Preparation of Highly Ordered Nitrogen‐Containing Mesoporous Carbon from a Gelatin Biomolecule and its Excellent Sensing of Acetic Acid

Novel nitrogen‐containing mesoporous carbon with well‐ordered pores (NMC‐G) and high basicity is synthesized using a low‐cost single‐molecule precursor, gelatin biomolecule, and SBA‐15 as a template via nanocasting method. The obtained materials are thoroughly characterized. It is found that the prepared materials have excellent textural properties such as high specific surface areas, huge pore volumes, and large pore diameters. The pore diameter of the materials can also be controlled with a simple adjustment of the pore diameter of the hard templates. The C/N ratio of the samples is calculated to be ≈6.01, which is slightly higher than that observed for mesoporous carbon nitride samples. X‐ray photoelectron spectroscopy (XPS) reveals the presence of sp² hybridized carbon in aromatic ring structure attached to amino groups. The materials could adsorb a huge quantity of CO₂. The sensing capability of the materials with different pore diameters for different adsorbates including ethanol, acetic acid, aniline, toluene, and ammonia is also investigated. Among the materials with different pore diameters studied, the material with the highest basicity and the largest pore diameter (NMC‐G‐150) showed excellent sensing performance with a high selectivity of adsorption for acetic acid molecule.     

New challenge in advanced thermal energy transportation using functionally thermal fluids

The present review article presents the current status of some researches on thermal energy transportation using functionally thermal fluid, which is a mixture of heat transfer medium like water and other material with or without phase change like a paraffin wax as a latent heat storage material. This functionally thermal fluid offers attractive opportunities for thermal energy transportation and heat transfer enhancement of heat exchanger. This article describes classification and characteristics of functionally thermal fluids and their application. Referring to functionally thermal fluid for the usage of sensible heat, some visco-elastic fluids for flow drag reduction in a thermal energy transport system such as aqueous polymer solution and surfactant solution are mentioned. On the other hand, this article describes heat transfer and hydrodynamic characteristics of some phase change slurries like ice slurry, phase change microemulsion slurry, phase change microencapsule slurry, clathrate slurry and shape-stabilized paraffin and polyethylene pellets as functionally thermal fluids using latent heat between solid and liquid phases. Finally, it leads to the conclusion that some functionally thermal fluids are very useful for the advanced thermal energy transportation and heat exchanger systems.     

DNA-lipid-apatite composite layers enhance gene expression of mesenchymal stem cells

DNA-apatite composite layer (D-Ap layer) and DNA-lipid-apatite composite layer (DLp-Ap layer) were prepared on ceramic hydroxyapatite disk and scaffold using supersaturated calcium phosphate solutions supplemented with 0.5–5 μg/mL plasmid and 0–10 μL/mL lipid transfection reagent FuGENE®. Both in vitro and in vivo studies were carried out using mesenchymal stem cells (MSCs) and two kinds of gene (luciferase and bone morphogenetic protein (BMP)-2) for demonstrating potential application of the gene transfer system using the D-Ap and DLp-Ap layers in bone tissue engineering. In the in vitro study using luciferase gene, the DLp-Ap layers showed 1–2 orders of magnitudes higher gene transfer efficiency to MSCs than the D-Ap layer. In the in vivo study using BMP-2 gene, DLp-Ap layer slightly increased BMP-2 protein concentration than D-Ap layer, thereby enhancing their osteogenic differentiation than D-Ap layer. The present gene transfer system using the DLp-Ap layers, with the advantages of good biocompatibility, bone-bonding ability, and efficacy in in vitro and in vivo gene transfer to MSCs, would be useful in bone tissue engineering.     

Optical Measurement of Void Fraction and Bubble Size Distributions in a Microchannel

An optical measurement system was developed to investigate gas-liquid two-phase flow characteristics in a circular microchannel of 100 μ m diameter. By using multiple optical fibers and infrared photodiodes, void fraction, gas and liquid plug lengths, and their velocities were measured successfully. The probes responded to the passage of gas and liquid phases through the microchannel adequately so that the time-average void fraction could be obtained from the time fraction for each phase. Also, by cross-correlating the signals from two neighboring probes, the interface velocity representing gas plug velocity or ring-film propagation velocity depending on the flow pattern could be computed. Within the ranges of superficial gas and liquid velocities covered in the experiments (j _L = 0.2～0.4 m/s and j _G = 0～5 m/s), the gas plug length was found to increase with the increasing superficial gas velocity, but the liquid plug length was found to decrease sharply as the superficial gas velocity was increased; thus, the total length of the gas-liquid plug unit decreased with the superficial gas velocity.     

Uncertainty assessment of neutron resonance transmission analysis using the linear absorption model

Neutron resonance densitometry (NRD) has been proposed to quantify nuclear materials in particle-like debris of melted spent nuclear fuel formed in severe nuclear reactor accidents. The NRD is a hybrid technique of the neutron resonance transmission analysis and the neutron resonance capture analysis. We have studied the statistical uncertainties of the neutron resonance transmission analysis by using the linear absorption model. Particularly, the effects of impurities and sample thickness on the uncertainties were examined.     

Effect of Nb on long-term creep life of JIS SUS304HTB and JIS SUS347HTB steels – heat-to-heat variation and life assessment of stainless steels

Heat-to-heat variation in creep life has been investigated for the 9 heats of JIS SUS 304HTB (18Cr–8Ni steel) and also for the 9 heats of JIS SUS 347HTB (18Cr–12Ni–Nb steel) in the NIMS Creep Data Sheets, mainly taking the effect of Nb into account. The heat-to-heat variation in creep life of 304HTB is mainly caused by the variation in precipitation hardening due to fine NbC carbides at short times, while it is mainly caused by the variation in available nitrogen concentration, defined as the concentration of nitrogen free from AlN and TiN, at long times. The heat-to-heat variation in creep life of 347HTB is mainly explained by the variation of boron concentration, 3–27 ppm, but not by the variation of solution temperature, Nb/C atomic ratio and phosphorus concentration. Boron reduces the coarsening rate of fine M₂₃C₆ carbides along grain boundaries, which enhances the grain boundary precipitation hardening.     

Study on backwash wastewater from rapid sand-filter by monolith ceramic membrane

To verify the feasibility of membrane micro-filtration process to treat the sand-filter backwash wastewater and the sediment sludge withdrawn from the coagulation-flocculation-settling tank, a multi-lumen monolith ceramic membrane module was applied in a test pilot plant. The ceramic membrane filtration was operated very stably at the filtration flux of 4 m/day when the sand-filter backwash wastewater was fed. The membrane filtration was also operated very stably at the flux of 2 m/day when the mixture of the sand-filter backwash wastewater and the sediment sludge was fed. The level of these substances in the membrane filtrate was very low and met drinking water standards.     

An analysis of liquid CO2 drop formation with and without hydrate formation in static mixers

The formation process of CO₂ drops in various types of Kenics Static Mixers was analyzed from the perspective of energy dissipation in the mixer, focusing on the formation of drop surfaces. Experimental studies on CO₂ drop formation were conducted under varying temperatures, pressure, and flow rates, with and without hydrate formation. Analysis of the CO₂ drop size and distribution at several locations within the static mixer was conducted, as of pressure drop in the mixer, to determine dissipation energies. In all the experimental conditions, by considering the surface energy for hydrate formation, the energy required for the formation of CO₂ drops correlated well with total energy dissipation by mixer flow, which is represented by a pressure drop along the mixer. This process has important applications to the formation of liquid CO₂ for ocean disposal as a countermeasure to global warming. © 2010 American Institute of Chemical Engineers AIChE J, 2010