This dissertation presents an experimental investigation of heat transport through solid- solid and solid-liquid interfaces. Heat transport is a process initiated by the presence of a thermal gradient. All interfaces offer resistance to heat flow in the form of temperature drop at the interface. In micro and nano scale devices, the contribution of this resistance often becomes comparable to, or greater than, the intrinsic thermal resistance offered by the device or structure itself. In this dissertation, I report the resistance offered by the interfaces in terms of interface thermal conductance, G, which is the inverse of Kapitza resistance and is quantified by the ratio of heat flux to the temperature drop. For studying thermal transport across interfaces, I adapted a non-contact optical measurement technique called Time-Domain Thermoreflectance (TDTR) that relies on the fact that the reflectivity of a metal has a small, but measurable, dependence on temperature. The first half of this dissertation is focused on investigating heat transport through thin films and solid-solid interfaces. The samples in this study are thin lead zirconate- titanate (PZT) piezoelectric films used in sensing applications and dielectric films such as SiOC:H used in semiconductor industry. My results on the PZT films indicate that the thermal conductivity of these films was proportional to the packing density of the elements within the films. I have also measured thermal conductivity of dielectric films in different elemental compositions. I also examined thermal conductivity of dielectric films for a variety of different elemental compositions of Si, O, C, and H, and varying degrees of porosity. My measurements showed that the composition and porosity of the films played an important role in determining the thermal conductivity. The second half of this dissertation is focused on investigating heat transport through solid-liquid interfaces. In this regard, I functionalize uniformly coated gold surfaces with a variety of self-assembled monolayers (SAMs). Heat flows from the gold surface to the sulfur molecule, then through the hydrocarbon chain in the SAM, into the terminal group of the SAM and finally into the liquid. My results showed that by changing the terminal group in a SAM from hydrophobic to hydrophilic, G increased by a factor of three in water. By changing the number of carbon atoms in the SAM, I also report that the chain length does not present a significant thermal resistance. My results also revealed evidence of linear relationship between work of adhesion and interface thermal conductance from experiments with several SAMs on water. By examining a variety of SAM-liquid combination, I find that this linear dependency does not hold as a unified hypothesis. From these experiments, I speculate that heat transport in solid-liquid systems is controlled by a combination of work of adhesion and vibrational coupling between the omega-group in the SAM and the liquid. / Ph. D.

No / We report a numerical calculation of the melting point of NaCl. The solid-liquid transition was located by determining the point where the chemical potentials of the solid and liquid phases intersect. To compute these chemical potentials, we made use of free energy calculations. For the solid phase the free energy was determined by thermodynamic integration from the Einstein crystal. For the liquid phase two distinct approaches were employed: one based on particle insertion and growth using the Kirkwood coupling parameter, and the other involving thermodynamic integration of the NaCl liquid to a Lennard-Jones fluid. The latter approach was found to be significantly more accurate. The coexistence point at 1074 K was characterized by a pressure of -30+/-40 MPa and a chemical potential of -97.9+/-0.2kßT. This result is remarkably good as the error bounds on the pressure enclose the expected coexistence pressure of about 0.1 MPa (ambient). Using the Clausius-Clapyron relation, we estimate that dP/dT~3 MPa/K. This yields a melting point of 1064+/-14 K at ambient pressure, which encompasses the quoted range for the experimental melting point (1072.45-1074.4 K). The good agreement with the experimental melting-point data provides additional evidence that the Tosi-Fumi model for NaCl is quite accurate. Our study illustrates that the melting point of an ionic system can be calculated accurately by employing a judicious combination of free energy techniques. The techniques used in this work can be directly extended to more complex, charged systems.

