Carbon deposition in the Bosch process with ruthenium and ruthenium-iron alloy catalysts

The effectiveness of ruthenium and the alloys 50Ru50Fe and 33Ru67Fe as alternatives to iron, nickel, and cobalt catalysts in recovering oxygen from metabolic carbon dioxide was investigated. Carbon deposition boundaries over the unsupported alloys are reported. Experiments were also carried out over 50Ru50Fe and 97Ru3Fe3 catalysts supported on gamma-alumina to determine their performance in the synthesis of low molecular weight olefins. High production of ethylene and propylene would be beneficial for an improvement of an overall Bosch process, as a gas phase containing high olefin content would enhance carbon deposition in a Bosch reactor

Passive CO₂ removal in urban soils:evidence from brownfield sites

Management of urban brownfield land can contribute to significant removal of atmospheric CO2 through the development of soil carbonate minerals. However, the potential magnitude and stability of this carbon sink is poorly quantified as previous studies address a limited range of conditions and short durations. Furthermore, the suitability of carbonate-sequestering soils for construction has not been investigated. To address these issues we measured total inorganic carbon, permeability and ground strength in the top 20 cm of soil at 20 brownfield sites in northern England, between 2015 and 2017. Across all sites accumulation occurred at a rate of 1–16 t C ha−1 yr−1, as calcite (CaCO3), corresponding to removal of approximately 4–59 t CO2 ha−1 yr−1, with the highest rate in the first 15 years after demolition. C and O stable isotope analysis of calcite confirms the atmospheric origin of the measured inorganic carbon. Statistical modelling found that pH and the content of fine materials (combined silt and clay content) were the best predictors of the total inorganic carbon content of the samples. Measurement of permeability shows that sites with carbonated soils possess a similar risk of run-off or flooding to sandy soils. Soil strength, measured as in-situ bearing capacity, increased with carbonation. These results demonstrate that the management of urban brownfield land to retain fine material derived from concrete crushing on site following demolition will promote calcite precipitation in soils, and so offers an additional CO2 removal mechanism, with no detrimental effect on drainage and possible improvements in strength. Given the large area of brownfield land that is available for development, the contribution of this process to CO2 removal by urban soils needs to be recognised in CO2 mitigation policies

Glass bead shot peening retards stress corrosion failure of titanium tanks

Rigidly controlled shot peening retards the incompatibility between titanium alloys and nitrogen tetroxide in rocket-propellant storage tanks. This sets up a residual compressive stress in the surface of a material which reduces tensile stresses in the material fibers, alleviating stress corrosion

Development of an equatorial carbonate platform across the Triassic-Jurassic boundary and links to global palaeoenvironmental changes (Musandam Peninsula, UAE/Oman)

The Triassic - Jurassic boundary is marked by one of the ‘big five’ mass extinctions of the Phanerozoic. This boundary event was accompanied by several carbon cycle pert urbations, potentially induced by the opening of the Central Atlantic and associated volcanism, and accompanied by an ocean acidification event. Continuous carbonate successions covering this interval of environmental change are however rare. Here data fro m a shallow - marine equatorial mixed carbonate - siliciclastic succession is presented, that was studied on a regional scale. Four sections that are 48 km apart were examined on the Musandam Peninsula (United Arab Emirates and Sultanate of Oman). The system w as analysed for its sedimentology, vertical and lateral facies changes, and stable carbon and oxygen isotopes. Strontium isotope analysis was used to determine the position of the Triassic - Jurassic boundary horizon. The studied ramp experienced an episode of demise during the Late Triassic, followed by a restricted microbialite dominated ramp, containing large amounts of siliciclastic facies. During the Latest Triassic the diverse carbonate factory revived and flourished across the Triassic - Jurassic boundar y. No clear evidence for a biocalcification crisis or an ocean acidification event across the Triassic - Jurassic boundary is visible. Lateral facies heterogeneities can be observed across the studied interval, attributed to hydrodynamic activity, including tropical storms, crossing the extensive shelf area. Although evidence for synsedimentary tectonic activity is present, the vertical stacking pattern is largely controlled by changes in relative sea level. The refined chronostratigraphy accompanied by the d etailed environment of deposition analysis allows for a refinement of the regional palaeogeography. The neritic equatorial carbonate ramp has archived a negative carbon isotope excursion preceding the Triassic - Jurassic boundary that has also been reported from other study sites. The lack of evidence for a biocalcification crisis across the equatorial Triassic - Jurassic boundary indicates that the Tethys did not experience a distinct global acidification event

