High temperature oxidation mechanism of dilute copper aluminium alloys

Dilute copper-aluminium alloys were oxidized in air from 700 to 1000 °C. Two distinctive behaviours were observed: alloys with at least 3 wt% aluminium showed excellent oxidation resistance in the whole temperature range. Alloys with 2 wt% or less aluminium exhibited good oxidation resistance up to 800 °C; but as the temperature was further increased, the oxidation rate of these alloys increased and became comparable to that of pure copper. A kinetic model was developed to explain the oxidation behaviour and indirectly determine the amount of dissolved oxygen in the alloys tested. It was found that the oxygen dissolved in alloys with up to 2 wt% Al exceeded its solubility limit in copper, whereas the dissolved oxygen in alloys with higher aluminium contents was below the solubility limit. This difference may account for the significantly different oxidation resistance.     

The reduction of Tokyo and Sinter 75 nickel oxides with hydrogen

Industrial Tokyo and Sinter 75 nickel oxides were reduced with 35 and 80% volume hydrogen-argon mixtures between 350 and 1000 °C in a TGA apparatus. Several abnormalities were observed. At low temperature and in 35% H₂, an incubation period was observed. As the temperature was increased the rate of reduction increased up to some temperature, following which a decrease in the reaction rate was observed, which again was followed by an increase in the rates as the temperature exceeded 900 °C. It was found that reduction kinetics of these oxides strongly depend on the morphological features of the oxides. It became clear that the shrinking core model was not applicable and instead the kinetic parameters were assessed by the grain model.     

Inflow shortages in deregulated power markets — Reasons for concern?

In many countries hydropower constitutes a large share of the electricity producing capacity. In the earlier regulated electricity markets, production capacities exceeded demand due to security of supply concerns. The present deregulated markets base investments upon profitability alone, and security of supply issues are claimed to be less important. Market operators trust the pricing mechanism in competitive markets to clear. Then low inflow constitutes a less problem. Several markets, both under regulated and deregulated regimes, have faced serious droughts. Some of them have experienced problems with market clearance (Chile, Brazil, California) while other markets functioned well (The Nordic market). Important features to the market response are the flexibility of demand, the pattern of inflow shortage, the storage capacities, the possibility of trade between regions with different production technologies, and the market design and concentration. We apply an empirical based market model to simulate the effects under two inflow shortage scenarios in an international market with combined hydro and thermal capacities and restricted transmission capacities. We compare the scenarios with actual events and show that the model and the real market outcome are comparable. The simulations do not reveal any problems with the functioning of the market, which should calm down the anxiousness about security of supply in deregulated markets with stochastic energy supply.     

Application of the prins reaction on oleic acid

The probable structure of the various components of oleic acid-formaldehyde adducts is discussed. The adducts are reduced to alcohols by high pressure hydrogenation with copper chromite as a catalyst. The new alcohols are distilled, analyzed and used for the preparation of various esters with carboxylic acids. The esters were evaluated as low temperature lubricant base stocks and low temperature plasticizers.     

Recent Advances in Minimal Heat Processing of Fish: Effects on Microbiological Activity and Safety

Thermal processing is one of the most common methods for achieving safe convenience fish products with an extended shelf life. Designing a thermal process for such products, typically in the range of 60–95 °C for 10 to 30 min, is challenging since the heat load required for inactivating target microorganisms may cause undesirable quality changes in the lipid and protein fraction. Concern about the safety of some fish products exists, particularly when considering the potential abuse caused by storage temperature. New methods that focus on minimal heating or rapid heating of fish products are therefore of vital importance. The main aim for new developments is to reduce the overall thermal load by reducing the temperature gradients in the product or by targeting specific potentially infected areas. In both cases, alternative technologies to conventional autoclaves, combi-steamers or water baths are used for enhanced heat transfer, thereby providing more rapid heating and avoiding unnecessarily high heat loads on part of the product. Dielectric heating, Shaka technology and surface pasteurisation are technologies that meet these approaches, and are now available for industrial applications. Minimal processing often relies on the use of multiple sub-lethal stresses or processes to achieve a similar level of microbial control such as that traditionally achieved by using a single lethal stress. Most minimally processed products require refrigerated storage and distribution to maintain food safety.     

The role of electrical current mode in calcium carbonate deposition on conductive carbon nanofiber–epoxy coating

Calcium carbonate is one of the most common scaling minerals. In this paper we have used different electrical current modes (direct current [DC], pulsed DC, and alternating current [AC]) to control the amount, morphology, and distribution of calcium carbonate deposit on electroconductive epoxy/carbon nanofiber (CNF) coating. The effect of different current modes on surface scaling was visualized using scanning electron microscopy. It has been shown that both AC and DC anodic polarization limited scale deposition on epoxy/CNF coated surfaces, although the mechanisms of scale inhibition during AC and DC polarization were different. DC polarization of the coating at +2 V resulted in the smallest scale buildup without leading to coating degradation, while DC polarization at potentials as high as +5 V caused the coating to degrade. Interestingly, application of pulsed DC with high pulse frequency (50 Hz) inhibited the degradation. The type of current applied affected also the morphology of the precipitate at the cathode. The results presented in this work show, for the first time, how different modes of electrical current applied to electroconductive composite coatings can be used to control the morphology and distribution of calcium carbonate scale, and how the organic coating degradation at high polarization potentials can be avoided.     

Removal of Boron and Phosphorus from Silicon Using CaO-SiO2-Na2O-Al2O3 Flux

A combination of solvent refining and flux treatment was employed to remove boron and phosphorus from crude silicon to acceptable levels for solar applications. Metallurgical grade silicon (MG-Si) was alloyed with pure copper, and the alloy was subjected to refining by liquid CaO-SiO₂-Na₂O-Al₂O₃ slags at 1773 K (1500 °C). The distribution of B and P between the slags and the alloy was examined under a range of slag compositions, varying in CaO:SiO₂ and SiO₂:Al₂O₃ ratios and the amount of Na₂O. The results showed that both basicity and oxygen potential have a strong influence on the distributions of B and P. With silica affecting both parameters in these slags, a critical $ P_{{{\text{O}}_{2} }} $ could be identified that yields the highest impurity pick-up. The addition of Na₂O to the slag system was found to increase the distributions of boron and phosphorus. A thermodynamic evaluation of the system showed that alloying copper with MG-Si leads to substantial increase of boron distribution coefficient. The highest boron and phosphorus distribution coefficients are 47 and 1.1, respectively. Using these optimum slags to reduce boron and phosphorus in MG-Si to solar grade level, a slag mass about 0.3 times and 17 times mass of alloy would be required, respectively.