Within this work, bonding technologies based upon the alloying of gallium with other metals to assemble semiconductor substrates for the possible application of encapsulation and 3D-integration of micro systems and devices have been researched. Motivated by the important demand to achieve low temperature processes, methods with bonding temperatures below 200°C were investigated. Necessary technologies like the deposition of gallium as thin film and subsequent micro structuring have been developed. The alloying between gallium and gold as well as gallium and copper was analysed in detail. A good correlation between the elemental composition of the interface and its mechanical and electrical parameters was established, particularly regarding its thermal dependence. It emerged that in case of combination Au/Ga Kirkendall void are extensively formed whereby serious problems with mechanical strength as well as hermeticity emerged. In case of Cu/Ga, this problem is existent to a much lesser degree; it was possible to create hermetic tight bonds. For the necessary pre-treatment of copper, several methods could be successfully demonstrated. In summary, the development of bonding technologies based upon metallic interfaces that exhibit electric conductance, high strength and hermetic seal could be demonstrated. / In dieser Arbeit werden Bondverfahren zum Fügen von Halbleitersubstraten für mögliche Anwendungen für die Verkapselung und 3D-Integration von Bauelementen der Mikrosystemtechnik erforscht, die auf der Legierungsbildung von Gallium mit anderen Metallen beruhen. Motiviert von der zentralen Anforderung an niedrige Prozesstemperaturen wurden Methoden mit Fügetemperaturen deutlich unter 200°C untersucht. Dafür nötige Technologien zum Abscheiden von Gallium als Dünnschicht und das anschließende Mikrostrukturieren wurden entwickelt. Die Legierungsbildung zwischen Gallium und Gold sowie zwischen Gallium und Kupfer wurde im experimentell im Detail analysiert. Dabei konnte eine gute Korrelation zwischen der stofflichen Zusammensetzung und den mechanischen bzw. elektrischen Parametern der Zwischenschicht, auch und insbesondere hinsichtlich ihrer Temperaturabhängigkeit gefunden werden. Es stellte sich heraus, dass im Falle der Kombination Au/Ga Kirkendall Hohlräume in einer Menge entstehen, die zu erheblichen Problemen bezüglich mechanischer Festigkeit und Dichtheit der Fügeverbindung führen. Bei der Materialkombination Cu/Ga hingegen trat dieses Problem nur begrenzt auf; es war möglich hermetisch dichte Verbindungen herzustellen. Für die bei Kupfer nötige Vorbehandlung wurden mehrere Methoden erfolgreich getestet. Insgesamt konnte die Entwicklung von Fügetechnologien gezeigt werden, die metallische Zwischenschichten verwenden, elektrisch leitfähig sind, sehr gute Festigkeiten aufweisen und hermetisch dicht sind.

La plupart des modules photovolta¨ıques produits sont `a base de silicium.L’efficacit´e de ces modules d´epend fortement de la qualit´e cristalline du siliciumutilis´ee ainsi que de la quantit´e d’impuret´es pr´esente dans le lingotd’origine d’o`u sont issus les modules. Les lingots de silicium sont obtenus aucours d’un proc´ed´e de solidification, durant lequel les impuret´es sont extraitespar ph´enom`ene de s´egr´egation. Le processus de s´egr´egation est influenc´e parl’´ecoulement dans le liquide durant l’´etape de solidification. L’utilisation d’unchamp magn´etique externe permet le contrˆole de l’´ecoulement dans le bainliquide. Dans cette ´etude, l’effet d’un ´ecoulement forc´e sur le processus des´egr´egation est ´etudi´e. Pour cela un dispositif exp´erimental (VB2) et unmod`ele num´erique ont ´et´e d´evelopp´es dans le but de comprendre le rˆole del’´ecoulement sur la forme de l’interface et sur la s´egr´egation des impuret´es. / The photovoltaic modules are generally produced using silicon wafers. Theirelectrical efficiency is related to the crystal quality, which is influenced bythe presence of pollutants in the ingots from which the wafers are cut. Siliconingots are obtained as a result of solidification processes, which implygrowing a crystal from melt. During this solidification process, impurities areseparated from the silicon. The segregation process is greatly influenced bythe melt velocity during the solidification process. The control of the meltflow during the crystallization process can be achieved using external magneticfields. This thesis presents the results of the study on the influence ofthe forced convection induced by a travelling magnetic field (TMF) duringthe solidification process, using both an experimental set-up (VB2) and anumerical model.

