Crystalline Membranes

In certain aspects, the invention features methods for forming crystalline membranes (e.g., a membrane of a framework material, such as a zeolite) by inducing secondary growth in a layer of oriented seed crystals. The rate of growth of the seed crystals in the plane of the substrate is controlled to be comparable to the rate of growth out of the plane. As a result, a crystalline membrane can form a substantially continuous layer including grains of uniform crystallographic orientation that extend through the depth of the layer

A new model for calculating permeability of natural fractures in dual-porosity reservoir

During the development of naturally fractured carbonate reservoirs, understanding the change in fracture permeability is the basis for production evaluation and scientific development. The conventional method of analyzing fracture permeability is to take core samples for laboratory experiments. This paper presents a new method to calculate the fracture permeability decrease using actual reservoir pressure data. The mathematical model of fracture permeability change with pressure is established based on material balance in the production process of a fractured reservoir. The model considers crossflow coefficient as well as compression coefficient. According to the results of the model, the fracture permeability decreases with decrease of the formation pressure, but the degree of decline is related to the crossflow coefficient and the compression coefficient. By using this model, the change in fracture permeability can be calculated under different production pressures. This provides a new method for stress sensitivity determination of fractured reservoirs.Cited as: Zhang, T., Li, Z., Adenutsi, C.D., et al. A new model for calculating permeability of natural fractures in dual-porosity reservoir. Advances in Geo-Energy Research, 2017, 1(2): 86-92, doi: 10.26804/ager.2017.02.0

Metal-organic-framework derived Co-Pd bond is preferred over Fe-Pd for reductive upgrading of furfural to tetrahydrofurfuryl alcohol

Combined noble-transition metal catalysts have been used to produce a wide range of important non-petroleum-based chemicals from biomass-derived furfural (as a platform molecule) and have garnered colossal research interest due to the urgent demand for sustainable and clean fuels. Herein, we report the palladium-modified metal–organic-framework (MOF) assisted preparation of PdCo3O4 and PdFe3O4 nanoparticles encapsulated in a graphitic N-doped carbon (NC) matrix via facile in situ thermolysis. This provides a change in selectivity with superior catalytic activity for the reductive upgrading of biomass-derived furfural (FA). Under the optimized reaction conditions, the newly designed PdCo3O4@NC catalyst exhibited highly efficient catalytic performance in the hydrogenation of furfural, providing 100% furfural conversion with 95% yield of tetrahydrofurfuryl alcohol (THFAL). In contrast, the as-synthesized Pd–Fe3O4@NC afforded a THFAL yield of 70% after an 8 h reaction with four consecutive recycling tests. Based on different characterization data (XPS, H2-TPR) for nanohybrids, we can conclude that the presence of PdCo-Nx active sites, and the multiple synergistic effects between Co3O4 and Pd(II), Co3O4 and Pd0, as well as the presence of N in the carbonaceous matrix, are responsible for the superior catalytic activity and improved catalyst stability. Our strategy provides a facile design and synthesis process for a noble-transition metal alloy as a superior biomass refining, robust catalyst via noble metal modified MOFs as precursors

Antireflection self-reference method based on ultrathin metallic nanofilms for improving terahertz reflection spectroscopy

We present the potential of an antireflection self-reference method based on ultrathin tantalum nitride (TaN) nanofilms for improving terahertz (THz) reflection spectroscopy. The antireflection self-reference method is proposed to eliminate mutual interference caused by unwanted reflections, which significantly interferes with the important reflection from the actual sample in THz reflection measurement. The antireflection self-reference model was investigated using a wave-impedance matching approach, and the theoretical model was verified in experimental studies. We experimentally demonstrated this antireflection selfreference method can completely eliminate the effect of mutual interference, accurately recover the actual sample’s reflection and improve THz reflection spectroscopy. Our method paves the way to implement a straightforward, accurate and efficient approach to investigate THz properties of the liquids and biological samplesThe Fund from Hefei University of Technology (407-0371000019); Sichuan Province Science and Technology Support Program (No. 2016GZ0250); the Fundamental Research Funds for the Central Universities (Grant No. JD2017JGPY0006); National Natural Science Foundation of China (Grant No.51607050); MINECO (MAT2015–74381-JIN to B.P., RYC2014–16962 and CTQ2017-89588-R to P.dP.); Xunta de Galicia (Centro singular de investigación de Galicia accreditation 2016–2019, ED431G/09); European Union (European Regional Development Fund – ERDF)S

The effect of flow resistance on water saturation profile for transient two-phase flow in fractal porous media

Due to the rapid development of Micro-Electro-Mechanical System, more and more attention has been paid to the fluid properties of porous media, which is significant for petroleum engineering. However, most of surfaces of pores and capillaries in porous media are rough. On the approximation that porous medium consists of a bundle of tortuous and rough capillaries, a Buckley-Leverett conceptual model with considering flow resistance is developed based on the fractal geometry theory, which is beneficial to predict water saturation profile in porous medium. The proposed Buckley-Leverett solution is a function of fractal structural parameters (such as pore fractal dimension, tortuosity fractal dimension, maximum and minimum diameters of capillaries), fluid properties (such as viscosity, contact angle and interfacial tension) and pore structure parameter (relative roughness) in fractal porous medium. Besides, the relationship between water saturation and distance is presented according to Buckley-Leverett solution. The impaction of flow resistance on water saturation profile is discussed.Cited as: Lu, T., Li, Z., Lai, F., Meng, Y., Ma, W. The effect of flow resistance on water saturation profifile for transient two-phase flow in fractal porous media. Advances in Geo-Energy Research, 2018, 2(1): 63-71, doi: 10.26804/ager.2018.01.0

