Chromium removal from aqueous solution by the ferrite process

This research summarises the results of the study on the removal of chromium by applying the ferrite process to the solutions obtained from two different Cr(VI) reduction processes utilising sodium sulphite and ferrous sulphate as reducing agents. For both solutions containing trivalent chromium ions, the optimum treatment conditions were determined. The generated sludges were characterised by XRD analysis and physical tests. In addition, to explore the dissolution properties of the sludges obtained, they were contacted with the solutions of sulphuric, citric, tartaric, oxalic and ascorbic acids and EDTA. Also, the sludge samples were subjected to standard toxicity characterisation leaching procedure (TCLP) test of USEPA in order to determine the pollution potential. An efficient Cr(III) removal (about 100%) in the solution from the Cr(VI) reduction process utilising sodium sulphite as reducing agent was achieved when the solution was treated at pH 9 and 50 degrees C for 60 min in the presence of Fe2+/Cr3+ weight ratio of 16. For the other Cr(III) solution prepared from Cr(VI) reduction by ferrous sulphate, a Fe2+/Cr3+ weight ratio of 17.9 at the same conditions was found to produce complete removal of Cr(III). It was determined that the spynel chromium-iron compounds obtained in the process were in the form of chromite (Cr2FeO4). Dissolution experiments and TCLP tests show that the concentrations of the chromium dissolved from both sludges were below the limit given as 5 mg l(-1) by USEPA. The results showed that Cr(III) removal through ferrite process provides the advantages that the sludges generated are non-voluminous, easily separable and environmentally stable.     

Comparative Analysis of Bridges with AASHTO and Florida I-Beam Girders

A comparative study of two pre-stressed girder bridges, one with AASHTO （American Association of State Highway and Transportation Officials） Type III girders and the other with new FIB （Florida l-beam） girders, is presented. FIB girders are expected to provide increased lateral stiffness, higher load carrying capacity, cost-efficiency and better reliability. In this paper, the first bridge that is analyzed is a 3-span bridge designed with six AASHTO Type III girders, and the second bridge has four FIB girders with the same span length, width and girder depth. The bridges are analyzed for Florida state legal loads SU4 and C5. Both bridges are analyzed using a sophisticated finite element method. The deflections, moment envelopes, section capacity and live load rating of the two bridges are obtained and compared. FIB girders have higher vertical stiffness, higher section capacity providing higher load rating than the AASHTO girders.     

Effects of sowing and harvesting dates on yield and some quality characteristics of crops in sugar beet/cereal rotation system

BACKGROUND: Cereals are the main crops in rotation following sugar beet harvest. However, a delay in planting winter cereals as a result of late sugar beet harvest is a disadvantage in sugar beet/cereal rotations. In this study, field trials were carried out to investigate the effects of sowing and harvesting dates on the yield and quality of sugar beet (Beta vulgaris L.) and cereals (wheat, Triticum aestivum L., and six‐rowed barley, Hordeum vulgare L.) during two consecutive years. Beet was sown on three dates and harvested on four dates, followed by cereals which were sown on four dates. Root yield and digestion ratio (sugar beet) and grain yield, 1000‐kernel weight, test weight and protein content (wheat and barley) were determined. RESULTS: The highest root yield (52.53 t ha^?1) was obtained from early sown (5 April) and late harvested (1 November) beet, while the highest digestion ratio (17.4%) was obtained from late sown (3 May) and late harvested (1 November) beet. Lower cereal grain yields were obtained from later sowings. The highest grain yields (5.87 and 6.02 t ha^?1) were obtained from earlier sown wheat. Protein content was also affected by sowing date, which appeared to be very important under unstable climatic conditions. CONCLUSION: It is essential to consider the timing of sowing of cereal crops when unstable climatic conditions are present. Hence sowing date recommendations in regular climatic conditions may be misleading for countries dependent on winter rainfall for cereal production. Copyright © 2007 Society of Chemical Industry     

Effects of sulphurisation on vitamins (A,C and E) and malondialdehyde in apricots

In this study, the 1.0 m H₂SO₄ solution was used as a sulphur source to sulphurise apricots. Apricot samples were immersed into 1.0 m H₂SO₄ solution at room temperature for time of 30, 60 , 120, 180 and 240 min. Amounts of vitamins (A, C and E) and malondialdehyde (MDA) were determined as function of sulphurisation time and thus, sulphur content. It was determined that the optimum immersion time for sufficient sulphur content is 120 min. It is concluded that while amounts of vitamins decrease, the level of MDA increases with increasing immersion time and thus, sulphur contents.     

Distributed evaluation of an iterative function for all object pairs on an SIMD hypercube

An efficient distributed algorithm for evaluating an iterative function on all pairwise combinations of C objects on an SIMD hypercube is presented. The algorithm achieves uniform load distribution and minimal, completely local interprocessor communication.     

The synthesis,antimicrobial activity and absorption characteristics of some novel heterocyclic disazo dyes

Aniline derivatives were diazotized and coupled with 3-aminocrotononitrile to give the corresponding 2-arylhydrazono-3-ketiminobutyronitriles. Cyclization of these arylhydrazono derivatives with hydrazine monohydrate afforded 5-amino-4-arylazo-3-methyl-1H-pyrazoles which were subsequently diazotised and coupled with malononitrile to yield a series of pyrazolylhydrazonomalononitriles. These compounds were then reacted with hydrazine monohydrate to provide 10, novel, heterocyclic disazo dyes, which were characterized by elemental analysis and spectral methods. The antimicrobial activity and absorption characteristics of the dyes were also examined in detail.     