Antimoine (Sb) et tellure (Te), sont des contaminants peu étudiés (isotopes stables) et leurs radionucléides artificiels peuvent être rejetés dans le milieu aquatique lors des accidents nucléaires. La connaissance de leurs comportements biogéochimiques respectifs est nécessaire à l'évaluation du risque radiologique post-accidentel.Ce travail présente des données originales sur le comportement biogéochimique de Sb et de Te dans les systèmes de transition continent-océan, tels que l'estuaire de la Gironde et la rivière du Rhône. Un suivi de 14 ans et des campagnes océanographiques dans le bassin versant de l’estuaire de la Gironde ont permis d’identifier des concentrations, des flux, et des réactivités (variabilités spatio-temporelles et distribution solide/liquide) plus élevés pour Sb que pour Te, mettant en évidence un comportement additif pour Sb et de soustraction pour Te le long des gradients de salinité et de turbidité estuariennes. Des expériences couplant l’adsorption d’isotopes marqués sur des matières en suspension (MES) et des extractions sélectives des phases porteuses, suggèrent que les formes apportées de Sb et de Te sont plus mobiles et potentiellement plus biodisponibles que leurs équivalents naturels. De plus, l’observation de la bioaccumulation non-négligeable de Sb et de Te naturels dans les huîtres sauvages à l’embouchure de l’estuaire permet d’envisager une absorption potentielle de leurs homologues radioactifs.Ainsi, le développement de scenarios de dispersion de radionucléides rejetés dans les zones de transition dépendra (i) de la position géographique de la source (Rhône) et/ou de la zone de turbidité maximale (ZTM; système fluvio-estuarien de Gironde), (ii) de la situation hydrologique pendant et post accident, ainsi que (iii) de la réactivité biogéochimique et des temps de demi-vies des radionucléides. Les premiers scénarios de dispersion de radionucléides dans l'estuaire de la Gironde suggèrent (i) un transport préférentiel de Sb dissous vers la zone côtière, et (ii) une forte rétention de Te radioactif dans la ZTM si la dernière est présente en aval du site d’accident, impliquant le risque de migration saisonnière de la radioactivité vers la ville de Bordeaux pendant l’étiage suivant. Ainsi, la dynamique intra estuarienne (marée, débit et migration de la ZTM) sera le facteur prédominant dans le devenir de Te radioactif, depuis son rejet jusqu’à sa désintégration complète en iode radioactif. L’ensemble de ce travail met en évidence la nécessité d’une évaluation plus approfondie de la radiotoxicité potentielle de Sb et Te lors de leurs rejets en milieu aquatique. / Antimony (Sb) and tellurium (Te) are relatively uncommon contaminants (stable isotopes) and may form short-lived fission products (radionuclides) released into the environment during nuclear power plants accidents. Little is known about their respective biogeochemical behaviours, necessary for general contamination studies and post-accidental radiological risk assessment.This work provides original knowledge on Sb and Te biogeochemical behaviour in highly dynamic continent-ocean transition systems: the Gironde Estuary and the Rhône River. Concentrations, spatial/temporal variations, solid/liquid partitioning (Kd), and fluxes are studied from long-term records at the watershed scale. Four estuarine sampling campaigns during contrasting hydrological conditions show higher Sb solubility and Te particle affinity in the estuary than in the upstream fluvial reaches. Historical records (1984-2017) in wild oysters from the estuary mouth do not show clear trends of past or recent contamination, but measurable bioaccumulation suggests that potential uptake of radionuclides is likely to occur. Combined adsorption experiments using isotopically-labelled (spiked) Sb and Te, and subsequent selective extractions of carrier phases from suspended particulate matter (SPM) suggest that spiked Sb and Te are more mobile and potentially bioaccessible than their environmental (inherited) equivalents. Radiotracer adsorption experiments using environmentally representative concentrations of both Gironde and Rhône systems underpin that highly soluble elements may show contrasting reactivity between inherited and spiked forms.Radionuclide dispersion will greatly depend on (i) the geographical position of the source (Rhône) and/or the maximum turbidity zone (MTZ; Gironde fluvial-estuarine system), (ii) the succession of hydrological situations during and after the accident, and (iii) the biogeochemical reactivity and half-lives of the radionuclides. First scenarios on hypothetical dissolved radionuclide dispersion in the Gironde Estuary suggest (i) low sorption of Sb to the SPM, implying a transport of radionuclides in dissolved phase towards the coast, and (ii) high retention of Te within the MTZ, especially for accidental releases during flood conditions, linking the fate of radioactive Te to long estuarine SPM residence times (1-2 years). Potential upstream migration of Te radionuclides in the MTZ towards the city of Bordeaux during the following summer season and Te decay into radioactive iodine warrants further evaluation of the associated potential radiotoxicity.

