1D Model for Coupled Simulation of Steam Cracker Convection Section with Improved Evaporation Model

The radiation and convection section of a steam cracker are thermally coupled. Optimization and design requires a coupled simulation of both sections. In this work a 1D model for the convection section, CONVEC‐1D, is developed. Several models for the different heat transfer phenomena are implemented and evaluated. For flow boiling, an empirical and a mechanistic model are developed and compared for both single‐ and multicomponent hydrocarbon feeds. The latter is performing best over a wide range of operating conditions, taking into account the different two‐phase flow regimes. The coupled iterative procedure is demonstrated for an n‐pentane steam cracker convection section.     

Synthesis and Optimization of 2-ethylhexyl Ester as Base Oil for Drilling Fluid Formulation

A stable ester was synthesized to overcome the ester hydrolysis problem during the drilling of oil or gas wells using a conventional ester-based drilling fluid. The thermal and hydrolytic stability of the produced ester was high owing to the transesterification method employed in this study. The reaction was performed using 2-ethylhexanol and methyl laureate esters in the presence of sodium methoxide as a catalyst. In order to obtain the optimum synthesis conditions, a response surface methodology (RSM) was appraised based on the central composite design (CCD). The optimum conditions were determined as follows: 0.6 wt.% catalyst, 70°C reaction temperature, 1:1.5 molar ratio, and 11.5 min of reaction time. The results of 77 wt.% 2-ethylhexyl ester (2-EH) illustrated a high agreement between the experimental and RSM models. The reaction product contained 77 wt.% 2-EH and 23% 2-ethylhexanol. The kinematic viscosity was 5 mm²/s at 40°C and 1.5 mm²/sec at 100°C; the specific gravity was 0.854, flash point was 170°C, and pour point was ?7°C. The produced product showed similar properties to the available commercial product. However, it was observed that the mud formulation using the synthesized base oil had superior rheological properties at 121°C.     

A group-based security scheme for wireless sensor networks

In recent years, wireless sensor networks have been a very popular research topic, offering a treasure trove of systems, networking, hardware, security, and application-related problems. Distributed nature and their deployment in remote areas, these networks are vulnerable to numerous security threats that can adversely affect their proper functioning. The problem is more critical if its purpose is for some mission-critical applications such as in a tactical battlefield. This paper presents a security scheme for group-based distributed wireless sensor networks. Our first goal is to devise a group-based secure wireless sensor network. We exploit the multi-line version of matrix key distribution technique and Gaussian distribution to achieve this goal. Secondly, security mechanisms are proposed for such a group-based network architecture in which sensed data collected at numerous, inexpensive sensor nodes are filtered by local processing on its way through more capable and compromise-tolerant reporting nodes. We address the upstream requirement that reporting nodes authenticate data produced by sensors before aggregating and the downstream requirement that sensors authenticates commands disseminated from reporting nodes. Security analysis is presented to quantify the strength of the proposed scheme against security threats. Through simulations, we validate the analytical results.     

A glutamic Acid-producing lactic Acid bacteria isolated from malaysian fermented foods

l-glutamaic acid is the principal excitatory neurotransmitter in the brain and an important intermediate in metabolism. In the present study, lactic acid bacteria (218) were isolated from six different fermented foods as potent sources of glutamic acid producers. The presumptive bacteria were tested for their ability to synthesize glutamic acid. Out of the 35 strains showing this capability, strain MNZ was determined as the highest glutamic-acid producer. Identification tests including 16S rRNA gene sequencing and sugar assimilation ability identified the strain MNZ as Lactobacillus plantarum. The characteristics of this microorganism related to its glutamic acid-producing ability, growth rate, glucose consumption and pH profile were studied. Results revealed that glutamic acid was formed inside the cell and excreted into the extracellular medium. Glutamic acid production was found to be growth-associated and glucose significantly enhanced glutamic acid production (1.032 mmol/L) compared to other carbon sources. A concentration of 0.7% ammonium nitrate as a nitrogen source effectively enhanced glutamic acid production. To the best of our knowledge this is the first report of glutamic acid production by lactic acid bacteria. The results of this study can be further applied for developing functional foods enriched in glutamic acid and subsequently γ-amino butyric acid (GABA) as a bioactive compound.     

Herbicide-intercalated zinc layered hydroxide nanohybrid for a dual-guest controlled release formulation

Herbicides, namely 4-(2,4-dichlorophenoxy) butyrate (DPBA) and 2-(3-chlorophenoxy) propionate (CPPA), were intercalated simultaneously into the interlayers of zinc layered hydroxide (ZLH) by direct reaction of zinc oxide with both anions under aqueous environment to form a new nanohybrid containing both herbicides labeled as ZCDX. Successful intercalation of both anions simultaneously into the interlayer gallery space of ZLH was studied by PXRD, with basal spacing of 28.7 Å and supported by FTIR, TGA/DTG and UV-visible studies. Simultaneous release of both CPPA and DPBA anions into the release media was found to be governed by a pseudo second-order equation. The loading and percentage release of the DPBA is higher than the CPPA anion, which indicates that the DPBA anion was preferentially intercalated into and released from the ZLH interlayer galleries. This work shows that layered single metal hydroxide, particularly ZLH, is a suitable host for the controlled release formulation of two herbicides simultaneously.     

