Recent strategies to enhance the efficiency of hematite photoanodes in photoelectrochemical water splitting

Photoelectrochemical(PEC)water splitting is one of the most promising approaches toward achieving the conversion of solar energy to hydrogen.Hematite is a widely applied photoanode material in PEC water splitting because of its appropriate band structure,non-toxicity,high stability,and low cost.Nevertheless,its relatively low photochemical conversion efficiency limits its application,and enhancing its PEC water splitting efficiency remains a challenge.Consequently,increasing efforts have been rendered toward improving the performance of hematite photoanodes.The entire PEC water splitting efficiency typically includes three parts:the photon absorption efficiency,the separation efficiency of the semiconductor bulk,and the surface injection efficiency.This review briefly discusses the recent advances in studies on hematite photoanodes for water splitting,and through the enhancement of the three above-mentioned efficiencies,the corresponding strategies toward improving the PEC performance of hematite are comprehensively discussed and summarized.

Experimental study on sand particles accumulation,migration and separation efficiency in slug catcher

Sand production often leads to the failure of production equipment on offshore platform.Therefore,a new idea has been put forward,which is installing cyclone or baffle in the internal of the slug catcher for better sand control.In this paper,an experimental study is presented,which mainly includes sand particles accumulation shape,migration law and separation performance.The results suggest that the accumulation area is mainly divided into two zones:the crowded settlement zone and the free settlement zone.The crowded settlement zone has a special shape,which can be characterized by two parameters:accumulation length and accumulation angle.Axial sampling analysis shows obvious particle classification.Median particle size decreases with the increase of the axial distance,and the range of particle size distribution narrows gradually.The separation experiment shows that the gas velocity has the greatest influence on the separation efficiency.When the gas velocity is 14 m·s^ 1,the separation efficiency drops sharply,which can be abated by installing cyclone separator.In addition,the separation efficiency tends to be a constant under different gas velocities by installing baffle with appropriate height.Then the effectiveness and rationality of installing internal components can be strongly proved.All these provide important guidance for maximizing the sand control function of the slug catcher.

Effects of the properties of FCCS on the removing of catalyst particles from FCCS under a DC electrostatic field

Catalytic cracking is the main method to lighten heavy crude oil,this process can produce high quality oil products such as gasoline and diesel,but also produces a large amount of fluid catalytic cracking slurry(FCCS).The catalyst particles in FCCS seriously restrict the secondary processing of FCCS and need to be removed,and the properties of Fccs is an important factor that affects the removal efficiency of the catalyst particles.Based on the"effective contact point"model proposed by the research group,this study further proposed the"electrostatic separation efficiency calculation"model.In this model,since Fccs has a uniform distribution of catalyst particles,the ratio of the number of catalyst particles can be expressed as the ratio of area to achieve the calculation of separation efficiency.Then the catalyst removal efficiency under different viscosity was analyzed,thus verifying the feasibility of this model.The effects of temperature and mass ratio of four components on the viscosity of FccS were investigated respectively,then the effects of temperature and four components'mass ratio on the electrostatic sep-aration can be directly converted into the effect of viscosity on the electrostatic separation efficiency.All the results show the electrostatic separation efficiency decreases with increasing viscosity,and the best separationtemperatureis120℃.

Separation of galena and chalcopyrite using the difference in their surface acid corrosion characteristics

Galena(PbS)and chalcopyrite(CuFeS_(2))are sulfide minerals that exhibit good floatability characteristics.Thus,efficiently separating them via common flotation is challenging.Herein,a new method of surface sulfuric acid corrosion in conjunction with flotation separation was proposed,and the efficient separation of galena and chalcopyrite was successfully realized.Contact angle test results showed a substantial decrease in surface contact angle and a selective inhibition of surface floatability for corroded galena.Meanwhile,the contact angle and floatability of corroded chalcopyrite remained almost unaffected.Scanning electron microscope results confirmed that sulfuric acid corrosion led to the formation of a dense oxide layer on the galena surface,whereas the chalcopyrite surface remained unaltered.X-ray photoelectron spectroscopy results showed that the chemical state of S^(2-)on the surface of corroded galena was oxidized to SO_(4)^(2-).A layer of hydrophilic PbSO4was formed on the surface,leading to a sharp decrease in galena floatability.Meanwhile,new hydrophobic CuS_(2),CuS,and Cu_(1-x)Fe_(1-y)S_(2-z)species exhibiting good floatability were generated on the chalcopyrite surface.Finally,theoretical analysis results were further verified by corrosion–flotation separation experiments.The galena–chalcopyrite mixture was completely separated via flotation separation under appropriate corrosion acidity,corrosion temperature,and corrosion time.A novel approach has been outlined in this study,providing potential applications in the efficient separation of refractory copper–lead sulfide ore.

