Energy efficient control of a BTX dividing-wall column

Dividing-wall column (DWC) is considered nowadays the new champion in distillation, as it can bring substantial reduction in the capital invested as well as savings in the operating costs. This work presents the simulation results of energy efficient control and dynamics of a dividing-wall column (DWC). In order to allow a fair comparison of the results with previously published references, the case-study considered here is the industrially relevant ternary separation of the mixture benzene-toluene-xylene (BTX) in a DWC. Rigorous simulations were carried out in Aspen Plus and Aspen Dynamics. Several conventional control structures based on PID control loops (DB/LSV, DV/LSB, LB/DSV, LV/DSB) were used as a control basis. These control structures were enhanced by adding an extra loop controlling the heavy component composition in the top of the prefractionator, by using the liquid split as an additional manipulated variable, thus implicitly achieving minimization of energy requirements. The results of the dynamic simulations show relatively short settling times and low overshooting especially for the DB/LSV and LB/DSV control structures. Moreover, the energy efficient control proposed in this work allows the operation of DWC with minimum energy requirements or maximum purity of products.     

A four-channel digital signal processor in 1.2-μm CMOS withon-chip D/A and A/D conversion serving four speech channels in anew-generation subscriber line circuit

The major component for a new-generation line circuit was designed and fabricated in a 1.2-μm CMOS technology. The circuit includes digital signal processing of receive (RX) and transmit (TX) signals as well as the analog front end of four subscriber lines to a PCM (pulse code modulation) digital exchange. The device operates on a single 5-V power supply. The four-channel digital signal-processor including the analog front ends is fabricated on a 40-mm² 1.2-μm CMOS die area. The DSP functions, the RX and TX filters, the decimator, the interpolator, and the A/μ-law transcoder are included as independent data paths, one for the TX and RX filters, one for the decimator, and another for the interpolator, the digital sigma-delta modulator, and the transcoder. The on-chip analog front end contains a notch filter to cancel the 12/16-kHz payphone signal, a switched-capacitor PDM A/D and D/A converter, and smoothing filters. On the first measured samples, the signal-to-distortion ratio is measured to be 33 dB at -45 dBmo for -7 dB gain setting     

Cyclic distillation technology – a mini‐review

Process intensification in distillation systems has received much attention during past decades, with the aim of increasing both energy and separation efficiency. Various techniques, such as internal heat‐integrated distillation, membrane distillation, rotating packed bed, dividing‐wall columns and reactive distillation were studied and reported in the literature. All these techniques employ the conventional continuous counter‐current contact of vapor and liquid phases. Cyclic distillation technology is based on an alternative operating mode using separate phase movement which leads to key practical advantages in both chemical and biochemical processes. This article provides a mini‐review of cyclic distillation technology. The topics covered include the working principle, design and control methods, main benefits and limitations as well as current industrial applications. Cyclic distillation can be rather easily implemented in existing columns by simply changing the internals and the operating mode, thus bringing new life to old distillation towers by significantly increasing the column throughput, reducing the energy requirements and offering better separation performance. © 2016 Society of Chemical Industry     

Two-mode state reconstruction using photon chopping

Abstract

The reconstruction of the complete quantum state of a pure-state two-mode field is shown to be possible by the photon-chopping method, that is, by spreading the signal with balanced multiports over an array of detectors and by measuring coincidences. In particular, correlations between the two modes can be detected with high efficiency.     

Synthetic and Biological Studies of Sesquiterpene Polygodial: Activity of 9‐Epipolygodial against Drug‐Resistant Cancer Cells

Polygodial, a terpenoid dialdehyde isolated from Polygonum hydropiper L., is a known agonist of the transient receptor potential vanilloid 1 (TRPV1). In this investigation a series of polygodial analogues were prepared and investigated for TRPV1‐agonist and anticancer activities. These experiments led to the identification of 9‐epipolygodial, which has antiproliferative potency significantly exceeding that of polygodial. 9‐Epipolygodial was found to maintain potency against apoptosis‐resistant cancer cells as well as those displaying the multidrug‐resistant (MDR) phenotype. In addition, the chemical feasibility for the previously proposed mechanism of action of polygodial, involving the formation of a Paal–Knorr pyrrole with a lysine residue on the target protein, was demonstrated by the synthesis of a stable polygodial pyrrole derivative. These studies reveal rich chemical and biological properties associated with polygodial and its direct derivatives. These compounds should inspire further work in this area aimed at the development of new pharmacological agents, or the exploration of novel mechanisms of covalent modification of biological molecules with natural products.     

Wireless Indoor Communications Using an Optical Highway

The wireless indoor communications system employing an optical backboneprovides an economic and flexible approach for local area networks in officebuildings. In this approach the wireless communication serves small picocellsthat are interconnected by optical highways. The performance of the system isenhanced by assigning specific subcarriers for the individual picocells whichenables the transmission of the radio channels without altering theirmodulation format. The reception is simplified by a direct optical-microwavemixing method providing simultaneous optical detection and frequency shifting.This method allows for simple and cost-effective radio nodes.     

Parameter Sweep Workflows for Modelling Carbohydrate Recognition

Carbohydrate recognition is a phenomenon critical to a number of biological functions in humans. Understanding the dynamic behaviour of oligosaccharides should help in the discovery of the mechanisms which lead to specific and selective recognition of carbohydrates by proteins. Computer programs which can provide insight into such biological recognition processes have significant potential to contribute to biomedical research if the results of the simulation can prove consistent with the outcome of conventional wet laboratory experiments. In order to validate these simulation tools and support their wider uptake by the bio-scientist research community, high-level easy to use integrated environments are required to run massively parallel simulation workflows. This paper describes how the ProSim Science Gateway, based on the WS-PGRADE Grid portal, has been created to execute and visualise the results of complex parameter sweep workflows for modelling carbohydrate recognition.