Copper Ion Recovery from Mine Water by Ion Flotation

Solutions containing copper ions are produced at copper mines due to its dissolution from ores and dumps. It is important to recover these ions to prevent this toxic element from entering the environment and because it could be economical. We investigated the use of ion flotation for extracting Cu ions from diluted mine water from the Veshnaveh Mine in Qom, Iran. Experiments were conducted using floatation cells at pH 6, 9, and 12 with diluted solutions containing 10 mg L^?1 of Cu. Sodium dodecyl sulfate and hexadecyl trimethyl ammonium bromide (HTAB) were used as collectors and methyl isobutyl carbinol (MIBC) and ethanol were used as frothers. The best result was achieved by maximizing Cu ion recovery and minimizing water recovery at pH 12, using 100 mg L^?1 of HTAB and 0.1 % (v/v) of MIBC. Copper and water recovery were 79 and 24 %, respectively.     

A quantitative approach to study solid state phase coarsening in solder alloys using combined phase-field modeling and experimental observation

In the present work, a quantitative phase-field approach is introduced to study the phase-coarsening phenomena in solder alloys, Pb-Sn alloy here. The most important part of this work is to introduce a simple and versatile approach to quantify the experimental and simulation data, without putting into difficulties corresponding to the stochastic nature of phenomenon, in order to compute unknown physical data required to perform numerical simulation. For this purpose, at first, the evolution of microstructure vs. time is studied experimentally by the conventional optical microscopy. Then, unknown physical data, the interface mobility here, is computed by fitting the time evolution of the total interface perimeter of the simulation results to that of the experimental data. In fact, by this approach, the physical data is computed such that it will be applied to predict reality in the subsequent simulations, i.e., the presented method can be accounted as the calibration of the corresponding mathematical model and numerical method. The validity of the presented approach is supported by comparing simulation data to experimental ones.     

Mechanism of Martensitic to Equiaxed Microstructure Evolution during Hot Deformation of a Near-Alpha Ti Alloy

Metallurgical and Materials Transactions A - In this study, mechanisms of microstructural evolution during hot deformation of Ti-1100 were investigated by EBSD analysis. Misorientation angle...     

Sensing and identification of carbon monoxide using carbon films fabricated by methane arc discharge decomposition technique

Carbonaceous materials have recently received attention in electronic applications and measurement systems. In this work, we demonstrate the electrical behavior of carbon films fabricated by methane arc discharge decomposition technique. The current-voltage (I-V) characteristics of carbon films are investigated in the presence and absence of gas. The experiment reveals that the current passing through the carbon films increases when the concentration of CO₂ gas is increased from 200 to 800 ppm. This phenomenon which is a result of conductance changes can be employed in sensing applications such as gas sensors.     

Studying the electronic and phononic structure of penta-graphane

In this paper, we theoretically consider a two dimensional nanomaterial which is a form of hydrogenated penta-graphene; we call it penta-graphane. This structure is obtained by adding hydrogen atoms to the sp² bonded carbon atoms of penta-graphene. We investigate the thermodynamic and mechanical stability of penta-graphane. We also study the electronic and phononic structure of penta-graphane. Firstly, we use density functional theory with the revised Perdew–Burke–Ernzerhof approximation to compute the band structure. Then one–shot GW (G₀W₀) approach for estimating accurate band gap is applied. The indirect band gap of penta-graphane is 5.78 eV, which is close to the band gap of diamond. Therefore, this new structure is a good electrical insulator. We also investigate the structural stability of penta-graphane by computing the phonon structure. Finally, we calculate its specific heat capacity from the phonon density of states. Penta-graphane has a high specific heat capacity, and can potentially be used for storing and transferring energy.     

High temperature water gas shift reaction over Fe-Cr-Cu nanocatalyst fabricated by a novel method

Fe-Cr-Cu nanocatalyst was synthesized through an inorganic-precursor thermolysis approach and exploited for high temperature water gas shift reaction. The results demonstrated that the method used for the nanocatalyst fabrication led to smaller crystallite size (32.9 nm) and higher BET surface area (127.3 m²/g) compared to those of a reference sample (65.5 nm, 78.6 m²/g) prepared by co-precipitation conventional method. Furthermore, the obtained data for catalytic activity showed that the catalyst prepared via inorganic precursor has better activity than the reference sample in all studied temperatures (350-500 °C) and also exhibited higher catalytic activity than a commercial Fe-Cr-Cu catalyst in higher temperatures (more than 450 °C).     

