alcohol. For this condition, the equilibrium isotherm (28˚C ± 2˚C) was determined, and the equilibrium constant was calculated ( ). It was considered that trioctylamine and citric acid complexation reaction occurs mainly with non-dissociated citric acid form, because the aqueous feed solutions' pH is lower than the citric acid pK a1 . It was found that 1.5 molecules of the extractant, on average, are required to react with one citric acid molecule, which can indicate that reactions with different extractant/citric acid ratios occur simultaneously. Next, the rate constants for the direct and inverse reactions, 2.10 (mol•L , respectively, were calculated. Coefficients of determination (R 2 ) values higher than 0.93 were found in these calculations, suggesting that the results obtained using a computer modeling would be very close to those results obtained experimentally. Therefore, the present work provides data required to future modelling, design, and simulation of citric acid solvent extraction processes.How to cite this paper: Araújo, E.M.R.,

The present work aims to develop a new vegetable insulating fluid for power transformers based on Jatropha curcas oil. Besides its technical benefits, Jatropha curcas oil has a socioeconomic role by promoting income to rural families, contributing to the countryside development and avoiding rural exodus. Thus, the entire transformer oil production (extraction, processing, characterization and accelerated aging) was covered and a new process was developed. For oil extraction, the most suitable process was the solvent extraction (5 mL of hexane per gram of crushed non-peeled seeds during 30 minutes) with an oil yield of 32%. In raw oil processing stage, the degumming, with 0.4 g of phosphoric acid per 100 g of oil, at 70˚C, was used to remove phosphatides. Then, free fatty acids were 96% neutralized with a sodium hydroxide solution (0.5% w/w) at room temperature. For the oil clarification, the combination of 5% w/w oil of activated carbon and 1% w/w oil of MgO resulted in a bright, odorless and clear oil with an acid number of 0.04 mg KOH •g −1 . The oil drying in a vacuum rotary evaporator, at 70˚C, for 2 hours reduced the water content to 177 ppm. The processed oil was characterized following ASTM D6871 methods. This oil presented higher dielectric breakdown voltage (55 kV) than commercial transformer fluids (BIOTEMP®, EnvirotempFR3®, and Bivolt®), which increases transformer safety, capacity and lifetime. In addition, the processed oil has a lower viscosity than BIOTEMP® fluid, which can enhance the heat dissipation efficiency in the transformer. Moreover, the processed oil flash and fire points of 310˚C and >340˚C, respectively, confirm the great security of vegetable insulating fluids. The analyzed properties of the processed oil fulfill all the ASTM D6871, ABNT NBR 15422 and IEC 62770 specifications. Therefore, Jatropha curcas oil is a potential substitute formineral insulating fluids.How to cite this paper: Evangelista Jr.,

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