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Thesis (M.Phil.)--Chinese Univerisy of Hong Kong. / Bibliography: leaves 114-117.

Lai Kai-wing. / Thesis (M.Phil.)--Chinese University of Hong Kong, 1978. / Bibliography: leaves 127-130.

Thesis (M.S.)--Auburn University, 2007. / Abstract. Vita. Includes bibliographic references (ℓ. 74-80)

Vibrational and thermal behavior of several important systems were studied. The first study was a measurement of the infrared vibrational spectra of glucose and two important glucose dimers (cellobiose and maltose) as a function of temperature. The purpose of his study was to measure shifts in vibrational band positions to gain insight into carbohydrate reactivity. The second study was on hydrothermally treated coffee waste biomass. Here, collaborators at University of Campinas (UNICAMP, Brazil) treated coffee waste biomass in a flow-through subcritical water hydrolysis reactor. The purpose of the M.S. study on coffee waste was to understand the chemical changes that occurred to the residual solids during hydrolysis treatment. Vibrational spectroscopy and thermal analysis techniques were used. The third and final study was to understand the chemical composition of the solid product resulting from co-solvent enhanced lignin fractionation (CELF) of several biomass feeds. Collaborators at University of California Riverside (UCR) recently developed the CELF process. The purpose of the M.S. study on the CELF solid product was to understand its composition to help guide the CELF reactor design and determine applications for the CELF solids. Taken together, the 3 studies are integrated into a cohesive whole that demonstrates the use of spectroscopic and thermal techniques for characterizing biomass and understanding its composition at the molecular level.

Thesis (M.S.)--West Virginia University, 2009. / Title from document title page. Document formatted into pages; contains vi, 184 p. : ill. (some col.). Includes abstract. Includes bibliographical references (p. 82-84).

South Africa is economically vulnerable to climate change because its economy is powered by electricity generated from coal fired power stations. There is a need to reduce the reliance on fossil fuel energy not only because of greenhouse gas emissions but also energy security. Bamboo is touted as a renewable energy source, however, like other woody biomass material, it has poor physicochemical properties and low energy densities. Therefore, the bamboo samples utilized in this study were subjected to thermal pre-treatment methods to improve on their combustion and physicochemical properties. Bamboo samples of 1, 3 and 4+ years old were subjected to torrefaction at 250°C and 280°C as well as low temperature carbonisation at 350°C and 400°C. A standard HGI method was modified during the course of this research for studying the grindability of the raw and treated bamboo material. The fuel properties and combustibility of these raw and thermally treated bamboo materials were then studied using thermogravimetric analysis. The raw bamboo samples exhibited a CV ranging from 17 MJ/kg to 18 MJ/kg, whereas the torrefied samples and the carbonised samples had a CV ranging from 25 MJ/kg to 28 MJ/kg and 28 MJ/kg to 30 MJ/kg, respectively. The 4 year old bamboo carbonised at 400°C had the highest CV of 30.24 MJ/kg. The CV improvement occurred as a result of molecular modification observed through an increase in fixed carbon content from 16 to 74%. The energy yields ranging from 48 to 74% were achieved for the torrefied samples and 44 to 54% for the low temperature carbonised samples, depending on the age of the bamboo sample. At torrefaction temperatures tested, the 4 year old bamboo had the highest mass and energy yield, whereas at carbonisation temperatures, 3 year old bamboo had the highest. The number of differential thermogravimetric peaks was observed to decrease from 2 to 1 as the thermal treatment temperature increased to a carbonisation range (350-400) °C. This can be attributed to the less VM content in the carbonised samples. The raw bamboo and thermally treated bamboo had higher reactivity, lower ignition and burnout temperatures compared to that for coal. Blending of coal with bamboo (raw and thermally treated) appeared to increase the reactivity and lower the ignition temperature during co-firing. The activation energies of the individual fuels ranged from 56 to 289 kJ/mol, using the Ozawa model. Bamboo samples carbonised at 400°C had the highest activation energy, irrespective of age. The activation energy was also the highest when co-firing a blend with the highest proportion of coal. Based on the co-firing tests undertaken in the TG analyser in which a percentage of coal is blended with various proportions of raw and thermally treated bamboo, the results showed that as the percentage of coal in the blend increases there is less interaction or influence of biomass. The role of biomass is to aid with ignition of devolatilization in the coal at lower temperatures. At the carbonisation stage, biomass behave more like coal in principle. It was confirmed in this study that in terms of combustibility, the torrefied bamboo samples had a greater capacity to provide lower ignition and burnout temperatures over the low carbonised bamboo samples utilized, and this might support its application as a source of fuel in an industrial burning combustor. The carbonised 4 year old bamboo appears to be the preferred alternative source fuel to be fired solely in an existing pulverised boiler in South Africa or co-fired with coal due to the carbonised bamboo samples exhibiting the higher CV and more coal-like combustion profile.