A ship-based methodology for high precision atmospheric oxygen measurements and its application in the Southern Ocean region

A method for achieving continuous high precision measurements of atmospheric O-2 is presented based on a commercially available fuel-cell instrument, (Sable Systems, Oxzilla FC-II) with a precision of 7 per meg (approximately equivalent to 1.2 ppm) for a 6-min measurement. The Oxzilla was deployed on two voyages in the Western Pacific sector of the Southern Ocean, in February 2003 and in April 2004, making these the second set of continuous O-2 measurements ever made from a ship. The results show significant temporal variation in O-2, in the order of +/- 10 per meg over 6-hourly time intervals, and substantial spatial variation. Data from both voyages show an O-2 maximum centred on 50 degrees S, which is most likely to be the result of biologically driven O-2 outgassing in the region of subtropical convergence around New Zealand, and a decreasing O-2 trend towards Antarctica. O-2 from the ship-based measurements is elevated compared with measurements from the Scripps Institution of Oceanography flask-sampling network, and the O-2 maximum is also not captured in the network observations. This preliminary study shows that ship-based continuous measurements are a valuable addition to current fixed site sampling programmes for the understanding of ocean-atmosphere O-2 exchange processes. [References: 39

Controlled glass bead peening Patent

Method and apparatus for inducing compressive stresses in pressure vessel to prevent stress corrosio

Noise reduction evaluation of grids in a supersonic air stream with application to Space Shuttle

Near field acoustic measurements were obtained for a model supersonic air jet perturbed by a screen. Noise reduction potential in the vicinity of the space shuttle vehicle during ground launch when the rocket exhaust flow is perturbed by a grid was determined. Both 10 and 12 mesh screens were utilized for this experiment, and each exhibited a noise reduction only at very low frequencies in the near field forward arc. A power spectrum analysis revealed that a modest reduction of from 3 to 5 decibels exists below a Strouhal number S sub t = 0.11. Above S sub t = 0.11 screen harmonics increased the observed sound pressure level. The favorable noise reductions obtained with screens for S sub t 0.11 may be of substantial interest for the space shuttle at ground launch

The Ultraviolet Attenuation Law in Backlit Spiral Galaxies

(Abridged) The effective extinction law (attenuation behavior) in galaxies in the emitted ultraviolet is well known only for actively star-forming objects and combines effects of the grain properties, fine structure in the dust distribution, and relative distributions of stars and dust. We use GALEX, XMM Optical Monitor, and HST data to explore the UV attenuation in the outer parts of spiral disks which are backlit by other UV-bright galaxies, starting with candidates provided by Galaxy Zoo participants. Our analysis incorporates galaxy symmetry, using non-overlapping regions of each galaxy to derive error estimates on the attenuation measurements. The entire sample has an attenuation law close to the Calzetti et al. (1994) form; the UV slope for the overall sample is substantially shallower than found by Wild et al. (2011), a reasonable match to the more distant galaxies in our sample but not to the weighted combination including NGC 2207. The nearby, bright spiral NGC 2207 alone gives accuracy almost equal to the rest of our sample, and its outer arms have a very low level of foreground starlight. This "grey" law can be produced from the distribution of dust alone, without a necessary contribution from differential escape of stars from dense clouds. The extrapolation needed to compare attenution between backlit galaxies at moderate redshifts, and local systems from SDSS data, is mild enough to allow use of galaxy overlaps to trace the cosmic history of dust. For NGC 2207, the covering factor of clouds with small optical attenuation becomes a dominant factor farther into the ultraviolet, which opens the possibility that widespread diffuse dust dominates over dust in star-forming regions deep into the ultraviolet. Comparison with published radiative-transfer models indicates that the role of dust clumping dominates over differences in grain populations, at this spatial resolution.Comment: In press, Astronomical Journa

Superintegrability on the two-dimensional hyperboloid

In this work we examine the basis functions for classical and quantum mechanical systems on the two-dimensional hyperboloid that admit separation of variables in at least two coordinate systems. We present all of these cases from a unified point of view. In particular, all of the special functions that arise via variable separation have their essential features expressed in terms of their zeros. The principal new results are the details of the polynomial bases for each of the nonsubgroup bases, not just the subgroup spherical coordinate cases, and the details of the structure of the quadratic symmetry algebras