Manipulation of the ash flow temperature and viscosity of a carbonaceous Sasol waste stream

In 2001 Sasol investigated the possibility to convert a Sasol-Lurgi MK III fixed bed dry bottom coal gasifier at the former Sasolburg coal-to-liquids plant to a slagging gasification process and selected the Lurgi Multi Purpose Gasification (MPG) process for this purpose. At the time the MPG process was considered as a possible technology option suitable for the gasification of feedstocks which are difficult to manage, for example solid-liquid mixtures which are unsuitable for conventional solids or liquids processes and furthermore tars with a large variety of properties and high solids content have been gasified successfully.The most obvious differences between the feedstocks previously gasified, compared to the Sasol dusty tar, were found to be the viscosity and melting point of the dusty tar. The viscosity of the Sasol dusty tar mixture (as received) was higher than a factor of 10 of the previously used feedstocks. Another important feedstock property is the ash melting point of the feed within the gasifier. Ash particles fed with the tar melt in the high temperature zone of the flame. Molten ash particles, which hit the gasifier wall, will solidify and stick to the wall, if the wall temperature is below the melting point of the ash. The melting point of the dusty tar ash is 1380 °C and a fluxing agent has to be added to the dusty in order to reduce the melting temperature below 1250 °C to limit excessive wear of the refractory lining.Two approaches were evaluated in order to lower the viscosity, i.e. milling of the dusty tar and addition of low viscosity feedstocks to the dusty tar. It was concluded from this study that the viscosity of dusty tar can be decreased with the addition of specific waste solvent streams. The ash fusion temperatures of dusty tar can be lowered with the addition of a fluxing agent. The addition of spent Fe-catalyst as fluxing agent was also investigated, but was found to be not as effective as limestone. In some cases the addition of Fe can cause the acid/base ratio to change in such a way that the ash fusion temperature increases.In conclusion it can be highlighted that the ash flow temperature and viscosity of the Sasol dusty tar stream, and possibly other carbonaceous sources as well, can be decreased to acceptable values for slagging gasification applications. The results clearly show in both oxidizing and reducing atmospheres the Fe-catalyst was transformed into the slag melt as either Fe₂O₃ under oxidizing conditions and FeO under reducing conditions. The slag showed no sign of metallic Fe and was very homogeneous under oxidizing and reducing conditions. Spent Fe-catalyst can be discarded in a safe and environmentally acceptable way during high temperature gasification.     

Relationships between process effects and treating time for waterborne preservative systems

Timber from different Eucalyptus species were subjected to different vacuum and vacuum/pressure treatments involving water as a treating medium. It was found that a vacuum period of five minutes gave the most time effective absorption rate. This is recommended to be used as the initial vacuum period for the vacuum/pressure treatments under the conditions of this study. The time to reach the maximum applied pressure inside the treating cylinder, as well as the pressure period required for an absorption of 200 kg/m³, were highly dependent on the applied pressure, yielding a very steep negative correlation between the variables, (i.e. the higher the applied pressure, the more time effective the treatment). The relationship between pressure absorption and time was found to be positive and curvilinear with absorption rate decreasing progressively as the absorption increased. This became more pronounced as the applied pressure was decreased. Lowering the pressure pump capacity had very little effect on the above results.     

Employee acceptability of wearable mental workload monitoring: exploring effects of framing the goal and context in corporate communication

Cognition, Technology & Work - Development of wearable mental workload (MWL) measures thrives, especially as leveraged by Industry 4.0. When employees object to wearing such gauges; however,...     

Sensory and functional meat quality characteristics of pork derived from three halothane genotypes

The effect of the halothane gene in pigs on the meat and sensory qualities thereof were determined. Meat derived from 60 Landrace×Large White pigs of three halothane genotypes was used. The sensory qualities, cooking loss, colour, shear value and proximate analysis of the cooked pork loin roasts were determined. The three genotypes did not differ significantly (P>0.05) with regard to the colour of the cooked meat, percentage cooking loss and percentage moisture. There were significant differences (P<0.05) between the genotypes in the percentage protein, ash and fat. Meat from the three genotypes also differed significantly (P<0.05) in juiciness, an analytical sensory panel scored the juiciness of meat from the NN-genotype the highest with a value of 71.3 when using a structured line scale. Meat from the nn-genotype had the lowest score for juiciness (62.8). Meat from the three genotypes did not differ significantly (P>0.05) with regard to tenderness, pork flavour and no mealiness. Correlation values showed a positive correlation (r=0.46, P<0.05) between juiciness and tenderness. These results indicate that the inclusion of the halothane gene in pig production programmes results in meat with an inferior quality and it can be recommended to exclude the halothane positive genotype from any pig production system where fresh pork quality is considered a primary goal.     

