Evaluación de variables para la producción de metil ésteres a partir de aceite de semilla de algodón asistido por ultrasonido

El uso de la radiación ultrasónica como una nueva herramienta de mezcla, más eficiente en la producción de biodiesel brinda una alternativa a los métodos convencionales de producción. La energía del ultrasonido mejora la transferencia de masa entre los reactivos no miscibles a través de la cavitación ultrasónica lo que genera no solo una mayor eficiencia en la reacción y ahorro de tiempo, sino que además puede ser económicamente viable, ya que requiere poca cantidad de catalizador y sólo entre un tercio y la mitad de la energía que se consume por agitación mecánica debido a que maximiza el área superficial de la interfase entre los reactivosno miscibles y con consumos de energía más bajos que la de los reactores agitados. en este trabajo se evalúan los resultados de reacciones asistidas por ultrasonido utili- zando un plan de trabajo donde se varían los parámetros tiempo de reacción, relación molar aceite/alcohol, cantidad de catalizador y temperatura; manteniendo constantes los parámetros de frecuenta y potencia del baño de ultrasonido. Se lograron conversiones superiores al 90% de triglicéridos a metil ésteres

Estudio de las Variables de Reacción de la Transesterificación Asistida por Microondas

La irradiación de microondas es una fuente de energía no convencional que viene siendo utilizada para un gran número de reacciones químicas, comprobando que éstas pueden ser aceleradas bajo condiciones de irradiación de microondas. Debido a que la reacción de transesterificación contiene tanto componentes polares como iónicos, el calentamiento con microondas se compara favorablemente con los métodos convencionales. En este trabajo se realizaron estudios de los efectos de la irradiación de microondas en la síntesis de biodiesel con aceite de algodón y metanol usando hidróxido de sodio como catalizador. Se ha comprobado mediante ensayos de laboratorio que utilizando las mismas condiciones que con el método convencional de calentamiento se pueden alcanzar los mismos rendimientos, incluso mayores, que utilizando la irradiación microonda como fuente de energía, con la ventaja de una considerable reducción del tiempo de reacción

Termogravimetría y espectroscopía de infrarrojo para el control del rendimiento en la obtención de alquil esteres

En este trabajo se preparó zirconia modificada con sulfato de cerio al 5%, se evaluaron sus propiedades texturales y de acidez, y se han comparado bajo las mismas condiciones como catalizadores de las reacciones de esterificación y transesterificación de aceite de semilla de algodón con etanol y metanol. Las reacciones se llevaron a cabo en reactor bach bajo diferentes condiciones de tempe-ratura de reacción, relación molar aceite:alcohol, cantidad de catalizador y tiempo de reacción, la presión fue autogenerada de 30bar. Los productos de reacción fueron cuan-tificados por HPLC y posteriormente con análisis termogravimétrico (TGA) y espectroscopía infrarroja con transformada de Fourier (IRTF). Se halló que el análisis TGA es muy útil para seguimiento de reacciones de obtención de etil y metil ésteres, hallándose diferencias importantes hasta concentración del 96%, mientras que el IRTF es mucho menos sensibl

