Hydrocarbons are essential base chemicals as energy carriers and starting materials for chemical manufacture. So-called fatty acid photodecarboxylases (FAPs) represent interesting catalysts for the conversion of natural fatty acids into hydrocarbons thereby giving access to alkanes from renewable feedstock. Today, however, only few FAPs are known. In the current study we report a new FAP from the marine organism Micractinium conductrix (McFAP). In contrast to currently known FAPs McFAP exhibits high catalytic activity towards short and medium fatty acids. Recombinant expression and basic biochemical characterisation of this new member of the FAP family is reported.

Hydrocarbon synthesis from (waste)oils enabled by a cascade of lipase-catalysed hydrolysis and decarboxylase-catalysed decarboxylation has become an active area of research en route to alternative, biobased fuels. However, Poor substrate transport efficiency is a major issue causing low reaction rates. This study focused on a protein self-assembly strategy based on SpyTag/SpyCatcher to overcome diffusion limitations. For this, two fusion proteins, TLL-Linker-SpyCatcher based on the lipase from Thermomyces lanuginosus and CvFAP-Linker-SpyTag based on the fatty acid photodecarboxylase from Chlorella variabilis were designed. A covalent multi-enzyme complex (TLL-CvFAP) was formed spontaneously by self-assembly of each enzyme. The effects of temperature, pH and molar ratio of self-assembled components on assembly efficiency were investigated. The results showed that the multi-enzyme complex TLL-CvFAP reached about 60% after 12 h of assembly, and the enzyme activity of the multienzyme complex was increased by about 50% compared to that of the corresponding non-assembled enzymes. Under optimized conditions 10 mM soybean oil were converted into 25 mM of the corresponding hydrocarbons, suggesting a good potential of biofuel synthesis.

Unspecific peroxygenases (UPOs, EC 1.11.2.1) are promising oxyfunctionalization catalysts because of their unique stereoselectivity. However, so far only a few UPOs have been reported. In this study, gene mining was used to identify a gene from Galerina marginata that coded for a novel UPO (GmaUPO). GmaUPO was expressed in Pichia pastoris X-33 by scale-up fermentation (the UPO activity of the culture supernatant was 118 U/L). GmaUPO exhibited a molecular weight of 40 kDa and exhibited highest activity at 35°C and pH 9, respectively. Furthermore, GmaUPO was demonstrated to catalyze the epoxidation, sulfoxidation, and hydroxylation of common substrates, particularly fatty acids such as tridecanoic acid. The molecular basis for GmaUPO regioselectivity for fatty acid hydroxylation was explored by molecular modelling. The regioselectivity was mostly governed by the architecture of the enzyme's active site.

Bird strikes are one major accident for aircraft engines and can inflict heavy casualties and economic losses. In this study, a smoothed particle hydrodynamics (SPH) mallard model has been used to simulate bird impact to rotary aero-engine fan blades. The simulations were performed using the finite element method (FEM) at LS-DYNA. The reliability of the material model and numerical method was verified by comparing the numerical results withWilberk’s experimental results. The effects of impact and bearing parameters, including bird impact location, bird impact orientation, initial bird velocity, fan rotational speeds, stiffness of the bearing, and the damping of the bearing on the bird impact to aero-engine fan blade are studied and discussed. The results show that both the impact location and bird orientation have significant effects on the bird strike results. Bird impact to blade roots is the most dangerous scenario causing the impact force to reach 390 kN. The most dangerous orientation is the case where the bird’s head is tilted 45° horizontally, which leads to huge fan kinetic energy loss as high as 64.73 kJ. The bird’s initial velocity affects blade deformations. The von Mises stress during the bird strike process can reach 1238 MPa for an initial bird velocity of 225 m/s. The fan’s rotational speed and the bearing stiffness affect the rotor stability significantly. The value of bearing damping has little effect on the bird strike process. This paper gives an idea of how to evaluate the strength of fan blades in the design period.

To study the effect of a bird striking engine fan on the rotor system, a low-pressure rotor system dynamic model based on a real aero-engine structure was established. Dynamic equations were derived considering the case of the bird strike force which transferred to the rotor system. The bird strike force was obtained from the bird strike process simulation in LS-DYNA, where a smoothed particle hydrodynamics (SPH) mallard model was constructed using a computed tomog-raphy (CT) scanner, and finite element method (FEM) was used to simulate the bird strike on an actual fan model. The dynamic equations were solved using the Newmark-β method. The effect of rotational speeds on the rotor system dynamics after bird strike was investigated and discussed. Results show that the maximum bird impact force can reach 104 kN at 3772 r/min. Impact time is only 0.06 s, but the bird strike on fan blades lead to a transient shock on the rotor system. Under the action of transient shocks, the rotor system displacement in the horizontal and vertical directions increase sharply, and the closer the mass point is to the fan, the more it is affected; the vibration amplitude at the fan will increase 15 times within 0.1 s of the bird strike and will gradually decrease with the effect of damping. The dynamics of the rotor system changes from a stable single periodic motion to a complex irregular quasi-periodic motion after a bird strike, and the strike force excites the first-order vibrational mode of the rotor system. This phenomenon occurs at all speeds when bird strikes occur. Bird strikes will cause resonance in the rotor system, which may cause damage to the engine. It was also seen that the bird strike force, and hence the effects on the rotor system, increases as the engine rotational speed increases; the peak force is larger and the number of peaks has increased. The impact force at 3772 r/min is 99.5 kN higher than at 836 r/min, and three additional peaks emerged. This effect is more reflected in the amplitude, and the overall vibration characteristics do not change. Combining the bird strike with the rotor dynamics calculation, the dynamic response of the aero-engine rotor system to bird strike is studied at different flight stages, which is of guiding significance for power evaluation of aero engines after bird strike.