Dehydration of Isopropanol by Pervaporation Using Aromatic Polyetherimide Membranes

Abstract

Aromatic polyetherimide membranes were prepared by the phase inversion method and tested for the pervaporation separation of water from isopropanol with emphasis on the breaking of azeotropic composition and the dehydration of high concentrations of isopropanol. It was found that the membrane selectivity was enhanced by partial evaporation of the solvent in the cast polymer films prior to the gelation step during membrane formation. The membrane performance was shown to be dependent on the feed concentration and the operating temperature. At a feed temperature of 25°C and a permeate pressure of 133 Pa, separation factors of 173 and 384 were achieved for the dehydration of isopropanol solutions at 0.68 (azeotropic composition) and 0.96 mole fractions isopropanol, respectively, with reasonably high permeation rates. The utility of the membranes for the proposed separation was demonstrated; however, these membranes were not prepared under optimized conditions and thus a continuous study is required to rationalize the effects of membrane preparation parameters on membrane performance.     

Study of the factors determining the mobility of ions in the polypyrrole films doped with aromatic sulfonate anions

The electrochemical redox behavior of the polypyrrole (PPy) films doped with benzenesulfonate (BS), p-toluenesulfonate (pTS) and naphtalene-1,5-disulfonate (NDS) was investigated by cyclic voltammetry, the chemical composition of the films was determined by XDS, the surface morphology was characterized by AFM, and the interactions between pyrrole oligomers and the anions were modeled with quantum chemical methods. It is the first detailed comparative study of the properties of these interesting systems with two complementing interactions (electrostatic and aromatic stacking). It was shown than these relatively similar aromatic sulfonate anions have rather different behavior in PPy films. The results showed that the redoxactivity of polypyrrole films doped with sulfonate ions increases in the sequence pTS < BS < NDS. The comparison of voltammograms measured in the presence of different anions with PPy films synthesized in the same solution show that the PPy/pTS films have the most densely packed and the PPy/NDS films the least densely packed structure of the three. The mobility of ions in these films is mainly determined by the packing of the films, which in turn partly depends on the interactions between the dopant-anion and polymer chains.     

Overcharge protection effect and reaction mechanism of cyclohexylbenzene for lithium ion batteries

We studied the relationship between the structure of aromatic compounds and the overcharge protection effect, using cyclohexylbenzene, isopropylbenzene, and toluene as the overcharge protection agents. Cyclohexylbenzene proved to be the most effective overcharge protection agent among these aromatic compounds. The effect is enhanced using a higher concentration of cyclohexylbenzene and elevated temperatures. The reaction product of cyclohexylbenzene was analyzed using field desorption mass spectrometry to elucidate its reaction mechanism. The results suggested that some of the overcharge reaction products of CHB were more reactive than that of IPB, which is consistent with the better suppressing effect on overcharging of the active material in the positive electrode.     

Development and Analysis of Three Diesel Particulate-Related Standard Reference Materials for the Determination of Chemical,Physical, and Biological Characteristics

The National Institute of Standards and Technology (NIST) has recently issued three Standard Reference Materials (SRMs) related to diesel particulate matter: SRM 1650a, Diesel Particulate Matter; SRM 2975, Diesel Particulate Matter (Industrial Forklift); and SRM 1975, Diesel Particulate Extract. These three materials have certified and reference concentrations for selected polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbons (PAHs) including many alkyl-substituted compounds. SRM 1650a is the reissue of an existing material and SRMs 2975 and 1975 represent new materials. The characterization of the PAH content of these three diesel particulate-related SRMs is presented with a discussion of the approach for the certification of PAH concentrations. In addition, the physical and biological characterization of these materials is discussed. A review of customer reported uses of these SRMs in the chemical, physical, and biological sciences is also provided.     

Mathematical modeling of a multi-stage naphtha reforming process using novel thermally coupled recuperative reactors to enhance aromatic production

In this study, a novel thermally coupled reactor containing the naphtha reforming process in the endothermic side and the hydrogenation of nitrobenzene to aniline in the exothermic side has been investigated. Considering the higher thermal efficiency as well as the smaller size of the reactor, utilizing the recuperative coupled reactor is given priority. In this novel configuration, the first and the second reactor of the conventional naphtha reforming process have been substituted by the recuperative coupled reactors which contain the naphtha reforming reactions in the shell side, and the hydrogenation reaction in the tube side. The achieved results of this simulation have been compared with the results of the conventional fixed-bed naphtha reforming reactors. Acceptable enhancement can be noticed in the performance of the reactors. The production rate of the high octane aromatics and the consumption rate of the paraffins have improved 17% and 72%, respectively. The conversion of the nitrobenzene is acceptable and the effect of the number of the tubes also has been taken into account. However, the performance of the new configuration needs to be tested experimentally over a range of parameters under practical operating conditions.     

