Heterogeneous catalytic oxidation of phenol by in situ generated hydrogen peroxide applying novel catalytic membrane reactors

10.1016/j.cej.2014.09.064This work presents a novel method for oxidation of organic matter in water solutions based on catalytic membrane reactors. The oxidant, hydrogen peroxide, is generated directly in the bulk of the liquid investigated. Commercial symmetric alumina hollow fibers have been used as a starting material thereafter introducing the active phases. It has been proven that two different catalysts are necessary in order to complete the overall reaction, as well as to generate hydrogen peroxide and a heterogeneous Fenton process. Palladium has been used for the hydrogen peroxide generation and a second active phase, transitional metal oxides or homogeneous Fe2+, has been used for the hydroxyl radical generation. An additional method for specific Pd loading to the reaction zone based on sputtering technique has been developed. All prepared catalytic membrane reactors (CMRs) are capable of generating hydrogen peroxide in amounts comparable to CMRs reported in the literature. The catalytic membrane reactors prepared by Pd impregnation show very high activity and stability in phenol oxidation reaching 40% of the generated H2O2 usage in the oxidation reaction. Despite the very high activity of the catalytic membrane reactors obtained by Pd sputtering in H2O2 production they suffer very fast deactivation. Specific reactivation including a calcination step has been found to be appropriate for the recovery of their activity. Additional experiments give new insights for better understanding of Pd deactivation especially when the metal particles are of nanometer sizes

Heterogeneous catalytic oxidation of phenol by in situ generated hydrogen peroxide applying novel catalytic membrane reactors

This work presents a novel method for oxidation of organic matter in water solutions based on catalytic membrane reactors. The oxidant, hydrogen peroxide, is generated directly in the bulk of the liquid investigated. Commercial symmetric alumina hollow fibers have been used as a starting material thereafter introducing the active phases. It has been proven that two different catalysts are necessary in order to complete the overall reaction, as well as to generate hydrogen peroxide and a heterogeneous Fenton process. Palladium has been used for the hydrogen peroxide generation and a second active phase, transitional metal oxides or homogeneous Fe2+, has been used for the hydroxyl radical generation. An additional method for specific Pd loading to the reaction zone based on sputtering technique has been developed. All prepared catalytic membrane reactors (CMRs) are capable of generating hydrogen peroxide in amounts comparable to CMRs reported in the literature. The catalytic membrane reactors prepared by Pd impregnation show very high activity and stability in phenol oxidation reaching 40% of the generated H2O2 usage in the oxidation reaction. Despite the very high activity of the catalytic membrane reactors obtained by Pd sputtering in H2O2 production they suffer very fast deactivation. Specific reactivation including a calcination step has been found to be appropriate for the recovery of their activity. Additional experiments give new insights for better understanding of Pd deactivation especially when the metal particles are of nanometer sizes. (C) 2014 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved

Heterogeneous catalytic oxidation of phenol by in situ generated hydrogen peroxide applying novel catalytic membrane reactors

This work presents a novel method for oxidation of organic matter in water solutions based on catalytic membrane reactors. The oxidant, hydrogen peroxide, is generated directly in the bulk of the liquid investigated. Commercial symmetric alumina hollow fibers have been used as a starting material thereafter introducing the active phases. It has been proven that two different catalysts are necessary in order to complete the overall reaction, as well as to generate hydrogen peroxide and a heterogeneous Fenton process. Palladium has been used for the hydrogen peroxide generation and a second active phase, transitional metal oxides or homogeneous Fe2+, has been used for the hydroxyl radical generation. An additional method for specific Pd loading to the reaction zone based on sputtering technique has been developed. All prepared catalytic membrane reactors (CMRs) are capable of generating hydrogen peroxide in amounts comparable to CMRs reported in the literature. The catalytic membrane reactors prepared by Pd impregnation show very high activity and stability in phenol oxidation reaching 40% of the generated H2O2 usage in the oxidation reaction. Despite the very high activity of the catalytic membrane reactors obtained by Pd sputtering in H2O2 production they suffer very fast deactivation. Specific reactivation including a calcination step has been found to be appropriate for the recovery of their activity. Additional experiments give new insights for better understanding of Pd deactivation especially when the metal particles are of nanometer sizes. (C) 2014 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved

Case Study of Non-Linear Inverse Problems: Mammography and Non-Destructive Evaluation

The inverse problem is usually difficult because the signal (image) that we want to reconstruct is weak. Since it is weak, we can usually neglect quadratic and higher order terms, and consider the problem to be linear. Since the problem is linear, methods of solving this problem are also, mainly, linear (with the notable exception of the necessity to take into consideration, e.g., that the actual image is non-negative). In most real-life problems, this linear description works pretty well. However, at some point, when we start looking for a better accuracy, we must take into consideration non-linear terms. This may be a minor improvement for normal image processing, but these non-linear terms may lead to a major improvement and a great enhancement if we are interested in outliers such as faults in non-destructive evaluation or bumps in mammography. Non-linear terms (quadratic or cubic) give a great relative push to large outliers, and thus, in these non-linear terms, the effect of irre..

Safety and tolerability of subcutaneous trastuzumab for the adjuvant treatment of human epidermal growth factor receptor 2-positive early breast cancer: SafeHer phase III study's primary analysis of 2573 patients

Aim To assess the safety and tolerability of adjuvant subcutaneous trastuzumab (Herceptin® SC, H SC), delivered from an H SC Vial via hand-held syringe (Cohort A) or single-use injection device (Cohort B), with or without chemotherapy, for human epidermal growth factor receptor 2 (HER2)-positive stage I to IIIC early breast cancer (EBC) in the phase III SafeHer study (NCT01566721). Methods Patients received 600 mg fixed-dose H SC every 3 weeks for 18 cycles. The chemotherapy partner was at the investigators' discretion (H SC monotherapy was limited to ≤10% of the population). Data from the first H SC dose until 28 days (plus a 5-day window) after the last dose are presented. Results are descriptive. Results In the overall population, 2282/2573 patients (88.7%) experienced adverse events (AEs). Of the above, 128 (5.0%) patients experienced AEs leading to study drug discontinuation; 596 (23.2%) experienced grade ≥ 3 AEs and 326 (12.7%) experienced serious AEs. Grade ≥ 3 cardiac disorders were reported in 24 patients (0.9%), including congestive heart failure in eight (0.3%). As expected, the AE rates varied according to the timing of chemotherapy in both cohorts, with higher rates in concurrent versus sequential chemotherapy subgroups. In the concurrent chemotherapy subgroup, AEs were more common during the actual period of concurrent chemotherapy compared with the period when patients did not receive concurrent chemotherapy. Conclusion SafeHer confirms the safety and tolerability of the H SC 600 mg fixed dose for 1 year (every 3 weeks for 18 cycles) as adjuvant therapy with concurrent or sequential chemotherapy for HER2-positive EBC. These primary analysis results are consistent with the known safety profile for intravenous H and H SC