The optimal use of tris-2-ethylhexylamine to recover hydrochloric acid and metals from leach solutions and comparison with other extractants

This document is the Accepted Manuscript version of the following article: Uchenna Kesieme, Andreas Chrysanthou, Maurizio Catulli, and Chu Yong Cheng, ‘The optimal use of tris-2-ethylhexylamine to recover hydrochloric acid and metals from leach solutions and comparison with other extractants’, Journal of Environmental Chemical Engineering, Vol. 6 (2): 3177-3184, April 2018. Under embargo until 1 May 2019. The final, definitive version is available online via: https://doi.org/10.1016/j.jece.2018.05.001This paper describes the use of TEHA for HCl recovery from a leach solution generated by a hydrometallurgical plant. Four organic extractants were tested including TEHA, Alamine 336, Cyanex 923 and TBP. TEHA organic system performed best in terms of acid extraction, stripping and scrubbing efficiency. The successive extraction shows that more than 99% HCl was extracted after three stages of extraction. Scrubbing tests with different A/O ratios at different temperatures were conducted to identify the optimal conditions to separate HCl, Mn and Fe. After scrubbing the loaded organic solution at an A/O ratio of 1:4 and 22 °C, 94–100% of entrained metals were removed in a single contact with only 5.2% acid lost in the loaded scrub liquor. It was found that the phase disengagement time was in the range of 2– 4 min for both extraction and stripping, indicating reasonable fast phase separation. Based on these results from batch tests, it can be expected that after optimisation in a counter current circuit consisting of extraction, scrubbing, selective and bulk stripping, nearly all metals and HCl would be recovered and recycled.Peer reviewe

A review of acid recovery from acidic mining waste solutions using solvent extraction

This is the peer reviewed version of the following article: Uchenna Kesieme, Andreas Chrysanthou, Maurizio Catulli, and Chu Yong Cheng, ‘A review of acid recovery from acidic mining waste solutions using solvent extraction’, Journal of Chemical Technology and Biotechnology, (2018), which has been published in final form at https://doi.org/10.1002/jctb.5728. Under embargo until 1 July 2019. This article may be used for non-commercial purposes in accordance with Wiley Terms and Conditions for Self-Archiving.The minerals industry is increasingly being forced by regulatory and cost pressures to reduce the amount of liquid acidic waste they produce. This requires a strong focus on waste reduction by recycling, regeneration and reuse. Four mineral acids were examined for recovery from waste acidic solutions including H 2SO 4, HNO 3, HCl, and H 3PO 4. The selection of the optimal extractant for acid recovery was based on extraction, stripping and scrubbing efficiencies. The extractants suitable for the recovery of H 2SO 4 and HCl are in the order of TEHA > Cyanex 923 > TBP > Alamine 336. TEHA has the highest degree of acid extraction and stripping compared with Cyanex 923 and almost 99% of the acid can be stripped. Alamine 336 can extract higher acid (for H 2SO 4 and HCl systems) than Cyanex 923 and TBP. However loaded acid for Alamine 336 system cannot be stripped using water at 60°C. For the recovery of nitric and phosphoric acids from acidic waste effluents, TBP was the best option. This work clearly demonstrates that extractant suitable for acid extraction may not be suitable for its recovery. However such extractant may be applied for the removal of acid from any waste acidic solution sacrificing the back extraction of the loaded acid. The effective implementation of options for acid recovery was examined to improve sustainability in the mineral industry.Peer reviewe

