Removal of uranium anionic species from aqueous solutions by polyethylenimine–epichlorohydrin resins

The removal of uranium anionic species from aqueous solutions (initial concentration: 10–2,000 mg/L) by a low- and a high molecular weight polyethylenimine–epichlorohydrin resins was studied in the absence of background electrolytes at initial pH (pH_init) 8 to10. The amount of the sorbed U was determined spectrophotometrically using the Arsenazo III method. The maximum uptake was observed at pH_init 8 using both resins. The maximum uptake capacity observed was 221 and 388 mg U/g for the low- and high molecular weight resin respectively. The uptake data were modeled using a number of 2- and 3- parametric isotherm equations (Langmuir, Freundlich, Langmuir–Freundlich, Toth and Redlich–Peterson). The kinetics of the uranium removal was also studied and modeled using the pseudo-first and pseudo-second order equations. The surface and interior of the resin grains were examined after the sorption experiments by scanning electron microscopy/energy dispersive spectroscopy.     

An experimental study of the stability of TiO2 particles in organic–water mixtures

The stability of TiO₂ (Anatase) particles in various organic-water mixtures is examined experimentally. The results obtained reveal that the addition of AlCl₃ to a methanol–water dispersion leads to charge reversal on particle surface. If the concentration of methanol is high, CaCl₂ also leads to charge reversal, but NaCl does not have this effect. This implies that if the concentration of methanol is low, the coagulation between TiO₂ particles is due to double-layer compression for Na⁺ and Ca²⁺, and due to charge adsorption and neutralization for Al³⁺. A methanol dispersion is unstable without the addition of electrolyte, and the addition of both CaCl₂ and AlCl₃ has the effect of stabilizing the dispersion; the addition of NaCl does not have this effect. The qualitative behaviors of an acetone–water dispersion are similar to those of a methanol–water dispersion. It is interesting to observe, however, that the absolute mobility of a pure acetone dispersion has a maximum as the concentrations of both CaCl₂ and AlCl₃ vary, but charge reversal does not occur. Among the dispersions without the addition of electrolyte, a 50% organic–water mixture is most stable. Also, a methanol–water dispersion is more stable than an acetone–water dispersion, which can be explained based on the degree of dissociation of an electrolyte.     

Metastable solid solutions in the system ZnOCoO: synthesis by hydrolysis in polyol medium and study of the morphological characteristics

Metastable solid solutions in the system ZnOCoO have been synthesized by hydrolysis of ionic zinc and/or cobalt salts in polyol medium. The solubility of Co in the zincite oxide was significantly increased (at.% Co=65) compared to that obtained under thermodynamical equilibrium (at.% Co=6.5 at 800°C). CoO was also obtained via this route. The products are made up of sub-micrometer particles. A detailed study of their morphology along with pure ZnO particle morphology was conducted. Different growth mechanisms are evidenced.     

Kirkwood—Buff integrals in non-electrolyte solutions. An evaluation of the local composition from experimental data

Rubio, R.G., Prolongo, M.G., Cabrerizo, U., Díaz Peña, M. and Renuncio, J.A.R., 1986. Kirkwood—Buff integrals in non-electrolyte solutions. An evaluation of the local composition from experimental data. Fluid Phase Equilibria, 26: 1–13.A relation between the Kirkwood—Buff integrals G_ij, and the local mole fractions in mixtures of non-electrolytes has been derived. The G_ij have been calculated for mixtures of simple fluids using experimental data for excess Gibbs energy, excess volumes and compressibilities at a given temperature. The proposed method allows one to test the predictions of theoretical models for systems for which no computer simulation results are available.     

An experimental study on stability and rheological properties of magnetorheological fluid using iron nanoparticle core–shell structured by cellulose

Journal of Thermal Analysis and Calorimetry - In this study, silicone oil as the base fluid and carbonyl iron powder with the average particle size of 2.7 µm as the disperse phase was...     

