Removal of petroleum tar from bird feathers utilizing magnetic particles

A previously reported acute temperature dependency for the effective removal of tarry residue from feather clusters, utilising magnetic particles, has also been demonstrated to occur for the plumage of whole birds, whereby a maximum removal of up to 96% may be achieved. The experimental design allows an approximate equilibrium constant, for the distribution of contaminant between the residue and the magnetic particles, to be estimated at each temperature. This allows the thermodynamics of the process to be examined via application of the van't Hoff equation, suggesting an explanation for the phenomenon.     

碳高温还原解毒铬渣中CaCrO4的反应热力学研究

通过热力学分析与计算,确立了采用高温固相还原法,利用冶金废渣M作为还原剂,高温解毒铬渣中CaCrO4的还原反应.对比分析了C、CO对酸溶性CaCrO4与水溶性NazCrO4还原反应的吉布斯自由能和平衡常数变化,探讨了温度、压力对铬渣中CaCrO4还原反应的影响,升高温度、减小体系压力对CaCrO4的高温还原有利.     

A nonequilibrium thermodynamic framework for discussing ecosystem integrity

During the last 20 years our understanding of the development of complex systems has changed significantly. Two major advancements are catastrophe theory and nonequilibrium thermodynamics with its associated theory of self-organization. These theories indicate that complex system development is nonlinear, discontinuous (catastrophes), not predictable (bifurcations), and multivalued (multiple developmental pathways). Ecosystem development should be expected to exhibit these characteristics. Traditional ecological theory has attempted to describe ecosystem stress response using some simple notions such as stability and resiliency. In fact, stress-response must be characterized by a richer set of concepts. The ability of the system to maintain its current operating point in the face of the stress, must be ascertained. If the system changes operating points, there are several questions to be considered: Is the change along the original developmental pathway or a new one? Is the change organizing or disorganizing? Will the system return to its original state? Will the system flip to some new state in a catastrophic way? Is the change acceptable to humans? The integrity of an ecosystem does not reflect a single characteristic of an ecosystem. The concept of integrity must be seen as multidimensional and encompassing a rich set of ecosystem behaviors. A framework of concepts for discussing integrity is presented in this article.     

改性栗壳吸附重金属离子的动力学及热力学研究

对改性板栗壳吸附Cr(VI)、Cu(II)及Ni(II)3种重金属离子过程的动力学和热力学进行研究。结果表明:改性板栗壳吸附Cr(VI)、Cu(II)和Ni(II)3种混合离子时存在拮抗的竞争关系,竞争吸附顺序为Cu(II)﹤Ni(II)﹤Cr(VI);与单独吸附过程相比,混合吸附平衡时,改性板栗壳对3种离子相应的去除率均有所降低,Cr(VI)去除率比单独吸附时降低20.2%,Cu(II)和Ni(II)分别降低40.7%和35.6%;拟二级动力学方程能很好地描述Cr(VI)、Cu(II)和Ni(II)在改性板栗壳上的单独和混合吸附过程,结果表明此3种重金属离子在改性板栗壳表面以化学吸附为主;热力学研究数据表明:改性板栗壳对Cr(VI)的吸附为吸热反应,对Cu(II)和Ni(II)的吸附为放热反应。     

