Journal of The Chinese Institute of Chemical Engineers最新文献

Phase transition phenomenon of the 1-dodecanol monolayer at the air/water interface was studied by the dynamic γ(t) curves and the adsorption isotherm obtained by ellipsometry at 20 °C. The surface-concentration adsorption isotherm clearly showed three abrupt increases at bulk concentration C of 1.3 × 10⁻⁹, 2 × 10⁻⁹ and 3.7 × 10⁻⁹ mol/mL, respectively. The 1st and the 3rd transitions observed herein, that were typical 2D first-order transitions, were consistent with the gas to liquid expanded (G–LE) and the liquid expanded to liquid condensed (LE–LC) phase transitions observed in a previous tensiometry study. The 2nd transition that occurred at C = 2 × 10⁻⁹ mol/mL was not identified from any previous dynamic surface-tension profiles. Judging from the substantial increase in the film thickness of the transition, it was believed that the orientation change of the adsorbed molecule was involved in the LE phase. A LE_h and a LE_v phase, that denoted the “lie-down” and “stand-up” types of adsorption, respectively, was used to describe this transition and a cusp, instead of a constant surface-tension region, was observed in the dynamic γ(t) curves for this transition. This suggested that, since the surface tension varied during the transition process, the newly identified LE_h and LE_v transition might not be the typical first-order type of phase transition.

The expressions of mass-transfer rate for membrane extraction through a rectangular module have been derived under cocurrent-flow, countercurrent-flow and cross-flow operation based on the modified correction-factor analysis. These expressions are explicit and the results can be readily calculated without using try-and-error method, which should be employed in the conventional correction-factor analysis for designing heat and mass exchangers. The correction factors for both cocurrent-flow and countercurrent-flow operations may be taken as unity when the logarithmic-mean concentration differences are properly selected. For cross-flow operation, the correction factors are function of flow rate, mass-transfer area, distribution coefficient and overall mass-transfer coefficient, and some values of them are given graphically.

Batch distillation is commonly used in the fine chemicals, specialty polymer, biochemical, pharmaceutical, and food industries. For separating mixtures with minimum-boiling azeotrope, a heavy entrainer is frequently added to the top section of the batch column to aid in the separation. This process is called batch extractive distillation. Most of the papers in open literature have only studied the first operating step of the batch extractive distillation which is the recovery of the light component without mentioning the later steps for the recovery of the other component and entrainer. In this paper, two real chemical systems, one separating acetone and methanol using water as entrainer and the other separating isopropyl alcohol (IPA) and water using dimethyl sulfoxide (DMSO) as entrainer, are studied for the feasible operation of the complete batch distillation sequence. The operating variables, including the pre-load amount with the mixture, continuous feed rate of the entrainer, and reflux ratio at each operating step are determined in the operating sequence. The constant reflux ratio and constant entrainer feed rate operating policy and another policy to allow these two operating variables to be varied will be compared in order to further improve the batch operation. All dynamic simulations that are performed directly mimic industrial situations from an empty column using a rigorous dynamic simulator, Aspen Dynamics™.

Heavy water (D₂O) is the most feasible moderator and coolant in nuclear-fission reactors while deuterium (D) will be the nuclear fuel for thermonuclear fusion in the distant future. The recoveries of deuterium in D₂O and HDO from the separation of water–isotope mixture (H₂O–HDO–D₂O) by thermal diffusion has been estimated. First, the degrees of separation for each component of water–isotope mixture in thermal diffusion columns were predicted, then the recoveries of deuterium in each component were estimated from the molecule weights. It was found that the maximum recovery of deuterium might be obtained when the feed concentration of D₂O is 0.22 mass fraction.

