Pretreatment of wastepaper and pulp mill sludge by aqueous ammonia and hydrogen peroxide

Pretreatment of two different softwood-based lignocellulosic wastes (newsprint and Kraft pulp mill sludge) was investigated. Pretreatment was done by aqueous ammonia and hydrogen peroxide (H₂O₂), two delignifying reagents that are environmentally benign. Three different treatment schemes were employed: aqueous ammonia alone (ammonia recycled percolation [ARP]), mixed stream of aqueous ammonia and H₂O₂ and successive treatment with H₂O₂ and aqueous ammonia. In all cases there was a substantial degree of delignification ranging from 30 to 50%. About half of the hemicellulose sugars were dissolved into the process effluent. Retention of cellulose after pretreatment varied from 85 to 100% for newspaper feedstock and from 77 to 85% for the pulp mill sludge. After treatment with aqueous ammonia alone (ARP), the digestibility of newspaper and the pulp mill sludge was improved only by 5% (from 40 to 45% for the former and from 68 to 73% for the latter), despite a substantial degree of delignification occurring after the ARP process. The lign in content thus did not correlate with the digestibility for these substrates. Simultaneous treatment with H₂O₂ and aqueous ammonia did not bring about any significant improvement in the digestibility over that of the ARP. A succcessive treatment by H₂O₂ and ARP showed the most promise because it improved the digestibility of the newspaper from 41 to 75%, a level comparable to that of α-cellulose.     

Separation and purification of isoflavones from Pueraria lobata by high-speed counter-current chromatography.

High-speed counter-current chromatography (HSCCC) was applied to the semipreparative separation and purification of puerarin and related isoflavones from a crude extract of Pueraria lobata. Analytical HSCCC was used for the preliminary selection of a suitable solvent system composed of ethyl acetate-n-butanol-water (2:1:3, v/v/v). Using the above solvent system the preparative HSCCC was successfully performed yielding six relatively pure isoflavones including puerarin from 80 mg of the crude extract in one-step separation.     

Perovskite-sensitized solar cell utilizing TiO2 nanograss: Effect of dipping time of CH3NH3PbI3 perovskite

Organic perovskite has potential to replace organic dye as light absorber in solar cell since it possesses better optical absorption in visible region than organic dye. This work is concerned with the investigation of the influence of CH₃NH₃PbI₃ perovskite dipping time on the performance of perovskite-sensitized solar cell (PSSC). The effect of the dipping time on the morphology and photoluminescence of the sample has also been investigated. It was found that the device achieved a power conversion efficiency (PCE) as high as 5.57 ± 0.4% at the optimum dipping time of 4 h. The highest PCE is due to the highest IPCE, lowest R_ct and the longest carrier lifetime (τ).     

Performance enhancement of a DC-operated micropump with electroosmosis in a hybrid nanofluid: fractional Cattaneo heat flux problem

The purpose of this investigation is to theoretically shed some light on the effect of the unsteady electroosmotic flow (EOF) of an incompressible fractional second-grade fluid with low-dense mixtures of two spherical nanoparticles, copper, and titanium. The flow of the hybrid nanofluid takes place through a vertical micro-channel. A fractional Cattaneo model with heat conduction is considered. For the DC-operated micropump, the Lorentz force is responsible for the pressure difference through the microchannel. The Debye-Hükel approximation is utilized to linearize the charge density. The semi-analytical solutions for the velocity and heat equations are obtained with the Laplace and finite Fourier sine transforms and their numerical inverses. In addition to the analytical procedures, a numerical algorithm based on the finite difference method is introduced for the given domain. A comparison between the two solutions is presented. The variations of the velocity heat transfer against the enhancements in the pertinent parameters are thoroughly investigated graphically. It is noticed that the fractional-order parameter provides a crucial memory effect on the fluid and temperature fields. The present work has theoretical implications for biofluid-based microfluidic transport systems.

