Phosphorus and Energy Recovery from Manure and Digestion Residues

Abstract

Human and animal excrements, in particular manure, stand for a significant and undisputable source of plant nutrients and renewable energy. In Europe, only 36% of P-inputs to soils originate from primary resources (rock phosphate) whereas 63% come from animal and human excretions applied to cropland as manure, digestion residues and sewage sludge. Simultaneously these waste flows represent a potential hazard to human health and aquatic bodies because of pathogens and eutrophication. Management of these waste flows is far from being sustainable, in part due to the lack of efficient processing technologies. A cooperative InnoEnergy—EIT financed KIC Knowledge and Innovation Community—research project pursues development and demonstration of highly efficient technologies to overcome the constraints and to yield renewable phosphate fertilizers and energy from waste flows that may have a combined technical energy potential of 3,600 PJ/year and an annual phosphate recovery potential of 4.5–5.5 million tonnes (as P₂O₅) in Europe.     

Recovery performance and characteristics in shape memory effects of aliphatic polyether urethane

The analysis on the recovery performance and characteristics in shape memory effects is helpful for the optimal design and engineering applications of shape memory polymers and their composites. To investigate the relationships among recovery performance, material parameters, and loading conditions, by taking aliphatic polyether urethane as an example, the researchers simulate the shape memory behaviors numerically using a three‐dimensional viscoelastic model. The material parameters for this model are taken from stress relaxation tests, rather than dynamic mechanical analysis tests. Both the unconstrained and the constrained recovery behaviors during strain‐controlled shape memory processes are analyzed. The results reveal that the unconstrained recovery occurs at the same temperature regardless of the applied strain values. Another interesting result is that the shape recovery temperature in unconstrained recovery situations increases and the maximum recovery stress under constrained recovery conditions decreases with the increase of heating rates. Copyright © 2013 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.     

A New Polymer Flooding Agent Prepared Through Intermacromolecular Complexation

Abstract

This paper reports a new polymer flooding agent used for enhanced oil recovery (EOR), poly(acrylamide-acrylic acid) [P(AM-AA)]/poly(acrylamide-dimethyldiallylammonium chloride) [P(AM-DMDAAC)] polyelectrolyte complex. The solution viscosity of prepared P(AM-AA)/P(AM-DMDAAC) complex is enhanced due to the strong interaction between the two oppositely charged copolymers, i.e., P(AM-AA) and P(AM-DMDAAC), which were prepared through radical copolymerization. The ionic content could be controlled by changing the reaction conditions. The structures of the two copolymers were characterized through FT-IR, ¹H NMR, and acidic and precipitation titration. The formation as well as the factors affecting the P(AM-AA)/P(AM-DMDAAC) polyelectrolyte complex were investigated by means of viscosity measuring and light transmittance testing. The experimental results show that the composition of the copolymers, the pH value, and the concentration of the polymer solutions have remarkable effects on the formation of P(AM-AA)/P(AM-DMDAAC) polyelectrolyte complex and the solution viscosity. When DMDAAC content in P(AM-DMDAAC) is 3.2 mol%, AA content in P(AM-AA) is 48–58 mol%, the weight ratio of P(AM-AA) to P(AM-DMDAAC) is 70/30–30/70, the pH value of the solution is 6–10, and the concentration of solution is 1000–3500 ppm, then a homogeneous solution of P(AM-AA)/P(AM-DMDAAC) poly-electrolyte complex could be obtained which exhibits a much higher solution viscosity compared with its components.     

Preparation and solution properties of a novel cationic hydrophobically modified polyacrylamide for enhanced oil recovery

Abstract

A novel cationic water-soluble monomer allyldimethylisooctylammonium bromide (ADIAB) containing a short-chain alkane was synthesized successfully. This monomer was copolymerized with acrylamide and sodium acrylate to produce hydrophobically modified polyacrylamide (HMPAM) using solution polymerization without surfactants. The structures of monomer ADIAB and HMPAM were characterized with infrared spectroscopy and nuclear magnetic resonance spectroscopy. Influence of preparation condition on viscosities of products was studied. The aqueous solution viscosity of the terpolymer was also investigated as functions of concentration, temperature and salinity. The results showed that when the temperature exceeds the 60?°C and NaCl concentration exceeds about 2000?mg/L, the temperature and salt tolerance characters of terpolymer were demonstrated. The enhanced oil recovery tests were initially carried out using homogeneous sandpack models.     