Properties of quark matter and hybrid stars from a quasiparticle model

We investigate the properties of hybrid stars with the hadron-quark phase transition by using a quasiparticle model. Results from our study indicate that the coupling constant $g$ can stiffen the EOS of hybrid star matter and thus increase the hybrid star maximum mass and its tidal deformability, whereas it also decreases the mass and radius of the pure quark core. In addition, we find that a step change of the sound velocity occurs in the hadron-quark mixed phase, and it is restored with the decrease of nucleon and lepton degrees of freedom in the high density quark phase. The approximate rule that the polytropic index $\gamma \leq 1.75$ can also be used as a criterion for separating hadronic from quark matter in our work. The hypothesis of absolutely stable SQM (or "Witten hypothesis") suggests that a hybrid star containing a sufficient amount of SQM in its core will rapidly convert into a strange quark star. The SQM in hybrid stars therefore should break the absolutely stable condition, and the energy per nucleon ($E/A$) of both $ud$QM and SQM must exceed the lowest energy per nucleon 930 MeV. As a result, we provide the maximum mass, minimum radius $R_{1.4}$ and minimum tidal deformation $\Lambda_{1.4}$ of the hybrid stars as well as the maximum mass and radius of the quark matter core with different $g$ values within the allowable regions ($E/A>930$ MeV) on the $g-B^{1/4}$ plane. Using the constraints from astrophysical observations and heavy-ion experiments for comparison, our results indicate that the recently discovered massive neutron stars be well described as hybrid stars in the quasiparticle model, and confirm that the sizable quark-matter cores ($R_{QC}>6.5$ km) containing the mixed phase can appear in $2M_{\odot}$ massive stars.Comment: 10 pages, 8 figure

Heterogenization of Photochemical Molecular Devices: Embedding a Metal–Organic Cage into a ZIF-8-Derived Matrix To Promote Proton and Electron Transfer

Application of a molecular catalyst in artificial photosynthesis is confronted with challenges such as rapid deactivation due to photodegradation or detrimental aggregation in harsh conditions. In this work, a metal-organic cage [Pd-6(RUL3)(8)](28+) (MOC-16), characteristic of a photochemical molecular device (PMD) concurrently integrating eight Ru2+ light-harvesting centers and six Pd2+ catalytic centers for efficient homogeneous H-2 production, is successfully heterogenized through incorporation into a metal-organic framework (MOF) of ZIF-8 and then transformed into a carbonate matrix of Zn-x(MeIm)(x)(CO3)(x) (CZIF), leading to hybridized MOC-16@CZIF. This MOC@MOF integrated photocatalyst inherits a highly efficient and directional electron transfer in the picosecond domain of MOC-16 and possesses one order increased microsecond magnitude of the triplet excited-state electron in comparison to that of the primitive MOC-16. The carbonate CZIF matrix endows MOC-16@CZIF with water wettability, serving as a proton relay to facilitate proton delivery by virtue of H2O as proton carriers. Electron transfer during the photocatalytic process is also enhanced by infiltration of a sacrificial agent of BIH into the CZIF matrix to promote conductivity, owing to its strong reducing ability to induce free charge carriers. These synergistic effects contribute to the extra high activity for H-2 generation, making the turnover frequency of this heterogeneous MOC-16@CZIF photocatalyst maintain a level of similar to 0.4 H-2.s(-1), increased by 50-fold over that of a homogeneous PMD. Meanwhile, it is robust enough to tolerate harsh reaction conditions, presenting an unprecedented heterogenization example of homogeneous PMD with a MOF-derived matrix to mimic catalytic features of a natural photosystem, which may shed light on the design of multifunctional PMD@MOF materials to expand the number of molecular catalysts for practical application in artificial photosynthesis

Genome-wide identification, classification and analysis of heat shock transcription factor family in maize

<p>Abstract</p> <p>Background</p> <p>Heat shock response in eukaryotes is transcriptionally regulated by conserved heat shock transcription factors (Hsfs). Hsf genes are represented by a large multigene family in plants and investigation of the Hsf gene family will serve to elucidate the mechanisms by which plants respond to stress. In recent years, reports of genome-wide structural and evolutionary analysis of the entire Hsf gene family have been generated in two model plant systems, <it>Arabidopsis </it>and rice. Maize, an important cereal crop, has represented a model plant for genetics and evolutionary research. Although some Hsf genes have been characterized in maize, analysis of the entire Hsf gene family were not completed following Maize (B73) Genome Sequencing Project.</p> <p>Results</p> <p>A genome-wide analysis was carried out in the present study to identify all Hsfs maize genes. Due to the availability of complete maize genome sequences, 25 nonredundant Hsf genes, named <it>ZmHsfs </it>were identified. Chromosomal location, protein domain and motif organization of ZmHsfs were analyzed in maize genome. The phylogenetic relationships, gene duplications and expression profiles of <it>ZmHsf </it>genes were also presented in this study. Twenty-five ZmHsfs were classified into three major classes (class A, B, and C) according to their structural characteristics and phylogenetic comparisons, and class A was further subdivided into 10 subclasses. Moreover, phylogenetic analysis indicated that the orthologs from the three species (maize, <it>Arabidopsis </it>and rice) were distributed in all three classes, it also revealed diverse Hsf gene family expression patterns in classes and subclasses. Chromosomal/segmental duplications played a key role in Hsf gene family expansion in maize by investigation of gene duplication events. Furthermore, the transcripts of 25 <it>ZmHsf </it>genes were detected in the leaves by heat shock using quantitative real-time PCR. The result demonstrated that <it>ZmHsf </it>genes exhibit different expression levels in heat stress treatment.</p> <p>Conclusions</p> <p>Overall, data obtained from our investigation contributes to a better understanding of the complexity of the maize Hsf gene family and provides the first step towards directing future experimentation designed to perform systematic analysis of the functions of the Hsf gene family.</p

