The steric effect of exfoliation agent for fabrication of layer niobium oxide nanosheet

In this research, the steric effect of an exfoliation agent between n-ethylamine and triethylamine for the fabrication of Ca₂Nb₃O₁₀⁻ nanosheet was investigated. The experimental results revealed that the different structures of the exfoliation agent have affected to fabrication of Ca₂Nb₃O₁₀⁻ nanosheet. The use of n-ethylamine as an exfoliation agent gave a maximum exfoliation efficiency of 10 wt.% while the maximum exfoliation efficiency of triethylamine was 90 wt.%. The result showed that the difference in exfoliation efficiency was caused by the steric effect of exfoliation agents. The image of transmission electron microscopy exhibited Ca₂Nb₃O₁₀⁻ nanosheets which were formed by exfoliation of HCa₂Nb₃O₁₀. Furthermore, the reaction time for liquid exfoliation was studied in this work. The reaction time at 4 h gave a maximum of exfoliation efficiency. The Ca₂Nb₃O₁₀⁻ suspension was tested capability to remove hazardous ions. After the experiment, we found the white precipitate which was the formation of CsCa₂Nb₃O₁₀. The result showed that the Ca₂Nb₃O₁₀⁻ nanosheet was efficient for the removal of Cs⁺ ions in the wastewater.     

Optimizing the Tyrosinase Inhibitory and Antioxidant Activity of Mango Seed Kernels with a Response Surface Methodology

This study describes the optimization of polyphenol extraction from mango seed kernels by using response surface methodology (RSM). In the solid-to-liquid selection, the extraction yield, total phenolic content (TPC), antioxidant activity, and tyrosinase inhibitory activity are all significantly increased with a decrease in the solid-to-liquid ratio (P?<?0.05). Between the Nam-Dok-Mai kernel (NDK) and the Tong-Dam kernel (TDK), the TDK was chosen for RSM with a fixed ratio of 1:30 solid-to-liquid. The variables in the independent processing were the concentrations of ethanol, the temperature, and the time applied to RSM. Ethanol concentration, temperature, and duration had significant individual and interactive effects on phenolic yield and antioxidant activities (P?<?0.05). The optimized condition that maximized the extraction yields, TPC, and antioxidant activities from TDK was an ethanol concentration of 62 %, a temperature of 63 °C, and a duration of 150 min. The obtained and validated optimized model could be used to describe the effect of these variables on the extraction of phenolic compounds from mango seed kernels.     

Development of a practical Monte Carlo based fuel management system for the Penn State University Breazeale Research Reactor (PSBR)

A practical fuel management system for the he Pennsylvania State University Breazeale Research Reactor (PSBR) based on the advanced Monte Carlo methodology was developed from the existing fuel management tool in this research. Several modeling improvements were implemented to the old system. The improved fuel management system can now utilize the burnup dependent cross section libraries generated specifically for PSBR fuel and it is also able to update the cross sections of these libraries by the Monte Carlo calculation automatically. Considerations were given to balance the computation time and the accuracy of the cross section update. Thus, certain types of a limited number of isotopes, which are considered “important”, are calculated and updated by the scheme. Moreover, the depletion algorithm of the existing fuel management tool was replaced from the predictor only to the predictor-corrector depletion scheme to account for burnup spectrum changes during the burnup step more accurately. An intermediate verification of the fuel management system was performed to assess the correctness of the newly implemented schemes against HELIOS. It was found that the agreement of both codes is good when the same energy released per fission (Q values) is used. Furthermore, to be able to model the reactor at various temperatures, the fuel management tool is able to utilize automatically the continuous cross sections generated at different temperatures. Other additional useful capabilities were also added to the fuel management tool to make it easy to use and be practical. As part of the development, a hybrid nodal diffusion/Monte Carlo calculation was devised to speed up the Monte Carlo calculation by providing more converged initial source distribution for the Monte Carlo calculation from the nodal diffusion calculation. Finally, the fuel management system was validated against the measured data using several actual PSBR core loadings. The agreement of the predicted core excess reactivities and the measured values is found to be good considering the measurement uncertainties.     

Heterogeneous catalysis of transesterification of soybean oil using KI/mesoporous silica

Heterogeneous catalysis of transesterification using KI/mesoporous silica catalyst was utilized to produce biodiesel from soybean oil and methanol. The effects of reaction temperature, percentage of KI loading, reaction time, and amount of catalyst on the conversion to methyl ester were studied. The results showed that increasing reaction temperature, KI loading and reaction time can enhance the conversion. The optimum condition was the reaction temperature at 70 °C, 15 wt.% of KI, a reaction time of 8 h., and a catalyst amount of 5.0% by weight of the oil which yielded 90.09% of the conversion. The fuel properties of biodiesel from the optimum condition were tested and found that only viscosity showed over standard. However, the high viscosity can be reduced by separation of non-reacting soybean oil.     

