Gas-Chromatographic Studies of the Interaction between Water and Methanol Molecules and the Surface of Carbon Materials

The gas-chromatographic method is used to study the interaction of water and methanol molecules with active hydrophilic centres existing at the surface of thermally exfoliated graphite and graphitized thermal carbon black. The concentration of carboxyl and phenol hydroxyl groups at the surface of these sorbents is determined, and heats of adsorption of the studied molecules are shown to be and 28−25 kJ/mol, respectively. It is also shown that adsorption of water at the hydrophilic centres at lowest relative pressure values takes place with formation of clusters consisting of n = 2 water molecules.     

Ethanol Washing Effect on Textural Properties of the Sodium Silicate-Derived Silica Xerogel

This study deals with the use of ethanol as washing solvent in the preparation of the silica gels from sodium silicate in order to enhance the textural properties, especially surface area. We here examined the effect of ethanol-washing on surface area, micro- and mesopore volume, and average pore size. The silica xerogels prepared from sodium silicate solution exhibited an extremely high surface area of 1139 m2/g by washing their hydrogels with ethanol. Compared to water-washed xerogels, ethanol-washed xerogels showed higher surface areas, total pore volumes, and larger average pore sizes. Unlike the surface area of water-washed xerogel, that of the ethanol-washed xerogel was not affected by the silica concentration of initial solution. This study indicates that the textural properties of sodium silicate-derived xerogels are further enhanced by using ethanol as washing solvent.     

Agro-industrial waste enzymes: Perspectives in circular economy

According to the Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations, approximately 1.3 billion tons of food is wasted each year, equivalent to approximately one-third of world production. Agri-food wastes are the source of proteins, carbohydrates, lipids, and other essential minerals that have been exploited for value-added products by the development of biorefineries and sustainable business as important elements of circular economies. The innovation and materialization of these types of processes, including the use of disruptive technologies on microbial bioconversion and enzyme technology, such as nanotechnology, metabolic engineering, and multi-omics platforms, increase the perspectives on the waste valorization process. Lignocellulolytic enzymes, pectinases, and proteases are mainly used as catalyzers on agri-food waste treatment, and their production in house might be the trend in near future for agro-industrial countries. Another way to transform the agri-food wastes is via aerobic or anaerobic microbial process from fungal or bacterial cultures; these processes are the key to produce waste enzymes.     

Erratum: Separability between valence and conduction bands in transition metal clusters

Density Functional Theory (DFT) and direct ab initio molecular dynamics (MD) calculations were applied to the hydrogen molecule trapped in a water cluster composed of 12 water molecules (H₂O)₁₂. The static DFT calculation showed that the H₂ molecule is trapped in the center of mass of (H₂O)₁₂. The vibrational frequency of the H–H stretching mode of the H₂ molecule trapped in the water cluster was blueshifted from that in vacuo. On the other hand, the vibrational frequency of H₂ in water‐hydrogen 1:1 complex (H₂O–H₂) was redshifted. A direct ab initio MD calculation of H₂(H₂O)₁₂ at 50 K indicated that the H₂ molecule is rotated freely around the center of mass of the water cluster. The origin of the spectral shift of H₂ in water ice is discussed on the basis of the theoretical results. © 2004 Wiley Periodicals, Inc. Int J Quantum Chem, 2005     

Interactions of water and methanol with a mixture of copper and zinc metals: a theoretical <Emphasis Type="Italic">ab initio</Emphasis> study

Ab initio cluster quantum chemical calculations at the Hartree–Fock and second-order Møller–Plesset perturbation theory levels were carried out to mimic the interactions of water and methanol with a mixture of Cu and Zn metals. It was shown that both molecular and dissociative adsorption of methanol on a mixture of Cu and Zn metal catalyst are preferred over the corresponding adsorptions of water. Estimated transition-state structures for dissociation of methanol into CH·₃ and OH· lie about 9.0 and 22.0 kcal/mol higher compared to the dissociated (forward reaction) and molecular adsorption (reverse reaction) complexes, respectively. Based on distinct radicals' bond energies with the active sites of the catalyst considered, it is suggested that hydrogen molecules could be formed through a chain of homogeneous reactions of methyl radicals released into the gas phase with the water and/or methanol molecules.     

Synthesis of Fullerene-Acrylamide Copolymer Nanoball and Its Lubrication Properties

A novel fuUerene-acrylamide copolymer was synthesized via radical polymerization. It is soluble in polar solvents such as water, dimethyl sulfoxide etc. The product was characterized by FTIR, UV-Vis and GPC. TEM analysis shows that the average particle diameter is about 46 nm. Four-ball tests show that the addition of a certain concentration of the fullerene copolymer to base stock (2 wt% triethanolamine and 0.5 wt% OPZ aqueous solution) can effectively raise the load-carrying capacity (PB value) and the antiwear ability. SEM analysis shows that the addition results in reducing diameter of wear scar and decreasing wear.     

