Effect of the vinyl concentration on the structural and rheological characteristics of peroxide‐modified high‐density polyethylenes

The effect of the hydrogenation of the terminal vinyl groups on the peroxide modification and rheological properties of high‐density polyethylene (HDPE) was investigated. The aim of the study was to determine exclusively the effect of the terminal vinyl groups on the peroxide crosslinking and rheological properties of HDPE with one polymer type. This was achieved by hydrogenation of the terminal vinyl groups of a commercial HDPE to obtain an identical material from a structural point of view, which differed only in the nature of the terminal unsaturations, and the comparison of its level of peroxide crosslinking with that of the original polymer. Hydrogenated and unhydrogenated polymer samples were modified at 170°C with different amounts of organic peroxide ranging from 125 to 5000 ppm. Changes in the molecular structure were determined by Fourier transform infrared spectroscopy, size exclusion chromatography, and rheological measurements. Hydrogenation of the terminal groups of the original polymer significantly reduced the rate of modification or crosslinking. The dynamic viscosity and elasticity increased with the level of peroxide modification. Unhydrogenated samples exhibited rapid increases in viscosity and elastic modulus, whereas their hydrogenated counterparts required about 500% of the amount of peroxide needed for the unhydrogenated sample to attain similar structural changes. © 2009 Wiley Periodicals, Inc. J Appl Polym Sci, 2010     

Absorber intercooling in CO2 absorption by piperazine‐promoted potassium carbonate

Intercooling was evaluated as a process option in CO₂ absorption by piperazine (PZ) promoted potassium carbonate. The system performance with 4.5 m K⁺/4.5 m PZ was simulated by a model in Aspen Plus® RateSep?. The absorber was evaluated for use with a double matrix stripper by optimizing the position of the semilean feed and intercooling stages to maximize CO₂ removal. Additionally, a simple absorber system was modeled to observe the effect of intercooling on systems with variable CO₂ lean loading. Intercooling increases CO₂ removal by as much as 10% with the double matrix configuration. With a simple absorber, the effectiveness of intercooling depends on solvent rate. Near a critical liquid/gas ratio (L/G) there is a large improvement with intercooling. This is related to the position of the temperature bulge. An approximation is proposed to estimate the critical L/G where intercooling may maximize removal. © 2009 American Institute of Chemical Engineers AIChE J, 2010     

Response surface modeling and optimization of biodiesel production from Cynara cardunculus oil

Cardoon (Cynara cardunculus L.) is a perennial spontaneous thistle grown in Mediterranean countries and well adapted to marginal lands, recently considered as a non‐food energy crop. Their seeds contain 24% of oil (dry basis). In this study, modeling and optimization of the production of fatty acid methyl esters (FAME) from cardoon oil for biodiesel uses was performed at laboratory scale, via response surface methodology, following a central composite rotatable design. FAME were obtained by transesterification of crude cardoon oil with methanol in the presence of a catalyst (sodium methoxide) for 120 min. The temperature ranged from 26 to 94 °C, the amount of sodium methoxide varied between 0.12 and 2.5 wt‐% and the molar ratio methanol/oil from 0.95 : 1 to 11 : 1. The estimated yield of FAME (97%) was obtained after 30 min, at 52 °C, for a molar ratio of 6.4 : 1 and 1.4 wt‐% of catalyst. In laboratory‐scale model validation experiments, 94% of FAME yield was obtained after 30 min of reaction. Transesterification was performed in a 30‐L reactor, under previously optimized conditions: A yield of 88% FAME was obtained after 90 min of reaction time, due to mass transfer limitations. After purification, the biodiesel showed high quality according to DIN EN 14214 standard specifications.     

A strategy for designing a peptide probe for detection of β-amyloid oligomers

Aggregation of β-amyloid (Aβ) is implicated in the pathology of Alzheimer's disease. Development of a robust strategy to detect Aβ oligomeric intermediates, which have been identified as significant toxic agents, would be highly beneficial in the screening of drug candidates as well as enhancing our understanding of Aβ oligomerization. Rapid, specific and quantitative detection, currently unavailable, would be highly preferred for accurate and reliable probing of transient Aβ oligomers. Here, we report the development of a novel peptide probe, PG46, based on the nature of Aβ self-assembly and the conformation-sensitive fluorescence of the biarsenical dye, FlAsH. PG46 was found to bind to Aβ oligomers and displayed an increase in FlAsH fluorescence upon binding. No such event was observed when PG46 was co-incubated with Aβ low-molecular-weight species or Aβ fibrils. Aβ oligomer detection was fast, and occurred within one hour without any additional sample incubation or preparation. We anticipate that the development of a strategy for detection of amyloid oligomers described in this study will be directly relevant to a host of other amyloidogenic proteins.     

