Pressurised calcination-atmospheric carbonation of limestone for cyclic CO2 capture from flue gases

A study was carried out to investigate the CO2 capture performance of limestone under atmospheric carbonations following pressurised calcination. A series of tests was carried out to study the role of pressurised calcination using a fluidised bed reactor. In this investigation, calcination of limestone particles was carried out at three levels of pressure: 0.1 MPa, 0.5 MPa, and 1.0 MPa. After calcination, the capture performance of the calcined sorbent was tested at atmospheric pressure. As expected, the results indicate that the carbonation conversion of calcined sorbent decreases as the pressure is increased during calcination. Pressurised calcination requires higher temperatures and causes an increase in sorbent sintering, albeit that it would have the advantage of reducing equipment size as well as the compression energy necessary for CO2transport and storage, and an analysis has been provided to give an assessment of the potential benefits associated with such an option using process software.EPSR

Observation of Parity Nonconservation in Møller Scattering

We report a measurement of the parity-violating asymmetry in fixed target electron-electron (Møller) scattering: A_(PV) = [-175 ± 30(stat)± 20(syst)] X 10^(-9). This first direct observation of parity nonconservation in Møller scattering leads to a measurement of the electron’s weak charge at low energy Q^e_W = -0:053 ± 0:011. This is consistent with the standard model expectation at the current level of precision: sin^2θ_W = (M_Z)_(MS) = 0:2293 ± 0:0024(stat) ± 0:0016(syst) ± 0:0006(theory)

Probing the Relation Between X-ray-Derived and Weak-Lensing-Derived Masses for Shear-Selected Galaxy Clusters: I. A781

We compare X-ray and weak-lensing masses for four galaxy clusters that comprise the top-ranked shear-selected cluster system in the Deep Lens Survey. The weak-lensing observations of this system, which is associated with A781, are from the Kitt Peak Mayall 4-m telescope, and the X-ray observations are from both Chandra and XMM-Newton. For a faithful comparison of masses, we adopt the same matter density profile for each method, which we choose to be an NFW profile. Since neither the X-ray nor weak-lensing data are deep enough to well constrain both the NFW scale radius and central density, we estimate the scale radius using a fitting function for the concentration derived from cosmological hydrodynamic simulations and an X-ray estimate of the mass assuming isothermality. We keep this scale radius in common for both X-ray and weak-lensing profiles, and fit for the central density, which scales linearly with mass. We find that for three of these clusters, there is agreement between X-ray and weak-lensing NFW central densities, and thus masses. For the other cluster, the X-ray central density is higher than that from weak-lensing by 2 sigma. X-ray images suggest that this cluster may be undergoing a merger with a smaller cluster. This work serves as an additional step towards understanding the possible biases in X-ray and weak-lensing cluster mass estimation methods. Such understanding is vital to efforts to constrain cosmology using X-ray or weak-lensing cluster surveys to trace the growth of structure over cosmic time.Comment: 14 pages, 7 figures, matches version in Ap

A Novel, Contactless, Portable “Spot-Check” Device Accurately Measures Respiratory Rate

Respiratory rate (RR) is an important vital sign used in the assessment of acutely ill patients. It is also used as to predict serious deterioration in a patient's clinical condition. Convenient electronic devices exist for measurement of pulse, blood pressure, oxygen saturation and temperature. Although devices which measure RR exist, none has entered everyday clinical practice. We developed a contactless portable respiratory rate monitor (CPRM) and evaluated the agreement in respiratory rate measurements between existing methods and our new device. The CPRM uses thermal anemometry to measure breath signals during inspiration and expiration. RR data were collected from 52 healthy adult volunteers using respiratory inductance plethysmography (RIP) bands (established contact method), visual counting of chest movements (established non-contact method) and the CPRM (new method), simultaneously. Two differently shaped funnel attachments were evaluated for each volunteer. Data showed good agreement between measurements from the CPRM and the gold standard RIP, with intra-class correlation coefficient (ICC): 0.836, mean difference 0.46 and 95% limits of agreement of -5.90 to 6.83. When separate air inlet funnels of the CPRM were analysed, stronger agreement was seen with an elliptical air inlet; ICC 0.908, mean difference 0.37 with 95% limits of agreement -4.35 to 5.08. A contactless device for accurately and quickly measuring respiratory rate will be an important triage tool in the clinical assessment of patients. More testing is needed to explore the reasons for outlying measurements and to evaluate in the clinical setting

Hypersonic Inflatable Aerodynamic Decelerator (HIAD) Technology Development Overview

The successful flight of the Inflatable Reentry Vehicle Experiment (IRVE)-3 has further demonstrated the potential value of Hypersonic Inflatable Aerodynamic Decelerator (HIAD) technology. This technology development effort is funded by NASA's Space Technology Mission Directorate (STMD) Game Changing Development Program (GCDP). This paper provides an overview of a multi-year HIAD technology development effort, detailing the projects completed to date and the additional testing planned for the future

Microstructure and corrosion of AA2024

AA2024-Tx is one of the most common high-strength aluminium alloys used in the aerospace industry. This article reviews current understanding of the microstructure of sheet AA2024-T3 and chronicles the emergence of new compositions for constituent particles as well as reviews older literature to understand the source of the original compositions. The review goes on to summarise older and more recent studies on corrosion of AA2024-T3, drawing attention to areas of corrosion initiation and propagation. It pays particular attention to modern approaches to corrosion characterisation as obtained through microelectrochemical techniques and physicochemical characterisation, which provide statistical assessment of factors that contribute to corrosion of AA2024. These approaches are also relevant to other alloys

Dual function of rare earth carboxylate compounds on the barrier properties and active corrosion inhibition of epoxy coatings on mild steel

In this work, two rare earth carboxylate compounds, lanthanum 4-hydroxycinnamate (La(4-OHcin)3) and yttrium 3-(4-methylbenzoyl)propanoate (Y(mbp)3), were incorporated into bisphenol-based epoxy resin to investigate their effectiveness in coating barrier properties and active corrosion inhibition. EIS results showed that the incorporation of rare earth carboxylate inhibitors significantly improved corrosion resistance compared to the inhibitor free coating, with the global impedance modulus remaining at a level higher than 1 GΩ cm2 after 219 days immersion. Following EIS experiments, cross-sectional views of the coatings exhibited a pore-plugging behavior by rare earth containing precipitates, which reinforced the coating barrier properties and delayed the electrolyte diffusion process. These effects were also reflected from the electrochemical parameters extracted from breakpoint frequency analysis and equivalent circuit modelling. Filiform corrosion experiments for artificially scratched coatings suggest that the addition of rare earth carboxylates effectively suppressed the initiation and growth of filaments as well as the development of the coating delamination front. The active corrosion inhibition is possibly related to the formation of a surface protective film consisting of bimetallic complexes and rare earth metal rich precipitates. The electrochemical measurements and surface analyses evidence the dual function of rare earth carboxylate species for enhancing coating barrier properties against electrolyte penetration and providing active corrosion inhibition for the underlying AS1020 mild steel