Removal of chromium (VI) from aqueous solution using walnut hull

In this study, removal of chromium (VI) from aqueous solution by walnut hull (a local low-cost adsorbent) was studied. The extent of adsorption was investigated as a function of solution pH, contact time, adsorbent and adsorbate concentration, reaction temperature and supporting electrolyte (sodium chloride). The Cr (VI) removal was pH-dependent, reaching a maximum (97.3%) at pH 1.0. The kinetic experimental data were fitted to the first-order, modified Freundlich, intraparticle diffusion and Elovich models and the corresponding parameters were obtained. A 102.78 kJ/mol Ea (activation energy) for the reaction of chromium (VI) adsorption onto walnut indicated that the rate-limiting step in this case might be a chemically controlled process. Both the Langmuir and Freundlich isotherms were suitable for describing the biosorption of chromium (VI) onto walnut hull. The uptake of chromium (VI) per weight of adsorbent increased with increasing initial chromium (VI) concentration up to 240-480 mg/L, and decreased sharply with increasing adsorbent concentration ranging from 1.0 to 5.0 g/L. An increase in sodium chloride (as supporting electrolyte) concentration was found to induce a negative effect while an increase in temperature was found to give rise to a positive effect on the chromium (VI) adsorption process. Compared to the various other adsorbents reported in the literature, the walnut hull in this study shows very good promise for practical applicability.     

Non-isothermal flow of carbon dioxide in injection wells during geological storage

During sequestration, carbon dioxide within injection wells is likely to be in a dense state and therefore its weight within the wellbore will play an important role in determining the bottomhole pressure and thus the injection rate. However, the density could vary significantly along the well in response to the variation in pressure and temperature. A numerical procedure is formulated in this paper to evaluate the flow of carbon dioxide and its mixtures in non-isothermal wells. This procedure solves the coupled heat, mass and momentum equations with the various fluid and thermodynamic properties, including the saturation pressure, of the gas mixture calculated using a real gas equation of state. This treatment is particularly useful when dealing with gas mixtures where experimental data on mixture properties are not available and these must be predicted. To test the developed procedure two wellbore flow problems from the literature, involving geothermal gradients and wellbore phase transitions are considered; production of 97% carbon dioxide and injection of superheated steam. While these are not typical carbon dioxide injection problems they provide field observations of wellbore flow processes which encompass the mechanisms of interest for carbon dioxide injection, such as phase transition, temperature and density variations with depth. These two examples show that the developed procedure can offer accurate predictions. In a third application the role of wellbore hydraulics during a hypothetical carbon dioxide injection application is considered. The results obtained illustrate the potential complexity of carbon dioxide wellbore hydraulics for sequestration applications and the significant role it can play in determining the well bottomhole pressure and thus injection rate.     

改性稻草吸附铜离子的热力学研究

研究表明稻草改性后吸附铜离子的能力得到很大提高。在4种温度下（15、27、37、50℃）,改性稻草吸附铜离子的最大吸附量分别为1．10、1．24、1．34、1．50mmol／g。不同温度下,吸附自由能△G大大小于零,吸附过程具有强烈的自发趋势。吸附焙△H和吸附熵△S都大于零,吸附过程是熵增加推动的。     

Sorption of As, Cd and Tl as influenced by industrial by-products applied to an acidic soil: equilibrium and kinetic experiments

In situ stabilization of toxic elements in contaminated soils by the addition of amendments is being considered as an effective technique for remediation. In this paper, we performed both kinetics and equilibrium-based sorption experiments of three toxic elements (As, Cd and Tl) in soils amended with two by-products (phosphogypsum and sugar foam, rich in gypsum and calcium carbonate, respectively) to ascertain the feasibility of their application for improving the sorption capacity of As, Cd and Tl from the soil at 25, 35 and 50 °C. Kinetic studies indicated that the sorption follows a pseudo-second-order (PSO) kinetics and the sorption is a two-step diffusion process where both film and intraparticle diffusion played important roles in the sorption mechanisms of the elements. The Langmuir isotherms applied for sorption studies showed that the estimated maximum sorption capacity of the elements in control and amended soils decreased in the order of Cd > As > Tl. Using the thermodynamic equilibrium parameters obtained at different temperatures, the thermodynamic constants of sorption (ΔG, ΔH and ΔS) were also evaluated, indicating spontaneous and endothermic nature of the process, except Tl which was exothermic. An optimal scaling procedure was undertaken to determine the relationships between the kinetic and equilibrium sorption parameters. By means of statistical analysis it was seen that these inter-parametric relationships are dependent on the element nature.