Metal Retention Experiments for the Design of Soil-Mix Technology Permeable Reactive Barriers

Soil-mix technology is effective for the construction of permeable reactive barriers (PRBs) for in situ groundwater treatment. The objective of this study was to perform initial experiments for the design of soil-mix technology PRBs according to (i) sorption isotherm, (ii) reaction kinetics and (iii) mass balance of the contaminants. The four tested reactive systems were: (i) a granular zeolite (clinoptilolite-GZ), (ii) a granular organoclay (GO), (iii) a 1:1-mixture GZ and model sandy clayey soil and (iv) a 1:1:1-mixture of GZ, GO and model soil. The laboratory experiments consisted of batch tests (volume 900mL and sorbent mass 18g) with a multimetal solution of Pb, Cu, Zn, Cd and Ni. For the adsorption experiment, the initial concentrations ranged from 0.01 to 0.5mM (2.5 to 30mg/L). The maximum metal retention was measured in a batch test (300mg/L for each metal, volume 900mL, sorbent mass 90-4.5g). The reactive material efficiency order was found to be GZ>GZ-soil mix>GZ-soil-GO mix>GO. Langmuir isotherms modelled the adsorption, even in presence of a mixed cations solution. Adsorption was energetically favourable and spontaneous in all cases. Metals were removed according to the second order reaction kinetics; GZ and the 1:1-mix were very similar. The maximum retention capacity was 0.1-0.2mmol/g for Pb in the presence of clinoptilolite; for Cu, Zn, Cd and Ni, it was below 0.05mmol/g for the four reactive systems. Mixing granular zeolite, organoclay and model soil increased the chemisorption. Providing that GZ is reactive enough for the specific conditions, GZ can be mixed to obtain the required sorption. Granular clinoptilolite addition to soil is recommended for PRBs for metal contaminated groundwater. The laboratory experiments consisted of batch tests with a multimetal solution of Pb, Cu, Zn, Cd and Ni. The four reactive materials chosen were granular zeolite, clinoptilolite and model sandy clayey soil, granular organoclay and a mix of clinoptilolite, model soil and organoclay. The reactive material efficiency order was found to be granular clinoptilolite>clinoptilolite-soil mix>clinoptilolite-soil-organoclay mix>granular organoclay. © 2011 WILEY-VCH Verlag GmbH & Co. KGaA, Weinheim.

A solution for fault tolerance in replicated database systems

A distributed database system is subject to site failure and link failure. This paper presents a reactive system approach to achieving fault tolerance in such a system. The reactive system concepts are an attractive paradigm for system design, development and maintenance because it separates policies from mechanisms. In the paper we give a solution using different reactive modules to implement the fault tolerant policies and the failure detection mechanisms. The solution shows that they can be separated without impact on each other; thus the system can adapt to constant changes in environments and user requirements.<br />

A reactive system architecture for building fault-tolerant distributed applications

Most fault-tolerant application programs cannot cope with constant changes in their environments and user requirements because they embed policies and mechanisms together so that if the policies or mechanisms are&nbsp; changed the whole programs have to be changed as well. This paper presents a reactive system approach to overcoming this limitation. The reactive system concepts are an attractive paradigm for system design, development and maintenance because they separate policies from mechanisms. In the paper we propose a generic reactive system architecture and use group communication primitives to model it. We then implement it as a generic package which can be applied in any distributed applications. The system performance shows that it can be used in a distributed environment effectively.<br />

Reactive processing of polymers:effect of bifunctional and tri-functional comonomers on melt grafting of glycidyl methacrylate onto polypropylene

Two reactive comonomers, divinyl benzene (DVB) and trimethylolpropane triacrylate (TRIS), were evaluated for their role in effecting the melt free radical grafting reaction of the monomer glycidyl methacrylate (GMA) onto polypropylene (PP). The characteristics of the GMA-grafting systems in the presence and absence of DVB or TRIS were examined and compared in terms of the yield of the grafting reaction and the extent of the main side reactions, namely homopolymerisation of GMA (poly-GMA) and polymer degradation, using different chemical compositions of the reactive systems and processing conditions. In the absence of the comonomers, i.e. in a conventional system, high initiator concentrations of peroxides were typically required to achieve the highest possible GMA grafting levels which were found to be generally low. Concomitantly, both poly-GMA and degradation of the polymer by chain scission takes place with increasing initiator amounts. On the other hand, the presence of a small amount of the comonomers, DVB or Tris, in the GMA-grafting system, was shown to bring about a significant increase in the grafting level paralleled by a large reduction in poly-GMA and PP degradation. In the presence of these highly reactive comonomers, the optimum grafting system requires a much lower concentration of the peroxide initiator and, consequently, would lead to the much lower degree of polymer degradation observed in these systems. The differences in the effects of the presence of DVB and that of TRIS in the grafting systems on the rate of the GMA-grafting and homopolymerisation reactions, and the extent of PP degradation (through melt flow changes), were compared and contrasted with a conventional GMA-grafting system.