First commissioning results with the Grenoble test electron cyclotron resonance ion source at iThemba LABS

iThemba Laboratory for Accelerator Based Science (iThemba LABS) is a multi-disciplinary accelerator facility. One of its main activities is the operation of a separated-sector cyclotron with a K-value of 200, which provides beams of various ion species. These beams are used for fundamental nuclear physics research in the intermediate energy region, radioisotope production, and medical physics applications. Due to the requirements of nuclear physics for new ion species and higher energies, the decision was made to install a copy of the so-called Grenoble test source (GTS) at iThemba LABS. In this paper, we will report on the experimental setup and the first results obtained with the GTS2 at iThemba LABS.     

Determinants of electricity demand for newly electrified low-income African households

Access to clean, affordable and appropriate energy is an important enabler of development. Energy allows households to meet their most basic subsistence needs; it is a central feature of all the millennium development goals (MDGs) and, while a lack of access to energy may not be a cause of poverty, addressing the energy needs of the impoverished lets them access services which in turn address the causes of poverty.     

The Structural Chemistry of Metallocorroles: Combined X-ray Crystallography and Quantum Chemistry Studies Afford Unique Insights

Although they share some superficial structural similarities with porphyrins, corroles, trianionic ligands with contracted cores, give rise to fundamentally different transition metal complexes in comparison with the dianionic porphyrins. Many metallocorroles are formally high-valent, although a good fraction of them are also noninnocent, with significant corrole radical character. These electronic-structural characteristics result in a variety of fascinating spectroscopic behavior, including highly characteristic, paramagnetically shifted NMR spectra and textbook cases of charge-transfer spectra. Although our early research on corroles focused on spectroscopy, we soon learned that the geometric structures of metallocorroles provide a fascinating window into their electronic-structural characteristics. Thus, we used X-ray structure determinations and quantum chemical studies, chiefly using DFT, to obtain a comprehensive understanding of metallocorrole geometric and electronic structures. This Account describes our studies of the structural chemistry of metallocorroles. At first blush, the planar or mildly domed structure of metallocorroles might appear somewhat uninteresting particularly when compared to metalloporphyrins. Metalloporphyrins, especially sterically hindered ones, are routinely ruffled or saddled, but the missing meso carbon apparently makes the corrole skeleton much more resistant to nonplanar distortions. Ruffling, where the pyrrole rings are alternately twisted about the M-N bonds, is energetically impossible for metallocorroles. Saddling is also uncommon; thus, a number of sterically hindered, fully substituted metallocorroles exhibit almost perfectly planar macrocycle cores. Against this backdrop, copper corroles stand out as an important exception. As a result of an energetically favorable Cu(d(x2-y2))-corrole(π) orbital interaction, copper corroles, even sterically unhindered ones, are inherently saddled. Sterically hindered substituents accentuate this effect, sometimes dramatically. Thus, a crystal structure of a copper β-octakis(trifluoromethyl)-meso-triarylcorrole complex exhibits nearly orthogonal, adjacent pyrrole rings. Intriguingly, the formally isoelectronic silver and gold corroles are much less saddled than their copper congeners because the high orbital energy of the valence d(x2-y2) orbital discourages overlap with the corrole π orbital. A crystal structure of a gold β-octakis(trifluoromethyl)-meso-triarylcorrole complex exhibits a perfectly planar corrole core, which translates to a difference of 85° in the saddling dihedral angles between analogous copper and gold complexes. Gratifyingly, electrochemical, spectroscopic, and quantum chemical studies provide a coherent, theoretical underpinning for these fascinating structural phenomena. With the development of facile one-pot syntheses of corrole macrocycles in the last 10-15 years, corroles are now almost as readily accessible as porphyrins. Like porphyrins, corroles are promising building blocks for supramolecular constructs such as liquid crystals and metal-organic frameworks. However, because of their symmetry properties, corrole-based supramolecular constructs will probably differ substantially from porphyrin-based ones. We are particularly interested in exploiting the inherently saddled, chiral architectures of copper corroles to create novel oriented materials such as chiral liquid crystals. We trust that the fundamental structural principles uncovered in this Account will prove useful as we explore these fascinating avenues.