Process Intensification Routes for Mineral Carbonation

Mineral carbonation is a realistic route for capture and storage of carbon dioxide. The principal advantages of this approach are the chemical stability and storage safety of mineral carbonates, the opportunities for process integration available, and the potential for conversion of low-value materials into useful products. In this work the valorisation of alkaline waste materials from thermal processes by mineral carbonation utilizing intensified and integrated mineral carbonation routes is explored. Process intensification is the chemical engineering of the 21st century, and aims at providing the paradigm-shifting techniques that will revolutionize the industry. The combination of process intensification and process integration strategies has the potential to produce economically feasible and industrially acceptable carbonation technologies that can soon be implemented at large-scale, several examples of which are already proven at the laboratory scale and are herein discussed

Synthesis of Pure Aragonite by Sonochemical Mineral Carbonation.

The objective of this work was to promote the formation of the aragonite polymorph of calcium carbonate, which has some valuable applications in industry, via the mineral carbonation route. The combination of ultrasound with magnesium ions promoted the formation of pure aragonite crystals at optimum conditions. It was possible to synthesize high purity aragonite precipitates at temperatures ranging from 24 oC to 70 oC, with the resulting powders possessing varying particle size distributions (from sub-micron up to 20 μm) and crystal morphologies (from acicular needles to novel hubbard squash-like particles). Several process parameters were found to influence the produced calcium carbonate polymorph ratios (aragonite over calcite). Higher values of magnesium-to-calcium ratio, intermediate ultrasound amplitude (60%), continuous ultrasound application (100% cycle), introduction of ultrasound pre-breakage, lowering of the CO2 flow rate, and increase in the relative concentration (g/L Ca(OH)2), all promoted aragonite formation. A potential route for industrial production of this material has been identified via a fed-batch process, which effectively reutilizes magnesium chloride while maintaining high aragonite yield. The results presented herein are significantly superior to aragonite formation using only single promoting techniques, typically found in literature, and go beyond by focusing on pure (\u3e99%) aragonite formation

Selective Attention and Sensory Modality in Aging: Curses and Blessings

The notion that selective attention is compromised in older adults as a result of impaired inhibitory control is well established. Yet it is primarily based on empirical findings covering the visual modality. Auditory and, especially, cross-modal selective attention are remarkably underexposed in the literature on aging. In the past five years, we have attempted to fill these voids by investigating performance of younger and older adults on equivalent tasks covering all four combinations of visual or auditory target, and visual or auditory distractor information. In doing so, we have demonstrated that older adults are especially impaired in auditory selective attention with visual distraction. This pattern of results was not mirrored by the results from our psychophysiological studies, however, in which both enhancement of target processing and suppression of distractor processing appeared to be age equivalent. We currently conclude that (1) age-related differences of selective attention are modality dependent, (2) age-related differences of selective attention are limited, and (3) it remains an open question whether modality-specific age differences in selective attention are due to impaired distractor inhibition, impaired target enhancement, or both. These conclusions put the longstanding inhibitory deficit hypothesis of aging in a new perspective

Recent Developments and Perspectives on the Treatment of Industrial Wastes by Mineral Carbonation - a Review

Besides producing a substantial portion of anthropogenic CO2 emissions, the industrial sector also generates significant quantities of solid residues. Mineral carbonation of alkaline wastes enables the combination of these two by-products, increasing the sustainability of industrial activities. On top of sequestering CO2 in geochemically stable form, mineral carbonation of waste materials also brings benefits such as stabilization of leaching, basicity and structural integrity, enabling further valorization of the residues, either via reduced waste treatment or landfilling costs, or via the production of marketable products. This paper reviews the current state-of-the-art of this technology and the latest developments in this field. Focus is given to the beneficial effects of mineral carbonation when applied to metallurgical slags, incineration ashes, mining tailings, asbestos containing materials, red mud, and oil shale processing residues. Efforts to intensify the carbonation reaction rate and improve the mineral conversion via process intensification routes, such as the application of ultrasound, hot-stage processing and integrated reactor technologies, are described. Valorization opportunities closest to making the transition from laboratory research to commercial reality, particularly in the form of shaped construction materials and precipitated calcium carbonate, are highlighted. Lastly, the context of mineral carbonation among the range of CCS options is discussed

Distinguishing Between Carbonate and Non-carbonate Precipitates From the Carbonation of Calcium-containing Organic Acid Leachates

