María del Mar Mesa

Universidad de Cádiz | UCA · Department of Chemical Engineering and Food Technology

The research on superhydrophobic porous materials has attracted great interest because of their ability for selective absorption of oils or organic solvents while repelling water, which convert them in excellent absorber candidates for remediation techniques. This paper shows a comparative of three different routes for the synthesis of hydrophobic...

This work is a new approach to the study of the structural, mechanical and absorption properties of hybrid organic/inorganic silica-based aerogels. Diethoxydimethylsilane and tetraethoxysilane have been used as precursors. Changes in properties such as specific surface area, porous volume, pore radius, and surface texture and chemistry were researc...

In this work, the influence that an aeration interruption may have upon acetic acid fermentation processes is studied. As a result, a kinetic model is proposed that foretells the cellular specific death rate in situations lacking in oxygen. Such a model collects the combined influences of substrate (ethanol) and product (acetic acid).

The bio-oxidation of ferrous iron is a potential industrial process for the regeneration of ferric iron in the removal of H2S. In the first stage, H2S is selectively oxidized to elemental sulfur using ferric sulfate. The ferrous sulfate produced is oxidized to ferric sulfate using Thiobacillus ferrooxidans for recycle and reuse in the process. The...

A rapid epifluorescence staining method using the LIVE/DEAD BacLight Bacterial Viability kit was applied to differentiate both viable and total counts of acetic acid bacteria in vinegar fermentation. The results obtained were compared with those from other measurement techniques: 4,6-diamidine-2phenyl indole (DAPI) and 5-cyano-2,3-ditolyl tetrazoli...

Microbial oxidation of ferrous iron may be a viable alternative method of producing ferric sulfate, which is a reagent used for removal of H(2)S from biogas. The paper introduces a kinetic study of the biological oxidation of ferrous iron by Thiobacillus ferrooxidans immobilized on biomass support particles (BSP) composed of polyurethane foam. On t...

The aim of the work described here was to obtain the preliminary kinetic data required to design an industrial bioreactor and to integrate the system into a process to eliminate the H2S present in biogas. An analysis of the evolution of bioreactor performance with time (150 days) was performed in order to assess the feasibility of this technique on...

In this paper a pre-design study is presented of an industrial bio-reactor projected for implementation in a wastewater treatment plant (Jerez de la Frontera, Spain) for recovery of ferric sulfate used for the removal of H2S in a biogas stream. The recovery process includes oxidation of ferrous sulfate formed in the process of absorption of H2S by...

The invention relates to a bioreactor which is used for the oxidn. of Fe(II) to Fe(III), which takes the form of a cylindrical container having a lower feed inlet and an upper effluent outlet. The container houses an internal structure in which a series of cylindrical mesh tubes are connected by means of guide rods. The cylindrical tubes contain in...

A variation on Ramsay's method for microbial protein determination has been developed in order to quantify Thiobacillus ferrooxidans attached to ferric precipitates or in aqueous suspensions containing such precipitates. Some modifications have been introduced to provide a method that is more sensitive, simple and rapid. A linear standard curve is...

Automated system for the elimination of sulphydric acid from biogas produced in sewage works, with biological recovery of the reagent. The present invention consists of a totally automated system for the elimination of sulphydric acid from biogas produced in sewage works, with biological recovery of the reagent. The process consists of bringing a f...

This paper presents the design and optimization of a protocol for the inoculation of acetifiers by means of the successive re-inoculation of a starter culture into various fed- batch cultures. In the first place, the medium YEPE 6% was adopted as the culture medium for the preparation of the starter culture. Next, experiments were done to check the...