Development of co-continuous structure in liquid crystalline polyester

We investigated liquid crystallization of liquid crystalline polyester BB-5 during isothermal annealing by digital high-fidelity microscope and light scattering. A liquid crystalline spherical domain having a radius of micrometers appeared by annealing at around 180 °C. The domain grew dendritically in all directions. Neighboring liquid crystalline regions coalesced and then interconnected. The interconnected structure changed to a co-continuous two-phase structure with increasing ordering of the liquid crystalline phase, and the interface between the liquid crystalline phase and the isotropic phase became smoother over time. Liquid crystallization stopped before volume filling the whole space, and the liquid crystalline phase and isotropic phase coexisted. The liquid crystalline region became narrower with an increase in the temperature of the liquid crystallization. Such structural development is different from the liquid-liquid phase separation via spinodal decomposition, and it may be attributed to the segregation of non-liquid crystallizable low molecular weight molecules from the growth front by fractionation of the molecular weight distribution during the liquid crystallization in terms of the instability of the diffusion-controlled interface.     

Study on Oxygen Isotope Fractionation in RE Oxide Minerals

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Carbon mineralization from composts and food industry wastes added to soil

We have studied the short term C mineralization of six wastes from important food industries, one sludge from a biogas plant and three composts. All the wastes were characterized chemically and fractionated according to the Van Soest method. The fresh wastes were incubated under controlled environment conditions to determine the C mineralization rate. Based on first order mineralization kinetics, we calculated the hypothetical amount of stable C in the wastes as the amount of C that would not be mineralized within one year under field conditions. The percentage of stable organic C in the organic matter was in general much larger in the composts than in the other wastes, but when expressed on dry matter, the non-composted wastes had comparable or larger amounts of stable organic C than the composts and have a considerable potential for supplying organic matter to soils, and hence for C sequestration. The amount of stable organic C could best be predicted by the total N content of the wastes (R _a ² = 0.855), whereas the results of the fractionation had very little predictive power, probably due to problems related to the high ash content of some of the wastes. An index that combined stable organic C and N and P content in the wastes was calculated to assess possible limitations for applying these wastes in agriculture. Under current nutrient legislation in Western Europe, a number of these wastes will only be usable in small amounts, but these and other food industry wastes could still prove to be valuable soil amendments in nutrient poor situations, for increasing soil organic C content and supplying nutrients.     

白油加氢装置技术改造

对抚顺石油化工分公司石化三厂白油加氢装置进行技术改造，通过调整加氢工艺，采用一段加氢工艺生产高品级的加氢尾油，再经分馏系统生产出多种优级品的白油，满足了市场需求，并创造了可观的经济效益和社会效益。     

Evaluating the fractionation of ion-adsorption rare earths for in-situ leaching and metallogenic mechanism

The fractionation of ion adsorption rare earths (IAREs) along the depth in a shaft of a deposit at Dajishan, Jiangxi, China was comparatively evaluated using the partition values (PVs) and relative fractionation values (RFVs) of the leached rare earths (REs). It is found that both PVs and RFVs can objectively reflect the migration and fractionation of REs, but RE content and abrasion pH could not. However, the RFVs can provide more information to quantitatively evaluating the migration and fractionation characteristics of REs along the selected direction and region than PVs could, which is of significance for designing the optimal procedures of in-situ leaching based on the determined flow direction of injecting solution. It is demonstrated that the migration of Ce, Pr, and Nd along the depth direction is inert, and that of REs post Sm and Y is active. Meanwhile, the migration of La shows region characteristics which is active in the upper and inert in lower region. More interesting, the dependence of RFVs on atomic number of REs displays a tetrad group variation trend. However, the fractionation of REs among clay minerals with different particle sizes is not evident, especially for the clay in the bottom region. These results indicate that the migration and fractionation of REs not only are dominated by the adsorption of their hydrated ions, but also rely on their hydrolysis tendency, which provide information for understanding the metallogenic mechanism of IAREs.     

