Effect of sodium montmorillonite nanoclay on the water absorbency and cationic dye removal of carrageenan-based nanocomposite superabsorbents

Nanocomposite superabsorbents were synthesized by simultaneously solution copolymerization of acrylamide (AAm) and sodium acrylate (Na-AA) in the presence of carrageenan biopolymer and sodium montmorillonite (Na-MMt) nanoclay. Potassium persulfate (KPS) and methylenebisacrylamide (MBA) were used as initiator and crosslinker, respectively. The structure and morphology of the nanocomposites were investigated using XRD, FTIR, scanning electron microscopy (SEM), and TEM techniques. The influence of nanoclay and carrageenan contents as well as monomer weight ratios on the degree of swelling of nanocomposites was studied. The optimum water absorbency was obtained at 10 wt% of clay, 10 wt% of carrageenan, and 1:1 of monomers weight ratio. The obtained nanocomposites were examined to remove of crystal violet (CV) cationic dye from water. The effect of carrageenan and clay content on the speed of dye adsorption revealed that while the rate of dye adsorption is enhanced by increasing the clay content up to 14 wt% of clay, it was decreased as the carrageenan increased in nanocomposite composition. The results showed that the pseudo-second-order adsorption kinetic was predominated for the adsorption of CV onto nanocomposites. The experimental equilibrated adsorption capacity of nanocomposites was analyzed using Freundlich and Langmuir isotherm models. The results corroborated that the experimental data fit the Freundlich isotherm the best.     

Denitrification en continu a l'aide de microorganismes immobilises sur des supports solidesContinuous denitrification by immobilized cells

In this paper, we describe a study of biological denitrification by immobilized cells. Nitrates are reduced in sterile solutions by Pseudomonas aeruginosa immobilized in a fixed bed reactor, and in synthetic waste water by mixed cultures immobilized into a fluidized bed reactor.The fixed bed reactor is a Plexiglas column filled with corn stovers (Table 1). It is 0.05 m in diameter and 0.55 in height, its volume being approx. 11. The fresh medium is injected at the base of the column and the liquid level is regulated by an overflow weir. Reactor and carrier are sterilized with ethylene-oxide. After sterilization 1 l. of a growing batch culture of Pseudomonas aeruginosa is introduced aseptically and the reactor is then fed continuously (45 ml h^?1) with fresh medium (NNO₃ = 40 mg l^?1) until the first steady state is reached.Nitrates and nitrites are determinated by means of a colorimetric method.Reactor efficiency remains constant for over 40 days. Nitrates and nitrites concentrations are measured inside the reactor for flow varying from 2 to 16 ml min^?1 (Fig. 2). Reductions of nitrates and nitrites seem to be two first-order reactions (Fig. 3 and Table 2) and constant rate increases with flow rate (Fig. 4). Until nitrate concentration reaches 960 mg/l^?1 (NNO₃) degradation is correct (Figs 5 and 6), beyond nitrites, which have been formed, seem to be inhibitor.Using this reactor, 50 mg NNO₃ have been reduced per hour and per liter of empty reactor, but it may be possible to reduce 140 mg NNO₃ l^?1 h^?1 if fresh medium contains 200 mg NNO₃ l^?1.The fluidized bed reactor is a Plexiglas column filled with earthenware. It is 0.05 m in diameter and 3.15 m in height, its volume being approx. 6.201. Fresh medium is injected at the base of the column and the liquid level is regulated by an overflow weir. Figure 7 shows the retention time of the liquid in the reactor in relation to flow. The first steady state has been reached after 2 weeks, and it has not been possible to know half life time of the column.Four experiments were conducted (Table 3) and, for each nitrate, nitrite and methanol concentrations in the reactor were measured (Fig. 8). So, it appears that reduction of nitrates and nitrites are two first-order reactions (Table 4) and that constant rate values, which are higher than in fixed bed reactor, increase with flow.The reactor is more affected by a flow shift than by a nitrate concentration shift in fresh medium, and biomass linked onto carrier is about 76 mg of dry matter g^?1 of earthenware.So, our fluidized bed column is able to reduce 560 mg NNO₃ h^?1 l^?1 of empty reactor, then retention time of liquid is less than 3 min.     

