• Asian-Australasian Journal of Animal Sciences
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• v.22 no.7
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• pp.1043-1047
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• 2009

Three experiments were conducted to determine the conversion rate of formic and acetic acids into methane in the gastrointestinal tracts of geese. In experiment I, two sets of two 4-month-old male White Roman geese were allocated to one of two treatment groups. Each set of geese was inoculated either with formic acid or with phosphate buffer solution (PBS). After the acid or the PBS was inoculated into the esophagi of the geese, two birds from each treatment were placed in a respiratory chamber as a measurement unit for 4 h in order to determine methane production rate. In experiment II and III, 6- and 7-wk-old male White Roman goslings were used, respectively. Birds were allocated to receive either formic acid or PBS solution injected into the ceca in experiment II. Acetic acid or PBS solution injected into the cecum were used for experiment III. After either the acids or the PBS solution were injected into the cecum, two birds from each treatment were placed in a respiratory chamber as a measurement unit for 3 h; each treatment was repeated 3 times. The results indicated that formic acid inoculated into the oesophagi of geese was quickly converted into methane. Compared with the PBS-injected group, methane production increased by 5.02 times in the formic acid injected group (4.32 vs. 0.86 mg/kg BW/d; p<0.05). Acetic acid injected into the ceca did not increase methane production; conversely, it tended to decrease methane production. The present study suggests that formic acid may be converted to methane in the ceca, and that acetic acid may not be a precursor of methane in the ceca of geese.

• Journal of The Korean Society of Clinical Toxicology
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• v.7 no.1
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• pp.32-37
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• 2009

Formic acid or formate is a common industrial compound used in the production of ensilage, disinfectants, decalcifying agents and mainly as a precursor in industrial chemical synthesis. It is also a well-known toxic metabolite produced in methanol poisoning. Thus, formate is a potential source of both accidental and deliberate poisoning. Very few reports have been published thus far, on the toxicology of direct formic acid poisoning. Here, we report a case of a 74-year-old man without a history of depression, who ingested about 30 gm of formic acid. The patient presented with profound high anion gap metabolic acidosis, acute renal failure and esophageal stricture. The patient was successfully treated with hemodialysis and supportive measures. But permanent esophageal stricture was complicated by formic acid burns in the gastrointestinal tract. We discuss the pathophysiology and treatment of this case.

• Journal of Korea Technical Association of The Pulp and Paper Industry
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• v.44 no.3
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• pp.9-14
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• 2012

Formed fermentation inhibitors during acid saccharification leads to poor alcohol production based on lignocellulosic bio-alcohol production process. In this work, it is focused on the formation of fermentation inhibitors from xylan, which is influenced by reaction tempearature and time of acidic sacharifiaction of xylose and glucuronic acid. In second step of concentrated acid hydrolysis, part of xylose and glucuronic acid was converted to furfuraldehyde and formic acid by dehydration and rearrangement reactions. Furfural was form from xylose, which was highly sensitive to reaction temperature. Formic acid was come from both xylose and glucuronic acid, which supposed to main inhibitor in biobutanol fermentation. Reaction temperature of second hydrolysis was main variables to control the furfural and formic acid generation. Careful control of acid saccharification can reduce generation of harmful inhibitors, especially second step of concentrated sulfuric acid hydrolysis process.

• Korean Chemical Engineering Research
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• v.61 no.4
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• pp.561-569
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• 2023

Furfural is a platform chemical that is produced from xylose, one of the hemicellulose components of lignocellulosic biomass. Furfural can be used as an important feedstock for phenolic compounds or biofuels. In this study, we compared and optimized the conditions for producing furfural from xylose in a batch system using two types of catalysts: sulfuric acid, which is commonly used in the furfural production process, and formic acid, which is an environmentally friendly catalyst. We investigated the effects of xylose initial concentration (10 g/L~100 g/L), reaction temperature (140~200 ℃), sulfuric acid catalyst (1~3 wt%), formic acid catalyst (5~10 wt%), and reaction time on the furfural yield. The optimal conditions according to the type of catalyst were as follows. For sulfuric acid catalyst, 3 wt% of catalyst concentration, 50 g/L of xylose initial concentration, 180 ℃ of temperature, and 10min of reaction time resulted in a maximum furfural yield of 59.0%. For formic acid catalyst, 5 wt% of catalyst concentration, 50 g/L of xylose initial concentration, 180 ℃ of temperature, and 150 min of reaction time resulted in a furfural yield of 65.3%.

