Laboratory corrosion tests for simulating fireside wastage of superheater materials in waste incinerators

Laboratory corrosion tests were performed to clarify the effects of relative amounts of fused salts in tube deposits on corrosion rates of superheater materials in WTE plants. All test exposures were at 550 °C and of 100 h duration. The nine synthetic ashes used as corrodents consisted of mixtures of chlorides, sulfates and oxides. The test materials were alloy steel T22, stainless steels TP347H, TP310HCbN, and alloys HR11N and 625. The gas atmosphere consisted of 500 to 3000 ppm HCl‐30 ppm SO₂‐10% O₂‐10% CO₂‐20% H₂O‐bal.N₂. Generally, the relative amount of fused salts in non‐fused ash constituents at 550 °C increased with increasing the chlorine content of the ashes. The corrosion rate of T22 steel did not depend directly on ash chlorine content, but for ashes of 7.7 wt.% Cl, the corrosion rate depended on the calculated amount of fused salt at 500 °C. The corrosion rates of TP347H steel and alloy 625 were maximum for ashes of 6–8 wt.% Cl. For ashes of 7.7 wt.% Cl, the corrosion rates of T22 steel, stainless steels, and alloys increased with ashes having higher amounts of fused salts. Increased HCl content of the gas caused higher corrosion of the stainless steels and high‐nickel alloys, but there was no clear corrosion‐exacerbating effect with T22 steel.     

Development of high voltage harmonic measuring instruments for distribution systems using optical voltage sensor and current sensor

Application of an optical measuring technique was attempted in order to develop harmonic voltage and current measuring instruments for distribution systems. To develop the harmonic voltage measuring system using a Bi₁₂GeO₂₀ crystal as a sensing Pockels cell for high‐voltage distribution lines, zinc oxide elements were adopted as a voltage divider. Also, an optical current sensor system was improved on the harmonic current measuring system using an R₃Fe₅O₁₂ film as a Faraday device. In practical three‐phase distribution systems, the developed high voltage harmonic measuring devices using the optical voltage sensor and current sensor were compared with conventional harmonic analyzers for low voltage. As a result, it was confirmed that the developed high voltage harmonic measuring devices had satisfactory characteristics for practical use. © 1999 Scripta Technica, Electr Eng Jpn, 128(4): 84–93, 1999     

Pharmaceutical production of tableting granules in an ultra-small-scale high-shear granulator as a pre-formulation study

Objective: In some of drug developments, the amount of bulk drug powder to use in early stages is limited and it is not easy to supply a sufficient drug amount for conventional preparation methods. Therefore, an ultra-small-scale high-shear granulator (less than 5?g) (USG) was developed and applied to small-scale granulation as a pre-formulation. Method: The sample powder consisted of 66.5% lactose, 28.5% microcrystalline cellulose and 5.0% hydroxypropylcellulose. The granules were obtained to agitate 5?g of the sample powder with 1.0?mL of water at 300?rpm for 5?min after pre-powder mixing for 3?min by the USG and the manual hand (HM) methods. Results: The granules were evaluated by the 10% and 90% accumulated particle size and the recoveries of the granules and the powder solid. Median particle size for the USG and the HM methods was 159.2?±?2.3 and 270.9?±?14.9 μm, respectively. The USG method had a narrower particle size distribution than those by the HM method. The recovery of the granules by USG was significantly larger than that by the HM method. Conclusion: Characteristics of all of the granules indicated that the USG method could produce higher quality granules within a shorter time than the HM methods.     

Test results after refurbish of cryogenic system for smiles

Superconducting Sub-millimeter-wave Limb-Emission Sounder (SMILES) is to be operated aboard the Japanese Experiment Module (JEM) of the International Space Station (ISS) in 2009. SMILES uses two superconductor-insulator-superconductor (SIS) mixers for sub-millimeter-wave atmospheric observation and they are cooled to 4 K levels by a cryogenic system with a two-stage Stirling cooler, a Joule-Thomson (JT) cycle cooler and a cryostat composed of three stages. Two-stage Stirling cooler precools the JT circuit and also cools radiation shields in the cryostat. JT circuit has three tube-in-tube type heat exchangers and an orifice for JT expansion in the cryostat. The cryogenic system is built, tested and delivered.     

Direct synthesis of H2O2 acid solutions on carbon cathode prepared from activated carbon and vapor-growing-carbon-fiber by a H2/O2 fuel cell

Direct synthesis of H₂O₂ acid solutions was studied using a gas-diffusion cathode prepared from activated carbon (AC), vapor-growing-carbon-fiber (VGCF) and poly-tetra-fluoro-ethylene (PTFE) powders, with a new H₂/O₂ fuel cell reactor. O₂ reduction to H₂O₂ was remarkably enhanced at the three-phase boundary (O₂(g)-electrode(s)-acid(l)) at the [AC + VGCF] cathode. Fast diffusion processes of O₂ to the active surface and of H₂O₂ to the bulk acid solutions were essential for H₂O₂ accumulation. Synergy of AC and VGCF was observed for the H₂O₂ formation. RRDE and cyclic voltammetry studies indicated that the surface of AC functioned as the active phase for O₂ reduction to HO₂, and VGCF functioned as an electron conductor and a promoter to convert HO₂ to H₂O₂. A maximum H₂O₂ concentration of 353 mM (1.2 wt%) was accomplished under short-circuit conditions (current density 12.7 mA cm⁻², current efficiency 40.1%, geometric area of cathode 1.3 cm², reaction time 6 h).     

