Effect of working gases on thermal plasma waste treatment

An electric arc melter used for waste treatment processing is numerically studied. The effects of different plasma working gases are studied by using a laboratory scale test reactor. A two-dimensional finite difference approximation is used to solve the set of governing equations. The Navier-Stokes equations coupled with the combined Maxwell's equation for the electromagnetic fields is used to obtain the temperature and flow fields in the are melter. It is found that the energy efficiency of the air plasma is lower than that of an argon plasma. However, the melted soil volumes are larger using the air plasma than those using the argon plasma. The overall energy efficiency increases cis the gap between the cathode and the soil surface decreases. More uniform gas temperatures are found for the air plasma than that for the argon plasma. Result obtained from the laboratory-scale are melter is used as an input of the energy absorbed into the soil for the USBM arc melter simulation. Results show a maximum temperature of 2195 K at the center of the heat generation and a molten soil exit temperature of 1600 K.     

Extraction of hyaluronic acid (HA) from rooster comb and characterization using flow field-flow fractionation (FlFFF) coupled with multiangle light scattering (MALS)

Hyaluronic acid (HA) was extracted in a relatively large scale from rooster comb using a method similar to that reported previously. The extraction method was modified to simplify and to reduce time and cost in order to accommodate a large-scale extraction. Five hundred grams of frozen rooster combs yielded about 500?mg of dried HA. Extracted HA was characterized using asymmetrical flow field-flow fractionation (AsFlFFF) coupled online to a multiangle light scattering detector and a refractive index detector to determine the molecular size, molecular weight (MW) distribution, and molecular conformation of HA. For characterization of HA, AsFlFFF was operated by a simplified two-step procedure, instead of the conventional three-step procedure, where the first two steps (sample loading and focusing) were combined into one to avoid the adsorption of viscous HA onto the channel membrane. The simplified two-step AsFlFFF yielded reasonably good separations of HA molecules based on their MWs. The weight average MW (M(w) ) and the average root-mean-square (RMS) radius of HA extracted from rooster comb were 1.20×10(6) and 94.7?nm, respectively. When the sample solution was filtered through a 0.45?μm disposable syringe filter, they were reduced down to 3.8×10(5) and 50.1?nm, respectively.     

Study on elution behavior of poly(amidoamine) dendrimers and their interaction with bovine serum albumin in asymmetrical flow field-flow fractionation

Polyamidoamine (PAMAM) dendrimers have an amine surface and an ethylenediamine core and are of great interest in various applications such as in drug delivery. Physiochemical properties of PAMAM dendrimers vary with pH. At neutral to basic pH, PAMAM dendrimers are either weakly charged or uncharged and tend to adsorb on to the neutral packing material, making chromatographic separation of the dendrimers difficult. Asymmetrical flow field-flow fractionation (AsFlFFF) was tested as an alternative to the chromatographic techniques for separation of the PAMAM dendrimers. AsFlFFF provided generation-based separation of the dendrimers even at neutral and basic pH. The elution time increased gradually as the generation number (and thus the size) increased. Separation of impurities such as generational or missing-arm impurities and aggregates from the main population was also achieved. Electrostatic and hydrophobic interactions (e.g., repulsive elecrostatic interaction among the dendrimer molecules or attractive hydrophobic interaction between the dendrimer molecules and the membrane) may result in an inaccurate size measurement. Careful optimization of experimental conditions such as the flow rate, pH, and the salt concentration may be required to minimize the interactions with the membrane. AsFlFFF was also tested for a study on the interaction between the PAMAM dendrimers and proteins. AsFlFFF was able to show the growth in the size of bovine serum albumin (BSA) when BSA is mixed with increasing amounts of PAMAM dendrimers. Results suggest that, with proper optimization, AsFlFFF could become a useful tool for separation and characterization of large charged molecules such as PAMAM dendrimers.     

Synthesis of crystalline TiO2 nanostructure arrays by direct microwave irradiation on a metal substrate

We report a method for synthesizing TiO₂ nanostructures by applying microwave irradiation (1200 W, 2.45 GHz, single-mode) to a Ti substrate under an atmosphere comprising of O₂ and Ar. After 1200 W microwave irradiation, one-dimensional (1D) nanostructure arrays were synthesized on the surface of the substrate. The average dimensions of the 1D structures were 200 nm in length and 30 nm in diameter. The structures were single crystalline. The EDX elemental maps of the areas examined using HAADF-STEM demonstrated that Ti and O were distributed homogeneously throughout the nanostructure. Quantitative analysis of the mean atomic ratios in the nanostructures disclosed a Ti:O ratio of 0.331:0.669. XPS analysis demonstrated that the predominant oxidation state of Ti in the samples was +4. On the basis of these results, we propose a possible mechanism for the formation of the TiO₂ nanostructures via microwave irradiation.     