• Asian-Australasian Journal of Animal Sciences
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• v.18 no.3
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• pp.390-395
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• 2005

Reported here are the effects of added formic acid on inhibitory effect of Salmonella gallinarum in poultry feed. Two experiments were conducted to investigate the viability of S. gallinarum and pH of poultry feed using different dietary formic acid levels (0.0, 0.5, 1.0 and 1.5%) on inhibitory effect of S. gallinarum in broiler feed. Experiment one was conducted to investigate the viability of S. gallinarum and pH of artificially contaminated diet at 0, 1, 3, 5 and 7 days after treatment in vitro. Formic acid showed a significant (p<0.05) reduction in the viability for all treatments with time after treatment. Various formic acid levels in vitro showed a reduction in the pH of the diet depending upon the concentration of treated acid, and the diet remained acidic below the growth range of S. gallinarum. This meant that the bacterial cells were exposed to stressful conditions that made them unable to grow. Experiment two was conducted to find out the effect of dietary formic acid levels on S. gallinarum colonization and pH in the contents of crop, small intestine, large intestine and ceca and mortality rate of broiler chicks at 7, 14 and 21 days of age when fed artificially contaminated diet with S. gallinarum. The numbers of S. gallinarum re-isolated from all treated groups except in groups treated with 0.5% formic acid, decreased significantly (p<0.05) compared with the control group. The treatment significantly (p<0.05) lowered the pH of the crop, small intestine, large intestine and ceca contents in all groups except the groups treated with 0.5% formic acid compared with the control. All treated groups showed a significant (p<0.05) reduction in overall mortality rate during the experimental period (3 to 21 days) compared with the control. The results indicate that addition of formic acid in a total concentration of 1.5% to the diet of newly hatched broiler chicks significantly decreases the contamination of diet with S. gallinarum.

• Journal of Korea Technical Association of The Pulp and Paper Industry
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• v.45 no.1
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• pp.6-12
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• 2013

TFormic acid-hydrogen peroxide (or performic acid) pulping process needs milder reaction condition than other chemical pulping process. Two-step formic acid-hydrogen peroxide pulping process can produce the chemical pulp with similar pulp yield and lignin content compared with soda-anthraquinone process. Formic acid-hydrogen peroxide pulp can be produced less xylan content than other alkaline pulps, which favor for dissolving pulp production. Formic acid-hydrogen peroxide pulp showed better response beating than soda-anthraquinone(AQ) pulps with reaching target freeness with less beating. Also, formic acid-hydrogen peroxide pulp had better tensile index at similar freeness level compared with soda-AQ pulps.

• Asian-Australasian Journal of Animal Sciences
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• v.14 no.2
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• pp.211-215
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• 2001