Contralaterally transplanted human embryonic stem cell-derived neural precursor cells (ENStem-A) migrate and improve brain functions in stroke-damaged rats

The transplantation of neural precursor cells (NPCs) is known to be a promising approach to ameliorating behavioral deficits after stroke in a rodent model of middle cerebral artery occlusion (MCAo). Previous studies have shown that transplanted NPCs migrate toward the infarct region, survive and differentiate into mature neurons to some extent. However, the spatiotemporal dynamics of NPC migration following transplantation into stroke animals have yet to be elucidated. In this study, we investigated the fates of human embryonic stem cell (hESC)-derived NPCs (ENStem-A) for 8 weeks following transplantation into the side contralateral to the infarct region using 7.0T animal magnetic resonance imaging (MRI). T2- and T2*-weighted MRI analyses indicated that the migrating cells were clearly detectable at the infarct boundary zone by 1 week, and the intensity of the MRI signals robustly increased within 4 weeks after transplantation. Afterwards, the signals were slightly increased or unchanged. At 8 weeks, we performed Prussian blue staining and immunohistochemical staining using human-specific markers, and found that high percentages of transplanted cells migrated to the infarct boundary. Most of these cells were CXCR4-positive. We also observed that the migrating cells expressed markers for various stages of neural differentiation, including Nestin, Tuj1, NeuN, TH, DARPP-32 and SV38, indicating that the transplanted cells may partially contribute to the reconstruction of the damaged neural tissues after stroke. Interestingly, we found that the extent of gliosis (glial fibrillary acidic protein-positive cells) and apoptosis (TUNEL-positive cells) were significantly decreased in the cell-transplanted group, suggesting that hESC-NPCs have a positive role in reducing glia scar formation and cell death after stroke. No tumors formed in our study. We also performed various behavioral tests, including rotarod, stepping and modified neurological severity score tests, and found that the transplanted animals exhibited significant improvements in sensorimotor functions during the 8 weeks after transplantation. Taken together, these results strongly suggest that hESC-NPCs have the capacity to migrate to the infarct region, form neural tissues efficiently and contribute to behavioral recovery in a rodent model of ischemic stroke.     

Study of the Molecular Mobility in Polymers with the Thermally Stimulated Recovery Technique—A Review

Thermally stimulated recovery (TSR) is a non‐conventional mechanical spectroscopy technique that allows to analyse in detail the relaxation processes of polymeric systems in the low frequency region. This work reviews the main aspects and potentialities of this technique. The different kinds of TSR experiments that can be performed, global and thermal sampling (TS) experiments, are described and illustrated with several examples. Also, the different methods for the determination of the thermokinetic parameters (activation energy and pre‐exponential factor) of the thermal sampling (TS) procedure are explained and compared. In this context, the compensation phenomenon, which always appears in TSR results when the studies are performed in the glass transition region of a given system, is discussed. Examples of the application of this technique to different polymeric systems during the last 20 years are provided. An emphasis will be made on the analysis of the effect of crystallinity degree and crosslink density on the TSR response. A comparison between the results (characteristic times and activation energies) obtained by different techniques, namely TSR, dynamic mechanical analysis (DMA), and differential scanning calorimetry (DSC), is made.     

Mechanistic Simulation Studies on Viscous-Elastic Polymer Flooding in Petroleum Reservoirs

Based on the theory and application developments of polymer flooding on enhancing oil recovery, an improved mathematical model has been developed to simulate the mechanism of viscous-elastic polymer flooding. IMPES method has been presented to solve the polymer flooding model considering the viscosifying effect of elasticity, the effect of decreasing residual oil and the degradation of polymer molecules. The validation of the model is approved by an experiment. A simulation example was carried out using the developed numerical simulator. The enhanced oil recovery mechanism was discussed for viscous-elastic polymer flooding, and corresponding influencing factors were also studied.     

PHYSICAL STRUCTURE AND PHASE PROPERTIES OF AQUEOUS SYSTEMS OF LIPIDS FROM RYE AND TRITICALE IN RELATION TO WHEAT LIPIDS

In connection with studies of technical functionality of lipids in cereals, the aqueous systems of lipids from rye and tri-ticale flour are described and compared to different wheat culti-vars. Rye lipids give a lamellar liquid-crystalline phase with very small ordered regions, and this phase is continuously changed into an L2-phase with increasing water content. Triticale lipids exhibit phase equilibria in between lipids of wheat and of rye. Evidence is given for a significant role of the lamellar liquid--crystalline phase with regard to technical functionality when the cereal flour is worked in water to give a dough.     

Nanofluid in Hydrophilic State for EOR Implication Through Carbonate Reservoir

More than 50% of oil is trapped in petroleum reservoirs after applying primary and secondary recovery methods for removal. Thus, to produce more crude oils from these reservoirs, different enhanced oil recovery (EOR) approaches should be performed. In this research, the effect of hydrophilic nanoparticles of SiO₂ at 12 nm size, in (EOR) from carbonate reservoir is systematically investigated. Using this nanoparticle, we can increase viscosity of the injection fluid and then lower the mobility ratio between oil and nanofluid in carbonate reservoirs. To this end, a core flooding apparatus was used to determine the effectiveness and robustness of nanosilica for EOR from carbonate reservoirs. These experiments are applied on the reservoir carbonate core samples, which are saturated with brine and oil that was injected with nanoparticles of SiO₂ at various concentrations. The output results depict that, with increasing nanoparticle concentration, the viscosity of the injection fluid increases and results in decreased mobility ratio between oil and nanofluid. The results confirm that using the nanoparticle increases the recovery. Also, increasing the nanoparticle concentration up to 0.6% increases the ultimate recovery (%OOIP), but a further increase to 1.0 does not have a significant effect.