Dynamical modelling of an activated sludge system of a petrochemical plant operating at high temperatures.

The Mexican petrochemical industry, Morelos S.A. de C.V., is one of the biggest and more important petroleum industries in Mexico and Latin America. It has an activated sludge system to treat its wastewater flow, which is approximately 7,000 m3/d. The wastewater contains volatile organic carbon substances classified as toxics. The old surface aeration system was changed for fine bubble diffusers; however, one major drawback of the new aeration system is that the temperature in the bioreactor has increased due to the compression of the air, which at the compressor exit reaches 85 degrees C. This effect results in the temperature in the bioreactor attaining 32 degrees C during the fall, whereas in the spring and summer, the bioreactor temperature reaches higher values than 40 degrees C. The high temperatures reduce the microorganism activity and cause a higher volatilisation rate of volatile compounds, among other effects, which affect the performance of the biological treatment. This work was performed to obtain a better modelling of the wastewater treatment from the petrochemical industry. The model describes the effect of the temperature on the performance of the biological treatment. The model was obtained from tests that were carried out in laboratory reactors with 14 L capacity, which were operated at different temperatures (from 30 to 45 degrees C), with the same wastewater and conditions as the actual system.     

Complement resistance of capsulated strains of Aeromonas salmonicida

1. We investigated the effect of exercise on plasma adrenomedullin, atrial natriuretic peptide (ANP) and brain natriuretic peptide (BNP) concentrations and studied the relationship between these peptides and haemodynamic parameters in nine patients with old myocardial infarction (MI) and in eight normal subjects. 2. The exercise protocol consisted of two fixed work loads (40 and 80 W) for 4 min each and venous blood samples were taken at rest, during each exercise stage and after exercise while monitoring the mean arterial pressure (MAP) and heart rate (HR). In MI, pulmonary arterial pressure (PAP), pulmonary capillary wedge pressure (PCWP), left ventricular end-diastolic pressure (LVEDP) and cardiac output (CO) were measured throughout exercise. 3. Adrenomedullin levels did not significantly increase with exercise. Adrenomedullin levels correlated with PAP and PCWP at rest (P < 0.05). Atrial natriuretic peptide levels correlated with PAP, PCWP and LVEDP throughout exercise (P < 0.05) but, on multiple regression analysis, PCWP correlated only with ANP (P < 0.01). Brain natriuretic peptide levels correlated with LVEDP throughout exercise (P < 0.01) and its increment correlated closely with basal BNP levels at rest (P < 0.01). 4. These results suggest that adrenomedullin does not respond to the acute haemodynamic changes of exercise, whereas ANP responds to it and PCWP is the major stimulus factor. Brain natriuretic peptide responds to exercise in proportion to the basal synthesis of BNP in patients with left ventricular dysfunction and LVEDP may play a role in increasing BNP during exercise.     

Thickness-stress relations in aluminum thin films

The physical properties of aluminum thin films depend strongly on their microstructure, which can be characterized using different techniques. In the present work, aluminum thin films—grown with different thickness on silicon substrates—were analyzed by atomic force microscopy (AFM) and grazing incidence x-ray techniques. The AFM was used as a high-resolution profilemeter for measuring edge angles, step heights, surface microstructure, and roughness. The structural properties (such as crystallographic orientation, crystallite size, and phase identification) were analyzed by grazing incidence x-ray diffraction. For small thickness, AFM images show small nucleation sites because of the short time of growth. Grain size grows as the thickness increases, and film morphology seems to be uniform with large grains. The AFM results of as-grown films show a linear increase in roughness along with thickness. Roughness values decrease with aging time after film preparation, until a constant value is observed. All films mainly have (111) orientation, and its intensity grows with film thickness, with respect to the (200) and (220) peaks. As the film thickness increases, the surface stress decreases.     

Effects of Plasmodium berghei infection on arteether metabolism and disposition

Arteether (AE) is primarily deethylated to dihydroqinghaosu (DQHS) in rats and humans. Conversion of AE to DQHS was impaired in microsomes from rats infected with Plasmodium berghei. The Km for AE was 175.1 +/- 49.1 and 124.4 +/- 115.1 mumol/l, and Vmax was 2.24 +/- 0.45 and 1.22 +/- 0.67 nmol AE formed/mg protein/min in control and infected microsomes (p < 0.05), respectively. Calculated intrinsic clearance (CLint = initial Vmax/Km) for AE was only 4% lower in infected microsomes. Apparent pharmacokinetic parameter estimates for AE using the isolated perfused rat liver demonstrated no differences (p > 0.05) in volume of distribution, clearance, and half-life between normal and infected animals. Malaria infection resulted in decreased biliary excretion of free AE and DQHS. The majority of AE is eliminated via biliary excretion of conjugated DQHS, which is approximately 500-fold higher than free DQHS and 75-fold higher than free AE on a molar basis.     

