Assessing the sustainability of a manufacturing process using life cycle assessment technique—a case of an Indian pharmaceutical company

Clean Technologies and Environmental Policy - Manufacturing organizations are under continuous pressure to implement sustainability in their activities. There is a need to identify the...     

Beneficial effects of wettability altering surfactants in oil-wet fractured reservoirs

In fractured reservoirs, an effective matrix-fracture mass transfer is required for oil recovery. Surfactants have long been considered for oil recovery enhancement, mainly in terms of their ability to reduce oil–water interfacial tension. These surfactants are effective when the fractured formations are water-wet, where capillary imbibition of surfactants from the fracture into the matrix contributes to oil recovery. However, another beneficial aspect of surfactants, namely their ability to alter wettability, remains to be explored and exploited. Surfactants capable of altering wettability can be especially beneficial in oil-wet fractured formations, where the surfactant in the fracture diffuses into the matrix and alters the wettability, enabling imbibition of even more surfactant into the matrix. This sequential process of initial diffusion followed by imbibition continues well into the matrix yielding significant enhancements in oil recovery.In order to test this hypothesis of sequential diffusion–imbibition phenomenon, Dual-Drop Dual-Crystal (DDDC) contact angle experiments have been conducted using fractured Yates dolomite reservoir fluids, two types of surfactants (nonionic and anionic) and dolomite rock substrates. A new experimental procedure was developed in which crude oil equilibrated with reservoir brine has been exposed to surfactant to simulate the matrix-fracture interactions in fractured reservoirs. This procedure enables the measurements of dynamic contact angles and oil–water interfacial tensions, in addition to providing the visual observations of the dynamic behavior of crude oil trapped in the rock matrix as it encounters the diffusing surfactant from the fractures. Both the measurements and visual observations indicate wettability alterations of the matrix surface from oil-wet to less oil-wet or intermediate wet by the surfactants. Thus this study is of practical importance to oil-wet fractured formations where surfactant-induced wettability alterations can result in significant oil recovery enhancements. In addition, this study has also identified the need to include contact angle term in the dimensionless Bond number formulations for better quantitative interpretation of rock–fluids interactions.     

Defocusing image to pattern contact holes using attenuated phase shift masks

The patterning of contact holes by selecting out-of-focus image plane (defocus) using attenuated phase shift masks (APSM) has been studied. Defocus is found to enhance the image modulation at low partial coherence for contact holes with negative local average of mask function. Semi-dense holes up to 130 nm in 8% APSM have been printed by 0.5 μm defocus at a partial coherence of 0.31 using KrF scanner with highest numerical aperture of 0.68. However, these holes were closed with in-focus imaging. Defocus is also found to be beneficial for patterning the pitches that have extensive side lobes with in-focus imaging.     

Effect of oxygen deficiency (δ) on transition temperature of yttrium cuprate superconductors

The nature of pairing mechanism as well as transition temperature of yttrium cuprates is discussed using the strong coupling theory. An interaction potential has been developed for the layered structure with two conducting CuO₂(a–b) layers in a unit cell. The interaction potential properly takes care of electron-electron, electron-phonon and electron-plasmon interactions. Furthermore, the electron-phonon coupling parameter (λ), the modified Coulomb repulsive parameter (μ*) and the 2D acoustic phonon (plasmon) energy as a function of oxygen deficiency is worked out. Finally, the superconducting transition temperature (T _c) is then evaluated by using these coupling parameters and obtainedT _c = 95(92)K for Y(Yb)Ba₂Cu₃O_7−δ superconductors withδ = 0·0. The model parameters estimated from the layered structure approach are consistent with the strong coupling theory. The result deduced on the variation ofT _c withδ are in fair agreement with the earlier reported data on yttrium cuprates. The analysis of the above results are discussed.     

Active,passive and transpassive dissolution of a nickel base super alloy in concentrated acid mixture solution

The electrochemical and corrosion behaviour of a nickel base super alloy (C-263) has been investigated in the deaerated binary and ternary solution mixture of concentrated phosphoric acid, acetic acid, sulphuric acid, nitric acid or water using potentiostatic technique at 35°C. The possibilities of electropolishing of this alloy in these solution mixtures have been also explored. The alloy showed distinct active, passive and transpassive behaviour in the experimental solutions. The alloy remained active and turned passive in the negative potential region. Transpassive dissolution of the alloy is observed and electropolishing is achieved in this region. The best electropolishing is obtained in 50% H₃PO₄ + 40% CH₃COOH + 10% H₂SO₄. Higher content of water in the electrolytic solution is not useful for electropolishing of the alloy The experimental results also suggest that a current plateau in the transpassive potential region is not a sufficient condition to achieve electropolishing.     

Physicochemical and Functional Properties of Freeze-Dried and Oven Dried Corn Gluten Meals

The physicochemical and functional properties of convection oven- and freeze-dried gluten meals of two corn varieties were evaluated. The physicochemical properties (water solubility index, water absorption index, Hunter color parameters, and bulk density) and functional properties (water absorption, oil absorption, least gelation concentration, protein solubility, and emulsification properties) of convection-oven and freeze-dried corn gluten meals were compared with each other and soy flour. Freeze-dried corn gluten meals was observed to have lower bulk density (0.244-0.263 kg/m³) and was lighter in color (high L and ΔE) compared to their counterpart convection oven-dried gluten meals. Freeze-dried gluten meals from both corn varieties showed significantly higher oil absorption, water absorption, pH, emulsification, and protein solubility compared to oven-dried corn gluten meals. The gluten meals from both corn varieties had lower water absorption and bulk density but higher oil absorption than soy flour, suggesting the hydrophobic nature of corn proteins. Corn gluten meals formed thin (pourable) emulsions compared to soy flour emulsions, which were thick salad dressing type. Freeze- and convection oven-dried corn gluten meals showed significantly lower protein solubility measured at different pH than soy flour.     

Critical slowing down in lead magnesium niobate–zirconate ceramic

Dielectric relaxation behaviour of (1 − x)PMN − xPZ, for x = 0.10, 0.30 and 0.40 have been studied. The nature of relaxational behaviour was found to change with PZ concentration. A crossover from a static freezing to critical slowing down like behaviour is observed with increase in Zr⁴⁺ concentration. We have used Glazounov and Tangastev criterion to distinguish freezing and critical slowing down like behaviour.