Kinetics and thermodynamics of adsorption of red dye 40 from acidic aqueous solutions onto a novel chitosan sulfate

The kinetic and thermodynamics of adsorption of Red Dye 40 from acidic aqueous solutions onto a partially sulfated chitosan (ChS) was studied. The partially sulfated ChS was water insoluble in the pH range of 2-12. Experiments were carried out batch wise to determine the effect of pH, dye concentration, and temperature on the adsorption capacity of ChStowards Red Dye 40. It was found that the equilibrium dye-binding capacity of ChS (qe) increased with increasing initial dye concentration; however, the percentage of dye removal decreased. Dye adsorption capacity of ChS increased when the solution pH was reduced. The Langmuir model was better fitted the experimental adsorption equilibrium data, and therate of dye adsorption onto ChS follows the pseudosecond order kinetic model. The adsorption capacity of ChS was enhanced by increasing the temperature.The thermodynamic adsorption parameters, enthalpy(ΔH°), entropy (ΔS°), and Gibbs energy (ΔG°) were evaluated. The adsorption process was endothermic, and the Gibbs energy negative indicating that it occurred spontaneously

Linear programming model to minimize the production costs of an adhesive tape company

Production in large quantities of different varieties of products creates issues in finding an optimal planning solution. Adhesive tapes companies face that challenge. A multi-phased methodology is proposed to minimize production costs. In this it is considered different production variables. First phase divided a problem into subproblems to minimize computational complexity through an incidence matrix. Second phase formulated a linear programming model to determine production optimal batch sizes. Consequently, model is applied in a real company. Results showed a decrease in production costs in a range of 14%-43% for the different manufactured groups of components. In this way it is expected that more companies can apply similar models to improve their production indicators

Chitosan selectivity for removing cadmium (II), copper (II), and lead (II) from aqueous phase: pH and organic matter effect

"The aim of this study was to investigate the selectivity of chitosan for cadmium, copper and lead in the presence and absence of natural organic matter (NOM) in different pH solutions. Adsorption isotherms of one and three adsorbates at initial concentration of 5–100 mg/L were carried out in batch reactors at pH 4, 5, or 7 and 25 °C in reactive and clarified water. The chitosan employed had a MW of 107.8 × 103 g/mol and degree of acetylation (DA) of 33.7%. The chitosan adsorption capacity at pH 4 in reactive water was 0.036, 0.016, 0.010 mmol/g for Pb2+, Cd2+, and Cu2+, respectively, and it decreased for Pb2+ and Cd2+ in clarified water. Conversely, experiments carried out in clarified water showed that the cadmium adsorption capacity of chitosan was enhanced about three times by the presence of NOM at pH 7: an adsorption mechanism was proposed. Furthermore, it was found that the biosorbent selectivity, in both reactive and clarified water at pH 4, was as follows Cu2+ > Cd2+ > Pb2+. Finally, the preliminary desorption experiments of Cd2+ conducted at pH 2 and 3 reported 68 and 44.8% of metal desorbed, which indicated that the adsorption mechanism occurred by electrostatic interactions and covalent bonds.

Light scattering from self-affine fractal silver surfaces with nanoscale cutoff: Far-field and near-field calculations

We study the light scattered from randomly rough, one-dimensional self-affine fractal silver surfaces with nanoscale lower cutoff, illuminated by s- or p-polarized Gaussian beams a few microns wide. By means of rigorous numerical calculations based on the Green theorem integral equation formulation, we obtain both the far- and near-field scattered intensities. The influence of diminishing the fractal lower scale cutoff (from below a hundred, down to a few nanometers) is analyzed in the case of both single realizations and ensemble average magnitudes. For s polarization, variations are small in the far field, being only significant in the higher spatial frequency components of evanescent character in the near field. In the case of p polarization, however, the nanoscale cutoff has remarkable effects stemming from the roughness-induced excitation of surface-plasmon polaritons. In the far field, the effect is noticed both in the speckle pattern variation and in the decrease of the total reflected energy upon ensemble averaging, due to increased absorption. In the near field, more efficient excitation of localized optical modes is achieved with smaller cutoff, which in turn leads to huge surface electric field enhancements.Comment: REVTeX 4, 10 page

Continuous immobilized yeast reactor system for complete beer fermentation using spent grains and corncobs as carrier materials

Despite extensive research carried out in the last few decades, continuous beer fermentation has not yet managed to outperform the traditional batch technology. An industrial breakthrough in favour of continuous brewing using immobilized yeast could be expected only on achievement of the following process characteristics: simple design, low investment costs, flexible operation, effective process control and good product quality. The application of cheap carrier materials of by-product origin could significantly lower the investment costs of continuous fermentation systems. This work deals with a complete continuous beer fermentation system consisting of a main fermentation reactor (gas-lift) and a maturation reactor (packedbed) containing yeast immobilized on spent grains and corncobs, respectively. The suitability of cheap carrier materials for long-term continuous brewing was proved. It was found that by fine tuning of process parameters (residence time, aeration) it was possible to adjust the flavour profile of the final product. Consumers considered the continuously fermented beer to be of a regular quality. Analytical and sensorial profiles of both continuously and batch fermented beers were compared.(Fundação de Amparo a Pesquisa do Estado de São Paulo, Brazil (FAPESPFundação para a Ciência e a Tecnologia (FC

Constitutive modelling of skin ageing

The objective of this chapter is to review the main biomechanical and structural aspects associated with both intrinsic and extrinsic skin ageing, and to present potential research avenues to account for these effects in mathematical and computational models of the skin. This will be illustrated through recent work of the authors which provides a basis to those interested in developing mechanistic constitutive models capturing the mechanobiology of skin across the life course