Optimization of hydrostatic pressure at varied sonication conditions – power density,intensity, very low frequency – for isothermal ultrasonic sludge treatment

This work aims at investigating for the first time the key sonication (US) parameters: power density (D_US), intensity (I_US), and frequency (F_S) – down to audible range, under varied hydrostatic pressure (P_h) and low temperature isothermal conditions (to avoid any thermal effect).The selected application was activated sludge disintegration, a major industrial US process. For a rational approach all comparisons were made at same specific energy input (ES, US energy per solid weight) which is also the relevant economic criterion.The decoupling of power density and intensity was obtained by either changing the sludge volume or most often by changing probe diameter, all other characteristics being unchanged. Comprehensive results were obtained by varying the hydrostatic pressure at given power density and intensity. In all cases marked maxima of sludge disintegration appeared at optimum pressures, which values increased at increasing power intensity and density. Such optimum was expected due to opposite effects of increasing hydrostatic pressure: higher cavitation threshold then smaller and fewer bubbles, but higher temperature and pressure at the end of collapse.In addition the first attempt to lower US frequency down to audible range was very successful: at any operation condition (D_US, I_US, P_h, sludge concentration and type) higher sludge disintegration was obtained at 12 kHz than at 20 kHz. The same values of optimum pressure were observed at 12 and 20 kHz.At same energy consumption the best conditions – obtained at 12 kHz, maximum power density 720 W/L and 3.25 bar – provided about 100% improvement with respect to usual conditions (1 bar, 20 kHz). Important energy savings and equipment size reduction may then be expected.     

Environmentally friendly electroless plating for Ag/TiO2-coated core–shell magnetic particles using ultrasonic treatment

In this work, high-reflectance brilliant white color magnetic microspheres comprising a Fe/TiO₂/Ag core–shell structure with a continuous, uniform compact silver layer were successfully fabricated by TiO₂-assisted electroless plating in a simple and eco-friendly method. The coating procedure for TiO₂ and Ag involved a sol–gel reaction and electroless plating with ultrasound treatment. The electroless plating step was carried out in an eco-friendly manner in a single process without environmentally toxic additives. The TiO₂ layer was used as a modification layer between the Fe microspheres and the silver layer to improve adhesion. A continuous and compact silver layer could be formed with a high degree of morphological control by introducing ultrasonication and adjusting the ammonium hydroxide concentration.     

Synthesis of nano-β-CD@Fe3O4 magnetic material and its application in ultrasonic treatment of oily sludge

The extraction process of Tarim oil field in Xinjiang is accompanied by a large amount of oily sludge generation, which seriously restricts the progress of oil and gas development and causes serious pollution to the environment due to its large production, complex composition, and difficult treatment. Nanomaterials combined with ultrasound have been demonstrated to be a promising method for the disposal of hazardous oily sludge. In this paper, a magnetic material Nano-β-CD@Fe₃O₄ was prepared by hydrothermal method and surface modification method. Nano-β-CD@Fe₃O₄ can be intelligently enriched at the oil–water interface and oil-solid interface, and it can be stably dispersed to form nanofluid under the action of ultrasound. Nano-β-CD@Fe₃O₄ can cause changes in oil composition when it is exposed to ultrasound, resulting in the decrease of viscosity and increase of fluidity. The experimental results of treating oily sludge in Xinjiang Tarim showed that the best treatment effect was achieved when the concentration of Nano-β-CD@Fe₃O₄ was 0.5 %, the ultrasonic frequency was 60 Hz and the temperature was 60℃. This solution can reach 90.17 % oil removal efficiency within 45 min, and the secondary oil removal efficiency of Nano-β-CD@Fe₃O₄ recovered by magnetic separation could still reach 85.65 %. This efficient oily sludge treatment method proposed in our study provides valuable information for the development of oily sludge treatment technology.     

