Elimination of organic matter present in wastewaters from the cork industry by membrane filtration

BACKGROUND: The first stage of the cork industrial process generates great volumes of wastewater with moderate to high organic pollutant content that must be purified using different procedures, such as filtration by membranes. RESULTS: The tangential filtration of these wastewaters was studied using two different laboratory equipments. In the first one, three ultrafiltration (UF) membranes were tested, with molecular weight cut‐off (MWCO) 100 kDa and 30 kDa, and two operating modes were used: total recycling of permeate and retentate streams, and in continuous mode, without recycling both streams. In the total recycling UF experiments, the influence of the operating variables on the permeate flux was first established. The effectiveness of the different membranes was determined by evaluating the rejection coefficients for several parameters that measure the global pollutant content of the effluent. The values found for these rejection coefficients were in the following order: ellagic acid and color > absorbance at 254 nm > tannic content > COD (chemical oxygen demand). In the continuous mode experiments, the fouling mechanism for each membrane was established by fitting the experimental data to various filtration fouling models given in the literature. The operating mode in the second equipment was batch concentration, and additional experiments were carried out with an UF membrane (2 kDa), and with a NF membrane (with MWCO in the range 150–300 Da). CONCLUSIONS: The three operating modes tested provided different rejection levels of organic matter; among them, the most effective procedure tested was batch concentration mode using a NF membrane. Copyright © 2007 Society of Chemical Industry     

In-laboratory removal of femoral sheath following protamine administration in patients having intracoronary stent implantation

Two hundred twenty-eight patients with successful coronary stent implantation were randomized either to protamine administration and femoral sheath removal (group I, n = 117) or no heparin neutralization and delayed sheath removal (group II, n = 111). The hospital stay after treatment was shorter in patients receiving protamine; therefore, protamine use for neutralizing circulating heparin may be safely administered immediately after stent implantation.     

Bayes estimators for reliability measures in geometric distribution model using masked system life test data

This paper presents Bayes estimators for the reliability measures of the individual components in a multi-component systems in the presence of masked system life test data. The life time distributions of the system components are assumed to be geometric with different parameters. Two-sided Bayesian probability intervals of the parameters are also derived. Numerical simulation study is given in order to: (i) explain how one can apply the theoretical results obtained, (ii) study the influence of the sample size and masking level on the accuracy of point estimates.     

Accurate estimation of environment parameters from ultrasonic data

This paper describes a robust and accurate ultrasonic sensing system for a mobile robot. The system continuously updates a local map of the environment in which obstacles are represented by straight lines or points in a robot centered coordinate frame. The presented algorithms use a Kalman filter for the reduction of the noise in the ultrasonic data and use a systematical error correction (‘bundle correction’) to reduce the uncertainty in obstacle direction. Experiments are carried out in simulation and with a real mobile robot system. Results show that the accuracy with which line parameters can be estimated is in the order of 1 degree for the orientation and about 2 cm for the position. The effect of the bundle correction is significant and maximal when the robot approaches walls under a small angle.     

Influences of artificial pre-stressing on ply stresses and tensile properties of Vinylon fibre-reinforced aluminium laminates (VIRALL)

A simple micromechanical model based primarily upon the rule-of-mixtures is developed which allows prediction of the effects of fibre preload on the ply stresses (i.e., the initial residual stresses of fibre, adhesive and matrix) induced within VIRALL laminates, and the tensile stress-strain curves and mechanical properties of VIRALL laminates. The analysis of the ply stresses of VIRALL laminates indicates that pre-stressing will dramatically influence the ply stresses. The predicted tensile stress-strain curves of VIRALL laminates are in good agreement with the experimental curves and the results show that the stress-strain curves of VIRALL laminates move upwards when the prestress increases. The predicted tensile mechanical properties of VIRALL laminates at room temperature show good agreement with those obtained experimentally; both show that prestress can improve the tensile properties (i.e., elastic limit strength, 0.2% yield strength and failure strength) of VIRALL laminates.     

New chemical structural features of coal. The structure of coal products

The object of this paper is to demonstrate the usefulness of the transalkylation reaction for determining chemical structural features of products derived from coal. For example, the method is applied to derivatized coals, coals modified by thermolysis, and materials physically or chemically separated from coals. Data are presented for the pyridine soluble and insoluble parts of two coals, an O-methylated coal, a Birch reduced coal, a solvent refined coal, and a coke. Similarities and differences in chemical make-up of these materials are discussed.