High Catalytic Activity of a Nickel Phosphide Nanocatalyst Supported on Melamine-Doped Activated Carbon for Deoxygenation

Topics in Catalysis - Nickel-based catalysts are inexpensive and exhibit high catalytic activity; therefore, they have been extensively explored in deoxygenation reactions. Employing catalyst...     

Properties of gelatin films from giant catfish skin and bovine bone: a comparative study

Edible films were prepared from the gelatin of farmed giant catfish skin (GC) (Pangasianodon gigas), bovine bone gelatin (BB) and their combination. The physical, mechanical, thermal and chemical properties of the resulting films were characterized and compared. The molecular weight distributions of the giant catfish skin gelatin-containing samples had high quantities of α-chains, β-components and high molecular weight cross-links. The bovine bone gelatin-containing samples showed low contents of major bands with high degradation band components. The GC films had higher water activity (0.45) and mechanical properties [tensile strength: TS 41 MPa and elongation at break: EAB 34 (%)] but lower thickness (38 μm) and water vapor permeability than those of BB films. The lowest light transmission (200–800 nm) and film transparency (3.34) were found in the GC films. However, the color attribute (L, a and b) of BB films was closer to the low-density polyethylene commercial film (ΔE 1.2). The highest value of film and protein solubility (100%) was found in BB film, while the lowest value (41–56%) was found in GC film. The GC films showed the most compact, smooth and continuous surface without porous structures, which corresponds to the greater properties of films.     

MCOR – Monte Carlo depletion code for reference LWR calculations

The MCOR (MCnp-kORigen) code system is a Monte Carlo based depletion system for reference fuel assembly and core calculations. The MCOR code is designed as an interfacing code that provides depletion capability to the LANL Monte Carlo code by coupling two codes: MCNP5 with the AREVA NP depletion code, KORIGEN. The physical quality of both codes is unchanged.     

Accuracy evaluation of pin exposure calculations in current LWR core design codes

The deregulated utility environment and better utilization of fuel assemblies in nuclear power plants has allowed designers to burn fuel assemblies to maximum allowable exposures. Any uncertainties, associated with the technical approach and numerical methods used to perform pin exposure calculations may cause either peak power exposure to exceed the Nuclear Regulatory Commission (NRC) exposure limit or lead to excessive conservatism and thus inefficient fuel utilization. In this work, a Monte Carlo based coupled depletion code (MCNP5/ORIGEN-S) is utilized to provide reference solutions in order to assess the accuracy of pin power and pin exposure reconstruction methods in the current commercial and licensed three-dimensional (3D) nodal Light Water Reactor (LWR) core design codes. The developed at the Pennsylvania State University (PSU) MCNP5/ORIGEN-S coupled depletion code system was validated using measured data from the PSU TRIGA research reactor critical experiments.     

Effect of Drying Methods on Odorous Compounds and Antioxidative Activity of Gelatin Hydrolysate Produced by Protease from B. amyloliquefaciens H11

Gelatin hydrolysates with antioxidative activity produced by protease from Bacillus amyloliquefaciens H11 with different hydrolysis times were prepared. Alpha-amino group content and antioxidative activities increased with increasing hydrolysis time (p < 0.05). When gelatin hydrolysate prepared with hydrolysis time of 3 h (GH-3H) was subjected to freeze drying and spray drying, the powder obtained from spray drying showed a decrease in antioxidant activity as measured by DPPH and ABTS radical scavenging activities, ferric-reducing antioxidant power, and metal chelating activity. Spray-dried gelatin hydrolysate (GH-3H-SD) showed higher whiteness with lower fishy odor and off-odor associated with fermentation. This was concomitant with the decreases in several odorous compounds in the sample, except for nonanal, which was higher in comparison with the powder obtained by freeze drying. Thus, spray drying could be an effective drying method to improve color and reduce undesirable odor of gelatin hydrolysate.     

Polyisoprene modified poly(alkyl acrylate) foam as oil sorbent material

Biorenewable polyisoprene latex obtained from natural rubber, Hevea brasiliensis, was used to prepare the reusable polyisoprene–poly(alkyl acrylate) foam for petroleum‐based liquid absorption. The foam was produced via latex vulcanization and cured by steaming. The effect of various types of poly(alkyl acrylate) such as poly(methyl methacrylate) (PMMA), poly(butyl methacrylate) (PBMA), and poly(butyl acrylate) (PBA) on oil sorption capacity of the foam were studied. Scanning electron microscope (SEM) images showed interconnected open‐cell macrostructure with the foam porosity greater than 75% and good compression set. The oil sorption capacity of the foam was in the range of 2.0–16.6 g g^?1. The addition of poly(alkyl acrylate) enhanced hydrophobicity and oil sorption capacity of the foam. The absorbed oil was easily recovered by squeezing and the foam can be reused up to 30 sorption–desorption cycles and still preserve high quality sorption. © 2015 Wiley Periodicals, Inc. J. Appl. Polym. Sci. 2015 , 132, 42688.