分布式控制系统在气相法白炭黑生产过程中的应用

本文介绍了SIEMENS公司的分布式控制系统SIMAT-IC DCS在白炭黑生产过程中的应用。阐述了系统的工艺流程、硬件配置、软件配置和控制系统完成的主要功能。     

Color balancing of digital photos using simple image statistics

The great diffusion of digital cameras and the widespread use of the internet have produced a mass of digital images depicting a huge variety of subjects, generally acquired by unknown imaging systems under unknown lighting conditions. This makes color balancing, recovery of the color characteristics of the original scene, increasingly difficult. In this paper, we describe a method for detecting and removing a color cast (i.e. a superimposed color due to lighting conditions, or to the characteristics of the capturing device), from a digital photo without any a priori knowledge of its semantic content. First a cast detector, using simple image statistics, classifies the input images as presenting no cast, evident cast, ambiguous cast, a predominant color that must be preserved (such as in underwater images or single color close-ups) or as unclassifiable. A cast remover, a modified version of the white balance algorithm, is then applied in cases of evident or ambiguous cast. The method we propose has been tested with positive results on a data set of some 750 photos.     

Microwave embedment for light and electron microscopy using epoxy resins,LR white,and other polymers

Microwave energy can be used to polymerize embedding polymers used for light and electron microscopy, providing novel and ultrarapid processing methods to accomplish cell and tissue embedments. These quick methods steadily show promise for diagnosis of disease where rapid methods can be crucial. This review is intended to answer some of the questions microscopists may have in attempting to utilize such microwave embedding procedures and to provide a comparison of results using divergent Medcast and LR White.     

Portland cement solutions for ultra-high temperature wellbore applications

Designing highly stable and low permeability high-strength oil well cement above 500 °F (>260 °C) is extremely difficult because the Portland cement undergoes strength retrogression starting at 230 °F (110 °C). Thus, fine crystalline silica stabilizer is required in the cement slurry design when cured until 400 °F (204.4 °C) to prevent this problem. However, the optimum particle size and the right practical dosage of silica in the cement slurry have not been clearly determined and studied for cement that will be subjected at such extremely high temperature (>500 °F), condition applicable for many ultra-deep geothermal and steam injection wells. Due to extreme heating conditions and tedious experimentation, there are only few published studies to date toward understanding the behavior of Portland cement used at that exceedingly high temperature; and thus, making the initial cement design highly challenging. Based on thorough experimental study, this paper presents new understanding and provides proper guidance to designing highly stable non-retrogressing and low steady permeability oil well cement for ultra-high temperature use. Moreover, this research carefully investigates the effect of the particle size of crystalline silica to the compressive strength, porosity and permeability of the cured cement. Finally, the substitution of crystalline silica with amorphous silica material in the ultra-high temperature cement is also exploited. Supplementary powder X-ray diffraction measurement identifies high temperature stable crystal phase Xonotlite (Ca₆Si₆O₁₇(OH)₂) in the silica-stabilized Portland cement. However, based from these current experimental results, it is observed that formation of Xonotlite crystal phase does not completely guarantee the longer term mechanical integrity of the cement sheath at ultra-high temperature, especially when the mixture contains amorphous-type silica in the blend.     

Synthesis and physicochemical characterization of silica aerogels by rapid seed growth method

Thanks to the high optical transparency and ultra-low thermal conductivity, silica aerogels are ideal materials for energy-saving windows. However, their preparation is commonly based on either one-step base-catalyzed method, or two-step acid-base catalyzed method, which is difficult to inhibit the aggregation of clusters while keeping the size of clusters as small as possible and thus degrading silica aerogel's properties. Here, a new idea for synthesizing silica aerogels is presented from the viewpoint of controlling the growth and aggregation of silica clusters. A certain amount of Tetramethoxysilane (TMOS) used as seed precursor is firstly added into the mixture of methanol and distilled water for hydrolysis. A certain time later, the additional TMOS and a defined amount of ammonia are added to the obtained sol for promoting the rapid formation of the gel in several minutes. The silica aerogels prepared by this method have higher optical transparency and lower thermal conductivity than those prepared by the other two methods. This approach may also shed substantial light on controlling the microstructure of other materials prepared by sol-gel process.     

Enhanced fatigue behavior of a glass fiber reinforced hybrid particles modified epoxy nanocomposite under WISPERX spectrum load sequence

Two types of glass fiber reinforced plastic (GFRP) composites were fabricated viz., GFRP with neat epoxy matrix (GFRP-neat) and GFRP with hybrid modified epoxy matrix (GFRP-hybrid) containing 9 wt.% of rubber microparticles and 10 wt.% of silica nanoparticles. Fatigue tests were conducted on both the composites under WISPERX load sequence. The fatigue life of the GFRP-hybrid composite was about 4–5 times higher than that of GFRP-neat composite. The underlying mechanisms for improved fatigue performance are discussed. A reasonably good correlation was observed between the experimental fatigue life and the fatigue life predicted under spectrum loads.     

