Structure Elucidation of Hydroxypropyl Cellulose Homogenously Prepared from NaOH/Urea Aqueous Solution

Hydroxypropyl celluloses(HPC) were homogenously synthesized by the reaction of cellulose with propylene oxide in NaOH/urea aqueous solution.Water-soluble HPC with molar degree of substitution(MSNMR) in the range of 0.52~0.78 was prepared from microcrystalline cellulose,cotton linters,and spruce sulfite pulp.The structure of the HPC samples was characterized by means of FT-IR,NMR,gas chromatography(GC),and size exclusion chromatography(SEC) analyses.Three types of cellulose samples with different molecular weights were found to dissolve well in the NaOH/urea solvent with no obvious differences in reactivity and regioselectivity.The relative reactivity of hydroxyl groups in the glycosyl unit was in the following order:O-6>O-2>O-3.In addition,the results of the study indicated that the tandem reaction during hydroxypropylation could be ignored.

Numerical Simulation of Urea Based SNCR Process in a Trinal-Sprayed Precalciner

In order to study the combustion characteristics,NOx emission and NH3 slip in a new trinal-sprayed precalciner,the simulations of combustion and aqueous urea solution based selective non-catalytic reduction(SNCR)process were conducted by computational fluid dynamics in this precalciner,the effects of different injection heights,different injection flow rates and stratified injection under different flow rates on SNCR process were studied.The results showed that the flow field was symmetrically distributed in the precalciner,and the flue gas from the rotary kiln formed the recirculation region on both sides of the cone body,which increased the residence time of the solid particles.The temperature was mainly between 1100 K and 1250 K in the middle and upper column of the precalciner,which met the demand of the pulverized coal combustion and raw material decomposition.The concentration of NO at the outlet of the precalciner was 559 ppm,moreover,different injection heights and different injection flow rates had a strong influence on NOX removal efficiency and NH3 slip.The aqueous urea solution should be injected at SNCR-1 to prolong the residence time of NH3,and injection flow rate had an optimal flow rate but not the higher the better.When the injection flow rate under stratified injection was 0.019 kg/s,which could play a better optimization role on NO removal efficiency on the basic of the injection flow rate.In consideration of cost effective,a stratified injection with an injection flow rate of 0.019 kg/s and an injection height of 20 m,25 m and 30 m was suggested as a compromise of a satisfactory NOx reduction rates and reasonable NH3 slip.Under this condition,numerical simulation result showed that NOx concentration at the outlet of precalciner was 297.27 mg/Nm3 and NH3 slip was 4.67 mg/Nm3,meeting emission standard.

Light weight, mechanically strong and biocompatible α-chitin aerogels from different aqueous alkali hydroxide/urea solutions

Light weight and mechanically strong α-chitin aerogels were fabricated using the sol-gel/self-assembly method from α-chitin in different aqueous alkali hydroxide(KOH, Na OH and Li OH)/urea solutions. All of the α-chitin solutions exhibited temperature-induced rapid gelation behavior. 13 C nuclear magnetic resonance(NMR) spectra revealed that the aqueous alkali hydroxide/urea solutions are non-derivatizing solvents for α-chitin. Fourier transform infrared(FT-IR), X-ray diffraction(XRD) and cross-polarization magic angle spinning(CP/MAS) 13 C NMR confirmed that α-chitin has a stable aggregate structure after undergoing dissolution and regeneration. Subsequently, nanostructured α-chitin aerogels were fabricated by regeneration from the chitin solutions in ethanol and then freeze-drying from t-Bu OH. These α-chitin aerogels exhibited high porosity(87% to 94%), low density(0.09 to 0.19 g/cm^3), high specific surface area(419 to 535 m^2/g) and large pore volume(2.7 to 3.8 cm^3/g). Moreover, the α-chitin aerogels exhibited good mechanical properties under compression and tension models. In vitro studies showed that m BMSCs cultured on chitin hydrogels have good biocompatibility. These nanostructured α-chitin aerogels may be useful for various applications, such as catalyst supports, carbon aerogel precursors and biomedical materials.

Preparative Optimization of Cellulose Microspheres Applied as Supports for High-Performance Liquid Chromatography

The aim of this work is optimizing the techniques to prepare pure cellulose microspheres, which are used as packing adsorbents for high-performance liquid chromatography. Thereupon, cellulose was dissolved in a pre-cooled NaOH/urea solution, from which various-size microspheres were prepared. The volume-average diameters were controlled approximately at 30 p,m, 8 ~tm and 4 pm grades when cyclohexane, liquid paraffin and pump oil were used as dispersants, respectively. The present investigations reveal that higher viscosity dispersant is suitable for the preparation of smaller-size microspheres, while larger size microspheres are prepared preferably using lower-viscosity dispersant. The chiral stationary phase derived from 8 μm grade microspheres can separate the enantiomers of efavirenz.