Boltzmann distribution of free energies in a finite-connectivity spin-glass system and the cavity approach

At sufficiently low temperatures, the configurational phase space of a large spin-glass system breaks into many separated domains, each of which is referred to as a macroscopic state. The system is able to visit all spin configurations of the same macroscopic state, while it can not spontaneously jump between two different macroscopic states. Ergodicity of the whole configurational phase space of the system, however, can be recovered if a temperature-annealing process is repeated an infinite number of times. In a heating-annealing cycle, the environmental temperature is first elevated to a high level and then decreased extremely slowly until a final low temperature T is reached. Different macroscopic states may be reached in different rounds of the annealing experiment; while the probability of finding the system in macroscopic state α decreases exponentially with the free energy F _α (T) of this state. For finite-connectivity spin glass systems, we use this free energy Boltzmann distribution to formulate the cavity approach of Mézard and Parisi [Eur. Phys. J. B, 2001, 20: 217] in a slightly different form. For the ±J spin-glass model on a random regular graph of degree K = 6, the predictions of the present work agree with earlier simulational and theoretical results.      

Organocatalytic depolymerization of poly(ethylene terephthalate)

We describe the organocatalytic depolymerization of poly(ethylene terephthalate) (PET), using a commercially available guanidine catalyst, 1,5,7‐triazabicyclo[4.4.0]dec‐5‐ene (TBD). Postconsumer PET beverage bottles were used and processed with 1.0 mol % (0.7 wt %) of TBD and excess amount of ethylene glycol (EG) at 190 °C for 3.5 hours under atmospheric pressure to give bis(2‐hydroxyethyl) terephthalate (BHET) in 78% isolated yield. The catalyst efficiency was comparable to other metal acetate/alkoxide catalysts that are commonly used for depolymerization of PET. The BHET content in the glycolysis product was subject to the reagent loading. This catalyst influenced the rate of the depolymerization as well as the effective process temperature. We also demonstrated the recycling of the catalyst and the excess EG for more than 5 cycles. Computational and experimental studies showed that both TBD and EG activate PET through hydrogen bond formation/activation to facilitate this reaction. © 2011 Wiley Periodicals, Inc. J Polym Sci Part A: Polym Chem, 2011     

A Green Method for Recycling 2‐Propanol from Water during Purification Process of Aqueous Nanocrystals

During traditional 2‐propanol‐based purification of aqueous nanocrystals (NCs), it is very difficult to recycle 2‐propanol from the aqueous solution, which brings great consumption of 2‐propanol during the purification process. A major contribution of this work is to provide a simple way to reduce the consumption via recycling of 2‐propanol during the purification process. The recycled 2‐propanol is available for precipitating NCs from aqueous solution in a new round of NC purification process. Due to the recycling of 2‐propanol, the great consumption of 2‐propanol can be avoided, which makes the purification process of aqueous NCs much greener and at a much lower cost.     

Processing and properties of engineering plastics recycled from waste electrical and electronic equipment (WEEE)

The characteristics of engineering plastics used in the preparation of electrical and electronic equipment were studied. More specifically, their thermal response was recorded by DSC experiments, the rheological properties were investigated via MFI tests and the mechanical properties were evaluated with tensile tests. The aim was to establish a procedure for recycling the same engineering plastics deriving from waste of electrical and electronic equipment (WEEE), which offers the additional advantage of using the as-received waste stream as a recyclable mixture, i.e. without sorting and classification of its components.The experimental results showed that blends of PC with ABS or ABS/HIPS can be prepared by direct mixing and this, would allow easy handling of the engineering plastics coming from WEEE, i.e. blending without the need of sorting. These mixtures can be easily processed and display acceptable mechanical properties with reasonable cost. Therefore, the processing characteristics and properties of the systems studied in this work could be the key for the design of an interesting approach for handling solid plastic waste from electrical and electronic devices.     