A new methodology for identification of β-transus temperature in α + β and β titanium alloys using ultrasonic velocity measurement

A new methodology has been established for identification of β-transus temperature in α + β and β titanium alloys by ultrasonic velocity measurements in a single specimen in one microstructural condition only. This methodology is based on a linear correlation obtained for the variation in β-transus temperature with ultrasonic longitudinal wave velocity in various titanium alloys specimens, β-heat-treated followed by water quenching. Furthermore, it has been demonstrated for the first time that ultrasonic velocity in α′ martensitic structure increases with the addition of α-stabilizing elements and decreases with the addition of β-stabilizing elements for α + β titanium-alloys.     

The BeOmax system – Dosimetry using OSL of BeO for several applications

The BeOmax-system uses the OSL of BeO for dose measurement. The OSL-Material is Thermalox 995™ from Materion Ceramics^® in quadratic or cylindrical form. For an easy handling complete dosimeters with encapsulated quadratic detectors and identification code for automatic evaluation are also available. Stimulation of detectors is performed with a blue LED (455 nm), OSL signal (UV-region) is detected with a Hamamatsu photo sensor module (PSM) from the opposite detector side. Several filters to avoid stimulation light reaching the PSM are necessary. An electronic and special software offers an easy evaluation of the PSM-signals and to specify dose. The dose characteristic is linear from 10 μGy up to 10 Gy. Then supralinearity connected with a change of the shape of the decay curve starts. The saturation begins with some hundred grays. The variation coefficient of dose measurements is below 2% for dose higher than 0.1 mGy. The energy dependence shows an underestimation of low energy photons. The BeOmax-System can be used in medicine, for industrial applications and for scientific research. Two examples will be shown.     

Ultrasonic stimulation of the brain to enhance the release of dopamine – A potential novel treatment for Parkinson’s disease

Parkinson’s disease (PD) is characterized by the decrease of dopamine (DA) production and release in the substantia nigra and striatum regions of the brain. Transcranial ultrasound has been exploited recently for neuromodulation of the brain in a number of fields. We have stimulated DA release in PC12 cells using low-intensity continuous ultrasound (0.1 W/cm² − 0.3 W/cm², 1 MHz), 12 h after exposure at 0.2 W/cm², 40 s, the amount of DA content eventually increased 78.5% (p = 0.004). After 10-day ultrasonic treatment (0.3 W/cm², 5 min/d), the DA content in the striatum of PD mice model restored to 81.07% of the control (vs 43.42% in the untreated PD mice model). In addition to this the locomotion activity was restored to the normal level after treatment. We suggest that the low intensity ultrasound-induced DA release can be attributed to a combination of neuron regeneration and improved membrane permeability produced by the mechanical force of ultrasound. Our study indicates that the application of transcranial ultrasound applied below FDA limits, could provide a candidate for relatively safe and noninvasive PD therapy through an amplification of DA levels and the stimulation of dopaminergic neuron regeneration without contrast agents.     

Synthesis of magnetic γ-Fe2O3-based nanomaterial for ultrasonic assisted dyes adsorption: Modeling and optimization

γ-Fe₂O₃ nanoparticles were synthesized and loaded on activated carbon. The prepared nanomaterial was characterized by field emission scanning electron microscopy (FE-SEM), energy-dispersive X-ray spectroscopy (EDX), Fourier transforms infrared spectroscopy (FT-IR) and X-ray diffraction (XRD). The γ-Fe₂O₃ nanoparticle-loaded activated carbon (γ-Fe₂O₃-NPs-AC) was used as novel adsorbent for the ultrasonic-assisted removal of methylene blue (MB) and malachite green (MG). Response surface methodology and artificial neural network were applied to model and optimize the adsorption of the MB and MG in their individual and binary solutions followed by the investigation on adsorption isotherm and kinetics. The individual effects of parameters such as pH, mass of adsorbent, ultrasonication time as well as MB and MG concentrations in addition to the effects of their possible interactions on the adsorption process were investigated. The numerical optimization revealed that the optimum adsorption (>99.5% for each dye) is obtained at 0.02 g, 15 mg L⁻¹, 4 min and 7.0 corresponding to the adsorbent mass, each dye concentration, sonication time and pH, respectively. The Freundlich, Langmuir, Temkin and Dubinin–Radushkevich isotherms were studied. The Langmuir was found to be most applicable isotherm which predicted maximum monolayer adsorption capacities of 195.55 and 207.04 mg g⁻¹ for the adsorption of MB and MG, respectively. The pseudo-second order model was found to be applicable for the adsorption kinetics. Blank experiments (without any adsorbent) were run to investigate the possible degradation of the dyes studied in presence of ultrasonication. No dyes degradation was observed.     