Suitability of urban wastes for crop production in Zaria,northern Nigeria: bioavailability and geochemical fractions of potentially toxic elements

A savannah soil amended with two urban wastes and planted with sorghum (Sorghum bicolor) in a pot experiment was evaluated for chemical forms and phytoavailability of Cr, Ni and Pb. The metals were partitioned into seven operationally defined chemical fractions: mobile (F1), easily mobilisable (F2), occluded in Mn oxides (F3), organically bound (F4), occluded in amorphous Fe oxides (FeOx_am, F5), occluded in crystalline Fe oxides (FeOx_c, F6), and residual (F7). Although the application of the urban wastes increased the total concentrations of the metals in the soil, there were no corresponding increases in Cr and Ni uptake by sorghum except for Pb uptake. Waste application increased mobile Ni (F1) but decreased the residual form (F7). The organically bound Pb (F4) was increased at the expense of residual Pb (F7). With respect to Cr, waste application increased Cr form occluded in non-crystalline Fe oxides (F5) in the soil. Bioassay of the test crop indicated that the uptake of Pb by sorghum (Y-Pb) correlated significantly with Pb occluded in non-crystalline and crystalline Fe oxides (F5 and F6). Since a single application of urban wastes to this savannah soil significantly increased Pb uptake by sorghum, the consequences of long-term applications under urban and peri-urban agriculture (UPA) should be of great concern; particularly with respect to children’s exposure to Pb through consumption of food and vegetables.     

Efficiency of Gold Nano Particles on the Autoxidized Soybean Oil Polymer: Fractionation and Structural Analysis

Polyunsaturated plant oils have gained great interest as monomers to produce biodegradable polymers obtained from renewable resources due to the limited existing sources of petroleum oil and environmental issues. Soybean oil was autoxidized by exposure to atomospheric oxygen at room temperature with or without the presence of gold nanoparticles (Au NPs) 5–41 days. When the autoxidation process was catalyzed with Au NPs, the molecular weight of the oxidized oil was increased in 5 days. In contrast to this, without Au NPs, the oxidized oil was still a fluidized liquid. Autoxidized soybean oil polymer in toluene solution with gold NP showed a surface plasmon resonance at λ_max = 540 nm in a UV–VIS spectrometer and a fluorescence emission spectrum at λ_max = 450 nm, when it was irradiated at λ_max = 390 nm. The higher molecular weight of the polymeric oils was successively fractionated by the extraction from the solvent‐non‐solvent mixture CHCl₃/petroleum ether with the volume ratio of 5:15. Three polymeric oils fractions with different molecular weight (ca 1000, 4000, and 40,000 g/mol) were obtained. GC–MS analysis, ¹H‐NMR and GPC techniques were used in the structural analysis of the fractionated polymeric oils.     

Solvent-Assisted Crystallization of Fatty Acid Alkyl Esters from Animal Fat

An easy and efficient method for the separation of saturated and unsaturated fatty acid mono alkyl esters, prepared from animal fat, was developed. The most efficient separation was achieved by the use of solvents such as methanol and acetone at low temperatures. The dilution of the alkyl esters with 10 times the amount of solvent (10:1 v/w) and storage of the mixture for 4 h at ?22 °C could be defined as optimum conditions. After filtration of the saturated fraction at the corresponding temperature very pure fractions were obtained. For fatty acid methyl esters deriving from tallow, with an initial content of saturated fatty acids of almost 50 %, a saturated ester fraction with only 5 % unsaturated fatty acids and an unsaturated ester fraction with about 9 % of saturated fatty acids could be obtained. The solvent easily could be recovered by distillation. In addition fatty acid ethyl, 1‐propyl, 2‐propyl, 1‐butyl, tert‐butyl and 3‐methyl‐1‐butyl esters were prepared and separated into saturated and unsaturated fractions. All fractions were analyzed according to the fatty acid compositions and showed similar or slightly worse results compared to the methyl esters. The cold filter plugging points of the unsaturated fractions were measured, showing the lowest value for the unsaturated methyl ester fraction at ?26 °C. The fractionation with the use of solvents is an easy tool in order to obtain fatty acid alkyl esters with excellent cold temperature behavior out of animal fat.