Robust Water Supply Chain Network Design under Uncertainty in Capacity

This paper focuses on the capacity uncertainty in water supply chains that occurs when facilities face disruption. A combination of scenario-based two-stage stochastic programming with the min-max robust optimization approach is proposed to optimize the water supply chain network design problem. In the first stage, the decisions are made on locations and capacities of reservoirs and water-treatment plants while recourse decisions including amount of water extraction, amount of water refinement, and consequently amount of water held in reservoirs are made at the second stage. The proposed robust two-stage stochastic programming model can help decision makers consider the impacts of uncertainties and analyze trade-offs between system cost and stability. The literature reveals that most exact methods are not able to tackle the computational complexity of mixed integer non-linear two-stage stochastic problems at large scale. Another contribution of this study is to propose two metaheuristics - a particle swarm optimization (PSO) and a bat algorithm (BA) - to solve the proposed model in large-scale networks efficiently in a reasonable time. The developed model is applied to several hypothetical cases of water resources management systems to evaluate the effectiveness of the model formulation and solution algorithms. Sensitivity analyses are also carried out to analyze the behavior of the model and the robustness approach under parameters variations.

     

Alumina-supported Mn(II), Co(II), Ni(II) and Cu(II) N,N-bis(salicylidene)-2,2-dimethylpropane-1,3-diamine complexes: Synthesis, characterization and catalytic oxidation of cyclohexene with tert-butylhydroperoxide and hydrogen peroxide

New square-planar manganese(II), copper(II), nickel(II) and cobalt(II) complexes of a tetradentate Schiff-base ligand “N,N-bis(salicylidene)-2,2-dimethylpropane-1,3-diamine, H₂[salpnMe₂]” have been prepared and characterized by elemental analyses, IR, UV–Vis, conductometric and magnetic measurements. The results suggest that the symmetrical Schiff-base is a bivalent anion with tetradentate N₂O₂ donors derived from the phenolic oxygen and azomethine nitrogen. The formulae was found to be [M(salpnMe₂)] for the 1:1 non-electrolytic complexes. Alumina-supported metal complexes (ASMC; [M(salpnMe₂)/Al₂O₃]) catalyze the oxidation of cyclohexene with tert-buthylhydroperoxide (TBHP) and hydrogen peroxide. Oxidation of cyclohexene with TBHP gave 2-cyclohexene-1-one, 2-cyclohexene-1-ol and 1-(tert-butylperoxy)-2-cyclohexene whereas, oxidation with H₂O₂ resulted in the formation of cyclohexene oxide and cyclohexene-1,2-diol. Manganese(II) complex supported on alumina “[Mn(salpnMe₂]–Al₂O₃” shows significantly higher catalytic activity than other catalysts.     

Biosorption of Pb(II) using Gundelia tournefortii: Kinetics,equilibrium, and thermodynamics

In this paper, the feasibility of Gundelia tournefortii was studied as a novel, high-capacity biosorbent for removing lead ions from synthetic wastewater in a batch system. The effects of various parameters such as temperature, initial concentration, initial pH, biosorbent dosage, and contact time were investigated. Based on batch results, the optimum operating conditions were found to be pH 5, biosorbent dosage of 25 mg, and temperature of 20°C in the range of lead initial concentrations from 5 to 100 mg/L. The equilibrium contact time was 60 min. The biosorption mechanism can be well described by the Langmuir isotherm with a monolayer maximum adsorption capacity of 144.928 (mg/g) at 20°C and a pseudo-second-order kinetic model. Thermodynamic studies proved that the sorption process was physical, spontaneous, feasible, random, and exothermic. In the second step, the ability of artificial neural network (ANN) to predict the adsorption capacity of Gundelia tournefortii for the removal of Pb(II) from aqueous solution was examined. The model was developed using a three-layer feed-forward back-propagation (BP) network with 5, 12, and 1 neurons in the first, second, and third layers, respectively. The Levenberg–Marquardt BP training algorithm (LMA) was found to be the best BP algorithm with a minimum mean squared error of 0.000867 and a minimum relative squared error of 0.032771. The comparison between the results of ANN and experimental data showed that ANN has a superior performance (R²= of 0.998) in the prediction of the Pb(II) removal process.     

Polyvinyl Alcohol/Alginate/Zeolite Nanohybrid for Removal of Metals

A novel polyvinyl alcohol/alginate/zeolite nanohybrid adsorbent for the adsorption of Ni(II) and Co(II) metal ions was prepared by the casting method. The prepared adsorbent was characterized by Fourier transform infrared spectroscopy, scanning electron microscopy as well as Barrett-Joyner-Halenda and Brunauer-Emmett-Teller analyses. The optimum adsorption conditions in terms of content of zeolite nanoparticles, adsorbent dosage, and initial pH were determined. The kinetic data for both ions were well described by the double-exponential kinetic model. The obtained Langmuir maximum adsorption capacities of Ni(II) and Co(II) metal ions were 81.51 and 79.58 mg g⁻¹, respectively. The adsorption/desorption experiments showed a good performance after 5 cycles of adsorption.     

Dielectrophoretic trapping of selenium nanorods for use in device applications

Dielectrophoretic alignment of the Selenium (Se) nanorods is reported for electrical characterization and possible applications as micro/nano devices. Selenium nanorods were successfully synthesized using a reverse microemulsion process. The produced material was investigated structurally using X-ray diffraction and transmission electron microscope. Suspensions of the Se powder in the concentration of 0.1 (g/l) were prepared in pure ethanol. Interdigitated platinum electrodes were employed for manipulation of suspended materials in the fluid. When Se particles were exposed to the platinum electrodes in two frequencies of 10 and 100 kHz, dielectrophoretic force captured suspended particles onto the interdigitated micro-electrode array. The trapped Se nanorods were aligned along the electric field lines and bridged the electrode gaps. Dielectrophoretic entrapment of Se nanorods on microelectrode was also detected by impedance measurements. The device was characterized and can potentially be used as a nanodevice.