Ionic liquids for coal dissolution,extraction and liquefaction

Coal is the most abundant fossil fuel. Direct combustion of low- and medium-rank coals causes alarming environmental impacts. Therefore, it is crucial for coal to undergo pretreatments before its efficient utilization [such as coal to liquid (CTL) processes]. Conventional pretreatment methods suffer from several limitations including the use of volatile organic solvents, environmental hazards, strong reaction conditions (e.g. high temperature and pressure), consumption of large quantities of nonrecoverable chemicals (e.g. bases used in aqueous alkaline digestion), or being only effective for specific coals. On the other hand, coal pretreatment by nonvolatile ionic liquids (ILs) could lead to partial coal dissolution/swelling and structure disruption, which is a critical step before coal liquefaction, hydrogenation, pyrolysis or the inhibition of oxidation/combustion. In addition, ILs are suitable solvents for extracting sulfur compounds from coal, asphaltenes from Direct Coal Liquefaction Residues (DCLR) and phenolic compounds from coal tar. This review will discuss these aspects of coal pretreatments by ILs, and identify how ILs could lead to a cleaner and more efficient utilization of coal resources. © 2020 Society of Chemical Industry     

Enzymatic extraction of fucoxanthin from brown seaweeds

Brown seaweeds contain a number of bioactive compounds. The xanthophyll, fucoxanthin, has in vivo efficacy against disorders such as type 2 diabetes, obesity and cancer. Organic solvents are traditionally employed to extract fucoxanthin, but carry a toxic chemical and environmental burden. The aim of this study was to optimise a fucoxanthin extraction method using enzymes, water, low‐temperature dehydration and mechanical blending, to produce yields comparable to those achieved with an organic solvent (acetone). Response surface methodology was applied, using Fucus vesiculosus as a model species. A fucoxanthin yield of 0.657 mg g^?1 (dry mass) was obtained from F. vesiculosus blade using the enzymatic method, equivalent to 94% of the acetone‐extracted yield. Optimum extraction parameters were determined to be enzyme‐to‐water ratio 0.52%, seaweed‐to‐water ratio 5.37% and enzyme incubation time 3.05 h. These findings may be applied to the development of value‐added nutraceutical products from seaweed.     

基于多线结构光的弱纹理物体形貌测量方法

大多数现有的主流结构光测量装置在被测物体的表面上投射单条激光,通过移动装置实现物体表面的扫描重建。为了实现物体表面的在线快速重建,将多线结构光和双目立体视觉理论相结合,设计了一种新的三维测量方法。提出了一种结合形态滤波和Zhang-Suen细化算法的光条骨架提取方法和基于光条序列关系的光条匹配算法,并通过极线约束实现光条上特征点的精确匹配。通过实验验证了方法的有效性,相对误差在3%以内。     

磷酸脲母液制备工业级磷酸二氢铵工艺研究

湿法磷酸制备磷酸脲过程中会副产大量磷酸脲母液,母液含有金属杂质及五氧化二磷含量较高。采用溶剂萃取法回收磷酸脲母液中五氧化二磷制备工业级磷酸二氢铵（MAP）,分别考察了包括萃取、洗涤、中和、精制、结晶等工艺流程对产品收率及纯度的影响,确定了最佳工艺条件：萃取相比（有机相与水相体积比）=3:1,萃取时间为5 min,萃取温度为50 ℃,洗涤相比（有机相与洗涤剂体积比）=10:1,中和pH为4.5,复合酸性萃取剂PO8皂化率为20%,精制相比（萃取剂与水相体积比）=1:1,浓缩比为1.36,结晶温度为30 ℃。在该条件下制备的工业级MAP纯度可达99.45%,母液中五氧化二磷回收率为85.34%。该工艺对环境友好,原料中五氧化二磷回收率高,具有较高的经济效益。     

Characterisation and leaching studies on the uranium mineral betafite [(U,Ca)2(Nb,Ti,Ta)2O7]

Samples of natural betafite from Ambatofotsy Madagascar, Miarinarivo Madagascar and Silver Crater Mine, Canada were characterised using a range of techniques before being leached to extract uranium. The three samples were also heat treated to 1200 °C to investigate the effect of recrystallization on uranium extraction. X-ray diffraction analysis showed that anatase was the only crystalline compound present in each of the unheated samples. After being heated to 1200 °C all samples exhibited diffraction lines characteristic of betafite and rutile, indicating that the betafite present in the preheated samples was amorphous (metamict). Electron probe microanalysis of the samples showed a high degree of compositional heterogeneity throughout each sample, most likely caused by aqueous fluid interactions forming secondary alteration products. The Ambatofotsy sample was the most altered while the Silver Crater sample was the least altered. All unheated samples were subject to a sulfuric acid leach over 6 h with the extent of uranium dissolution correlated with the degree of alteration. The most highly altered sample had 42% dissolution while the least-altered exhibited only 7%. Dissolution experiments over the temperature range 35–95 °C with lower activation energies recorded for the highly-altered samples compared to the less-altered samples. Moreover, increased leaching with increasing metamictisation was observed in studies using variable sulfuric acid concentrations. The compositional and microstructural results presented herein indicates that characterisation prior to leaching is beneficial in determining the feasibility and viability of processing betafite as a potential uranium resource.     

