Properties of Induction Plasma Sprayed Iron Based Nanostructured Alloy Coatings for Metal Based Thermal Barrier Coatings

Metal-based thermal barrier coatings (MBTBCs) have been produced using high frequency induction plasma spraying (IPS) of iron-based nanostructured alloy powders. The study of MBTBCs has been initiated to challenge issues associated with current TBC materials such as difficult prediction of their “in-service” lifetime. Reliability of TBCs is an important aspect besides the economical consideration. Therefore, the study of MBTBCs, which should posses higher toughness than the current TBC materials, has been initiated to challenge the mechanical problems of ceramic-based TBCs (CBTBCs) to create a new generation of TBCs. The thermal diffusivity (TD) (α) properties of the MBTBCs were measured using a laser flash method, and density (ρ) and specific heat (C _p) of the MBTBCs were also measured for their thermal conductivity (k) calculation (k = αρ C _p).     

Reactions of coals of different ranks with CO---H2 mixtures with and without sodium aluminate

Well-characterized coals of different H/C atomic ratio and rank were reacted at 365°C with CO, H₂ and CO---H₂ mixtures in water in the presence and absence of sodium aluminate. The optimum H₂/CO ratio for conversion was found to vary with the type of coal. It was <1 : 1 for low-rank and subbituminous coals, whereas the conversion of bituminous coals either did not vary with H₂/CO ratio or reached a maximum at a higher H₂/CO ratio (2 : 1). Even for a bituminous coal there was no advantage in reducing the water/coal ratio below 2 : 1 in NaAlO₂-catalysed reactions. The conversions increased with increasing H/C atomic ratio of the coal and decreasing rank, with or without NaAlO₂. Asphaltene yields increased with increasing coal rank and increasing proportion of CO in the H₂---CO reacting gases. The mechanistic implications of these results are briefly discussed.     

New approach to optimize operational conditions for the biological treatment of a high-strength thiocyanate and ammonium waste: pH as key factor

Biological treatment of coke and steel-processing wastewaters has to satisfy both industrial economic needs and environmental protection regulations. Nevertheless, as some of the pollutants contained in these waters or produced during the treatment are highly toxic, an effective and safe treatment has proved to be difficult to obtain. This paper reports the study of a biological method for the treatment of wastewaters containing free cyanide, thiocyanate and ammonium (NH4). Laboratory-scale activated-sludge reactors were fed with a synthetic solution reproducing a steel-processing industrial wastewater and inoculated with the same industrial bacterial seeding used on-site (Ecosynergie Inc.). The results demonstrated that free cyanide and thiocyanate were efficiently degraded. Nevertheless, thiocyanate degradation and nitrification processes were actually inhibited by the free ammonia form (NH3) in place of the ionized NH4 form (NH4+) currently dosed and often unproperly named "ammonia" [IUPAC, 1997. In: McNaught, A.D., Wilkinson, A. (compilers). Compendium of Chemical Terminology. Royal Society of Chemistry, Cambridge, UK]. Optimum degradation rates were obtained for very narrow ranges of ammonia nitrogen (NH3-N) concentrations. This result can be explained by the role of pH, which mainly controls the NH3/NH4 equilibrium. Pollutants and NH3 concentrations influenced degradation rates of main pollutants. This influence was determined and expressed through elementary equations. Although the Michaelis-Menten equation could have been used to describe thiocyanate degradation, a Haldane-inhibition model was used to satisfactorily describe cyanide degradation. On the other hand, a slightly modified Haldane model was applied to describe both NH4 oxidation using NH3-N as substrate and thiocyanate degradation using NH3-N as inhibitor. These findings emphasize the role of pH on degradation rates and allow one to optimize operational conditions in the biological treatment of coke and steel industrial wastewaters.     

Relationships among total recoverable and reactive metals and metalloid in St. Lawrence River sediment: bioaccumulation by chironomids and implications for ecological risk assessment

The availability and bioaccumulation of metals and metalloids, and the geochemical interactions among them, are essential to developing an ecological risk assessment (ERA) framework and determining threshold concentrations for these elements. The purpose of this study was to explore the relationships among total recoverable and reactive metals and metalloid in sediment and their bioaccumulation by chironomids. In the fall of 2004 and 2005, 58 stations located in the three fluvial lakes of the St. Lawrence River and its largest harbour area in Montreal, Canada, were sampled. Nine total recoverable and reactive metals (Al, Cd, Cr, Cu, Fe, Mn, Ni, Pb and Zn) and one metalloid (As) were measured in whole sediment using two extraction methods: HCl/HNO(3) and HCl 1N, respectively. The bioaccumulation of six metals (Cd, Cr, Cu, Ni, Pb and Zn) and As by chironomids was evaluated in a subset of 22 stations. Strong collinearities were observed between some total recoverable or reactive metal concentrations in sediment; two principal clusters, including collinear metals, were obtained. The first one included metals of mainly geological origin (Al, Cr, Fe, Mn, Ni), while the second one included As, Cd, Cu, Pb and Zn, which likely derive mainly from point sources of anthropogenic contamination. Each element also showed strong collinearity between their total recoverable and reactive forms (0.65< or =r < or =0.97). We can conclude that both chemical forms are equivalent for use in statistical models needed to explain biological responses and also in screening risk assessment. However, these relationships are not always proportional. Lower availability percentages were observed for Cd, Cu and Zn in the highly mixed-contaminated area of the Montreal Harbour, even though concentrations in sediment were higher. We observed a significant correlation (0.50< or =r < or =0.56) between concentrations in chironomids and concentrations of both total recoverable and reactive Cr and Pb in sediment. Arsenic was an exception, with accumulation by chironomids being highly related to reactive sediment concentrations. Finally, we observed variable influences of explanatory factors (e.g. sediment grain size, Al, Fe, Mn, S, TOC), depending on which metal or metalloid was being predicted in chironomids. In this context, it is difficult to choose a universal predictive method to explain the bioaccumulation of specific metals, and more research is still needed into normalization procedures that consider a combination of explanatory factors.     

