Efficient gasification of wet biomass residue to produce middle caloric gas

Various process residues represent a kind of biomass resource already concentrated but containing water as much as 60 wt.%.These materials are generally treated as waste or simply combusted directly to generate heat.Recently,we attempted to convert them into middle caloric gas to substitute for natural gas,as a chemical or a high-rank gaseous fuel for advanced combustion utilities.Such conversion is implemented through dual fluidized bed gasification (DFBG).Concerning the high water content of the fuels,DFBG was suggested to accomplish either with high-efficiency fuel drying in advance or direct decoupling of fuel drying/pyrolysis from char gasification and tar/hydrocarbon reforming.Along with fuel drying,calcium-based catalyst can be impregnated into the fuel,without much additional cost,to increase the fuel's gasification reactivity and to reduce tar formation.This article reports the Ca impregnation method and its resulting effects on gasification reactivity and tar suppression ability.Meanwhile,the principle of directly gasifying wet fuel with decoupled dual fluidized bed gasification (D-DFBG) is also highlighted.     

Effect of mixing modes on chemiluminescent detection of epinephrine with lucigenin by an FIA system fabricated on a microchip.

The chemiluminescent (CL) detection of epinephrine (EP) with lucigenin (Luc) was performed using a micro flow cell fabricated on a silicon chip. A solution of EP was injected into the Luc carrier stream. The Luc solution containing EP and an alkaline solution were successively poured into the flow cell by a pressure-driven flow system. Two types of flow cells were fabricated for estimating the effect of the mixing modes in the flow cells on the intensity of light emission. In flow cell 1, two streams entered through separate inlet ports and merged to flow adjacently. In flow cell 2, a Luc solution containing EP was split up to 36 partial flows by passage through the nozzles, and was injected into the alkaline solution. The intensity of light emission in flow cell 2 increased markedly compared to that in flow cell 1. The detection limit of 8.0 x 10(-7) M for EP in flow cell 2 was a factor of six-times better than that in flow cell 1. The improvement in the sensitivity for EP could be explained in terms of the distortion of laminar flow in flow cell 2.     

Steady solutions of the Navier–Stokes equations with threshold slip boundary conditions

We establish the wellposedness of the time‐independent Navier–Stokes equations with threshold slip boundary conditions in bounded domains. The boundary condition is a generalization of Navier's slip condition and a restricted Coulomb‐type friction condition: for wall slip to occur the magnitude of the tangential traction must exceed a prescribed threshold, independent of the normal stress, and where slip occurs the tangential traction is equal to a prescribed, possibly nonlinear, function of the slip velocity. In addition, a Dirichlet condition is imposed on a component of the boundary if the domain is rotationally symmetric. We formulate the boundary‐value problem as a variational inequality and then use the Galerkin method and fixed point arguments to prove the existence of a weak solution under suitable regularity assumptions and restrictions on the size of the data. We also prove the uniqueness of the solution and its continuous dependence on the data. Copyright © 2006 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.     

Cysteine-390 is the binding site of luminous substance with symplectin, a photoprotein from Okinawan squid, Symplectoteuthis oualaniensis

Symplectin is a photoprotein from a luminous squid, Symplectoteuthis oualaniensis. It has a luminous substrate, dehydrocoelenterazine (DCZ), linked through a thioether bond with a cysteine residue. We have proven the binding site of luminous substrate in symplectin by using an artificial analogue of DCZ, ortho-fluoro-DCZ (F-DCZ). F-DCZ-symplectin emitting strong blue light was reconstituted from apo-symplectin and F-DCZ. Proteolytic digestion of the reconstituted F-DCZ-symplectin afforded peptides including C(390)GLK-F-DCZ (amide), which was detected with a house assembled nano-LC-ESI-Q-TOF-MS. The chromo-peptide derived from the F-DCZ-symplectin after luminescence showed the lower molecular mass than that before the luminescence by 12 mass units, corresponding to the loss of one carbon atom upon emitting light. Thus, we have concluded that F-DCZ analogue binds to Cys390 in symplectin so as to emit light.     

First asymmetric enantioselective total synthesis of phenanthridine alkaloid, (S)-(+)-asiaticumine and its enantiomer

In this study, the first asymmetric enantioselective total syntheses of (+)-asiaticumine A (2) and its enantiomer were accomplished through a seven-step sequence using the bond formation between the C4a and N5 positions of the phenanthridine framework based on the microwave-assisted electrocyclization of cyclohexenylbenzaldoxime methyl ether as an aza 6π-hexatriene system followed by the Sharpless asymmetric dihydroxylation as the key step. In addition, the absolute configuration of natural (+)-2 was determined to be S by Mosher’s method.     

The formation mechanism of a textured ceramic of thermoelectric [Ca2CoO3](0.62)[CoO2] on beta-Co(OH)2 templates through in situ topotactic conversion

We investigated the formation mechanism of thermoelectric [Ca(2)CoO(3)](0.62)[CoO(2)] (CCO) on beta-Co(OH)(2) templates with maintained orientations by identifying the intermediate phases and specifying the relationship between their crystallographic orientations. We mixed beta-Co(OH)(2) templates with the complementary reactant CaCO(3) and prepared a compact by tape casting, with the developed (001) plane of the templates aligned along the casting plane. High-temperature XRD of the compact revealed that beta-Co(OH)(2) decomposed into Co(3)O(4) by 873 K, and Co(3)O(4) reacted with CaO to form CCO by 1193 K via the formation of the newly detected intermediate phase beta-Na(x)()CoO(2)-type Ca(x)()CoO(2) at 913-973 K. Pole figure measurements and SEM and TEM observations revealed that the relationship between the crystallographic planes was (001) beta-Co(OH)(2)//{111} Co(3)O(4)//(001) Ca(x)()CoO(2)//(001) CCO. The crystal structures of the four materials possess the common CoO(2) layer (or similar), which is composed of edge-sharing CoO(6) octahedra, parallel to the planes. The cross-sectional HRTEM analysis of an incompletely reacted specimen showed transient lattice images from Ca(x)()CoO(2) into CCO, in which every other CoO(2) layer of Ca(x)()CoO(2) was preserved. Thus, it was demonstrated that a textured CCO ceramic is produced through a series of in situ topotactic conversion reactions with a preserved CoO(2) layer of its template.     

Bioactive constituents from Chinese natural medicines. XV. Inhibitory effect on aldose reductase and structures of Saussureosides A and B from Saussurea medusa

The 80% aqueous acetone extract from the whole plant of Saussurea medusa MAXIM. was found to inhibit rat lens aldose reductase (IC50=1.4 microg/ml). From this extract, flavonoids, lignans, and quinic acid derivatives were isolated together with two new ionone glycosides, saussureosides A and B. Their absolute stereostructures were elucidated on the basis of chemical and physicochemical evidence including the application of modified Mosher's method. In addition, some isolates were found to show an inhibitory effect on aldose reductase.