Effect of impeller geometry on gas-liquid mass transfer coefficients in filamentous suspensions

Volumetric gas-liquid mass transfer coefficients were measured in suspensions of cellulose fibers with concentrations ranging from 0 to 20 g/L. The mass transfer coefficients were measured using the dynamic method. Results are presented for three different combinations of impellers at a variety of gassing rates and agitation speeds. Rheological properties of the cellulose fibers were also measured using the impeller viscometer method. Tests were conducted in a 20 L stirred-tank fermentor and in 65 L tank with a height to diameter ratio of 3:1. Power consumption was measured in both vessels. At low agitation rates, two Rushton turbines gave 20% better performance than the Rushton and hydrofoil combination and 40% better performance than the Rushton and propeller combination for oxygen transfer. At higher agitation rates, the Rushton and hydrofoil combination gave 14 and 25% better performance for oxygen transfer than two Rushton turbines and the Rushton and hydrofoil combination, respectively.

     

On the Connectivity of Cobordisms and Half-Projective TQFT's

We consider a generalization of the axioms of a TQFT, the so-called half-projective TQFT's, where we inserted an anomaly, , in the composition law. Here μ₀ is a coboundary (in a group cohomological sense) on the cobordism categories with non-negative, integer values. The element of the ring over which the TQFT is defined does not have to be invertible. In particular, it may be zero. This modification makes it possible to extend quantum-invariants, which vanish on S ¹×S ², to non-trivial TQFT's. Note, that a TQFT in the ordinary sense of Atiyah with this property has to be trivial all together. We organize our discussions such that the notion of a half-projective TQFT is extracted as the only possible generalization under a few very natural assumptions. Based on separate work with Lyubashenko on connected TQFT's, we construct a large class of half-projective TQFT's with . Their invariants all vanish on S ¹×S ², and they coincide with the Hennings invariant for non-semisimple Hopf algebras and, more generally, with the Lyubashenko invariant for non-semisimple categories. We also develop a few topological tools that allow us to determine the cocycle μ₀ and find numbers, ϱ(M), such that the linear map associated to a cobordism, M, is of the form . They are concerned with connectivity properties of cobordisms, as for example maximal non-separating surfaces. We introduce in particular the notions of “interior” homotopy and homology groups, and of coordinate graphs, which are functions on cobordisms with values in the morphisms of a graph category. For applications we will prove that half-projective TQFT's with vanish on cobordisms with infinite interior homology, and we argue that the order of divergence of the TQFT on a cobordism, M, in the “classical limit” can be estimated by the rank of its maximal free interior group, which coincides with ϱ(M). Received: 20 October 1997 / Accepted: 18 March 1998     

Large-scale computer simulation of fully developed turbulent channel flow with heat transfer

Recently, with the advent of supercomputers, there has been considerable interest in the use of direct numerical simulation to obtain information about turbulent shear flow at low Reynolds number. This paper presents a pseudospectral technique to solve the full three-dimensional time-dependent Navier-Stokes and advection-diffusion equations without the use of subgrid-scale modelling. The technique has not been previously used for fully developed turbulent channel flow simulation and is based on methods applied in other contexts. The emphasis of this paper is to provide a reasonably detailed account of how the simulation is done rather than to present new calculations of turbulence. The details of an algorithm for turbulent channel flow simulation and the grid and time step sizes needed to integrate through transient behaviour to steady state turbulence have not been published before and are presented here. Results from a Cray-2 simulation of fully developed turbulent flow in a channel with heat transfer are presented along with a critical comparison between experiment and computation. The first- and second-order moments agree well with experimental measurements; the agreement is poor for higher-order moments such as the skewness and flatness near the walls of the channel. Detailed information given about the effects of spatial grid resolution on a computed results is important for estimating the size of the computation required to study various aspects of a turbulent flow.     

