Toward a continuous synthesis of porous carbon xerogel beads

A continuous process for producing porous carbon xerogel beads has been developed. It consists in injecting a pre‐cured aqueous solution of resorcinol and formaldehyde on top of a column filled with hot oleic acid. The latter is pumped on the top of the column and fed at the bottom, generating an upward flow that can be adjusted to match the terminal velocity of the settling beads. Thus, the bead residence time in the column can be adjusted to match the gelation time, allowing the beads to solidify before reaching the bottom of the vessel. The obtained beads are subsequently dried and pyrolyzed. The developed experimental setup proved the continuous synthesis of porous carbon beads is possible. Nevertheless, the shaping process caused various texture changes of the porous carbon, which mainly yields macropores instead of micro and mesopores. This process also leads to the build‐up of a denser skin around the beads. © 2018 American Institute of Chemical Engineers AIChE J, 64: 1049–1058, 2018     

Modeling of a continuous rotary reactor for carbon nanotube synthesis by catalytic chemical vapor deposition

The modeling of carbon nanotube production by the CCVD process in a continuous rotary reactor with mobile bed was performed according to a rigorous chemical reaction engineering approach. The geometric, hydrodynamic, physical and physicochemical factors governing the process were analyzed in order to establish the reactor equations. While the study of the hydrodynamic factor suggests a co‐current plug‐flow approximation, the physical factor mainly deals with the phenomena of transport and the transfer of mass, which can be neglected. Concerning the physicochemical factor, the modeling is based on knowledge of the expression of the initial reaction rate, and takes into account catalytic deactivation as a function of time, according to a sigmoid decreasing law. The reactor modeling allows obtaining the evolution of partial pressure, carbon nanotube production and catalytic deactivation along the reactor for given initial operating conditions. The comparison between experimental and calculated production highlights a very good fit of data. © 2009 American Institute of Chemical Engineers AIChE J, 2009     

Image analysis of X-ray microtomograms of soft materials during convective drying

X‐ray microtomography is used to explore the textural evolution that soft materials undergo during a drying treatment. An original image processing algorithm is applied to vertical projections and reconstructed cross‐section images in order to quantify the texture at different stages of drying. Measurements are performed both on grey‐level and on binary images. It is shown that X‐ray microtomography is a very promising tool in the field of drying investigations. It can be used to determine internal moisture profiles, and to follow crack development and shrinkage in an accurate and non‐destructive way. This information is crucial to validate drying models. Waste‐water sludges are used as test materials to assess the validity of the proposed methodology. The management of these sludges, often including a drying stage, will become a challenge in the forthcoming years in accordance with environmental regulations. Samples collected in two waste‐water treatment plants are investigated. Their analysis by X‐ray microtomography brings to the fore two different drying behaviours, illustrating that sludge drying is a complex unit operation very sensitive to the way the material is produced.     

Discharge Redistribution as a Key Process for Heuristic Optimization of Energy Production with Pumps as Turbines in a Water Distribution Network

Water Resources Management - Water distribution networks often exhibit excess pressure that could lead to extensive leakage and infrastructure damages. While this problem can be mitigated with...     

Moisture Profiles Determination During Convective Drying Using X‐Ray Microtomography

The knowledge of internal moisture profiles which develop during drying is essential for model validation purposes, but they are difficult to determine experimentally. This paper shows that X‐ray microtomography, together with image analysis, provides an accurate, non destructive and easy to use technique to determine moisture profiles. Results reported concern the drying of wastewater sludges whose management is becoming a real environmental challenge. An analysis of the development of moisture gradients at the sample external wall shows an influence of drying operating conditions. Finally, mass diffusion coefficients are estimated from the knowledge of both the moisture gradients and the drying flux.     

A kinetic study of multi-walled carbon nanotube synthesis by catalytic chemical vapor deposition using a Fe-Co/Al2O3 catalyst

A kinetic study was performed to describe the initial specific rate of multi-walled carbon nanotube synthesis by catalytic chemical vapor deposition (CCVD) on a bimetallic cobalt-iron catalyst at high temperature using ethylene decomposition to solid carbon and gaseous hydrogen. The study uses a mass spectrometer that allows reaction rate to be inferred from the exhaust gas composition measurements. The aim is to obtain a better understanding of the elementary steps involved in the production of carbon nanotubes so as to derive phenomenological kinetic models in agreement with experimental data. The best models assume the elimination of the first hydrogen atom from adsorbed ethylene as rate determining step and involve a hydrogen adsorption weak enough to be neglected. It was proved that hydrogen partial pressure has no influence on initial reaction rate of carbon nanotube synthesis with the catalyst used for this study. Activation energy and ethylene adsorption enthalpy were found to be equal to around 130 and −130 kJ mol⁻¹, respectively.     

A new class of phosphotransferases phosphorylated on an aspartate residue in an amino-terminal DXDX(T/V) motif

When incubated with their substrates, human phosphomannomutase and L-3-phosphoserine phosphatase are known to form phosphoenzymes with chemical characteristics of an acyl-phosphate. The phosphorylated residue in phosphomannomutase has now been identified by mass spectrometry after reduction of the phosphoenzyme with tritiated borohydride and trypsin digestion. It is the first aspartate in a conserved DVDGT motif. Replacement of either aspartate of this motif by asparagine or glutamate resulted in complete inactivation of the enzyme. The same mutations performed in the DXDST motif of L-3-phosphoserine phosphatase also resulted in complete inactivation of the enzyme, except for the replacement of the second aspartate by glutamate, which reduced the activity by only about 40%. This suggests that the first aspartate of the motif is also the phosphorylated residue in L-3-phosphoserine phosphatase. Data banks contained seven other phosphomutases or phosphatases sharing a similar, totally conserved DXDX(T/V) motif at their amino terminus. One of these (beta-phosphoglucomutase) is shown to form a phosphoenzyme with the characteristics of an acyl-phosphate. In conclusion, phosphomannomutase and L-3-phosphoserine phosphatase belong to a new phosphotransferase family with an amino-terminal DXDX(T/V) motif that serves as an intermediate phosphoryl acceptor.     

Characterization of hyperporous polyurethane-based gels by non-intrusive mercury porosimetry

Evaporative drying of polyurethane-based gels produces xerogels. Supercritical drying after replacement of interstitial liquid by supercritical CO₂ produces aerogels. SEM micrographs show that both materials are made up of small size particles gathered up in filament-shaped, strongly cross-linked aggregates. Density measurements show that they both have a large pore volume.When submitted to mercury porosimetry, the behavior of these materials is similar to that of inorganic aerogels, as previously observed. Mercury does not penetrate the pore network, but the whole material is densified. The usual Washburn equation cannot be used to analyze the mercury porosimetry. A well-suited equation based on a buckling model of filament-shaped aggregates has been developed in order to determine the pore volume distribution of mineral dried gels. This equation is also valid for analyzing the texture of organic hyperporous materials like polyurethane dried nanoporous gel.