Clouds and aerosols in Puerto Rico ─ a new evaluation

The influence of aerosols, both natural and anthropogenic, remains a major area of uncertainty when predicting the properties and behaviour of clouds and their influence on climate. In an attempt to better understand warm cloud formation in a tropical marine environment, a period of intensive measurements took place in December 2004 in Puerto Rico, using some of the latest developments in online instrumentation such as aerosol mass spectrometers, cloud condensation nuclei counters and a hygroscopicity tandem differential mobility analyser. Simultaneous online measurements of aerosol size distributions, composition, hygroscopicity and optical properties were made near the lighthouse of Cape San Juan in the north-eastern corner of the island and at the top of East Peak mountain (1040 m a.s.l.), the two sites separated by 17 km. Additional measurements of the cloud droplet residual and interstitial aerosol properties were made at the mountain site, accompanied by measurements of cloud droplet size distributions, liquid water content and the chemical composition of cloud and rain water samples. <br><br> Both aerosol composition and cloud properties were found to be sensitive to wind sector. Air from the east-northeast (ENE) was mostly free of anthropogenic influences, the submicron fraction being mainly composed of non-sea salt sulphate, while that from the east-southeast (ESE) was found to be moderately influenced by populated islands upwind, adding smaller (&lt;100 nm), externally mixed, carbonaceous particles to the aerosol that increased the number concentrations by over a factor of 3. This change in composition was also accompanied with a reduction in the measured hygroscopicity and fractional cloud activation potential of the aerosol. At the mountain site, the average cloud droplet concentrations increased from 193 to 519 cm^&minus;3, median volume diameter decreased from 20 to 14 μm and the liquid water content increased from 0.24 to 0.31 g m^&minus;3 when the winds shifted from the ENE to ESE. Larger numbers of interstitial particles were recorded, most notably at sizes greater than 100 nm, which were absent during clean conditions. The average size of the residual particles and concentrations of cloudwater nitrate, sulphate and insoluble material increased during polluted conditions. <br><br> Previous studies in Puerto Rico had reported the presence of a significant non-anthropogenic organic fraction in the aerosols measured and concluded that this was a factor controlling the in situ cloud properties. However, this was not observed in our case. In contrast to the 1.00&plusmn;0.14 μg m^&minus;3 of organic carbon measured in 1992 and 1995, the organic matter measured in the current study of 0.17&plusmn;0.35 μg m^&minus;3 is many times lower, most of which can be attributed to anthropogenic sources. During clean conditions, the submicron aerosol was observed to be almost entirely inorganic, an observation supported by the hygroscopicity measurements. This suggests that organic aerosols from marine sources may not be completely ubiquitous (either spatially or temporally) in this environment and requires further investigation to quantify their true extent and implications, with more extensive, longer-term sampling in conjunction with wind field analyses

Modelado Matemático de la Cinética de la Reacción de Transesterificación y Prospección Probabilística de la Composición de Lípidos Saponificables en Aceites Vegetales

Biodiesel is a biofuel that is a daily reality for a number of agroindustrial producers in Argentina, especially in areas where this producers suffer the lack of fossil fuel, particularly localized in the Northeast region.The results reported in this study allow to conclude that it has been successfully established the basic guidelines for Mathematical Modeling of the kinetics of the transesterification reaction to use in MATLAB software, and that has been properly developed the probabilistic prospection of the composition saponifiable lipids of vegetable oils. With these results, it is possible to consider viable the development of the simulation of the transesterification reaction of saponifiable lipids present vegetable oils.El Biodiesel, es un Biocombustible que constituye una realidad cotidiana para un sin número de productores radicados en la Argentina, especialmente en aquellas áreas Agroindustriales que sufren la falta de combustibles fósiles, localizadas, particularmente, en la región Nordeste del país.Los resultados reportados en este trabajo permiten concluir que se han establecido correctamente los lineamientos básicos para el Modelado Matemático de la Cinética de la Reacción de Transesterificación a fin de utilizarlos en el Software Matlab y que se ha desarrollado de manera adecuada la Prospección Probabilística de la composición de lípidos saponificables en Aceites Vegetales. Con estos resultados se considera viable el desarrollo de la Simulación de la Reacción de Transesterificación de lípidos saponificables en Aceites Vegetales

On the nature of the EXor accretion events: an unfrequent manifestation of a common phenomenology ?

We present the results of a comparison between classical and newly identified EXor based on literature data and aimed at recognizing possible differences or similarities of both categories. Optical and near-IR two-color diagrams, modalities of fluctuations, and derived values of the mass accretion rates are indicative of strong similarities between the two samples. We demonstrate how the difference between the outburst and the quiescence spectral energy distribution of all the EXor can be well fitted with a single blackbody, as if an additional thermal component appears during the outbursting phase. Temperatures of this additional component span between 1000 and 4500 K, while the radii of the emitting regions (assumed to be a uniform disk) span between 0.01 and 0.1 AU, sizes typical of the inner portions of the circumstellar disk. Spots persisting up to 50% of the outburst duration, not exceeding the 10% of the stellar surface, and with temperatures compatible with the EXor mass accretion rates, are able to account for both the appearance of the additional thermal component and the dust sublimation in the inner structures of the disk. We also compare the EXor events with the most significant color and magnitude fluctuations of active T Tauri stars finding that (i} burst accretion phenomena should also be important for this latter class; (ii} EXor events could be more frequent then those accidentally discovered. Remarkable is the case of the source V2493 Cyg, a T Tauri star recently identified as a strong outbursting object: new optical and near-IR photometric and spectroscopic data are presented trying to clarify its EXor or FUor nature.Comment: Accepted for publication in Ap