Fiber formation via solution spinning of the cellulose/ammonia/ammonium thiocyanate system

Fiber formation via the cellulose/ammonia/ammonium thiocyanate system by wet spinning has been investigated. This report presents a characterization of the structure and tensile properties of fibers spun under various coagulation conditions. Microscopic observations showed that the molecular size of coagulant was the dominant factor governing the crosssectional shape of the fibers. Density, birefringence, and crystallinity data indicated that a higher cellulose concentration and lower coagulation temperature favored development of a fiber with a denser and more oriented structure. Under optimum conditions, a welldefined fibrillar structure was obtained. Fiber tensile property measurements suggested the existence of a linear relationship between the fiber breaking tenacity and the product of the square of the Hermans' orientation factor and the infrared crystallinity index.     

Determination of the Tolman cone angle from crystallographic parameters and a statistical analysis using the crystallographic data base

Summary A new method of evaluating the Tolman cone angle from X-ray structural data available from the Cambridge Crystallographic Data Base has been developed and a statistical analysis of the cone angles of the phosphines PPh₃, PMe₂Ph, PMePh₂, PMe₃, PEt₃ and PCy₃ (Cy = cyclohexyl) in transition metal complexes has been completed.     

Dimensionally and thermally stable polymer,containing disordered graphitic structure and adamantane

In an attempt to develop a low‐k interlayer dielectric, adamantane‐diphenyldiethynyl moiety containing oligomer is prepared. Oligomerization of 1,3,5,7‐tetrakis[3/4‐ethynylphenyl]adamantane ( 4 ) is accomplished by a Glaser–Hay oxidative coupling with 1,3,5‐triethynylbenzene and phenylacetylene end‐capping agent. The CHCl₃ soluble oligomer is then thermally treated by step‐curing at 200, 300, 380, and 450 °C for 30 min at each temperature under nitrogen flow to render a shiny void‐free black polymer. TGA analysis indicates that the polymer is stable under nitrogen up to 500 °C with a marginal decomposition up to 800 °C. Solid‐state ¹³C NMR, Raman scattering, and FTIR are used to characterize the structure of the polymer. The polymer consists of amorphous carbon networks with the adamantane moieties and nanosized graphitic regions (clusters), which are generated from the thermal crosslinking of the diphenyldiethynyl units. It shows a remarkably low linear coefficient of thermal expansion (～25 ppm/°C), presumably due to the presence of the disordered graphitic structure. Its high density (～1.21 g/cm³), refractive index (～1.80 at 632 nm), and Young's modulus (～17.0 GPa) are also consistent with the interpretation. This study reveals important details about the effect of microscopic structure on the macroscopic properties of the highly crosslinked polymer. © 2006 Wiley Periodicals, Inc. J Polym Sci Part A: Polym Chem 44: 6909–6925, 2006     

On the Immersion Relation and an Embedding Problem for Infinite Graphs

Recent results on the immersion relation for graphs are applied to show that there exist (uncountable) graphs A and G such that G contains n disjoint copies of A for each positive integer n, but the graph N₀A consisting of infinitely many disjoint copies of A does not embed in G, where by ‘embedding’ we mean ‘immersion in the weak sense’.     

Depth profiling of latex blends of fluorinated and fluorine‐free acrylates with laser‐induced secondary mass spectrometry

We explored phase separation and self‐assembly of perfluoroalkyl segments at the surface of polymer films obtained from latices of semifluorinated acrylate copolymers and the corresponding latex blends of nonfluorinated and semifluorinated polyacrylates. With laser‐induced secondary mass spectrometry the fluorine distribution was measured after annealing above the minimum film‐forming temperature of the polymers up to a depth of several micrometers. Depth profiles of a semifluorinated acrylate homopolymer and latex blends thereof with fluorine‐free alkylacrylates with 25, 50, and 75 mol % semifluorinated acrylate as well as a copolymer comprised of alkyl acrylate and semifluorinated acrylate (50/50 mol %) were investigated. In the case of latex blends containing both semifluorinated polyacrylates and fluorine‐free or low‐fluorine polymers, self‐assembly accounted for enrichment of the perfluoroalkyl segments at the surface. Coatings exhibiting low surface energy and having a substantially reduced total fluorine content were obtained. © 2003 Wiley Periodicals, Inc. J Polym Sci Part B: Polym Phys 41: 360–367, 2003