A consistency-checking consensus-building method to assess complexity of energy megaprojects

Project complexity has been recognised as one of the main causes of failures in many energy megaprojects worldwide. This research aims to develop a Project Complexity Assessment (PCA) method, which consists of three components: a taxonomy of Project Complexity Indicators (PCIs), an integrated Delphi and Analytic Hierarchy Process (AHP) process to establish weights of the PCIs, and numerical rating criteria for all PCIs. An innovative aspect of the research is the effective consistency checking and consensus building method during the Delphi-AHP process. The developed PCA method is demonstrated in an energy megaproject case study

Synthèse de nouveaux inhibiteurs de métalloprotéases dérivés d'hétéroarylbenzènesulfamides

Les inhibiteurs de métalloprotéases matricielles possèdent un potentiel thérapeutique dans la lutte contre l'invasion métastasique. Ce travail concerne l'élaboration et l'évaluation de nouvelles molécules présentant le motif hétéroarylbenzénesulfamide. La première partie intéresse les dérivés du thiazole disubstitués en 2,4 et 2,5. La connexion entre les deux motifs aromatiques peut être réalisée par un couplage organostannane/dérivé halogéné catalysé par un complexe palladie . Alternativement, la structure thiazolique peut être obtenue par réaction d'une bromocétone et d'un thiobenzamide ou par cyclisation d'un b-cétoamide en présence de pentasulfure de phosphore. La deuxième partie concerne les homologues oxygénés. L'oxydation d'oxazolines conduit aux 2,4-diaryloxazoles, la cyclisation de b-cétoamides aux 2,5-diaryloxazoles. La synthèse d'imidazoles reste à optimiser. Le pouvoir inhibiteur de ces composés a été évalué vis à vis de MMP-2 et MMP-9. L'une de ces molécules manifeste une activité remarquable.Les inhibiteurs de métalbprotéases matricielles possèdent un potentiel thérapeutique dans la lutte contre l'invé'sion métastasique. Ce travail concerne l'élaboration et l'évaluation de nouvelles molécules présentant le motif hétéroarylbenzénesulfamide. La première partie intéresse les dérivés du thiazole disubstitués en 2,4 et 2,5. La connexion entre les deux motifs aromatiques peut être réalisée par un couplage organostannane/dérivé halogéné catalysé par un complexe palladié. Alternativement, la structure thiazolique peut être obtenue par réaction d'une bromocétone et d'un thiobenzamide ou par cyclisation d'un b-cétoamide en présence de pentasulfure de phosphore. La deuxième partie concerne les homologues oxygénés. L'oxydation d'oxazolines conduit aux 2,4-diaryloxazole's, la cyclisation de b-cétoamides aux 2,5-diaryloxazoles. La synthèse d'imidazoles reste à optimiser. Le pouvoir inhibiteur de ces composés a été évalué vis à vis de MMP-2 et MMP-9. L'une de ces molécules manifeste une activité remarquable.LILLE1-BU (590092102) / SudocSudocFranceF

One-Pot FDCA Diester Synthesis from Mucic Acid and Their Solvent-Free Regioselective Polytransesterification for Production of Glycerol-Based Furanic Polyesters

International audienceA one pot-two step procedure for the synthesis of diethyl furan-2,5-dicarboxylate (DEFDC) starting from mucic acid without isolation of the intermediate furan dicarboxylic acid (FDCA) was studied. Then, the production of three different kinds of furan-based polyesters-polyethylene-2,5-furan dicarboxylate (PEF), polyhydropropyl-2,5-furan dicarboxylate(PHPF) and polydiglycerol-2,5-furandicarboxylate (PDGF)-was realized through a Co(Ac) 2 ·4H 2 O catalyzed polytransesterification performed at 160 • C between DEFDC and a defined diol furan-based prepolymer or pure diglycerol. In parallel to polymerization process, an unattended regioselective 1-OH acylation of glycerol by direct microwave-heated FDCA diester transesterification led to the formation of a symmetric prepolymer ready for further polymerization and clearly identified by 2D NMR sequences. Furthermore, the synthesis of a more soluble and hydrophilic diglycerol-based furanic polyester was also achieved. The resulting biobased polymers were characterized by NMR, FT-IR spectroscopy, DSC, TGA and XRD. The morphologies of the resulted polymers were observed by FE-SEM and the purity of the material by EDX

Novel One-Step Process for the Production of Bioplastic from Rapeseed Press Cake

Crude rapeseed cake was employed as the starting material for the preparation of protein-based bioplastic films through a wet process. A simple exposure of the agricultural waste to formic acid realized at 40 °C for 15 min could afford a slurry ready for producing robust bioplastic films by casting without another plasticizer addition. After determining the optimal process conditions, all films and membranes were successively characterized by DSC and FT-IR spectroscopy. They were also tested for their water absorption capacity, tensile strength, and elongation at break performance. The respective surface morphology and elementary composition of the products were determined by FE-SEM/EDX. Some attempts to improve their intrinsic properties were performed by loading graphene oxide inside the biopolymer three-dimensional matrix

Solvent-Free Production by Extrusion of Bio-Based Poly(glycerol-co-diacids) Sheets for the Development of Biocompatible and Electroconductive Elastomer Composites

Faced with growing global demand for new potent, bio-based, biocompatible elastomers, the present study reports the solvent-free production of 13 pure and derived poly(glycerol-co-diacid) composite sheets exclusively using itaconic acid, sebacic acid, and 2,5-furandicarboxylic acid (FDCA) with glycerol. Herein, modified melt polycondensation and Co(II)-catalyzed polytransesterification were employed to produce all exploitable prepolymers, enabling the easy and rapid manufacturing of elastomer sheets by extrusion. Most of our samples were loaded with 4 wt% of various additives such as natural polysaccharides, synthetic polymers, and/or 25 wt% sodium chloride as porogen agents. The removal of unreacted monomers and acidic short oligomers was carried out by means of washing with NaHCO3 aqueous solution, and pH monitoring was conducted until efficient sheet surface neutralization. For each sheet, their surface morphologies were observed by Field-emission microscopy, and DSC was used to confirm their amorphous nature and the impact of the introduction of every additive. The chemical constitution of the materials was monitored by FTIR. Then, cytotoxicity tests were performed for six of our most promising candidates. Finally, we achieved the production of two different types of extrusion-made PGS elastomers loaded with 10 wt% PANI particulates and 4 wt% microcrystalline cellulose for adding potential electroconductivity and stability to the material, respectively. In a preliminary experiment, we showed the effectiveness of these materials as performant, time-dependent electric pH sensors when immersed in a persistent HCl atmosphere

Continuous flow alcoholysis of furfuryl alcohol to alkyl levulinates using zeolites

The present work explores the catalytic activity of various zeolites for the production of methyl levulinates from hemicellulose derived furfuryl alcohol and explores the performance of H-ZSM-5-50 zeolite in continuous flow alcoholysis. Methyl levulinate yields up to 80% were achieved at 170 °C (50 bar) using a high load (1.6 M furfuryl alcohol) feed at 0.2 mL min^–1 flow rate. Angelica lactones were produced in significant amounts as one of the side products, albeit in lower amounts in continuous flow mode. Catalyst deactivation occurred at high furfuryl alcohol load through formation of pore blocking polyfurfuryl alcohols. The zeolites showed good reusability after regeneration at 500 °C. The levulinate yields in ethanol and <i>n</i>-propanol were 20% lower