Microwave plasma synthesis of TiN and ZrN nanopowders

This work demonstrates that TiN and ZrN nanopowders can be prepared by microwave plasma synthesis method. The effects of flow rate of plasma forming gas, flow rate of carrier gas and feeding rate of precursor raw material to the average particle size were studied. The TiN and ZrN nanopowders were characterized by means of transmission electron microscopy (TEM) and X-ray diffraction (XRD).     

In Vivo Studies of Nanostructure‐Based Photosensitizers for Photodynamic Cancer Therapy

Animal models, particularly rodents, are major translational models for evaluating novel anticancer therapeutics. In this review, different types of nanostructure‐based photosensitizers that have advanced into the in vivo evaluation stage for the photodynamic therapy (PDT) of cancer are described. This article focuses on the in vivo efficacies of the nanostructures as delivery agents and as energy transducers for photosensitizers in animal models. These materials are useful in overcoming solubility issues, lack of tumor specificity, and access to tumors deep in healthy tissue. At the end of this article, the opportunities made possible by these multiplexed nanostructure‐based systems are summarized, as well as the considerable challenges associated with obtaining regulatory approval for such materials. The following questions are also addressed: (1) Is there a pressing demand for more nanoparticle materials? (2) What is the prognosis for regulatory approval of nanoparticles to be used in the clinic?     

Modeling of a membrane reactor system for crude palm oil transesterification. Part II: Transport phenomena

The mechanistic modeling of biodiesel production process in membrane reactor with the consideration of chemical reaction, phase equilibrium, and ultrafiltration is important for the membrane reactor design. In part II of this work, the chemical and phase equilibrium (CPE) model for crude palm oil transesterification reaction in the membrane reactor developed in part I is extended to an integration of CPE with modified Maxwell–Stefan model, which considers multicomponent mass transport phenomena of concentration polarization and intramembrane. A good fit of simulated permeate fluxes and apparent solute rejection to the experimental data shows that the model has a good prediction capability. Reversible fouling was found to be the major fouling and no pore plugging was observed. Simulation results verified that micelles were retained by the membrane at CPO:MEOH molar ratio of 1:24 and catalyst concentration of 0.5 wt %. However, phase inversion happened when catalyst concentration of 0.05 and 0.1 wt % were used. © 2015 American Institute of Chemical Engineers AIChE J, 61: 1981–1996, 2015     

Simultaneous quantification of free fatty acids,free sterols,squalene, and acylglycerol molecular species in palm oil by high-temperature gas chromatography-flame ionization detection

This paper discusses a rapid GC-FID technique for the simultaneous quantitative analysis of FFA, MAG, DAG, TAG, sterols, and squalene in vegetable oils, with special reference to palm oil. The FFA content determined had a lower SE compared with a conventional titrimetric method. Squalene and individual sterols, consisting of β-sitosterol, stigmasterol, campesterol, and cholesterol, were accurately quantified without any losses. This was achieved through elimination of tedious conventional sample pretreatments, such as saponification and preparative TLC. With this technique, the separation of individual MAG, consisting of 16∶0, 18∶0, and 18∶1 FA, and the DAG species, consisting of the 1,2(2,3)- and 1,3-positions, was sufficient to enable their quantification. This technique enabled the TAG to be determined according to their carbon numbers in the range of C₄₄ to C₅₆. Comparisons were made with conventional methods, and the results were in good agreement with those reported in the literature.     

Characterisation of Chinese alcoholic beverages by their congener contents

Using gas-liquid chromatography 33 Chinese alcoholic beverages were analysed for their contents of methanol, ethyl acetate, n-propanol, iso-butanol and iso-amyl alcohol (sum of 3-methyl-1-butanol and 2-methyl-1-butanol). A characteristic pattern of the ratios of some of the major congeners was observed. This was compared with the corresponding results for other alcoholic beverages obtained by the authors and by other workers. It was found that the ratios of iso-butanol: n-propanol, iso-amyl alcohol: n-propanol and methanol: n-propanol are useful criteria for the identification of Chinese alcoholic beverages.     

Melt index prediction with a mixture of Gaussian process regression with embedded clustering and variable selections

In this study, a penalized mixture of the Gaussian process regression model was proposed for the prediction of melt index (MI) in industrial polymer production. MI plays an important role in detecting the grade of a product. It is difficult to measure directly and is characterized by a large number of variables and multigrades. Because of multigrade products, in the development of soft sensors for MI prediction, it is not valid to assume unimodal Gaussian distribution of the data. To this end, the proposed method is capable of the simultaneous identification of significant variables and determination of important clusters of multigrade products. It is based on the shrinkage methods that have been shown to provide stable models that are more interpretable. Case studies are presented to show the features of the proposed method and its applicability to industrial MI prediction. © 2017 Wiley Periodicals, Inc. J. Appl. Polym. Sci. 2017 , 134, 45237.     

Investigation of the effect of metal foam characteristics on the PCM melting performance in a latent heat thermal energy storage unit by pore-scale lattice Boltzmann modeling

Latent heat thermal energy storage (LHTES) has many advantages such as high energy density and phase change at a nearly constant temperature compared with sensible thermal energy storage or chemical energy storage techniques. However, one of its major drawbacks is the low thermal conductivity of phase change materials (PCMs) which impedes the heat transfer efficiency. High thermal conductivity metal foams could be added into the LHTES to enhance the heat transfer speed. Under this case, the investigation of the effects of metal foam porosity and pore size on the melting process is essential for improving the heat storage capability of LHTES. In this article, a pore-scale modeling of melting process in a LHTES unit filled with metal foams is carried out by enthalpy-based multiple-relaxation-time lattice Boltzmann method. The quartet structure generation set is used to generate the morphology of metal foams. In addition, a Compute Unified Device Architecture (CUDA) Fortran code is developed in this work for executing highly parallel computation through graphics processing units. The melting process in the PCMs is investigated in terms of porosity, pore size, nonuniform metal foam, hot wall temperature, and initial subcooled temperature to optimize the design of LHTES filled with metal foams.     

Design and fabrication of diffusive solar cell window

A diffusive solar cell window was designed and fabricated with uniformly distributed nanocomposite particles in a light diffusive plate that was sandwiched between two glass layers. The entire composite construction transfers light radiation to solar cells at the edge of the windows. It is based on a new combination of existing technologies because of it uses mature, mass-produced components - solar cells - as well as nanocomposite particles that are embedded inside the light-guide plate. They are integrated using an inexpensive and widely used method for making building windows. The result is an inexpensive, strong, stable, view quality-preserving solar energy-harvesting window that has no close competition. The diffusive solar cell window does not suffer from aging, and products that are made using diffusive solar cell window technology will be new entries to the solar power generation window market.     

A review on conventional technologies and emerging process intensification (PI) methods for biodiesel production

Biodiesel is commonly produced from lipid feedstock, animal fats and waste cooking oil by transesterification reaction. Considering the depletion of fossil fuel, biodiesel is gaining more attention as a renewable and environmental friendly fuel. The rapid growth of biodiesel industry thereafter has raised concerns to many existing commercial biodiesel enterprises. The major issues like feedstock flexibility, yield productivity and environmental impact are always the challenges to the continuous growth of conventional biodiesel processing technology. The processing of biodiesel is greatly hinged on the rich scientific background and technology development for better process advancement. The present paper reviews various concerns raised from the commercial biodiesel processing technology. It also addresses some innovative process intensification (PI) technologies, which likely bring appropriate technological improvement for biodiesel production.