Effect of reformed biogas as a low reactivity fuel on performance and emissions of a RCCI engine with reformed biogas/diesel dual-fuel combustion

Biogas can be used as a less expensive continuance renewable fuel in internal combustion engines. However, variety in raw materials and process of biogas production results in different components and percentages of various elements, including methane. These differences make it difficult to control the combustion, effectively, in internal combustion engines. In this research, under cleaning and reforming process, biogas components were fixed. Then the effect of reformed biogas (R.BG) was investigated, numerically, on the combustion behavior, performance and emissions characteristics of a RCCI engine. A 3D-computational modeling has been performed to validate a single-cylinder compression ignition engine in conventional diesel and dual-fuel operations at 9 bar IMEP, 1300 rpm. Then, the combustion model of the RCCI engine was simulated by replacing diesel fuel with 20%, 40% and 60% of R.BG as a low reactivity fuel while remaining constant input total fuel energy per cycle. The results demonstrated that when the R.BG substitution ratio increases with a constant equivalence ratio of 0.43, the mean combustion temperature decreases to 1354 K, 1312 K, 1292 K which are about 3.5%, 6.6%, 7.9% lower than the conventional diesel combustion, respectively. The maximum in-cylinder pressure increases up to 22.63%. Instead, it results in 2.3%, 7.9%, and 14.5% engine power output losses, respectively. Also, the NOx emission, against CO, is decreased by 50%. Soot and UHC emissions were found to be slightly decreased while was used R.BG more than 40%.     

Overall thermal conductivity of unidirectional hybrid polymer nanocomposites containing SiO2 nanoparticles

International Journal of Mechanics and Materials in Design - A physics-based nested hierarchical approach is established to investigate thermal conducting behavior of micro-filler (in the form of...     

Solubilisation kinetics of some monoazo naphthalimide disperse dyes containing butyric acid and investigation of fastness properties of the dyes on polyester

In this paper, the solubilisation kinetics of three novel monoazo disperse dyes based on naphthalimdes incorporating a butyric acid group were investigated in different conditions using spectrophotometry. All dyes showed a reasonable level of solubilisation in alkaline media. Kinetic studies of the solubilisation reaction of the dyes in alkaline media showed that the rate of solubilisation of all dyes is a pseudo first‐order reaction equation. The rate constants of the solubilisation reaction of the dyes in alkaline media indicated that dye 3 , which is prepared by the diazotisation of 4‐amino‐n‐butyric acid 1,8‐naphthalimide and coupled with N,N‐diethy‐n‐hydroxyethyllaniline, has the highest rate of reaction and dye 1 , which is prepared by the diazotisation of 4‐amino‐n‐butyric acid 1,8‐naphthalimide and coupled with N,N‐diethylaniline, has the lowest rate. The dyes were applied on polyester fabrics and their fastness properties were examined. The dyed fabrics showed a good to excellent degree of wash and rubbing fastnesses after replacing reduction clearing with alkali clearing.     

Enhancement of hydrogen generation rate in reaction of aluminum with water

The aim of this investigation is to enhance hydrogen generation rate in aluminum–water reaction by improving the activity of aluminum particles and using the heat released during the reaction. This was accomplished by developing fresh surfaces by milling aluminum particles together with salt. Salt particles not only serve as nano-millers, but also surround activated particles and prevent re-oxidation of bare surfaces in the air. Therefore, the activated powder can be easily stored for a long time. Immersing the powder in warm water, the salt covers are washed away and hydrogen begins to release at a high rate until efficiency of 100% is achieved. The rate of reaction depends crucially on initial temperature of water. Hence, the mass of water was reduced to employ released energy to increase water temperature and, consequently, to increase hydrogen production rate. The optimum value of salt-to-aluminum mole ratio for achieving high activation, air-storage capability and 100% efficiency was obtained to be 2. When immersed in water, at initial temperatures of 55 and 70 °C, the powder lead to average hydrogen generation rate of ∼101 and ∼210 ml/min per 1 g of Al, respectively. To increase the rate of corrosion, three different alloys/composites of aluminum were prepared by mechanical alloying and activated with optimum salt-to-aluminum mole ratio. The alloys/composites formed galvanic cells after being immersed in water. In the case of aluminum–bismuth alloy, the average hydrogen generation rate increased to ∼287 and ∼713 ml/min per 1 g of Al, respectively.     

