Influence of surfactants on flocculation and dewatering of kaolin suspensions by cationic polyacrylamide (PAM-C) flocculant

This paper reports the result of studies on flocculation and dewatering of kaolin suspensions by cationic polyacrylamide (PAM-C) flocculants in presence of surfactants. The surfactants used were namely anionic sodium dodecyl sulphate (SDS), cationic cetyl trimethyl ammonium bromide (CTAB) and non-ionic TritonX 100, which is a polyoxyethylenic ether compound. The unflocculated kaolin has a very slow settling rate of about 0.03 cm/s and can be improved by more than ten times using PAM-C as a flocculating agent. PAM-C adsorbs on kaolin primarily through electrostatic attraction and the flocculation is governed mainly by charge neutralisation and bridging. Partial pre-coating of kaolin with all three surfactants leads to both physical adsorption as well as chemisorption at PAM-C. Pretreating the kaolin with surfactants can further increase or decrease settling rate depending on the type of surfactant used. However, the flocs thus formed shows better filtration and dewatering behaviour estimated in terms of reduction in specific resistance to filtration (SRF) and cake moisture. The minimum SRF occurs under conditions corresponding to far lower adsorption of PAM-C than that for best flocculation. Simultaneous addition of PAM-C and each of the three surfactants decreases settling rate and sediment volume markedly and does not reduce SRF any further but they all reduce cake moisture substantially. The reduction in cake moisture for different PAM-C: surfactant mixture is in the following order: PAM-C: SDS (1:1)>PAM-C: TX 100(1:1)>PAM-C: CTAB(1:1). Low cake moisture in comparison with PAM-C alone, may be a result of reduction in entrapment of excess water in the smaller flocs formed by simultaneous addition with surfactants and to some extent due to hydrophobicity caused by adsorption of surfactants.     

Effects of Nanoparticles on Film Properties of Waterborne Acrylic Emulsions

Waterborne acrylic emulsion was obtained by using methyl methacrylate, ethyl and butyl acrylate monomers. Emulsions containing nanoparticles were prepared by blending the stable dispersions containing SiO₂ or MMT nanoparticles. The films were prepared from emulsions and coating tests were applied. The physical properties of prepared emulsions are better than the commercial emulsions. The addition of the nanoparticles especially SiO₂ have positive effect on the resistance to environmental conditions of emulsions. Waterborne acrylic emulsions containing nanoparticles prepared in this study can be used in the manufacturing of the semi-lustrous emulsion type nano paint with low cost, high performance and environmentally friendly.     

Experimentally and numerically investigating cell performance and localized characteristics for a high-temperature proton exchange membrane fuel cell

This paper is to experimentally and numerically investigate the cell performance and the localized characteristics associated with a high-temperature proton exchange membrane fuel cell (PEMFC). Three experiments are carried out in order to study the performance of the PEMFC with different operating conditions and to validate the numerical simulation model. The model proposed herein is a three-dimensional (3-D) computational fluid dynamics (CFD) non-isothermal model that essentially consists of thermal–hydraulic equations and electrochemical model. The performance curves of the PEMFC predicted by the present model agree with the experimental measured data. In addition, both the experiments and the predictions precisely demonstrate the enhanced effects of inlet gas temperature and system pressure on the PEMFC performance. Based on the simulation results, the localized characteristics within a PEMFC can be reasonably captured. These parameters include the fuel gas distribution, liquid water saturation distribution, membrane conductivity distribution, temperature variation, and current density distribution etc. As the PEMFC is operated at the higher current density, the fuel gas would be insufficiently supplied to the catalyst layer, consequently causing the decline in the generation of power density. This phenomenon is so called mass transfer limitation, which can be precisely simulated by the present CFD model.     

Flame stretch analysis in diffusion flames with inert gas

1niwtonInveshgations to enhance combushon efficiencyhave been irnportan in the past decad. Most of theimProvementS were coneennd on bog thendulent fluctUations and flow intensihes. The jettodetboinging setup is widely used in rocke engines withseif ignition proPellantS. The pUrPOse of thes reseaxC istO examine the imPinging effeCt on the jet-imPingementdiffesion flame.Two asPeCs of the twinging flame, jetboingeInen heating and combushon enhaneement havebeen inveshgatal. Milson and Chig…     

Extracting Low-Frequency Spatio-Temporal Patterns in Ambient Power System Data Using Blind Source Separation