3D inner-outer asymmetric sponge for enormous-volume emulsion wastewater treatment based on a new“demulsification-transport”mechanism

Although oily wastewater treatment realized by superwetting materials has attracted heightened attention in recent years,how to treat enormous-volume emulsion wastewater is still a tough problem,which is ascribed to the emulsion accumulation.Herein,to address this problem,a material is presented by subtly integrating chemical demulsification and 3D inner-outer asymmetric wettability to a sponge substrate,and thus wettability gradient-driven oil directional transport for achieving unprecedented enormous-volume emulsion wastewater treatment is realized based on a“demulsification-transport”mechanism.The maximum treatment volume realized by the sponge is as large as 3 L(2.08×10^(4) L per cubic meter of the sponge)in one cycle,which is about 100 times of the reported materials.Besides,owing to the large pore size of the sponge,9000 L m^(2)h^(-1)(LMH)separation flux and 99.5%separation efficiency are realized simultaneously,which overcomes the trade-off dilemma.Such a 3D inner-outer asymmetric sponge displaying unprecedented advantage in the treatment volume can promote the development of the oily wastewater treatment field,as well as expand the application prospects of superwetting materials,especially in continuous water treatment.

Feasibility Research on the High Speed Rotary Positive Air Filter

The structure, separation principle and feasibility research for a new type of vehicle air filter called the high speed rotary positive air filter were described. The analysis of the experimental data showed that the principle and structure of it were feasible and it possessed high separation efficiency and great self cleaning ability. Compared with the conventional air filter it also has lower air intake loss. So it is worth further practical research.

Numerical Simulation and Experimental Study on the Performance of Gas/liquid Spiral Separator

The gas/liquid spiral separator, a key component in the compressed air system, was used to remove liquid and oil from gas stream by centrifugal and gravitational forces. To optimize the design of the separator,the relationship between the performance and structural parameters of separators is studied. Computational fluid dynamics (CFD) method is employed to simulate the flow fields and calculate the pressure drop and separation efficiency of air-liquid spiral separators with different structural parameters. The RSM (Reynolds stress model)turbulence model is used to analyze the highly swirling flow fields while the stochastic trajectory model is used to simulate the traces of liquid droplets in the flow field. A simplified calculation formula of pressure drop in spiral structures is obtained by modifying Darcy's equation and verified by experiment.

A review of intelligent ore sorting technology and equipment development

Under the background of increasingly scarce ore worldwide and increasingly fierce market competition,developing the mining industry could be strongly restricted.Intelligent ore sorting equipment not only improves ore use and enhances the economic benefits of enterprises but also increases the ore grade and lessens the grinding cost and tailings production.However,long-term research on intelligent ore sorting equipment found that the factors affecting sorting efficiency mainly include ore information identification technology,equipment sorting actuator,and information processing algorithm.The high precision,strong anti-interference capability,and high speed of these factors guarantee the separation efficiency of intelligent ore sorting equipment.Color ore sorter,X-ray ore transmission sorter,dual-energy X-ray transmission ore sorter,X-ray fluorescence ore sorter,and near-infrared ore sorter have been successfully developed in accordance with the different characteristics of minerals while ensuring the accuracy of equipment sorting and improving the equipment sorting efficiency.With the continuous improvement of mine automation level,the application of online element rapid analysis technology with high speed,high precision,and strong anti-interference capability in intelligent ore sorting equipment will become an inevitable trend of equipment development in the future.Laser-induced breakdown spectroscopy,transientγneutron activation analysis,online Fourier transform infrared spectroscopy,and nuclear magnetic resonance techniques will promote the development of ore sorting equipment.In addition,the improvement and joint application of additional high-speed and high-precision operation algorithms(such as peak area,principal component analysis,artificial neural network,partial least squares,and Monte Carlo library least squares methods)are an essential part of the development of intelligent ore sorting equipment in the future.