Finite element modeling of multi-pass welding and shaped metal deposition processes

This paper describes the formulation adopted for the numerical simulation of the shaped metal deposition process (SMD) and the experimental work carried out at ITP Industry to calibrate and validate the proposed model. The SMD process is a novel manufacturing technology, similar to the multi-pass welding used for building features such as lugs and flanges on fabricated components (see Fig. 1a and b). A fully coupled thermo-mechanical solution is adopted including phase-change phenomena defined in terms of both latent heat release and shrinkage effects. Temperature evolution as well as residual stresses and distortions, due to the successive welding layers deposited, are accurately simulated coupling the heat transfer and the mechanical analysis. The material behavior is characterized by a thermo-elasto-viscoplastic constitutive model coupled with a metallurgical model. Nickel super-alloy 718 is the target material of this work. Both heat convection and heat radiation models are introduced to dissipate heat through the boundaries of the component. An in-house coupled FE software is used to deal with the numerical simulation and an ad-hoc activation methodology is formulated to simulate the deposition of the different layers of filler material. Difficulties and simplifying hypotheses are discussed. Thermo-mechanical results are presented in terms of both temperature evolution and distortions, and compared with the experimental data obtained at the SMD laboratory of ITP.     

Fast and efficient adsorption of azure (II) on nanoporous MCM-41 for its removal,preconcentration and determination in biological matrices

The objective of the present study was to investigate the potential of nanoporous MCM-41 silicate for the azure (II) adsorption from the aqueous solutions. The method is based on the adsorption of azure (II) after passing on MCM-41 in a column. The adsorption with respect to contact time, pH, flow rate of sample, eluent kind and volume was investigated to provide more information about the adsorption characteristics of MCM-41. After elution of the adsorbed dye, the concentrations of dye were determined by UV–Vis spectrophotometer. The method showed good linearity for the determination of azure (II) in the range of 1–200 ng mL^?1 with a regression coefficient of 0.9997. The limit of detection was 0.5 ng mL^?1 and the relative standard deviation for 50 ng mL^?1 of azure (II) was 1.26 %. The adsorption properties of the MCM-41 were investigated using batch method. In order to investigate the efficiency of adsorption, pseudo-first-order, pseudo-second-order and intra particle diffusion kinetic models were studied. It was observed that the pseudo-second-order kinetic model fits better than other kinetic models with good correlation coefficient. Equilibrium data were fitted to the Langmuir model. Adsorption equilibrium reach within 5 min of contact time and adsorption capacity was found to be 66.0 mg g^?1. The method was applied to the determination of azure (II) in river water, broth culture medium and DNA samples.     

Oxytetracycline nanosensor based on poly-ortho-aminophenol/multi-walled carbon nanotubes composite film

Poly-ortho-aminophenol (PoAP) and multi-walled carbon nanotubes (MWCNTs) were deposited on the platinum electrode using cyclic voltammetry technique to form the Pt/PoAP/MWCNTs nanosensor for the electrochemical determination of oxytetracycline as analyte. This electrochemical nanosensor with good uniformity and high surface area was prepared in the presence of an ionic surfactant (sodium dodecyl sulfate) as electrolyte to suspend carbon nanotubes within the PoAP and improve the stability and electroactivity of the composite film. The surface morphology of the prepared nanosensor was characterized by scanning electron microscopy and showed a three-dimensional network structure. The influence of several parameters such as number of potential cycles, scan rate and pH of the solution on the electrochemical response of the resultant electrode was investigated. The prepared electrode functioned as a selective recognition element for oxytetracycline determination. It showed excellent electrochemical response to oxytetracycline at low oxidative potential in buffer solution of pH 2.0, with good stability and sensitivity. Under the optimal experimental conditions, the electrochemical response of the sensor was linear with respect to the concentration of oxytetracycline in a dynamic range of 0.2 μM–0.25 mM. The detection limit of the fabricated nanosensor was calculated as 0.10 μM (signal/noise = 3). This sensor was used successfully for the oxytetracycline determination in real samples with recoveries of 96.9–103.5 %.     

Equilibrium and kinetic studies of the cationic dye removal capability of a novel biosorbent Tamarindus indica from textile wastewater

In this paper, the use of tamarind hull biosorbent (Tamarindus indica) has been investigated to remove cationic dyes from textile eflluent. Basic Violet 6 and Basic Red 18 were used as cationic dye models. The surface characteristics of tamarind hull were investigated using Fourier Transform–infrared and scanning electron microscopy. The influence of process variables such as adsorbent dosage, initial dye concentration and pH were studied. The presence of fuctional groups such as hydroxy and amine groups onto the tamarind hull surface were proved by Fourier Transform–infrared analysis. Data were evaluated for compliance with the Langmuir and Freundlich isotherm models. The results indicated that the data for adsorption of Basic Violet 6 and Basic Red 18 onto tamarind hull fitted well with the Freundlich isotherm model. Also, the adsorption kinetics of Basic Violet 6 and Basic Red 18 on biosorbent was studied. The rates of sorption were found to conform to pseudo‐second‐order kinetics with good correlation. Results indicated that tamarind hull could be used as a biosorbent to remove cationic organics from contaminated watercourses.