Limiting explosible concentration of hydrogen–oxygen–helium mixtures related to the practical operational case

This paper presents data on the limiting (minimum) concentrations of hydrogen in oxygen, in the presence of added helium, at elevated temperature and pressure related to the practical operational case. A 5 L explosion vessel, an ignition sub-system and a transient pressure measurement sub-system were used. Through a series of experiments carried out using this system, the limiting concentrations of hydrogen in oxygen and helium at different initial pressures and temperatures for the practical operational case were studied, and the influence of ignition energy and initial temperature on the limiting concentration of hydrogen in oxygen and helium was analyzed and discussed. The variation of ignition energy within the studied range is found to have a significant effect on the limiting concentration of hydrogen in oxygen and helium at lower initial temperature. However, when the ignition energy is higher than 32 mJ, the limiting hydrogen concentration remains almost changeless as the initial temperature increases from 21 °C to 90 °C. The limiting explosible concentration of hydrogen–oxygen–helium mixture decreases as the ignition energy increases when the initial temperature is lower. When the initial temperature is higher, the ignition energy has little effect on the limiting hydrogen concentration of hydrogen–oxygen–helium mixtures. When the initial temperature reaches 90 °C, the limiting hydrogen concentration remains almost changeless with an increase in ignition energy. The limiting explosible concentration of hydrogen in the mixtures, at the initial temperature of 21 °C and the ignition energy of 0.5 mJ, is 8.5% and that of oxygen is 11.25%.     

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.     

聚合物包膜肥料研究进展

控释肥料具有重要的经济效益和生态效益,目前世界上应用最多的控释肥料是聚合物包膜肥料。简要阐述了聚合物包膜肥料的研究现状和聚合物模型膜,并对养分释放的模拟进行了探讨。影响聚合物包膜肥料养分释放的因素主要有：膜厚、颗粒半径、扩散系数、养分组成及其溶解特性。国内聚合物包膜肥料的应用还处于起步阶段,随着经济的发展,聚合物包膜肥料在国内具有巨大的应用潜力。中国有关聚合物包膜肥料的研究取得了较好进展,但与发达国家相比,仍然处于较低水平。因此,推出具有中国独立知识产权的商品化聚合物包膜肥料要求加强理论基础研究,并加快产业化进程。     

长江武汉段沉积物再悬浮过程中PAHs释放的预测模型

为研究长江武汉段沉积物再悬浮过程中多环芳烃的释放,采用回归方法建立了剪应力与再悬浮颗粒物浓度、有机碳含量及PAHs浓度之间的定量关系模型,并结合PAHs在悬浮颗粒物-水体分配系数,建立了不同剪应力条件下再悬浮过程中上覆水体PAHs浓度预测模型,通过模型预测结果与实验结果的比较,表明模型具有良好的预测效果,可用来进行不同剪应力条件下沉积物再悬浮过程PAHs释放的预测.     

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.