Numerical analysis of hydroabrasion in a hydrocyclone

The velocity profiles and separation efficiency curves of a hydrocyclone were predicted by an Euler-Euler approach using a computational fluid dynamics tool ANSYS-CFX 14.5. The Euler-Euler approach is capable of considering the particle-particle interactions and is appropriate for highly laden liquid-solid mixtures. Pre- dicted results were compared and validated with experi- mental results and showed a considerably good agreement. An increase in the particle cut size with increasing solid concentration of the inlet mixture flow was observed and discussed. In addition to this, the erosion on hydrocyclone walls constructed from stainless steel 410, eroded by sand particles （mainly SiOz）, was predicted with the Euler-La- grange approach. In this approach, the abrasive solid particles were traced in a Lagrangian reference frame as discrete particles. The increases in the input flow velocity, solid concentration, and the particle size have increased the erosion at the upper part of the cylindrical body of the hydrocyclone, where the tangential inlet flow enters the hydrocyclone. The erosion density in the area between the cylindrical to conical body area, in comparison to other parts of the hydrocyclone, also increased considerably. Moreover, it was observed that an increase in the particle shape factor from 0.1 to 1.0 leads to a decrease of almost 70 % in the average erosion density of the hydrocyclone wall surfaces.

Interpretable modeling of metallurgical responses for an industrial coal column flotation circuit by XGBoost and SHAP-A “conscious-lab” development

Surprisingly,no investigation has been explored relationships between operating variables and metallurgical responses of coal column flotation(CF) circuits based on industrial databases for under operation plants.As a novel approach,this study implemented a conscious-lab "CL" for filling this gap.In this approach,for developing the CL dedicated to an industrial CF circuit,SHapley Additive explanations(SHAP) and extreme gradient boosting(XGBoost) were powerful unique machine learning systems for the first time considered.These explainable artificial intelligence models could effectively convert the dataset to a basis that improves human capabilities for better understanding,reasoning,and planning the unit.SHAP could provide precise multivariable correlation assessments between the CF dataset by using the Tabas Parvadeh coal plant(Kerman,Iran),and showed the importance of solid percentage and washing water on the metallurgical responses of the coal CF circuit.XGBoost could predict metallurgical responses(R-square> 0.88) based on operating variables that showed quite higher accuracy than typical modeling methods(Random Forest and support vector regression).

Effect of inlet area on the performance of a two-stage cyclone separator

The cyclone separator is an important separation device.This paper presents a new type of embedded two-stage cyclone,which includes a 2 nd-stage cyclone(internal traditional cyclone)with multiple inlets and a 1 st-stage cyclone(outer cylinder)that unifies the 2 nd-stage cyclone inlets into one inlet.The Taguchi experimental method was used to study the two-stage cyclone separator’s inlet area on its performance.Studies have shown that the increase of the 1 st-stage cyclone inlet area and the increase in the number of 2 nd-stage cyclone inlets(N)positively affect reducing the pressure drop and a negative effect on efficiency.It is recommended to use 2 S(the original 1 st-stage cyclone inlet area)of the 1 st-stage cyclone inlet area and 2 N of the 2 nd-stage cyclone inlets when separating fine particles.Compared with a traditional cyclone,the pressure drop is reduced by 1303 Pa,the mass separation efficiency(Eq)is increased by 0.56%,and the number separation efficiency(En)is increased by 2.05%.When separating larger particles,it is recommended to use 2 S of the 1 st-stage cyclone inlet area and 4 N of the 2 nd-stage cyclone inlets.Compared with a traditional cyclone,although Endecreases slightly,the pressure drop is reduced by 3055 Pa,and the Eqis increased by 0.56%.The research results provide new insight into the design of the cyclone.

