Desalination in Australia - past and future

Despite Australia's vast arid areas, Australia only has a very small proportion of the world's installed desalination capacity. This paper surveys the current plants, and outlines some of the operational problems that have occurred. Demineralisation plants are also considered. The water resources of Australia are reviewed, and areas delineated where desalination might be applicable. Within the context of the energy sources available in different localities, the potential applicability of various desalination technologies - distillation, RO, ED and VC -is discussed.     

Advances and future prospects in copper electrowinning

In recent years research on the electrowinning of copper has led to a number of significant advances. These developments include improved mass transfer and higher current density operation through air sparging, reduced anode overvoltage in the conventional cell as a result of cobalt(II) addition to the electrolyte or the use of alternative types of anodes, and the production of high quality cathodes in the electrowinning of copper from solvent extraction strip liquor. The fluidized-bed cathode offers the possibility of continuous electrowinning as well as the direct electrowinning of copper from dilute solutions. The problem of high power consumption may find its solution in the adoption of an alternate anode reaction or in the electrowinning of copper (I) electrolytes. Noteworthy is the development of unique electrowinning cells in conjunction with the hydrometallurgical treatment of copper concentrates. These cells utilize cuprous or ferrous anodic oxidation with the resulting cupric or ferric ions being active lixiviants of sulphide copper minerals. The numerous advances combined with the increasing tonnage of copper being produced by the electrowinning route ensure an interesting and promising future for this process.     

Desalination costs in Australia: A survey of operating plants

A survey of desalination costs in Australia was conducted using data obtained from plant operators, and is reported in second quarter 1986 A$. Unit water costs range from $0.76/kL (for a precursor to deionisation for boiler feed) to $14/kL (for emergency supplies for an island resort).

However, an average figure for desalination of brackish water is $3–$4/kL, and for seawater, $5–10/kL in medium-sized installations.

Capital costs for brackish water plants have been correlated with plant design capacity ranging from 10 to 3400 kL/d.

There is insufficient information to allow a proper comparison between reverse osmosis and electrodialysis for brackish water desalination.     

微/纳反应器的研究现状及发展前景

微化工系统已经成为解决许多高新技术领域的化工过程问题的关键,而微反应器作为微化工系统的核心已经成为研究的热点之一。本文着重分析了微反应器的概念、分类及其性能优势,总结出近年来国内外微反应器的研究发展情况和存在的问题,并对发展前景进行了展望。     

Azobenzene disperse dyes-past development and future prospects

The development of azobenzene disperse dyes is briefly reviewed. Some factors affecting the current application of these dye types are examined and future developments are considered.     

Recent progress and future prospects of oil-absorbing materials

Oil and organic solvent contamination, derived from oil spills and organic solvent leakage, has been recognized as one of the major environmental issues imposing a serious threat to both human and ecosystem health. Among the various presented technologies applied for oil/water separation, oil absorption process has been explored widely and offers satisfactory results especially with surface modified oil-absorbing material and/or hybrid absorbents. In this review, we summarize the recent research activities involved in the designing strategies of oil-absorbing absorbents and their application in oil absorption. Then, an extensive list of various oil-absorbing materials from literature, including polymer materials, porous inorganic materials and biomass materials, has been compiled and the oil adsorption capacities toward various types of oils and organic solvents as available in the literature are presented along with highlighting and discussing the various factors involved in the designing of oil-absorbing absorbents tested so far for oil/water separation. Finally, some future trends and perspectives in oil-absorbing material are outlined.     

8月份国内硫磺市场分析及后市展望

1 硫磺市场分析 8月份国内硫磺市场上涨的趋势已经开始放缓,8月下旬硫磺人民币市场价格开始小幅下滑,尤其以青岛、天津为代表的北方市场更为突出.近期人民币市场价格回落的主要原因是进口贸易商利润缩水,在目前硫磺下游市场低靡的情况下,贸易商为了规避风险已经很少追求前期的较高利润,多采取短线操作.     

