Mathematical modelling of the alcoholic fermentation of glucose by Zymomonas mobilis mobilis

The kinetics of alcoholic fermentation of a strain of Zymomonas mobilis, isolated from sugarcane juice, has been studied with the objective of determining the constansts of a non-structured mathematical model that represents the fermentation process. Assays in batch and in continuous culture have been carried out with different initial concentrations of glucose. The final concentrations of glucose, ethanol and biomass were determined. The following kinetic parameters were obtained: μ_max, 0·5 h^?1; K_s, 4·64 g dm^?3; P_max, 106 g dm^?3; Y_x/s, 0·0265 g g^?1; m, 1·4 g g^?1 h^?1; α, 17·38 g g^?1; β, 0·69 g g^?1 h^?1.     

EFFECT OF CRACKING REACTIONS KINETICS ON THE MODEL PREDICTIONS OF AN INDUSTRIAL FLUID CATALYTIC CRACKING UNIT

Fluid catalytic cracking (FCC) is one of the most complex processes in the petroleum industry. The large degree of uncertainty in the kinetics of the cracking reactions and catalyst deactivation by coke deposition in the riser reactor are among several factors that contribute to the process complexity. The model developed by the authors (Ali and Rohani, 1995) is used lo investigate the effect of the three-lumped kinetic scheme (Weekman and Nace, 1970) and the four-lumped scheme (Lee ct ah, 1989) on the model predictability and reliability. The effect of changes in the catalyst circulation rate, gas oil feed rate, and oxygen feed concentration on various process variables is compared. It is shown that the three-lumped kinetic scheme, despite its extensive use in the literature (McFarlane et ah, 1993; Elnashaie and Elshishini, 1993; Theologos and Markatos, 1993; Arandes and de Lasa, 1992; Lopez-lsunza and Ruiz-Martinez, 1991), leads to erroneous results and should not be used in the dynamic simulation of the FCC units,     

Ti-Mo合金的氢化物热解析动力学研究

本文对不同钼含量的钛钼合金Ti(1-x)Mox(x=3,11,20,33,50,at%)氢化物的热解析动力学进行了研究, 在高真空金属系统中测试了合金氢化物热解析量随时间的变化关系,应用反应速率分析方法计算了解析速率常数和表观活化能.研究结果发现,氢化物的热解析过程可用一级反应速率方程来描述,而氢原子在合金体相中的扩散是热解析过程的控速步骤.热解析表观活化能随Mo含量的增加而减小,说明氢化物的热稳定性随Mo含量的增加而降低.     

Comparative Coreflood Studies for Precipitation and Adsorption Squeeze with PPCA as the Scales Inhibitor

Comparative adsorption and precipitation squeezes carried out on field core materials demonstrate that significant lifetime enhancement is achievable for precipitation squeeze with respect to more conventional adsorption squeeze. Coreflood tests have been carried out under reservoir conditions (135°C) employing a poly-phosphinocarboxylate (PPCA) as the scales inhibitor. Field treatment simulations, carried out starting from coreflood data and considering the characteristics of a North Sea formation taken as the reference, confirmed the higher performance, in term of squeeze lifetime, of the precipitation squeeze with respect to adsorption. The results pointed out the importance of choosing the appropriate formulation once the operative conditions are known, in order to promote the inhibitor precipitation into the formation. Some implications of these results for the optimization of the precipitation squeeze technology for field applications, with particular emphasis to formation damage, are also discussed.     

Drying of Chestnuts (Castanea sativa Mill.) after Osmotic Dehydration with Sucrose and Glucose Solutions

Chestnuts were dehydrated by using a combined method of osmotic dehydration followed by air drying. Samples were osmotically pretreated with sucrose (60% w/w) and glucose (56% w/w) for 8 h, air-dried at temperatures of 45, 55, and 65°C, at a relative humidity of 30% and at a velocity of 2.7 m·s^-1 and the experimental data of the drying kinetics were obtained. Whole samples were dried with different peelings: (a) removal of endocarp and pericarp (peeled) and (b) additionally the internal rough surface (cut). In all cases, cut chestnuts show greater drying rates than peeled samples, indicating that a significant mass transfer resistance in the layer nearest to the surface takes place. Peeled samples pretreated with sucrose solutions behave in a similar way to untreated samples. For the rest of the samples, the cut samples osmotically treated with sucrose solutions and all the samples treated with the glucose solution, the drying rates decrease during drying. Drying kinetics are successfully modeled by employing a diffusional model that takes the shrinkage into account. The effective coefficient of water diffusion was evaluated and correlated with temperature. The quality of the final product was monitored by color change. In spite of the fact that the total color difference is not modified by the osmotic treatment, the L*, a*, and b* color coordinates of cut samples treated with sucrose and glucose solutions do undergo changes; the L* and a* coordinates change less than the b*.     

