Saccharomyces cerevisiae cells were immobilized in calcium alginate and chitosan-covered calcium alginate beads and studied in the fermentation of glucose and sucrose for ethanol production. The batch fermentations were carried out in an orbital shaker and assessed by monitoring the concentration of substrate and product with HPLC. Cell immobilization in calcium alginate beads and chitosan-covered calcium alginate beads allowed reuse of the beads in eight sequential fermentation cycles of 10 h each. The final concentration of ethanol using free cells was 40 g L-1 and the yields using glucose and sucrose as carbon sources were 78% and 74.3%, respectively. For immobilized cells in calcium alginate beads, the final ethanol concentration from glucose was 32.9 ± 1.7 g L-1 with a 64.5 ± 3.4% yield, while the final ethanol concentration from sucrose was 33.5 ± 4.6 g L-1 with a 64.5 ± 8.6% yield. For immobilized cells in chitosan-covered calcium alginate beads, the ethanol concentration from glucose was 30.7 ± 1.4 g L-1 with a 61.1 ± 2.8% yield, while the final ethanol concentration from sucrose was 31.8 ± 6.9 g L-1 with a 62.1 ± 12.8% yield. The immobilized cells allowed eight 10 h sequential reuse cycles to be carried out with stable final ethanol concentrations. In addition, there was no need to use antibiotics and no contamination was observed. After the eighth cycle, there was a significant rupture of the beads making them inappropriate for reuse.

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BACKGROUND: There is an increased need to replace materials derived from fossil sources by renewables. Sugar-cane derived carbohydrates are very abundant in Brazil and are the cheapest sugars available in the market, with more than 400 million tons of sugarcane processed in the year 2007. The objective of this work was to study the preparation of sugar acrylates from free sugars and free acrylic acid, thus avoiding the previous preparation of protected sugar derivatives, such as glycosides, or activated acrylates, such as vinyl acrylate. RESULTS: Lipase catalyzed esterification of three mono-and two disaccharides with acrylic acid, in the presence or absence of molecular sieves was investigated. The reactions were monitored by high-performance liquid chromatography (HPLC) and the products were analyzed by matrix-assisted laser desorption ionization-time of flight (MALDI-TOF) mass spectrometry. The main products are mono-and diacrylates, while higher esters are formed as minor products. The highest conversion to sugar acrylates was observed for the D-glucose and D-fructose, followed by D-xylose and D-maltose. Molecular sieves had no pronounced effect on the conversion CONCLUSIONS: A feasible method is described to produce and to characterize sugar acrylates, including those containing more than two acrylate groups. The process for production of these higher esters could potentially be optimized further to produce molecules for cross-linking in acrylate polymerization and other applications. The direct enzymatic esterification of free carbohydrates with acrylic acid is unprecedented.

h i g h l i g h t s < Ceria-supported cobalt catalysts, with different cobalt contents, were prepared by the polymeric precursor method. < The catalysts were evaluated for the steam reforming of ethanol for hydrogen production. < The cobalt content of the catalyst influences the metal-support interaction which results in distinct catalyst performances. < The catalyst with the highest cobalt content showed the best performance among the catalysts tested. a b s t r a c tIn this paper, Co/CeO 2 catalysts, with different cobalt contents were prepared by the polymeric precursor method and were evaluated for the steam reforming of ethanol. The catalysts were characterized by N 2 physisorption (BET method), X-ray diffraction (XRD), UVevisible diffuse reflectance, temperature programmed reduction analysis (TPR) and field emission scanning electron microscopy (FEG-SEM). It was observed that the catalytic behavior could be influenced by the experimental conditions and the nature of the catalyst employed. Physicalechemical characterizations revealed that the cobalt content of the catalyst influences the metal-support interaction which results in distinct catalyst performances. The catalyst with the highest cobalt content showed the best performance among the catalysts tested, exhibiting complete ethanol conversion, hydrogen selectivity close to 66% and good stability at a reaction temperature of 600 C.

Purely siliceous MCM-41 and Al-containing MCM-41 (Al-MCM-41) mesoporous materials were synthesized by non-hydrothermal method in alkali-free ions medium at room temperature and short reaction times. Under these synthesis conditions, it was also investigated the influence of Al incorporation in the crystal structure of MCM-41. The solids were characterized by ICP-OES, AAS, N 2 adsorption at 77 K, XRD, TEM, NH 3 -TPD, 27 Al and 29 Si-MAS-NMR, FT-IR and TGA. The resulting mesoporous materials showed a well-defined hexagonally ordered pore geometry maintaining a uniform and unimodal pore size distribution with high specific surface areas (1000-1400 m 2 g -1 ). The Al +3 ions were introduced successfully in the structure of the purely siliceous MCM-41 expanding the unit cell parameter and forming four-coordinated Al species, and in a less extent, forming six-coordinated Al species. In addition, the surface acidity of the MCM-41 increased with Al loading. Contrary, the presence of Al in the MCM-41 mesoporous structure resulted in a decrease of the crystallinity and specific surface area possibly due to the presence of Al species in highly distorted tetrahedral structures and Al extra-framework or amorphous alumina occluded in the pores. The MCM-41 type mesoporous materials obtained in this work show similar characteristics of those synthesized by conventional hydrothermal methods.

We described a versatile approach for the synthesis of Au/MCM-41, Pd/MCM-41 and Au-Pd/MCM-41 by the direct incorporation of the noble metals into the MCM-41 framework. The structural, textural and chemical properties were characterized by X-ray diffraction (XRD), temperature-programmed reduction (TPR), N 2 -adsorption (BET and BJH methods), H 2 -chemisorption, small angle X-ray scattering (SAXS), transmission electron microscope (TEM) and X-ray photoelectron spectroscopy (XPS). The nanomaterials, being comprised of Au, Pd and Au-Pd nanoparticles and possessing high surface areas were applied as versatile and efficient catalysts in benzene, toluene and o-xylene (BTX) oxidation and in the steam reforming of ethanol for hydrogen production. The results revealed that the catalytic behavior in both processes was influenced by the experimental conditions and the nature of the catalyst employed.The Au-Pd/MCM-41 catalyst was the most active in the BTX total oxidation. On the basis of characterization data, it was proposed that the close contact between Pd and Au and the higher dispersion of Pd may be responsible for the enhanced activity of the bimetallic catalyst. However, the strong interaction between the noble metals did not improve the performance of the bimetallic catalyst in ethanol steam reforming, the Pd/MCM-41 catalyst being the most active and selective for hydrogen production.

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