RP-HPLC binding domains of proteins

Procedures have been developed to identify the chromatographic binding domains of horse heart cytochrome c (Cyt c) and bovine growth hormone (bGH) during their interaction with reversed-phase sorbent materials. The procedure involves adsorption of the protein solute to the chromatographic sorbent, followed by proteolytic cleavage. Comparison of the proteolytic map obtained for Cyt c and bGH in free solution with the corresponding map obtained when these proteins are adsorbed to the chromatographic sorbent revealed significant differences in the digestion pattern. Following characterization of the peptides generated in both maps, the results indicated that specific regions on the surface of both Cyt c and bGH are inaccessible to tryptic cleavage when adsorbed to the hydrophobic surface of both a C-4 and a C-18 sorbent. Based on the assumption that the region of the protein surface that is in contact with the sorbent remains intact and bound to the sorbent during the digestion step, while the protein surface that is exposed to the solvent is accessible to proteolysis, the regions that were inaccessible to tryptic digestion were found to correspond to hydrophobic domains on the protein surface. These results also suggest that the three-dimensional structures of these proteins remain largely intact upon adsorption to the hydrophobic surface.     

Effect of Residual Stress on the Stability of Gold Thin Film Surfaces

The temporal evolution of the surface topography and x-ray diffractogram of gold thin films was obtained. We found by STM that the surface roughness decreased exponentially with time. X-ray analysis indicates that the microcrystals are strained i.e., the x-ray peaks shift with elapsed time towards the gold standard reflections. The rearrangement of the gold film is induced by surface strains that appear during film growth rather than by the thermal motion of atoms. A DC current was applied to the films to induce surface changes and to study electromigration phenomena. Results show that current effects accelerate film failure by surface diffusion produced by the growth of microcrystals at the expense of mechanically strained microcrystals.     

Effect of Aluminum Content on the Dynamic Recrystallization of Fe18MnxAl0.74C Steels During Hot-Forging Treatments

Metallurgical and Materials Transactions A - In the present work, the dynamic recrystallization and microstructural evolution of the family of advanced high-strength steels Fe18MnxAl0.74C are...     

Cu/SBA-15 as adsorbent for propane/propylene separation

Samples of mesoporous silica SBA-15 were prepared under hydrothermal conditions where Cu cations were incorporated to the structure by impregnation in order to compare the adsorption behavior in the presence and absence of this element. The adsorption/desorption equilibrium isotherms of propylene, propane, and N₂ were measured to evaluate their usefulness in the propane/propylene separation. All the adsorption isotherms of SBA-15 measured in the absence of Cu cations were described by the Freundlich equation, while the adsorption isotherms of propane on Cu/SBA-15 were better represented by the Henry equation and those of propylene were satisfactorily described by the Langmuir model in the range P < 100 Torr. The adsorption uptake of propylene increased and that of propane decreased in Cu/SBA-15 as compared to the amounts observed in the SBA-15 sample. The presence of Cu atoms in the adsorbent lattice increased the selectivity towards propylene. Under some working conditions the adsorbed amount of propylene in Cu/SBA-15 sample was totally reversible and the propane uptake, negligible.     

Silica Gel- and MCM-41-Supported MoS2 Catalysts for HDS Reactions

MCM-41- and silica gel-supported MoS₂ catalysts were prepared. MCM-41 was synthesized and impregnated with precursor, then activated to obtain the active phase. The sol–gel method was used for providing the SiO₂ support as well as for including the catalyst precursors in one single step of preparation. Such catalysts have applications particularly in hydrodesulfurization (HDS) and hydrodenitrogenation (HDN) processes. A comparison of the activities of the catalysts was made. The catalytic activity results showed the method of preparation used in this study was successful in producing very efficient catalysts for the HDS of dibenzothiophene (DBT).A higher selectivity for direct C–S bond cleavage was observed for the MoS₂ catalyst supported on SiO₂ by the sol–gel method. X-ray diffraction studies showed that the catalysts were poorly crystallized with a very weak intensity of the (002) line of 2H-MoS₂.     

Cobalt-Molybdenum Sulfide Catalysts Prepared by In Situ Activation of Bimetallic (Co-Mo) Alkylthiomolybdates

Unsupported cobalt-molybdenum sulfide catalysts were prepared from bimetallic CoMo alkyl precursors by in situ activation during the hydrodesulfurization (HDS) of dibenzothiophene (DBT). The bimetallic CoMo precursors were prepared by reaction of tetraalkylammonium thiomolybdate salts, (R₄N)₂MoS₄ (where R = H, methyl, butyl, pentyl or hexyl), with CoCl₂ in water at a Co/Mo molar ratio of 0.3. These catalysts exhibit a Swiss-cheese-like morphology, high surface areas (from 52 up to 320 m²/g), high content of carbon (C/Mo = 2.2-3.3) and type IV adsorption-desorption isotherms of nitrogen. The in situ activation of these tetraalkylammonium thiobimetalate precursors leads to a mesoporous structure with pore size ranging from 2 to 4.5 nm. X-ray diffraction showed that the structure of unsupported cobalt-molybdenum sulfide catalysts corresponds to a poorly crystalline structure characteristic of 2H-MoS₂ with low-stacked layers. The nature of the alkyl group strongly affects both the surface area and the HDS activity. The catalytic activity is strongly enhanced when using carbon-containing precursors; the CoMo catalysts prepared by in situ activation of Co/[N(C₄H₉)₄]₂MoS₄ presents the highest HDS activity. The highest surface area of the catalysts was observed for the CoMo catalyst formed from Co/[N(C₆H₁₃)₄N]₂MoS₄.