Evaluation of ground convergence and squeezing potential in the TBM driven Ghomroud tunnel project

One of the new components of water conveyance system in central Iran is the Ghomroud water conveyance tunnel that is being excavated by a double shield TBM. The 36 km long tunnel mainly passes through the metamorphic weak rocks of Jurassic age. Key geotechnical design issues for the tunnel, which has up to 650 m of overburden, include the potential for high ground pressure due to high in situ stress. In order to prevent the shield jamming in these weak rocks, it was necessary to evaluate the amount of ground pressure on the outer surface of TBM shield in the vicinity of the tunnel face. The stress and strain condition in the vicinity of the tunnel face has a 3D nature and it is not realistic to assume a two-dimensional stress state at the tunnel face area. In the convergence-confinement method, it is possible to simulate the tunnel face effect with an internal fictitious pressure that is imposed on the tunnel perimeter. In this study, based on the convergence-confinement method, a new method was introduced to calculate the tunnel face effect on ground pressure distribution around the tunnel face region. Then by using this method, critical areas with potential for shield jamming was predicted along the Ghomroud water conveyance tunnel. The obtained results by this method are in good agreement with the current TBM jamming situations along the Ghomroud tunnel.     

Tin(II)-quercetin complex: Synthesis, spectral characterisation and antioxidant activity

The complex formation between quercetin (Q) and stannous chloride (SnCl₂·2H₂O) was studied using UV-visible, IR and ¹H NMR spectroscopic techniques. Spectroscopic data suggest that Q can chelate stannous cations through both 3-hydroxy-4-carbonyl and the 3′,4′-dihydroxyl (catechol) chelation sites. The antioxidant activity of the complex was evaluated using 1,1-diphenyl-2-picrylhydrazyl (DPPH), 2,2′-azinobis 3-ethylbenzothiazoline-6-sulphonic acid (ABTS) diammonium salt and ferric reducing antioxidant power (FRAP) methods. It was shown that radical scavenging activity and ferric reducing potential of free Q was decreased after chelation of stannous cation.     

Reverse Link Performance of DS-CDMA Cellular Systems through Closed-Loop Power Control, Base Station Assignment, and Antenna Arrays in 2D Urban Environment

The interference reduction capability of antenna arrays, base station assignment, and the power control algorithms have been considered separately as means to increase the capacity in wireless communication networks. In this paper, we propose smart step closed-loop power control (SSPC) algorithm and base station assignment method based on minimizing the transmitter power (BSA-MTP) technique for direct sequence-code division multiple access (DS-CDMA) receiver in a 2D urban environment. This receiver consists of conjugate gradient adaptive beamforming and matched filter in two stages using antenna arrays. In addition, we study an analytical approach for the evaluation of the impact of power control error (PCE) on the DS-CDMA cellular systems. The simulation results indicate that the SSPC algorithm and the BSA-MTP technique can significantly improve the network bit error rate in comparison with conventional methods. Our proposed methods can also significantly save total transmit power and extend battery life in mobile units. In addition, we show that the convergence speed of the SSPC algorithm is faster than that of conventional algorithms. Finally, we discuss two parameters of PCE and channel propagation conditions (path-loss parameter and variance of shadowing) and their effects on the capacity of the system via some computer simulations.     

Potassium permanganate as an electron receiver in a microbial fuel cell

Microbial fuel cells with air as a cathode electron receiver are simple systems but they need expensive catalysts. In comparison to microbial fuel cells with oxygen as an electron receiver, microbial fuel cells with potassium permanganate produce higher voltage. In this study, electrical performance of a microbial fuel cells containing anaerobic sludge and potassium permanganate as an oxidizing agent was investigated. Glucose (1 g/l) was used as a carbon and energy source. The maximum power density and current density at the maximum power density were 93.13 mW/m² and 0.030 mA/cm² with respect to a potassium permanganate concentration of 400 µM. It is observed that the maximum power density increased to 114.00 mW/m² using an acid-heat treated carbon brush anode. Also, chemical oxygen demand removal was 51% when the microbial fuel cells was operated using 400 µM of potassium permanganate.