Refractory for Black Liquor Gasifiers

The University of Missouri-Rolla will identify materials that will permit the safe, reliable and economical operation of combined cycle gasifiers by the pulp and paper industry. The primary emphasis of this project will be to resolve the materials problems encountered during the operation of low-pressure high-temperature (LFHT) and low-pressure low-temperature (LPLT) gasifiers while simultaneously understanding the materials barriers to the successful demonstration of high-pressure high-temperature (HPHT) black liquor gasifiers. This study will define the chemical, thermal and physical conditions in current and proposed gasifier designs and then modify existing materials and develop new materials to successfully meet the formidable material challenges. Resolving the material challenges of black liquor gasification combined cycle technology will provide energy, environmental, and economic benefits that include higher thermal efficiencies, up to three times greater electrical output per unit of fuel, and lower emissions. In the near term, adoption of this technology will allow the pulp and paper industry greater capital effectiveness and flexibility, as gasifiers are added to increase mill capacity. In the long term, combined-cycle gasification will lessen the industry's environmental impact while increasing its potential for energy production, allowing the production of all the mill's heat and power needs along with surplus electricity being returned to the grid. An added benefit will be the potential elimination of the possibility of smelt-water explosions, which constitute an important safety concern wherever conventional Tomlinson recovery boilers are operated. Developing cost-effective materials with improved performance in gasifier environments may be the best answer to the material challenges presented by black liquor gasification. Refractory materials may be selected/developed that either react with the gasifier environment to form protective surfaces in-situ; are functionally-graded to give the best combination of thermal, mechanical, and physical properties and chemical stability; or are relatively inexpensive, reliable repair materials. Material development will be divided into 2 tasks: Task 1, Development and property determinations of improved and existing refractory systems for black liquor containment. Refractory systems of interest include magnesia aluminate and baria aluminate spinels for binder materials, both dry and hydratable, and materials with high alumina contents, 85-95 wt%, aluminum oxide, 5.0-15.0 wt%, and BaO, SrO, CaO, ZrO and SiC. Task 2, Finite element analysis of heat flow and thermal stress/strain in the refractory lining and steel shell of existing and proposed vessel designs. Stress and strain due to thermal and chemical expansion has been observed to be detrimental to the lifespan of existing black liquor gasifiers. The thermal and chemical strain as well as corrosion rates must be accounted for in order to predict the lifetime of the gasifier containment materials

The effect of magnesium on bioactivity, rheology and biology behaviors of injectable bioactive glass-gelatin-3-glycidyloxypropyl trimethoxysilane nanocomposite-paste for small bone defects repair

Injectable bioactive glass-based pastes represent promising biomaterials to fill small bone defects thus improving and speed up the self-healing process. Accordingly, injectable nanocomposite pastes based on bioactive glass-gelatin-3-glycidyloxypropyl trimethoxysilane (GPTMS) were here synthesized via two different glasses 64SiO2. 27CaO. 4MgO. 5P2O5 (mol.%) and 64SiO2.31CaO. 5P2O5 (mol.%). In particular, the effects of MgO on bioactivity, rheology, injectability, disintegration resistance, compressive strength and cellular behaviors were investigated. The results showed that the disintegration resistance and compressive strength of the composite were improved by the replacement of MgO; thus, leading to an increase in the amount of storage modulus (G′) from 26800 to 43400 Pa, equal to an increase in the viscosity of the paste from 136 × 103 to 219 × 103 Pa s. Since the release rate of ions became more controllable, the formation of calcite was decreased after immersion of the Mg bearing samples in the SBF solution. Specimens’ cytocompatibility was firstly verified towards human osteoblasts by metabolic assay as well as visually confirmed by the fluorescent live/dead staining; finally, the ability of human fibroblasts to penetrate within the pores of 3D composites was verified by a migration assay simulating the devices repopulation upon injection in the injured site

Infrared surface polaritons on bismuth

Optical constants for evaporated bismuth (Bi) films were measured by ellipsometry and compared with those published for single crystal and melt-cast polycrystalline Bi in the wavelength range of 1 to 40 mu m. The bulk plasma frequency omega(p) and high-frequency limit to the permittivity epsilon(infinity) were determined from the long-wave portion of the permittivity spectrum, taking previously published values for the relaxation time tau and effective mass m*. This part of the complex permittivity spectrum was confirmed by comparing calculated and measured reflectivity spectra in the far-infrared. Properties of surface polaritons (SPs) in the long-wave infrared were calculated to evaluate the potential of Bi for applications in infrared plasmonics. Measured excitation resonances for SPs on Bi lamellar gratings agree well with calculated resonance spectra based on grating geometry and complex permittivity

3D Printing of Dental Prostheses: Current and Emerging Applications

Revolutionary fabrication technologies such as three-dimensional (3D) printing to develop dental structures are expected to replace traditional methods due to their ability to establish constructs with the required mechanical properties and detailed structures. Three-dimensional printing, as an additive manufacturing approach, has the potential to rapidly fabricate complex dental prostheses by employing a bottom-up strategy in a layer-by-layer fashion. This new technology allows dentists to extend their degree of freedom in selecting, creating, and performing the required treatments. Three-dimensional printing has been narrowly employed in the fabrication of various kinds of prostheses and implants. There is still an on-demand production procedure that offers a reasonable method with superior efficiency to engineer multifaceted dental constructs. This review article aims to cover the most recent applications of 3D printing techniques in the manufacturing of dental prosthetics. More specifically, after describing various 3D printing techniques and their advantages/disadvantages, the applications of 3D printing in dental prostheses are elaborated in various examples in the literature. Different 3D printing techniques have the capability to use different materials, including thermoplastic polymers, ceramics, and metals with distinctive suitability for dental applications, which are discussed in this article. The relevant limitations and challenges that currently limit the efficacy of 3D printing in this field are also reviewed. This review article has employed five major scientific databases, including Google Scholar, PubMed, ScienceDirect, Web of Science, and Scopus, with appropriate keywords to find the most relevant literature in the subject of dental prostheses 3D printing

