Configuring topologically optimum vapor recompressed dividing-wall distillation columns to maximize operating efficiency

For dividing-wall distillation columns(DWDCs) separating a heavy-component dominated and wide boiling-point ternary(HCDWBT) mixture, a significant amount of excessive heat exists inevitably in stripping the heavy-component from the intermediate-component and it can be employed to initiate the development of vapor recompression heat pump(VRHP) assisted DWDC(VRHP-DWDC). Despite dividing wall may locate in the top, middle, and bottom, the optimum VRHP-DWDC is found to involve uniformlytwo VRHP circles. While the first one serves to compress and transform the excessive heat resulted from the separation of the heavy-component from the intermediate-component, the second one to compress and transform the overhead vapor stream of the light-component pre-heated sequentially with the condensate from the first one and the bottom product stream of the heavy-component, both releasing the temperature-elevated latent heat to the pre-fractionator's or common stripping section. The processing of two HCDWBT mixtures of benzene/toluene/o-xylene and n-pentane/n-hexane/n-heptane are selected to assess the derived optimum topological configurations of the VRHP-DWDC and their optimality is confirmed through detailed comparisons with the DWDC and two VRHP-DWDCs involving only one VRHP circle. The proposed strategy helps to tap the full potential of the VRHP-DWDC with considerably alleviated complication in process development.

Visual experimental study of nanofluids application to promote CO_(2) absorption in a bubble column

The addition of dispersed-phase nanoparticles in the liquid phase can enhance the gas-liquid transfer process as the suspended nanoparticles affect the transfer process inside the fluid through microdisturbance or micro-convection effects.In this article,a high-speed digital camera was used to visualize the bubble behavior of CO_(2) in pure water and nanofluids to examine the effects of CO_(2) gas flow rate,nanoparticle solid content and type on the bubble behavior in the fluids.The CO_(2) absorption performance in three water-based nanofluids were compared in a bubbler.And the mass transfer characteristics during CO_(2) bubble absorption and the reasons for the enhanced gas-liquid mass transfer effect of nanoparticles were analyzed.The results showed that the presence of nanoparticles affected the formation process of bubbles in the fluid,shortened the bubble detachment time,reduced the detachment diameter,effectively increased the gas-liquid contact area,and improved the bubbles detachment frequency.The system with MCM-41 corresponded to a higher overall mass transfer coefficient.Uncalined MCM-41 contained surfactant that enhanced foaming behavior in water.This prevented the transfer of CO_(2) to some extent,and the CO_(2) absorption by uncalined MCM-41/H_(2)O was 5.34%higher than that by pure water.Compared with SiO_(2) nanoparticles with the same particle size and the same composition,MCM-41 had a higher adsorption capacity and better hydrophilicity due to its larger specific surface area and rich porous structure,which was more favorable to accelerate the collision between nanoparticles and CO_(2) bubbles to cause micro-convection.Under the condition of 0.1%(mass)solid content,the enhancement of CO_(2) absorption process by MCM-41 nanoparticles was more significant and improved by 16.9%compared with pure water.

Flow Regimes in Bubble Columns with and without Internals: A Review

Hydrodynamics characterization in terms offlow regime behavior is a crucial task to enhance the design of bubble column reactors and scaling up related methodologies.This review presents recent studies on the typicalflow regimes established in bubble columns.Some effort is also provided to introduce relevant definitions pertaining to thisfield,namely,that of“void fraction”and related(local,chordal,cross-sectional and volumetric)variants.Experimental studies involving different parameters that affect design and operating conditions are also discussed in detail.In the second part of the review,the attention is shifted to cases with internals of various types(perfo-rated plates,baffles,vibrating helical springs,mixers,and heat exchanger tubes)immersed in the bubble columns.It is shown that the presence of these elements has a limited influence on the global column hydrodynamics.However,they can make the homogeneousflow regime more stable in terms of transition gas velocity and transi-tion holdup value.The last section is used to highlight gaps which have not beenfilled yet and future directions of investigation.

