Thermodynamic method for the prediction of solid CO2 formation from multicomponent mixtures

The increase in GHG concentration has a direct effect on global climate conditions. Among the possible technologies to mitigate GHG emissions, CCS is being accepted to gain emission reduction. Such technology also involves cryogenic CO₂ capture processes based on CO₂ freeze-out or where the formation of solid CO₂ must be avoided. Captured CO₂ is usually transported in pipelines for the reinjection.The risk associated to the release of CO₂ is due to the changing temperatures and pressures the system may experience, which can lead to the deposition of solid CO₂ where it must be avoided. Prolonged exposure to dry ice can cause severe skin damage and its resublimation could pose a danger of hypercapnia. It is, thus, necessary to build up a tool able to predict the conditions in which CO₂ can freeze-out.A thermodynamic methodology based on cubic EoSs has been developed which is able to predict solid–liquid–vapor equilibrium of CO₂ mixtures with n-alkanes or H₂S which are usually found in equipment for acidic gas, mainly natural gas, treatment.The focus is a detailed analysis of the method performances when more than two components are present since, for such a case, literature does not provide significant modeling results.     

Major accident management in the process industry: An expert tool called CESMA for intelligent allocation of prevention investments

A tool (called CESMA) was developed to carry out cost–benefit analyses and cost-effectiveness analyses of prevention investments for avoiding major accidents. A wide variety of parameters necessary to calculate both the costs of the considered preventive measures and the benefits related with the avoidance of accidents were identified in the research. The benefits are determined by estimating the difference in (hypothetical) major accident costs without and with the implementation of a preventive measure. As many relevant costs and benefits as possible were included into the tool, based on literature and expert opinion, in order to be able to deliver an all-embracing cost–benefit analysis and cost-effectiveness analysis to assist in the investment decision process. Because major accidents are related to extremely low frequencies, the tool takes the uncertainty of the unwanted occurrence of a major accident into account through the usage of a so-called ‘disproportion factor’. Compared with existing software, the CESMA tool is innovative by striving for an as-accurate-as-possible picture of costs and benefits of major accident prevention, and taking the uncertainties accompanying disastrous events into consideration. Furthermore, an illustrative example of CESMA is presented in the paper.     

A review on application of flocculants in wastewater treatment

Flocculation is an essential phenomenon in industrial wastewater treatment. Inorganic coagulants (salts of multivalent metals) are being commonly used due to its low cost and ease of use. However, their application is constrained with low flocculating efficiency and the presence of residue metal concentration in the treated water. Organic polymeric flocculants are widely used nowadays due to its remarkable ability to flocculate efficiently with low dosage. However, its application is associated with lack of biodegradability and dispersion of monomers residue in water that may represent a health hazard. Therefore, biopolymers based flocculants have been attracting wide interest of researchers because they have the advantages of biodegradability and environmental friendly. But, natural flocculants are needed in large dosage due to its moderate flocculating efficiency and shorter shelf life. Thus, in order to combine the best properties of both, synthetic polymers are grafted onto the backbone of natural polymers to obtain tailor-made grafted flocculants. This paper gives an overview of the development of different types of flocculants that were being investigated for treatment of industrial wastewater. Furthermore, their flocculation performance will be reviewed and the flocculation mechanism will be discussed.     

Simulation-based fault propagation analysis—Application on hydrogen production plant

Recently production of hydrogen from water through the Cu–Cl thermochemical cycle is developed as a new technology. The main advantages of this technology over existing ones are higher efficiency, lower costs, lower environmental impact and reduced greenhouse gas emissions. Considering these advantages, the usage of this technology in new industries such as nuclear and oil is increasingly developed. Due to hazards involved in hydrogen production, design and implementation of hydrogen plants require provisions for safety, reliability and risk assessment. However, very little research is done from safety point of view. This paper introduces fault semantic network (FSN) as a novel method for fault diagnosis and fault propagation analysis by using evolutionary techniques like genetic programming (GP) and neural networks (NN), to uncover process variables’ interactions. The effectiveness, feasibility and robustness of the proposed method are demonstrated on simulated data obtained from the simulation of hydrogen production process in Aspen HYSYS^®. The proposed method has successfully achieved reasonable detection and prediction of non-linear interaction patterns among process variables.     

Interaction of alcohol and kola nut on brain sodium pump activity in Wistar rats

The effect of interaction of alcohol and kola nut on sodium pump activity was studied in Wistar rats. Thirty Wistar rats were divided into six groups of five rats per group. Control received a placebo (4 mL of distilled water). Groups 2–6 were treated for a period of 21 days with 10% (v/v) alcohol, 50 mg caffeine/kg, 50 mg kola nut/kg, or a combination of 10% (v/v) alcohol + 50 mg kola nut/kg, or 10% (v/v) alcohol + 50 mg caffeine/kg, respectively. One day after the final exposure, brains were harvested and several biochemical parameters examined including activities of total ATPase, ouabain-insensitive ATPase, ouabain sensitive ATPase (Na⁺–K⁺-ATPase) and levels of nonenzymatic breakdown of ATP and inorganic phosphate (P_i) released. Results showed that the essential enzyme of the brain responsible for neuronal function, Na⁺–K⁺-ATPase, was inhibited by alcohol–kola nut co-administration relative to control, resulting in a decreased ATP production, ion transport and action potential, leading to loss of neuronal activities.     