Nos dias atuais, a preocupação com o meio ambiente vem ocupando espaço considerável nos principais centros de debates. A procura por solventes provenientes de fontes renováveis que possam substituir solventes de origem fóssil em processos industriais se faz necessária. Tradicionalmente o hexano, derivado do petróleo, é utilizado como extratante industrial de óleos de matrizes oleaginosas, no entanto, este solvente apresenta desvantagens em termos de segurança operacional devido à alta toxicidade e inflamabilidade. Neste contexto, a presente dissertação de mestrado objetivou avaliar a viabilidade técnica da substituição do hexano por solventes alcoólicos, etanol e isopropanol na extração do óleo da torta de prensagem de sementes de girassol. A influência das variáveis tipo e grau de hidratação do solvente alcoólico e temperatura foi avaliada sobre a composição em ácidos graxos, a estabilidade oxidativa do óleo extraído e o teor de ácidos clorogênicos, tocoferóis e fosfolipídeos. A matéria prima foi submetida ao processo de extração sólido-líquido em um simples estágio, utilizando os solventes em grau absoluto e hidratado, nas temperaturas de 60 a 90 °C, sendo objetivo de estudo o rendimento do óleo, o teor de proteína em base seca, índice de retenção, teor de água na fase extrato e teor de ácidos clorogênicos. Extrações sequenciais empregando três estágios na temperatura de 90 °C também foram realizadas para avaliar o teor de óleo residual, extração de ácidos clorogênicos, avaliação da estabilidade oxidativa e determinação dos teores de tocoferóis e fosfolipídeos. Em linhas gerais, pode-se inferir que a hidratação do solvente afetou de forma negativa o rendimento da extração e observou-se também que com o aumento da temperatura, aumenta-se a quantidade de material lipídico extraído. O teor de água no solvente favoreceu a extração dos ácidos clorogênicos, sendo que a temperatura não exerceu influência sobre estes resultados. Quando avaliada a extração de tocoferóis, pode-se notar que os solventes isopropanol (absoluto e hidratado) e etanol absoluto possibilitaram maior extração de α tocoferol quando comparados ao etanol azeotrópico. No entanto, os teores de tocoferóis nos óleos extraídos com álcoois foram inferiores aos detectados nos óleos obtidos com hexano. Na avaliação da estabilidade oxidativa pode-se observar que os óleos extraídos com etanol absoluto e azeotrópico apresentaram estatisticamente o mesmo tempo de indução, fato este que pode estar relacionado aos altos teores de fósforo detectados nos óleos obtidos com estes solventes etanólicos, sugerindo assim que estes solventes são capazes de extrair compostos minoritários que atribuem maior estabilidade oxidativa ao óleo. / Nowadays, the concern regarding the environment has taken a considerable amount of space at the main debate centers. The search for solvents which come from renewable sources that are capable of replacing solvents that come from fossils in industrial processes is paramount. Traditionally the hexane derived from oil is used as an industrial solvent for oleaginous sources. However this solvent presents some disadvantages in terms of operational safety due to the high toxicity and inflammability. In this context, this master´s dissertation has aimed to evaluate the technical viability of the replacement of hexane for alcoholic solvents, ethanol and isopropanol in oil extraction from the meal obtained in the pressing stage of sunflower seeds. The influence of the type and level of hydration of the alcoholic solvents and temperature has been evaluated over the composition in fatty acids, the oxidative stability of the extracted oil, the level of chlorogenics acids, of tocopherols and phospholipids. The meal was submitted to the solid-liquid extraction process in one single stage, using the solvents in absolute and hydrated grade from 60 up to 90 °C, hence the purpose of this study the yield of the oil, the protein level in dry basis, mass of adhered solution (retention index), water level in the extract phase and the chlorogenic acids content. Consecutive extractions applying three stages at 90 ºC have also been performed to evaluate the residual oil content, chlorogenic acids yield, evaluation of oxidative stability and the contents of tocopherols and phospholipids. In summary, it can be concluded that the solvent hydration has affected in a negative fashion the performance of the extraction and it was also noticed that, with the rising in temperature, the amount of lipid extract was increased. The level of water in the solvent has favored the extraction of chlorogenic acids since the temperature has not affected the results. Once the tocopherol extractions are analyzed, it is possible to verify that the isopropanol solvents (absolute and hydrated) and absolute ethanol have enabled a larger extraction of α tocopherol when compared to azeotropic ethanol. However, the levels of tocopherol extracted from alcohols were less than the ones obtained from hexane. In the oxidative stability evaluation it was possible to observe that the oils extracted from absolute and azeotropic ethanol have presented statistically the same induction time, a fact which can be related to high levels of phosphorus detected in the oils obtained from ethanol solvents which suggest that such solvents are capable of extracting minor compounds that attribute more oxidative stability to the oil.

