Carbon dioxide conversion to valuable chemical products over composite catalytic systems

This paper reports an experimental study on catalytic conversion of carbon dioxide to methanol,ethanol and acetic acid.Catalysts having different catalytic functions were synthesized and combined in different ways to enhance the selectivity to desired products.The combined catalyst system possessed the following functions:methanol synthesis,Fischer-Tropsch synthesis,water-gas-shift and hydrogenation.Results showed that the methods of integrating these catalytic functions played an important role in achieving the desired product selectivity.We speculate that if methanol synthesis sites were located adjacent to the C-C chain growth sites,the formation rate of C₂ oxygenates would be enhanced.The advantage of using a high temperature methanol catalyst PdZnAl in the combined catalyst system was demonstrated.In the presence of PdZnAl catalyst,the combined catalyst system was stable at 380°C.It was observed that,at high temperature,kinetics favored oxygenate formation.The results implied that the process can be intensified by operating at high temperature using Pd-based methanol synthesis catalyst.Steam reforming of the byproduct organics was demonstrated as a means to provide supplemental hydrogen.Preliminary process design,simulation,and economic analysis of the proposed CO₂ conversion process were carried out.Economic analysis indicates how ethanol production cost was affected by the price of CO₂ and hydrogen.     

Search for disoriented chiral condensate in 158<Emphasis Type="Italic">A</Emphasis> GeV Pb+Pb collisions in WA98 experiment

The current status of the search for localized domains of disoriented chiral condensates (DCC) in Pb+Pb collisions at 158A GeV/c are presented. A new method based on the discrete wavelet transformation (DWT) technique along with an analysis of correlation between charged and neutral particles has been used for the search of localized DCC domains. We show that both the methods indicate the presence of non-statistical fluctuations in data.     

A laser extraction/combustion technique for in situ delta(13)C analysis of organic and inorganic materials

A CO(2) laser extraction system is described for in situ delta(13)C analysis of organic and inorganic materials. Carbonaceous compounds volatilized by the laser are quantitatively converted to CO(2) gas by a combustion furnace mounted after the sample chamber. Gases produced by the laser and combustion processes are swept by helium carrier gas and separated by a packed gas chromatography column prior to their introduction to an isotope ratio monitoring mass spectrometer. A sample of lentil bean was analyzed at a spatial resolution of 200 μm and yielded delta(13)C values with precision of +/- 0.3 per thousand. The accuracy of delta(13)C measurements was better than +/- 0.5 per thousand from NBS 22 (mineral oil), USGS 24 (graphite), and IAEA CO-1 (calcium carbonate). Copyright 1999 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.     

Coherent production ofρ − mesons in charged current antineutrino-neon interactions in BEBC

Coherent production ofρ ^? mesons in charged current antineutrino interactions on neon nuclei is studied in the BEBC bubble chamber exposed to the CERN SPS wide band beam. The cross section is measured to be (95±25)·10^?40 cm² per neon nucleus, averaged over the beam energy spectrum. The distributions of kinematical variables and the absolute value of the cross section are in agreement with theoretical predictions based on the CVC hypothesis and the vector meson dominance model.     

Evidence for higher twist effects in fast π− production by antineutrinos in neon

Evidence for a significant higher twist contribution to highz π^? production in antineutrino scattering is presented. In events withW>3 GeV andQ ²>1 GeV² in our data, it accounts for (51 ±8)% of all π^? withz above 0.5. It is consistent with thez?Q ² correlations of Berger's higher twist prediction. The data are inconclusive concerning the predictedy?z correlation andp _T dependence. Thez ?Q ² correlation is not adequately described by the Lund Monte-Carlo.     

Transverse energy production in the target fragmentation region in16O-nucleus reactions at 60 and 200A GeV

Charged pion yields and transverse energies of baryons are measured for the reaction¹⁶O+Cu, Ag, Au at 60 and 200A GeV bombarding energy in the target fragmentation region employing the Plastic Ball detector. Only little dependence of the measured quantities on the bombarding energy is found. The data are compared with the multi-chain fragmentation model of Ranft. As a result it turns out that a leading order formation zone cascade is not sufficient to explain the baryon yield and the transverse energies of baryons in the target fragmentation region.     

High transverse momentum prompt photon production by π− and π+ on protons at 280 GeV/c

The inclusive cross sections for prompt photon production by π^? and π⁺ on protons have been measured with a beam momentum of 280 GeV/c using a fine grained electromagnetic calorimeter and the CERN Omega spectrometer. The transverse momentum and Feynmanx _F ranges covered are 4.0<p _T <7.0GeV/c and ?0.45<x _F <0.55 respectively. A quantitative comparison of the prompt photon cross section with next-to-leading order QCD predictions using Duke and Owens structure functions is performed.     

Oxygen-induced reactions at 60A GeV and 200A GeV studied by calorimetry

Results based on calorimetric measurements are presented from reactions of 60A GeV and 200A GeV¹⁶O projectiles with C, Cu, Ag, and Au nuclei. Minimum-bias cross sections are discussed. Energy spectra measured at zero degrees and transverse-energy distributions for the pseudorapidity range 2.4≦η≤5.5 are shown. An analysis of the average transverse energy in terms of the number of participating nucleons and the number of binary nucleon-nucleon collisions is presented. Estimates of nuclear stopping and of attained energy densities are made.     

A measurement of ∧ and Ξ<Superscript>−</Superscript> polarization in inclusive production by Σ<Superscript>−</Superscript> of 340 GeV/c in C and Cu targetsof 340 GeV/c in C and Cu targets

We have measured the polarization of ∧ and Ξ^? hyperons produced inclusively by a Σ^? beam of 340 GeV/c momentum in nuclear targets, using samples of 9.5 million ∧ decays and 880000 Ξ^? decays. The large statistics allowed a two-dimensional analysis as functions ofx _F andp _t . The polarization w.r.t. the production normal is mainly positive for ∧ and negative for Ξ^?. The positive sign of the ∧ polarization is opposite to predictions. Atp _t >1 Gev/c, the ∧ polarization decreases to zero or even negative values, in sharp contrast to the plateau abovep _t <1 GeV/c observed in inclusive ∧ production by protons. No such effect is observed for the Ξ^? polarization, and its sign is as expected.