An investigation into physicochemical characteristics of ash produced from combustion of oil palm biomass wastein a boiler

Ash derived from combustion of Malaysian oil palm biomass (empty fruit bunches consisting of fibers) was physically and chemically characterized in order to provide a comprehensive understanding of its specific properties in terms of toxicity, compositions and reusability. Principal analyses conducted include particle size distribution, scanning electron microscopy, elemental dispersive X-ray, elemental analysis, toxicity characteristic leaching procedure (TCLP) as well as thermogravimetric, X-ray diffractometry and Fourier-transform infrared analyses. TCLP result indicated that the oil palm ash (OPA) should not be classified as toxic wastes in terms of heavy metal leachability since leachable copper, cadmium, lead and nickel concentrations were detected below the stipulated leachability limits. It was determined that the OPA contained high amount of potassium as well as presence of silica which implied its suitability to be reused as crude fertilizer or cement replacement material.     

Crystallization and agglomeration kinetics of nickel ammonium sulphate in an MSMPR crystallizer

Precipitation of nickel ammonium sulphate achieved by mixing solutions of nickel sulphate and ammonium sulphate in a 5 1 MSMPR crystallizer is used to investigate both crystallization and agglomeration kinetics from the steady-state crystal size distribution. An iterative non-linear parameter estimation procedure is used to deduce the kinetic rate parameters in the solution of the agglomeration model suggested by Liao and Hulburt from the data-set obtained by size analysis of the product crystals. The results obtained are correlated in terms of conventional power law kinetic expressions.     

Geometry-Dependent R-Curve for Quasi-Brittle Materials

Fracture of quasi-brittle materials such as ceramics and cement-based materials can be described by an R -curve, defined as fracture resistance. The R -curve can be constructed as the envelope of the strain energy release rates ( G ). In this study, R -curve is defined as an envelope of G -curves obtained by varying the dimensions of identical specimens, while keeping the geometry and the initial flaw size constant. By approximating the G -curve with a second-order function of the crack length, a simple formulation of the R -curve is derived by solving a differential equation. Three parameters are needed for the proposed R -curve. These parameters can be obtained by testing a notched-beam specimen and using linear elastic fracture mechanics. The proposed R -curve simulates well the geometry dependency as well as other characteristics of the fracture response of quasi-brittle materials.     

Effect of Calcium Lactate, 4-Hexyl Resorcinol and Vacuum Packing on Physico-chemical, Sensory and Microbiological Qualities of Minimally Processed Litchi (Litchi chinensis Sonn.)

Litchi (Litchi chinensis Sonn.) fruits are very susceptible to pericarp browning which adversely affects consumer acceptability even though the aril portion remains in excellent condition. Litchi arils (litchis) were treated with a solution containing 0–2% (w/v) calcium lactate (CL), 0–0.02% (w/v) 4‐hexyl resorcinol (4‐HR) and 1% potassium sorbate. The pH of solution was adjusted to 4.0 with citric acid. Treated litchis were packed in polystyrene trays, over‐wrapped with polypropylene film, vacuum‐packed (0, 47409.3, 94831.9 Pa) and stored at 4 ± 2 °C. Drip losses, pH, total soluble solids (TSS), sensory attributes and microbiological quality of stored samples were estimated. A four‐factor, three‐level experimental design (D₆ Hokes design) with 19 experiments was chosen. Mathematical models were developed to analyse and predict the effect of CL, 4‐HR, in‐package vacuum and storage time on the responses. TSS, pH and sensory scores decreased significantly (P 0.01), whereas drip losses and microbial count increased significantly (P 0.01) with time. Drip loss was significantly (P 0.1) reduced by addition of CL. 4‐HR prevented browning and changes in colour score during storage were significantly less. Vacuum in packages exerted significant (P 0.01) effect over pH, TSS, sensory and microbiological qualities of minimally processed litchis.     

Alternative Granulation Technique: Melt Granulation

A melt granulation process has been investigated (1, 2) which efficiently agglomerates pharmaceutical powders for use in both immediate- and sustained-release solid dosage forms. The process utilizes materials that are effective as granulating fluids when they are in the molten state. Cooling of the agglomerated powders and the resultant solidification of the molten materials completes the granulation process. Both the molten agglomeration and cooling solidification were accomplished in a high shear Collette Gral mixer equipped with a jacketed bowl. Hence, the melt granulation process replaces the conventional granulation and drying operations which use water or alcohol solutions. The melt granulation process has been investigated using immediate- and sustained-release TAVIST® (clemastine fumarate USP) tablet formulations. The TAVIST granulations have been characterized by power consumption monitoring, measurement of the granulation particle size distribution, bulk and tapped density determinations, and loss-on-drying measurements. Scale-up of the melt granulation process for the sustained release TAVIST tablet formulation was judged successful based on a comparison of the hardness, friability, weight uniformity during compression, disintegration time, and dissolution rate data obtained at different manufacturing scales.     

