Spatial assessment of site suitability for solar desalination plants: a case study of the coastal regions of Turkey

Clean Technologies and Environmental Policy - Many countries, especially in arid and semiarid regions, suffer from water scarcity because of the decline in the existing freshwater reserves by...     

Stretchable poly(glycerol-sebacate)/β-tricalcium phosphate composites with shape recovery feature by extrusion

There has been a great interest in research towards elastomers and their composites with an attempt to obtain the desired biological and mechanical response to scaffold materials in bone tissue engineering. Composites made of ceramic-thermoplastic mixtures have been shown success to deliver the inorganic component while fail to provide replacement of an elastic protein, that is, collagen, of the target bone tissue. Thus, in order to match up with the inherent elasticity of the native tissue, it is proposed an alternative to well-known thermoplastic-containing matrices by using a poly(glycerol-sebacate) (PGS)–beta-tricalcium phosphate elastomeric composite to offer flexibility and mechanical integrity. This study reports for the first time a successful extrusion of PGS containing biodegradable composites with shape-memory feature. The resulting structures are physically and chemically characterized. In vitro cell culture performance of the obtained materials is investigated by using an MC3T3-E1 mouse preosteoblast cell line. The materials obtained in this study can be shaped into the desired size and various forms via temperature stimuli. Resulting materials have been proposed for craniofacial tissue engineering as a bone filler in which surgeons need to shape biomaterials during the surgical procedure due to the complex geometry of the bones. © 2019 Wiley Periodicals, Inc. J. Appl. Polym. Sci. 2019 , 137, 48689.     

Surface‐modified carbon black derived from used car tires as alternative,reusable, and regenerable catalysts for H2 release studies from sodium borohydride methanolysis

Carbon black (CB) obtained from used car tire rubbers were treated with concentrated sulfuric and nitric acids. The oxidized CB (CB‐COO‐Na⁺) is subsequently modified with epichlorohydrin (ECH) and amines including polyethylene imine (PEI). These modified CBs such as CB‐PEI are used as metal‐free catalysts in methanolysis of sodium borohydride (NaBH₄) to produce hydrogen. The hydrogen generation rate (HGR) of 3089 ± 44.69 mL.min^‐1.g^‐1 is accomplished at room temperature with CB‐PEI‐hydrochloric acid (HCl) catalyst. The resulting activation energy of 34.7 kJ/mol for the temperature range of ?20°C to +30°C compares favorably to most of alternative catalysts reported in literature while reaction catalyzing capabilities of CB‐PEI‐HCl particles extend to the subzero temperature range (?20°C‐0°C). The reuse and regeneration studies conducted for the CB‐PEI‐HCl catalyst showed that these catalysts do provide complete conversion at every use up to five consecutive runs and retain 50 ± 2.5% of the original hydrogen generation rate at the fifth consecutive reuse. The CBs‐based catalysts are fully regenerated with HCl treatment.     

An agile production network enabled by reconfigurable manufacturing systems

Emergencies, and efforts to address them, create disruptions to local and global supply chains and surges in demand of emergency resources, which substantially affect global production. Reconfigurable manufacturing systems are promising solutions to improve flexibility and to reduce the effort needed to adapt supply chains and production networks to fit a perturbed environment. This paper proposes a method for coordination of reconfigurable manufacturing resources from multiple enterprises to structure ad-hoc production networks for critical products required in emergencies. Network optimization models and interaction algorithms are integrated to evolve the production network through synchronous machine-level and network-level reconfiguration driven by data.     

A simplified method for instability and second‐order load effects of framed structures: Story‐based approach

Several building codes such as ANSI/AISC 360‐16 and EC3 EN 1993‐1‐1 require the use of a proper design method to consider instability and second‐order load effect problems for individual system elements and the entire structural system. Various methods are available to assess stability. All of these methods should consider P‐Δ and P‐δ effects (second‐order effects). The following calculation procedures are presented in this study: (a) a simplified method is developed for P‐Δ and P‐δ analysis in regular frames under the effect of constant axial loads to obtain story drifts and end moments; (b) this method can be applied to an entire building or any individual story, that is, story‐based design is possible; and (c) column effective length factors are obtained for individual columns. In addition, design tables are presented.     

Catalytic wet oxidation of phenol in a trickle bed reactor over a Pt/TiO2 catalyst

Catalytic wet oxidation of phenol was studied in a batch and a trickle bed reactor using 4.45% Pt/TiO2 catalyst in the temperature range 150-205 degrees C. Kinetic data were obtained from batch reactor studies and used to model the reaction kinetics for phenol disappearance and for total organic carbon disappearance. Trickle bed experiments were then performed to generate data from a heterogeneous flow reactor. Catalyst deactivation was observed in the trickle bed reactor, although the exact cause was not determined. Deactivation was observed to linearly increase with the cumulative amount of phenol that had passed over the catalyst bed. Trickle bed reactor modeling was performed using a three-phase heterogeneous model. Model parameters were determined from literature correlations, batch derived kinetic data, and trickle bed derived catalyst deactivation data. The model equations were solved using orthogonal collocations on finite elements. Trickle bed performance was successfully predicted using the batch derived kinetic model and the three-phase reactor model. Thus, using the kinetics determined from limited data in the batch mode, it is possible to predict continuous flow multiphase reactor performance.     

Catalytic wet oxidation of phenol over a Pt/TiO catalyst

Wet oxidation of phenol by air or oxygen over a Pt/TiO₂ catalyst is studied in a batch reactor in the temperature range 150–200°C, pressure range 34–82 atm, and a catalyst loading range of 0–4 g catalyst L⁻¹. The catalyst was powdered 4.45% Pt/TiO₂ with a maximum particle size of 105 μm. Results show complete oxidation of phenol and almost complete total organic carbon (TOC) removal. Small amounts of stable organic acids are formed in side reactions of the phenol degradation pathway and are not readily degraded. Experimental results show that the reaction rate decreases by increased oxygen concentration. Theoretical rate expressions are derived, based on postulated oxidation and TOC reduction mechanisms.