Tuning sol size to optimize organosilica membranes for gas separation

A series of organosilica sols are prepared by the polymeric sol–gel method using 1,2-bis(triethoxysilyl)ethane(BTESE)as the precursor.Particle size distributions of the BTESE-derived sols are systematically investigated by carefully adjusting the synthesis parameters(i.e.,water ratios,acid ratios and solvent ratios)in the sol process.In certain conditions,increasing the water ratio or the acid ratio tends to cause larger sol sizes and bimodal particle size distributions.However,higher solvent ratios lead to smaller sol sizes and unimodal particle size distributions.The organosilica membranes prepared from the optimized sols show excellent H_2 permeances(up to 4.2×10^(-7)mol·m^(-2)·s^(-1)·Pa^(-1))and gas permselectitivies(H_2/CO_2 is 9.5,H_2/N_2 is 50 and H_2/CH_4 is 68).This study offers significant insights into the relationship between the sol synthesis parameters,sol sizes and membrane performance.

SYNTHESIS AND CHARACTERIZATION OF AMPHIPHILIC GRAFT COPOLYMER CONTAINING MICROPHASE SEPARATED AND LONG POLY(ETHYLENE OXIDE) SIDE CHAIN STRUCTURES

Acryloyl terminated Poly (ethyleneoxide)macromonomers (PEO-A) with different PEO chain lengths have been prepared by deactivation of PEO alkoxide with acryloyl chloride. A new kind of amphiphilic polystyrene-g-poly (ethylene oxide)graft copolymer containing both microphase separated and PEO side chain structures has been synthesized from radical copolymerization of PEO-A macromonomer with styrene. After careful purification by a newly-developed method called 'selective dissolution', the well-defined structure of the purified copolymers was confirmed by IR, ~1H-NMR and GPC. Various experimental parameters controlling the copolymerization were studied in detail. The results indicated that the feed ratio of styrene to macromonomer(S/M) was the most important determining factor for the composition of the copolymers. A detailed 'comb- model' was proposed to describe the molecular structure of the graft copolymers. Finally, this amphiphilic graft copolymers may readily form microphase separated structures as clearly indicated by transmission electron microscopy.

A formulation methodology for multicomponent distillation sequences based on stochastic optimization

Based on stochastic optimization strategy, a formulation methodology is proposed for synthesizing distillation column sequences, allowing more than one middle component as the distributing components between a pair of key components in the non-sharp split. In order to represent and manipulate the distillation configuration structures, a new coding procedure is proposed in the form of one-dimensional array. Theoretically, an array can represent any kind of split(non-sharp and sharp). With the application of a binary sort tree approach, a robust flow sheet encoding and decoding procedure is developed so that the problem formulation and solution becomes tractable. In this paper,the synthesis problem is formulated as a mixed-integer nonlinear programming(MINLP) problem and an improved simulated annealing approach is adopted to solve the optimization problem. Besides, a shortcut method is applied to the evaluation of all required design parameters as well as the total function.

Surface magnetization of siderite mineral

Surface self-magnetization of siderite is achieved by generating ferromagnetic substance on the surface of siderite by adjusting slurry temperature,pH value,stirring rate and reaction time.No addition of any iron-containing reagent is required.The temperature of 60 ℃,NaOH concentration of 0.10 mol/L;stirring rate of 900 r/min and the reaction time of 10 min are the optimal conditions.The results show that the siderite recovery in magnetic separation increased from 26.9% to 88.8% after surface magnetization.Magnetization kinetic equation is expressed as 1 [1(e0.269)]1/3 = Kt.Activation energy for the magnetization reaction is 4.30 kJ/mol.VSM,SEM and XPS were used to characterize the siderite,and results show that the saturated magnetization(rs) of siderite increased from 0.652 to 2.569Am2 /kg,the magnetic hysteresis was detected with a coercive force of 0.976 A/m after magnetization;Fe2P3/2 electron binding energy changed which reflects the valence alteration in iron on the surface and the formation of ferromagnetic Fe3O4.

Magnetic modification of diamagnetic agglomerate forming powder materials

A simple method for the magnetic modification of various types of powdered agglomerate forming dia- magnetic materials was developed. Magnetic iron oxide particles were prepared from ferrous sulfate by microwave assisted synthesis. A suspension of the magnetic particles in water soluble organic solvent （methanol, ethanol, propanol, isopropyl alcohol, or acetone） was mixed with the material to be modified and then completely dried at elevated temperature. The magnetically modified materials were found to be stable in water suspension at least for 2 months.