Throughput and Delay in Random Wireless Networks With Restricted Mobility

Grossglauser and Tse (2001) introduced a mobile random network model where each node moves independently on a unit disk according to a stationary uniform distribution and showed that a throughput of Theta(1) is achievable. El Gamal, Mammen, Prabhakar, and Shah (2004) showed that the delay associated with this throughput scales as Theta(nlogn), when each node moves according to an independent random walk. In a later work, Diggavi, Grossglauser, and Tse (2002) considered a random network on a sphere with a restricted mobility model, where each node moves along a randomly chosen great circle on the unit sphere. They showed that even with this one-dimensional restriction on mobility, constant throughput scaling is achievable. Thus, this particular mobility restriction does not affect the throughput scaling. This raises the question whether this mobility restriction affects the delay scaling. This correspondence studies the delay scaling at Theta(1) throughput for a random network with restricted mobility. First, a variant of the scheme presented by Diggavi, Grossglauser, and Tse (2002) is presented and it is shown to achieve Theta(1) throughput using different (and perhaps simpler) techniques. The exact order of delay scaling for this scheme is determined, somewhat surprisingly, to be of Theta(nlogn), which is the same as that without the mobility restriction. Thus, this particular mobility restriction does not affect either the maximal throughput scaling or the corresponding delay scaling of the network. This happens because under this 1-D restriction, each node is in the proximity of every other node in essentially the same manner as without this restriction     

Analysis and tuning of adaptive generalized predictive control

The adaptive Generalized Predictive Controller (Clarke et al., 1987a, b) is capable of controlling plants with variable dead-time, unknown model orders and unstable poles and zeros. This paper shows how the GPC control law can be written in an equivalent general linear transfer function form which simplifies closed-loop (eg. root locus) analysis. Three recommended strategies for selecting the design parameters during the commissioning stage allow the user to adjust the closed-loop speed of response on-line using only a single active tuning parameter. Experimental runs confirm the ability of adaptive GPC to provide a consistent closed-loop response in spite of large process changes.     

Gas-liquid interface temperature rise in the case of temperature-dependent physical,transport and reaction properties

This paper anlyzes the problem of gas-liquid interface temperature rise for a first order gas-liquid reaction when the diffusion coefficient, solubility and reaction rate coefficient are dependent upon temperature. The analysis indicates that as long as the quantity ?_eff, which is numerically equal to ?_S − (? + ?_R/2 (wherein ?_S, ?_D and ?_R are the dimensionless temperature-solubility, temperature-diffusion coefficient and temperature-reaction rate constant coefficients) is zero, Danckwerts' analysis [1–3] is useful for the calculations of large rise in gas-liquid interface temperature. For ?_eff ≠ 0, the paper presents approximate empirical correlations for calculating gas-liquid interface temperature rise with the knowledge of Danckwerts' analysis and the magnitude of ?_eff.     

Surface tension and contact angle of herbicide solutions affected by surfactants

Contact angle and surface tension were measured for distilled and hard water solutions of adjuvants, Ortho X-77, Span-20, Sterox-NJ. Surfactant-WK, Triton B-1956, Triton X-114, Tween-20, and Sun Oil 11E. The same parameters were measured for suspensions of atrazine [2-chloro-4-(ethylamino)-6-(isopropylamino)-s-triazine] and ametryne [2-(ethylamino)-4-(isopropylamino)-6-(methylthio)-s-triazine] with and without each adjuvant. All adjuvants reduced surface tension and contact angle of distilled water; Surfactant-WK was most effective and Tween-20 was least effective. Increasing concentration of surfactants from 0 to 0.1% (v/v) gave progressive reduction in surface tension and contact angle while higher concentrations, 0.1 to 2.0% (v/v), had no further effect. Surfactant-WK at 0.1% (v/v) in distilled water reduced the surfact tension from 72.8 dynes/cm to 27 dynes/cm and contact angle from 110° to 41°. An additional increase in Surfactant-WK concentration from 0.1% (v/v) to 2% (v/v) did not further reduce surface tension and contact angle. Sun Oil 11E was identical in behavior except that it was less effective than the surfactants. Water hardness up to 1,000 ppm as Ca ions did not affect surface tension and contact angle in surfactant solutions. An aqueous solution of atrazine had a higher surface tension and contact angle than ametryne in the absence of surfactants. However, these differences were not observed when surfactants were added to either herbicide.