Photocatalytic Degradation of p-Cresol by Zinc Oxide under UV Irradiation

Photocatalytic degradation of p-cresol was carried out using ZnO under UV irradiation. The amount of photocatalyst, concentration of p-cresol and pH were studied as variables. The residual concentration and mineralization of p-cresol was monitored using a UV-visible spectrophotometer and total organic carbon (TOC) analyzer, respectively. The intermediates were detected by ultra high pressure liquid chromatography (UPLC). The highest photodegradation of p-cresol was observed at 2.5 g/L of ZnO and 100 ppm of p-cresol. P-cresol photocatalytic degradation was favorable in the pH range of 6-9. The detected intermediates were 4-hydroxy-benzaldehyde and 4-methyl-1,2-benzodiol. TOC studies show that 93% of total organic carbon was removed from solution during irradiation time. Reusability shows no significant reduction in photocatalytic performance in photodegrading p-cresol.     

Synthesis, Spectral, Morphology, Thermal Degradation Kinetics and Antibacterial Studies of Terpolymer Metal Complexes

Terpolymer metal complexes involving transition metal ions such as Cu(II), Mn(II) and Zn(II) were prepared using a terpolymer ligand derived from anthranilic acid–phenyl hydrazine–formaldehyde (APHF). The terpolymer ligand and its metal complexes were intended to spectral characterizations viz. FTIR, electronic, ESR, ¹H NMR and ¹³C NMR to elucidate the structural confirmations. The number, weight, and size average molecular weights of the terpolymer ligand were determined by gel permeation chromatography (GPC). The empirical formula of the repeating unit for both the terpolymer ligand and its metal complexes was clearly justified by elemental analysis. The thermal stability of the ligand and its metal complexes was established by thermogravimetric analysis (TGA). On basis of the TGA data, the kinetic and thermodynamic parameters such as activation energy (E _a), order of reaction (n), entropy change (ΔS), apparent entropy (S*), frequency factor (Z) and free energy change (ΔF) were calculated using Freeman–Carroll and Sharp–Wentworth methods. Further the degradation mechanism for the thermal decomposition was also identified from Phadnis–Desphande method. Scanning electron microscopy (SEM) and X-ray diffraction (XRD) analysis were used to establish the surface morphology and nature of the terpolymer ligand and its metal complexes. In addition, the terpolymer ligand and its metal complexes were screened against the growth of few bacteria and their inhibitions were measured and reported.     

Optical tomography: Image improvement using mixed projection of parallel and fan beam modes

Mixed parallel and fan beam projection is a technique used to increase the quality images. This research focuses on enhancing the image quality in optical tomography. Image quality can be defined by measuring the Peak Signal to Noise Ratio (PSNR) and Normalized Mean Square Error (NMSE) parameters. The findings of this research prove that by combining parallel and fan beam projection, the image quality can be increased by more than 10% in terms of its PSNR value and more than 100% in terms of its NMSE value compared to a single parallel beam.     

The application of internal grading system technologies for agricultural products – Review

Quality assessment of agricultural products has been the subject of numerous reviews; however, not many papers address internal visualization as a means of quality grading. This paper reviews established as well as emerging visualization techniques utilized in the quality assessment of food products. In this discourse, the authors set out to underscore some of the most novel signal processing techniques employed in the non-destructive grading of agricultural products by way of an automated quality verification system. Such systems utilize advanced engineering principles with imaging, signal processing as well as color differentiation to accomplish the grading task. The materials presented will be useful to agricultural engineers, manufacturing engineers, food engineers and any other researchers in the food and agriculture industries.     

Purification and characterization of membrane-bound polyphenoloxidase (mPPO) from Snake fruit [Salacca zalacca (Gaertn.) Voss]

Membrane-bound polyphenoloxidase (mPPO) an oxidative enzyme which is responsible for the undesirable browning reaction in Snake fruit (Salacca zalacca (Gaertn.) Voss) was investigated. The enzyme was extracted using a non-ionic detergent (Triton X-114), followed by temperature-induced phase partitioning technique which resulted in two separate layers (detergent-poor phase at the upper layer and detergent-rich phase at the lower layer). The upper detergent-poor phase extract was subsequently fractionated by 40–80% ammonium sulfate and chromatographed on HiTrap Phenyl Sepharose and Superdex 200 HR 10/30. The mPPO was purified to 14.1 folds with a recovery of 12.35%. A single prominent protein band appeared on native-PAGE and SDS–PAGE implying that the mPPO is a monomeric protein with estimated molecular weight of 38 kDa. Characterization study showed that mPPO from Snake fruit was optimally active at pH 6.5, temperature 30 °C and active towards diphenols as substrates. The K_m and V_max values were calculated to be 5.46 mM and 0.98 U/ml/min, respectively, when catechol was used as substrate. Among the chemical inhibitors tested, l-cysteine showed the best inhibitory effect, with an IC₅₀ of 1.3 ± 0.002 mM followed by ascorbic acid (1.5 ± 0.06 mM), glutathione (1.5 ± 0.07 mM), EDTA (100 ± 0.02 mM) and citric acid (186 ± 0.16 mM).