Removal of malathion insecticide from water by employing acoustical wave technology

Background: Organophosphorus pesticides are one of the most prevalent usages for pest control in the country. Such pesticides enter into water sources by different routes. Since drinking of contaminated water at the higher doses than the standard level, may causes undesirable effects to human health and ecosystem. The object of this research was to investigate the effect of various parameters including time, power and concentration on sonodecomposition of malathion insecticide in the water. Methods: The sonochemical degradation of malathion was investigated using acoustic wave technology (AWT). AWT with 130 kHz was used to study the decomposition of insecticide solution. Samples were analyzed using HPLC at different intervals times. Effectiveness of AWT at different times (20, 40, 60, 80, 100, and 120 minutes), concentrations of malathion at 2, 4 and 8 mg/L as well as powers of device (300W, 400W, 500W) are compared. Results: These findings showed that the degradation of the malathion insecticide at lower concentrations was greater in comparison to higher concentrations. Also, there was positive correlation between power increasing and the ability to malathion degradation Conclusion: The sonodegradation of malathion at different concentrations and powers was successfully achieved. It has been shown that acoustical wave technology can be used to reduce the concentration of dissolved insecticide using high frequency

Multi-Objective Optimization of Demand Side Management and Multi DG in the Distribution System with Demand Response

The optimal management of distributed generation (DG) enhances the efficiency of the distribution system; On the other hand, increasing the interest of customers in optimizing their consumption improves the performance of DG. This act is called demand side management. In this study, a new method based on the intelligent algorithm is proposed to optimal operate the demand side management in the presence of DG units and demand response. Firstly, the best location and capacity of different technologies of DG are selected by optimizing the technical index including the active and reactive loss and the voltage profile. Secondly, the daily performance of multi-DG and grid is optimized with and without considering the demand response. The economic and environmental indices are optimized in this step. In both steps, the non-dominated sorting firefly algorithm is utilized to multi-objective optimize the objective functions and then the fuzzy decision-making method is used to select the best result from the Pareto optimal solutions. Finally, the proposed method is implemented on the IEEE 33-bus distribution system and actual 101-bus distribution systems in Khoy-Iran. The obtained numerical results indicate the impact of the proposed method on improving the technical, economic and environmental indices of the distribution system

Degradation of Organophosphorus Pesticides in Water during UV/H2O2 Treatment: Role of Sulphate and Bicarbonate Ions

Abstract: The photodegradation of two organophosphorus pesticides, malathian and diazinon, by sulfate radicals and bicarbonate radicals in aqueous solution were studied. The effect of the operational parameters such as pH, salt concentration, water type, H2O2 concentration and initial concentration of pesticides was studied. Gas chromatography mass spectroscopy (GC-MS) was used for analyses of pesticides. When salt effect was studied, it was found that sodium bicarbonate was the most powerful inhibitor used, while sodium sulfate was the weakest one. The highest degradation in UV/H2O2 process for malathion was found in alkaline condition and for diazinon in acidic condition. The photodegradation in all waters used in this work exhibited first order kinetics. Photodegradation rate in distilled water was higher than real water. The degradation of pesticides increased with increasing of H2O2 concentration

An Interleaved Configuration of Modified KY Converter with High Conversion Ratio for Renewable Energy Applications; Design, Analysis and Implementation

In this paper, a new high efficiency, high step-up, non-isolated, interleaved DC-DC converter for renewable energy applications is presented. In the suggested topology, two modified step-up KY converters are interleaved to obtain a high conversion ratio without the use of coupled inductors. In comparison with the conventional interleaved DC-DC converters such as boost, buck-boost, SEPIC, ZETA and CUK, the presented converter has higher voltage gain that is obtained with a suitable duty cycle. Despite the high voltage gain of the proposed converter, the voltage stress of the power switches and diodes is low. Therefore, switches with low conduction losses can be applied to improve the converter efficiency. Moreover, due to utilization of interleaving techniques, the input current ripple is low which makes the suggested converter a good candidate for renewable energy applications such as PV power system. Operation principle and steady-state analysis of the proposed converter in continuous conduction mode (CCM) and discontinuous conduction mode (DCM) are discussed in detail. Also, theoretical efficiency of the proposed converter is calculated. Finally, in order to evaluate the proposed converter operation by a renewable energy source such as a PV, the simulation results are presented. Moreover, a 220W prototype of the presented DC-DC converter is designed and implemented in the laboratory to verify its performance

On the strategy frequency problem in batch Minority Games

Ergodic stationary states of Minority Games with S strategies per agent can be characterised in terms of the asymptotic probabilities $\phi_a$ with which an agent uses $a$ of his strategies. We propose here a simple and general method to calculate these quantities in batch canonical and grand-canonical models. Known analytic theories are easily recovered as limiting cases and, as a further application, the strategy frequency problem for the batch grand-canonical Minority Game with S=2 is solved. The generalization of these ideas to multi-asset models is also presented. Though similarly based on response function techniques, our approach is alternative to the one recently employed by Shayeghi and Coolen for canonical batch Minority Games with arbitrary number of strategies.Comment: 17 page

