Acid Mine Drainage at the Abandoned Kettara Mine (Morocco): 1. Environmental Characterization

The Kettara site (Morocco) is an abandoned pyrrhotite ore mine in a semi-arid environment. The site contains more than 3 million tons of mine waste that have been deposited on the surface without concern for environmental issues. Tailings were stockpiled in a dyke and pond and in piles, over an area of about 16 ha, and have generated acid mine drainage (AMD) for more than 24 years. The mine waste and secondary precipitates from this mine were characterized using geochemical and mineralogical techniques. The Kettara wastes contain 1.6–14.5 wt% sulfur, mainly sulfide minerals (e.g., pyrrhotite, pyrite, chalcopyrite, galena, and sphalerite). The main gangue minerals were goethite, quartz, chlorite-serpentine, talc, muscovite, and albite. Carbonates occur at very low quantities (less than 1 wt%). The most abundant heavy metals were Cu, Zn, Cr, Pb, Co, As, Cd, and Ni. Acid–base accounting static test results showed that all the samples have low values of acid-neutralizing potential (NP) (0–9 kg CaCO3/t). The mine waste has high acid-producing potential (AP) (51–453 kg CaCO3/t). Abundant secondary mineralogy is present, consisting mainly of halotrichite, goethite, jarosite-hydroanion, hydroniumjarosite, starkeyite, gypsum, alunite, copiapite, butterite, and coquimbite. Hardpans, which can prevent water infiltration to fresh tailings beneath and thereby lessen the rate of sulfide reactivity, were observed during sampling of the fine tailings. Mineralogical analysis indicated that the cementitious phase of the hardpan is mainly goethite. The alteration observed in the tailings pond does not extend more than 5–15 cm.     

Development of an experimental platform for research in energy and electrical machine control

This paper presents the development of a test bench dedicated for electrical machines and energy control, as realized by the research team of the Power Systems and Electrical Machines Laboratory (RME) of the National Institute of Applied Sciences and Technology (INSAT) in Tunisia. The principal components of the proposed test bench are explained, and the respective characteristics are given. This paper focuses on mounting low-cost sensors and developing reliable scientific results. The relevant obtained results in photovoltaic (PV) and wind energy fields, power measurement and control, as well as alternating current (AC) machine drives are likewise presented. These are supported by two signal processing controller boards based on Technosoft MCK240 and dSPACE DS1104 kits. In the wind energy field, some results relative to Self Excited Induction Generator dedicated to supplying isolated sites are discussed; in addition, water pumping is discussed for PV energy. In the AC drives area, the results of a closed loop control are presented using a developed direct voltage control (DVC) scheme implemented on dSPACE DS1104. Maps and interesting details of some realized sensors are also presented.     

Numerical study of radiative heat transfer effects on a complex configuration of rack storage fire

This work describes the application and the performance of a new radiation model in CFD calculations for the simulation of thermal radiation transfer effects on a fire scenario. A 3D Cartesian coordinates radiative heat transfer procedure based on coupling of the FTn finite volume method (FTnFVM) with the bounded high-order resolution CLAM scheme is developed. The narrow-band based weighted-sum-of-gray-gases (NB-WSGG) model is applied to take account of nongray effects by CO₂, H₂O and soot. To treat irregular boundaries, the present model used the blocked-off-region procedure. This radiation code is implemented in the Fire Dynamics Simulator (FDS), a Computational-Fluid-Dynamics-based fire model, where a the combustion is represented by means of the mixture fraction with a single step chemical reaction model and the Large Eddy Simulation (LES) is used to model the dissipative processes. Computational results with and without radiation effects are compared against available experimental data and quasi-steady state law correlations of in-rack storage fire, which consists a complex configuration of double tri-wall corrugated paper cartons placed onto a wood pallet. Sensibility analyses of spatial and angular grids demonstrate the improvements due to the FTnFVM and to the CLAM scheme in the configuration studied. Results show that the simulations of the flame height, the gas temperature and the gas velocity are strongly influenced by thermal radiation. Overall, simulations predicted closer profiles to the experimental results only when the nongray-sooting radiation model was incorporated and an over-prediction of the gas temperature and the flame height is found when radiation is neglected. A sensibility analysis has shown that the flame characteristics are strongly affected by the soot yield.     