Biomolecular embossing

The replica molding and embossing of DNA texture has been achieved using a conventional polyurethane mold. The final process requires no additional or separate extraction phases. The polyurethane replica is stable up to 150 degrees C and possesses a good longevity and a capacity to emboss a biological entity into a thermosetting plastic such as poly(ethylene terephthalate).     

Tunable AC thermal anemometry

This paper suggests and demonstrates a novel flow measurement technique: tunable AC thermal anemometry, that allows simple integration, robust measurement and extremely high accuracy. The principle and simple theoretical analysis of the technique are presented. To find the optimal condition at which the phase lag becomes most sensitive to the flow speed change, the phase lag was measured scanning the heating frequency from 1 to 100 Hz, while the flow speed of ethanol was increased stepwise from 0 to 40 mm/s. The sensitivity of the phase lag depended on the heating frequency and the flow speed. It was possible to measure the average flow speed of 0.7 mm/s with the resolution of 0.1 mm/s at 4 Hz.     

Three-dimensional type II ZnO/ZnSe heterostructures and their visible light photocatalytic activities

We report a method for synthesizing three distinct type II 3D ZnO/ZnSe heterostructures through simple solution-based surface modification reactions in which polycrystalline ZnSe nanoparticles formed on the surfaces of single-crystalline ZnO building blocks of 3D superstructures. The experimental results suggested a possible formation mechanism for these heterostructures. The formation of the ZnO/ZnSe heterostructures was assumed to result from a dissolution-recrystallization mechanism. The optical properties of the 3D ZnO/ZnSe heterostructures were probed by UV-vis diffuse reflectance spectroscopy. The 3D ZnO/ZnSe heterostructures exhibited absorption in the visible spectral region. The visible photocatalytic activities of 3D ZnO/ZnSe heterostructures were much higher than those of the 3D pure ZnO structures. The activities of the 3D ZnO/ZnSe heterostructures varied according to the structures under visible light. The morphologies and exposed crystal faces of pure ZnO building blocks prior to surface modification had a significant effect on the visible light photocatalytic processes of ZnO/ZnSe heterostructures after surface modification.     

Effectiveness of full spectrum light soaking on solar cell degradation analysis

This study examined the effect of UV-spectrum light soaking on solar cell degradation tests. An indoor light soaking test was evaluated over three different spectral ranges: “UV only”, “UV blocked” and “Full spectrum”. a-Si:H and poly-crystalline silicon solar cell technologies were studied by light soaking tests with the same optical filter configurations.The I–V measurement results demonstrated that “UV only” irradiated solar cells exhibited the smallest output power degradation, which was only half of a percent variation compared with the full spectrum light soaking case. Using a filter that excluded the effect of the UV spectral range on light soaking, the “UV blocked” case also exhibited a significant output power degradation of the solar cells. A comparative analysis of the solar cell response, based on the I–V characteristics and the diode ideality factor under these different light soaking spectra, demonstrated the importance of the full spectrum light soaking test in the evaluation of the long-term performance of solar cells.     

All Eulerian method of computing elastic response of explosively pressurised metal tube

We present an all Eulerian approach to simulate the elastic response of a metal tube loaded explosively by a gaseous detonation. The high strain rate deformation of the metal tube subjected to high explosive detonation is mathematically described by hyperbolic processes where the characteristics of existing wave motions were correlated with the local particle velocities through the speed of sound in the metal. This is a favourable case for the hydrocode which is based on a compressible gas dynamics solver and for simulating a high strain rate and dominantly plastic response of a material subject to an explosive loading. The hydrocodes fall substantially short of predicting elastic motion without the plastic flow of the confining material, for relatively minor pressure loadings due to a gaseous explosion as opposed to a high explosive detonation of a charged tube. The corresponding loading pressure due to gaseous explosion is a few orders of magnitude lower than those resulting from high explosive loadings. Utilising a hydrocode designed to handle the reactive process leading to a plastic flow of the confining materials is of great interest and a significant challenge. The new technique, based on the Eulerian framework, preserves the feature of a Lagrangian code while utilising all the benefits of an Eulerian solver that uses fixed grids with the level-sets for defining the multi-material interfaces. The hybrid particle level-set algorithm is combined with a hydrodynamic solver that adds an elasticity correction when handling the structural response while the overall scheme remained hyperbolic during the entire reactive flow. Several unseen dynamics of detonation flow associated with the elastically loaded tube of finite thickness are reported by using the present method for analysing the highly pressurised vessel.