Nonlinear intrinsic instability of solid propellant combustion including gas-phase thermal inertia

The problem of homogeneous solid propellant combustion instability is studied with a one-dimensional flame model, including the effects of gas-phase thermal inertia and nonlinearity. Computational results presented in this paper show nonlinear instabilities inherent in the equations, due to which periodic burning is found even under steady ambient conditions such as pressure. The stability boundary is obtained in terms of Denison-Baum parameters. It is found that inclusion of gas-phase thermal inertia stabilizes the combustion. Also, the effect of a distributed heat release in the gas phase, compared to the flame sheet model, is to destabilize the burning. Direct calculations for finite amplitude pressure disturbances show that two distinct resonant modes exist, the first one near the natural frequency as obtained from intrinsic instability analysis and a second mode occurring at a much higher driving frequency. It is found that er rn in the low frequency region, the response of the propellant is significantly affected by the specific type of gas-phase chemical heat-release model employed. Examination of frequency response function reveals that the role of gas-phase thermal inertia is to stabilize the burning near the first resonant mode. Calculations made for different amplitudes of driving pressure show that the mean burning rate decreases with increasing amplitude. Also, with an increase in the driving amplitude, higher harmonics are generated in the burning rate.

Solid State Electrochemical Sensors in Process Control

The basic principles of operation of gas sensors based on solid-state galvanic cells are described. The polarisation of the electrodes can be minimised by the use of point electrodes made of the solid electrolyte, the use of a reference system with chemical potential close to that of the sample system and the use of graded condensed phase reference electrodes. Factors affecting the speed of response of galvanic sensors in equilibrium and non-equilibrium gas mixtures are considered with reference to products of combustion of fossil fuels. An expression for the emf of non-isothermal galvanic sensors and the criterion for the design of temperature compensated reference electrodes for non-isothermal galvanic sensors are briefly outlined. Non-isothermal sensors are useful for the continuous monitoring of concentrations or chemical potentials in reactive systems at high temperatures. Sensors for oxygen, carbon, and alloying elements (Zn and Si) in liquid metals and alloys are discussed. The use of auxiliary electrodes permits the detection of chemical species in the gas phase which are not mobile in the solid electrolyte. Finally, the cause of common errors in galvanic measurements, and tests for correct functioning of galvanic sensors are given. 60 ref.--AA

Applications of solid electrolytes in galvanic sensors

The concepts and theoretical origins of conduction domains for solid electrolytes and electrode polarization are outlined briefly. The point electrode made of the ' solid electrolyte material is useful for deflecting the semipermeability flux away from the electrode. The emf of galvanic sensors consisting of two solid electrolytes in intimate contact with each other and in which transport occurs by a common ion is reviewed. The voltage of such cells depends on the chemical potential of the active species at the interface between the two electrolytes, which can be evaluated from the transport properties of electrolytes using a numerical procedure. The factors governing the speed of response of solid electrolyte gas sensors are analyzed. A rigorous expression for the emf of non-isothermal galvanic sensors and the criterion for the design of temperature compensated reference electrodes for nonisothermal galvanic sensors are outlined. Non-isothermal sensors are useful for the continuous monitoring of concentrations or chemical potentials in reactive systems at high temperatures. The principles of operation of galvanic sensors for oxygen, sulphur, oxides of sulphur (SOx,x=2,3), carbon, oxides uf carbon (COx,x= 1,2), oxides of nitrogen (NOx,x= 1,2) and silicon are discussed. The use of auxiliary electrodes in galvanic sensors to expand the detection capability of known solid electrolytes to a large number of species is explained with reference to sensors for sulphur and oxides of sulphur (SOx,x=2,3).Finally the cause of the common errors in galvanic measurements and test for the correct functioning of galvanic sensors is given.