Deacetylated Cellulose Acetate/Polyurethane Composite Nanofiber Membranes with Highly Efficient Oil/Water Separation and Excellent Mechanical Properties

Nowadays, oil pollution has become more serious, which causes great threats both to the ecological environment and human life. In this study, a novel type of multifunctional deacetylated cellulose acetate/polyurethane (d-M_CA:M_TPU) composite nanofiber membranes for oil/water separation are successfully fabricated by electrospinning, which show super-amphiphilicity in air, super-hydrophilicity in oil, and oleophobicity in water. All the d-M_CA:M_TPU composite nanofiber membranes with different mass ratios can be used as water-removing, oil-removing, and emulsion separation substance only by gravity driving force. The highest separation flux for water and oil reaches up to 37 000 and 74 000 L m⁻² h⁻¹, respectively, and all the separation efficiencies are more than 99%. They have outstanding comprehensive mechanics performance, which can be controlled by simply adjusting the mass ratios. They show excellent antifouling and self-cleaning ability, endowing powerful cyclic stability and reusability. Those results show that d-M_CA:M_TPU composite nanofiber membranes have great application prospects in oil/water separation.     

Influence of accelerated curing on the compressive strength of polymer-modified concrete

In recent building practice, rapid construction is one of the principal requisites. Furthermore, in designing concrete structures, compressive strength is the most significant of all parameters. While 3-d and 7-d compressive strength reflects the strengths at early phases, the ultimate strength is paramount. An effort has been made in this study to develop mathematical models for predicting compressive strength of concrete incorporating ethylene vinyl acetate (EVA) at the later phases. Kolmogorov-Smirnov (KS) goodness-of-fit test was used to examine distribution of the data. The compressive strength of EVA-modified concrete was studied by incorporating various concentrations of EVA as an admixture and by testing at ages of 28, 56, 90, 120, 210, and 365 d. An accelerated compressive strength at 3.5 hours was considered as a reference strength on the basis of which all the specified strengths were predicted by means of linear regression fit. Based on the results of KS goodness-of-fit test, it was concluded that KS test statistics value (D) in each case was lower than the critical value 0.521 for a significance level of 0.05, which demonstrated that the data was normally distributed. Based on the results of compressive strength test, it was concluded that the strength of EVA-modified specimens increased at all ages and the optimum dosage of EVA was achieved at 16% concentration. Furthermore, it was concluded that predicted compressive strength values lies within a 6% difference from the actual strength values for all the mixes, which indicates the practicability of the regression equations. This research work may help in understanding the role of EVA as a viable material in polymer-based cement composites.     

高性能三水醋酸钠-尿素-膨胀石墨混合相变材料的制备及其在电地暖中的应用性能

采用尿素调节三水醋酸钠的相变温度到合适范围再添加膨胀石墨来降低过冷度，研制了高性能的三水醋酸钠-尿素-膨胀石墨混合相变材料，并对其在电地暖中的应用性能进行了研究。结果表明，当尿素质量分数为36.5%、膨胀石墨添加量为4%(质量)时，所得混合相变材料的熔化焓高达209.1 J/g，熔点在31.98℃，过冷度仅为2.04℃，热导率为2.349 W/(m·K)，热可靠性良好；将用该混合相变材料制成的相变板安装在实验房的电地暖中时，实验房的热舒适度随着相变材料层厚度的增加而增加，但也带来加热时间和用电量的增加；当相变材料层厚度为10 mm时，电加热温度适宜设置在45℃；在热舒适度相当的条件下，有相变板的实验房与无相变板的参比房相比具有用电量小及电费低的优势。     

Cyanidation of Gold Associated with Silver Minerals in Sulfide Mineral Matrices

Lead salt stimulated the dissolution of gold when gold associated with silver minerals was interspersed in the silica or in the pyrite‐silica layer. Gold dissolution was likewise promoted through lead addition for chalcopyrite‐silica and the sphalerite‐silica systems. Lead addition did not boost gold dissolution and a recovery of 6.9 % was achieved for gold and silver minerals dispersed in stibnite. Lead pretreatment also enhanced gold recovery except for the stibnite‐silica system. Gold surface‐passivating films were observed for gold associated with silver minerals and stibnite.     

Coproduction of Ethyl Acetate and n‐Butyl Acetate by Using a Reactive Dividing‐Wall Column

The performance of the reactive distillation dividing‐wall column for coproduction of ethyl acetate and butyl acetate was experimentally studied. n‐Butanol and ethanol are raw reaction materials that react with acetic acid in the reaction zone to produce n‐butyl acetate and ethyl acetate, respectively. n‐Butyl acetate is not only a product, but also acts to remove water generated by the esterification reactions. The effects of various parameters, such as catalyst loading per stage, reflux ratio, liquid split and molar feed ratios, ethyl acetate/n‐butyl acetate purity, pressure drop, and total energy consumption, are investigated. Results show that ethanol could be completely converted and the products could be easily separated, which shows great industrial application potential in the coproduction of ethyl acetate and n‐butyl acetate.     