Numerical Analysis of Cold-Formed Thin-Walled Steel Short Columns with Pitting Corrosion during Bridge Construction

Pitting corrosion is harmful during bridge construction,which will lead to uneven roughness of steel surfaces and reduce the thickness of steel.Hence,the effect of pitting corrosion on the mechanical properties of cold-formed thin-walled steel stub columns is studied,and the empirical formulas are established through regression fitting to predict the ultimate load of web and flange under pitting corrosion.In detail,the failure modes and load-displacement curves of specimens with different locations,area ratios,and depths are obtained through a large number of non-linear finite element analysis.As for the specimens with pitting corrosion on the web,all the specimens are subject to local buckling failure,and the failure mode will not change with pitting corrosion,but the failure location will change with pitting corrosion location;the size,location,and area ratio of pitting corrosion have little influence on the ultimate load of cold-formed thin-walled steel short columns,but the loss rate of pitting corrosion section area has a greater impact on the ultimate bearing capacity.As for the specimen with flange pitting corrosion,the location and area ratio of pitting corrosion have less influence on the ultimate load of cold-formed thin-walled steel short columns,and the section area loss rate has greater influence on the ultimate bearing capacity;the impact of web pitting corrosion on the ultimate load is greater than that of flange pitting corrosion under the same condition of pitting corrosion section area.The prediction formulas of limit load which are suitable for pitting corrosion of web and flange are established,which can provide a reference for performance evaluation of corroded cold-formed thin-walled steel.

An Affordable and Easily Accessible Approach for Acrylonitrile Monomer Purification through a Simple Column Technique

This manuscript presents a dataset detailing a method for purifying monomers. Purification plays a crucial role in every chemical process, as it leads to an improvement in product quality through the removal of impurities. The primary method for monomer purification, like acrylonitrile (AN), is the distillation technique. However, this technique is unsafe and hard to set up or handle. A straightforward, risk-free, low-cost method like the column technique resolves these issues. A simple column technique demonstrated the successful execution of purifying AN. Fourier transform infrared (FTIR) and nuclear magnetic resonance (NMR) analyses confirmed that AN was successfully purified, with purity reaching 99.8%. FTIR spectra revealed changes in the position and intensity of the stretching vibration peaks after purification. Also, the functional groups of the inhibitor monomethyl ether of hydroquinone (MeHQ) were undetected after purification. Furthermore, after purification, NMR spectra revealed the absence of aromatic protons and carbons associated with MeHQ. In conclusion, the column technique is a successful and inexpensive way to purify AN monomers. This makes it useful for a wide range of applications, especially in polymerization reactions where MeHQ needs to be removed to prevent self-polymerization during the initiation process.

Determination of L-norvaline and L-tryptophan in dietary supplements by nano-LC using an O-[2-(methacryloyloxy)-ethylcarbamoyl]-10,11- dihydroquinidine-silica hybrid monolithic column

An analytical methodology based on an O-[2-(methacryloyloxy)-ethylcarbamoyl]-10,11-dihydroquinidine(MQD)-silica hybrid monolithic column was developed for the enantioseparation of 9-fluorenylmethoxycarbonyl(FMOC)derivatized amino acids by nano-liquid chromatography.The mobile phase was optimized including the apparent pH,content of ACN,and concentration of the buffer to obtain a satisfactory enantioresolution performance.27 FMOC derivatized amino acids including 19 protein and 8 non-protein amino acids were tested,and 19 out of them were enantiomerically discriminated obtaining baseline separation for 11 of them.Analytical characteristics of the method were evaluated for norvaline and tryptophan in terms of linearity,precision,accuracy,limits of detection(LOD)and quantitation(LOQ)showing good performance to be applied to the enantiomeric determination of these amino acids in dietary supplements.LOD and LOQ values were 9.3 and 31 mM for norvaline enantiomers and 7.5 and 25 mM for tryptophan enantiomers,respectively.The contents of D-norvaline and D-tryptophan were below their respective LODs in all the analyzed samples.Quantitation of L-tryptophan and L-norvaline showed good agreement with the labeled contents except for one sample which did not show presence of L-norvaline,contrary to the label indication.

