Kinetic study of ethyl octyl ether formation from ethanol and 1‐octanol on Amberlyst 70

An option to introduce bioethanol to diesel, improving at the same time its fuel quality, is by adding ethyl octyl ether (EOE). It can be obtained successfully by the dehydration reaction between ethanol and 1‐octanol over acidic ion‐exchange resins. In the present work, the kinetic study of EOE synthesis on Amberlyst 70 in the liquid phase is performed in a 20‐cm³ fixed‐bed reactor and in a 100‐cm³ batch reactor at 423–463 K and 2.5 MPa. EOE synthesis takes place together with diethyl ether (DEE) formation as main side reaction. A mechanistic kinetic model in terms of component activities is proposed for EOE synthesis (E_a=105 ± 4 kJ/mol) and for DEE formation (E_a =100 ± 5 kJ/mol). Reaction rates were highly inhibited by the adsorption of the formed water on Amberlyst 70. The inhibitor effect of water is well represented as a competitive adsorption with alcohols reactants on the catalysts surface. © 2014 American Institute of Chemical Engineers AIChE J, 60: 2918–2928, 2014     

Influence of humidity,temperature, and the addition of activated carbon on the preparation of cellulose acetate membranes and their ability to remove arsenic from water

Several composite membranes have been prepared from cellulose triacetate (CTA) and activated carbon (AC) by solvent casting, varying temperature from 35 to 55°C and relative humidity (RH): 10–70%. Some conditions promoted AC particle agglomeration which is evidenced by SEM and IFME^® program. In those membranes, where homogeneity is attained, a deep characterization has been carried out by DMA, MDSC, thermoporometry, solute transport, and AFM. When AC is added in films, T_g is lowered and the fraction of pores with bigger size is augmented. Molecular weight cut off calculated by solute transport, increases from 801.15 to 1194.29 kDa using 1% AC at RH 70% and T 35°C. Water flux is of 5.23 Lm^?2 h^?1 bar^?1. Arsenic removal has been performed, achieving a 45% tested from a 500 ppb arsenic solution, where several factors such as electrical rejection, adsorption and exclusion, could contribute to the total membrane nanofiltration process. © 2013 Wiley Periodicals, Inc. J. Appl. Polym. Sci. 2014 , 131, 40134.     

Single dispersive gradient-index profile for the aging human lens

We provide a single gradient-index (GRIN) profile for the crystalline lens in an updated age-dependent emmetropic-eye model. The parameters defining the GRIN profile include their variation with age and the dispersion of the refractive index in order to account for the increase in the positive-wave spherical aberration, for the constant chromatic difference in the refraction of the human eye, as well as for the decrease in the retinal-image quality with aging. In accounting for these ocular properties, the results show that first, the value of the dispersion parameters are invariant with age. Second, those parameters defining the distribution of the lens index cause the lens-center-index value to decrease slightly, and its position along the lens axis changes with age. Furthermore, these findings are in agreement with the lens paradox.     

Determination of Optimum Concentrations of a Food Ingredient Using Survival Analysis Statistics

ABSTRACT:  For desirable attributes in food products such as red color in a strawberry yogurt, the color can be too light, okay, or too dark, leading to 2 events of interest: the transition of too light to ok, and the transition of ok to too dark. The objective of the present work was to develop a model using survival analysis statistics to allow modeling these 2 events and thus allow prediction of the optimum color based on acceptance or rejection data obtained from consumers. Concepts and calculations were applied to a data set obtained from 60 consumers who each looked at 7 yogurt samples with different red color intensities, answering whether they found the samples too light, okay, or too dark. From this censored data set parametric models were obtained which allowed optimum color estimation and segmentation of consumers in groups according to whether they liked lighter or darker colored yogurts. Applications of the model to other food ingredients and to the ripening and spoilage of fruit are discussed.     

