Phase equilibria and methane enrichment of clathrate hydrates of mine ventilation air + tetrabutylphosphonium bromide

This paper reports the experimentally measured phase equilibrium conditions for the clathrate hydrates formed from simulated mine ventilation air (0.50 vol % CH + 99.50 vol % air) in the presence of 0, 5, 20, 37.1, and 50 wt % of tetrabutylphosphonium bromide (TBPB). These equilibrium conditions were measured at the temperature range of 281.62-292.49 K and pressure range of 1.92-18.55 MPa by using an isochoric equilibrium step-heating pressure search method. The results showed that addition of TBPB allowed the hydrate dissociation condition for mine ventilation air to become milder, and at a given temperature, the lowest hydrate dissociation pressure was achieved at 37.1 wt % TBPB, corresponding to the stoichiometric composition for TBPB·32H O. For each TBPB concentration tested, the semilogarithmic plots of hydrate dissociation pressure versus reciprocal absolute temperature can be satisfactorily fitted to two straight lines intersecting at 6.5 MPa. The slopes of these fitted straight lines are indifferent to changes in TBPB concentration. Gas composition analysis by gas chromatography also found that in the presence of 37.1 wt % TBPB, CH could be enriched approximately 3.5-fold in the hydrate phase

Phase equilibrium measurements for clathrate hydrates of flue gas (CO2 + N2 + O2) in the presence of tetra-n-butyl ammonium bromide or tri-n-butylphosphine oxide

This paper reports the measured hydrate phase equilibria of simulated flue gas (12.6 vol% CO2, 80.5 vol% N2, 6.9 vol% O2) in the presence of tetra-n-butyl ammonium bromide (TBAB) or tri-n-butylphosphine oxide (TBPO), at (0, 5 and 26) wt%, respectively. The measurements of the phase boundary between (hydrate + liquid + vapor) (H + L + V) phases and (liquid + vapor) (L + V) phases were performed within the temperature range (275.97 to 293.99) K and pressure range (1.56 to 18.78) MPa with using the isochoric step-heating pressure search method. It was found that addition of TBAB or TBPO allowed the incipient equilibrium hydrate formation conditions for the flue gas to become milder. Compared to TBAB, TBPO was largely more effective in reducing the phase equilibrium pressure

Thermodynamic stability conditions, methane enrichment, and gas uptake of ionic clathrate hydrates of mine ventilation air

Abatement of methane from mine ventilation air (MVA) is a significant challenge faced by coal mining industry. A promising method for methane capture from gas mixture is clathrate hydrate formation. In search of suitable and cost-effective low-dosage promoters for hydrate-based methane capture processes, this paper reports the pressure requirement for the hydrate formation of simulated MVA (0.5vol% CH+99.5vol% air) and its potential for methane extraction, in the presence of tri-n-butyl phosphine oxide (TBPO) or tetra-n-butyl ammonium bromide (TBAB) at three different initial loadings (5wt%, 15wt%, and 26wt%). An isochoric equilibrium step-heating pressure search method was used to measure the hydrate phase equilibrium conditions at the temperature range of (277.61-295.54) K and pressure range of (0.23-19.11) MPa. It was found that at a given initial loading, TBPO was largely more effective than TBAB in reducing the pressure requirement for hydrate formation of MVA. At a given temperature, the equilibrium pressures of the clathrate hydrates were indifferent to the change in the initial loading of TBPO from 5wt% to 26wt%, in contrast to those of TBAB. Gas composition analysis by gas chromatography confirmed that CH could be significantly enriched in the ionic clathrate hydrates, and the highest methane enrichment ratio obtained in the present work was 300%, with TBPO at initial loading of 5wt%. At this relatively low loading, within a given period of 5h, TBPO also led to higher gas uptake compared with TBAB. The advantages of TBPO as a promoter of MVA hydrate were discussed

Equilibrium conditions for semi-clathrate hydrates formed with CO2, N2 or CH4 in the presence of tri-n-butylphosphine oxide

We measured the thermodynamic stability conditions for the N, CO, or CH semiclathrate hydrate formed from the aqueous solution of tri-n-butylphosphine oxide (TBPO) at 26 wt %, corresponding to the stoichiometric composition for TBPO·34.5HO. The measurements were performed in the temperature range 283.71-300.34 K and pressure range 0.35-19.43 MPa with the use of an isochoric equilibrium step-heating pressure-search method. The results showed that the presence of TBPO made these semiclathrate hydrates much more stable than the corresponding pure N , CO, and CH hydrates. At a given temperature, the semiclathrate hydrate of 26 wt % TBPO solution + CH was more stable than that of 26 wt % TBPO solution + CO, which in turn was more stable than that of 26 wt % TBPO solution + N. We analyzed the phase equilibrium data using the Clausius-Clapeyron equation and found that, in the pressure range 0-20 MPa, the mean dissociation enthalpies for the semiclathrate hydrate systems of 26 wt % TBPO solution + N, 26 wt % TBPO solution + CO, and 26 wt % TBPO solution + CH were 177.75, 206.23, and 159.00 kJ·mol, respectively

ROR1 Is Expressed in Human Breast Cancer and Associated with Enhanced Tumor-Cell Growth

