Gasification characteristics of woody biomass in the packed bed reactor

Gasification technology is recognized as one of the possibilities for utilizing biomass effectively. This study focused on woody biomass gasification fundamentals, using a bench-scale packed-bed reactor. In this experiment, pellets of black pine were gasified, using air as the oxidizing agent. Gasification tests were carried out under both updraft and downdraft conditions. Temperature distributions and compositions of syngas inside the gasifier were continuously monitored during gasification experiments at several ports on the wall of the reactor. The syngas at the exit of the gasifier was also sampled to estimate the amount of tar. Lower heating values of the syngas under updraft and downdraft conditions were 4.8 and 3.8 MJ/m³N, respectively. It was easier to control the height of the packed bed under the downdraft condition than under the updraft condition. Under the updraft condition, a bridging phenomenon occurred. Tar generation under the downdraft condition was lower than that under the updraft condition. This is because tar passes through a partial combustion zone or higher temperature zone in the downdraft gasifier.     

Applications of Clifford’s Geometric Algebra

We survey the development of Clifford’s geometric algebra and some of its engineering applications during the last 15 years. Several recently developed applications and their merits are discussed in some detail. We thus hope to clearly demonstrate the benefit of developing problem solutions in a unified framework for algebra and geometry with the widest possible scope: from quantum computing and electromagnetism to satellite navigation, from neural computing to camera geometry, image processing, robotics and beyond.     

Highly emissive pi-conjugated alkynylpyrene oligomers: their synthesis and photophysical properties

We newly prepared para- and meta-linked alkynylpyrene oligomers and examined their photophysical properties. Oligomerization of monomeric building blocks was performed by CuI-promoted oxidative coupling reaction. The resulting oligomers mainly consist of 2-mer to 6-mer that were assigned on the basis of MALDI-TOF mass spectra, and the 2-mer, 3-mer, and 4-mer were isolated and fully characterized. From their absorption and fluorescence spectra, the para-linked oligomers were found to be somewhat pi-conjugated compared with meta-linked ones, and the fluorescence quantum yields decreased with increasing oligomer length (Phif = 0.79-0.55).     

Optical Glucose Monitoring Based on Femtosecond Two-Color Pulse Interferometry

We demonstrate the potential of femtosecond two-color pulse interferometry for in vitro optical glucose monitoring, by dispersion of the group refractive index in a glucose solution sample with respect to a red-color light and a blue-color light. By comparison with femtosecond one-color pulse interferometry, the basic performance of the present system with regard to sensitivity, quantitativeness, and tolerance to surrounding disturbances, is evaluated. The resulting accuracy and precision of glucose determination are 77 and 118mg/dl for 10-mm-sample-thickness, respectively. This near-common-path configuration of the two-color pulse light provides good stability to fluctuations of sample temperature, which is important in clinical applications. Considering the performance of femtosecond two-color pulse interferometry as an optical glucose sensor, a suitable measurement site for in vivo optical glucose monitoring is discussed.     

Charge‐Transfer Phase Transition of a Cyanide‐Bridged FeII/FeIII Coordination Polymer

Heterometallic Prussian blue analogues are known to exhibit thermally induced charge transfer, resulting in switching of optical and magnetic properties. However, charge‐transfer phase transitions have not been reported for the simplest FeFe cyanide‐bridged systems. A mixed‐valence Fe^II/Fe^III cyanide‐bridged coordination polymer, {[Fe(Tp)(CN)₃]₂Fe(bpe)?5 H₂O}_n, which demonstrates a thermally induced charge‐transfer phase transition, is described. As a result of the charge transfer during this phase transition, the high‐spin state of the whole system does not change to a low‐spin state. This result is in contrast to FeCo cyanide‐bridged systems that exhibit charge‐transfer‐induced spin transitions.     