stability evaluation of coated lipase

Objective The study was conducted to evaluate the stability of commercial coated lipase (CT-LIP) in vitro. Methods The capsules were tested under different conditions with a range of temperature, pH, dry heat treatment and steaming treatment, simulated gastric fluid (SGF) and simulated intestinal fluid (SIF) in this work, respectively. Free lipase (uncoated lipase, UC-LIP) was the control group. Lipase relative activities measured in various treatments were used as a reference frame to characterize the stability. Results The lipase activities were decreased with increasing temperatures (p<0.05), and there was a markedly decline (p<0.01) in lipase comparative activities of UC-LIP at 80°C compared with CT-LIP group. Higher relative activities of lipase were observed in CT-LIP group compared with the free one under acidic ambient (pH 3 to 7) and an alkaline medium (pH 8 to 12). Residual lipase activities of CT-LIP group were increased (p<0.05) by 5.67% and 35.60% in dry heat and hydrothermal treatments, respectively. The lipase relative activity profile of CT-LIP was raised at first and dropped subsequently (p<0.05) compared with constantly reduced tendency of UC-LIP exposed to both SGF and SIF. Conclusion The results suggest that the CT-LIP possesses relatively higher stability in comparison with the UC-LIP in vitro. The CT-LIP could retain the potential property to provide sustained release of lipase and thus improved its bioavailability in the gastrointestinal tract

Quarantine Methods and Prevention of Secondary Outbreak of Pandemic (H1N1) 2009

Quarantine Methods and Secondary Outbreak Preventio

The LAMOST Survey of Background Quasars in the Vicinity of the Andromeda and Triangulum Galaxies -- II. Results from the Commissioning Observations and the Pilot Surveys

We present new quasars discovered in the vicinity of the Andromeda and Triangulum galaxies with the LAMOST during the 2010 and 2011 observational seasons. Quasar candidates are selected based on the available SDSS, KPNO 4 m telescope, XSTPS optical, and WISE near infrared photometric data. We present 509 new quasars discovered in a stripe of ~135 sq. deg from M31 to M33 along the Giant Stellar Stream in the 2011 pilot survey datasets, and also 17 new quasars discovered in an area of ~100 sq. deg that covers the central region and the southeastern halo of M31 in the 2010 commissioning datasets. These 526 new quasars have i magnitudes ranging from 15.5 to 20.0, redshifts from 0.1 to 3.2. They represent a significant increase of the number of identified quasars in the vicinity of M31 and M33. There are now 26, 62 and 139 known quasars in this region of the sky with i magnitudes brighter than 17.0, 17.5 and 18.0 respectively, of which 5, 20 and 75 are newly-discovered. These bright quasars provide an invaluable collection with which to probe the kinematics and chemistry of the ISM/IGM in the Local Group of galaxies. A total of 93 quasars are now known with locations within 2.5 deg of M31, of which 73 are newly discovered. Tens of quasars are now known to be located behind the Giant Stellar Stream, and hundreds behind the extended halo and its associated substructures of M31. The much enlarged sample of known quasars in the vicinity of M31 and M33 can potentially be utilized to construct a perfect astrometric reference frame to measure the minute PMs of M31 and M33, along with the PMs of substructures associated with the Local Group of galaxies. Those PMs are some of the most fundamental properties of the Local Group.Comment: 26 pages, 6 figures, AJ accepte