Thermo-reversible sol–gel transition of TiO2 nanoparticles with surface modified by p-toluene sulfonic acid

In this paper an unprecedent thermo-reversible sol–gel transition for titania nanoparticles dispersed in a solution of p-toluene sulfonic acid (PTSH) in isopropanol is reported. The sol formed by the thermo-hydrolysis at 60 °C of titanium tetraisopropoxide (Ti(OⁱPr)₄) reversibly changes into a turbid gel upon cooling to room temperature. Turbidimetric measurements performed for samples containing different nominal acidity ratios (A = [PTSH]/[Ti]) have evidenced that the gel transformation temperature increases from 20 to 35 °C as the [PTSH]/[Ti] ratio increases from 0.2 to 2.0. SAXS results indicate that the thermo-reversible gelation is associated to a reversible aggregation of a monodisperse set of titania nanoparticles with average gyration radius of ≈2 nm. From the different PTSH species evidenced by Raman spectroscopy and TG/DTA of dried gels we proposed that the thermo-reversible gelation in this systems is induced by the formation of a supramolecular network, in which the protonated surface of nanoparticles is interconnected through cooperative hydrogen bonds between –SO₃ groups of p-toluene sulfonic acid.     

Laminar Confined Impinging Jet into a Porous Layer

This work aims at studying laminar impinging jets on surfaces covered with a layer of a porous material. This contribution may provide insight into the design and optimization of heat and mass transfer processes over surfaces. Numerical simulations are presented and the porous substrate is treated as a rigid, homogeneous, and isotropic medium. Macroscopic transport equations are written for a representative elementary volume (REV), yielding a set of equations that is valid for the entire computational domain, including both the porous layer attached to the surface and the fluid layer over the porous substrate. These equations are discretized using the control-volume method and the resulting system of algebraic equations is relaxed using the Strongly Implicit Procedure (SIP) methods. The SIMPLE algorithm is used to handle the pressure–velocity coupling. Results for flow, in both clear and porous flow domains, are given in terms of streamlines patterns, velocity profiles, pressure contours, and friction coefficient along the impinging wall. The influence of porosity on the flow pattern is shown to be very low in comparison to the effects caused by varying permeability, fluid-layer height, and porous-layer thickness. These finding could be used to advantage when designing engineering equipment, since the use of selected porous materials could reduce undesirable recirculation zones, promote quick flow redistribution, and adjust pressure to required levels.     

Fluid Dynamics and Transfer Processes in Bended Microchannels

Abstract

The understanding of the flow processes in microchannels and micromixers is essential for the design of microfluidic devices like microreactors or analytical equipment. We have performed a systematic numerical CFD-study of mixing and mass transfer in sharp 90° bends and heat transfer in T-joints to obtain a detailed insight into the flow patterns and corresponding transfer processes in a wide range of Reynolds numbers. With increasing flow velocity, the straight laminar flow starts to form symmetrical vortices in the bend, at the entrance of the mixing channel, and in T-joints. The vortices enhance the transport processes like heat and mass transfer in the channels significantly. The influence of the geometry and the flow conditions is shown by an analytical estimation of the relevant forces. The appearance of convective transport processes is used for the definition of microflows, which are controlled by viscous forces and diffusive transfer processes.     

Fluid circulation and heat extraction from engineered geothermal reservoirs

A large amount of fluid circulation and heat extraction (i.e., thermal power production) research and testing has been conducted on engineered geothermal reservoirs in the past 15 years. In confined reservoirs, which best represent the original Hot Dry Rock concept, the flow distribution at any given time is primarily determined by three parameters: (1) the nature of the interconnected network of pressure-stimulated joints and open fractures within the flow-accessible reservoir region, (2) the mean pressure in the reservoir, and (3) the cumulative amount of fluid circulation—and therefore reservoir cooling—that has occurred. For an initial reservoir rock temperature distribution and mean fluid outlet temperature, the rate of heat extraction (i.e., thermal power) is at first only a function of the production flow rate, since the production temperature can be expected to remain essentially constant for some time (months, or even years). However, as reservoir circulation proceeds, the production temperature will eventually start to decline, as determined by the mean effective joint spacing and the total flow-accessible (i.e., heat-transfer) volume of the reservoir. The rate of heat extraction, which depends on the production flow rate, can also vary with time as a result of continuing changes in the flow distribution arising from reservoir cooling.The thermal power of engineered reservoirs can most readily be increased by increasing the production flow rate, as long as this does not lead to premature cooldown, the development of short-circuit flow paths, or excessive water losses. Generally, an increase in flow rate can be accomplished by increasing the injection pressure within limits. This strategy increases the driving pressure drop across the reservoir and the mean reservoir pressure, which in turn reduces the reservoir flow impedance by increasing the amount of joint dilation. However, the usefulness of this strategy is limited to reservoir operating pressures below the fracture extension pressure, and may lead to excessive water losses, particularly in less-confined reservoirs. Under such conditions, a downhole production-well pump may be employed to increase productivity by recovering more of the injected fluid at lower mean reservoir operating pressures.     