Kinetics of ultrasonic extraction of polyphenols,anthocyanins and tannins from five different New Zealand grape pomaces

Polyphenols were extracted from five kinds of New Zealand grape pomace (Sauvignon Blanc, Pinot Gris, Gerwurztraminer, Merlot and Pinot Noir) at 30, 50 and 70 °C in an ultrasonic generator. The extraction kinetics for total phenol, anthocyanin and tannin were determined. The results of dynamics study showed that the extraction of total polyphenols, anthocyanin and tannin followed first-order reaction kinetics during the extraction at 30, 50 and 70 °C. The total phenolic content, anthocyanin conten, and tannin content of water–ethanol extracts from grape pomaces were compared, and the parameters in the extraction kinetics equations were determined. The extraction results showed that the Pinot Noir pomace extract had the highest total phenolic content of 59.95 mg GAE g⁻¹ pomace and tannin content of 79.93 mg EE g⁻¹ pomace. The anthocyanin content in Merlot pomace extract was the highest, which was 4.50 CE g⁻¹ pomace. The results might be of great significance for the development of grape pomace or its polyphenol and/or anthocyanin components as an antioxidant source with natural and inexpensive benefits.     

Extraction of Mn(II) from NaCl solution by NaCl/sodium oleate/n-pentanol/n-heptane microemulsion system

A microemulsion (ME) consisting of sodium oleate, n-pentanol, n-heptane and sodium chloride (NaCl) solution was used for Mn(II) extraction. The cation exchange mechanism of Mn(II) extraction by sodium oleate (NaOL) was confirmed by the analysis of continuous variation of the NaOL concentration and the infrared spectrum. The effect of the extraction time, the cosurfactant type and volume fraction, the volume ratio of aqueous to ME (R), the initial concentration of Mn(II), temperature, pH and the NaCl concentration in aqueous phase on the extraction yield of Mn(II) were investigated. The extraction percentage of Mn(II) was up to 99% when R = 1. Both the extraction and re-extraction had good extraction efficiency. Therefore, the extraction of Mn(II) by NaCl/sodium oleate/n-pentanol/n-heptane ME is an effective approach.     

Recovery of polyphenols from camu-camu (Myrciaria dubia H.B.K. McVaugh) depulping residue by cloud point extraction

In this study the potential of cloud point extraction formed by a non-ionic surfactant was used in order to separate polyphenols from industrial residues of camu-camu. The effects of operational conditions of the cloud point extraction (CPE) on the polyphenol recovery and volumetric ratio were investigated. The results showed a maximum recovery of 95.71% that was obtained using 7.0 wt% Triton X-114, native pH (3.25), and 80 wt% polyphenol extract at 30 °C. The use of cloud point extraction was successful to recover the polyphenols from agroindustrial residue since it is a simple as well as of low-cost technique.     

Applications of Diglycolamide Based Solvent Extraction Processes in Spent Nuclear Fuel Reprocessing,Part 1: TODGA

Over the last decade there has been much interest in the applications of diglycolamide (DGA) ligands for the extraction of the trivalent lanthanide and actinide ions from PUREX high active raffinates or dissolved spent nuclear fuel. Of the DGAs, the N,N,N’,N’-tetraoctyldiglycolamide (TODGA) is the best known and most widely studied. A number of new actinide separation processes have been proposed based on extraction with TODGA. This review covers TODGA-based processes and extraction data, specifically focusing on how phase modifiers have been used to increase metal loading and thus enhance the operating process envelopes. Effects of third phase formation and the organic phase speciation are reviewed in this context. Relevant aspects of the extraction chemistry of important solvents (TODGA-modifier-diluent combinations) are described and their performances demonstrated by a consideration of the published flowsheet tests. It is seen that modifiers are successfully enabling the use of TODGA in actinide separation processes but to date the identification and testing of suitable modifiers has been rather empirical. There is a growing understanding of the fundamental chemistry occurring in the organic phase and how that affects extractant speciation and metal loading capacity but studies are still needed if TODGA-based flowsheets are to become an industrially deployable option for minor actinide (MA) recovery processes.     

Solution for the general integral‐type nonlocal plasticity model with Tikhonov regularization

A new solution approach, based on Tikhonov regularization on the Fredholm integral equations of the first kind, is proposed to find the approximate solutions of the strain softening problems. In this approach, the consistency condition is regularized with the Tikhonov stabilizers along with a regularization parameter, and the internal variable increments are solved from the resulting Euler's equations. It is shown that, as the regularization parameter is increased, the solutions converge to a unique one. A nonlocal yield condition and a nonlocal return mapping algorithm are proposed to carry out the integration of constitutive equations in the time and spatial domains. A global plastic dissipation principle is proposed to relax the classical local plastic dissipation postulate. Numerical examples show that the proposed approach leads to objective, mesh‐independent solutions of the softening‐induced localization problems. A comparison of the results from the proposed approach with those from the gradient‐dependent plasticity model shows that the two models give close solutions.