Aromatic nitrations by mixed acid. Slow liquid-liquid reaction regime

Aromatic nitrations by mixed acid have been selected as a specific case of a heterogeneous liquid-liquid reaction. An extensive experimental programme has been followed using adiabatic and heat-flow calorimetry and pilot reactor experiments, supported by chemical analysis. A series of nitration experiments has been carried out to study the influences of different initial and operating conditions such as temperature, stirring speed and sulphuric acid concentration. In parallel, a mathematical model to predict the overall conversion rate has been developed. In this paper the mathematical modelling and the implementation and experimental validation for benzene, toluene and chlorobenzene mononitration in the kinetic control regime (slow liquid-liquid reaction) are presented and discussed

Symmetric and Asymmetric Coalescence of Drops on a Substrate

The coalescence of viscous drops on a substrate is studied experimentally and theoretically. We consider cases where the drops can have different contact angles, leading to a very asymmetric coalescence process. Side view experiments reveal that the "bridge" connecting the drops evolves with self-similar dynamics, providing a new perspective on the coalescence of sessile drops. We show that the universal shape of the bridge is accurately described by similarity solutions of the one-dimensional lubrication equation. Our theory predicts a bridge that grows linearly in time and stresses the strong dependence on the contact angles. Without any adjustable parameters, we find quantitative agreement with all experimental observations.Comment: 5 pages, 4 figure

HERA-B Framework for Online Calibration and Alignment

This paper describes the architecture and implementation of the HERA-B framework for online calibration and alignment. At HERA-B the performance of all trigger levels, including the online reconstruction, strongly depends on using the appropriate calibration and alignment constants, which might change during data taking. A system to monitor, recompute and distribute those constants to online processes has been integrated in the data acquisition and trigger systems.Comment: Submitted to NIM A. 4 figures, 15 page

Fuzzy Control Strategy for an Anaerobic Wastewater Treatment Process

In this paper, a fuzzy control strategy (FCS) for an anaerobic wastewater treatment process is proposed in order to reject large disturbances on input substrate allowing a high methane production. This strategy is composed of: i) a state observer, which is based on a principal components analysis (PCA) and Takagi-Sugeno (TS) algorithm; it is designed to estimate variables hard to measure: biomass and substrate, ii) proportional-integral (PI) controllers based on a combination of the L/A(logarithm/antilogarithm) and fuzzy approaches; these controllers have variable gains and are designed to regulate bicarbonate in the reactor by two control actions: a base supplying (binc) and dilution rate (D) changes, iii) a TS supervisor which detects the process state, selects and applies the most adequate control action, allowing a smooth switching between open loop and closed loop. Applicability of the proposed structure in a completely stirred tank reactor (CSTR) is illustrated via simulations. The obtained results show that the process works in open loop in presence of small disturbances. For large disturbances, the supervisor allows the control actions to be applied avoiding washout; after that, the process returns to open loop operation. In general, the FCS improves the performances of the anaerobic process and is feasible for application in real processes, since the control scheme shows a good compromise between efficiency and complexity

Influence of antioxidant location on the protection of oil encapsulated in powder

Encapsulation of Poly Unsaturated Fatty Acids (PUFAs) in solid matrix, by providing a physical barrier, is used to prevent or delay their degradation; and the use of antioxidant is expected to enhance PUFAs oxidative stability. In liquid emulsions, the effectiveness of antioxidants is known to depend on their distribution between the oil and aqueous phase. In this study, the impact of the lipophilic or hydrophilic character of phenolic antioxidants on the oxidative stability of encapsulated PUFAs was investigated following the evolution of conjugated dienes and antioxidant residual content during accelerated ageing test (50\ub0C, 60% RH). Dry emulsions containing 10%wt stripped sunflower oil (60% PUFAs), 89.7%wt maltodextrin DE12 (wall material) and 0.3%wt Tween\uae20 (surfactant) were produced by spray drying. Some were enriched with alpha-tocopherol (lipophilic - 500 ppm in oil) or chlorogenic acid (hydrophilic, 1000 ppm in maltodextrin), two scavengers of lipid radicals implied in oxidation.Antioxidants improved the oxidative stability of encapsulated oil. With chlorogenic acid, oil oxidation occurred after a two days lag phase whilst for alpha-tocopherol, no lag phase was observed but the oxidation rate was smaller than in control and chlorogenic acid powders during the ten first days of ageing (Fig, 1a). The residual concentration of chlorogenic acid deceased rapidly during the first two days and then remained constant whilst the concentration of alphatocopherol decreased regularly ensuring oil protection until it has been totally consumed after ten days (Fig.1b). The better oil protection provided by alpha-tocopherol during the first ten days of storage was attributed to the different location of both antioxidants within the macro-domains of the dry emulsion. Alpha-tocopherol, in oil droplets, was directly in contact with the oil to protect whilst for chlorogenic acid, entrapped in the solid matrix, only the fraction in contact with the oil droplets brought protection and 60% of initial chlorogenic acid remained preserved in the matrix

Modeling of pv module and dc/dc converter assembly for the analysis of induced transient response due to nearby lightning strike

Photovoltaic (PV) systems are subject to nearby lightning strikes that can contribute to extremely high induced overvoltage transients. Recently, the authors introduced a 3D semi-analytical method to study the electromagnetic transients caused by these strikes in a PV module. In the present paper we develop an improved model of the PV module that: (a) takes into account high-frequency effects by modelling capacitive and inductive couplings; (b) considers the electrical insulation characteristics of the module; (c) includes the connection to a DC/DC converter. The whole process involves three major steps, i.e., the magnetic-field computation, the evaluation of both common-mode-and differential-mode-induced voltages across the PV module, and the use of the calculated voltages as input to a lumped equivalent circuit of the PV module connected to the DC/DC converter. In such a framework, the influence of the PV operating condition on the resulting electrical stresses is assessed; moreover, the relevance or insignificance of some parameters, such as the module insulation or the frame material, is demonstrated. Finally, results show that the induced overvoltage are highly dependent both on the grounding of the conducting parts and on the external conditions such as lightning current waveforms and lightning channel (LC) geometry