A study of salt effects on the complexation between β-cyclodextrins and bile salts based on the Hofmeister series

The Hofmeister series is the ranking of ions according to their ability to strengthen (kosmotropic ions) or weaken (chaotropic ions) hydrophobic interactions. Such ions are therefore expected to affect the strength of cyclodextrin (CD) inclusion complexes and may thereby affect the release of CD bound drug molecules. The influence of Hofmeister ions on the binding constants of complexes between CDs (β-CD and hydroxypropylated β-CD) and bile salts (glycocholate and glycochenodeoxycholate) were examined by isothermal titration calorimetry. The chaotropic anions tended to weaken these inclusion complexes. Conversely, kosmotropic ions increased the binding strength and this effect scaled with the buried hydrophobic surface area. Both effects are relatively weak at physiological ion concentrations and may be neglected for most pharmaceutical purposes.     

Formation of solid solutions in the CdSe–PbSe system under the action of high pressures and temperatures

A method was proposed for producing solid solutions in the CdSe–PbSe systems, which is based on heat and high pressure treatment. X-ray powder diffraction analysis showed the formation of substitutional solid solutions Cd_xPb_1–xSe with the NaCl structure, which contained 20, 40, 60, and 80 mol % cadmium selenide. The solid solutions were characterized by scanning electron microscopy, impedance spectroscopy, gas pycnometry, and Raman spectroscopy.     

Determination of uranium and thorium in sediments from Cananéia-Iguape system,Brazil

Journal of Radioanalytical and Nuclear Chemistry - The Cananéia-Iguape system is a complex of lagoon and estuarine channels located in the south of state of São Paulo. This system...     

Oxidative degradation of polyglycols by the Ruff’s system in the aqueous solutions

We have studied oxidative degradation of polypropylene glycol and polyethylene glycols of varied molecular mass induced by hydrogen peroxide in the presence of iron(III) ions. At pH 3, the process is accompanied by aggregation of iron hydroxides and occurs in the microheterogeneous system. In the cases of high-molecular substrates, the oxidation is accompanied by decrease in the polymer globulas size due to the degradation of the polymer chain.     

Formation of micro- and nanosized particles of the Fe–Al–Co system in water solutions and its magnetic properties

Samples of the Fe–Al–Co system are obtained electrochemically in a water solution. The kinetic dependences that describe the processes that occur in microparticles of aluminum in water solutions are established. The phase composition of the synthesized samples is determined via X-ray diffraction and Mössbauer spectroscopy. It is shown that the main contribution to the fine magnetic structure of Fe–Al–Co is made by the magnetically ordered structure with a hyperfine field around 348 kOe formed by a mechanical mixture of FeCo and Al.     

Effects of concentration and temperature on the corrosion properties of the Fe–Ni–Mn alloy in HCl solutions

Research on Chemical Intermediates - The electrochemical behaviour and corrosion resistance of glassy Fe68.6Ni28.2Mn3.2 (at%) specimens were studied in different concentrations of HCl solutions....     

Computer-assisted study on the reaction between pyruvate and ylide in the pathway leading to lactyl–ThDP

In this study the formation of the lactyl-thiamin diphosphate intermediate (L-ThDP) is addressed using density functional theory calculations at X3LYP/6-31++G(d,p) level of theory. The study includes potential energy surface scans, transition state search, and intrinsic reaction coordinate calculations. Reactivity is analyzed in terms of Fukui functions. The results allow to conclude that the reaction leading to the formation of L-ThDP occurs via a concerted mechanism, and during the nucleophilic attack on the pyruvate molecule, the ylide is in its AP form. The calculated activation barrier for the reaction is 19.2?kcal/mol, in agreement with the experimental reported value.     