Development of the conditional moment closure method for modelling turbulent combustion

Abstract Objective: The purpose of this study was to evaluate the effects of low-level laser irradiation (LLLI) on the in vitro growth characteristics and in vivo pathogenicity of Candida albicans in a murine model in the absence of a photosensitizer. Background data: C. albicans is an opportunistic commensal organism that causes a wide variety of diseases in human beings, ranging from superficial infections to life-threatening invasive candidiasis. The incidence of C. albicans infection is increasing, because of the greater frequency of acquired immunodeficiency conditions. A high recurrence rate has been reported for vulvovaginal and oral candidiasis, despite the best available treatments. Therefore, the search for new treatment modalities seems quite rational. Methods: Candida culture plates were exposed to common clinical energies of LLLI: 3, 5, 10, and 20 J at 685 nm (BTL Laser 5000, Medicinos Projektai, Czech Republic, Prague, max power output 50 mW) and 3, 5, 10, 30, and 50 J at 830 nm (BTL Laser 5000, Medicinos Projektai, Czech Republic, Prague, max power output 400 mW). Results: Following LLLI with energies >10 J at both 685 and 830 nm wavelengths, statistically significant effects were observed in vitro on the turbidimetric growth kinetics of C. albicans and in vivo on the survival rate of infected mice (p value </=0.05). Therefore, this energy could be considered a threshold for clinical investigation. Conclusions: Translating our data into the clinical setting, it can be proposed that a direct laser-based approach without using a photosensitizing dye can significantly reduce the pathogenicity of Candida albicans. It can also be concluded that laser light at specific wavelengths could be a possible promising novel treatment for superficial and mucocutaneous C. albicans infections

A Comparison of the Effect of Ondansetron and Propofol on Intrathecal Opioid-Induced itch in Elective Cesarean Section

BACKGROUND AND OBJECTIVE: Itch is one of the most common and uncomfortable side effects of neuraxial anesthesia. Its incidence is higher especially in cesarean section. The aim of this study was to compare the effect of ondansetron and propofol at doses lower than the hypnotic dose on the treatment of itch induced by intrathecal fentanyl in cesarean section. METHODS: In this prospective study, 90 patients with American Society of Anesthesiologists (ASA) class I and class II with an average age of 30 years and first time cesarean section underwent intra-spinal anesthesia with 25 μg fentanyl and 10 mg bupivacaine 0.5%. Women were randomly divided into two groups of 45. One group received 4 mg ondansetron and another group received 10 mg propofol at first and then 10 μg / kg / min through infusion. The incidence and severity of itch were recorded on the basis of the visual scoring system during operation and during recovery. FINDINGS:The highest incidence of itch was 30 to 60 minutes after injection. The incidence of itch during surgery was 2.22% and 7.26%, and during recovery was 7.6% and 8.8%, in the ondansetron and propofol groups, respectively (p=0.5, p=0.4). The mean itch severity scores during surgery were 1.85±0.69 and 1.66±0.81, and during the recovery were 1.33±0.57 and 1.25±0.5, in the ondansetron and propofol groups, respectively (p=0.65) (p=0.84). CONCLUSION: Based on the results of this study, ondansetron and propofol at doses lower than the hypnotic dose were well tolerated. Considering the effect of both drugs on the treatment of itch caused by intrathecal fentanyl, both of them can be used clinicall

Angular clustering properties of the DESI QSO target selection using DR9 Legacy Imaging Surveys

The quasar target selection for the upcoming survey of the Dark Energy Spectroscopic Instrument (DESI) will be fixed for the next 5 yr. The aim of this work is to validate the quasar selection by studying the impact of imaging systematics as well as stellar and galactic contaminants, and to develop a procedure to mitigate them. Density fluctuations of quasar targets are found to be related to photometric properties such as seeing and depth of the Data Release 9 of the DESI Legacy Imaging Surveys. To model this complex relation, we explore machine learning algorithms (random forest and multilayer perceptron) as an alternative to the standard linear regression. Splitting the footprint of the Legacy Imaging Surveys into three regions according to photometric properties, we perform an independent analysis in each region, validating our method using extended Baryon Oscillation Spectroscopic Survey (eBOSS) EZ-mocks. The mitigation procedure is tested by comparing the angular correlation of the corrected target selection on each photometric region to the angular correlation function obtained using quasars from the Sloan Digital Sky Survey (SDSS) Data Release 16. With our procedure, we recover a similar level of correlation between DESI quasar targets and SDSS quasars in two-thirds of the total footprint and we show that the excess of correlation in the remaining area is due to a stellar contamination that should be removed with DESI spectroscopic data. We derive the Limber parameters in our three imaging regions and compare them to previous measurements from SDSS and the 2dF QSO Redshift Survey