O emprego de solventes no processo de obtenção de óleos de sementes oleaginosas é um processo amplamente empregado, sendo o hexano o solvente tradicionalmente adotado. O objetivo principal desta dissertação de mestrado foi avaliar a viabilidade da substituição do hexano por etanol no processo de extração de óleo de soja. A utilização de etanol apresenta vantagens bastante atrativas como: menor toxicidade, boa seguridade operacional além deste ser obtido de fonte biorenovável. A produção de etanol em larga escala no Brasil torna, ainda, o processo vantajoso do ponto de vista econômico, além de ser um solvente facilmente recuperado para posterior reutilização no processo devido às suas características físico-químicas. Desta forma, neste trabalho foram realizados experimentos de cinética de extração e experimentos de extração sólido-líquido na condição de equilíbrio, nos quais foram avaliadas as variáveis: temperatura (40 a 90 °C) e hidratação do solvente (0 a 12%). Através da execução destes experimentos e a avaliação estatística dos resultados foi possível determinar os rendimentos de óleo e proteína, monitorar o comportamento dos compostos minoritários (ácidos graxos livres) e da água presente na matéria-prima, avaliar a qualidade da fração proteica resultante do processo de extração, além da composição química dos óleos obtidos. Assim, os resultados mostraram que o aumento do teor de água no etanol suprimiu fortemente a extração de óleo enquanto que a elevação da temperatura favoreceu a extração. Já a proteína exibiu um comportamento contrário ao óleo, sendo que o aumento da hidratação do solvente elevou a extração destes compostos e o aumento da temperatura diminuiu o teor de proteínas na fase extrato. Quanto à hidratação da fase extrato, pôde-se notar que esta foi independente da temperatura e que existe um equilíbrio entre a umidade do sólido e o nível de hidratação do etanol. A elevação da temperatura também aumentou a extração de ácidos graxos livres e a avaliação do perfil químico e da composição em AGL dos óleos obtidos via etanol mostrou que estes apresentaram composição típica de óleo de soja, independente da condição adotada. A qualidade da fração proteica resultante da extração do óleo, avaliada na forma de solubilidade de nitrogênio e análise térmica (DSC), mostrou que a proteína também foi fortemente influenciada pela presença da água no solvente e pelo aumento da temperatura, apresentando menores valores de solubilidade conforme o aumento do teor de água no etanol e da temperatura do processo. Diante dos resultados, pode-se inferir que é viável tecnicamente a utilização de etanol no processo de extração de óleo de soja, no entanto as condições de hidratação do solvente e temperatura devem ser consideradas devido à influência destas sobre as características da fração proteica do farelo desengordurado. / The use of solvents in the extraction of oil from oilseeds is a widely employed process and the hexane is the solvent traditionally adopted. The aim of this work was to evaluate the feasibility of replacing hexane by ethanol in the soybean oil extraction process. The use of ethanol has very attractive advantages such as: low toxicity, good operational security, as well as being obtained from a biorenewable source. The large scale production of ethanol in Brazil also makes the process advantageous from the economics point of view, besides being a solvent easily recovered for reuse in the process due to its physicochemical characteristics. Thus, in this work were performed experiments of kinetics of extraction and experiments of solid-liquid extraction in equilibrium condition in which the variables evaluated were: temperature (ranging from 40 to 90 °C) and solvent hydration (0 to 12% of water). The accomplishment of these experiments and the statistical evaluation of the results made possible to determine the yields of oil and protein, monitor the behavior of minor compounds (free fatty acids) and of the water present in raw material, evaluate the quality of the protein fraction resulting from oil extraction process, and the chemical composition of the extracted oils. Then, the results showed that increasing in water content of ethanol suppresses strongly the extraction of oil while the increase of temperature increases the extraction. About protein, it exhibits an opposite behavior to the oil, with the rise in water content of the solvent increasing the extraction of such compounds and the rise of temperature decreases in the protein content of extract phase. Regarding the hydration of the extract phase, it can be seen that this is