Contribution to emission reduction of CO2 by a fluidized-bed membrane dual-type reactor in methanol synthesis process

In this work, a fluidized-bed membrane dual-type reactor was evaluated for CO₂ removal in methanol synthesis process. The feed synthesis gas is preheated in the tubes of the gas-cooled reactor and flowing in a counter-current mode with reacting gas mixture in the shell side. Due to the hydrogen partial pressure driving force, hydrogen can penetrate from feed synthesis gas into the reaction side through the membrane. The outlet synthesis gas from this reactor is fed to tubes of the water-cooled packed-bed reactor and the chemical reaction is initiated by the catalyst. The methanol-containing gas leaving this reactor is directed into the shell of the gas-cooled reactor and the reactions are completed in this fluidized-bed side. A two-phase dynamic model in bubbling regime of fluidization was developed in the presence of long-term catalyst deactivation. This model is used to compare the removal of CO₂ in a FBMDMR with a conventional dual-type methanol synthesis reactor (CDMR) and a membrane dual-type methanol synthesis reactor (MDMR). The simulation results show a considerable enhancement in the CO₂ conversion due to have a favourable profile of temperature and activity along the fluidized-bed membrane dual-type reactor relative to membrane and conventional dual-type reactor systems.     

A novel cascade membrane reactor concept for methanol synthesis in the presence of long‐term catalyst deactivation

In this study, a dynamic model for a novel cascade membrane methanol reactor (CMMR) in the presence of long term catalyst deactivation was developed. In the first catalyst bed the synthesis gas partially convert to methanol. In the second reactor the reaction heat is used to preheat the feed gas to the first bed. The wall of the tubes in the both of reactors is covered with a palladium–silver membrane. The simulation results represent 4.7% and 3.92% enhancement in the yield of methanol production during 1400 days of operation in the CMMR in comparison with conventional dual type methanol reactor (CDMR) and membrane dual type methanol reactor (MDMR), respectively and a favorable profile of temperature and activity along the CMMR relative to MDMR and CDMR. Copyright © 2010 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.     

Copper (hydr)oxide modified copper electrode for electrocatalytic oxidation of hydrazine in alkaline media

Stable copper (hydr)oxide modified copper electrode was prepared by cyclic voltammetry in 0.1 M NaOH solution in the potential range of −300 to 800 mV. In the first cycle the oxidation peaks of copper were observed but in the second and next cycles, they were omitted and a clean background was obtained. This indicates that an irreversible electrochemical transformation has been achieved during the first cycle and a stable layer of hydr(oxide) formed on the surface of the copper electrode. This layer protects the electrode from corrosion. This electrode can be used for electrochemical studies in the potential range of −300 to 800 mV without any interfering effects by the oxidation peaks of copper. The modified electrode was used for electrocatalytic oxidation of hydrazine. Results showed that on the bare copper electrode the oxidation peak of 10 mM hydrazine appear at 380 mV while on the copper (hydr)oxide modified copper electrode, it appear at 260 mV. About 120 mV negative shift of the peak potential indicated the catalytic activity of (hydr)oxide layer for hydrazine. The kinetic parameters were investigated by using cyclic voltammetry and chronoamperometry.     

An electrochemical sensor based on V2O5 nanoparticles for the detection of ciprofloxacin

This research constructed and utilized a screen-printed electrode (SPE) modified with V₂O₅ nanoparticles (NPs) (V₂O₅/SPE) employed in order to sensitively and selectively quantify ciprofloxacin with exceptional accuracy in the phosphate buffer solution (PBS) with the use of differential pulse voltammetry (DPV). Moreover, electrochemical properties of this new V₂O₅/SPE sensor have been examined using diverse characterization procedures. Very good V₂O₅/SPE electrochemical features offered sensitive ciprofloxacin voltammetric determination with the reduced limit of detection (LOD?=?0.01 µM) toward electrocatalytic oxidation of ciprofloxacin in comparison with the bare SPE. Finally, this new disposable sensor exhibited higher sensitivity and thus has been efficiently utilized to determine ciprofloxacin in the real samples.