Recovery of Collided RFID Tags With Frequency Drift on Physical Layer

In a passive ultra-high frequency(UHF)radio frequency identification(RFID)system,the recovery of collided tag signals on a physical layer can enhance identification efficiency.However,frequency drift is very common in UHF RFID systems,and will have an influence on the recovery on the physical layer.To address the problem of recovery with the frequency drift,this paper adopts a radial basis function(RBF)network to separate the collision signals,and decode the signals via FM0 to recovery collided RFID tags.Numerical results show that the method in this paper has better performance of symbol error rate(SER)and separation efficiency compared to conventional methods when frequency drift occurs.

Artificial neural network approach to assess selective flocculation on hematite and kaolinite

Because of the current depletion of high grade reserves, beneficiation of low grade ore, tailings produced and tailings stored in tailing ponds is needed to fulfill the market demand. Selective flocculation is one alternative process that could be used for the beneficiation of ultra-fine material. This process has not been extensively used commercially because of its complex dependency on process parameters. In this paper, a selective flocculation process, using synthetic mixtures of hematite and kaolinite in different ratios, was attempted, and the ad-sorption mechanism was investigated by Fourier transform infrared （FTIR） spectroscopy. A three-layer artificial neural network （ANN） model （4？4？3） was used to predict the separation performance of the process in terms of grade, Fe recovery, and separation efficiency. The model values were in good agreement with experimental values.

Analysis of the nutation and precession of the vortex core and the influence of operating parameters in a cyclone separator

Vortices motion in the anisotropic turbulent flow of cyclones makes a vital impact on flow stability and collection performance.Nevertheless,there remains a lack of clarity in the overall feature of vortices motion.In this work,a numerical analysis was conducted to clarify the complex motion of the vortex core in a cyclone separator.The validity of the numerical model was demonstrated by comparing the computational results with experimental data in the literature.As revealed by the results,the vortex core not only has a precession motion about the geometrical center axis but also does a nutation motion in the axial direction.The frequencies of the precession motions show two main peaks.And the magnitudes of the precession and nutation motions have non-uniform distributions in the cyclone.Moreover,the precession-nutation motions of the vortex cores exhibit a similar fluctuant pattern to the dust ring on the separator wall.The inlet gas velocity and the inlet solid loading show vital effects on the magnitudes and frequencies of precession and nutation motion.

Highly enhanced visible-light photocatalytic hydrogen evolution on g-C_3N_4 decorated with vopc through π-π interaction

Photocatalytic H2 evolution reactions on pristine graphitic carbon nitrides(g-C3N4),as a promising approach for converting solar energy to fuel,are attractive for tackling global energy concerns but still suffer from low efficiencies.In this article,we report a tractable approach to modifying g-C3N4 with vanadyl phthalocyanine(VOPc/CN)for efficient visible-light-driven hydrogen production.A non-covalent VOPc/CN hybrid photocatalyst formed viaπ-πstacking interactions between the two components,as confirmed by analysis of UV-vis absorption spectra.The VOPc/CN hybrid photocatalyst shows excellent visible-light-driven photocatalytic performance and good stability.Under optimal conditions,the corresponding H2 evolution rate is nearly 6 times higher than that of pure g-C3N4.The role of VOPc in promoting hydrogen evolution activity was to extend the visible light absorption range and prevent the recombination of photoexcited electron-hole pairs effectively.It is expected that this facile modification method could be a new inspiration for the rational design and exploration of g-C3N4-based hybrid systems with strong light absorption and high-efficiency carrier separation.