Experimental investigation of the hydraulic characteristics of a counter flow wet cooling tower

Thermal and nuclear electric power plants as well as several industrial processes invariably discharge considerable energy to their surrounding by heat transfer. Although water drawn from a nearby river or lake can be employed to carry away this energy, cooling towers offer an excellent alternative particularly in locations where sufficient cooling water cannot be easily obtained from natural sources or where concern for the environment imposes some limits on the temperature at which cooling water can be returned to the surrounding. This paper concerns an experimental investigation of the hydraulic characteristics of a counter flow wet cooling tower. The tower contains a “VGA.” (Vertical Grid Apparatus) type packing which is 0.42 m high and consists of four (04) galvanised sheets having a zigzag form, between which are disposed three (03) metallic vertical grids in parallel with a cross sectional test area of 0.15 m × 0.148 m. The present investigation is focused mainly on the effect of the air and water flow rates on the hydraulic characteristics of the cooling tower, for different inlet water temperatures. The two hydrodynamic operating regimes which were observed during the air/water contact operation within the tower, namely the Pellicular Regime (PR) and the Bubble and Dispersion Regime (BDR) have enabled to distinguish two different states of pressure drop characteristics. The first regime is characterized by low pressure drop values, while in the second regime, the pressure drop values are relatively much higher than those observed in the first one. The dependence between the pressure drop characteristics and the combined heat and mass transport (air–water) through the packing inside the cooling tower is also highlighted. The obtained results indicate that this type of tower possesses relatively good hydraulic characteristics. This leads to the saving of energy.     

Visible light induced hydrogen evolution on new hetero-system ZnFe2O4/SrTiO3

The physical properties and photoelectrochemical characterization of the spinel ZnFe₂O₄, elaborated by chemical route, have been investigated for the hydrogen production under visible light. The forbidden band is found to be 1.92 eV and the transition is indirectly allowed. The electrical conduction occurs by small polaron hopping with activation energy of 0.20 eV. p-type conductivity is evidenced from positive thermopower and cathodic photocurrent. The flat band potential (0.18 V_SCE) determined from the capacitance measurements is suitably positioned with respect to H₂O/H₂ level (−0.85 V_SCE). Hence, ZnFe₂O₄ is found to be an efficient photocatalyst for hydrogen generation under visible light. The photoactivity increases significantly when the spinel is combined with a wide band gap semiconductor. The best performance with a hydrogen rate evolution of 9.2 cm³ h⁻¹ (mg catalyst)⁻¹ occurs over the new hetero-system ZnFe₂O₄/SrTiO₃ in Na₂S₂O₃ (0.025 M) solution.     

Gabor filter-based texture for ancient degraded document image binarization

Pattern Analysis and Applications - Binarization of ancient degraded document images is a very important step for their preservation and digital use. In this paper, a new simple threshold-based...     

Performance analysis of Vernier slotted doubly salient permanent magnet generator for wind power

This paper presents the impact results of the variation of the rotor and the stator tooth pitches (Vernier effect), on the waveform of the back-electromotive force (EMF) generated by the low speed Doubly Salient Permanent Magnet machine (DSPM). The rotating electrical machines with and without Vernier effect are designed and optimized using genetic algorithms combined with finite element method. The optimization of machines parameters is focused on the maximization of the mass to torque ratio. The results show that the machine with Vernier effect has better performances. The obtained Vernier slotted doubly salient permanent magnet generator is then integrated into an autonomous wind energy conversion system. Simulations tests are carried out through Matlab/Simulink. The results show that the proposed machine is a valid and inexpensive alternative for directly coupled wind turbines.     

Efficient fall activity recognition by combining shape and motion features

Computational Visual Media - This paper presents a vision-based system for recognizing when elderly adults fall. A fall is characterized by shape deformation and high motion. We represent shape...     

Comments on “Some conditions on zeros to avoid step-responseextrema”. II [and reply]

The commenters give a correct version of Theorem 2 of the above-mentioned paper (Rachid, ibid., vol.40, p.1501-3, 1995). In reply Rachid accepts one of their points and gives a new statement of Theorem 2     

Un modèle générique multi-niveaux pour la recherche d’image par le contenu

In this paper we propose a generic model for content image modelling. The model is based on several levels of information. Each level is called view and relates to a class of information. We distinguish three types of views: the concept, relation and interpretation views. The view concept or relation makes it possible to define respectively the concepts or the calculable relations automatically that do not require any particular interpretation. The view interpretation relates to the interpretation of the contents of the image. The number, the nature and the contents of each view are adaptable and can vary according to the type of application. The operational model is based on the nested conceptual graphs which we extended. The model is implemented and operational and the results obtained are very encouraging.