Preparation of Ag3PO4/CoWO4 S-scheme heterojunction and study on sonocatalytic degradation of tetracycline

In this study, 0.6Ag₃PO₄/CoWO₄ composites were synthesized by hydrothermal method. The prepared materials were systematically characterized by techniques of scanning electron microscope (SEM), transmission electron microscope (TEM), X-ray diffractometer (XRD), X-ray photoelectron spectroscopy (XPS), N₂ adsorption/desorption, and UV–vis diffuse reflectance spectrum (DRS). Furthermore, the sonocatalytic degradation performance of 0.6Ag₃PO₄/CoWO₄ composites towards tetracycline (TC) was investigated under ultrasonic radiation. The results showed that, combined with potassium persulfate (K₂S₂O₈), the 0.6Ag₃PO₄/CoWO₄ composites achieved a high sonocatalytic degradation efficiency of 97.89 % within 10 min, which was much better than bare Ag₃PO₄ or CoWO₄. By measuring the electrochemical properties, it was proposed that the degradation mechanism of 0.6Ag₃PO₄/CoWO₄ is the formation of S-scheme heterojunction, which increases the separation efficiency of electron-hole pairs (e^--h⁺) and generates more electrons and holes, thereby enhancing the degradation activity. The scavenger experiments confirmed that hole (h⁺) was the primary active substance in degrading TC, and free radicals (OH) and superoxide anion radical (O₂^–) were auxiliary active substances. The results indicated that 0.6Ag₃PO₄/CoWO₄ nanocomposites could be used as an efficient and reliable sonocatalyst for wastewater treatment.     

Improving efficiency for removal of ammoniacal nitrogen from wastewaters using hydrodynamic cavitation

The present study reports significant improvements in the removal of ammoniacal nitrogen from wastewater which is an important problem for many industries such as dyes and pigment, distilleries and fisheries. Pilot plant studies (capacity, 1 m³/h) on synthetic wastewater using 4-amino phenol as model nitrogen containing organic compound and two real industrial effluents of high ammoniacal nitrogen content were carried out using hydrodynamic cavitation. Two reactor geometries were evaluated for increased efficiency in removal-orifice and vortex diode. Effect of initial concentration (100–500 mg/L), effect of pressure drop (0.5–5 bar) and nature of cavitating device (linear and vortex flow for cavitation) were evaluated along with effect of salt content, effect of hydrogen peroxide addition and aeration. Initial concentration was found to have significant impact on the extent of removal: ~ 5 g/m³ removal for initial concentration of 100 mg/L and up to 12 g/m³ removal at high concentration of 500 mg/L. Interestingly, significant improvement of the order of magnitude (up to 8 times) in removal of ammoniacal nitrogen could be obtained by sparging air or oxygen in hydrodynamic cavitation and a very high removal of above 80% could be achieved. The removal of ammoniacal nitrogen by vortex diode was also found to be effective in the industrial wastewaters and results on two different effluent samples of distillery industry indicated up to 75% removal, though with longer time of treatment compared to that of synthetic wastewater. The developed methodology of hydrodynamic cavitation technology with aeration and vortex diode as a cavitating device was found to be highly effective for improving the efficiency of the conventional cavitation methods and hence can be highly useful in industrial wastewater treatment, specifically for the removal of ammoniacal nitrogen.     

从废水到新能源:光催化燃料电池的优化与应用

随着经济的飞速发展,社会对能源的需求日益扩大,对工业废水的无害化处理也提出了更高的要求。光催化燃料电池 (photocatalytic fuel cell, PFC) 在燃料电池中引入半导体光催化材料作为电极,实现了有机污染物高效降解和同步对外产电的双重功能,在废水无害化与资源化利用方面具有潜在的应用价值。半导体光催化电极是PFC系统高效运行的核心组件,增强其可见光响应和光生载流子分离是提高PFC性能的关键策略。反应器结构设计和运行参数优化也有利于改善PFC性能。本文从PFC基本原理和应用入手,综述了PFC在环境污染物资源化处理中的研究进展,并详细阐述了提高PFC的污染控制性能和产电效率的优化手段,为进一步设计高效稳定的PFC系统并实现其在水污染控制和清洁能源生产中的应用提供理论指导。     

Influence of the pH Value on the Hydrothermal Degradation of Fructose

The hydrothermal treatment of sugars features a promising technology for the production of fine and platform chemicals from renewable resources. In this work the hydrothermal decomposition of fructose was studied in a buffered medium at a pH range between 2.2 and 8.0. It is demonstrated that at lower pH values mainly 5-hydroxymethylfurfural (HMF), levulinic acid and humin are generated, while lactic acid and acetic acid are produced at higher pH values. The work shows that the use of moderate acidic conditions may have advantages for the hydrothermal HMF production over the use of strongly acidic conditions, as especially the degradation into levulinic acid is suppressed. Besides, this study deals with a rather complex reaction network, hence limitations and need for adaption of the kinetic model are discussed.     