temperature independent and that there is equilibrium between the solid matrix and the moisture level of the solvent ethanol. The increase in temperature also increases the extraction of free fatty acids and the evaluation of the chemical profile and composition in FFA of oils obtained via ethanol showed that they had typical composition of soybean oil, regardless the condition adopted. The quality of the protein fraction resulting from oil extraction evaluated as nitrogen solubility and thermal analysis (DSC) showed that the protein is also strongly influenced by the presence of water in the solvent and by increasing the temperature, with lower values of solubility with increasing water content in the ethanol and the process temperature. From the results, it can be inferred that it is technically feasible to use ethanol in the soybean oil extraction process, however hydration conditions of the solvent and temperature must be considered due to the influence of these on the protein fraction characteristics of the defatted meal.

Um dos principais setores do sistema agroindustrial brasileiro é composto pelo processamento de oleaginosas. Sua importância não se deve apenas ao seu produto principal, o óleo, mas também à fração desengordurada, composta por proteínas. Tradicionalmente, hexano é o solvente empregado na extração de óleos vegetais e, por esta razão, os objetivos principais deste trabalho foram estudar a viabilidade de substituição deste solvente por solventes alcoólicos na extração do óleo de farelo de arroz e, neste sentido, avaliar o impacto desta mudança nas características do óleo e da fração proteica. Foram realizados experimentos de extração sólido-líquido na condição de equilíbrio com a finalidade de avaliar a influência das variáveis de processo, tipo de solvente (etanol ou isopropanol), teor de água no solvente (0, 6 ou 12%) e temperatura (50 a 80 °C), na extração do óleo de farelo de arroz. Através dos experimentos de extração foi possível caracterizar os extratos obtidos e o farelo desengordurado em termos de rendimento de extração de compostos lipídicos, proteicos e minoritários, além da caracterização da fração proteica presente no rafinado, em termos de solubilidade e análise térmica. De maneira geral, os resultados mostraram influência da água no solvente no sentido da supressão da extração de óleo e, por outro lado, observou-se que o aumento da temperatura favoreceu o processo de extração lipídica. No caso do conteúdo proteico presente no extrato, observou-se que a hidratação do solvente e a temperatura favoreceram a extração de proteínas. A elevação da temperatura de processo favoreceu também, a extração de γ-orizanol, porém o aumento da água no solvente diminuiu a extração deste composto minoritário. A água também exerceu forte influência na quantidade de acilgliceróis e ácidos graxos livres transferidos para o extrato, porém, para o teor de fosfolipídeos, essa influência foi menor. As condições de processo não afetaram significativamente a composição do óleo, que se mostrou típica de óleo de farelo de arroz. Com relação à fração proteica, a solubilidade e propriedades térmicas, que definem o grau de desnaturação proteica, sofreram forte influência do grau de hidratação do solvente e da temperatura de processo, uma vez que à medida que a quantidade de água no solvente e a temperatura foram aumentados, notou-se uma diminuição no índice de solubilidade de nitrogênio. A partir dos resultados obtidos pode-se inferir que a extração de óleo de farelo de arroz com solventes alternativos, etanol e isopropanol, é possível, porém, as condições de processo devem ser muito bem avaliadas de maneira que este seja viável e os produtos oriundos, tanto o óleo de farelo de arroz quanto a fração proteica, possuam qualidade adequada para serem destinados à fins alimentícios. / One of the main areas of the Brazilian agroindustrial system is composed by the processing of oilseeds. Its importance is not only due to its main product, the oil, but also to the defatted fraction, composed of proteins. The hexane is the solvent traditionally used in vegetable oils extraction and, for that matter, the main objectives of this paper were to study the feasibility of substitution of t his solvent for alcoholic solvents on the rice bran oil extraction and also evaluate the impact of this change on the oil characteristics and the protein fraction. Some solid-liquid extraction experiments on balance condition were made to evaluate the variables on the process, such as the solvent type (ethanol or isopropanol), solvent water content (0, 6 or 12%) and temperature (50 