Effect of Fe/Zn ratio in composite catalyst for synthesizing polyoxymethylene dimethyl ethers

Polyoxymethylene dimethyl ethers (PODE_n) are extremely effective diesel additives to reduce soot formation during combustion. We introduce a series of Fe-Zn composite solid acid catalysts (SO₄²⁻/xFe₂O₃-yZnO), for the condensation reaction of methanol and paraformaldehyde (PF) with a cheap and feasible route to efficiently synthesize PODE_n. These catalysts were characterized by different characterization techniques, namely BET, XRD, SEM, EDS, FTIR, and NH₃-TPD and the results showed that Fe/Zn molar ratios strongly influenced the physicochemical characteristics of catalysts, thus affecting the methanol conversion and PODE_1-6 and PODE_3-6 selectivity. Accordingly, the methanol conversion was decreased and the selectivity of PODE_3-6 was increased after increasing the Zn molar content. Comparatively, SO₄²⁻/Fe₂O₃-2ZnO exhibited superior catalytic activity among the various investigated catalysts due to the high acid density of strong acid sites. The optimal reaction conditions were observed to be at a 3.0 wt% catalyst loading (catalyst/reactant mass ratio), 2.5 hours ours of reaction time, a reaction temperature of 403 K, and a molar ratio of 3:1 of CH₂O to methanol, achieving a high selectivity of 99.09% PODE_1-6 and 28.23% PODE_3-6 with 55.16% methanol conversion during the reaction.     

Assessment on the mechanical,structural, and thermal attributes of green graphene-based water soluble polymer electrolyte composites

In the current study, graphene oxide (GO) was prepared using green chemistry with modified Hummer's method without incorporating sodium nitrate (NaNO₃). Solvent casting was employed to fabricate GO-doped poly(ethylene oxide) (PEO), that is, PEO/GO composites with various proportion of Na₂SO₄ and were then subjected to characterization via advanced spectroscopic techniques for different physicochemical aspects to estimate their potential applications as marketable products. XRD analysis explored that fabricated composites are more crystalline than neat PEO. PEO/GO/Na₂SO₄ composite films offered maximum crystallinity. SEM displayed the same trend. TG/DTA thermogram exposed better thermal stability than pristine polymer. FTIR studies confirmed complexation among hybrid's components. Elongation-at-break and Young's modulus displayed an enhancing behavior with an incremental loading of salt and filler. In terms of mechanical performance, composite of PEO with 0.37 wt % GO and 0.08 g salt was found to be an ideal composition during the course of study. © 2019 Wiley Periodicals, Inc. J. Appl. Polym. Sci. 2020 , 137, 48376.     

Influence of Chemical Reaction on Mass Transport in Yield Stress Exhibiting Flow Regime

Theoretical Foundations of Chemical Engineering - In this study, the simulations for first-order chemical reactions (constructive and destructive) in the flow of the Casson fluid with...     

A Novel Sprague-Dawley Rat Model Presents Improved NASH/NAFLD Symptoms with PEG Coated Vitexin Liposomes

Chronic liver disease (CLD) is a global threat to the human population, with manifestations resulting from alcohol-related liver disease (ALD) and non-alcohol fatty liver disease (NAFLD). NAFLD, if not treated, may progress to non-alcoholic steatohepatitis (NASH). Furthermore, inflammation leads to liver fibrosis, cirrhosis, and hepatocellular carcinoma. Vitexin, a natural flavonoid, has been recently reported for inhibiting NAFLD. It is a lipogenesis inhibitor and activates lipolysis and fatty acid oxidation. In addition, owing to its antioxidant properties, it appeared as a hepatoprotective candidate. However, it exhibits low bioavailability and low efficacy due to its hydrophobic nature. A novel rat model for liver cirrhosis was developed by CCL4/Urethane co-administration. Vitexin encapsulated liposomes were synthesized by the ‘thin-film hydration’ method. Polyethylene glycol (PEG) was coated on liposomes to enhance stability and stealth effect. The diseased rats were then treated with vitexin and PEGylated vitexin liposomes, administered intravenously and orally. Results ascertained the liposomal encapsulation of vitexin and subsequent PEG coating to be a substantial strategy for treating liver cirrhosis through oral drug delivery.     