油-气-水三相流超声传感器持气率测量*

为探索油-气-水三相流持气率测量难题,该文开展了脉冲透射式超声传感器持气率测量动态实验研究。首先,利用超声传感器与光纤传感器组合,测取了油-气-水三相流中段塞流、混状流、泡状流的响应信号;其次,提取了超声脉冲信号的最大值序列来反映不同流型时超声传感器响应特性,同时,借助双头光纤传感器与相关测速法,计算得到了流体中气泡弦长序列;最后,结合流型与泡径信息,利用超声传感器测量了不同流型下持气率,并分析了不同流型持气率预测的误差来源,为其他油-气-水三相流持气率测量传感器设计提供了借鉴。     

Effect of nitrogen plasma treatment on the crystallinity and self‐bonding of polyetheretherketone (PEEK) for biomedical applications

Polyetheretherketone (PEEK) is a thermoplastic material with outstanding properties and high potential for biomedical applications, including hermetic encapsulation of active implantable devices. Different biomedical grade PEEK films with initial degree of crystallinity ranging from 8% to 32% (with or without mineral filling) were inspected. PEEK surfaces were treated with nitrogen RF plasma and the effects on materials crystallinity and self‐bonding were evaluated. In particular, the relationship between auto‐adhesive properties and crystalline content of PEEK before and after plasma treatment was examined. PEEK samples showed different bonding strength depending on their degree of crystallinity, with higher self‐bonding performance of mineral‐filled semi‐crystalline films. XRD did not show any modification of the PEEK microstructure as a result of plasma treatment, excluding a significant influence of crystallinity on the self‐bonding mechanisms. Nevertheless, plasma surface treatment successfully improved the self‐bonding strength of all the PEEK films tested, with larger increase in the case of semi‐crystalline unfilled materials. This could be interpreted to the increase in chain mobility that led to interfacial interpenetration of the amorphous phase.     

Damage characteristics and surface description of near-wall materials subjected to ultrasonic cavitation

For the analysis of ultrasonic cavitation erosion on the surface of materials, the ultrasonic cavitation erosion experiments for AlCu4Mg1 and Ti6Al4V were carried out, and the changes of surface topography, surface roughness, and Vickers hardness were explored. Cavitation pits gradually expand and deepen with the increase of experiment time, and Ti6Al4V is more difficult to erode by cavitation than AlCu4Mg1. After experiments, the cavitation damage characteristics such as the single pit, the rainbow ring area, the fisheye pit, and some small pits were observed, which can be considered to be induced by a single micro-jet impact, ablation effect caused by the high temperature, micro-jet impingement with a sharp angle, and multibeam micro-jets coupling impact or negative pressure in the local area produced by micro-jet impact, respectively. The surface roughness and Vickers hardness of the material increase slowly after rapid growth at different points in time as the experiment time increases. With the increase of the ultrasonic amplitude, both of them first increase and then decrease after the ultrasonic amplitude is greater than 10.8 μm. The increases in surface roughness and Vickers hardness tend to decrease as the viscosity coefficient increases. Ultrasonic cavitation can cause submicron surface roughness and increase surface hardness by 20.36%, so it can be used as a surface treatment method.     

Experimental studies on the effect of ultrasonic treatment and hydrogen donors on residual oil characteristics

Residual oil, the residue after the distillation of crude oil, imposes deleterious effects on refinery due to its high viscosity and asphaltene content. In this context, ultrasonic technology has been widely applied in refining processes given its high efficiency and minimal environmental impacts. To guide the selection of operation parameters, in this work, we probed the effect of treatment duration, power, and hydrogen donor on the characteristics of residual oil under ultrasonic treatments. Underlying mechanisms of ultrasonic treatments, in the absence and presence of hydrogen donors, were verified through systematically analyzing viscosity, component conversion, molecular weight, hydrogen distribution, and functional groups of residual oil. While viscosity reductions under low-power density treatment are caused by colloidal system disaggregation, high-power density treatment can bring in both chemical bond cleavage and colloidal system disaggregation. In addition, adding hydrogen donor can effectively prevent radical recombination, and thus increases the yield of saturate. These results provide fundamental understandings on the effects of ultrasonic treatments.