Removal of mercury (II) from aqueous solution by using rice residues

Sorption potential of rice residues for Hg(II) removal from aqueous solution was investigated. Rice husk (RH) and rice straw (RS) were selected and treated with sodium hydroxide (NaOH). The raw and modified adsorbents were characterized by Scanning Electron Microscopy (SEM), Fourier Transform Infrared Spectroscopy (FTIR) and BET surface area measurements. The effects of pH, initial ion concentration, and agitation time on the removal process were studied in batch adsorption experiments. Two simple kinetic models, which are pseudo-first-order and pseudo-second-order, were tested to investigate the adsorption mechanisms. The kinetic data fits to pseudo second order model with correlation coefficients greater than 0.99 for all adsorbents. The equilibrium data fitted well with the Langmuir compared to Freundlich isotherm models. Alkali-treated adsorbent obtained larger surface area and RH-NaOH showed highest adsorption capacity followed by RS-Pure > RH-Pure > RS-NaOH. The maximum removal efficiency obtained by RH-NaOH and RS-Pure was 42 mg/l (80%) at pH 6.5 and with 2 days contact time (for 50 mg/l initial concentration and 25 mg adsorbents)

Charge and momentum transfer in supercooled melts: Why should their relaxation times differ?

The steady state values of the viscosity and the intrinsic ionic-conductivity of quenched melts are computed, in terms of independently measurable quantities. The frequency dependence of the ac dielectric response is estimated. The discrepancy between the corresponding characteristic relaxation times is only apparent; it does not imply distinct mechanisms, but stems from the intrinsic barrier distribution for $\alpha$-relaxation in supercooled fluids and glasses. This type of intrinsic ``decoupling'' is argued not to exceed four orders in magnitude, for known glassformers. We explain the origin of the discrepancy between the stretching exponent $\beta$, as extracted from $\epsilon(\omega)$ and the dielectric modulus data. The actual width of the barrier distribution always grows with lowering the temperature. The contrary is an artifact of the large contribution of the dc-conductivity component to the modulus data. The methodology allows one to single out other contributions to the conductivity, as in ``superionic'' liquids or when charge carriers are delocalized, implying that in those systems, charge transfer does not require structural reconfiguration.Comment: submitted to J Chem Phy

Absence of molecular mobility on nano-second time scales in amorphous ice phases

High-resolution neutron backscattering techniques are exploited to study the elastic and quasi-elastic response of the high-density amorphous (HDA), the low-density amorphous (LDA) and the crystalline ice Ic upon temperature changes. Within the temperature ranges of their structural stability (HDA at T > 80 K, LDA at T > 135 K, ice Ic at T < 200 K) the Debye-Waller factors and mean-square displacements characterise all states as harmonic solids. During the transformations HDA->LDA (T ~ 100 K), LDA->Ic (T ~ 150K) and the supposed glass transition with Tg ~ 135 K no relaxation processes can be detected on a time scale t < 4 ns. It can be concluded from coherent scattering measurements (D_2O) that LDA starts to recrystallise into ice Ic at T ~ 135 K, i.e. at the supposed Tg. In the framework of the Debye model of harmonic solids HDA reveals the highest Debye temperature among the studied ice phases, which is in full agreement with the lowest Debye level in the generalised density of states derived from time-of-flight neutron scattering experiments. The elastic results at low T indicate the presence of an excess of modes in HDA, which do not obey the Bose statistics

Welfare guarantees for proportional allocations

According to the proportional allocation mechanism from the network optimization literature, users compete for a divisible resource -- such as bandwidth -- by submitting bids. The mechanism allocates to each user a fraction of the resource that is proportional to her bid and collects an amount equal to her bid as payment. Since users act as utility-maximizers, this naturally defines a proportional allocation game. Recently, Syrgkanis and Tardos (STOC 2013) quantified the inefficiency of equilibria in this game with respect to the social welfare and presented a lower bound of 26.8% on the price of anarchy over coarse-correlated and Bayes-Nash equilibria in the full and incomplete information settings, respectively. In this paper, we improve this bound to 50% over both equilibrium concepts. Our analysis is simpler and, furthermore, we argue that it cannot be improved by arguments that do not take the equilibrium structure into account. We also extend it to settings with budget constraints where we show the first constant bound (between 36% and 50%) on the price of anarchy of the corresponding game with respect to an effective welfare benchmark that takes budgets into account.Comment: 15 page

