Copolymerization of ethylene α-olefin using MgCl2-ethanol adduct catalysts

The effects of the type and concentration of comonomers 1-hexene and 1-octene in the copolymerization of ethylene were investigated using pre polymerized Ziegler-Natta (catalyst a) and without pre polymerized (catalyst b) catalysts in the presence of hydrogen as a chain transfer agent. The properties of produced polymers were characterized by a set of techniques: (SEM), (EDX), (DSC), (GPC). TIBA and DEAC were used as co catalysts. The results of microscopic and SEM images showed the morphology and structure of catalysts (a) and (b) and the obtained spherical polymers. In the presence of 1-hexene, activity of catalyst (a) was at its maximum. The comonomer 1-octene at 32 mmol presented its activity (1.7 × 10³ g polymer/(g cat.h)) and after that, the activities decreased. Copolymerization of ethylene and 1-hexene by catalyst (b) showed higher activity (1.6 × 10³ g polymer/ polymer/(g cat.h)) at 40 mmol concentration of 1-hexene in comparison to catalyst (a).     

Impregnation of a porous material with a PCM on a cotton fabric and the effect of vacuum on thermo-regulating textiles

The purpose of this study was the preparation of a form-stable composite phase change material (PCM) by incorporation of n-nonadecane within the expanded dolomite (ED). In this investigation, two approaches called impregnation treatment with vacuuming and impregnation by magnetic stirrer were used. This method was first proposed for textile thermal protection. In this method, n-nonadecane was applied as the phase change material and ED as the supporting in order to prepare and construct the composite PCM. Composite properties were determined by Fourier transformation infrared spectroscope and scanning electronic microscope (SEM) techniques and the heat transfer measurement and differential scanning calorimeter (DSC) were used to determine the thermal properties of composite on fabrics. Also, moisture transfer properties were measured. The SEM results showed that the n-nonadecane was well absorbed in the porous network of the ED. DSC analysis and heat transfer also indicated that fabric temperature range for the amount of coated PCM depends on its area; further, by adding composite to the fabric surface, thermal transfer could be reduced. The maximum percentages of n-nonadecane within ED in the composite PCM1 and PCM2 were measured to be about 90 and 70 mass%, respectively. Thus, the composite PCM1 can be considered as a form-stable composite change phase materials.     

Studies on accelerated deactivation of ruthenium-promoted alumina-supported alkalized cobalt Fischer-Tropsch synthesis catalyst

Accelerated deactivation of ruthenium-promoted alumina-supported alkalized cobalt (K-Ru-Co/γ-Al 2 O 3 ) Fischer-Tropsch (FT) synthesis catalyst along the catalytic bed over 120 h of time-on-stream (TOS) was investigated. Catalytic bed was divided into three parts and structural changes of the spent catalysts collected from each catalytic bed after FT synthesis were studied using different techniques. Rapid deactivation was observed during the reaction due to high reaction temperature and low feed flow rates. The physico-chemical properties of the catalyst charged in the Bed #1 of the reactor did not change significantly. Interaction of cobalt with alumina and the formation of CoAl 2 O 4 increased along the catalytic bed. Reducibility percentage decreased by 4.5%, 7.5% and 12.9% for the catalysts in the Beds #1, #2 and #3, respectively. Dispersion decreased by 8.8%, 14.4% and 26.6% for the catalysts in the Beds #1, #2 and #3, respectively. Particle diameter increased by 0.6%, 2.4% and 10.4% for the catalysts in the Beds #1, #2 and #3, respectively, suggesting higher rate of sintering at the last catalytic bed. The amount of coke at the last catalytic bed was significantly higher than those of Beds #1 and #2.     

Dynamic modelling of milk ultrafiltration by artificial neural network

Artificial neural networks (ANNs) have been used to dynamically model crossflow ultrafiltration of milk. It aims to predict permeate flux, total hydraulic resistance and the milk components rejection (protein, fat, lactose, ash and total solids) as a function of transmembrane pressure and processing time. Dynamic modelling of ultrafiltration performance of colloidal systems (such as milk) is very important for designing of a new process and better understanding of the present process. Such processes show complex non-linear behaviour due to unknown interactions between compounds of a colloidal system, thus the theoretical approaches were not being able to successfully model the process. In this work, emphasis has been focused on intelligent selection of training data, using few training data points and small network. Also it has been tried to test the ANN ability to predict new data that may not be originally available. Two neural network models were constructed to predict the flux/total resistance and rejection during ultrafiltration of milk. The results showed that there is an excellent agreement between the validation data (not used in training) and modelled data, with average errors less than 1%. Also the trained networks are able to accurately capture the non-linear dynamics of milk ultrafiltration even for a new condition that has not been used in the training process.     

A new Brønsted acid MIL-101(Cr) catalyst by tandem post-functionalization; synthesis and its catalytic application

A new heterogeneous Brønsted solid acid catalyst was prepared by tandem post-functionalization of MIL-101(Cr) and utilized for acetic acid esterification and alcoholysis of epoxides under solvent-free conditions. First, MIL-101(Cr) was functionalized with pyrazine to achieve MIL-101(Cr)-Pyz. Afterwards, the nucleophilic reaction of MIL-101(Cr)-Pyz with 1,3-propane sultone and next acidification with diluted sulfuric acid gave MIL-101(Cr)-Pyz-RSO₃H Brønsted solid acid catalyst. Various characterization methods such as Fourier transformation infrared (FT-IR) spectroscopy, X-ray diffraction (XRD), elemental analysis (CHNS), X-ray photoelectron spectroscopy (XPS), scanning electron microscopy (SEM), energy-dispersiveX-ray(EDX) spectroscopy, thermal analysis (TGA/DTA), acid–base titration, and N₂ adsorption/desorption analysis were employed to fully characterize the prepared catalyst. The catalyst showed high activity compared to unmodified MIL-101(Cr) in both catalytic acetic acid esterification and alcoholysis of epoxides. It can also be readily isolated from the reaction mixture and reused three times without major decrease in its activity.     

An experimental study on rheological behavior of SAE50 engine oil

Journal of Thermal Analysis and Calorimetry - In this paper, the rheological behavior of the MWCNTs-TiO2/SAE50 hybrid nano-lubricant in solid volume fractions ranging from 0.03125 to 1% and...