Removal of trace amounts of strontium from aqueous solutions by ion flotation. II Continuous scale operation

A flotation circuit operating on a continuous basis has been designed and constructed for removal of Sr ions from simple aqueous solutions. Under steady-state conditions, a continuous extraction rate of 97.3% has so far been achieved. The effects of changing the gas rate and flow rates of both the Sr and collector solutions were also examined. Finally a discussion is included where the results of these experiments are compared with those from similar continuous-scale experiments where Sr ions are removed by the technique of foam separation.     

The removal of radioactive caesium contaminants from simple aqueous solutions

Cs ions can be removed from aqueous solutions by forming a precipitate of copper ferrocyanide which, having occluded the Cs ions, can in turn be floated by means of an anionic collector. Collection was achieved with either α-sulphopalmitic acid or sodium dodecyl sulphate depending on what interfering ions were initially present in the solution. Recoveries of 98–99% were obtained on batch scale experiments and 97.5–98.5% on continuous scale operation. The investigations of the flotation parameters of pH, gas-rate, concentrations of precipitating reagents and collector, as well as the interference effects of other ions are discussed. Using data obtained in batch scale tests, continuous scale experiments were designed and operated.     

EVAPORATION FROM POROUS MEDIA: A CAPILLARY MODEL OF A PENETRATING FRONT

A capillary tube model was solved to investigate the influence of mass transfer coefficient, temperature, and front depth on the evaporation rate during the penetrating-front period of water-filled porous media dried in hot air. The results show that increasing the flow rate of the drying air is not so efficient as increasing the sample temperature. Due to attenuating diffusion rate, the rate of liquid front migration decreases with time. The calculations explain the falling rate period behavior of sandstone heated at 121°C. Trends depicted by the model may be useful for the design of heating conditions for drying processes.     

Fiber Coating Concepts for Brittle-Matrix Composites

The current interest in tough, high-temperature materials has motivated fiber coating development for brittle-matrix composites with brittle reinforcements. Such coatings are needed for controlled interface debonding and frictional sliding. The system investigated in this study was sapphire fiber-reinforced alumina. This system is thermochemically stable for severe use conditions, exhibits little thermal expansion mismatch, and utilizes the excellent strength and creep resistance of sapphire reinforcements. Porous oxide and refractory metal coatings which satisfy requirements for toughness improvement in these composites were identified by employing a variety of newly developed mechanical testing techniques for determining the interfacial fracture energies and sliding resistances.     

HOW LIQUIDS SPREAD ON SOLIDS

A theory of the wetting of solids by liquids is put forward. The theory accounts for capillary pressure gradient, gravitational potential gradient, surface tension gradient, disjoining pressure gradient driving forces of flow in thick thin-films and of surface diffusion in thin thin-films. Disjoining pressure stems from the way intermolecular forces aggregate in submicroscopically thin films. For thick thin-films of slowly varying thickness the lubrication approximation to velocity distributions is appropriate. With this approximation the spontaneous, unsteady, two-dimensional spreading of liquid is shown to be governed by a nonlinear convective-diffusion equation for the evolution of the film thickness profile. The predictions of the theory agree with Marmur and Lelah's (1980, 1981) observations of water drops spreading on glass and with Bascom, Cottington and Singleterry's (1964) and Ludviksson and Lightfoot's (1971) observations of oils spreading on high energy surfaces. The theory is used to analyze Derjaguin and co-workers' (1944, 1957, 1970) blowing-off experiments designed to measure thin-film rheology. The theory is also used to buttress the proposition that much contact angle hysteresis is due simply to slow attainment of equilibrium.     

Use of a dark object concept and support vector machines to automate forest cover change analysis

An automated method was developed for mapping forest cover change using satellite remote sensing data sets. This multi-temporal classification method consists of a training data automation (TDA) procedure and uses the advanced support vector machines (SVM) algorithm. The TDA procedure automatically generates training data using input satellite images and existing land cover products. The derived high quality training data allow the SVM to produce reliable forest cover change products. This approach was tested in 19 study areas selected from major forest biomes across the globe. In each area a forest cover change map was produced using a pair of Landsat images acquired around 1990 and 2000. High resolution IKONOS images and independently developed reference data sets were available for evaluating the derived change products in 7 of those areas. The overall accuracy values were over 90% for 5 areas, and were 89.4% and 89.6% for the remaining two areas. The user's and producer's accuracies of the forest loss class were over 80% for all 7 study areas, demonstrating that this method is especially effective for mapping major disturbances with low commission errors. IKONOS images were also available in the remaining 12 study areas but they were either located in non-forest areas or in forest areas that did not experience forest cover change between 1990 and 2000. For those areas the IKONOS images were used to assist visual interpretation of the Landsat images in assessing the derived change products. This visual assessment revealed that for most of those areas the derived change products likely were as reliable as those in the 7 areas where accuracy assessment was conducted. The results also suggest that images acquired during leaf-off seasons should not be used in forest cover change analysis in areas where deciduous forests exist. Being highly automatic and with demonstrated capability to produce reliable change products, the TDA-SVM method should be especially useful for quantifying forest cover change over large areas.     

Economic modeling of board test strategies

A long and deep recession, coupled with continuous competitive pressure to reduce costs, is forcing many companies to review their test strategies. Testing costs have become a more significant proportion of the overall manufacturing cost even though manufacturing yields have increased dramatically over the past ten or twelve years. This causes attention to be focused on testing costs as a key source of cost reduction. The increased use of DFT and the integration of design and test are very positive moves towards controlling testing costs but other methods employed can often backfire. The increased use of low priced testers is one such method. The pressure to reduce costs, higher process yields and exhortations that testing adds no value can lead the test engineering manager to take the cheap route. In reality this can often turn out to be an expensive decision. The only way to avoid expensive mistakes is to perform an economic analysis of the alternative courses of action. In most cases this is done, but not always in the right manner or with the necessary amount of detail to make the comparisons meaningful. This article discusses the need for effective cost analysis of test strategies and highlights some of the pitfalls.