草酸二甲酯加氢合成乙二醇反应的研究

在微型管式反应器中,采用Cu/SiO2催化剂,在温度190～210℃、压力1～3MPa、草酸二甲酯(DMO)与氢气的摩尔比(氢酯比)40～120、DMO空速6.0～25.0mmol/(g.h)的条件下,对DMO加氢制乙二醇的反应进行了研究。实验结果表明,高温、高压、高氢酯比和低DMO空速都能提高DMO的转化率和乙二醇的收率,但同时也增加了副产物的选择性。较适合的反应条件为:压力2MPa,温度205～210℃,氢酯比80～100,DMO空速10.0mmol/(g.h)。动力学研究表明,DMO加氢反应符合Langmuir-Hinshelwood吸附反应动力学模型,表面反应为速率控制步骤,氢气不解离吸附,由此得到了相应的动力学方程及参数。统计检验结果表明,该模型对DMO加氢反应高度适定。     

In-situ fabrication of particulate reinforced aluminum matrix composites under high-frequency pulsed electromagnetic field

Pulsed magnetic field is generated when imposing pulse signal on high-frequency magnetic field. Distribution of the inner magnetic intensity in induction coils tends to be uniform. Furthermore oscillation and disturbance phenomena appear in the melt. In-situ Al2O3 and Al3Zr particulate reinforced aluminum matrix composites have been synthesized by direct melt reaction using Al-Zr(CO3)2 components under a foreign field. The size of reinforced particulates is 2-3 μm. They are well distributed in the matrix. Thermodynamic and kinetic analysis show that high-frequency pulsed magnetic field accelerates heat and mass transfer processes and improves the kinetic condition of in-situ fabrication.     

酶促合成生物柴油反应动力学

以Candidasp.99-125脂肪酶为催化剂,甘油三油酸酯和甲醇为底物,采用有序机制模型对酶促合成生物柴油的酯交换反应动力学进行了研究,并与经典乒乓机制模型进行了比较。研究结果表明,反应初速率的实验值与有序机制模型方程的计算值吻合很好。对于固定化Candidasp.99-125脂肪酶催化合成生物柴油的酯交换反应机理进行研究,采用有序机制模型比经典乒乓机制模型更为精确。反应过程中,醇抑制为竞争性抑制,在甘油三油酸酯浓度较小的范围内,醇抑制作用较为显著,醇浓度越低反应初速率越快。该有序机制模型可用来预测生物柴油的生产批次或连续反应器中酯交换反应的速率,确定最佳底物油脂和醇的浓度。     

Kinetics of methylamine conversion on a Pd catalyst in the presence of H2

The kinetics of disproportionation of methylamine to dimethylamine and ammonia in the presence of hydrogen have been investigated over a silica-supported palladium catalyst. At a fixed partial pressure of methylamine, the reaction rate generally increases with decreasing hydrogen partial pressure, approaching a limiting or maximum value at sufficiently low pressures of hydrogen. The existence of a maximum is supported by the observation that the presence of some hydrogen appears to be necessary for the reaction to proceed at a conveniently measurable rate. At a fixed hydrogen partial pressure, the reaction rate increases with increasing methylamine partial pressure. When the methylamine partial pressure is sufficiently low or the hydrogen partial pressure is sufficiently high, the reaction order with respect to methylamine can be somewhat higher than one. At such conditions, a mechanism involving a bimolecular reaction between two partially dehydrogenated methylamine molecules on the surface appears to make a significant contribution to the overall catalytic reaction.     

ANALYSIS OF OPEN SUN DRYING EXPERIMENTS

Open sun drying has lost its previous importance due to the fact that different factors affect its reliability and the quality of the products obtained.

One of the set-backs for the analysis of solar drying exoeriments is their deoendence on a non-controlled source of energy, i.e. solar radiation depends on climatic conditions and experiments are difficult to compare. It is thus necessary to investigate the advantages of a particular set up as well as the climatic influences. Open sun drying could constitute the natural reference, allowing the comparison of different drying strategies.

A new way of standardizing drying times, based on solar radiation inout, is proposed, to allow better evaluation of the experiments. An equivalent time is defined, allowing comparison of experiments carried out under different circumstances. Carrots and potatoes were used in these experiments.

The use of the average daily solar radiation 15.28 MJ m^-2.d^-1 in Palma de Mallorca (39.33°N, 2.37°E), is proposed for comparison purposes. An improvement of more than 12 % in the explained variance was observed, the unexplained variance being lower than 1 %.