Hesperidin Protects against Acute Alcoholic Injury through Improving Lipid Metabolism and Cell Damage in Zebrafish Larvae

Alcoholic liver disease (ALD) is a series of abnormalities of liver function, including alcoholic steatosis, steatohepatitis, and cirrhosis. Hesperidin, the major constituent of flavanone in grapefruit, is proved to play a role in antioxidation, anti-inflammation, and reducing multiple organs damage in various animal experiments. However, the underlying mechanism of resistance to alcoholic liver injury is still unclear. Thus, we aimed to investigate the protective effects of hesperidin against ALD and its molecular mechanism in this study. We established an ALD zebrafish larvae model induced by 350 mM ethanol for 32 hours, using wild-type and transgenic line with liver-specific eGFP expression Tg (lfabp10α:eGFP) zebrafish larvae (4 dpf). The results revealed that hesperidin dramatically reduced the hepatic morphological damage and the expressions of alcohol and lipid metabolism related genes, including cyp2y3, cyp3a65, hmgcra, hmgcrb, fasn, and fads2 compared with ALD model. Moreover, the findings demonstrated that hesperidin alleviated hepatic damage as well, which is reflected by the expressions of endoplasmic reticulum stress and DNA damage related genes (chop, gadd45αa, and edem1). In conclusion, this study revealed that hesperidin can inhibit alcoholic damage to liver of zebrafish larvae by reducing endoplasmic reticulum stress and DNA damage, regulating alcohol and lipid metabolism

Dual-Function Conductive Copper Hollow Fibers for Microfiltration and Anti-biofouling in Electrochemical Membrane Bioreactors

Membrane bioreactors (MBRs) with polymeric/ceramic microfiltration (MF) membranes have been commonly used for wastewater treatment today. However, membrane biofouling often results in a dramatically-reduced service life of MF membranes, which limits the application of this technology. In this study, Cu hollow fiber membranes (Cu-HFMs) with low resistivity (104.8–309.8 nΩ·m) and anti-biofouling properties were successfully synthesized. Further analysis demonstrated that Cu-HFMs reduced at 625°C achieved the bimodal pore size distribution of ~1 μm and a porosity of 46%, which enable high N2 permeance (1.56 × 10−5 mol/m2 s pa) and pure water flux (5812 LMH/bar). The Cu-HFMs were further applied as the conductive cathodes, as well as MF membranes, in the electrochemical membrane bioreactor (EMBR) system that was enriched with domestic wastewater at an applied voltage of 0.9 V. Excellent permeate quality (Total suspended solids (TSS) = 11 mg/L) was achieved at a flux of 9.47 LMH after Cu-HFM filtration, with relatively stable transmembrane pressure (TMP) and low Cu2+ dissolvability (<25 μg/L). The anti-biofouling over time was demonstrated by SEM characterization of the rare biofilm formation on the Cu-HFM cathode surface. By using Cu-HFMs in EMBR systems, an effective strategy to control the membrane biofouling is developed in this study

Metal-organic-framework derived Co-Pd bond is preferred over Fe-Pd for reductive upgrading of furfural to tetrahydrofurfuryl alcohol

Combined noble-transition metal catalysts have been used to produce a wide range of important non-petroleum-based chemicals from biomass-derived furfural (as a platform molecule) and have garnered colossal research interest due to the urgent demand for sustainable and clean fuels. Herein, we report the palladium-modified metal–organic-framework (MOF) assisted preparation of PdCo3O4 and PdFe3O4 nanoparticles encapsulated in a graphitic N-doped carbon (NC) matrix via facile in situ thermolysis. This provides a change in selectivity with superior catalytic activity for the reductive upgrading of biomass-derived furfural (FA). Under the optimized reaction conditions, the newly designed PdCo3O4@NC catalyst exhibited highly efficient catalytic performance in the hydrogenation of furfural, providing 100% furfural conversion with 95% yield of tetrahydrofurfuryl alcohol (THFAL). In contrast, the as-synthesized Pd–Fe3O4@NC afforded a THFAL yield of 70% after an 8 h reaction with four consecutive recycling tests. Based on different characterization data (XPS, H2-TPR) for nanohybrids, we can conclude that the presence of PdCo-Nx active sites, and the multiple synergistic effects between Co3O4 and Pd(II), Co3O4 and Pd0, as well as the presence of N in the carbonaceous matrix, are responsible for the superior catalytic activity and improved catalyst stability. Our strategy provides a facile design and synthesis process for a noble-transition metal alloy as a superior biomass refining, robust catalyst via noble metal modified MOFs as precursors