Hygrometric Determination of Water Activities, Osmotic and Activity Coefficients, and Excess Gibbs Energy of the System MgSO4–K2SO4–H2O

Ternary aqueous solutions of MgSO₄ and K₂SO₄ have been studied by the hygrometric method at 25°C. The relative humidity of this system is measured at total molalities from 0.35 mol-kg^–1 to about saturation for three ionic-strength fractions (y = 0.25, 0.50, and 0.80 of MgSO₄. The data allow calculation of water activities and osmotic coefficients. From these measurements, the Pitzer ionic mixing parameters are determined and used to predict the solute activity coefficients in the mixture. The results are used to calculate the excess Gibbs energy at total molalities for ionic-strength fraction y.     

Design of a combined ozone/electron beam process for waste water and economic feasibility of the process

A design of a combined ozone/electron beam irradiation process for treating a 50 m³/h waste water stream from a molasses processing is discussed. Moreover, a cost evaluation of such a process in comparison to a conventional ozonation/biology treatment process has been performed to assess the potential of the irradiation process for technical use. Although the result of this comparison is not bad for the irradiation process an implementation into a full scale plant would not seem to be the thing to do in the present case.     

Different catalysis role of in‐loop and out‐of‐loop waters in assisting HNS/HSN proton transfer isomerizations: Bridging vs. surrounding effect

In this work, a density function theory (DFT) study is presented for the HNS/HSN isomerization assisted by 1–4 water molecules on the singlet state potential energy surface (PES). Two modes are considered to model the catalytic effect of these water molecules: (i) water molecule(s) participate directly in forming a proton transfer loop with HNS/HSN species, and (ii) water molecules are out of loop (referred to as out‐of‐loop waters) to assist the proton transfer. In the first mode, for the monohydration mechanism, the heat of reaction is 21.55 kcal · mol^?1 at the B3LYP/6‐311++G** level. The corresponding forward/backward barrier lowerings are obtained as 24.41/24.32 kcal · mol^?1 compared with the no‐water‐assisting isomerization barrier T (65.52/43.87 kcal · mol^?1). But when adding one water molecule on the HNS, there is another special proton‐transfer isomerization pathway with a transition state 10T′ in which the water is out of the proton transfer loop. The corresponding forward/backward barriers are 65.89/65.89 kcal · mol^?1. Clearly, this process is more difficult to follow than the R–T–P process. For the two‐water‐assisting mechanism, the heat of reaction is 19.61 kcal · mol^?1, and the forward/backward barriers are 32.27/12.66 kcal · mol^?1, decreased by 33.25/31.21 kcal · mol^?1 compared with T. For trihydration and tetrahydration, the forward/backward barriers decrease as 32.00/12.60 (30T) and 37.38/17.26 (40T) kcal · mol^?1, and the heat of reaction decreases by 19.39 and 19.23 kcal · mol^?1, compared with T, respectively. But, when four water molecules are involved in the reactant loop, the corresponding energy aspects increase compared with those of the trihydration. The forward/backward barriers are increased by 5.38 and 4.66 kcal · mol^?1 than the trihydration situation. In the second mode, the outer‐sphere water effect from the other water molecules directly H‐bonded to the loop is considered. When one to three water molecules attach to the looped water in one‐water in‐loop‐assisting proton transfer isomerization, their effects on the three energies are small, and the deviations are not more than 3 kcal · mol^?1 compared with the original monohydration‐assisting case. When adding one or two water molecules on the dihydration‐assisting mechanism, and increasing one water molecule on the trihydration, the corresponding energies also are not obviously changed. The results indicate that the forward/backward barriers for the three in‐loop water‐assisting case are the lowest, and the surrounding water molecules (out‐of‐loop) yield only a small effect. © 2006 Wiley Periodicals, Inc. Int J Quantum Chem, 2006     

痕量砷流动注射在线还原氢化物发生原子吸收测定

方法采用流动注射停流技术使水及土壤浸出液中Ａｓ（Ｖ）在线还原为Ａｓ（Ⅲ），不经手工还原，用氢化物发生原子吸收光谱法直接测定砷的含量。含４ｍｏｌ／Ｌ ＨＣｌ的样品溶液与３０％碘化钾溶液在编结式反应器中混合，并在采样环中停流４０ｓ，达完全还原后注入到载流中与硼氢化钠反应，采样速度５５次／ｈ，检出限（３δ）０．１μｇ／Ｌ，对自来水和土壤浸出液的加标回收结果满意。