H3PW12O40/酸改性硅藻土催化剂的制备、表征及催化合成乙酸正丁酯

以硫酸改性后的硅藻土为载体，Keggin结构磷钨酸为活性组分，通过浸渍法制备出负载型催化剂H₃PW₁₂O₄₀/改性硅藻土，并对催化剂进行傅里叶变换红外光谱（FTIR）、X射线衍射（XRD）、扫描电镜（SEM）、X射线能谱（EDS）和N₂-程序升温脱附（N₂-TPD）表征。结果表明：酸改性后硅藻土的微孔增大增多，比表面积增大。H₃PW₁₂O₄₀均匀分布在改性硅藻土载体上，负载后磷钨酸仍保持Keggin结构。以H₃PW₁₂O₄₀/改性硅藻土为催化剂催化乙酸和正丁醇液相合成乙酸正丁酯，通过正交试验探索优化工艺条件。在较优工艺条件下，即w(40%H₃PW₁₂O₄₀/改性硅藻土)=1.1%（基于反应物质量），n(酸)∶n(醇)=1∶3，125℃反应2.0h，酯化率高达98.1%。催化剂重复催化使用5次，酯化率仍可达86.1%。H₃PW₁₂O₄₀/改性硅藻土可作为催化合成乙酸正丁酯的高效催化剂，具有活性高、用量少、价格低廉、制备简单、后处理简便、无废液排放等优点。     

Effect of cellulose acetate/cellulose triacetate ratio on reverse osmosis blend membrane performance

Surface functionalization and modification including the grafting process are effective approaches to improve and enhance the reverse osmosis (RO) membrane performance. This work is aimed to synthesize grafted/crosslinked cellulose acetate (CA)/cellulose triacetate (CTA) blend RO membranes using N-isopropylacrylamide (N-IPAAm) as a monomer and N,N-methylene bisacrylamide (MBAAm) as a crosslinker. The morphology of these membranes was analyzed by scanning electron microscopy and their surface roughness was characterized by atomic force microscopy. The performance of these membranes was evaluated through measuring two major parameters of salt rejection and water flux using RO unit at variable operating pressures. It was noted that the surface average roughness obviously decreased from 148 nm for the pure CA/CTA blend membrane with 2.5% CTA to 110 nm and 87 nm for the grafted N-IPAAm and grafted/crosslinked N-IPAAM/MBAAm/CA/CTA-RO membranes, respectively. Moreover, the contact angle decreased from 51.98° to 47.6° and 43.8° after the grafting and crosslinking process. The salt rejection of the grafted CA/CTA-RO membrane by 0.1% N-IPAAm produced the highest value of 98.12% and the water flux was 3.29 L/m²h at 10 bar.     

Fabrication of zinc‐loaded hollow glass microspheres (HGMs) for hydrogen storage

The greatest challenge for a feasible hydrogen economy lies on the production of pure hydrogen and the materials for its storage with controlled release at ambient conditions. Hydrogen with its great abundance, high energy density and clean exhaust is a promising candidate to meet the current global challenges of fossil fuel depletion and green house gases emissions. Extensive research on hollow glass microspheres (HGMs) for hydrogen storage is being carried out world‐wide, but the right material for hydrogen storage is yet underway. But many other characteristics, such as the poor thermal conductivity etc. of the HGMs, restrict the hydrogen storage capacity. In this work, we have attempted to increase the thermal conductivity of HGMs by ZnO doping. The HGMs with Zn weight percentage from 0 to 10 were prepared by flame spheroidization of amber‐colored glass powder impregnated with the required amount of zinc acetate. The prepared HGMs samples were characterized using field emission‐scanning electron microscope (FE‐SEM), environmental SEM (ESEM), high‐resolution transmission electron microscopy (HRTEM), Fourier transform infrared spectroscopy and X‐ray diffraction (XRD) techniques. The deposition of ZnO on the microsphere walls was observed using FE‐SEM, ESEM and HRTEM which was further confirmed using the XRD and ultraviolet–visible absorption data. The hydrogen storage studies done on these samples at 200 °C and 10‐bar pressure for 5 h showed that the hydrogen storage increased when the Zn percentage in the sample increased from 0 to 2%. The percentage of zinc beyond 2, in the microspheres, showed a decline in the hydrogen storage capacity. The closure of the nanopores due to the ZnO nanocrystal deposition on the microsphere surface reduced the hydrogen storage capacity. The hydrogen storage capacity of HAZn2 was found 3.26 wt% for 10‐bar pressure at 200 °C. Copyright © 2015 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.     

助剂对聚醋酸乙烯酯乳液涂料对比率的影响

研究分析了聚醋酸乙烯酯(PVAc)乳液涂料中,各功能助剂(纤维素、丙二醇、聚丙烯酸钠盐、十二碳醇酯)对涂料对比率的影响。通过对实验数据的分析比较,得到结论:增稠剂纤维素用量增加对涂料对比率无明显影响;分散剂聚丙烯酸钠盐用量增加到6g时涂料对比率最高;聚结剂十二碳醇酯用量增加使对比率呈上升趋势;成膜助剂丙二醇质量的增加使涂料对比率呈无规律变化。