     

Comparative study of adsorption properties of Turkish fly ashes. I. The case of nickel(II), copper(II) and zinc(II)

The objective of this study was to compare two different Turkish fly ashes (Afsin-Elbistan and Seyitomer) for their ability to remove nickel [Ni(II)], copper [Cu(II)] and zinc [Zn(II)] from an aqueous solution. The effect of contact time, pH, initial metal concentration and fly ash origin on the adsorption process at 20+/-2 degrees C were studied. Batch kinetic studies showed that an equilibrium time of 2h was required for the adsorption of Ni(II), Cu(II) and Zn(II) on both the fly ashes. The maximum metal removal was found to be dependent on solution pH (7.0-8.0 for Ni(II), 5.0-6.0 for Cu(II) and 6.0-7.0 for Zn(II)) for each type of fly ash. With an increase in the concentrations of these metals, the adsorption of Ni(II) and Zn(II) increased while the Cu(II) adsorption decreased on both the fly ashes. Adsorption densities for the metal ions were Zn(II)>Cu(II)>Ni(II) for both the fly ashes. The effectiveness of fly ash as an adsorbent improved with increasing calcium (CaO) content. Adsorption data in the range of pH values (3.0-8.0) using Ni(II) and Cu(II) concentrations of 25+/-2mg/l and Zn(II) concentration of 30+/-2mg/l in solution were correlated using the linear forms of the Langmuir and Freundlich equations. The adsorption data were better fitted to the Langmuir isotherm since the correlation coefficients for the Langmuir isotherm were higher than that for the Freundlich isotherm. The fly ash with high calcium content (Afsin-Elbistan) was found to be a metal adsorbent as effective as activated carbon and, therefore, there are good prospects for the adsorptions of these metals on fly ash with high calcium content in practical applications in Turkey.     

Hybrid intelligent scenario generator for business strategic planning by using ANFIS

The aim of this study is to investigate a new method for generating scenarios in order to cope with the data shortage and linguistic expression of experts in scenario planning. The proposed hybrid intelligent scenario generator uses an Adaptive Neuro-Fuzzy Inference System (ANFIS) to deal with uncertain inputs. In this methodology, the strengths of expert systems, fuzzy logic and Artificial Neural Networks (ANNs) are joined to generate possible future scenarios. The proposed methodology includes four steps: step 1 defines the scope and internal and external variables and step 2 determines rules from experts. Then, step 3 prepares ANFIS system which is conducted by computer programming in Matlab environment. The Last step is sensitivity analysis to study the effects of variation of inputs on outputs. The applicability of the proposed method has been tested against two different case studies.     

Control centric approach in designing scrolling and zooming user interfaces

The dynamic systems approach to the design of continuous interaction interfaces allows the designer to use simulations, and analytical tools to analyse the behaviour and stability of the controlled system alone and when it is coupled with a manual control model of user behaviour. This approach also helps designers to calibrate and tune the parameters of the system before the actual implementation, and in response to user feedback. In this work we provide a dynamic systems interpretation of the coupling of internal states involved in speed-dependent automatic zooming, and test our implementation on a text browser on a Pocket PC instrumented with a tilt sensor. We illustrate simulated and experimental results of the use of the proposed coupled navigation and zooming interface using tilt and touch screen input.     

Exploiting Kondo spin chains for generating long range distance independent entanglement

We investigate the entanglement properties of the Kondo spin chain when it is prepared in its ground state as well as its dynamics following a single bond quench. We show that a true measure of entanglement such as negativity enables to characterize the unique features of the gapless Kondo regime. We determine the spatial extent of the Kondo screening cloud and propose an ansatz for the ground state in the Kondo regime accessible to this spin chain; we also demonstrate that the impurity spin is indeed maximally entangled with the Kondo cloud. We exploit these features of the entanglement in the gapless Kondo regime to show that a single local quench at one end of a Kondo spin chain may always induce a fast and long lived oscillatory dynamics, which establishes a high quality entanglement between the individual spins at the opposite ends of the chain. This entanglement is a footprint of the presence of the Kondo cloud and may be engineered so as to attain—even for very large chains—a constant high value independent of the length; in addition, it is thermally robust. Moreover, we show that high entanglement between very distant boundary spins is generated by suddenly connecting two long Kondo spin chains. We show that this procedure provides an efficient way to route entanglement between multiple distant sites. To better evidence the remarkable peculiarities of the Kondo regime, we carry a parallel analysis of the entanglement properties of the Kondo spin chain model in the gapped dimerised regime where these remarkable features are absent.