X-ray Absorption and Reflection in Active Galactic Nuclei

X-ray spectroscopy offers an opportunity to study the complex mixture of emitting and absorbing components in the circumnuclear regions of active galactic nuclei, and to learn about the accretion process that fuels AGN and the feedback of material to their host galaxies. We describe the spectral signatures that may be studied and review the X-ray spectra and spectral variability of active galaxies, concentrating on progress from recent Chandra, XMM-Newton and Suzaku data for local type 1 AGN. We describe the evidence for absorption covering a wide range of column densities, ionization and dynamics, and discuss the growing evidence for partial-covering absorption from data at energies > 10 keV. Such absorption can also explain the observed X-ray spectral curvature and variability in AGN at lower energies and is likely an important factor in shaping the observed properties of this class of source. Consideration of self-consistent models for local AGN indicates that X-ray spectra likely comprise a combination of absorption and reflection effects from material originating within a few light days of the black hole as well as on larger scales. It is likely that AGN X-ray spectra may be strongly affected by the presence of disk-wind outflows that are expected in systems with high accretion rates, and we describe models that attempt to predict the effects of radiative transfer through such winds, and discuss the prospects for new data to test and address these ideas.Comment: Accepted for publication in the Astronomy and Astrophysics Review. 58 pages, 9 figures. V2 has fixed an error in footnote

A chemical survey of exoplanets with ARIEL

Thousands of exoplanets have now been discovered with a huge range of masses, sizes and orbits: from rocky Earth-like planets to large gas giants grazing the surface of their host star. However, the essential nature of these exoplanets remains largely mysterious: there is no known, discernible pattern linking the presence, size, or orbital parameters of a planet to the nature of its parent star. We have little idea whether the chemistry of a planet is linked to its formation environment, or whether the type of host star drives the physics and chemistry of the planet’s birth, and evolution. ARIEL was conceived to observe a large number (~1000) of transiting planets for statistical understanding, including gas giants, Neptunes, super-Earths and Earth-size planets around a range of host star types using transit spectroscopy in the 1.25–7.8 μm spectral range and multiple narrow-band photometry in the optical. ARIEL will focus on warm and hot planets to take advantage of their well-mixed atmospheres which should show minimal condensation and sequestration of high-Z materials compared to their colder Solar System siblings. Said warm and hot atmospheres are expected to be more representative of the planetary bulk composition. Observations of these warm/hot exoplanets, and in particular of their elemental composition (especially C, O, N, S, Si), will allow the understanding of the early stages of planetary and atmospheric formation during the nebular phase and the following few million years. ARIEL will thus provide a representative picture of the chemical nature of the exoplanets and relate this directly to the type and chemical environment of the host star. ARIEL is designed as a dedicated survey mission for combined-light spectroscopy, capable of observing a large and well-defined planet sample within its 4-year mission lifetime. Transit, eclipse and phase-curve spectroscopy methods, whereby the signal from the star and planet are differentiated using knowledge of the planetary ephemerides, allow us to measure atmospheric signals from the planet at levels of 10–100 part per million (ppm) relative to the star and, given the bright nature of targets, also allows more sophisticated techniques, such as eclipse mapping, to give a deeper insight into the nature of the atmosphere. These types of observations require a stable payload and satellite platform with broad, instantaneous wavelength coverage to detect many molecular species, probe the thermal structure, identify clouds and monitor the stellar activity. The wavelength range proposed covers all the expected major atmospheric gases from e.g. H2O, CO2, CH4 NH3, HCN, H2S through to the more exotic metallic compounds, such as TiO, VO, and condensed species. Simulations of ARIEL performance in conducting exoplanet surveys have been performed – using conservative estimates of mission performance and a full model of all significant noise sources in the measurement – using a list of potential ARIEL targets that incorporates the latest available exoplanet statistics. The conclusion at the end of the Phase A study, is that ARIEL – in line with the stated mission objectives – will be able to observe about 1000 exoplanets depending on the details of the adopted survey strategy, thus confirming the feasibility of the main science objectives.Peer reviewedFinal Published versio