Photoelectrochemical evaluation of SILAR-deposited nanoporous BiVO4 photoanodes for solar-driven water splitting

We report a photoelectrochemical investigation of BiVO4 photoanodes prepared by successive ionic layer adsorption and reaction(SILAR),a facile method that yields uniform nanoporous films.After characterization of the phase,morphology,composition,and optical properties of the prepared films,the efficiencies of charge separation(ηsep)and water oxidation(ηox)in solar water splitting cells employing these photoanodes were estimated following a previously reported procedure.Unexpected wavelength and illumination direction dependencies were discovered in the derived efficiencies,casting doubt on the validity of the analysis.An alternative approach using a diffusion–reaction model that explicitly considers the efficiency of electron collection resolved the discrepancies and explained the illumination direction dependence of the photocurrent.Electron diffusion lengths(Ln)of 0.45μm and 0.55μm were derived for pristine and cobalt phosphate(Co-Pi)modified BiVO4,respectively,which are much shorter than the film thickness of^2.1μm.The Co-Pi treatment also increasedηoxfrom 0.86 to^1,which is the main reason for the overall performance enhancement caused by adding Co-Pi.These findings suggest that there is little scope for improving the performance of SILAR-deposited BiVO4 photoanodes by further catalyzing water oxidation,but enhanced performance is achievable if electron transport can be improved.

Study of Structural Parameters of the Inlet of Downhole Hydrocyclones

Three different inlets of hydrocyclone are studied in combination with the construction of a dowrahole system and hydrocyclone. By comparing the relationship between the inlet structure ＆ dimensional parameter of hydrocyclone and separation efficiency ＆ pressure loss, the highest efficiency is obtained from the inlet of an involute curve with increasing depth-width ratio from the three types, in which the separation efficiency and pressure loss all drops slowly, for the length of the channel decreases, while it drops rapidly in the other two. The flow guiding ability of the inlet affects the separation efficiency greatly, so the corresponding involute type of inlet of hydrocyclone fits for downhole oil-water separation is optimized, which serves as a basis for the structural design of downhole hydrocyclone.

Enrichment of carbon recovery of high ash coal fines using air fluidized vibratory deck separator

Coal is primarily beneficiated by wet gravity methods. The wet processing of coal is an efficient practice. However, it introduces the moisture in the range of 6%-15%, depending upon the size of coal which is as detrimental as ash content to the heating value of coal. Dry beneficiation of coal fines was carried out using an air fluidized vibrating table in which the coal particles get separated from the heavier mineral particles as a result of horizontal and vertical stratification. Two level factorial design matrix was used to optimize and assess the interactive effects of the operational parameters of a pneumatic table viz. deck eccentric, side tilt and air flow rate on the clean coal yield and its ash content. Double stage processing was found to be more effective for reducing the ash content of the clean coal. Initial stage of processing at a higher ash level generates a reject of high ash with low combustibles. Cleaning of the rougher concentrate at 34%-35% ash level shows significant improvement in the organic efficiency （88.6%） and useful heat value of clean coal （15690 kJ/kg）. The performance of air fluidized vibrating deck was measured by Ep value which is 0.18.

Continuous Separation of Inclusions from Aluminum Melt Flowing in a Circular Pipe using a High Frequency Magnetic Field

The continuous separation of inclusions from aluminum melt flowing in a circular pipe using a high frequency magnetic field was investigated both theoretically and experimentally. The separation efficiency was calculated based on the trajectory method and compared with experimental results. It is found that the separation efficiency is a function ofnondimensional parameters ti . The effective way to improve the separation efficiency is to increase the effective magnetic flux density and decrease the pipe radius, and the value of should be kept about 2 in order to obtain the optimum separation efficiency.

Separation of Oil Phase from Dilute Oil/Water Emulsion in Confined Space Apparatus

A miniature process for separating the oil phase from dilute oil/water emulsion is developed.This process applies a confined space apparatus,which is a thin flow channel made of two parallel plastic plates.The space between the two plates is rather narrow to improve the collisions between oil droplets and the plate surface.Oil droplets have an affinity for the plate surface and thus are captured,and then coalesce onto the surface.The droplet size distribution of the residual emulsion resulted from the separation process is remarkably changed.The oil layer on the plate weakens the further separation of oil droplets from the emulsion.Three types of plate materials,polypropylene(PP),polytetrafluoroethylene(PTFE) and nylon 66,were used.It is found that PP is the best in terms of the oil separation efficiency and nylon 66 is the poorest.The interaction between droplets in the emulsion and plate surface is indicated by the spreading coefficient of oil droplet on the plate in aqueous environment,and the influences of formed oil layer and plate material on the separation efficiency are discussed.