Influence of ultrasonic condition on phase transfer catalyzed radical polymerization of methyl methacrylate in two phase system – A kinetic study

An ultrasonic condition assisted phase transfer catalyzed radical polymerization of methyl methacrylate was investigated in an ethyl acetate/water two phase system at 60 ± 1 °C and 25 kHz, 300 W under inert atmosphere. The influence of monomer, initiator, catalyst and temperature, volume fraction of aqueous phase on the rate of polymerization was examined in detail. The reaction order was found to be unity for monomer, initiator and catalyst. Generally, the reaction rate was relatively fast in two phase system, when a catalytic amount of phase transfer catalyst was used. The combined approach, use of ultrasonic and PTC condition was significantly enhances the rate of polymerization. An ultrasonic and phase transfer catalyzed radical polymerization of methyl methacrylate has shown about three fold enhancements in the rate compared with silent polymerization of MMA using cetyltrimethylammonium bromide as PTC. The resultant kinetics was evaluated with silent polymerization and an important feature was discussed. The activation energy and other thermodynamic parameters were computed. Based on the obtained results an appropriate radical mechanism has been derived. TGA showed the polymer was stable up to 150 °C. The FT-IR and DSC analysis validates the atactic nature of the obtained polymer. The XRD pattern reveals the amorphous nature of polymer was dominated.     

A mathematical method for optimizing the process of heat treatment with powerful laser

By using fast Fourier transform,a fast mathematical method based on the solu-tion of heat conduction equation is proposed in conditions of semi-infinite material with a sur-face heat source.It can be used to determine the temperature field or the ideal laser energyrepartition in treating material with powerful laser.     

Challenges of numerical simulations of cavitation reactors for water treatment – An example of flow simulation inside a cavitating microchannel

The research on the potential of cavitation exploitation is currently an extremely interesting topic. To reduce the costs and time of the cavitation reactor optimization, nowadays, experimental optimization is supplemented and even replaced using computational fluid dynamics (CFD). This is a very inviting opportunity for many developers, yet we find that all too often researchers with non-engineering background treat this “new” tool too simplistic, what leads to many misinterpretations and consequent poor engineering.The present paper serves as an example of how complex the flow features, even in the very simplest geometry, can be, and how much effort needs to be put into details of numerical simulation to set a good starting point for further optimization of cavitation reactors. Finally, it provides guidelines for the researchers, who are not experts in computational fluid dynamics, to obtain reliable and repeatable results of cavitation simulations.     

Synthesis of lithium–graphite nanotubes – An in-situ CVD approach using organo-lithium as a precursor in the presence of copper

An in-situ approach to synthesize lithium–graphite nanotubes (LGN) is demonstrated using chemical vapour deposition (CVD). Lithium acetate was used as precursor and as a self-intercalating agent in the presence of copper. Methane was selected as the secondary carbon source. To synthesize lithium–graphite nanotubes (LGN), CVD reactor was set to 500 °C in the presence of argon (200 sccm), hydrogen (40 sccm) and methane (75 sccm) gas under atmospheric conditions. X-ray diffraction shows that the samples are highly crystalline with the c-axis oriented toward the (002) and (111) planes of the graphitic carbon. High resolution transmission and scanning electron microscopic analyses of the samples shows that lithium has been doped into the layers of graphitic carbon matrix. They also show the formation of an alloy phase with distinctive lattice boundaries and stacked graphitic carbon with a small number of nanorods (lithium carbide). HR-Raman analysis shows the characteristic D and G bands of SP² carbon with a narrow G band and broad D band indicating defects produced through doping. X-ray photoelectron spectroscopy results show the presence of predominant lithium and carbon peaks. Thermal analysis shows that the sample is stable up to 300 °C in air.     