Distributed multi-agent Load Frequency Control for a Large-scale Power System Optimized by Grey Wolf Optimizer

This paper aims to design an optimal distributed multi-agent controller for load frequency control and optimal power flow purposes. The controller parameters are optimized using Grey Wolf Optimization (GWO) algorithm. The designed optimal distributed controller is employed for load frequency control in the IEEE 30-bus test system with six generators. The controller of each generator is considered as one agent. The controllers of agents are implemented in a distributed manner that is control rule of each agent depends on the agents’ own state and the states of their neighbors. Three other types of controllers including centralized controller, decentralized controller, and optimal centralized controller are considered for comparison. The performances of decentralized and distributed controllers are compared with two centralized controllers. In the optimal centralized controller and optimal distributed controller, the objective function is considered to achieve the objective of load frequency control as well as minimize power generation. Simulation results using MATLAB/SIMULINK show that although there is no global information of system in the optimal distributed controller, it has suitably reduced the frequency deviation. Meanwhile the power is optimally generated in the three scenarios of load increasing, load reduction and generator outage

Pushing the mass limit for intact launch and photoionization of large neutral biopolymers

Since their first discovery by Louis Dunoyer and Otto Stern, molecular beams have conquered research and technology. However, it has remained an outstanding challenge to isolate and photoionize beams of massive neutral polypeptides. Here we show that femtosecond desorption from a matrix-free sample in high vacuum can produce biomolecular beams at least 25 times more efficiently than nanosecond techniques. While it has also been difficult to photoionize large biomolecules, we find that tailored structures with an abundant exposure of tryptophan residues at their surface can be ionized by vacuum ultraviolet light. The combination of these desorption and ionization techniques allows us to observe molecular beams of neutral polypeptides with a mass exceeding 20,000 amu. They are composed of 50 amino acids – 25 tryptophan and 25 lysine residues – and 26 fluorinated alkyl chains. The tools presented here offer a basis for the preparation, control and detection of polypeptide beams

The Nature of Bonding between Argon and Mixed Gold-Silver Trimers

The controversial nature of chemical bonding between noble gases and noble metals is addressed. Experimental evidence of exceptionally strong Au-Ar bonds in Ar complexes of mixed Au-Ag trimers is presented. IR spectra reveal an enormous influence of the attached Ar atoms on vibrational modes, particularly in Au-rich trimers, where Ar atoms are heavily involved owing to a relativistically enhanced covalency. In Ag-rich trimers, vibrational transitions of the metal framework predominate, indicating a pure electrostatic character of the Ag-Ar bonds. The experimental findings are analyzed by means of DFT calculations, which show how the relativistic differences between Au and Ag are manifested in stronger Au-Ar binding energies. Because of the ability to vary composition and charge distribution, the trimers serve as ideal model systems to study the chemical nature of the bonding of noble gases to closed-shell systems containing gold.Peer reviewed: YesNRC publication: Ye

Giving the Green Light to Photochemical Uncaging of Large Biomolecules in High Vacuum

The isolation of biomolecules in a high vacuum enables experiments on fragile species in the absence of a perturbing environment. Since many molecular properties are influenced by local electric fields, here we seek to gain control over the number of charges on a biopolymer by photochemical uncaging. We present the design, modeling, and synthesis of photoactive molecular tags, their labeling to peptides and proteins as well as their photochemical validation in solution and in the gas phase. The tailored tags can be selectively cleaved off at a well-defined time and without the need for any external charge-transferring agents. The energy of a single or two green photons can already trigger the process, and it is soft enough to ensure the integrity of the released biomolecular cargo. We exploit differences in the cleavage pathways in solution and in vacuum and observe a surprising robustness in upscaling the approach from a model system to genuine proteins. The interaction wavelength of 532 nm is compatible with various biomolecular entities, such as oligonucleotides or oligosaccharides.</p

Tailored photocleavable peptides: fragmentation and neutralization pathways in high vacuum

Photocleavable tags (PCTs) have the potential for excellent spatio-temporal control over the release of subunits of complex molecules. Here, we show that electrosprayed oligopeptides, functionalized by a tailored ortho -nitroarylether can undergo site-specific photo-activated cleavage under UV irradiation (266 nm) in high vacuum. The comparison of UV photodissociation (UVPD) and collision-induced dissociation (CID) points to the thermal nature of the cleavage mechanism, a picture corroborated by the temperature dependence of the process. Two competing photodissociation pathways can be identified. In one case a phenolate anion is separated from a neutral zwitterion. In the other case a neutral phenol derivative leaves a negatively charged peptide behind. To understand the factors favoring one channel over the other, we investigate the influence of the peptide length, the nature of the phenolic group and the position of the nitro-group ( ortho vs. para ). The observed gas phase cleavage of a para -nitro benzylic ether markedly differs from the established behavior in solution