Recently, in Brazil, corn ethanol industries are being installed and the integration with sugar/energy-cane has been proposed, using bagasse for cogeneration and the juice to dilute the corn. However, this integration may have some limitations, such as the quality of the cane juice and potential contamination by microorganisms brought with the cane from the field. In this article, we first tested the effects of mixing energy cane juice with corn on fermentative parameters. We also assessed the effects of Lactobacilli. contamination on organic acids produced during the fermentation and fermentation parameters and proposed the use of ionizing radiation to replace antibiotics as a disinfection control method. Our results showed that mixing energy cane juice with corn does not have any negative effect on fermentation parameters, including ethanol production. The contamination with Lactobacilli. considerably increased the production of acetic, lactic, and succinic acid, reducing the pH and ethanol content from 89.2 g L−1 in the sterilized treatment to 72.9 g L−1 in the contaminated treatment. Therefore, for the integration between corn and cane to be applied on an industrial scale, it is essential to have effective disinfection before fermentation. Ionizing radiation (20 kGy) virtually disinfected the wort, showing itself to be a promising technology; however, an economic viability study for adopting it in the industry should be carried out.
The aim of this work is to develop an automation system for iodine-125 radioactive seed production by (Nd:YAG) laser welding, which has been used successfully in Low Dose Rate (LDR) brachytherapy treatment. This small seed consists of a welded titanium capsule, with 0.8mm in diameter and 4.5mm in length, containing iodine-125 adsorbed onto a silver rod. The iodine-125 seeds are implanted into the human prostate to irradiate the tumor for cancer treatment. Nowadays, the Radiation Technology Center, at IPEN-CNEN/SP imports and distributes 36,000 iodine-125 seeds per year, for the clinics and hospitals in the country. However, the Brazilian market potential is now over 8,000 iodine-125 seeds per month. The local production of these iodine-125 radioactive sources becomes a priority for the Institute, in order to reduce the price and the problems of prostate cancer management. It will permit to spread their use to a largest number of patients in Brazil. On the other hand, the industrial automation plays an important role for iodine-125 seeds in order to increase the productivity, with high quality and assurance, avoiding human factors, implementing and operating with Good Manufacturing Practices (GMP). The technology consists of appliance electronic and electro-mechanical parts and components to control machines and processes. The automation system technology for iodine-125 seed production developed in this work was mainly assembled employing Programmable Logic Controller (PLC), stepper motors, drivers, (Nd:YAG) laser welding machine, photoelectric sensors and supervisory.
Abstract. The Nuclear and Energy Research Institute has produced, since 1998, iridium-192 wires used in low dose rate brachytherapy. In the paper the authors studied the influence of wire profile on the homogeneity distribution of radioactivity of iridium-192 along the wire. The authors propose the improvements in the quality control procedure that will provide more accurate measurement data and suggest changes in control devices.
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