Attrition behavior of fine particles in a fluidized bed with bimodal particles: Influence of particle density and size ratio

To process the solid particulates in fluidized bed and slurry phase reactors, attrition is an inevitable consequence and is therefore one of the preliminary parameters for the catalyst design. In this paper, the mechanical degradation propensity of the zeolite catalysts (particles) was investigated in a bimodal distribution environment using a Gas Jet Attrition — ASTM standard fluidized bed test (D-5757). The experimentation was conducted in order to explore parameters affecting attrition phenomena in a bimodal fluidization. In a bimodal fluidization system, two different types of particles are co-fluidized isothermally. The air jet attrition index (AJI) showed distinct increases in the attrition rate of small particles in a bimodal fluidization environment under standard operating conditions, in comparison with single particle. A series of experiments were conducted using particles of various sizes, with large particles of different densities and sizes. Experimental results suggest that the relative density and particle size ratio have a significant influence on attrition behavior during co-fluidization. Therefore a generalized relationship has been drawn using Gwyn constants; those defined material properties of small particles. Moreover, distinct attrition incremental phenomenon was observed during co-fluidization owing to the change in collision pattern and impact, which was associated with relative particle density and size ratios.     

Purification and characterization of a novel glucoamylase from Fusarium solani

Thermostable enzymes are currently being investigated to improve industrial processes of starch saccharification. A novel glucoamylase was purified to electrophoretic homogeneity from the culture supernatant of Fusarium solani on a fast protein liquid chromatographic system (FPLC). The recovery of glucoamylase after gel filtration on FPLC was 31.8% with 26.2-fold increase in specific activity. The enzyme had a molecular mass of 40 kDa by SDS-PAGE and 41 kDa by gel filtration. The glucoamylase exhibited optimum activity at pH 4.5. The K_cat and K_m were 441/min and 1.9 mg/ml, respectively, for soluble starch, specificity constant (K_cat/K_m) was 232. The enzyme was thermally stable at 50 °C and retained 79% activity after 60 min at this temperature. The half-life of the enzyme was 26 min at 60°C. The enzyme was slightly stimulated by Cu²⁺ and Mg²⁺ and strongly inhibited by Hg²⁺, Pb²⁺, Zn²⁺, Ni²⁺ and Fe³⁺.     

Essential oil composition of commercial black tea (Camellia sinensis)

The essential oil components of different tea brands were investigated by gas chromatography. The oil yields of dried tea samples were ranged from 0.09% to 0.63%. Twenty-five compounds from Supreme and Lipton Yellow Label tea brands representing 98.0% and 88.0% of the Camellia sinensis oil were identified, respectively. The main ones were β-pinene (51.2%) and α-pinene (30.2%). Nineteen components from Tapal tea brand representing 76.7% of the C. sinensis oil were determined with high contents of muurol-5-en-4-a-ol (10.5%) and muurol-5-en-4-b-ol (31.3%). Fifteen components from Deer and Diana tea brands were identified, accounting for 83.3% and 78.2% of the oil containing α-cadinol and β-pinene. Seventeen components from non-branded teas were determined with high contents of muurol-5-en-4-a-ol and muurol-5-en-4-b-ol. Twenty-one compounds from non-branded Bangladeshi Shezan and Indian teas were also identified. All oils consisted of monoterpenic hydrocarbons, oxygenated monoterpenes and sesquiterpenes.     

A new charge conserving capacitance model for GaAs MESFET's

We present a new charge conserving capacitance model for Gallium-Arsenide (GaAs) metal semiconductor field effect transistors (MESFET's) based on the quasi-static approximation and a proper partitioning of the channel charge between the source and the drain terminals. A total of nine so-called transcapacitances were determined by taking derivatives of the various terminal charges with respect to the voltages at source, drain, and gate. The transcapacitances are nonreciprocal, i.e., C_ij≠C_ji when i≠j, and can be organized in a 3×3 matrix incorporating Kirchhoff's current law (charge conservation) and independence of reference. The present capacitance model is valid both above and below threshold, and shows good agreement with experimental data over a wide range of gate and drain biases. The model is analytical and suitable for implementation in circuit simulators     

Analysis of Radio Resource Allocation in LTE Uplink

Long term evolution (LTE) uses orthogonal frequency division multiple access (OFDMA) and single carrier frequency division multiple access (SC-FDMA) as the downlink and uplink transmission schemes respectively. The Quality of Service (QoS) provision to users is one of the key objectives of the wireless network operators. This paper analyses an uplink LTE radio scheduler, called bandwidth and QoS aware (BQA) scheduler and evaluates its QoS performance. The BQA uplink scheduler is designed to provide efficient and fair allocation of the radio resources to users according to: the QoS of various traffic classes and the instantaneous channel conditions. The scheduler functionality is divided into time domain packet scheduling (TDPS) and frequency domain packet scheduling (FDPS). In this paper, an innovative feature, that is user QoS provisioning with dynamic QoS weights, is employed for the BQA scheduler along with multi-bearer users support. The QoS performance of the BQA scheduler is analyzed in several simulation scenarios using heterogeneous traffic environment. The results show that the BQA scheduler guarantees provision of QoS to users.