to 80 °C) in the rice bran oil extraction. This way, the results show water influence on the solvent suppressing the oil extraction, and, on the other hand, the temperature increase benefits the process. Through extraction experiments, it was possible to characterize the obtained extracts and the defatted bran in terms of lipid, protein and minorities compound extraction, besides the characterization of the protein fraction present on the raffinated in terms of solubility and thermal analysis. In general, the results showed the water solvent influence in order to suppress the oil extraction and, on the other hand, it has been observed that the temperature increase benefited the lipid extraction process. Related to the protein content present in the extract, it was observed that the solvent hydration and temperature benefited the protein extraction. The temperature increase on the process also benefited the the γ-oryzanol extraction, however, the water solvent increase decreased the extraction of this minority compound. The water also has a strong influence on the amount of acylglycerol and free fatty acid transferred to the extract, however, for the phospholipids content, there is a decreasing influence. The process conditions did not have a significant affection on the oil composition, which is typical on rice bran oil. Regarding the protein fraction, solubility and thermal properties, which define the protein denaturing degree, there was a strong influence of the solvent hydration degree and the processing temperature, once the amount of water in the solvent and temperature are increased, it was noticed the decrease on the nitrogen solubility index. Based on the results it is possible to infer that the rice bran oil extraction with alternative solvents, ethanol and isopropanol, is possible, however, the process conditions must be well evaluated in order to be viable and the originated products, as well the rice bran oil as the protein fraction, have the proper quality for food purposes.

Human practices have resulted in great damage to the environment. Carbon-depletion, water and air pollution, as well as global warming are examples of the environmental footprints caused by several industries and their related applications. Detergency (cleaning) is widely practiced operation in household, industry and institutional sectors and thus consumes significant amounts of water, energy and chemicals and, therefore, contributes appreciably to the environmental destruction. This process is still not fully understood, on a molecular level, and not acceptably optimised. Therefore, this study is a contribution toward a better fundamental understanding and optimisation of protein stain removal from interfaces, which may ultimately result in the development of environmentally friendly and sustainable cleaning products and technologies. In this research, the cleaning of rubisco, a grassy protein stain, from different surfaces (hydrophobic, hydrophilic, and dyed) using different cleaning agent formulations was investigated. These studies encompassed experimental work and fundamental analysis in terms of mathematical modelling. The results revealed a consistent correlation between enzyme adsorption kinetics and stain cleanability. Higher adsorption and desorption absolute rates ( a k and d k ) resulted in higher enzyme mobility and thus higher stain cleanability regardless of the enzyme adsorbed amount. Surface chemistry underlying the stain has indirectly influenced stain cleanability through the alteration of enzyme adsorption kinetics. Such fundamental findings may aid in screening enzyme candidates for detergent formulations and may also assist in designing easily cleanable surfaces. Another fundamental finding is the cooperative cleaning mechanism of surfactant and enzyme of rubisco stain from different interfaces. The break down of intermolecular physical bonds between interfacial rubisco molecules by surfactants and the break down of the intramolecular covalent bonds by enzyme resulted in a higher protein displacement from interfaces. The overall protein removal by the two different actions of surfactant and enzyme showed a superiority of a biosurfactant-enzyme formulation. This finding may have significant implications on developing sustainable detergents that have superior cleaning performance and no or minimal environmental hazard. Overall, the findings reported in this Ph.D. thesis may form a basis for further comprehensive scientific research, which may ultimately provide detergent market with more efficient and optimum cleaning products and technologies.

