Hydrogen production characteristics of the organic fraction of municipal solid wastes by anaerobic mixed culture fermentation

The hydrogen production from the organic fraction of municipal solid waste (OFMSW) by anaerobic mixed culture fermentation was investigated using batch experiments at 37 degrees C. Seven varieties of typical individual components of OFMSW including rice, potato, lettuce, lean meat, oil, fat and banyan leaves were selected to estimate the hydrogen production potential. Experimental results showed that the boiling treated anaerobic sludge was effective mixed inoculum for fermentative hydrogen production from OFMSW. Mechanism of fermentative hydrogen production indicates that, among the OFMSW, carbohydrates is the most optimal substrate for fermentative hydrogen production compared with proteins, lipids and lignocelluloses. This conclusion was also substantiated by experimental results of this study. The hydrogen production potentials of rice, potato and lettuce were 134 mL/g-VS, 106 mL/g-VS, and 50 mL/g-VS respectively. The hydrogen percentages of the total gas produced from rice, potato and lettuce were 57-70%, 41-55% and 37-67%. 2008 International Association for Hydrogen Energy.

Upgrading bio-oil over different solid catalysts

Solid acid 40SiO(2)/TiO2-SO42- and solid base 30K(2)CO(3)/Al2O3-NaOH were prepared and compared with catalytic esterification activity according to the model reaction. Upgrading bio-oil by solid acid and solid base catalysts in the conditioned experiment was investigated, in which dynamic viscosities of bio-oil was lowered markedly, although 8 months of aging did not show much viscosity to improve its fluidity and enhance its stability positively. Even the dehydration by 3A molecular sieve still kept the fluidity well. The density of upgraded bio-oil was reduced from 1.24 to 0.96 kg/m(3), and the gross calorific value increased by 50.7 and 51.8%, respectively. The acidity of upgraded bio-oil was alleviated by the solid base catalyst but intensified by the solid acid catalyst for its strong acidification. The results of gas chromatography-mass spectrometry analysis showed that the ester reaction in the bio-oil was promoted by both solid acid and solid base catalysts and that the solid acid catalyst converted volatile and nonvolatile organic acids into esters and raised their amount by 20-fold. Besides the catalytic esterification, the solid acid catalyst carried out the carbonyl addition of alcohol to acetals. Some components of bio-oil undertook the isomerization over the solid base catalyst.

Ge composition saturation behavior during low-temperature Si1-xGex growth by disilane and solid Ge molecular beam epitaxy

Ge composition dependence on the Ge cell temperature has been studied during the growth of Si1-xGex by disilane and solid Ge molecular beam epitaxy at a substrate temperature of 500 degrees C. It is found that the composition x increases and then saturates when the Ge cell temperature increases, which is different from the composition-dependent behavior in growth at high temperature as well as in growth by molecular beam epitaxy using disilane and germane. The enhanced hydrogen desorption from a Ge site alone cannot account for this abnormal composition-variation behavior. We attribute this behavior to the increase of rate constant of H desorption on a Si site when the Ge cell temperature increases.

Shubnikov de Haas oscillations of a two-dimensional electron gas in a modulation-doped Zn0.80Cd0.20Se/ZnS0.06Se0.94 single quantum well

The magnetotransport properties of the two-dimensional (2D) electron gas confined in a modulation-doped Zn0.80Cd0.20Se/ZnS0.06Se0.94 single quantum well structure were studied at temperatures down to 0.35 K in magnetic fields up to 7.5 T. Well resolved 2D Shubnikovde Haas (SdH) oscillations were observed, although the conductivity of the sample in the as grown state was dominated by a bulk parallel conduction layer. After removing most of the parallel conduction layer by wet chemical etching the amplitude and number of SdH oscillations increased. From the temperature dependence of the amplitude the effective mass of the electrons was estimated as 0.17 m(0). Copyright (C) 1996 Published by Elsevier Science Ltd

Indium-doping enhanced two-dimensional-electron-gas performance in AlGaN/GaN heterostructures

Indium (In)-doping was applied in GaN layers during growth of AlGaN/GaN heterostructure with unintentionally doped or modulation Si-doped AlGaN layers. It was found that In-doping was effective in improving electron sheet density of two-dimensional-electron-gas (2DEG) in the heterostructures. Furthermore, In-doping also improved mobility in heterostructures with Si modulation-doped in AlGaN layers. The possible reasons were discussed. X-ray diffraction (XRD) and wet chemical etching revealed that crystalline quality of GaN was improved by In-doping. It was proposed that In-doping modified growth kinetics of GaN.

Thermally induced evolution of phase transformations in gas hydrate sediment

Thermally induced evolution of phase transformations is a basic physical-chemical process in the dissociation of gas hydrate in sediment (GHS). Heat transfer leads to the weakening of the bed soil and the simultaneous establishment of a time varying stress field accompanied by seepage of fluids and deformation of the soil. As a consequence, ground failure could occur causing engineering damage or/and environmental disaster. This paper presents a simplified analysis of the thermal process by assuming that thermal conduction can be decoupled from the flow and deformation process. It is further assumed that phase transformations take place instantaneously. Analytical and numerical results are given for several examples of simplified geometry. Experiments using Tetra-hydro-furan hydrate sediments were carried out in our laboratory to check the theory. By comparison, the theoretical, numerical and experimental results on the evolution of dissociation fronts and temperature in the sediment are found to be in good agreement.