Assessment of potentially toxic elements in Swiss chard and sediments of Akaki River,Ethiopia

For the determination of 15 potentially toxic elements (V, Cr, Fe, Mn, Co, Ni, Cu, Zn, As, Se, Ag, Cd, Sn, Hg, and Pb) in plant and sediment samples of the Akaki River, Ethiopia, inductively coupled plasma–mass spectrometry, inductively coupled plasma–optical emission spectrometry, and a RA-915+ mercury analyzer were applied. Sediment and plant samples were mineralized using a closed-vessel microwave-assisted digestion system. The elemental concentrations varied considerably in plant and sediment samples. The minimum concentration was observed for known toxic elements (As, Hg, and Cd) while the highest concentration was observed for the elements of relatively low toxicity Zn, Mn, and Fe. The concentration of Cr, Fe, Pb, Zn, and As in Swiss chard surpassed the maximum permissible levels at specific sites. At some of the sites, the sediment quality guidelines are surpassed for Cu, Zn, and Pb.     

Biochemical and histological alterations induced by a formulation of dicofol in the embryonic liver of Gallus domesticus

In the present investigation, hepatotoxic effect of a commercially available insecticide formulation of dicofol (Colonel–S® 18.5% emulsified concentrate) was studied in the developing chick embryo. Fertilized eggs of Gallus domesticus were immersed in three different dose concentrations, i.e. 250, 500, and 1000 mg L^?1 of Colonel–S on “0” and fourth days of incubation for 60 min at 37 °C and incubated till embryonic day 16. Severe histopathological cellular lesions, such as extensive cell degeneration and necrosis with enlarged blood sinusoids, cytoplasmic vacuolization, and leucocyte infiltrations with congestion or dilation of central vein, appeared in dose-depended manner. Dicofol treatment also caused significant decrease in the levels of total protein, glycogen, and glutathione content and an increase in alkaline phosphatase activity of embryonic liver, whereas glutamic pyruvic transaminase activity showed mixed response.     

Determination of cobalt by air-assisted liquid–liquid microextraction

Abstract

A rapid and selective technique for extraction, preconcentration and determination of trace amounts of cobalt in water and pharmaceutical samples by air-assisted liquid–liquid microextraction combined with flame atomic absorption spectrometry is proposed. 1-Nitroso-2-naphthol is used as a complexing agent and 1-octanol as an extraction solvent. Parameters relevant for analytical effectivity, i.e. pH of sample solution, concentration of complexing agent, volume of extraction solvent, and number of extraction cycles are optimized using a Box–Behnken design. At optimum conditions, a dynamic linear range of 5–600?µg L^?1 is obtained, with a limit of detection of 1.2?µg L^?1. The method is used for determination of Co(II) in environmental water and pharmaceutical samples.     

Residues of PCDD,PCDF, and PCBs in some marine organisms in Lake Temsah,Ismailia, Egypt

Residues of PCDDs/F, non-ortho, mono-ortho PCBs, and other PCBs were monitored in the tissues of mullet fish, bolti fish, bivalves and crab taken from Lake Temsah, at Ismailia, Egypt.

Results showed that 2,3,7,8 Tetra CDD and 1,2,3,7,8 Penta CDD were the most frequently detected PCDD congeners. Similarly, 2,3,7,8 Tetra CDF, 1,2,3,7,8 Penta CDF and 2,3,4,7,8 Penta CDF were the most frequently detected PCDF congeners. No relationship was apparent between the concentrations of detected PCDDs congeners and the degree of chlorination, except with crab samples in which an increase in the chlorination coincided with a decrease in the concentrations of the congeners.

In PCDF congeners, detected residues have had a reversed relationship with chlorination increase. In PCDD congeners, Octa CDD had the highest detected concentrations in the two fish species, while in the bivalves and crab, 2,3,7,8 Tetra CDD had the highest concentrations. The mullet fish had the highest total PCDDs concentration, at 0.398?pg/g fresh weight, followed by crab at 0.395?pg/g fresh weight, then bivalves and bolti fish at 0.187 and 0.062?pg/g fresh weight, respectively. In all the examined organisms, the total concentrations of PCDFs were much higher than the total concentrations of the PCDD congeners. The WHO–TEQ values were 11.92, 39.12, 25, and 3.6?pg/g fresh weight, for mullet fish, bolti fish, bivlaves and crab, respectively. The concentration of the mono-ortho congeners CB 118 was the highest detected of all non-ortho and mono-ortho PCBs congeners, with values of 0.382, 0.022, 0.231 and 0.357?ng/g fresh weight, in mullet fish, bolti fish, bivalves and crab, respectively. The WHO–TEQ concentrations were 0.799, 0.003?pg/g fw, 0.05?pg/g fresh weight, 0.676?pg/g, and 0.799?pg/g fresh weight, for the same species, respectively. The total concentration of PCBs 28, 52, 95, 99, 101, 105, 110, 118, 138, 146, 149, 151, 153, 170, 177, 180, 187 were 6.86?ng/g fresh weight for mullet fish, 0.2?ng/g fresh weight, for bolti fish, 2.72?ng/g fresh weight for bivalves and 2.8?ng/g fresh weight for crab, respectively.