Flash temperature during impact of layered elastic solids

An analytical model to calculate the maximum flash temperature during oblique spherical impact of an elastic single layered solid is presented. The model is developed by combining the contact parameters obtained from a spherical impact model and flash temperature solution for the sliding contact interface of a layered solid. Dynamic thermomechanical finite element analysis is used to examine the validity of the analytical model with good success. The flash temperature, obtained when the coating is accounted for, is different from that when homogeneous material only is considered, and needs to be accounted for estimating flash temperatures during impact of layered media.     

Comprehensive simulation software for teaching camera calibration by a constructivist methodology

This paper describes the Metrovisionlab computer application implemented as a toolbox for the Matlab program. It is designed to teach the most important camera calibration aspects in dimensional metrology applications such as laser triangulation sensors and photogrammetry or stereovision systems. This software is used in several industrial vision courses for senior undergraduate mechanical engineering students. The application: simulates a virtual camera, providing a simple and visual understanding of how various characteristics of a camera influence the image that it captures; generates the coordinates of synthetic calibration points, both in the world reference system and the image reference system; and can calibrate with the most important and widely-used methods in the area of vision cameras, using coplanar or non-coplanar calibration points. Thus, the main goal is to have a simulation tool that allows characterizing the accuracy, repeatability, error mechanisms and influences for different measurement conditions and camera calibration algorithms. In the realized tests, the software has demonstrated to be a very effective educational tool.     

Phenolic composition and antioxidant activity of Rocha pear and other pear cultivars – A comparative study

The phenolic profile and the antioxidant activity of Rocha pear, a Portuguese pear cultivar, were determined and compared with the commercially available pear varieties Comice, Abate, General Leclerc and Passe Crassane. Phenolic composition of the methanolic extracts of these pears was determined by high performance liquid chromatography with diode array detection (HPLC-DAD), while antioxidant activities were evaluated using three complementary test systems: DPPH radical scavenging activity, ferric reducing power capacity and β-carotene/linoleic acid bleaching assay. When compared to the studied varieties, Rocha pear (peel and flesh) presented the highest content of total phenolics. Among them, chlorogenic, syringic, ferulic and coumaric acids, arbutin and (?)-epicatechin were detected as major components. In addition, among the tested varieties, Rocha pear presented the best antioxidant activities in the DPPH and ferric reducing power assays.     

Advanced oxidation processes applied to tannery wastewater containing Direct Black 38--elimination and degradation kinetics

The application of advanced oxidation processes (H(2)O(2)/UV, TiO(2)/H(2)O(2)/UV and TiO(2)/UV) to treat tannery wastewater was investigated. The experiments were performed in batch and continuous UV reactors, using TiO(2) as a catalyst. The effect of the hydrogen peroxide concentration on the degradation kinetics was evaluated in the concentration range 0-1800 mg L(-1). We observed that the degradation rate increased as the hydrogen peroxide increased, but excessive H(2)O(2) concentration was detrimental because it acted as a hydroxyl radical scavenger since it can compete for the active sites of the TiO(2). In the H(2)O(2)/UV treatment, the COD removal reached around 60% in 4 h of reaction, indicating that the principal pollutants were chemically degraded as demonstrated by the results for BOD, COD, nitrate, ammonium and analysis of the absorbance at 254 nm. Artemia salina toxicity testing performed in parallel showed an increase in toxicity after AOP treatment of the tannery wastewater.     

Recovery of copper from printed circuit boards scraps by mechanical processing and electrometallurgy

The constant growth in generation of solid wastes stimulates studies of recycling processes. The electronic scrap is part of this universe of obsolete and/or defective materials that need to be disposed of more appropriately, or then recycled. In this work, printed circuit boards, that are part of electronic scrap and are found in almost all electro-electronic equipments, were studied. Printed circuit boards were collected in obsolete or defective personal computers that are the largest source of this kind of waste. Printed circuit boards are composed of different materials such as polymers, ceramics and metals, which makes the process more difficult. However, the presence of metals, such as copper and precious metals encourage recycling studies. Also the presence of heavy metals, as Pb and Cd turns this scrap into dangerous residues. This demonstrates the need to search for solutions of this kind of residue, in order to have it disposed in a proper way, without harming the environment. At the first stage of this work, mechanical processing was used, as comminution followed by size, magnetic and electrostatic separation. By this process it was possible to obtain a concentrated fraction in metals (mainly Cu, Pb and Sn) and another fraction containing polymers and ceramics. The copper content reached more than 50% in mass in most of the conductive fractions and significant content of Pb and Sn. At the second stage, the fraction concentrated in metals was dissolved with acids and treated in an electrochemical process in order to recover the metals separately, especially copper. The results demonstrate the technical viability of recovering copper using mechanical processing followed by an electrometallurgical technique. The copper content in solution decayed quickly in all the experiments and the copper obtained by electrowinning is above 98% in most of the tests.