New Approach to Evaluate Pollutant Removal by Storm-Water Treatment Devices

A methodology was developed to monitor and evaluate the removal of solids and associated constituents by a nutrient separating baffle box (NSBB) storm-water treatment device treating runoff from a 4.3 ha (10.6 acre) residential watershed discharging into the Indian River Lagoon, Florida. The NSBB was monitored over a 359-day time period using autosamplers to quantify water column removal during runoff events, and by quantifying and analyzing solids that accumulated within the NSBB. Flow composited influent and effluent samples were collected to represent water column performance. Event mean concentration (EMC) reduction was moderate (mean: 17%) and variable (range: ?39 to 68%) for suspended solids, and negative for nitrogen, phosphorus, fecal coliforms chromium, and copper. The mass of solids that accumulated in bottom chambers and in a strainer screen was quantified and analyzed for nitrogen, phosphorus, heavy metals, and polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbons. A quantitative evaluative framework was devised to estimate the total pollutant mass removal by NSBB, which consisted of the summation of the separately calculated mass removals for water column, bottom chamber material, and strainer screen material. The water column accounted for only 4% of total solids that accumulated in the NSBB, which was equally divided between bottom chamber and strainer screen. Removal of nitrogen, phosphorus, and metals could be accounted for only by considering mass accumulations. Results suggest that overall assessment of pollutant removal by NSBB must be cognizant of the materials not captured by typical autosamplers: larger size sediment particles, large floating and suspended matter, and the pollutants associated with these materials. Using water column EMCs as the sole measure of performance significantly underestimated loading reduction of storm-water constituents by the NSBB. The monitoring and evaluative methodology applied to the NSBB may be applicable to load reduction evaluations for other storm-water treatment devices with a similar function.     

Compensation of magnetic disturbances improves inertial and magnetic sensing of human body segment orientation.

This paper describes a complementary Kalman filter design to estimate orientation of human body segments by fusing gyroscope, accelerometer, and magnetometer signals from miniature sensors. Ferromagnetic materials or other magnetic fields near the sensor module disturb the local earth magnetic field and, therefore, the orientation estimation, which impedes many (ambulatory) applications. In the filter, the gyroscope bias error, orientation error, and magnetic disturbance error are estimated. The filter was tested under quasi-static and dynamic conditions with ferromagnetic materials close to the sensor module. The quasi-static experiments implied static positions and rotations around the three axes. In the dynamic experiments, three-dimensional rotations were performed near a metal tool case. The orientation estimated by the filter was compared with the orientation obtained with an optical reference system Vicon. Results show accurate and drift-free orientation estimates. The compensation results in a significant difference (p < 0.01) between the orientation estimates with compensation of magnetic disturbances in comparison to no compensation or only gyroscopes. The average static error was 1.4 degrees (standard deviation 0.4) in the magnetically disturbed experiments. The dynamic error was 2.6 degrees root means square.     

Evaluation of elemental profile coupled to chemometrics to assess the geographical origin of Argentinean wines

Traceability of wines requires knowledge of their characteristics, which are associated with the geographical origin of grape, soil, water, climate as well as the winery techniques. The aim of this work was to classify wines and soil from three production areas of Argentina according to multielement data. The influence of the provenance soil on the wine element composition was also investigated.Eleven elements were determined in 31 wine samples and 137 soil samples from regions under study. Stepwise discriminant analysis allows us to correctly classify 100% of the wines analysed from the three regions using only seven parameters (K, Fe, Ca, Cr, Mg, Zn and Mn) and 92% correct classification for soils using seven variables (Ca, Cr, K, Fe, Cu, Zn and, Mg). Canonical analysis between soils and wines datasets affords a correlation coefficient of 0.85 (P-value < 0.001). Thus, almost 85% of variability observed amongst wines could be attributed to the soil in which the vines were cultivated.The analysis of elemental concentrations in the wines and soils, in combination with chemometrics, provides a powerful tool to verify the geographical origin of wines.