Effet de la pression sur la transition ruisselant-pulsé dans les réacteurs catalytiques à lit fixe arrosé

The effect of pressure on transition displacement between trickle and pulsed regimes (TPR: trickle-pulsed transition) in catalytic trickle bed reactors (CTBR) is not properly predicted by existing theoretical models and empirical correlations. Based on high pressure TPR data available to date, a modified Charpentier diagram is proposed to quantify directly the effect of pressure in non-foaming systems.     

Ionic liquids for CO2 capture—Development and progress

Innovative off-the-shelf CO₂ capture approaches are burgeoning in the literature, among which, ionic liquids seem to have been omitted in the recent Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC) survey. Ionic liquids (ILs), because of their tunable properties, wide liquid range, reasonable thermal stability, and negligible vapor pressure, are emerging as promising candidates rivaling with conventional amine scrubbing. Due to substantial solubility, room-temperature ionic liquids (RTILs) are quite useful for CO₂ separation from flue gases. Their absorption capacity can be greatly enhanced by functionalization with an amine moiety but with concurrent increase in viscosity making process handling difficult. However this downside can be overcome by making use of supported ionic-liquid membranes (SILMs), especially where high pressures and temperatures are involved. Moreover, due to negligible loss of ionic liquids during recycling, these technologies will also decrease the CO₂ capture cost to a reasonable extent when employed on industrial scale. There is also need to look deeply into the noxious behavior of these unique species. Nevertheless, the flexibility in synthetic structure of ionic liquids may make them opportunistic in CO₂ capture scenarios.     

Modeling simultaneous biological clogging and physical plugging in trickle-bed bioreactors for wastewater treatment

A major drawback limiting the use of trickle-bed bioreactors for biological wastewater treatment is ascribed to the concomitant biological clogging and physical plugging phenomena induced, respectively, by the formation of an excessive amount of biomass and the retention of inert suspended fine particles advected in the liquid influent stream. Biomass growth and fine particles deposition permanently reshape the bed pore structure and narrow the free interstitial space left to the fluids flow thus occasioning progressive bed obstruction often accompanied with pressure drop build-up for the cocurrent gas-liquid flows taking place in trickle-bed biofilters. In these circumstances, for maintaining acceptable operating cycles, the unit must be backwashed and/or shutdown regularly for removing the excess biomass and for cleaning from the specific solid deposit. A predictive two-dimensional dynamic model linking the two-phase flow hydrodynamics to the space-time distribution of bioclogging/biokinetics and of inert fine particles deposition via deep-bed filtration in trickle-bed bioreactors for wastewater treatment was developed. The model was based on the volume-average mass and momentum balance equations for the gas and liquid phases and continuity equation for the solid phase, the volume-average species balance for the fine particles, simultaneous transport and consumption of substrate (pollutant) and oxygen within the biofilm and collecting solid particle, and the volume-average species balance equations in the liquid and gas phases. Phenol biodegradation by Pseudomonas putida as the predominant species immobilized on activated carbon was chosen as a case study to illustrate the incidence of biomass accumulation on trickle-bed bioreactor hydrodynamics.     

Emulation of gas‐liquid flow in packed beds for offshore floating applications using a swell simulation hexapod

A laboratory‐scale packed column was positioned on a six degree of freedom swell simulation hexapod to emulate the hydrodynamics of packed bed scrubbers/reactors onboard offshore floating systems. The bed was instrumented with wire mesh capacitance sensors to measure liquid saturation and velocity fields, flow regime transition, liquid maldistribution, and tracer radial and axial dispersion patterns while robot was subject to sinusoidal translation (sway, heave) and rotation (roll, roll + pitch, yaw) motions at different frequencies. Three metrics were defined to analyze the deviations induced by the various column motions, namely, coefficient of variation and degree of uniformity for liquid saturation fluctuating fields, and effective Péclet number. Nontilting oscillations led to frequency‐independent maldistribution while tilting motions induced swirl/zigzag secondary circulation and prompted nonuniform maldistribution oscillations that deteriorated with decreasing frequencies. Regardless of excited degree of freedom, a qualitative loss of plug‐flow character was observed compared with static vertical beds which worsened as frequencies decreased. © 2015 American Institute of Chemical Engineers AIChE J, 61: 2354–2367, 2015     

Selective dissolution of rare-earth element carbonates in deep eutectic solvents

Dissolution in choline-chloride based deep eutectic solvents(DES) of rare earth elements(REE) from high-purity single carbonate salts of Y, La, Ce, Nd and Sm and from their multicomponent mixtures and also bastn€asite mineral was assessed with a prospect to gain an understanding on the leaching behavior of bastn€asite ores as REE source from DES suspensions. Urea, malonic acid and citric acid were used in different proportions with choline chloride in order to form deep eutectic solvents with desired viscosity and functionality. The results obtained prove promising for use insolvato-metallurgical processes in terms of selective dissolution of the higher-atomic-number(Z) rare earth elements at the expense of the lower-ZREEs and the gangue-originating metal impurities, thus initiating separation among the different REE members from the early hydrometallurgical steps.     

Multiphase reacting flow studies of bubble column ozonation reactor for water remediation

A multiphase Volume‐of‐fluid (VOF) model was developed to gain further insights into the reactive flow parameters and electrical capacitance tomography (ECT) measurements on the remediation of hazardous organic pollutants. Low ozone bubble frequencies were obtained for high surface tension fluids, and the liquid viscosity affected the ozone bubbling frequency. The VOF model indicated that the increase of inlet gas velocity enriched the ozone bubble detachment and concomitantly generated larger ozone bubbles, decreasing the detoxification rates. VOF mappings and ECT visualizations of gas‐liquid unveiled preferential routes and highlighted the attenuation of the axisymmetric behavior of the ozonation bubble column under high‐interaction regimes.     

Cyanidation of Gold Associated with Silver Minerals in Sulfide Mineral Matrices

Lead salt stimulated the dissolution of gold when gold associated with silver minerals was interspersed in the silica or in the pyrite‐silica layer. Gold dissolution was likewise promoted through lead addition for chalcopyrite‐silica and the sphalerite‐silica systems. Lead addition did not boost gold dissolution and a recovery of 6.9 % was achieved for gold and silver minerals dispersed in stibnite. Lead pretreatment also enhanced gold recovery except for the stibnite‐silica system. Gold surface‐passivating films were observed for gold associated with silver minerals and stibnite.