Urea as a silage additive increases crude protein but reduces fermentation quality of silage by increasing pH and enhancing clostridial bacteria growth, especially in low sugar forages. Glucose and formic acid might be expected to compensate these defects caused by urea addition to grass silage. Thus, in this experiment urea formic acid or urea with glucose was applied to improve N content and the quality of napiergrass (Pennisetum purpureum Schumach.) silage. The first growth of napiergrass was harvested at 85 days of age and about 700 g of the grass was ensiled in laboratory silos (1.0 liter polyethylene containers) for 2, 7, 14, and 30 days at room temperature ($28^{\circ}C$). The treatments were no additives (control), urea, urea+glucose or urea+formic acid. Urea was added before ensiling at 0.5% of fresh weight of napiergrass and glucose and formic acid were added at 1% of fresh weight, respectively. After opening the silo, pH, dry matter content (DM), contents on DM basis of total N (TN), volatile basic nitrogen (VBN), lactic acid (LA), acetic acid (AA) and butyric acid (BA) were determined. The control at 30 days of fermentation showed 5.89 for pH with 13.8% for VBN/TN and 1.51% for AA. The addition of urea increased TN by about 1.5% units but decreased the fermentation quality by increasing pH from 5.89 to 6.86, increasing VBN/TN from 13.8% to 24.63%, increasing BA from 0.02% to 0.56%, and decreasing LA from 1.03% to 0.02%. Glucose addition with urea significantly decreased VBN/TN from 13.8% to 4.44% by reducing pH from 6.86 to 4.83 because of higher production of LA (2.62%). Adding urea and formic acid resulted in a more pronounced depression of VBN/TN and fermentation than the addition of urea and glucose. This study suggested that the combination of 1% glucose or 1% formic acid with 0.5% urea will improve nutritive value and fermentation quality of napiergrass silage.

• Asian-Australasian Journal of Animal Sciences
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• v.16 no.12
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• pp.1722-1724
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• 2003

The possibility of using cotton stems as a roughage source in animal feeding was explored. Ground cotton stems (T2 and T3) or stems treated with 0.5% urea (T4 and T5) were ensiled with pearl millet green fodder in double lined plastic bags of 3 kg capacity for 50 days. Formic acid (0.4% v/v) was sprayed on T3 and T5 silages. The treatments were compared with pearl millet silage alone (T1) which constituted the control. All the bags were placed in the silo pit of pearl millet silage. Results indicated that urea treatment of cotton stems increased and formic acid application reduced dry matter loss of the silages. Inclusion of cotton stems in the silage significantly (p<0.05) increased CF, ADF, cellulose and ADL due to its higher cell wall content. The hemicellulose was significantly lower in T3 (16.7%) and T5 (22.52%) as compared to T2 (23.45%) and T4 (24.6%) due to formic acid application. Ammoniation significantly increased NH3-N content in T4 (0.202%) and formic acid controlled NH3-N level in T5 (0.107%).The in sacco dry matter digestibility was significantly higher (p<0.05) in formic acid preserved silages T3 and T5 (47.73 and 47.93%) as compared to silages without formic acid (44.94 and 41.22 %) in T2 and T4 respectively, but lower than T1 (54.39%). It is concluded that cotton stems can be ensiled with pearl millet fodder in 1:4 ratio with or without urea treatment. Formic acid application further increases the silage quality.

• Journal of Energy Engineering
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• v.13 no.3
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• pp.228-233
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• 2004

This paper reports production of low-molecular weight carboxylic acids from the hydrothermal treatment of representative organic wastes and compounds with or without oxidant (H$_2$O$_2$). Organic acids such as acetic, formic, succinic and lactic acids were obtained. This result increased to 42mg/g dry waste fish entrails in the presence of H$_2$O$_2$. Experiments on glucose representing cellulosic wastes were also carried out, getting acetic acid of about 29mg/g glucose. Studies on temperature dependance of formation of organic acids showed thermal stability of acetic acid, whereas, formic acid decomposed readily under hydrothermal conditions. In general. results demonstrated that the presence of oxidants favored formation of organic acids with acetic acid being the major product.

• KSBB Journal
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• v.18 no.6
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• pp.473-478
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• 2003

The purpose of this study is to look for the optimal conditions of methane production. The conditions tested for methane production enhancement were temperature, pH, carbon source, nitrogen source, and inhibitor which can affects methane production. As a result, optimal conditions for methane production were 30$^{\circ}C$, neutral pH, methanol as a carbon source, NH$_4$Cl as a nitrogen source. 2-Bromoethanesulfonic acid was used as an inhibitor which can affects methane production. Existence in broth less than 10mM, inhibited methane production. Organic acid measurements revealed that formic acid exists in broth as majority.