Receptor-tyrosine-kinase-like orphan receptor 1 (ROR1) is expressed during embryogenesis and by certain leukemias, but not by normal adult tissues. Here we show that the neoplastic cells of many human breast cancers express the ROR1 protein and high-level expression of ROR1 in breast adenocarcinoma was associated with aggressive disease. Silencing expression of ROR1 in human breast cancer cell lines found to express this protein impaired their growth in vitro and also in immune-deficient mice. We found that ROR1 could interact with casein kinase 1 epsilon (CK1ε) to activate phosphoinositide 3-kinase-mediated AKT phosphorylation and cAMP-response-element-binding protein (CREB), which was associated with enhanced tumor-cell growth. Wnt5a, a ligand of ROR1, could induce ROR1-dependent signaling and enhance cell growth. This study demonstrates that ROR1 is expressed in human breast cancers and has biological and clinical significance, indicating that it may be a potential target for breast cancer therapy

Altimetry for the future: Building on 25 years of progress

In 2018 we celebrated 25 years of development of radar altimetry, and the progress achieved by this methodology in the fields of global and coastal oceanography, hydrology, geodesy and cryospheric sciences. Many symbolic major events have celebrated these developments, e.g., in Venice, Italy, the 15th (2006) and 20th (2012) years of progress and more recently, in 2018, in Ponta Delgada, Portugal, 25 Years of Progress in Radar Altimetry. On this latter occasion it was decided to collect contributions of scientists, engineers and managers involved in the worldwide altimetry community to depict the state of altimetry and propose recommendations for the altimetry of the future. This paper summarizes contributions and recommendations that were collected and provides guidance for future mission design, research activities, and sustainable operational radar altimetry data exploitation. Recommendations provided are fundamental for optimizing further scientific and operational advances of oceanographic observations by altimetry, including requirements for spatial and temporal resolution of altimetric measurements, their accuracy and continuity. There are also new challenges and new openings mentioned in the paper that are particularly crucial for observations at higher latitudes, for coastal oceanography, for cryospheric studies and for hydrology. The paper starts with a general introduction followed by a section on Earth System Science including Ocean Dynamics, Sea Level, the Coastal Ocean, Hydrology, the Cryosphere and Polar Oceans and the ‘‘Green” Ocean, extending the frontier from biogeochemistry to marine ecology. Applications are described in a subsequent section, which covers Operational Oceanography, Weather, Hurricane Wave and Wind Forecasting, Climate projection. Instruments’ development and satellite missions’ evolutions are described in a fourth section. A fifth section covers the key observations that altimeters provide and their potential complements, from other Earth observation measurements to in situ data. Section 6 identifies the data and methods and provides some accuracy and resolution requirements for the wet tropospheric correction, the orbit and other geodetic requirements, the Mean Sea Surface, Geoid and Mean Dynamic Topography, Calibration and Validation, data accuracy, data access and handling (including the DUACS system). Section 7 brings a transversal view on scales, integration, artificial intelligence, and capacity building (education and training). Section 8 reviews the programmatic issues followed by a conclusion

Altimetry for the future: building on 25 years of progress

In 2018 we celebrated 25 years of development of radar altimetry, and the progress achieved by this methodology in the fields of global and coastal oceanography, hydrology, geodesy and cryospheric sciences. Many symbolic major events have celebrated these developments, e.g., in Venice, Italy, the 15th (2006) and 20th (2012) years of progress and more recently, in 2018, in Ponta Delgada, Portugal, 25 Years of Progress in Radar Altimetry. On this latter occasion it was decided to collect contributions of scientists, engineers and managers involved in the worldwide altimetry community to depict the state of altimetry and propose recommendations for the altimetry of the future. This paper summarizes contributions and recommendations that were collected and provides guidance for future mission design, research activities, and sustainable operational radar altimetry data exploitation. Recommendations provided are fundamental for optimizing further scientific and operational advances of oceanographic observations by altimetry, including requirements for spatial and temporal resolution of altimetric measurements, their accuracy and continuity. There are also new challenges and new openings mentioned in the paper that are particularly crucial for observations at higher latitudes, for coastal oceanography, for cryospheric studies and for hydrology. The paper starts with a general introduction followed by a section on Earth System Science including Ocean Dynamics, Sea Level, the Coastal Ocean, Hydrology, the Cryosphere and Polar Oceans and the “Green” Ocean, extending the frontier from biogeochemistry to marine ecology. Applications are described in a subsequent section, which covers Operational Oceanography, Weather, Hurricane Wave and Wind Forecasting, Climate projection. Instruments’ development and satellite missions’ evolutions are described in a fourth section. A fifth section covers the key observations that altimeters provide and their potential complements, from other Earth observation measurements to in situ data. Section 6 identifies the data and methods and provides some accuracy and resolution requirements for the wet tropospheric correction, the orbit and other geodetic requirements, the Mean Sea Surface, Geoid and Mean Dynamic Topography, Calibration and Validation, data accuracy, data access and handling (including the DUACS system). Section 7 brings a transversal view on scales, integration, artificial intelligence, and capacity building (education and training). Section 8 reviews the programmatic issues followed by a conclusion

Cooperative effect of surfactant addition and gas-inducing agitation on methane hydrate formation rate

This paper reports experimental measurements of the isothermal and isochoric formation kinetics of methane hydrate in sodium dodecyl sulphate (SDS) solutions of various concentrations with gas-inducing agitation, and the results are compared with those obtained with normal agitation and no agitation. The experiments were conducted at 274 K with initial gas pressure of 10 MPa. At a given SDS concentration, the gas-inducing agitation gave higher hydrate formation rate than normal agitation and no agitation. Gas inducing agitation of deionized water gave a relatively low methane hydrate formation rate, which could be greatly enhanced by adding SDS. The enhanced kinetics can be attributed to increased gas-liquid contact area, with the coalescence of induced gas bubbles being effectively inhibited by SDS at low concentrations