Traveling disturbance appearing in boundary layer transition in a Yawed cylinder

Boundary layers that develop over a body in fluid flow are in most cases three-dimensional owing to the spin, yaw, or surface curvature of the body. Therefore, the study of three-dimensional (3D) boundary-layer transition is essential to work in practical aerodynamics. The present investigation is concerned with the problem of 3D boundary layers over a yawed body. A yawed cylinder model that represents the leading edge portion of a swept wing and the mechanism of crossflow instability are investigated in detail using hot-wire velocimetry and a flow visualization technique. As a result, traveling disturbances having frequencies f₁ and f₂, which differ by about one order of magnitude, are detected in the transition region. The phase velocities and directions of travel of those disturbances are measured. Results for the low-frequency disturbance f₁ show qualitative coincidence with results numerically predicted for a crossflow unsteady disturbance. Nameley, F₁ travels nearly spanwise to the yawed cylinder and very close to the cylinder wall. The results for the high-frequency disturbance f₂ good agreement with the existing experimental results. The ₂ disturbance is found to be the high-frequency inflectional secondary instability that appears in 3D boundary layer transition in general. A two-stage transition process, where stationary crossflow vortices appear as the primary instability and a traveling inflectional disturbance is generated as a secondary instability, was observed. Secondary instability seems to play a major role in turbulent transition.     

Orbitally induced spin-charge modulation and pseudogap formation in the high-Tc superconductors

On the basis of unrestricted Hartree–Fock calculations on multi-orbital d–p Hamiltonians for a CuO layer and an FeAs layer, we give a qualitative discussion on the interplay between band Jahn–Teller effect and spin (and/or charge) density wave in the CuO and FeAs layers. In addition, we argue the relationship between the spin density wave, the pseudogap, and the superconductivity.     

Persistent hole burning in semiconductor nanocrystals

The persistent spectral hole burning (PSHB) phenomenon was found to occur in many kinds of nanocrystalline semiconductors, such as CdSe, CdS, CuCl, CuBr and CuI, embedded in crystals, glass or polymers. In inhomogeneously broadened exciton absorption spectra of these nanocrystals, the spectral hole and its associated structure were created by the narrow-band laser excitation and were conserved for more than several hours at 2 K. Hole depth grew in proportion to the logarithm of the burning fluence. Thermally-annealing and light-induced hole-filling phenomena were observed. The hole burning takes place by the tunneling process through potential barriers with broadly distributed barrier height and thickness. Unusual luminescence behaviors related to the PSHB phenomena were also observed. They are luminescence elongation with increase of the light exposure and hole burning in the luminescence spectrum. The observed PSHB phenomena are explained by the exciton localization and the succeeding ionization of nanocrystals. The energy of the photoionized nanocrystal is released from the original energy and the new energies depend on the spatial arrangement of the trapped carriers. Quantum confinement of carriers and resulting strong Coulomb interaction between confined carriers and trapped carriers are essential for the energy change. Possible applications of the PSHB phenomenon is discussed.     

On‐line Liquid‐liquid Extraction Coupled to a Reversed Micellar‐mediated Chemiluminescence Detection System: Application to the Determination of Amino/Nitroaromatic Compounds

A simple and fast flow method for the trace level determination of p‐toluidine, 2‐methyl‐5‐nitroaniline, and 2,4‐dinitroaniline in aqueous samples is reported. These amino/nitroaromatics are related to trinitrotoluene (TNT) and appear during the degradation process of the explosive. The chemical principles of ion‐pair formation and liquid‐liquid extraction are applied: In aqueous acidic medium, the protonated analyte [HA]⁺ makes an ion‐pair with the tetrachloroaurate(III) ion, followed by on‐line ion‐pair extraction into the dichloromethane carrier used. After membrane separation, the CH₂Cl₂ containing the ion‐pair, [HA]⁺[AuCl₄]⁻, is mixed with the reversed micellar luminescent reagent of luminol (in 0.3 M Na₂CO₃) prepared from cetyl‐trimethylammonium chloride in CH₂Cl₂‐cyclohexane and the [AuCl₄⁻‐luminol chemiluminescence (CL) output is recorded. The detection limits (S/N> 3) are: p‐toluidine, 1.0 × 10⁻⁴M; 2‐methyl‐5‐nitroaniline, 1.0 × 10⁻⁷ M; 2,4‐dinitroaniline, 1.0 × 10⁻⁷ M, while the calibration curves are linear between 1.0 × 10⁻⁴ — 1.0 × 10⁻² M for all the compounds. Although spectral studies indicated the formation and extraction of a very small amount of the ion‐pair species, the reversed micellar‐mediated CL detection system provides an alternative procedure for the determination of degradation products of the explosive TNT in environmental aqueous samples.