Um dos grandes desafios enfrentados pela indústria do petróleo é reduzir o impacto causado pela cristalização indesejável de hidrocarbonetos parafínicos de elevada massa molar em tubulações e equipamentos de produção. A cristalização de parafinas em petróleo é normalmente detectada através da determinação da temperatura inicial de aparecimento de cristais (TIAC), que pode ser estimada através de modelagem termodinâmica com base na composição do petróleo. Os objetivos deste trabalho são: estudar os principais modelos termodinâmicos adotados para descrever a precipitação de parafinas; verificar a validade desses modelos para os petróleos brasileiros e determinar qual modelo é o mais adequado para esses óleos. Para tanto, três formas de cálculo da razão entre as fugacidades das fases sólida e líquida e cinco modelos para calcular os coeficientes de atividade dos componentes em cada fase são aplicados aos dados de composição de vinte e três petróleos brasileiros. Os resultados mostram que o modelo ideal de múltiplas fases sólidas e o modelo de Escobar-Remolina geram valores bastante abaixo da TIAC experimental. Para os modelos de única fase sólida ideal, de Won e de Coutinho, foi possível observar que: a) a grande maioria dos erros é negativa; b) que estes se distribuem melhor em torno de zero quando se utiliza a correlação de Coutinho para o cálculo dos valores de i; c) os valores de erro médio para os modelos de Coutinho, de Won e ideal com única fase sólida se equivalem, qualquer que seja o modelo utilizado para o cálculo de i, exceto para o caso em que todos os compostos presentes na fase líquida podem precipitar; d) os valores obtidos através do modelo de Coutinho apresentam erro sistemático em relação ao modelo ideal de única fase sólida; e) as diferentes formas de se calcular a razão entre as fugacidades da fase sólida e líquida (i) influenciam fortemente a capacidade preditiva dos modelos, o que não era esperado; f) o perfil do primeiro cristal formado nos petróleos é influenciado pelas moléculas mais pesadas presentes nos resíduos, o que mostra a necessidade de se desenvolver metodologias precisas e robustas de caracterização de resíduos; g) a inclusão de uma estimativa para a composição dos resíduos efetivamente melhorou o desempenho dos modelos em petróleos médio; h) em petróleos pesados, houve um aumento do erro de previsão da TIAC devido à pouca ou nenhuma quantidade de parafinas nos resíduos desses óleos. A necessidade de uma melhor caracterização dos resíduos de petróleos é corroborada pelo fato da TIAC calculada pelos modelos ser, via de regra, mais baixa que a TIAC experimental e pela melhora no desempenho dos modelos quando se estimou a composição dos resíduos, em petróleos médios / A major challenge faced by the oil industry is to reduce the impact of undesirable crystallization of high molecular weight paraffins in pipelines and production equipments. The paraffin crystallization is usually detected by measuring the wax appearance temperature (WAT), which can be estimated from composition based thermodynamic modeling. The goals of this work are: to study the main thermodynamic models adopted for paraffin crystallization description, to check models performances for Brazilian crudes and to determine the best model for these oils. For this, composition data from twenty-three Brazilian oils were used. For the thermodynamic modeling of wax precipitation in these crude oils, three forms of calculating the ratio between the solid and the liquid phase fugacities and five models to calculate the activity coefficients of components in each phase were used. The results showed that the ideal model for multiple solid phases and the Escobar-Remolina model give results far below the experimental WAT. For the single solid ideal, Won and Coutinho models, the points to be mentioned are described as follows: a) most of the errors is negative; b) the errors distribution is better when the correlation used for i calculation is the number 2; c) the average errors for ideal, Won and Coutinho models are equivalent, except when all the oil components are considered to precipitate; d) the results obtained from Coutinho model presents systematic error in relation to the ideal model; e) the different ways to calculate the ratio between the solid and the liquid phase fugacities strongly influence the predictive ability of models, which was not expected; f) the composition profile of the first crystal formed in the oil is influenced by the heavier molecules in the residue, which shows the need of developing robust and accurate methods of heavy fractions characterization; g) the inclusion of an estimate for the residue composition effectively improved the performance of models for intermediate crude; h) for heavy oil, there was an increase in prediction error due to the little amount of paraffinic compounds in these residues. The need for better characterization of the residues is corroborated by the fact that the calculated WAT is normally lower than the experimental WAT and by the improvement on the models performance when the estimation of the residue composition was done for intermediate crudes