Cavitation technology – A greener processing technique for the generation of pharmaceutical nanoemulsions

Novel nanoemulsion-based drug delivery systems (DDS) have been proposed as alternative and effective approach for the delivery of various types of poorly water-soluble drugs in the last decade. This nanoformulation strategy significantly improves the cell uptake and bioavailability of numerous hydrophobic drugs by increasing their solubility and dissolution rate, maintaining drug concentration within the therapeutic range by controlling the drug release rate, and reducing systemic side effects by targeting to specific disease site, thus offering a better patient compliance. To date, cavitation technology has emerged to be an energy-efficient and promising technique to generate such nanoscale emulsions encapsulating a variety of highly potent pharmaceutical agents that are water-insoluble. The micro-turbulent implosions of cavitation bubbles tear-off primary giant oily emulsion droplets to nano-scale, spontaneously leading to the formation of highly uniform drug contained nanodroplets. A substantial body of recent literatures in the field of nanoemulsions suggests that cavitation is a facile, cost-reducing yet safer generation tool, remarkably highlighting its industrial commercial viability in the development of designing novel nanocarriers or enhancing the properties of existing pharmaceutical products. In this review, the fundamentals of nanoemulsion and the principles involved in their formation are presented. The underlying mechanisms in the generation of pharmaceutical nanoemulsion under acoustic field as well as the advantages of using cavitation compared to the conventional techniques are also highlighted. This review focuses on recent nanoemulsion-based DDS development and how cavitation through ultrasound and hydrodynamic means is useful to generate the pharmaceutical grade nanoemulsions including the complex double or submicron multiple emulsions.     

Sterical effects of encapsulation on some cobalt complexes built up in zeolite Y – A Mössbauer emission spectroscopy study

Mössbauer emission spectroscopy revealed effects of encapsulation on 2,2′-bipyridine and 1,10-phenantroline complexes of ⁵⁷Co²⁺ synthesized in the supercages of zeolite Y. The tris coordinated phenantroline complex, unexpectedly, did not form in the supercage due to the blocking effect of the cage walls. The spectra of the tris bipyridine complex did not show the high spin state of the nucleogenic iron(II) complex. This is attributed to the very short lifetime of this state destabilized by the misfit to the volume of the zeolite cage. The relaxation rate was estimated and compared with lifetimes measured on the complex embedded in other matrices.     

Intensified recovery of valuable products from whey by use of ultrasound in processing steps – A review

The current review focuses on the analysis of different aspects related to intensified recovery of possible valuable products from cheese whey using ultrasound. Ultrasound can be used for process intensification in processing steps such as pre-treatment, ultrafiltration, spray drying and crystallization. The combination of low-frequency, high intensity ultrasound with the pre-heat treatment minimizes the thickening or gelling of protein containing whey solutions. These characteristics of whey after the ultrasound assisted pretreatment helps in improving the efficacy of ultrafiltration used for separation and also helps in preventing the blockage of orifice of spray dryer atomizing device. Further, the heat stability of whey proteins is increased. In the subsequent processing step, use of ultrasound assisted atomization helps to reduce the treatment times as well as yield better quality whey protein concentrate (WPC) powder. After the removal of proteins from the whey, lactose is a major constituent remaining in the solution which can be efficiently recovered by sonocrystallization based on the use of anti-solvent as ethanol. The scale-up parameters to be considered during designing the process for large scale applications are also discussed along with analysis of various reactor designs. Overall, it appears that use of ultrasound can give significant process intensification benefits that can be harnessed even at commercial scale applications.     