Seasonal variability of the reduction in estrogenic activity at a municipal WWTP

In vitro monitored estrogenicity of municipal wastewater influent/effluent samples (collected from September to December from a Northern Canadian biological nutrient removal (BNR) treatment plant serving an urban population of 750,000) were combined with operational, wastewater quality, and climate data to determine which of these latter variables may be related to the levels and reduction in the former parameter. Significant variability was present in operational and wastewater quality parameters throughout the sampling period including a 7 degrees C difference in wastewater temperature Most of the wastewater samples collected during this period show a considerable amount of recombinant yeast assay (RYA) activity with the greatest activity (estradiol (E2)-equivalents of 106-175ng/L) seen in the final effluents collected from mid-September to mid-October. Percent reduction in the levels of RYA measured E2-equivalents varied from -234% to 75%. No correlations were seen in RYA activity reduction with percent reduction in 5-day biochemical oxygen demand (BOD(5)), flow (i.e. inversely related to hydraulic retention time), solids retention time or even rainfall, and the reduction trends for RYA measured activity were explained best by ambient and effluent temperatures in an inverse fashion (% reduction in E2-equivalents=-10.8.(effluent temperature in degrees C)+191, p=0.005). Complementary instrumental analysis of select sample composites revealed that the free/conjugated estrogen ratio was indeed greater in the wastewater sampled during warmer temperatures.     

Design of experiments for Quick U-building method for building energy performance measurement

Quick U-building (QUB) is a method for short time measurement of energy performance of buildings, typically one night. It uses the indoor air temperature response to the power delivered to the indoor air by electric heaters. This paper introduces a method for estimating the expected measurement error as a function of the amplitude and the time duration of the input signal based on the decomposition of the time response of a state-space model into a sum of exponentials by using the eigenvalues of the state matrix. It is shown that the buildings have a group of dominant time constants, which gives an exponential response, and many very short and very large time constants, which have a small influence on the response. The analysis of the eigenvalues demonstrates that the QUB experiment may be done in a rather short time as compared with the largest time constant of the building.     

Survey of 1012 moldy dwellings by culture fungal analysis: Threshold proposal for asthmatic patient management

Different countries have tried to define guidelines to quantify what levels of fungi are considered as inappropriate for housing. This retrospective study analyzes indoor fungi by cultures of airborne samples from 1012 dwellings. Altogether, 908 patients suffering from rhinitis, conjunctivitis, and asthma were compared to 104 controls free of allergies. Portuguese decree law no 118/2013 (PDL118), ANSES (a French environmental and health agency) recommendations, and health regulations of Besançon University Hospital were applied to determine the rates of non‐conforming dwellings, which were respectively 55.2%, 5.2%, and 19%. Environmental microbiological results and medical data were compared. The whole number of colonies per cubic meter of air was correlated with asthma (P < 0.001) and rhinitis (P = 0.002). Sixty‐seven genera and species were detected in bedrooms. Asthma was correlated to Aspergillus versicolor (P = 0.004) and Cladosporium spp. (P = 0.02). Thresholds of 300 cfu/m³ for A. versicolor or 495 cfu/m³ for Cladosporium spp. are able to discriminate 90% of the asthmatic dwellings. We propose a new protocol to obtain an optimal cost for indoor fungi surveys, excluding surface analyses, and a new guideline to interpret the results based on >1000 cfu/m³ of whole colonies and/or above threshold levels for A. versicolor or Cladosporium spp.     

Closed-loop control of the blank-holder force in deep-drawing: finite-element modeling of its effects and advantages

As a steelmaker specialized in the manufacturing of flat coated sheets, the authors' company started some research into the stamping domain with a special focus on the influence of friction, on material modeling and on the improvement of drawing performances. The main purpose in doing such research is to enhance the company's knowledge in the final use of its products and to know how to orientate that use.

Therefore, from a technological point of view, the company developed a completely new (and patented) regulation system to control the blank-holder pressure. In this system, working in closed-loop, the feedback-loop controlling the variation of the blank-holder pressure can be based on several process parameters such as the punch force or the detection of the occurrence of wrinkling.

From a numerical point of view, the effects and the impacts of this new system have been simulated, in the cases of both potential laboratory and industrial applications. Those simulations were performed with a commercial finite-element code using an explicit integration scheme, and are mainly related to the following applications: (i) the minimum blank-holder pressure needed to avoid the occurrence of wrinkling; and (ii) the improvement of drawing performance through the increase of the LDR value, this being done by maximizing the blank-holder pressure.