Reusable water oxidation catalyst with dual active center for enhanced water oxidation: Iridium oxide nanoparticles immobilized on monodisperse-porous Mn5O8 microspheres

A reusable catalyst with dual active center for chemical water oxidation is synthesized for the first time by immobilization of iridium oxide nanoparticles (IrO₂ NPs) on monodisperse-porous manganese oxide microspheres acting both catalytic active center and support. Individual catalytic activity of manganese oxide microspheres is explained by multiple oxidation states of manganese which are capable of forming oxidative oxygen species. Monodisperse-porous microspheres in the form of Mn₅O₈, MnO₂ and Mn₂O₃ are used for synthesis of different catalysts and the highest activity in water oxidation is observed with the catalyst synthesized using Mn₅O₈ microspheres. The catalytic activity is correlated with the total Mn(II) and Mn(III) percentage of manganese oxide type selected for composite catalyst. The oxygen evolution up to 244 μmol is achieved in 30 min with the catalyst synthesized using Mn₅O₈ microspheres. Maximum TON and TOF numbers are obtained as 298 and 557 h^?1 with excellent reusability.     

Microcapsule production by an hybrid colloidosome-layer-by-layer technique

Although many different methods for microencapsulation are known only some of them had been applied at industrial scale, due to complexity, lack of mechanical strength of the resulting capsules, and the costs related to their production. One of such methods is the electrostatic layer-by-layer (LbL) adsorption, which produce shells from oppositely charged polymers. The thickness of those shells can be tuned with nanometric precision, but to build enough strength for practical applications requires the adsorption of an impractical number of layers. We present here a method to produce strong microcapsules combining the assembly of a protein/pectin shell via electrostatic LbL adsorption with the adsorption of bigger charged colloidal particles. Those colloidal particles do not need any pretreatment to modify their wettability, as would be the case for a standard colloidosome route. In this way strong encapsulates with porous walls are obtained, which can be used as easy to load scaffolds. The pores in the walls can be closed through subsequent adsorption of more layers of protein and pectin. Since the assembly scheme occurs at pH 3.5 we expect the produced microcapsules to act as an effective delivery system in food products, protecting their contents from the acidity of the stomach and dissolving later at the small intestine. The proteins and pectins used as basic building blocks are food-grade and inexpensive.     

Impact of gypsum supersaturated process water on the interactions between silica and zinc sulphide minerals

Flotation recovery and selectivity problems have been reported in the flotation of fine sulphide minerals in gypsum supersaturated process water. In this study, the effect of gypsum supersaturated solution on the interactions between silica and sphalerite (ZnS) minerals was examined by observing deposition behaviour of silica nanoparticles on sphalerite surface using a quartz crystal microbalance with dissipation (QCM-D). Significant deposition of silica nanoparticles on ZnS coated sensor surface was observed in the gypsum supersaturated solution, indicating consequential slime coating of silica fines on sphalerite mineral surface. Substantial deposition of silica nanoparticles on SiO₂ coated surface was also observed suggesting strong homo-aggregation of silica fines in the gypsum supersaturated solution. The interaction behaviour between silica–sphalerite and silica–silica is mainly attributed to the high calcium concentration of the gypsum supersaturated solution. Similar deposition behaviour of silica nanoparticles onto ZnS or SiO₂ coated sensor surface was observed in 800 ppm calcium solution, which is similar to the calcium concentration of the gypsum supersaturated solution. Colloidal force measurement between a silica particle and a fractured sphalerite surface or a silica wafer surface by an atomic force microscopy (AFM) revealed attractive van der Waals force between the mineral particles in both gypsum supersaturated solution and 800 ppm calcium solution. The high calcium concentration of the gypsum supersaturated solution induced the hetero-aggregation between silica and sphalerite, accounting for the observed decrease in flotation selectivity.     

On the statistical decorrelation of the 2D discrete wavelet transform coefficients of a wide sense stationary bivariate random process

We present a second order statistical analysis of the 2D Discrete Wavelet Transform (2D DWT) coefficients. The input images are considered as wide sense bivariate random processes. We derive closed form expressions for the wavelet coefficientsʼ correlation functions in all possible scenarios: inter-scale and inter-band, inter-scale and intra-band, intra-scale and inter-band and intra-scale and intra-band. The particularization of the input process to the White Gaussian Noise (WGN) case is considered as well. A special attention is paid to the asymptotical analysis obtained by considering an infinite number of decomposition levels. Simulation results are also reported, confirming the theoretical results obtained. The equations derived, and especially the inter-scale and intra-band dependency of the 2D DWT coefficients, are useful for the design of different signal processing systems as for example image denoising algorithms. We show how to apply our theoretical results for designing state of the art denoising systems which exploit the 2D DWT.