Tropical Central African bomb radiocarbon reveals antiphase air-mass atmospheric fluxes and vegetation-growth relationships.

To achieve more accurate Earth system model projections of diverse climate scenarios, researchers need observation-based data on the movement of carbon between reservoirs, and especially across tropical regions. The Tropical Low-Pressure Belt (TLPB) is a key driver of atmospheric circulation across lower latitudes. While the TLPB shifts across the east-west extent of northern Africa, the extent to which C concentrations apply to Afrotropical forests remains untested, restricting our understanding about other carbon feedbacks.

Demystifying the tropics: FTIR characterization of pantropical woods and their α-cellulose extracts for past atmospheric C reconstructions.

To ensure unbiased tree-ring radiocarbon (C) results, traditional pretreatments carefully isolate wood cellulose from extractives using organic solvents, among other chemicals. The addition of solvents is laborious, time-consuming, and can increase the risk of carbon contamination. Tropical woods show a high diversity in wood-anatomical and extractive composition, but the necessity of organic-solvent extraction for the C dating of these diverse woods remains untested.

Optimization of the photocatalytic degradation process of aromatic organic compounds applied to mangrove sediment.

Polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbons (PAHs) are part of a class of organic compounds resistant to natural degradation. In this way, heterogeneous photocatalysis becomes useful to degrade persistent organic pollutants, however it can be influenced by environmental variables (i.e.

Investigation of uncertainties associated with the production of n-butanol through ethanol catalysis in sugarcane biorefineries.

This study evaluated the viability of n-butanol production integrated within a first and second generation sugarcane biorefinery. The evaluation included a deterministic analysis as well as a stochastic approach, the latter using Monte Carlo simulation. Results were promising for n-butanol production in terms of revenues per tonne of processed sugarcane, but discouraging with respect to internal rate of return (IRR).