A Novel Oil-Water Emulsion Burner Concept for Offshore Oil Spill Clean Up

PresentationIn-situ burning has been considered as a primary spill response option for oil spills since offshore drilling began in the Beaufort Sea (1970s). Since then, many studies and tests have been performed but researchers are still looking for a more efficient, simple and low cost way to burn the oil faster and as completely as possible. In this study, a new burner concept capable of enhanced combustion of oil-water emulsions and requiring no atomizing nozzles, moving parts and compressed gas for operation is discussed. The operating principle is based on use of immersed noncombustible objects of suitable geometry to transfer the heat generated by the combustion back to the fuel to create a feedback loop thereby sustain an increased burning rate. A 0.5 meter diameter prototype burner showing the viability of the design concept is discussed. Tests show that the submersed lower part of the conductive object can get hot enough to sustain nucleate boiling, significantly increasing the burning rate, when compared to the baseline pool fire, where vaporization is achieved solely by evaporation at the pool surface

A study on burning behavior and convective flows in Methanol pool fires bound by ice

Abstract (ID: 2017-170) An experimental study on methanol pool fires bound by ice was carried to research the burning behavior and flow field (within the liquid-phase) of methanol. The experiments were conducted in two parts: 1- in a cylindrical ice cavity/pan (10.2 cm diameter and 6 cm depth) at three different conditions to analyze burning parameters of methanol, 2- in a square glass tray with outside dimensions of 10 × 10 cm and a depth of 5 cm to obtain flow field of methanol pool with a two-dimensional PIV (Particle Image Velocimetry) system. The results of the experiments of the first part show the cold boundaries of the ice cavity/pan act as a heat sink causing considerable heat losses. Thus, burning rates and burning efficiencies are found to be lower with cold boundaries. However, the burning rate values in ice cavity are found to be the highest because of the melting of the ice and expansion of the cavity. The analysis of the results obtained by the PIV system showed the velocity magnitudes and flow patterns in the liquid-phase of icy methanol fire significantly change over the course of burning. In the instants after ignition a horizontal flow induced by Marangoni near the surface was observed. Later on, mixing of melt-water with methanol and sinking of this mixture caused a cycle in the tray that resulted in a vortex appearing in the middle of the pool. Magnitudes of velocity were also observed to increase after ignition. The increase in the velocity magnitudes is expected to significantly impact the melting and size of the lateral cavity.</jats:p

An Active Role for the Ribosome in Determining the Fate of Oxidized mRNA

Chemical damage to RNA affects its functional properties and thus may pose a significant hurdle to the translational apparatus; however, the effects of damaged mRNA on the speed and accuracy of the decoding process and their interplay with quality-control processes are not known. Here, we systematically explore the effects of oxidative damage on the decoding process using a well-defined bacterial in vitro translation system. We find that the oxidative lesion 8-oxoguanosine (8-oxoG) reduces the rate of peptide-bond formation by more than three orders of magnitude independent of its position within the codon. Interestingly, 8-oxoG had little effect on the fidelity of the selection process, suggesting that the modification stalls the translational machinery. Consistent with these findings, 8-oxoG mRNAs were observed to accumulate and associate with polyribosomes in yeast strains in which no-go decay is compromised. Our data provide compelling evidence that mRNA-surveillance mechanisms have evolved to cope with damaged mRNA

Solid-Phase Microextraction and the Human Fecal VOC Metabolome

The diagnostic potential and health implications of volatile organic compounds (VOCs) present in human feces has begun to receive considerable attention. Headspace solid-phase microextraction (SPME) has greatly facilitated the isolation and analysis of VOCs from human feces. Pioneering human fecal VOC metabolomic investigations have utilized a single SPME fiber type for analyte extraction and analysis. However, we hypothesized that the multifarious nature of metabolites present in human feces dictates the use of several diverse SPME fiber coatings for more comprehensive metabolomic coverage. We report here an evaluation of eight different commercially available SPME fibers, in combination with both GC-MS and GC-FID, and identify the 50/30 µm CAR-DVB-PDMS, 85 µm CAR-PDMS, 65 µm DVB-PDMS, 7 µm PDMS, and 60 µm PEG SPME fibers as a minimal set of fibers appropriate for human fecal VOC metabolomics, collectively isolating approximately 90% of the total metabolites obtained when using all eight fibers. We also evaluate the effect of extraction duration on metabolite isolation and illustrate that ex vivo enteric microbial fermentation has no effect on metabolite composition during prolonged extractions if the SPME is performed as described herein