An ab initio MO study on the direct and migratory reaction mechanism for the formation of HF in H+ClF system

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Study on the effects of flame retardants on the thermal decomposition of wood by TG–MS

The effect of three flame retardants, K₂CO₃, Na₂SiO₃·9H₂O, and Na₂B₄O₇·10H₂O on the process and composition of volatile products of the thermal degradation of wood has been investigated by the thermogravimetric (TG), differential thermogravimetry (DTG), differential thermal analysis (DTA), and the synchronous thermogravimetry–mass spectrometry (TG–MS) analysis methods. The results showed that the ion current intensity and ion peak area of m/z = 18 and 44 MS signals were increased by the flame retardants but the ion peak area of m/z = 28 MS signal was decreased (except K₂CO₃) at the meantime. What’s more, the ion current intensity and ion peak area of m/z = 60 and 68 MS signals were also decreased (except K₂CO₃), which mean that Na₂B₄O₇ can significantly enhances the dehydration and inhibits the depolymerization of wood. Although K₂CO₃ accelerates the dehydration reaction, it cannot inhibit the depolymerization reaction effectively, so the flame retardant efficiency of K₂CO₃ is decreased with the higher concentration. The catalysis of dehydration reaction of Na₂SiO₃ is the worst one.     

A study of the extraction of plutonium from planchets by Aridus–ICP–SFMS

Two extraction processes of plutonium (Pu) on planchets from alpha spectrometry (AS) have been evaluated by inductively coupled plasma sector field mass spectrometry with a desolvator system (Aridus–ICP–SFMS). The samples were traced with known concentrations of ²³⁹Pu (1.2 × 10³ fg) and ²⁴²Pu (2 × 10³ fg) followed by an electrodeposition in planchets, according to the Hallstadius method. The processes of extraction were carried out with 50 mL of 0.36 mol L^?1 HNO₃ every 30 min up to 180 min in a glass beaker at 60 °C. The first process was on a hotplate and the second used an ultrasonic system. Finally, samples were evaporated to dryness, and resuspended in 10 mL of 0.72 mol L^?1 HNO₃ for evaluation. The results showed that at 120 min, a ~70 % recovery of ²³⁹Pu and a ~80 % recovery of ²⁴²Pu in both processes were obtained. The average recoveries of ²³⁹Pu and ²⁴²Pu at 180 min using the hotplate in plate were 93.4 ± 4.6 and 93.7 ± 4.2 % respectively, and with the ultrasonic system were 96.0 ± 4.3 and 98.2 ± 1.0 % respectively. In conclusion, both processes are suitable for Pu extraction, and Aridus–ICP–SFMS is an essential technique for the reassessments and quantification of Pu. In addition, procedural blanks spiked with 1 × 10² fg mL^?1 U were prepared for each process, in order to study the contribution of the ²³⁸U on the background signal at m/z = 239, which was 0.5 ± 0.2 cps, indicating that the contribution of ²³⁸U on the ²³⁹Pu signal was negligible. Furthermore, this methodology can be applied to sample planchets with environmental, food, biological and nuclear origin, and thereby to avoid repetitive analysis when Pu concentration determined by AS are under minimum detectable activities.     

An experimental study on MWCNT–water nanofluids flow and heat transfer in double-pipe heat exchanger using porous media

Journal of Thermal Analysis and Calorimetry - This paper presents the results of an experimental investigation on the heat transfer characteristics of multi-walled carbon nanotube aqueous...     

The synergistic effects of β-nucleating agent and ethylene–octene copolymer on toughening isotactic polypropylene

The mechanical properties of isotactic polypropylene (iPP) and ethylene–octene copolymer (POE) blends with or without β-nucleating agent (β-NA) were systematically studied. Results demonstrated that, after β-NA and POE were separately added, the impact strength of injection molded iPP samples increased. β-NA and POE were also found to have a synergistic toughening effect on iPP matrix, and the effect was significant. When the contents were 0.05 wt% β-NA and 10 wt% POE, the impact strength reached the maximum, i.e., almost 15 times that of neat iPP. SEM further revealed that POE in skin and core layers existed as long and narrow strips along the flow direction and throughout crystals. The tensile strength did not deteriorate because of the special phase morphology and tight interfacial interaction between POE phase and matrix. WAXD and DSC revealed that POE addition had negligible influence on crystal form, and a considerable number of β crystals was generated by adding β-NA. SEM results also confirmed a critical β-NA content. When β-NA content was lower than the critical value, perfect β sphaerocrystals were generated. When β-NA was higher, “bundle-like” crystal structures formed. Perfect β sphaerocrystals were more efficient for dissipating energy because of the looser stacking pattern, thus showing better toughness.