SPECTROSCOPIC CHARACTERIZATION OF SOLVENT SOLUBLE FRACTIONS OF PETROLEUM VACUUM RESIDUES

ABSTRACT

NMR and FTIR spectroscopic techniques were used to investigate the effect of different solvent extraction schemes on the composition and chemical nature of species of vacuum residues of two Indian crude oils (namely Jodhpur and Heera) extractable into polar (ethyl acetate) and non-polar (n-pentane and n-heptane) solvents. The obtained soluble fractions were found to consist of mainly simple aliphatic and naphthenic ring structures, while insoluble fractions consisted primarily aromatic compounds. The results were used to draw inferences on the relative utility of different extraction schemes to upgrade vacuum residues as feedstocks for secondary conversion processes in petroleum industry.     

Manganese stearate initiated photo‐oxidative and thermo‐oxidative degradation of LDPE,LLDPE and their blends

This study is an attempt to investigate the effect of a representative pro‐oxidant (manganese stearate) on the degradation behavior of 70 ± 5 μ thickness films of LDPE, LLDPE and their blends. Films were prepared by film blowing technique in the presence of varying quantities of manganese stearate (0.5–1% w/w) and subsequently subjected to accelerated degradative tests: xenon arc exposure and air‐oven exposure (at 70°C). The physico–chemical changes induced as a result of aging were followed by monitoring the mechanical properties (Tensile strength and Elongation at break), carbonyl index (CI), morphology (SEM), melt flow index (MFI), oxygen content (Elemental analysis), and DSC crystallinity. The results indicate that the degradative effect of pro‐oxidant is more pronounced in LDPE than LLDPE and blends, due to the presence of larger number of weak branches in the former. The degradation was also found to be proportional to the concentration of the pro‐oxidant. Flynn‐Wall‐Ozawa iso‐conversion technique was used to determine the kinetic parameters of degradation, which were used to determine the effect of the pro‐oxidant on the theoretical lifetime of the polymer. © 2010 Wiley Periodicals, Inc. J Appl Polym Sci, 2010     

Pressure dependent phase transitions in (Pb,Ca)TiO3: Determination of structure using high pressure synchrotron X-ray and Raman studies

Pressure dependent studies on technologically important ferroelectric material Pb_0.70Ca_0.30TiO₃ show the occurrence of a new hitherto unreported pressure dependent phase transition around 4 GPa. In the pressure range 4–14 GPa, the parent tetragonal (P4mm) phase of Pb_0.70Ca_0.30TiO₃ transforms in to a monoclinic (Cm) phase before attaining its paraelectric cubic (Pm3m) phase around 15 GPa. High pressure Raman studies reveal the presence of a critical pressure above which the ferroelectric phase starts to reappear in the paraelectric phase. This critical pressure is found to be much lower than the critical pressure observed in pure PbTiO₃. Possible reasons for this lowering of the critical pressure are presented.     

Catalytic hydrogenation for improvement of GaAs/Ge solar cell efficiency

Hydrogen passivation on MOCVD grown p-GaAs epilayers on Ge substrate have been studied by plasma and catalytic hydrogenation and the results were compared. The conversion efficiency of the GaAs/Ge solar cells was found to increase by 10% after catalytic hydrogenation at AM1.5. This increase in efficiency is probably due to passivation of surface dangling bonds.     

Characterization and Studies on Hydro Dynamically Stable Operation of an Angular Jet SOG for COIL

Chemical oxygen-iodine Laser (COIL) is one of the fast emerging high power laser source for near Infrared (λ=1.315μm) laser generation. The heart of the system is the singlet oxygen generator (SOG) which is a pumping source for this laser. A Jet type SOG with a novel approach was designed and fabricated. Singlet oxygen was taken out of the SOG at an angle of 40° thus avoiding the carry over of droplets, which is one of the major drawbacks of horizontal system. The preliminary results have been reported in our earlier publication. The present paper discusses the performance of this generator for various operational conditions viz. diluent's gas nitrogen / helium, basic hydrogen peroxide composition, generator pressure and gas velocity. Further, conditions for the stable operation from generator as well as chlorine injection point of view have been identified.     

Cooperative Impulse Radio Ultra-Wideband Communication Using Coherent and Non-Coherent Detectors: A Review

Ultra-wideband (UWB) is a booming technology in the field of wireless communication. This paper presents a brief idea related to the various coherent and non-coherent IR-UWB detectors. Due to the limitation in transmit power spectral density of UWB system, the major challenges faced by UWB system includes, achieving Quality of Service, system performance and coverage area. So, the combination of UWB system with cooperative communication will not only improve the system performance, but also help in expanding coverage area of signals. A brief review of the work done by various researchers in the field of cooperative impulse radio (IR) UWB communication is also presented in this paper. The working principle and performance analysis of the various coherent and non-coherent IR-UWB detectors using cooperative relay strategies are also discussed at large in this paper. The various fixed cooperative relay strategies used for cooperative UWB communication is Amplify and Forward, Decode and Forward and Detect and Forward. From the simulation results it can be inferred that, even though IR-UWB DTR receiver gives a much better BER performance than IR-UWB ED receiver using both cooperative and non-cooperative strategies, yet ED receiver is preferred because of its less complexity and low power consumption. Future prospects in the field of cooperative IR-UWB communication have also been discussed in this paper.     

Photovoltaic performance of dye-sensitized solar cells fabricated with polyvinylidene fluoride–polyacrylonitrile–silicondioxide hybrid composite membrane

Electrospun fibrous membranes of hybrid composites of polyvinylidene fluoride (PVdF), polyacrylonitrile (PAN) and silicon dioxide (SiO₂) (PVdF–PAN–SiO₂) are prepared with different proportions of SiO₂ (3, 5 and 7% w/w). The field emission scanning electron microscopy (FE-SEM) reveals that these membranes have three-dimensional, fully interconnected network structures, which are combined with micropores of fine SiO₂ distribution. The surface roughness of the membranes increases with increasing the SiO₂ content. It is found that 7 wt% SiO₂/PVdF–PAN electrolyte membrane has the highest ionic conductivity (6.96 × 10⁻² S cm⁻¹) due to the large liquid electrolyte uptake (about 570%). As the concentration of SiO₂ nanoparticles increase, the contact angle value also increases, ranging from 135.70° to 140.60° which indicates that the membrane has higher hydrophobicity. The dye sensitized solar cells (DSSCs) are fabricated using the hybrid composite membrane with PVdF–PAN with 7 wt % SiO₂. Its photovoltaic performance exhibits an open circuit voltage (V_oc) of 0.79 V and a short circuit current 11.6 mA cm⁻² at an incident light intensity of 100 mW cm⁻², producing an efficiency of 5.61%. DSSC, using the hybrid composite electrospun membrane which shows more stable photovoltaic performance than other assembled DSSCs.