Wide-area techniques provide a powerful tool to extract spatio-temporal patterns from high-dimensional datasets and can be used for event detection and visualization, data fusion, stability assessment, and coherency analysis. In this paper, a novel blind source separation-based approach for extracting low-frequency spatio-temporal patterns from measured ambient power system data is proposed and a spatio-temporal visualization index is also suggested. This methodology combines a nonlinear hierarchical neural network with a Blind Source Separation (BSS) technique. The neural network allows reducing noise and removing the nonlinear relations among data (preserve dynamic features of interest), while the BSS technique permits extracting spatial and temporal patterns. In addition, the proposed approach takes advantage of the latest techniques in nonlinear estimation of non-stationary time series. Finally, application examples of the proposed framework on real test cases recorded from an actual power system by Phasor Measurement Units (PMUs) are presented. The obtained results show that the temporal patterns can be used for extracting and identifying the low-frequency oscillation modes and the spatial patterns can be used for identifying modes with the most contribution in original data. Compared to other BSS approaches, the proposed method has shown to be better for the analysis of real ambient data.     

Effects of magnesium and chromium addition on stability,activity and structure of copper-based methanol synthesis catalysts

Cu/ZnO/Al₂O₃-based catalysts for methanol synthesis are prepared through co-precipitation by addition of Mg and Cr. Precursors are characterized by XRD and Air-TGA. Catalysts, calcined at 450 °C, are examined by XRD and BET. Reduction characteristics of the catalysts are analyzed via H₂-TPR and H₂-TGA. Surface acidity of the catalysts is determined by TPAD-TGA. Addition of Mg and Cr causes formation of smaller CuO crystallite size, and increases surface area of catalysts by improving dispersion of CuO. Cr also improves stability of the catalysts against ambient conditions and prolongs their shelf life. The catalyst containing 6.4 mol % Cr has a methanol selectivity of 83.5% and a catalytic activity of 14.2 g methanol production which is the highest among other synthesized catalysts. High Cr loadings (32 mol %) reduce the catalytic activity. Cr containing catalysts continue to produce the highest amounts of methanol as compared with the catalysts without Cr where Cr prevents deactivation and sintering.     

Synthesis and characterization of whitlockite from sea urchin skeleton and investigation of antibacterial activity

In the present study, undoped whitlockite and ZnO doped-Whitlockite, which is the second most abundant inorganic material in bone structure, were synthesized from sea urchin skeleton. The obtained bioceramic materials were characterized by XRD, FT-IR, and SEM and their antibacterial activities were determined using the inhibition zone diameters of Escherichia coli and Pseudomonas aeruginosa as gram negative bacteria and Staphylococcus aureus as gram positive bacterium after 24 h incubation. The characterization studies showed that nano size homogenous biocereamic whitlockite (Ca_2.86Mg_0.14(PO₄)₂) was synthesized from the sea urchin skeleton. After dopping process, the main structure of the whitlockite keeps stable, showing a dopping concentration-independent character. On the other hand, the peaks belonging to ZnO were started to seen in the XRD pattern with increasing the level of ZnO-concentration (after 7 %). All experimental results point out that the obtained whitlockites are viable nominate candidates for bioceramic materials and the results of antibacterial sensitivity prove the inhibitory effect towards Escherichia coli, Pseudomonas aeruginosa and Staphylococcus aureus for ZnO-doped-whitlockite.     

Preparation,characterization, and influence of polyurea coatings on their layered composite materials based on flexible rebonded polyurethane

Preparation and characterization of a series of polyurea (PU) coatings and their influences on layered composite materials based on rebonded polyurethane (PUr) for floor application are described in terms of the raw materials, formulation, and application performance. While PU coatings show almost the same FTIR peaks, thermogravimetric analyses results reveal that thermal stabilities of the PU coatings are slightly enhanced with the use of trifunctional polyamine compound and one step degradation takes place beyond 300°C. All PU coatings have very dense, smooth, and bubble-free surfaces whereas the cross-sectional SEM images exhibit pores of different sizes. Contact angle values of all PU coatings are bigger than 90° indicating that the surfaces are hydrophobic. Using propylene carbonate in the preparation of methylene diphenyl diisocyanate (MDI) prepolymer and the chain extender in the PU coating formulation impacts the mechanical and electrical properties of the PU coatings as well as layered PU/PUr composite materials. In conclusion, not only the controllable physicochemical and mechanical properties of layered PUr/PU composites but also the usage potential of recycled PU scraps in these layered composites are very promising for better floor applications.