Stability of Ca-montmorillonite hydrates: A computer simulation study

Classic simulations are used to study interlayer structure, swelling curves, and stability of Ca-montmorillonite hydrates. For this purpose, NPzzT$ and MuPzzT ensembles are sampled for ground level and given burial conditions. For ground level conditions, a double layer hydrate having 15.0 A of basal spacing is the predominant state for relative vapor pressures (p/po) ranging in 0.6-1.0. A triple hydrate counting on 17.9 A of interlaminar distance was also found stable for p/po=1.0. For low vapor pressures, the system may produce a less hydrated but still double layer state with 13.5 A or even a single layer hydrate with 12.2 A of interlaminar distance. This depends on the established initial conditions. On the other hand, the effect of burial conditions is two sided. It was found that it enhances dehydration for all vapor pressures except for saturation, where swelling is promoted.Comment: 8 pages, 9 figure

Fischer-Tropsch synthesis in microchannels

Different metallic supports (aluminum foams of 40ppi, honeycomb monolith and micromonolith of 350 and 1180cpsi, respectively) have been loaded with a 20%Co-0.5%Re/γ-Al2O3 catalyst by the washcoating method. Layers of different thicknesses have been deposited onto the metallic supports. The catalytic coatings were characterized measuring their textural properties, adhesion and morphology. These structured catalysts have been tested in the Fischer-Tropsch synthesis (FTS) and compared with a microchannel block presenting perpendicular channels for reaction and cooling. The selectivity depends on the type of support used and mainly on the thickness of the layer deposited. In general, the C5+ selectivity decreased at increasing CO conversion for all of the systems (powder, monoliths, foams and microchannels block). On the other hand, the selectivity to methane increased with the thickness of the catalytic layer due to the higher effective H2/CO ratio over the active sites resulting from the higher diffusivity of H2 compared with CO in the liquid products filling the pores. The C5+ selectivity of the microchannels reactor is higher than that of the structured supports and the powder catalyst.Ministerio de Ciencia e Innovación MAT2006-12386-C05, ENE2009-14522-C0

No self-similar aggregates with sedimentation

Two-dimensional cluster-cluster aggregation is studied when clusters move both diffusively and sediment with a size dependent velocity. Sedimentation breaks the rotational symmetry and the ensuing clusters are not self-similar fractals: the mean cluster width perpendicular to the field direction grows faster than the height. The mean width exhibits power-law scaling with respect to the cluster size, ~ s^{l_x}, l_x = 0.61 +- 0.01, but the mean height does not. The clusters tend to become elongated in the sedimentation direction and the ratio of the single particle sedimentation velocity to single particle diffusivity controls the degree of orientation. These results are obtained using a simulation method, which becomes the more efficient the larger the moving clusters are.Comment: 10 pages, 10 figure

Fotosensibilización primaria por consumo de Ammi majus en bovinos: primer reporte en Argentina

Se describe un brote de fotosensibilización primaria en bovinos causado por el consumo de Ammi majus. Los animales manifestaron fotofobia, epífora, opacidad corneal bilateral y dermatitis en pezones, vulva y morro. Se descartó un origen secundario por daño hepático y se confirmó el diagnóstico por consumo voluntario de A. majus

Preferential oxidation of CO (CO-PROX) over CuOx/CeO2 coated microchannel reactor

The general aspects of the synthesis and characterization results of a CuOx/CeO2 catalyst were presented. In addition the principal steps for manufacturing a microchannel reactor and for the coating of the CuOx/CeO2 catalyst onto the microchannels walls, were also summarized. The catalytic activity of this microchannel reactor during the preferential oxidation of CO (CO-PROX) was evaluated employing a feed-stream that simulates a reformate off-gas after the WGS unit. Two activation atmospheres were studied (H2/N2 and O2/N 2). The reducing pretreatment improved the resistance to deactivation by formation of carbonaceous species over the catalyst surface at high temperatures. The presence of H2O and CO2 in the feed-stream was also analyzed indicating that the adsorption of CO2 inhibited the conversion of CO at lower temperatures because these compounds modified the active sites through the formation of carbonaceous species on the catalyst surface. Finally, the experimental results of the microreactor performance were compared with CFD simulations that were carried out using a kinetic for the CuOx/CeO2 powder catalyst. The experimental results were reasonably well described by the model, thus confirming its validity.Ministerio de Ciencia e Innovación ENE2009-14522-C05-01, ENE2009-14522-C05-03Junta de Andalucía P09-TEP-545

Population inversion of a NAHS mixture adsorbed into a cylindrical pore

A cylindrical nanopore immersed in a non-additive hard sphere binary fluid is studied by means of integral equation theories and Monte Carlo simulations. It is found that at low and intermediate values of the bulk total number density the more concentrated bulk species is preferentially absorbed by the pore, as expected. However, further increments of the bulk number density lead to an abrupt population inversion in the confined fluid and an entropy driven prewetting transition at the outside wall of the pore. These phenomena are a function of the pore size, the non-additivity parameter, the bulk number density, and particles relative number fraction. We discuss our results in relation to the phase separation in the bulk.Comment: 7 pages, 8 Figure

Design and testing of a microchannel reactor for the PROX reaction

The different steps for manufacturing a microchannel reactor for the PROX reaction are discussed. Transient Liquid Phase bonding (TLP) using a Ni-B-Si amorphous melt spun is used for joining micromilled Al-alloyed ferritic stainless steel plates followed by recrystallization at 1200°C for 5h. A CuOx-CeO2 catalyst synthesized by the coprecipitation method was washcoated on the microchannel block resulting in a homogenous 20-30μm thick layer. The catalytic activity for CO-PROX reaction is similar in both the powder catalyst and the microchannel coated reactor but the selectivity is higher in the microchannel reactor. © 2010 Elsevier B.V.Ministerio de Ciencia e Innovación MAT-2006-12386-C05, ENE-2009-14522-C05-01, BES-2007-14409, BES-2007-15297Junta de Andalucía P06-TEP-0848

Testing "microscopic" theories of glass-forming liquids

We assess the validity of "microscopic" approaches of glass-forming liquids based on the sole k nowledge of the static pair density correlations. To do so we apply them to a benchmark provided by two liquid models that share very similar static pair density correlation functions while disp laying distinct temperature evolutions of their relaxation times. We find that the approaches are unsuccessful in describing the difference in the dynamical behavior of the two models. Our study is not exhausti ve, and we have not tested the effect of adding corrections by including for instance three-body density correlations. Yet, our results appear strong enough to challenge the claim that the slowd own of relaxation in glass-forming liquids, for which it is well established that the changes of the static structure factor with temperature are small, can be explained by "microscopic" appr oaches only requiring the static pair density correlations as nontrivial input.Comment: 10 pages, 7 figs; Accepted to EPJE Special Issue on The Physics of Glasses. Arxiv version contains an addendum to the appendix which does not appear in published versio