Integrated planning of transportation and recycling for multiple plants based on process simulation

By-products accrue in all stages of industrial production networks. Legal requirements, shortening of primary resources and their increasing prices make their recycling more and more important. For the re-integration into the economic cycle the scope of common supply chain management is enlarged and so-called closed-loop supply chains with adapted and new planning tasks are developed. In process industries this requires a detailed modelling of the recycling processes. This is of special relevance for operational planning tasks in which an optimal usage of a given production system is envisaged. This contribution presents an integrated planning approach for a real-world case study from the zinc industry to achieve such an adequate process modelling. We consider the planning problem of a company that operates four metallurgical recycling plants and has to allocate residues from different sources to these recycling sites. The allocation determines the raw material mix used in the plants. This blending has an effect on the transportation costs and the costs and revenues of the individual technical processes in the recycling plants. Therefore in this problem transportation and recycling planning for multiple sites have to be regarded in an integrated way. The necessary detailed process modelling is achieved by the use of a flowsheet process simulation system to model each recycling plant individually. The models are used to derive linear input–output functions by multiple linear regression analyses. These are used in an integrated planning model to calculate the decision-relevant input and output flows that are dependent upon the allocation of the residues to the recycling sites. The model is embedded in a decision support system for the operational use. An example application and sensitivity analyses demonstrate and validate the approach and its potentials. The approach is transferable to other recycling processes as well as to other processes in process industries.     

Modular Covalent Graphene Functionalization with C60 and the Endohedral Fullerene Sc3N@C80: A Facile Entry to Synthetic‐Carbon‐Allotrope Hybrids

Two novel graphene‐fullerene hybrid structures, containing C₆₀ and endohedral Sc₃N@C₈₀ bound to graphene, instead of the formerly used graphene oxide, were efficiently synthesized via a reductive activation/exfoliation approach starting from pristine graphite. The structures of these multifunctional hybrid systems were unambiguously characterized by statistical Raman spectroscopy, TG‐MS, TG‐GC‐MS, and LD‐TOF mass spectroscopy, confirming the covalent bonding of the respective C₆₀/Sc₃N@C₈₀ moieties to the pristine graphene. Furthermore, assisted by temperature‐dependent Raman spectroscopy studies the corresponding defunctionalization processes were also investigated. Finally, the formation of a carbon allotrope hybrid material on the basis of C₆₀/Sc₃N@C₈₀ moieties coupled to graphene could be visualized by HRTEM.     

Lattice Opening upon Bulk Reductive Covalent Functionalization of Black Phosphorus

The chemical bulk reductive covalent functionalization of thin‐layer black phosphorus (BP) using BP intercalation compounds has been developed. Through effective reductive activation, covalent functionalization of the charged BP by reaction with organic alkyl halides is achieved. Functionalization was extensively demonstrated by means of several spectroscopic techniques and DFT calculations; the products showed higher functionalization degrees than those obtained by neutral routes.     

The crystal structure of (η-C6Me6)Ti[(μ-Cl)2(AlClEt)]2 and the catalytic activity of the (C6Me6)TiAl2Cl8−xEtx(x = 0---4) complexes towards butadiene

The composition of (C₆Me₆)TiAl₂Cl_8−xEt_x complexes in (C₆Me₆)TiAl₂Cl₈ + n Et₃Al (n = 0.5-6) systems was studied by UV-Vis spectroscopy and the X-ray crystal structure of one of them, (η⁶-C₆Me₆)Ti[(μ-Cl)₂(AlClEt)]₂ (IIa-2), has been determined. The complex crystallizes in the orthorhombic space group Pna2₁ with Z = 4 and lattice parameters a 15.634(3), b 11.355(2), c 14.417(2) Å. The ethyl groups of IIa-2 reside in outer positions of aluminate ligands farther away from the C₆Me₆ ligand. The other part of the complex does not differ remarkably from structures of other (arene)Ti^II complexes. Negligible activity of (C₆Me₆)TiAl₂Cl₈ towards the butadiene cyclotrimerization is considerably increased by addition of 2.5–3.0 equivalents of Et₃Al. As follows from UV-Vis spectra, such systems contain mainly the (C₆Me₆)TiAl₂Cl₅Et₃ complex. It is suggested that the introduction of three Et substituents destabilizes the Ti-(η⁶-C₆Me₆) bond so that the replacement of hexamethylbenzene by butadiene in the first step of a catalytic cycle becomes more feasible.     

Inheriting independence and chi-squaredness under certain matrix orderings

Let x ～ N(μ, Z), and let S = (Σ:μ). It is shown that if x′A₁x is independent of x′Bx (x′A₁x is distributed as a chi-square variable), then this property is inherited by every x′A₂x for which S′A₂S precedes S′A₁S with respect to the range preordering (with respect to the rank subtractivity partial ordering).     

Elastic wave radiation and scattering in heterogeneous soil using the scaled boundary finite element method

A time-domain approach for the simulation of elastic waves in heterogeneous soil domains is presented. It is based on modelling both near and far field by the scaled boundary finite element method (SBFEM). The SBFEM facilitates the use of a structured mesh in the near field region without the need to circumvent hanging nodes. The quadtree mesh is obtained automatically from image data. Radiation damping in the far field is modelled accurately by means of a displacement unit-impulse-response-based formulation. An example analysis of wave radiation by an alluvial basin illustrates the potential of the proposed methodology. (© 2017 Wiley-VCH Verlag GmbH & Co. KGaA, Weinheim)