Two organic acids were trialled for the extraction of calcium from steelmaking blast furnace slag for the purpose of precipitated calcium carbonate (PCC) production: succinic and acetic acids. While the leaching performance of succinic acid was superior, carbonation of its leachate did not result in the production of PCC, but rather the precipitation of calcium succinate, and only after the use of pH buffering agents (sodium hydroxide or bicarbonate). In contrast, carbonation of the acetic acid leachate resulted in the production of PCC, also with the aid of buffering agents. This discrepancy highlights the need for a combination of chemical, mineralogical and morphological analytical techniques for the accurate characterization of carbonation precipitates for future publications in this field. Additional effects observed in this study were the low atom-efficiency of the acids for calcium leaching, at ~20–30% of the stoichiometric value, the low extraction selectivity but high carbonation selectivity between calcium and magnesium, and the contamination of the formed PCC’s with small amounts of co-leached aluminium and silicon. Further work is warranted on the purification of this PCC synthesis route

Brain2Pix: Fully convolutional naturalistic video reconstruction from brain activity

Reconstructing complex and dynamic visual perception from brain activity remains a major challenge in machine learning applications to neuroscience. Here we present a new method for reconstructing naturalistic images and videos from very large single-participant functional magnetic resonance data that leverages the recent success of image-to-image transformation networks. This is achieved by exploiting spatial information obtained from retinotopic mappings across the visual system. More specifically, we first determine what position each voxel in a particular region of interest would represent in the visual field based on its corresponding receptive field location. Then, the 2D image representation of the brain activity on the visual field is passed to a fully convolutional image-to-image network trained to recover the original stimuli using VGG feature loss with an adversarial regularizer. In our experiments, we show that our method offers a significant improvement over existing video reconstruction technique

Comparative Study of Ageing, Heat Treatment and Accelerated Carbonation for Stabilization of Municipal Solid Waste Incineration Bottom Ash in View of Reducing Regulated Heavy Metal/metalloid Leaching

This study compared the performance of four different approaches for stabilization of regulated heavy metal and metalloid leaching from municipal solid waste incineration bottom ash (MSWI-BA): (i) short term (three months) heap ageing, (ii) heat treatment, (iii) accelerated moist carbonation, and (iv) accelerated pressurized slurry carbonation. Two distinct types of MSWI-BA were tested in this study: one originating from a moving-grate furnace incineration operation treating exclusively household refuse (sample B), and another originating from a fluid-bed furnace incineration operation that treats a mixture of household and light industrial wastes (sample F). The most abundant elements in the ashes were Si (20 to 27 wt.%) and Ca (16 to 19 wt.%), followed by significant quantities of Fe, Al, Na, S, K, Mg, Ti, and Cl. The main crystalline substances present in the fresh ashes were Quartz, Calcite, Apatite, Anhydrite and Gehlenite, while the amorphous fraction ranged from 56 to 73 wt.%. The leaching values of all samples were compared to the Flemish (NEN 7343) and the Walloon (DIN 38414) regulations from Belgium. Batch leaching of the fresh ashes at natural pH showed that seven elements exceeded at least one regulatory limit (Ba, Cr, Cu, Mo, Pb, Se and Zn), and that both ashes had excess basicity (pH \u3e 12). Accelerated carbonation achieved significant reduction in ash basicity (9.3–9.9); lower than ageing (10.5–12.2) and heat treatment (11.1–12.1). For sample B, there was little distinction between the leaching results of ageing and accelerated carbonation with respect to regulatory limits; however carbonation achieved comparatively lower leaching levels. Heat treatment was especially detrimental to the leaching of Cr. For sample F, ageing was ineffective and heat treatment had marginally better results, while accelerated carbonation delivered the most effective performance, with slurry carbonation meeting all DIN limits. Slurry carbonation was deemed the most effective treatment process, achieving consistently significant leaching stabilization, while also effectively washing out Cl ions, a requirement for the utilization of the ashes in construction applications. The benefits of carbonation were linked to the formation of significant quantities of Ca-carbonates, including appreciable quantities of the Aragonite polymorph formed in the slurry carbonated samples

