Interpretation of the characteristics of ocean-dumped sewage sludge related to remote sensing

Wastewater sludge characteristics in general, and characteristics of wastewater sludges generated by the City of Philadelphia in particular, were addressed. The types and sources of wastewater sludges, a description of sludge treatment and disposal processes, examination of sludge generation and management for the City of Philadelphia, and definition of characteristics for typical east coast sludges undergoing ocean disposal were discussed. Specific differences exist between the characteristics of primary and secondary wastewater sludges, especially with the nature and size distribution of the solids particles. The sludges from the City of Philadelphia monitored during remote sensing experiments were mixtures of various sludge types and lacked distinguishing characteristics. In particular, the anaerobic digestion process exerted the most significant influence on sludge characteristics for the City of Philadelphia. The sludges generated by the City of Philadelphia were found to be typical and harbor no unique features

A Versatile Synthesis of 1,3,5-Triamino-2,4,6-Trinitrobenzene (TATB)

A safe and versatile synthesis of high-purity 1,3,5-triamino-2,4,6-trinitrobenzene (TATB) based on vicarious nucleophilic substitution (VNS) chemistry has now been achieved. The starting material can be selected from a variety of inexpensive nitroarenes obtained from commercial suppliers (4-nitroaniline, picric acid) or U.S. stockpiles (ammonium picrate, TNT). The use of picric acid and ammonium picrate (Explosive D) is preferred as both compounds are directly converted to picramide in the presence of ammonium salts (diammonium hydrogen phosphate, ammonium carbamate) in sulfolane at elevated temperature. The picramide resulting from this process is directly converted to TATB using an optimized VNS reaction employing inexpensive hydroxylamine as the nucleophilic aminating reagent. A crucial element in our synthesis is a novel and efficient purification of TATB

New Synthesis of TATB. Scaleup and Product Characterization

At the 29th International Annual Conference of ICT (1998), the authors described the results of laboratory-scale process development studies for a new synthesis of 1,3,5-triamino-2,4,6-trinitrobenzene (TATB). This new synthesis approach--which uses vicarious nucleophilic substitution (VNS) methodology--converts picramide to TATB in high yield, and potentially at lower cost and with few environmental effects than existing synthetic approaches. In this report they describe results of their work on producing TATB by the VNS method at the pilot plant scale. They will discuss structure and control of impurities, changes in yield/quality with reaction conditions, choice of solvents, workup and product isolation, safety, and environmental considerations. Product characterization (particle size, DSC, HPLC, etc.) as well as small-scale safety and performance testing is also discussed

Detonation synthesis of carbon nano-onions via liquid carbon condensation.

Transit through the carbon liquid phase has significant consequences for the subsequent formation of solid nanocarbon detonation products. We report dynamic measurements of liquid carbon condensation and solidification into nano-onions over ∽200 ns by analysis of time-resolved, small-angle X-ray scattering data acquired during detonation of a hydrogen-free explosive, DNTF (3,4-bis(3-nitrofurazan-4-yl)furoxan). Further, thermochemical modeling predicts a direct liquid to solid graphite phase transition for DNTF products ~200 ns post-detonation. Solid detonation products were collected and characterized by high-resolution electron microscopy to confirm the abundance of carbon nano-onions with an average diameter of ∽10 nm, matching the dynamic measurements. We analyze other carbon-rich explosives by similar methods to systematically explore different regions of the carbon phase diagram traversed during detonation. Our results suggest a potential pathway to the efficient production of carbon nano-onions, while offering insight into the phase transformation kinetics of liquid carbon under extreme pressures and temperatures