Minimal model for beta relaxation in viscous liquids

Contrasts between beta relaxation in equilibrium viscous liquids and glasses are rationalized in terms of a double-well potential model with structure-dependent asymmetry, assuming structure is described by a single order parameter. The model is tested for tripropylene glycol where it accounts for the hysteresis of the dielectric beta loss peak frequency and magnitude during cooling and reheating through the glass transition.Comment: Phys. Rev. Lett. (in press

Study on Treatment of Slaughterhouse Wastewater by Electro-coagulation Technique

Electro-coagulation (EC) is well known as a technique for removing suspended solids as well as oils and greases from wastewater. The aims of this research are to study the performance of the EC technique to treat a high strength wastewater from slaughterhouse in batchwise mode. The effect of various process variables such as number and electrode material, initial pH, suspended solid (SS) content, and operating time was investigated The electrolytic cell (electro-coagulator) used was a 600 ml cylinder glass reactor with working volume 400 ml and equipped by magnetic stirrer without temperature control. Cast iron (Fe) and aluminum (Al) cylinder were used as anode/cathode pair. The number of electrode was varied 1 and 2 pairs. The effective area of the electrode pair was 6.28 cm2. The DC power supply was controlled by a voltmeter and be adjusted constant at 125 A/m2 for each test runs. The initial SS concentration were varied from 1250, 2100, 3000, and 4000 mg/L by diluting wastewater. It is found that effluent temperature depends on SS and increases up to 98 °C when SS content was 4000 mg/L. One and two pairs of Fe-Al electrode will give SS removal efficiency are 97.2 and 99.6 %, respectively. However, the higher electrode number will need the shorter time to get certain removal efficiency of SS. Number of electrodes didn\u27t give the significant impact to the final pHs. With initial pH 7.05 both two pair of electrode will give the final pH relatively constant to 7.80. Further work will be conducted to optimize the CD and charge loading to avoid the excessive temperature increas

Thermogravimetric and kinetic analyses of oil palm empty fruit bunch (OPEFB) pellets using the distributed activation energy model

The thermal degradation behaviour and decomposition kinetics of oil palm empty fruit bunch (OPEFB) pellets were investigated using a thermogravimetric analyser and the distributed activation energy model (DAEM). The OPEFB pellets were heated from 30°C to 1000°C at three different heating rates (5, 10, 20°C min-1) under a nitrogen atmosphere. The thermogravimetric-derivative thermogravimetric (TG-DTG) curves revealed that the non-isothermal decomposition of OPEFB pellets occurred in the following three stages: drying (35°C-175°C), active pyrolysis (200°C-370°C) and passive pyrolysis (370°C-1000°C), which resulted in the loss of moisture, volatile matter and char, respectively. The distributed activation energy model was subsequently used to determine the apparent activation energies (E) and pre-exponential factors (A), which ranged from 37.89 kJ mol-1 to 234.05 kJ mol-1 and from 2.05 × 102 min-1 to 3.54 × 1018 min-1, respectively, for conversions of α = 0.05-0.70 during the thermal degradation. The wide E and A distributions obtained from the kinetic analysis are attributed to the complex chemical reactions of pyrolysis. The kinetic analysis revealed the kinetic compensation effect (KCE), with the highest E and A values occurring in the range of α = 0.2-0.4. This result indicates that the active pyrolysis stage is the rate-determining step during the thermal decomposition of OPEFB pellets

Structural influence on atomic hopping and electronic states of Pd-based bulk metallic glasses

Atomic motion and electronic structures of Pd–Ni–Cu–P bulk metallic glasses were investigated using 31P nuclear magnetic resonance. The hopping rate of P atoms was determined by the stimulated echo technique. Significant hopping was observed in all alloys well below the glass transition temperature. Increasing the Cu content to above 25 at. % increases P hopping significantly, consistent with the previous finding that the openness of the structure increases with Cu content. In contrast, P hopping is not influenced by changes of local electronic states at P sites, induced by the substitution of Ni by Cu

Screw Connection Systems in Timber-Concrete Composite Structures: A Literature Review

This paper reviews the type of engineered timbers and connection systems used in timber concrete composite structures. The literature references were selected and reviewed carefully to get a detailed overview of the use of timber and connections systems in timber-concrete composite structures. The list of connection systems used in the timber-concrete composite structures was reviewed from the previous works to perceive its advantages and disadvantages. It was found that the glued joint is the stiffest connection but low in ductility. Mechanical fasteners such as screw connections have moderate stiffness and ductility compared to the hardwood studs which have the lowest stiffness and the highest ductility. The design models of connection strength and stiffness of the screw connections were assembled and discussed to recognise their limitations to the design of timber-concrete composite structures