Ultrasound-Intensified Mineral Carbonation

Several aspects of ultrasound-assisted mineral carbonation were investigated in this work. The objectives were to intensify the CO2 sequestration process to improve reaction kinetics and maximal conversion. Stainless steel slags, derived from the Argon Oxygen Decarburization (AOD) and Continuous Casting / Ladle Metallurgy (CC/LM) refining steps, were used for assessing the technical feasibility of this concept, as they are potential carbon sinks and can benefit from reduction in alkalinity (pH) by mineral carbonation. Ultrasound was applied by use of an ultrasound horn into the reaction slurry, where mineral carbonation reaction took place at 50 oC for up to four hours; comparison was made to solely mechanically mixed process. It was found that sonication increases the reaction rate after the initial stage, and permits achieving higher carbonate conversion and lower pH. AOD slag conversion increased from 30% to 49%, and pH decreased from 10.6 to 10.1; CC slag conversion increased from 61% to 73% and pH decreased from 10.8 to 9.9. The enhancement effect of ultrasound was attributed to the removal of passivating layers (precipitated calcium carbonate and depleted silica) that surround the unreacted particle core and inhibit mass transfer. Significant particle size reduction was observed for sonicated powders, compared to particle size growth in the case of stirring only; D[4,3] values increased without sonication by 74% and 50%, and decreased with sonication by 64% and 52%, respectively for AOD and CC slags. Considerations on scale-up of this technology, particularly with regards to energy efficiency, are also discussed

Accelerated Mineral Carbonation of Stainless Steel Slags for CO2 Storage and Waste Valorization: Effect of Process Parameters on Geochemical Properties

This work explores the mineral carbonation of stainless steel slags in search for a technically and economically feasible treatment solution that steers these waste residues away from costly disposal in landfills and into valuable applications. Argon Oxygen Decarburization (AOD) and Continuous Casting (CC) slags prove ideal for mineral carbonation as their powdery morphology forgoes the need for milling and provides sufficient surface area for high reactivity towards direct aqueous carbonation. Experiments were undertaken using two methodologies: unpressurized thin-film carbonation, and pressurized slurry carbonation. The influence of process parameters (temperature, CO2 partial pressure, time, solids loading) on the slag carbonation conversion are investigated, seeking the optimal conditions that maximize the potential of the slags as carbon sinks. It was found that CC slag carbonates more extensively than AOD slag at essentially every processing condition due to differences in particle microstructure; still, it was possible to reach up to 0.26 and 0.31 g,CO2/g,slag uptake with AOD and CC slags, respectively, at optimal processing conditions via pressurized slurry carbonation. Mineral carbonation conversion was accompanied by significant reduction in basicity, as much as two pH units, and stabilization of heavy metals leaching, meeting regulatory limits (borderline for Cr) for safe waste materials re-use. Via quantitative mineralogical analyses, it was possible to differentiate the carbonation reactivity of several alkaline mineral phases, and to discern the preferential formation of certain Ca- and Mg-carbonates depending on the processing route and operating conditions. Slurry carbonation was found to deliver greater mineral carbonation conversion and optimal treatment homogeneity, which are required for commercial applications. However, thin-film carbonation may be a more feasible route for the utilization of slags solely as carbon sinks, particularly due to the elimination of several processing steps and reduction of energy demand

HIV-1 latency in actively dividing human T cell lines

<p>Abstract</p> <p>Background</p> <p>Eradication of HIV-1 from an infected individual cannot be achieved by current drug regimens. Viral reservoirs established early during the infection remain unaffected by anti-retroviral therapy and are able to replenish systemic infection upon interruption of the treatment. Therapeutic targeting of viral latency will require a better understanding of the basic mechanisms underlying the establishment and long-term maintenance of HIV-1 in resting memory CD4 T cells, the most prominent reservoir of transcriptional silent provirus. However, the molecular mechanisms that permit long-term transcriptional control of proviral gene expression in these cells are still not well understood. Exploring the molecular details of viral latency will provide new insights for eventual future therapeutics that aim at viral eradication.</p> <p>Results</p> <p>We set out to develop a new in vitro HIV-1 latency model system using the doxycycline (dox)-inducible HIV-rtTA variant. Stable cell clones were generated with a silent HIV-1 provirus, which can subsequently be activated by dox-addition. Surprisingly, only a minority of the cells was able to induce viral gene expression and a spreading infection, eventhough these experiments were performed with the actively dividing SupT1 T cell line. These latent proviruses are responsive to TNFα treatment and alteration of the DNA methylation status with 5-Azacytidine or genistein, but not responsive to the regular T cell activators PMA and IL2. Follow-up experiments in several T cell lines and with wild-type HIV-1 support these findings.</p> <p>Conclusion</p> <p>We describe the development of a new in vitro model for HIV-1 latency and discuss the advantages of this system. The data suggest that HIV-1 proviral latency is not restricted to resting T cells, but rather an intrinsic property of the virus.</p