A Proposed Reaction Channel for the Synthesis of the Superheavy Nucleus Z=109

We apply a statistical-evaporation model (HIVAP) to calculate the cross sections of superheavy elements, mainly about actinide targets and compare with some available experimental data. A reaction channel ^30Si 4 ^243Am is proposed for the synthesis of the element Z=109 and the cross section is estimated.     

Modeling of acoustic wave propagation in time-domain using the discontinuous Galerkin method – A comparison with measurements

Simulations of acoustic wave propagation in time-domain are presented. In the simulations, the discontinuous Galerkin method for spatial derivatives and the low-storage Runge–Kutta approach for time derivatives are used. Three different simulation cases are studied. First, the directivity of loudspeaker is simulated. In the second case, acoustic wave propagation in free space is studied using a short pulse. In the last case, acoustic wave scattering from a metallic cylinder is simulated. All simulation results are compared with measurement results. The measurements for the acoustic wave scattering from the metallic cylinder are made in 2D planes using an automated measurement system. Comparison between the simulation and measurement results are made both temporally and spatially and a good agreement between the simulation and measurement results is found. The results suggest that the discontinuous Galerkin method coupled with the low-storage Runge–Kutta approach is a viable tool for modeling acoustic wave propagation in the time-domain.     

Tuning the type of nitrogen on N-RGO supported on N-TiO2 under ultrasonication/hydrothermal treatment for efficient hydrogen evolution – A mechanistic overview

Efficient hydrogen production through water splitting has been the challenging task to be achieved in the present context of energy crisis. Among the various catalysts employed, nitrogen doped Titanium dioxide/Reduced graphene oxide (N-TiO₂/RGO) nanocomposite has been established to be a promising photocatalytic material for this purpose. However, nuances of doping nitrogen on TiO₂ and the type of nitrogen (pyridinic, pyrrolic and graphitic) stabilized on RGO responsible for facilitating the H₂ production has not yet been addressed mechanistically. In the present investigation, an attempt has been made to synthesise N-Titanium dioxide/N-Reduced graphene oxide (NTNG) nanocomposite under ultrasonication followed by hydrothermal treatment. A stainlesssteel ultrasonic bath, of 6.5 L tank size (LxBxH) 300 × 150 × 150 mm, was used for ultrasonic treatments. The transducers located at the bottom of the ultrasonic bath generate a frequency of 40 kHz with maximum power of 200 W. A mechanism has been proposed including the nuances of formation and the stabilisation of each type of nitrogen on N-RGO as a function of ultrasonication time. The present work supports the stabilization of a given type of nitrogen on RGO through keto enol tautomerism. XPS and FTIR studies have been undertaken to identify the different types of nitrogen doping and the presence of functional groups respectively. XRD, UV–Vis DRS and PL investigations have been made to establish morphological profile and band gap structure of the nanocomposite. It was observed that pyrrolic type nitrogen stabilized on N-RGO augments the efficiency of photocatalytic activity through hydrogen production by water splitting.     

Acoustic scattering from multiple spheres by using a kind of addition formulae for the spherical wave functions

A kind of addition formulae for the spherical wave functions is generated by using the bicentric expansion of Green function in spherical coordinates. For an acoustical system with multiple spheres, the addition formulae permit the field expansions all referred to the center of one of the spheres, whose boundary conditions can be consequently used to study the multiple scattering easily. The two-sphere acoustical system with different boundary conditions is considered and the field scattered by each sphere can be obtained by solving an infinite set of two linear, complex, algebraic equations, whose coefficients are coupled through double sums in the spherical wave functions. Finally, the form functions of two spheres insonified by a plane wave at arbitrary angles of incidence are calculated and the addition formulae presented are validated by comparing the corresponding numerical results with those of the existing literature.