On-line sample preconcentration and separation technique based on transient trapping in microchip micellar electrokinetic chromatography

This paper describes a novel on-line sample preconcentration and separation technique named transient trapping (tr-trapping), which improves the efficiencies of separation and concentration by using a partially injected short micellar plug in microchip electrophoresis. Although a longer separation length often provides a better resolution of complexed or closely migrating analytes, our proposed theoretical model indicated that a trap-and-release mechanism enables a short micellar zone, which was partially injected into the separation channel, to work as an effective concentration and separation field. Application of the tr-trapping technique to microchip micellar electrokinetic chromatography (MCMEKC) was performed on a newly fabricated 5-way-cross microchip by using sodium dodecyl sulfate and rhodamine dyes as test micelle and analytes, respectively. When the injection times of micelle (t(inj),M) and sample solution (t(inj),S) were 1.0 and 2.0 s, respectively, both the preconcentration and separation of the dyes were completely finished within only 3.0 s. At t(inj),S of 8.0 s, a 393-fold improvement of the detectability was achieved in comparison with conventional MCMEKC. The resolution obtained with tr-trapping-MCMEKC was also better than that with conventional MCMEKC in spite of the 160-fold shorter length of the injected micellar zone at t(inj),M of 1.0 s. These results clearly demonstrated that the tr-trapping technique in MCMEKC provides a rapid, high-resolution and detectability analysis even in the short separation channel on the microchips.     

New clean-up method with dispersive solid-phase extraction for simultaneous determination of pesticide residues in livestock products by GC-MS/MS

A simple clean-up method was developed for the simultaneous determination of pesticide residues in livestock products by GC-MS/MS. The pesticide residues were extracted with acetonitrile-ethanol (1 : 1), and matrix components such as adipose were effectively eliminated by a combination of refrigerated centrifugation, dispersive solid-phase extraction, and multifunctional column chromatography. In this method, samples are treated quickly and easily without the need for gel-permeation chromatography. Among 131 pesticides tested, 115 showed recovery within the range from 70 to 120%, with relative standard deviations of less than 15%. The quantification limits for the 115 pesticides in livestock products were 0.001 to 0.01 μg/g.     

Comprehensive evaluation of leukocyte lineage derived from human hematopoietic cells in humanized mice

Recently, humanized animals whereby a part of the animal is biologically engineered using human genes or cells have been utilized to overcome interspecific differences. Herein, we analyzed the detail of the differentiation states of various human leukocyte subpopulations in humanized mouse and evaluated comprehensively the similarity of the leukocyte lineage between humanized mice and humans. Humanized mice were established by transplanting human CD34(+) cord blood cells into irradiated severely immunodeficient NOD/Shi-scid/IL2Rγ(null) (NOG) mice, and the phenotypes of human cells contained in bone marrow, thymus, spleen and peripheral blood from the mice were analyzed at monthly intervals until 4 months after cell transplantation. The analysis revealed that transplanted human hematopoietic stem cells via the caudal vein homed and engrafted themselves successfully at the mouse bone marrow. Subsequently, the differentiated leukocytes migrated to the various tissues. Almost all of the leukocytes within the thymus were human cells. Furthermore, analysis of the differentiation states of human leukocytes in various tissues and organs indicated that it is highly likely that the human-like leukocyte lineage can be developed in mice.     

Hydrogen production from thermo-catalytic decomposition of methane using carbon black catalysts in an indirectly-irradiated tubular packed-bed solar reactor

The solar thermo-catalytic decomposition of methane using carbon black catalysts for CO₂-free hydrogen production is studied in a packed-bed reactor. The indirectly-irradiated reactor is based on a cavity receiver and a tube-type absorber in which a given load of particle catalyst is injected during on-sun operation, while enabling multiple refilling for catalyst replacement. Concentrated solar power is used as an external radiative source for supplying the high temperature process heat and for driving the endothermic reaction. The indirect irradiation via the intermediate opaque tubular absorber results in a more uniform heating of the whole reacting bed volume and thus an easier reaction temperature control and determination. Carbon particles are used for enhancing the rate of the heterogeneous decomposition reaction and the coupling of the reactor with a particle injection system is implemented to operate in semi-continuous mode with possibility of catalyst load renewal after deactivation.     

Solid electrolyte of tantalum oxide thin film deposited by reactive DC and RF magnetron sputtering for all-solid-state switchable mirror glass

All-solid-state switchable mirror glass was prepared by magnetron sputtering. The device exhibited the multi-layer structure of Mg₄Ni/Pd/Ta₂O₅ on WO₃/ITO/glass substrate. The Mg₄Ni, Pd, and Ta₂O₅ in the device acted as optical switches, proton injector and solid electrolyte, respectively. Reactive DC magnetron sputtering was employed as a new deposition method for Ta₂O₅ electrolyte thin film for the device. The transmittance of the device, at a wavelength of 670 nm using reactive DC-sputtered Ta₂O₅ thin film, reached 0.1% (a reflective state) to 48% (a transparent state). The transmittance change occurred in less than 40 s when 5 V was applied, and the switching speed was 60 times faster than that of the device using reactive RF-sputtered Ta₂O₅ thin film.