Carbon containing castables: current status and future prospects

Abstract

Measures to overcome the main technical di fficulties hindering the development and application of carbon containing castables are discussed. The aqueous wettability and dispersion properties of graphite can be improved by coating with materials such as carbides (SiC) and oxides (Al₂O₃, TiO₂, SiO₂, MgO, ZrO₂) or by forming micropellets / briquettes. Thick and dense crack free coatings are needed not only to improve the aqueous wettability and dispersion of graphite, but also its oxidation resistance. Small and dense micropellets or briquettes enable a homogeneous distribution of graphite in the matrix to be achieved, along with acceptable mechanical strength and corrosion resistance. Coating techniques have also been used to improve the hydration resistance of aluminium based antioxidants, but detailed studies in this area are still needed. The main binder systems are currently based on superfine silica fume and hydratable alumina as these do not form low melting phases in castables. As well as developing the existing coating and micropellet/briquette fabrication techniques, future work will continue to seek novel methods of incorporating graphite, and will begin to investigate installation methods and drying and heating schedules.     

Desalination in Mexico

For the last 20 years Mexico has been gradually installing desalination plants for a diversity of purposes. Within the Mexican government desalination acitivities have been promoted by two agencies. The first has been responsible for desalination in service of better quality water for power generation while in the alternate the emphasis has been in brackish and saline water conversion for community potable and consumer related water supplies. The private sector has in most instances also relied on the government agencies for satisfying of industrial needs but not to the exclusion of private industry desalination plant construction.The paper presents the facts on accomplishments here. It comments on the effectiveness of the approach utilized by the government agencies active in the field and on the possible and potential impact of the use of desalination by the private sector.     

超声波脱盐技术在常压电脱盐中的应用

永坪炼油厂200万吨/年常压蒸馏装置自2010年7月对电脱盐系统进行技术改造——采用超声波脱盐技术。通过近8个月的投用效果看,达到了厂下达的脱后含盐指标3.0 mg/L。该技术可完全替代破乳剂,投资回收期短,是一项无污染、零排放、低能耗、效果好的绿色环保型新技术。     

浅谈煤转化技术的发展现状和应用前景

主要论述了煤热解、煤气化、煤液化3种煤转化的技术特点、开发研究方向和工业应用发展现状;指出了3种技术在未来发展中具有非常广阔的应用前景和发展潜力。     

Trends in use and prospects for the future harvest of world fisheries resources

Estimates of the potential yield from the marine environment have varied between 20–1000 million metric tons because they were based on poor and incomplete data and differing approaches to trophic level evaluation. The data is improving slightly and the estimates are beginning to agree within half an order of magnitude. We believe that the yield of marine fisheries could ultimately be expanded to ca. 400 million metric tons, by utilizing presently known but underutilized resources, by opening new fisheries in areas like the Indian Ocean and Antarctic and by improving systems of regulating the catch and fishing effort. In order to meet the maximum potential of the marine environment we will have to harvest at a lower trophic level in the food chain because most fish in higher trophic levels are being harvested at their maximum sustainable yield. This increasing harvest of smaller fish, plus the increasing demand for fishmeal for animal feed will cause an increasing proportion of the fish harvested to be used for reduction to fishmeal and oil. One of 11 papers presented in the symposium “World Supply of Edible Oils and Proteins,” Atlantic City, October 1971.     

Contribution of lignite in the Greek electricity generation: Review and future prospects

In the present study, a review of the lignite-based electricity generation in Greece is presented. By using real, long-term data concerning the national electricity generation and an appropriate mathematical model developed from first principles, it is expected that the lignite’s depletion time shall vary from 25 to 50 years. Acknowledging its finite character, an investigation is carried out in order to assess the future prospects of lignite in the national electricity status. For this purpose, emphasis is also given on the impacts entailed by the former exploitation for electricity purposes on both the local environment and the national economy.