Carbon dioxide was absorbed into aqueous polyacrylamide (PAA) solution containing diethanolamine (DEA) of 0–2 kmol/m³ in a flat-stirred vessel with the impeller of 0.034 m and agitation speed of 50 rpm at 25 °C and 0.101 MPa to measure the absorption rate of CO₂. The volumetric liquid-side mass transfer coefficient (k_La) was obtained from the dimensionless empirical correlation formula presenting the rheological behavior of aqueous PAA solution. PAA with elastic property of non-Newtonian liquid made the rate of chemical absorption of CO₂ accelerate compared with Newtonian liquid based on the same viscosity of the solution. The estimated value of the absorption rate of CO₂ was obtained from the model based on the film theory accompanied by chemical reaction and compared with the measured value.

In this report, the scientific productivity of Year 2006 of chemical engineering professionals in Taiwan was analyzed carefully with information retrieved from the database of the ISI Web of Science. The distributions of number of authors with x publication versus the number of publication x follows a general power-law trend, which coincidently comply with the Pareto distribution. The power-law indices found ranges from −1.64 to −2.22, which is consistent with values reported in the literature investigated for periods of 1907–1916 and 1969–2004.

The synthesis of liquid crystal methyl [4-(nonyloxy) styryl] benzoate was achieved in four stages. First, toluic acid [1] was brominated with N-bromosuccinimide in refluxing CCl₄ to form 4-bromotoluic acid [2] (BTA); second, BTA was esterified with methanol in SOCl₂/CH₂Cl₂ to afford methyl (4-bromomethyl) benzoate [3] (BME); third, BME was condensed with triphenylphosphine (PPh₃) in CH₂Cl₂ to produce the active Wittig reagent methyl (4-methylbenzoate) triphenylphosphonium bromide [4] (MBPB) and fourth, MBPB reacted with 4-nonyloxybenzaldehyde to produce MNSB in high yield. Each of these four reactions was carried out in a separate homogeneous organic solution and the effects of the reaction conditions in each reaction as well as a kinetic model for each individual reaction were studied. Furthermore, the active reagent was applied to the reaction of 4-nonyloxybenzaldehyde (n-C₉H₁₉O(C₆H₄)CHO) to synthesise cis-(E) and trans-(Z)methyl[4-(nonyloxy)styryl]benzoate (n-C₉H₁₉(C₆H₄)CHCH(C₆H₄)COOCH₃) from a two-phase medium alkaline solution of NaOH/organic solvent. High conversion and high selectivity were obtained via this reaction.

This study considers the planning of a multi-product, multi-period, and multi-echelon supply chain network that consists of several existing plants at fixed places, some warehouses and distribution centers at undetermined locations, and a number of given customer zones. Unsure market demands are taken into account and modeled as a number of discrete scenarios with known probabilities. The supply chain planning model is constructed as a multi-objective mixed-integer linear program (MILP) to satisfy several conflict objectives, such as minimizing the total cost, raising the decision robustness in various product demand scenarios, lifting the local incentives, and reducing the total transport time. For the purpose of creating a compensatory solution among all participants of the supply chain, a two-phase fuzzy decision-making method is presented and, by means of application of it to a numerical example, is proven effective in providing a compromised solution in an uncertain multi-echelon supply chain network.

Tin oxide–silica composite aerogels were successfully prepared with a co-fed precursor sol–gel process. The crystallinity of the tin oxide nanoparticles, embedded in the mesoporous SiO₂ network, was improved with increasing the post-reaction thermal treatment temperature. The composite aerogels exhibited a rich photoluminescence (PL) emission contributed by both SnO₂ and SiO₂. The PL peak of 346 nm was from the near band edge emission of the tin oxide nanoparticles, and the ones located at 310 and 476 nm were attributable to the oxygen deficiencies of the silica network. Three more emission peaks, 387, 432, and 522 nm, were observed, with the 387 nm peak contributed by the oxygen vacancies V_O⁺⁺, the 432 nm peak by the Sn interstitials, and the 522 nm peak by the oxygen vacancies V_O⁺, respectively, of the tin oxide nanoparticles. The intensities of these three defect level emissions were found decreased, as compared to that of the near band edge emission, with increasing the post-reaction thermal treatment temperature as the tin oxide crystallinity improved.