STUDIES ON THE MESOZOIC MARGINAL ARC SYSTEM OF THE SOUTHEAST COAST AND TAIWAN IN CHINA

The southeast coastal Zhejiang, Fujian, Guangdong provinces and Taiwan in China comprised an important area in ancient Asia where the Yenshanian continental margin magmatic arc well developed in the late Mesozoic time. It is believed that the oceanic trench and subduction zone are situated on the east side of the Central Range in Taiwan. It seems unlikely that the so-called Hercynian-Indosinian ancient island arc folded system would have occurred in this region.     

Optimization of the wash process and wash water recycling in the preparation of MgZnAl-CO3 layered double hydroxides

An MgZnAl-CO3 layered double hydroxide (LDH) slurry with Na2 SO4 as the by-product has been prepared by a co-precipitation method.The filtrates in the LDH washing process were collected according to their different levels of salinity.Filtrates with lower salinity can be used to wash a LDH slurry with higher salinity in the next cycle.Only in the final stages is pure water used.Recycling of the wash water in this way has been employed in a commercial production process,resulting in a water-saving of over 80%.The resulting MgZnAl-CO3-LDH product has a well-formed crystalline layered structure with a low content of impurities.     

Classification of recyclables using laser-induced breakdown spectroscopy for waste management

With the ever-increasing amount of generated waste governments around the world are looking for, and implementing, ways to minimize waste output and maximize waste recovery. The main difficulties are sorting waste items, identifying the different types of plastics, and the time taken to sort them manually. Bioplastics such as polylactic acid and Novatein thermoplastic protein can be incorporated into the recycling stream to minimize waste. Laser-induced breakdown spectroscopy spectra analyzed by k-nearest neighbor and soft independent modeling by class analogy were investigated as methods that can rapidly identify recyclables. Raw, peak normalized, and total intensity normalized spectra were used to identify which would improve classification. Laser-induced breakdown spectroscopy spectra were generated by single laser shots to different locations on nine samples, glass (brown, green, and clear), tin, aluminum, polylactic acid, Novatein, polyethylene terephthalate, and high-density polyethylene. To prove that the system has the potential to be used on a waste sorting stream an autofocus unit was developed to move the laser-induced breakdown spectroscopy beam into focus on the different sample geometries. Two classification methods were investigated, soft independent modeling by class analogy and the k-nearest neighbors algorithm. k-Nearest neighbors on raw spectra produced the best results. Discrimination between bioplastics and plastics were 100%. Glass samples could not be reliably distinguished from each other. Surface contamination produced three misclassifications from 450 spectra. Similar results were obtained when the spectral range was reduced from 182.26–908.07?nm to 313.20–495.12?nm.     

Palladium-catalyzed hydroesterification of styrene derivatives in the presence of ionic liquids

The palladium-catalyzed hydroesterification of olefins occurs efficiently in a range of ionic liquid media. Selectivities ranging from 5-7:1 for the linear ester were obtained with styrene in a range of IL solvents. The use of ILs allowed the catalyst to be easily separated from the organic product by either extraction or distillation. The (Ph₃P)₂PdCl₂ precatalyst could be recovered unchanged from the ionic liquid phase. The IL/catalyst phase could be recycled five times with an average yield of 68%.     

Laccase‐catalyzed polymerization of lignocatechol and affinity on proteins of resulting polymers

For the synthesis of a new biologically functional polymer from a natural resource by an environment‐friendly method, the laccase‐catalyzed polymerization of a lignin‐based macromonomer, lignocatechol, was carried out for the first time in ethanol–phosphate buffer solvent system to give crosslinked polymers in good yields. Lignocatechol was prepared by the phase separation system of lignin and catechol in aqueous sulfuric acid. The copolymerization was also performed with urushiol to afford the corresponding copolymers in high yields. The polymerization mechanism was estimated by the IR and pyrolysis GC‐MS measurements, suggesting that the polymerization proceeded mainly at the catechol ring through a quinone radical intermediate. The thermal properties were measured by the DSC, TG, and TMA analyses, indicating that the polymers had high thermal stabilities because of the crosslinked structures. In addition, it was found that the resulting polymers had the affinity of bovine serum albumin (BSA) and glucoamylase. © 2008 Wiley Periodicals, Inc. J Polym Sci Part A: Polym Chem 47: 824–832, 2009