Whey, a by-product of cheese making, contains whey proteins, lactose, vitamins, and minerals. Whey and whey proteins are still not fully used. In this study, whey protein-based aqueous polymer-isocyanate (API) adhesives were developed and characterized by bond test, Fourier transform infrared (FTIR) spectroscopy, and scanning electron microscope (SEM) for bond strength, chemical structures, and morphology. The optimized whey protein-based API adhesive for Glulam had a 28-h boilingdry-boiling wet strength of 6.81 MPa and a dry strength of 14.34 MPa. Results indicated that the addition of polyvinyl acetate emulsion can prolong the work life of the API adhesive. Addition of crosslinker polymeric methylene bisphenyl diisocyanate (P-MDI) not only increased the cohesive strength of the cured adhesive by crosslinking whey proteins but also resulted in strong chemical bonds via urethane linkage in wood bondlines. Addition of polyvinyl alcohol (PVA) further increased the crosslinking density of the cured adhesive due to its capability of crosslinking whey proteins through the reaction with P-MDI. Nanoscale CaCO 3 powder (3.5 wt %) as filler significantly improved bond strength due to its mechanical interlock with the polymers in the adhesive. SEM examinations confirmed that both PVA and nanoscale CaCO 3 improved the compatibilities of the components in the optimized whey protein-based API adhesive. FTIR results revealed that P-MDI reacts mainly with the residual amino groups rather than the hydroxyl groups of whey proteins. V C 2010Wiley Periodicals, Inc. J Appl Polym Sci 120: [220][221][222][223][224][225] 2011

To study the influence of different levels of Bacillus subtilis on growth performance, nutrition metabolism and intestinal microflora of 1 to 42 d Arbor Acres (AA) broilers, a total of 800 one-day-old healthy broilers were randomly divided into 5 groups with 4 replicates per group and 40 broilers per replicate. Broilers were fed a basic diet (group 1) which acted as the control group, and 4 other groups (2 to 5) were fed the basal diet with B. subtilis added at concentrations of 100, 150, 200 and 250 mg/kg, respectively for 42 days. The results showed as follow: the average daily gain (ADG) of group 4 was significantly higher than (P < 0.05) that of group 1, and the average daily feed intake (ADFI) of group 5 was the highest but the differences between groups were not significant (P > 0.05). The feed to gain ratio (F/G) of all the experimental groups was lower than that of the control and the difference was significant in group 4 (P < 0.05). In addition, supplementation of B. subtilis increased the apparent metabolism of crude protein (P > 0.05), crude fat (P > 0.05), dry matter (P > 0.05) and organic matter (P < 0.05). B. subtilis decreased the Escherichia coli and Salmonella populations in the cecum. This shows that adding B. subtilis to the broiler diet can improve the growth performance, increase feed efficiency, regulate serum index and reduce harmful bacteria in the intestinal tract. Based on our study, it could be recommended that addition of B. subtilis at 200 mg/kg could improve the growth performance of broilers.

This work presents a solvent-free, facile synthesis of a renewable, aromatic monomer, methacrylated eugenol (ME), from eugenol and methacrylic anhydride by the Steglich esterification reaction. The resulting ME was subsequently used as a reactive diluent to copolymerize with a commercial maleinated acrylated epoxidized soybean oil (MAESO) resin to form renewable MAESO–ME thermosets. The volatility of ME was examined, along with an analysis of viscosity and curing behavior of the MAESO–ME mixtures. The curing kinetics, thermo-mechanical properties, and thermal stabilities of the fully cured MAESO–ME thermosets with different ME proportions (0%, 20%, 40%, 60%, 80%, and 100%) were systematically investigated. The results indicated that ME monomer exhibited extremely low volatility (less than 3% mass loss after being held isothermally at 30 °C for 10 h), high biobased carbon content (BBC, 71.4%), and low viscosity (17.6 cP at 25 °C). Upon use with MAESO resin, viscosity of the system was considerably decreased. Compared with per equivalent of MAESO, ME-diluted systems exhibited higher reactivity, which resulted in improved curing extent and higher cross-link density of the MAESO–ME systems. The glass transition temperature (T g) of MAESO–ME thermosets greatly improved from 61.1 to 139.3 °C with increasing ME loading from 0% to 100%. Overall, the developed biobased ME monomer is shown to be an effective, sustainable reactive diluent to replace styrene for commercially available MAESO resin.

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