Experimental and modeling study on production of activated carbon from pistachio shells in rotary reactor

In this study, activated carbons were prepared by physical activation from pistachio shell with steam in a rotary reactor. Experiments were performed based on the central composite design (CCD) in DX8 software. A quadratic model for prediction of iodine number and a quadratic model for burn-off were developed using CCD in the activation process. The optimum iodine number and burn-off for physical activation were, respectively, 1,478.17 mg/g and 22.09 wt%, which showed good agreement with the experimental values. The optimum values were achieved at the activation temperature of 816.5 °C, dwell time of 40 min, and gas flow rate of 47.4 l/min.     

Teflon hierarchical nanopillars with dry and wet adhesive properties

The superior material properties of β‐keratin along with the hierarchical high‐aspect‐ratio structure of geckos' foot pad have enabled geckos to stick readily and rapidly to almost any surfaces in both dry and wet conditions. In this research, nonsticky fluoropolymer (Teflon AF) resembling β‐keratin rigidity and having an extremely low surface energy and dielectric constant was applied to fabricate a novel dry adhesive consisting of high‐aspect‐ratio nanopillars terminated with a “fluffy” top layer. Both the nanopillars and the terminating layer are fabricated concurrently by replica molding using a nanoporous anodic aluminum oxide membrane as the mold. These Teflon AF hierarchical nanostructures are shown to have an exceptional capacity to generate strong adhesion in both dry conditions and under water because of combined actions of van der Waals forces, electrostatic attractions, and hydrophobic effects. © 2012 Wiley Periodicals, Inc. J Polym Sci Part B: Polym Phys, 2012     

Error estimate and adaptive refinement for incompressible Navier‐Stokes equations using the discrete least squares meshless method

In this paper, an adaptive refinement strategy based on a node‐moving technique is proposed and used for the efficient solution of the steady‐state incompressible Navier–Stokes equations. The value of a least squares functional of the residual of the governing differential equation and its boundary conditions at nodal points is regarded as a measure of error and used to predict the areas of poor solutions. A node‐moving technique is then used to move the nodal points to the zones of higher numerical errors. The problem is then resolved on the refined distribution of nodes for higher accuracy. A spring analogy is used for the node‐moving methodology in which nodal points are connected to their neighbors by virtual springs. The stiffness of each spring is assumed to be proportional to the errors of its two end points and its initial length. The new positions of the nodal points are found such that the spring system attains its equilibrium state. Some numerical examples are used to illustrate the ability of the proposed scheme for the adaptive solution of the steady‐state incompressible Navier–Stokes equations. The results demonstrate a considerable improvement of the results with a reasonable computational effort by using the proposed adaptive strategy. Copyright © 2011 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.     

Electrocatalytic and selective determination of d‐penicillamine in the presence of tryptophan using a benzoylferrocene‐modified carbon nanotube paste electrode

Two amino acids – d ‐penicillamine (D‐PA) and tryptophan (TRP) – could be simultaneously determined in an aqueous solution (pH 7.0) using a novel benzoylferrocene‐modified carbon nanotube paste electrode. The results indicate that the electrode is efficient in terms of its electrocatalytic activity for the oxidation of D‐PA, leading to an overpotential reduction by more than 155 mV. Using square wave voltammetry, measurement of D‐PA and TRP in one mixture could be done independently from each other with a potential difference of about 205 mV. The proposed electrochemical sensor exhibited a linear calibration plot ranging from 1.0 × 10^?6 to 8.0 × 10^?4 m with a detection limit of 1.3 × 10^?7 m for D‐PA. Finally, the proposed method was applied to the determination of D‐PA in a D‐PA capsule. Copyright © 2012 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.     

Influence of oxide scale thickness on electrical conductivity of coated AISI 430 steel for use as interconnect in solid oxide fuel cells

The use of conductive coating on interconnect ferritic stainless steel can reduce electrical resistivity. In this study, an AISI 430 ferritic stainless steel interconnect was coated with a manganese base pack mixture by pack cementation. The effect of oxide scale thickness on electrical conductivity was evaluated by applying isothermal oxidation at 750?°C. This effect was also investigated at different temperatures (400?C900?°C). The formation of manganese spinels during annealing improved the oxidation resistance and electrical conductivity. Results showed that the increase in isothermal oxidation time and temperature increased the oxide thickness, and this resulted in the relatively low values of electrical conductivity. Manganese spinels enhanced the electrical conductivity and oxidation resistance of coated substrates as compared to uncoated substrates.     

Three-Component Reaction for an Efficient Synthesis of Stable Phosphorus Ylides Using Mercapto Compounds

Stabilized phosphorus ylides were obtained from the three-component reaction between dialkyl acetylenedicarboxylate and sulfur compounds such as pyridine-2-thione, 2-furylmethanethiol, ethanedithioamide, and N-phenyl-1,2,4-triazole-3-thiol in the presence of triphenylphosphine in excellent yields.     

Chemometrics-assisted gas chromatographic-mass spectrometric analysis of volatile components of olive leaf oil

Iranian olive leaf essential oil components were extracted by microwave-assisted hydrodistillation and analyzed using gas chromatography-mass spectrometry. Ninety-seven components were identified by direct similarity searches for olive leaf essential oil. Chemometrics was used to find more components with the help of multivariate curve resolution methods. Eigenvalues-based methods and Malinowski functions were used for chemical rank determination of GC–MS data. Multivariate curve resolution-alternative least squares as an iterative method was used for resolving the overlapped and embedded peaks. With the use of this method the number of 97 components was extended to 127 components. Major constituents in the olive leaf essential oil are 2-decenal-(E) (20.43 %), benzeneacetaldehyde (4.00 %), 2-undecenal (3.71 %) and valencen (3.31 %).     

Determination of Hg(II) in Environmental Water Samples Using DLLME Method Prior to GC-FID

Mercury exists in two forms in environment, inorganic salts and organic compounds. Determination of mercury is very important, due to its health effects. In the present research, diphenylation of mercury using phenylboronic acid as a derivatization reagent was used for the determination of Hg(II) in real water samples. A simple, rapid and cheap method named dispersive liquid–liquid microextraction was used for the extraction of analyte under the following conditions: extraction solvent 16 μL of carbon tetrachloride, disperser solvent 1 mL of ethanol and sample volume 5 mL. Under the optimal conditions, the enrichment factor for diphenylmercury was 931 and the limit of detection calculated on the basis of five replicates was 0.004 μg mL⁻¹. The repeatability of the method expresses as relative standard deviation was 5.1 (n = 6). The linear range was between 0.01 and 10 μg mL⁻¹. The performance of the proposed technique was evaluated for the determination of mercury in different environmental water samples.

     

Second meeting of new SESAME Technical Committee

The 2005 CHESS User Meeting was held on June 14 and 15, 2005, on the campus of Cornell University. A single session occupied the first day, with two concurrent workshops on the second day. The meeting was opened by User Committee member Rob Thorne (Cornell University). CHESS director Sol Gruner began with an overview of the achievements of the most recent running period and the status of the Energy Recovery Linac (ERL), Cornell’s next-generation X-ray photon source project. Quan Hao and Arthur Woll reported on the progress of the Macromolecular Diffraction Facility (MacCHESS) and the G-line, respectively. Don Bilderback gave an account of some of the recent instrumentation developments at CHESS.