O colágeno possui características que fazem com seja amplamente utilizado como biomaterial. A termo-estabilidade do colágeno está diretamente relacionada a mudanças na sua estrutura (hélice tripla) via de regra quanto mais estável termicamente uma matriz, mais estável biologicamente será. Vários poliálcoois incluindo o glicerol têm apresentado um aumento na estabilidade térmica do colágeno tipo I, embora o tipo de interação não seja evidente. Este trabalho tem como objetivo estudar o efeito da adição de glicerol sobre o colágeno aniônico obtido por tratamento alcalino (24 H) em três diferentes tecidos: pericárdio e tendão bovinos e serosa porcina. Para isto são utilizados a espectroscopia na região do infravermelho (FTIR), termogravimetria e reologia. Os espectros mostraram que o tratamento alcalino e a adição de glicerol não causam desnaturação da proteína de colágeno. A partir dos resultados das curvas termogravimétricas foi observado que o glicerol aumenta a temperatura de decomposição térmica do colágeno. Os resultados dos ensaios de reologia mais precisamente a varredura de deformação mostrou que as soluções de colágeno apresentam G\' maior que G\'\' independente do tecido de origem, e a adição de glicerol não causa mudanças nesta propriedade das soluções. A varredura de freqüência mostrou que as amostras têm características de um gel, sendo G\' maior que G\'\' nas condições de estudo. O ensaio de escoamento a temperatura constante determinou o comportamento pseudoplástico das soluções, e a adição de glicerol causou aumento na viscosidade das soluções sem alterar tal característica. Os ensaios de escoamento com variação de temperatura permitiram determinar a temperatura de desnaturação do colágeno. A adição de glicerol aumentou apenas a temperatura de desnaturação do colágeno obtido por serosa porcina, sugerindo que esta solução é a mais sensível à adição de glicerol. / Several characteristics make collagen widely applied as a biomaterial. The collagen thermal stability is directly related with its structure changes (triple helix), generally, the better is the thermal stability the better is the biological stability. Several polyols including glycerol, has shown a increasing on type I collagen denaturation. The objective of this work is to study the effect of glycerol when mixed with anionic collagen. Type I anionic collagen was obtained after alkaline treatment (24h) of bovine pericardium, bovine tendon and porcine serosa. FT-IR, thermogravimetry and rheology were used. The results of thermal analysis showed that glycerol indeed increases the collagen decomposition temperature. The reologycal tests, precisely strain sweep, revealed that collagen samples have modulus G\' prevailed on modulus G\'\' independent of tissue origin, and glycerol addiction did not change these. The frequency sweep revealed that collagen and collagen:glycerol samples behave like a gel-like substance since both the storage and loss modulus showed dependence with frequency sweep and G\' > G\'\' in all cases. Flow tests at constant temperature revealed that collagen solution behave like a pseudoplastic substance, and glycerol addiction increase solution viscosity and did not change the pseudoplastic characteristic. Flow tests in function of temperature revealed collagen denaturation temperature, but glycerol addiction alters thermal stability (increase of denaturation temperature) only for collagen obtained from porcine serosa.

Thesis (MSc.(Chemistry)--University of Pretoria, 2006. / Includes bibliographical references.

Thesis (Ph. D.)--University of Missouri-Columbia, 2008. / The entire dissertation/thesis text is included in the research.pdf file; the official abstract appears in the short.pdf file (which also appears in the research.pdf); a non-technical general description, or public abstract, appears in the public.pdf file. Title from title screen of research.pdf file (viewed on July 31, 2009) Includes bibliographical references.