EXPERIMENTAL STUDIES ON CONGO RED ADSORPTION BY TEA WASTE IN THE PRESENCE OF SILICA AND Fe2O3 NANOPARTICLES

In this work, the adsorption of the anionic dye, Congo red (CR), from aqueous solution by using tea waste (TW) has been carried out at 30 °C. The equilibrium sorption isotherms and kinetics were investigated. The equilibrium adsorption was studied by the Langmuir and Freundlich models of adsorption. The experimental results manifested that the Langmuir isotherm was the best model for the adsorption of CR by TW and implied the monolayer adsorption of CR on TW with the adsorption capacity of 40.6 mg/g at 30 °C. The kinetic data resulted from batch experiments were analyzed using pseudo-first-order and pseudo-second-order models. It was found that pseudo-second-order model provided the best fit for the experimental data (R2>0.99). The results illustrated that both silica and Fe2O3 nanoparticles increased the adsorption of CR on TW by about 5% and 10% at 30 °C, respectively. The results suggested that TW should be a potential low-cost adsorbent for the removal of CR from aqueous solution

Investigation of Two-phase Microchannel Flow and Phase Equilibria in Micro Cells for Applications to Enhanced Oil Recovery

The viscous oil-water hydrodynamics in a microchannel and phase equilibria of heavy oil and carbon dioxide gas have been investigated in connection with the enhanced recovery of heavy oil from petroleum reservoirs. The oil-water flow was studied in a circular microchannel made of fused silica with an I.D. of 250 µm. The viscosity of the silicone oil (863 mPa.sec) was close to that of the gas-saturated heavy oil in reservoirs. The channel was always initially filled with the oil. Two different sets of experiments were conducted: continuous oil-water flow and immiscible displacement of oil by water. For the case of continuous water and oil injection, different types of liquid-liquid flow patterns were identified and a flow pattern map was developed based on Reynolds, Capillary and Weber numbers. Also, a simple correlation for pressure drop of the two phase system was developed. In the immiscible displacement experiments, the water initially formed a core-annular flow pattern, i.e. a water core surrounded by a viscous oil film. The initially symmetric flow became asymmetric with time as the water core shifted off centre and also the waves at the oil-water interface became asymmetric. A linear stability analysis for core-annular flow was also performed. A characteristic equation which predicts the growth rate of perturbations as a function of the core radius, Reynolds number, and viscosity and density ratios of the two phases was developed. Also, two micro cells for gas solubility measurements in oils were designed and constructed. The blind cell had an internal volume of less than 2 ml and the micro glass cell had a volume less than 100 µl. By minimizing the cell volume, measurements could be made more quickly. The CO2 solubility was determined in bitumen and ashphaltene-free bitumen samples to show that ashphaltene has a negligible effect on CO2 solubility.Ph

Batch removal of Pb (ΙΙ) ions from aqueous medium using gamma-Al2O3 nanoparticles/ethyl cellulose adsorbent fabricated via electrospinning method: An equilibrium isotherm and characterization study

The aim of the present work is to study the efficiency of a biocompatible polymer-based adsorbent for the removal of Pb (II) ions whose devastating effects on people’s health is a matter of great concern from aqueous solution. In this study, ethyl cellulose and gamma-Al2O3 nanoparticles/ethyl cellulose electrospun adsorbents were prepared for the batch removal of Pb (II) ions from aqueous solution. Both samples were characterized using contact angle analysis, N2 adsorption/desorption technique, FT-IR and SEM. The Freundlich model (R-square = 0.935 and RMSD (%) = 6.659) and the Dubinin-Radushkevich model (R-square = 0.944 and RMSD (%) = 6.145) were found to be more reliable in predicting the experimental data from the adsorption of Pb (II) ions onto the electrospun gamma-Al2O3 nanoparticles/ethyl cellulose than the Langmuir model (R-square = 0.685 and RMSD (%) = 14.61) and also the Temkin model (R-square = 0.695 and RMSD (%) = 14.38)

The Forward Physics Facility at the High-Luminosity LHC

International audienceHigh energy collisions at the High-Luminosity Large Hadron Collider (LHC) produce a large number of particles along the beam collision axis, outside of the acceptance of existing LHC experiments. The proposed Forward Physics Facility (FPF), to be located several hundred meters from the ATLAS interaction point and shielded by concrete and rock, will host a suite of experiments to probe Standard Model (SM) processes and search for physics beyond the Standard Model (BSM). In this report, we review the status of the civil engineering plans and the experiments to explore the diverse physics signals that can be uniquely probed in the forward region. FPF experiments will be sensitive to a broad range of BSM physics through searches for new particle scattering or decay signatures and deviations from SM expectations in high statistics analyses with TeV neutrinos in this low-background environment. High statistics neutrino detection will also provide valuable data for fundamental topics in perturbative and non-perturbative QCD and in weak interactions. Experiments at the FPF will enable synergies between forward particle production at the LHC and astroparticle physics to be exploited. We report here on these physics topics, on infrastructure, detector, and simulation studies, and on future directions to realize the FPF's physics potential