Kinetics of CO2 absorption into a novel 1‐diethylamino‐2‐propanol solvent using stopped‐flow technique

A stopped‐flow apparatus was used to measure the kinetics of carbon dioxide (CO₂) absorption into aqueous solution of 1‐diethylamino‐2‐propanol (1DEA2P) in terms of observed pseudo‐first‐order rate constant (k_o) and second‐order reaction rate constant (k₂), in this work. The experiments were conducted over a 1DEA2P concentration range of 120–751 mol/m³, and a temperature range of 298–313 K. As 1DEA2P is a tertiary amine, the base‐catalyzed hydration mechanism was, then, applied to correlate the experimental CO₂ absorption rate constants obtained from stopped‐flow apparatus. In addition, the pK_a of 1DEA2P was experimentally measured over a temperature range of 278–333 K. The Brønsted relationship between reaction rate constant (obtained from stopped‐flow apparatus) and pK_a was, then, studied. The results showed that the correlation based on the Brønsted relationship performed very well for predicting the absorption rate constant with an absolute average deviation of 5.2%, which is in an acceptable range of less than 10%. © 2014 American Institute of Chemical Engineers AIChE J, 60: 3502–3510, 2014     

Enhanced Water Management for Muang Fai Irrigation Systems through Remote Sensing and SWOT Analysis

Water Resources Management - The areas of northern Thailand rely heavily on water management by Muang Fai irrigation systems. Outstanding features of these typical systems include public...     

Efficient nickel-based catalysts for amine regeneration of CO2 capture: From experimental to calculations verifications

High heat duty is an urgent challenge for industrial applications of amine-based CO₂ capture. The temperature (>110°C) of carbamate breakdown in amine regeneration requires large energy consumption. In this work, we report a novel, stable, efficient, and inexpensive Ni-HZSM-5 catalyst to improve the CO₂ desorption rate and reduce the heat duty. The impregnation method was applied for varying nickel content in the catalysts from 2.16 to 9.80 wt% in HZSM-5. The catalysts were characterized by scanning electron microscope, X-ray powder diffraction, N₂ adsorption–desorption, inductively coupled plasma-optical emission spectrometry, ultraviolet-visible diffuse reflectance spectroscopy, X-ray photoelectron spectroscopy, NH₃-temperature programmed desorption (TPD), Infrared spectroscopy of pyridine adsorption, and Fourier transform infrared spectroscopy. The catalytic performance was evaluated by CO₂ desorption of rich amine solvent at 90°C. It was found that the introduction of nickel increased the acid sites of catalysts compared with parent HZSM-5. This phenomenon plays a key role on improving the CO₂ desorption rate. The density functional theory (DFT) calculations successfully explain the catalytic performance. The catalytic activity associates with the combined properties of MSA × B/L × Ni²⁺. The 7.85-Ni-HZ catalyst presents an excellent catalytic activity for the CO₂ desorption: it increases the amount of desorbed CO₂ up to 36%, reduces the relative heat duty by 27.07% with the same reaction time, and possesses high stability during five cyclic tests. A possible catalytic mechanism for the Ni-HZSM-5 catalysts through assisting carbamate breakdown and promoting CO₂ desorption is proposed based on experimental results and theoretical calculations. Therefore, the results present that the 7.85-Ni-HZ catalyst significantly accelerates the protons transfer in CO₂ desorption and can potentially apply in industrial CO₂ capture.     

Medium access control protocols for wireless mobile ad hoc networks: issues and approaches

In this article, a comprehensive survey of the medium access control (MAC) approaches for wireless mobile ad hoc networks is presented. The complexity in MAC design for wireless ad hoc networks arises due to node mobility, radio link vulnerability and the lack of central coordination. A series of studies on MAC design has been conducted in the literature to improve medium access performance in different aspects as identified by the different performance metrics. Tradeoffs among the different performance metrics (such as between throughput and fairness) dictate the design of a suitable MAC protocol. We compare the different proposed MAC approaches, identify their problems and discuss the possible remedies. The interactions among the MAC and the higher layer protocols such as routing and transport layer protocols are discussed and some interesting research issues are also identified. Copyright © 2003 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.     

Local Structure Investigation in Multiferroic BiFeO3–BaTiO3 Ceramics by XAS Technique and Their Relevant Properties

The (1?x)BiFeO₃‐xBaTiO₃ (with x = 0.1, 0.2, 0.3, and 0.4) ceramics were fabricated successfully by solid‐state reaction method. Single‐phase perovskite was obtained in all ceramics, as confirmed by XRD technique. It was observed that 0.7BiFeO₃–0.3BaTiO₃ was the morphotropic phase boundary (MPB) between rhombohedral and cubic phases, as also revealed from ferroelectric and magnetic properties. The simulated and experimental X‐Ray Absorption Spectroscopy (XAS) study revealed that BT in 0.75BF‐0.25BT is possibly taken a rhombohedral structure. Furthermore, the rounded ferroelectric hysteresis loops observed for 0.9BiFeO₃–0.1BaTiO₃ and 0.8BiFeO₃–0.2BaTiO₃ compositions could be attributed to their microstructure and surface charge effects and electron transfer between Fe³⁺ and Fe²⁺ ions. It was also found that high dielectric constant of 0.9BiFeO₃–0.1BaTiO₃ composition was a result of grain and grain‐boundary effects, as observed in SEM micrographs. In addition, a strong signature of dielectric relaxation behavior was observed in this ceramic system with the activation energy 0.467 eV obtained from the Arrhenius' law. Finally, the local structure investigation with XAS technique provided additional information to better understand the electric and magnetic properties in the BF‐BT ceramic system.