Lagrangian characterization of multi-phase turbulent flow in a solar reactor for particle deposition prediction

Solar cracking of methane is a promising technology for emission free hydrogen production. One of the major problems affecting methane cracking solar reactors' performance is the carbon particle deposition on the window, walls, and at the exit. In present study, a Lagrangian particle dispersion model has been implemented for predicting the particle deposition on the window of a seeded solar thermal reactor. A three-dimensional Computational Fluid Dynamics (CFD) analysis using Discrete Phase Model (DPM) has been done for qualitative validation of the experimental observations. In order to evaluate the turbulent quantities in the solar reactor; RNG k–? model has been applied. Species transport has been solved by taking the gas for window screening as different from that used in the main flow. In addition, this paper presents a thorough parametric study predicting the particle deposition on reactor window for various flow configurations and flow conditions, which can be summarized as; (1) when the inlet flow angle is smaller, higher tangential velocities or swirl strength is obtained, (2) higher tangential velocities help in maintaining a stronger swirl, which keeps the screening flow close to the reactor window, (3) by increasing the main flow and the screening flow rates, the particle deposition on window is reduced, (4) when a lower density fluid is used as window screening gas, the particle deposition is reduced because the Taylor instabilities are avoided. The CFD work and the findings presented in this paper would be used as a guide in designing a solar reactor or improving the configuration of existing reactor.     

GIS based geothermal potential assessment: A case study from Western Anatolia,Turkey

Potential geothermal areas are identified through investigation of spatial relations between geothermal occurrences and their surrounding geological phenomena in western Anatolia, Turkey. The identification is based on only publicly available data. It is expected that the study will guide further preliminary investigations performed for large areas having limited information. Magnetic anomaly, Bouger gravity anomaly, earthquake epicenter and lineament datasets are used for the analysis. The first is used without any modification whereas the rest are utilized to extract three evidence maps; distance to major grabens, Gutenberg–Richter b-value and distance to lineaments, respectively. Predictor maps are produced from these evidence maps as well as from the unprocessed magnetic anomaly map by applying two different binarization procedures. From each binarization procedure a favorability map is produced separately using Index Overlay (IO) and Weights of Evidence (WofE) methods. The findings reveal that weighting predictor maps according to spatial association between evidence maps and training points lead to more accurate prediction in both WofE and IO methods. The potential areas in the final maps are Ayd?n, Denizli, Manisa, Bal?kesir and Kutahya of which first two have been explored and exploited, and thus found to be favorable, while the rest are nearly unexplored.     

Neutronic limits in infinite target mediums driven by high energetic protons

This study presents the neutronic behavior of integral data in an infinite target medium driven by an isotropic point source of 1000 MeV incident proton. Lead–bismuth eutectic, mercury, tungsten, uranium, thorium, chromium, copper and beryllium are considered as the target material because of their favorable spallation-neutron production characteristics. Furthermore, the calculations are performed for also dual mixture of some of them. In order to be able to simulate the infinite target medium by eliminating the spatial dependence, a spherical target is considered, and its radius is increased gradually up to adequate radius ensuring the infinite target medium. In this way, the radius value ensuring the maximum neutron leakage out of the target would be determined. Numerical calculations were performed with the high-energy Monte Carlo code MCNPX in coupled neutron and proton mode using the LA150 library. The mixing of the LBE with a solid target material (such as W, U and Th) lowers significantly the target radius ensuring the maximum neutron leakage.     

Reactions of aminoarylazopyrazoles with active methylene compounds. Part 1: Synthesis of 7-amino-3-arylazo-6-cyano-2-methylpyrazolo[5,1-c][1,2,4]triazines

In this study, 2-arylhydrazone-3-ketiminobutyronitriles were synthesised and reacted with hydrazine hydrate to afford 5-amino-4-arylazo-3-methyl-1 H -pyrazoles. These compounds were then diazotised and coupled with malononitrile to give pyrazolylazomalononitriles. Thirteen novel pyrazolo[5,1- c ][1,2,4]triazine dyes were synthesised by heating pyrazolylazomalononitriles in glacial acetic acid and characterised by elemental analysis and spectral methods. The effect of varying pH and solvent upon the absorption ability of the dyes substituted with electron-withdrawing and electron-donating groups at their o -, m - and p -position was examined in detail.     

Synthesis and Characterization of Novel Polymeric-Schiff Bases and Their Complexes

An investigation of the solid state conductivity of polymeric-Schiff bases derived from the condensation reaction of polyacrylamide and an aldehyde (4-methoxybenzaldehyde and 4-chlorbenzaldehyde) has been carried out and Co(II) and Ni(II) complexes have been prepared. Polymeric-Schiff bases and their metal complexes were characterized by molar conductance, magnetic susceptibility, and electronic and IR spectral studies. Conductivity measurements were carried out at 20 °C in dimethylformamide to determine the electrolytic behavior. The ¹H-NMR and ¹³C-NMR spectra, elemental analysis, and viscosity average molecular mass (M _v) of the polymeric-Schiff bases and their complexes were determined. All of the polymer–metal complexes showed high thermally stability. The DC conductivities of the solid samples were measured using a four-probe technique.     