Correlation of polymerization conditions with drag reduction efficiency of poly(1-hexene) in oil pipelines

High molecular weight with long linear side branches are frequently used in oil pipelines as one of the main classes of drag reducer agents (DRAs). We studied the effects of polymerization conditions, including reaction temperature, monomer concentration and cocatalyst concentration ratio (Al/Ti), on the polymerization yield and molecular weight of the resultant poly(1-hexene) made by Ziegler–Natta catalyst and their consequent effects on the drag reduction efficiency in a loop test. The experimental results verified that the catalyst activity increased from 115 to 220 kgPH/molTi.atm, while the molecular weight of poly(1-hexene) dropped from 2100 to 1030 kDa, as the reaction temperature was increased from 0 to 50 °C. The loop test results also revealed that the highest pressure drop was achieved using the polymer synthesized at 0 °C and by subsequent increase in reaction temperature the pressure drop decreased. Furthermore, the catalyst activity increased from 143 to 262 kgPH/molTi.atm by increasing Al/Ti ratio, while the molecular weight increased up to a maximum level of 1500 kDa at Al/Ti = 143 and decreased at higher cocatalyst contents. Similarly, the results showed the maximum pressure drop of 20 % at Al/Ti = 143. Finally, by increasing monomer concentration, the catalyst activity and polymer molecular weight increased from 75 to 262 kgPH/molTi.atm for the former, and from 700 to 1800 kDa for the latter which resulted in maximum pressure drop by 25 %. Moreover, the pressure drop for each utilized poly(1-hexene) was increased proportionately with DRA’s concentration, and interestingly enough, DRAs were further effective at more turbulent flows with higher Reynolds numbers.     

A modified particle swarm optimization for disaster relief logistics under uncertain environment

Relief logistics is one of the most important elements of a relief operation. This paper investigates a relief chain design problem where not only demands but also supplies and the cost of procurement and transportation are considered as the uncertain parameters. Furthermore, the model considers uncertainty for the locations where those demands can arise and the possibility that a number of the facility could be partially destroyed by the disaster. The proposed model for this study is formulated as a mixed-integer nonlinear programming to minimize the sum of the expected total cost (which includes costs of location, procurement, transportation, holding, and shortage) and the variance of the total cost. The model simultaneously determines the location of relief distribution centers and the allocation of affected area to relief distribution centers. Furthermore, an efficient solution approach based on particle swarm optimization is developed in order to solve the proposed mathematical model. At last, computational results for several instances of the problem are presented to demonstrate the feasibility and effectiveness of the proposed model and algorithm.     

Stochastic models for transfer point location problem

The transfer point location problem has been introduced recently and for the case of minimax objective and planar topology, has only been studied for situations in which demand points are not weighted and have known coordinates. In this paper, we consider the case in which demand points are weighted and their coordinates have bivariate uniform distribution. Also, the problem is developed from a conceptual view and different distance measures are used to make models more applicable in real world situations. The problem is to find the best location for the transfer point such that the maximum expected weighted distance to all demand points through the transfer point is minimized. Depending on assumptions for uniform distributions, two models are considered, convexity conditions are discussed, properties of the optimal solution are obtained and methods to solve the problems are proposed. Finally, numerical examples are given.     

Analysis of bioheat transfer equation for hyperthermia cancer treatment

Magnetic fluid hyperthermia is a new subclass of hyperthermia cancer treatment that can selectively heat up a tumor without damaging the surrounding healthy tissues. Some authors studied the temperature distribution of a magnetically mediated tumor assuming a homogeneous distribution of nanoparticles inside the tumor. Practically speaking, the injected nanoparticles do not usually distribute uniformly throughout the entire tumor, thus leaving some parts of the tumor without nanoparticles. In this study, an inhomogeneous dispersion of nanoparticles inside the tumor is assumed to investigate the tissues’ temperature profiles. The problem is solved for polar coordinate. Also in this study, the heating effect of magnetic fluid in a porcine liver tissue is experimentally examined. Numerical transient solutions are found to be in good agreement with experimental data.