     

A terminally anchored polymer chain in shear flow: Self-consistent velocity and segment density profiles

The behavior of a terminally anchored freely-jointed bead-rod chain, subjected to solvent shear flow, was investigated via Brownian dynamics simulations. Previous calculations have been improved by computing the segment density and fluid velocity profiles self-consistently. The segment density distributions, components of the radius of gyration, and chain attachment shear and normal stresses were found to be sensitive to low values of shear rate. Additionally, it was found that the thickness of a model polymer layer was a strong function of the shear rate, and that the functional dependence on shear rate changed dramatically as the chain length increased. For the longest chains studied, the thickness of the model polymer layer first increased as the shear rate increased, passed through a maximum, and then decreased at high shear rates, in accordance with experimental results in theta solvents. These results suggest that a dilute or semi-dilute layer model may explain hydrodynamic behavior previously thought to be due to the entanglements that occur in dense surface bound polymer layers.Nomenclature a _i acceleration of bead i - b radius of the beads - d length of the rods connecting the chain beads - d _i vector from bead i to bead i + 1 - F _i external force applied to bead i - F _i ^b external force on bead i due to Brownian motion of surrounding fluid - F _i ^h external force on bead i due to viscous drag - F _i ^s external force on bead i due to surface interactions - f Stokes drag coefficient - Boltzmann's constant - L _h effective hydrodynamic thickness - m _i mass of bead i - N number of beads on a model chain - n number of chains anchored to the surface per unit surface area - P segment density distribution P pressure - Q flow in a tube with no surface bound polymer layer - Q _a flow in a tube with a surface bound polymer layer - R _g vector representation of the radius of gyration - R tube radius - r radial coordinate in the tube geometry - S _ij pair hydrodynamic interaction tensor for beads i and j - T _i internal chain force in rod i connecting beads i and i + 1 - T _X component of the surface attachment force in the direction of the fluid flow - T _y component of the surface attachment force perpendicular to the surface - T temperature - v _i velocity of the center of mass of bead i - V _if average fluid velocity at the location of bead i - v _if ⁰ fluid velocity in the absence of a polymer chain - v _if perturbation to the fluid velocity due to hydrodynamic interactions - V _b bead volume = 4 b ³/3 - scalar fluid speed in the axial direction down the tube - x axial coordinate in the tube geometry Greek symbols _w apparent shear rate - fluid viscosity - polymer layer permeability - volume fraction of space occupied by chain beads - (_w)_a chain attachment stress perpendicular to the surface - (_w)_a chain attachment stress in the plane of the surface and in the direction of fluid flow     

Peculiarities of pendellösung fringes in quartz monocrystals

The scattering of X-rays in quartz monocrystals has been investigated. It has been discovered experimentally, that even for the thick quartz crystals, for which μt = 5, pendular bands can be obtained. The appearance of pendular bands depending on the crystal thickness, the reflecting plane families and the reflection order, was investigated as well.     

Complex Study of the Spearhead Superficial Crust from Burial Mound no. 1 near Novosvobodnaya Village

A complex study of a spearhead dated back to IV mill. BC from burial mound no. 1 near Novosvobodnaya village (collection of the State Historical Museum) and, in particular, the material of spearhead superficial crust has been performed. The elemental and phase composition of the metal of spearhead and the superficial crust on its surface have been determined by scanning electron microscopy, jointly with energydispersive X-ray microanalysis and X-ray phase analysis. A comparative analysis of the results of studying the spearhead superficial crust and similar crusts on other artifacts from the mounds near Novosvobodnaya village suggest natural origin of the crust on copper?arsenic artifacts.

     

A modified model for simulating latent hardening during the plastic deformation of rate-dependent FCC polycrystals

A strain hardening model for the plastic deformation of rate-dependent FCC crystals is proposed based on experimental observations previously reported for single crystals. This model, which is an extension of that employed by et al. [1983], includes both the self-hardening and latent hardening of the slip systems. The differential hardening of the latent systems is assumed to arise from the interaction between glide dislocations and forests. With this hardening model and a rate-sensitive crystal plasticity theory, the deformation behavior of FCC polycrystals can be predicted from the deformation response of the constituent single crystals. As examples, the uniaxial tensile behaviour of pure aluminum and copper polycrystals is simulated using the extended model, and the results are compared with published experimental data. The effects of latent hardening on polycrystal deformation, especially on flow stress and the formation of tensile textures, are discussed.