Operating conditions for lithium recovery from natural brines

Lithium recovery from natural brine incontestably requires the optimization of the parameters which influence such a process. This process consists of trapping lithium ions by a gel of aluminum hydroxide prepared under the action of a strong base. Studied parameters are molar ratio [Al]/[Li], stirring time, reaction temperature and apparent pH. A systematic study was carried out varying only one parameter at a time. This procedure makes it possible to fix the studied parameters in order to recover maximum Li⁺. This work is done first on synthetic brines, and then it was considered convenient to check the obtained result using natural brine and an equivalent synthetic brine. Some differences related to lithium yield are established between the two considered brines. This is due in our opinion to the impurities contained in the natural brine, especially magnesium and boron.     

One-step Synthesis of PCL-Urethane Networks using a Crosslinking/de-crosslinking Agent

Thermally reversible cross-linked polycaprolactone-urethane (PCL-U) was prepared in one-step procedure. The PCL-U networks were synthesized from a di-isocyanate (4,4′-methylene bis(cyclohexylisocyanate) (HMDI) and hydroxyl bearing macromers and monomers: hydroxy-terminated PCL, glycerol and a di-alcohol Diels-Alder (DA) adduct. This adduct was used to introduce both diene and dienophile functions in the structure and also to protect the maleimide functions from polymerization. The thermoresponsive behavior of the material was characterized by commonly used methods such as solubility tests at different temperatures and differential scanning calorimetry analyses to highlight rDA reactions and also by rheological analysis. The effects of the cooling rate, the molar mass of polycaprolactone as well as the molar ratio [di-Isocyanate]/[PCL-diol] on the cross-linking/de-cross-linking temperatures were also analyzed. The reversible networks obtained have a self-healing behavior.     

Mineral salts removal and lithium traces determination in highly concentrated solutions and natural brines

The usual methods, of lithium traces determination, refer in particular to the aqueous solutions whose dry residues do not exceed 7 g L⁻¹. Flame spectrometry or atomic absorption is used for the determination of the considered element.In the case of natural brines, the total dissolved salt ranges from 250 to 350 g L⁻¹. Consequently the determination of lithium traces in this kind of solutions, by the above mentioned spectroscopic methods, may be disturbed due to interferences phenomena. So, a preparatory processing step of the samples is needed.In order to prevent the mentioned phenomena, the total or partial removal of mineral salts, by adding appropriate organic solvent, is carried out. Accordingly, it is significant to make sure that the total quantity of lithium remains in the solution.Therefore, the experimental conditions (sulfate ion removal, solvent ratio and solid-liquid contact time) are optimized. After that the different experimental steps are arranged to make sure the lithium determination, by flame spectrometry, practicable.Finally, the established method is applied firstly to determine Li⁺ in some natural brines and secondly to estimate the lithium reserves in the Tunisian natural brines deposits.     

Orthorhombic and monoclinic ferroelectric phases investigated by Raman spectroscopy in PZN-4.5%PT and PZN-9%PT crystals

Polarized Raman spectra measurements have been performed on orientated single crystals of Pb[(Zn_1/3Nb_2/3)_0.955Ti_0.045]O₃ (PZN-4.5%PT) and Pb[(Zn_1/3Nb_2/3)_0.91Ti_0.09]O₃ (PZN-9%PT) poled by an electric field along the pseudo-cubic direction in order to determine the nature of the induced ferroelectric phases. Under field-cooled (FC) conditions the ferrolectric phase transition sequence, tetragonal-orthorhombic-rhombohedral, was observed in PZN-4.5%PT. Comparison between the phase transitions induced in PZN-9%PT and PZN-4.5%PT crystals in FC shows that the low- temperature ferroelectric phase in PZN-9%PT cannot be orthorhombic and it can be attributed to the monoclinic phase. The characteristic temperatures found by Raman spectroscopy correspond to those obtained by dielectric measurements and by X-ray diffraction reported previously.     

The virial theorem and ground state energy estimates of nonlinear Schrödinger equations in $$\mathbb {R}^2$$ with square root and saturable nonlinearities in nonlinear optics

The virial theorem is a nice property for the linear Schrödinger equation in atomic and molecular physics as it gives an elegant ratio between the kinetic and potential energies and is useful in assessing the quality of numerically computed eigenvalues. If the governing equation is a nonlinear Schrödinger equation with power-law nonlinearity, then a similar ratio can be obtained but there seems to be no way of getting any eigenvalue estimates. It is surprising as far as we are concerned that when the nonlinearity is either square-root or saturable nonlinearity (not a power-law), one can develop a virial theorem and eigenvalue estimates of nonlinear Schrödinger (NLS) equations in \({{\mathbb {R}}^{2}}\) with square-root and saturable nonlinearity, respectively. Furthermore, we show here that the eigenvalue estimates can be used to obtain the 2nd order term (which is of order \(\ln \Gamma \)) of the lower bound of the ground state energy as the coefficient \(\Gamma \) of the nonlinear term tends to infinity.