Sand storms: CFD analysis of Reynolds stress and collision stress of particles near sand bed

Sand storm is a serious environmental threat to humans. Sand particles are transported by saltation and suspension, causing soil erosion in one place and deposition in another. In order to prevent and predict sand storms, the causes and the manners of particle motions must be studied in detail. In this paper a standard k-epsilon model is used for the gas phase simulation and the discrete element method (DEM) is used to predict the movements of particles using an in-house procedure. The data are summarized in an Eulerian-Eulerian regime after simulation to get the statistical particle Reynolds stress and particle collision stress. The results show that for the current case the Reynolds stress and the air shear stress predominate in the region 20-250 mm above the initial sand bed surface. However, in the region below 3 mm, the collision stress must be taken into account in predicting particle movement. (C) 2010 Chinese Society of Particuology and Institute of Process Engineering, Chinese Academy of Sciences. Published by Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.

Single-walled carbon nanohorn as new solid-phase extraction adsorbent for determination of 4-nitrophenol in water sample

Single-walled carbon nanohorn (SWCNH) was developed as new adsorbent for solid-phase extraction using 4-nitrophenol as representative. The unique exoteric structures and high surface area of SWCNH allow extracting a large amount of 4-nitrophenol over a short time. Highly sensitive determination of 4-nitrophenol was achieved by linear sweep voltammetry after only 120 s extraction. The calibration plot for 4-nitrophenol determination is linear in the range of 5.0 x 10(-8) M-1.0 x 10(-5) M under optimum conditions. The detection limit is 1.1 x 10(-8) M. The proposed method was successfully employed to determine 4-nitrophenol in lake water samples, and the recoveries of the spiked 4-nitrophenol were excellent (92-106%).

Investigation of "Rearrangement Step" in classical Beckmann rearrangement mechanism over solid acid by means of O-18 isotopic

The reaction mechanism of the Beckmann rearrangement over B2O3/gamma-Al2O3 and TS-1 in the gas phase has been investigated by isotope labeling approach. The isotopic labeled products were measured by mass spectrometry method. By exchanging oxygen with H, 180 in the rearrangement step, it was found that the exchange reaction between cyclohexanone oxime and (H2O)-O-18 over B2O3/-gamma-Al2O3 and TS-1 could only be carried out in some extent. It suggested that the dissociation of nitrilium, over solid acids be not completely free as the classical mechanism. A concept of the dissociation degree (alpha) that is defined as the ratio of the dissociated intermediate nitrilium to the total intermediate nitrilium has been proposed. By fitting the experimental values with the calculation equation of isotopic labeled products, it is obtained that a values for B2O3/-gamma-Al2O3 and TS-1 are 0.199 and 0.806 at the reaction conditions, respectively.

On improving the phase stability and thermal expansion coefficients of lanthanum cerium oxide solid solutions

The phase stability of lanthanum cerium oxide (La2Ce2O7), which is stable up to 1400 degrees C, and the thermal expansion coefficient of La2Ce2O7 doped with Ta2O5 or WO3 were studied. The thermal expansion coefficient of La2Ce2O7 below 400 degrees C was increased by adding more CeO2 or doping with either Ta2O5 or WO3.

Electrochemical H2S sensor with H2SO4 pre-treated Nafion membrane as solid polymer electrolyte

It is reported for the first time that the performance of the electrochemical H2S sensor with the Nation membrane pre-treated with the concentrated H2SO4 as the solid electrolyte is much more stable than that for the sensor with the Nation membrane without H2SO4 pretreatment. The sensitivity of the sensor is about 2.92 muA/ppm. The response time of the sensor is about 9 s. The detection limit is about 0.1 ppm. Therefore, this kind of the electrochemical H2S gas sensor may be desirable for the practical application.

Application of modified Nafion membrane to the sulfur dioxide gas electrochemical sensor

The electrochemical SO2 sensor worked at the fixed potential and prepared with Nafion membrane as the solid electrolyte was studied. It v as observed that after Nafion membrane, was treated with H2SO4, the water-preserving ability of the membrane was increased. In turn, the performance of the sensor became stable. After lifetime test for 4 months, the performance of the sensor deceased slightly, Thus this kind of sensor may become a gas sensor for the practical application.

Preparation and gas sensitivity of octa-n-butoxy-2,3-naphthalocyanine copper(II) Langmuir-Blodgett film

The formation process of monolayer of octa-n-butoxy-2,3-naphthalocyanine copper ( I), [CuNc(OBu)(8)], on water subphase was studied. Its multilayers were successifully deposited on the hydrophilic substrates by Z-type deposition mode using LB technique. Stable solid film with a limiting molecular area of 0.74 nm(2) and a collapse pressure of 55 mN/m were formed. The LB film structure was characterized by IR and electronic absorption spectra. Macrocycle of CuNc (OBu)(8) molecules have a face-to-face arrangement in the multilayers. These films have good sensitivities to vapor of alcohols, with the following sequence of sensitivities: i-PrOH>EtOH>MeOH. The response time and recovery time of the LB films to vapor of MeOH, EtOH and i-PrOH[volume fraction (1-5) X 10(-5)] were within 2 and 5 seconds respectively, while those of the LB films to ammonia(1 X 10(-4)) were 30-60 seconds and 4-5 minutes respectively.