Label-Free Identification of Exosomes using Raman Spectroscopy and Machine Learning

Exosomes, nano-sized extracellular vesicles (EVs) secreted from cells, carry various cargo molecules reflecting their cells of origin. As EV content, structure, and size are highly heterogeneous, their classification via cargo molecules by determining their origin is challenging. Here, a method is presented combining surface-enhanced Raman spectroscopy (SERS) with machine learning algorithms to employ the classification of EVs derived from five different cell lines to reveal their cellular origins. Using an artificial neural network algorithm, it is shown that the label-free Raman spectroscopy method's prediction ratio correlates with the ratio of HT-1080 exosomes in the mixture. This machine learning-assisted SERS method enables a new direction through label-free investigation of EV preparations by differentiating cancer cell-derived exosomes from those of healthy. This approach will potentially open up new avenues of research for early detection and monitoring of various diseases, including cancer.     

Neutronic Analysis for Transmutation of Minor Actinides and Long-Lived Fission Products in a Fusion-Driven Transmuter (FDT)

This study presents the transmutations of both the minor actinides (MAs: ²³⁷Np, ²⁴¹Am, ²⁴³Am and ²⁴⁴Cm) and the long-lived fission products (LLFPs: ⁹⁹Tc, ¹²⁹I and ¹³⁵Cs), discharged from high burn-up PWR-MOX spent fuel, in a fusion-driven transmuter (FDT) and the effects of the MA and LLFP volume fractions on their transmutations. The blanket configuration of the FDT is improved by analyzing various sample blanket design combinations with different radial thicknesses. Two different transmutation zones (TZ_MA and TZ_FP which contain the MA and LLFP nuclides, respectively) are located separately from each other. The volume fractions of the MA and the LLFP are raised from 10 to 20% stepped by 2% and from 10 to 80% stepped by 5%, respectively. The calculations are performed to estimate neutronic parameters and transmutation characteristics per D–T fusion neutron. The conversion ratios (CRs) for the whole of all MAs are about 65–70%. The transmutation rates of the LLFP nuclides increase linearly with the increase of volume fractions of the MA, and the ⁹⁹Tc nuclide among them has the highest transmutation rate. The variations of their transmutation rate per unit volume in the radial direction are quasi-concave parabolic.     

Simultaneous heterotrophic and sulfur-oxidizing autotrophic denitrification process for drinking water treatment: control of sulfate production

A long-term performance of a packed-bed bioreactor containing sulfur and limestone was evaluated for the denitrification of drinking water. Autotrophic denitrification rate was limited by the slow dissolution rate of sulfur and limestone. Dissolution of limestone for alkalinity supplementation increased hardness due to release of Ca²⁺. Sulfate production is the main disadvantage of the sulfur autotrophic denitrification process. The effluent sulfate concentration was reduced to values below drinking water guidelines by stimulating the simultaneous heterotrophic and autotrophic denitrification with methanol supplementation. Complete removal of 75 mg/L NO₃-N with effluent sulfate concentration of around 225 mg/L was achieved when methanol was supplemented at methanol/NO₃-N ratio of 1.67 (mg/mg), which was much lower than the theoretical value of 2.47 for heterotrophic denitrification. Batch studies showed that sulfur-based autotrophic NO₂-N reduction rate was around three times lower than the reduction rate of NO₃-N, which led to NO₂-N accumulation at high loadings.     

Adsorption of reactive yellow 145 onto chitosan coated magnetite nanoparticles

Removal of dyes from the industrial discharge water is an important issue for safety of the environment. In this study, magnetic (magnetite, Fe₃O₄) nanoparticles were coated with chitosan (CS) and the efficiency of these chitosan coated magnetic nanoparticles (Fe₃O₄‐CS) for the adsorption of a reactive textile dye (Reactive Yellow 145, RY145) was examined first time in literature. TEM, XRD, and EPR results revealed that the thickness of the coat was about 2–5 nm, no phase change in the spinel structure of magnetic particles existed after coating, and particles had paramagnetic property, respectively. Adsorption of RY145 on Fe₃O₄‐CS nanoparticles occurs according to Langmuir model in the temperature range 25°C–45°C with a maximum adsorption capacity of 47.62 mg g^?1 at 25°C, in aqueous media. Thermodynamic parameters demonstrated that the adsorption process was endothermic and spontaneous, and the maximum desorption of the dye was 80% over a single adsorption/desorption cycle. In this study, the high efficiency of the CS coated magnetic nanoparticles in the adsorption and removal of reactive dyes from water was shown on model RY145. This type of nanoparticles can be good candidates in industrial applications for the decolorization of waste waters. © 2011 Wiley Periodicals, Inc. J Appl Polym Sci, 2012