A comparative study on a novel combination of spherical and membrane tubular reactors of the catalytic naphtha reforming process

Refineries have been looking for ways of improving the performance of the reformer by enhancing the octane number of the product via increasing the aromatics content. To reach this goal, more improved configurations should be investigated. The aromatics production rate could be enhanced by shifting the reactions to the production side by using hydrogen perm-selective membranes. In the present study, we have investigated theoretically the best combination of membrane tubular reactors and spherical radial-flow reactors for the conventional naphtha reforming unit consist of three fixed-bed reactors. Hydrogen permeation through the membrane shifts the reaction to the product side (aromatics and hydrogen) according to the thermodynamic equilibrium. Spherical reactors reduce the pressure drop in the catalytic naphtha reforming units and consequently increase the efficiency. The results show higher aromatics production in the new configurations compared with the membrane tubular and conventional reactors despite using lower membrane surface area.     

OILS IN THE NW NIGER DELTA: AROMATIC HYDROCARBONS CONTENT AND INFRARED SPECTROSCOPIC CHARACTERISATION

The occurrence and distribution of aromatic hydrocarbons in oil samples from an oilfield in the NW Niger Delta was investigated, focussing on naphthalenes, phenanthrenes and mono- and triaromatic steroids. Tetramethylnaphthalene is the most abundant of the naphthalene homologues, while dimethylphenanthrene is the most abundant of the phenanthrene homologues. The relative concentration of the sum total of the phenanthrenes and their isomers was greater than that of the naphthalenes.
The distribution of naphthalenes and phenanthrenes was strongly controlled by thermal maturation and biodegradation of the oils. Various aromatic hydrocarbon- dependent geochemical parameters indicate that the oils are mature and were generated at similar levels of thermal maturation. Plots of these parameters showed that the distribution of homologues of both naphthalene and phenanthrene is sensitive to the biodegradation of the oils.
Infrared spectroscopy (IR) was used for geochemical characterisation of the NW Niger Delta oil samples in terms of both source type and thermal maturity. The characterisation was based on the peak intensities of the aliphatic and the carbonyl groups relative to the aromatics. The study showed that IR may be useful for the determination of thermal maturity, but is not a good tool for source characterisation.     

Corrosion inhibition of benzyl triethanol ammonium chloride and its ethoxylate on steel in sulphuric acid solution

The inhibitive effect of benzyl triethanol ammonium chloride (BTAC) and ethoxylated benzyl triethanol ammonium chloride (EBTAC) on the corrosion of carbon steel in sulphuric acid solution is measured by the weight loss method. The adsorption of these compounds (surfactants) leads to the formation of a monolayer on the metal surface. The relationships between the concentrations of these inhibitors and their surface properties, thermodynamic properties, surface coverage (θ) and inhibiting efficiency have been investigated. The results indicate that EBTAC is superior to BTAC.     

A facile one-pot ultrasound assisted synthesis of 1,8-dioxo-octahydroxanthene derivatives catalyzed by Brønsted acidic ionic liquid (BAIL) under green conditions

A simple and efficient one-pot procedure for the synthesis of 1,8-dioxo-octahydroxanthene derivatives in water under ultrasound irradiation is described. These heterocycles were prepared by condensation of dimedone with various aromatic aldehydes in the presence of Brønsted acidic ionic liquids as a convenient, cheap, readily synthesized and eco-friendly catalyst. This procedure has a lot of advantages such as: excellent yields, simplicity of the workup, low cost, short reaction times and green conditions. Ionic liquids could be recycled several times without significant loss of activity and high purity.     

裂解C9加氢催化剂性能研究

采用两段加氢工艺对裂解C9进行了加氢处理,一段采用Ni系催化剂将易结焦的二烯烃、链烯基芳烃等热敏物质除去,并使部分单烯烃加氢饱和;二段采用CoMoNi系催化剂进行加氢脱硫同时将单烯烃加氢饱和。重点考查了反应温度、压力、氢油比、空速对一段加氢效果的影响,并初步探讨了二段反应温度对加氢性能的影响,研究结果表明两段加氢后的产品溴值小于2.0 g Br/100 g,总硫小于1.0μg/g,胶质含量小于5mg/100 mL,可用于汽油调和组分或芳烃溶剂油。