Operational aspects of the desulfurization process of energy gases mimics in biotrickling filters

Biological removal of reduced sulfur compounds in energy-rich gases is an increasingly adopted alternative to conventional physicochemical processes, because of economical and environmental benefits. A lab-scale biotrickling filter reactor for the treatment of high-H₂S-loaded gases was developed and previously proven to effectively treat H₂S concentrations up to 12,000 ppm_v at gas contact times between 167 and 180 s. In the present work, a detailed study on selected operational aspects affecting this system was carried out with the objective to optimize performance. The start-up phase was studied at an inlet H₂S concentration of 1000 ppm_v (loading of 28 g H₂S m⁻³ h⁻¹) and inoculation with sludge from a municipal wastewater treatment plant. After reactor startup, the inlet H₂S concentration was doubled and the influence of different key process parameters was tested. Results showed that there was a significant reduction of the removal efficiency at gas contact times below 120 s. Also, mass transfer was found to be the main factor limiting H₂S elimination, whereas performance was not influenced by the bacterial colonization of the packed column after the initial startup. The effect of gas supply shutdowns for up to 5 days was shown to be irrelevant on process performance if the trickling liquid recirculation was kept on. Also, the trickling liquid velocity was investigated and found to influence sulfate production through a better use of the supplied dissolved oxygen. Finally, short-term pH changes revealed that the system was quite insensitive to a pH drop, but was markedly affected by a pH increase, affecting both the biological activity and the removal of H₂S. Altogether, the results presented and discussed herein provide new insight and operational data on H₂S removal from energy gases in biotrickling filters.     

Nanodosemeters based on gel scintillators

The feasibility of a nanodosemeter based on a liquid scintillator cocktail of four components (ethoxylated nonylphenol, pseudocumene, water and a lipophilic mixture) is studied. The dosemeter can work in distinct gel phases, for which the radioactive substance can be confined inside aqueous nanoscale structures of different size. For water volumes ranging 0-15%, it results in a gel with micelles of 4 nm radius. For water volumes ranging 30-50%, the resulting liquid-crystal gel contains nanostructures of approximately 20 nm radius. The low-energy electron emission arising from the decay of (3)H and (55)Fe is counted in a commercial liquid-scintillation counting spectrometer for both homogeneous and gel samples. The counting efficiency gap between the two phases is used to compute the average energy deposited inside the micelle.     

Organoids: An Emerging Tool to Study Aging Signature across Human Tissues. Modeling Aging with Patient-Derived Organoids

The biology of aging is focused on the identification of novel pathways that regulate the underlying processes of aging to develop interventions aimed at delaying the onset and progression of chronic diseases to extend lifespan. However, the research on the aging field has been conducted mainly in animal models, yeast, Caenorhabditis elegans, and cell cultures. Thus, it is unclear to what extent this knowledge is transferable to humans since they might not reflect the complexity of aging in people. An organoid culture is an in vitro 3D cell-culture technology that reproduces the physiological and cellular composition of the tissues and/or organs. This technology is being used in the cancer field to predict the response of a patient-derived tumor to a certain drug or treatment serving as patient stratification and drug-guidance approaches. Modeling aging with patient-derived organoids has a tremendous potential as a preclinical model tool to discover new biomarkers of aging, to predict adverse outcomes during aging, and to design personalized approaches for the prevention and treatment of aging-related diseases and geriatric syndromes. This could represent a novel approach to study chronological and/or biological aging, paving the way to personalized interventions targeting the biology of aging.     

Changes in the hydrology and sediment transport produced by large dams on the lower Ebro river and its estuary

The mean annual flow of the lower Ebro river has reduced by 29% during this century (592 to 426 m³ s⁻¹). The main causes are increased water use and evaporation from reservoirs in the river basin. The losses due to irrigation explain 74% of the decrease, whereas losses by evaporation in the reservoirs explain another 22%. Decreased flow in the lower Ebro river caused an increase in the salt wedge in the estuary. During the study period, the permanent low river flows from July 1988 to April 1990 caused the continuous presence of the salt wedge for 18 months. Historical data for sediment transport in the Ebro river are scarce and incomplete. Limited data before the construction of reservoirs in the Ebro basin allow only an estimate of the order of magnitude of annual suspended sediment transport (3·0 × 10⁷ Mt yr⁻¹). Before the construction of large reservoirs in the lower Ebro at the end of the 1960s, the sediment transport was estimated to be around 1·0 × 10⁷ Mt yr⁻¹. This amount was reduced to around 0·3 × 10⁶ Mt yr⁻¹ after construction of the dam. Currently, this amount ranges from 0·1 to 0·2 × 10⁶ Mt yr⁻¹, which represents a reduction of more than 99% in sediment transport. On a seasonal scale, the effects of the dams have been the standardization of the river flow and the virtual suppression of peaks in sediment transport. In the estuary, the salt wedge dynamics changed and its presence increased. River regulation and hydropower generation also changed the hydrology of the river on a daily scale. The effect of local storms on the river flow and the sediment transport has been suppressed. At present, these changes are related to hydropower generation.