Hydrogen gas production from vinegar fermentation wastewater by electro-hydrolysis: Effects of initial COD content

Vinegar fermentation wastewater with different initial COD contents (9.66–48.6 g L⁻¹) were used for hydrogen gas production with simultaneous COD removal by electro-hydrolysis. The applied DC voltage was constant at 4 V. The highest cumulative hydrogen production (3197 ml), hydrogen yield (2766 ml H₂ g⁻¹ COD), hydrogen formation rate (799 ml d⁻¹), and percent hydrogen (99.5%) in the gas phase were obtained with the highest initial COD of 48.6 g COD L⁻¹. The highest energy efficiency (48%) was obtained with the lowest COD content of 9.66 g L⁻¹. Hydrogen gas production by water electrolysis was less than 250 ml and wastewater control resulted in less than 25 ml H₂ in 96 h. The highest (12%) percent COD removal was obtained with the lowest COD content. Hydrogen gas was produced by reaction of (H⁺) ions present in raw WW ( pH = 3.0) and protons released from acetic acid with electrons provided by electrical current. Electro-hydrolysis of vinegar wastewater was proven to be an effective method of H₂ gas production with some COD removal.     

Effect of Cobalt and Nickel Doping on Structural and Magnetic Properties of Iron Oxide Nanoparticles

Two series samples of Iron Oxide nanoparticles doped with nickel and cobalt with different doping values (x?=?0.01; 0.03; 0.05 and 0.07), were successfully synthesized by using sol–gel method, and then they were characterized by X-ray diffraction, scanning electron and vibrating sample magnetometer (VSM). X-ray diffraction analysis of two series samples showed the formation α-Fe₂O₃ nanoparticles, accompanied by two phases iron spinels, CoFe₂O₄ and NiFe₂O₄. In addition, the variations in grain size were observed for both two series. The observation by scanning electron microscopy reveals a change in the morphology of the grains of all the samples doped, which confirm the cobalt and nickel effect on the morphology of iron oxide nanoparticles. Magnetic measurements which were measured by VSM showed significant magnetic parameters such as coercivity and magnetization besides the ferromagnetic behavior of both two series doped with Cobalt and Nickel.

     

Biological treatment of para-chlorophenol containing synthetic wastewater using rotating brush biofilm reactor

A novel rotating brush biofilm reactor (RBBR) was used for para-chlorophenol (4-chlorophenol, 4-CP), COD and toxicity removal from synthetic wastewater containing different concentrations of 4-CP. Effects of major operating variables such as the feed 4-CP and COD concentrations and A/Q (biofilm surface area/feed flow rate) ratio on the performance of the biofilm reactor were investigated. A Box-Wilson statistical experiment design method was used by considering the feed 4-CP (0-1000 mg l(-1)), COD (2000-6000 mg l(-1)) and A/Q ratio (73-293 m(2) day m(-3)) as the independent variables while the 4-CP, COD and toxicity removals were the objective functions. The results were correlated by a response function and the coefficients were determined by regression analysis. Percent 4-CP, COD and toxicity removals determined from the response functions were in good agreement with the experimental results. 4-CP, COD and toxicity removals increased with decreasing feed 4-CP and increasing A/Q ratio. Optimum conditions resulting in maximum COD, 4-CP and toxicity removals were found to be A/Q ratio of nearly 180 m(2) day m(-3), feed COD of nearly 4000 mg l(-1) and feed 4-CP of less than 205 mg l(-1).     

Minimum delay routing for wireless networks with STDMA

STDMA emerges as a promising channel access technique for providing Quality of Service (QoS) guarantees in multi-hop ad hoc networks such as community mesh and sensor networks. The contention-free channel access combined with spatial reuse of the channel provide significant benefits in the energy/throughput trade-off. On the other hand, the time-multiplexed communication introduces extra delay on the packets when relayed by intermediate nodes. Hence in large wireless sensor networks or mesh networks, where data is routed over several hops before reaching the data sink, STDMA protocols may introduce high end-to-end latency due to the reservation-based access policy. We argue that a suitable routing protocol specifically designed for reservation-based Medium Access Control (MAC) protocols can alleviate their high-latency drawback. Following this argument, we propose first such routing algorithms working on top of a generic STDMA MAC protocol. First, we consider routing with data fusion and present our GreenWave routing idea. We show that our algorithm significantly reduces the end-to-end delay when compared to routing over the shortest-hop paths. Second, we consider routing without data fusion, by taking into account the effect of congestion along the paths on the end-to-end delays. We provide a QIP formulation of the problem, and present a lower bound and a heuristic algorithm to bound the optimal solution. Based on the centralized heuristic algorithm, we propose a distributed, dynamic routing protocol GreenWave routing with Congestion and Flow control (GWCF), which uses a novel congestion and flow control technique utilizing the underlying contention-free protocol. We show by simulations that GWCF routing significantly improves the end-to-end delay while increasing the network throughput when compared to routing over shortest paths.