Prediction of column failure modes based on artificial neural network

To implement the performance-based seismic design of engineered structures,the failure modes of members must be classified.The classification method of column failure modes is analyzed using data from the Pacific Earthquake Engineering Research Center(PEER).The main factors affecting failure modes of columns include the hoop ratios,longitudinal reinforcement ratios,ratios of transverse reinforcement spacing to section depth,aspect ratios,axial compression ratios,and flexure-shear ratios.This study proposes a data-driven prediction model based on an artificial neural network(ANN)to identify the column failure modes.In this study,111 groups of data are used,out of which 89 are used as training data and 22 are used as test data,and the ANN prediction model of failure modes is developed.The results show that the proposed method based on ANN is superior to traditional methods in identifying the column failure modes.

Numerical simulation of gas–liquid flow in the bubble column using Wray–Agarwal turbulence model coupled with population balance model

In this paper,an improved computational fluid dynamic(CFD)model for gas-liquid flow in bubble column was developed using the one-equation Wary-Agarwal(WA)turbulence model coupled with the population balance model(PBM).Through 18 orthogonal test cases,the optimal combination of interfacial force models,including drag force,lift force,turbulent dispersion force.The modified wall lubrication force model was proposed to improve the predictive ability for hydrodynamic behavior near the wall of the bubble column.The values simulated by optimized CFD model were in agreement with experimental data,and the errors were within±20%.In addition,the axial velocity,turbulent kinetic energy,bubble size distribution,and the dynamic characteristic of bubble plume were analyzed at different superficial gas velocities.This research work could provide a theoretical basis for the extension of the CFD-PBM coupled model to other multiphase reactors..

Simultaneous enantioseparation and simulation studies of atenolol,metoprolol and propranolol on Chiralpak^■IG column using supercritical fluid chromatography

Enantioseparation of threeβ-blockers,i.e.,atenolol,metoprolol and propranolol,was studied on amylose tris(3-chloro-5-methylphenylcarbamate)immobilized chiral stationary phase using supercritical fluid chromatography(SFC).The effect of organic modifiers(methanol,isopropanol and their mixture),column temperature and back pressure on chiral separation ofβ-blockers was evaluated.Optimum chromatographic separation with respect to resolution,retention,and analysis time was achieved using a mixture of CO_(2) and 0.1%isopropyl amine in isopropanol:methanol(50:50,V/V),in 75:25(V/V)ratio.Under the optimized conditions,the resolution factors(Rs)and separation factors(a)were greater than3.0 and 1.5,respectively.Further,with increase in temperature(25-45℃)and pressure(100-150 bars)there was corresponding decrease in retention factors(k),a and Rs.However,a reverse trend(a and Rs)was observed for atenolol with increase in temperature.The thermodynamic data from van’t Hoff plots revealed that the enantioseparation was enthalpy driven for metoprolol and propranolol while entropy driven for atenolol.To understand the mechanism of chiral recognition and the elution behavior of the enantiomers,molecular docking studies were performed.The binding energies obtained from simulation studies were in good agreement with the elution order found experimentally and also with the free energy values.The method was validated in the concentration range of 0.5-10μg/m L for all the enantiomers.The limit of detection and limit of quantitation ranged from 0.126 to 0.137μg/m L and 0.376-0.414μg/m L,respectively.The method was used successfully to analyze these drugs in pharmaceutical preparations.

A Comparative Study of Intra-Seasonal Variability of Total Column Ozone Measured over the Tropical Maritime and Coastal Stations Using Microtop II Ozonometer

The study of temporal and spatial distribution of ozone is very important for understanding the atmospheric chemistry and thereby its impact on environment, weather and climate. The intra-seasonal variability plays a major role in the inter-annual variability of weather parameters such as rainfall, temperature, pressure and atmospheric trace gas constituents such as atmospheric ozone. The strength of monsoon circulation and deep convection greatly modifies the atmospheric compositions and meteorological parameters such as rainfall amount, distributions of atmospheric trace gas concentrations and other weather parameters over the summer monsoon region. The daily total column ozone (TCO) measured over maritime station (Lakshadweep Island— 10°10'N & 73°30'E) and coastal station (Cochin—9°55'N and 76°16'E) using Microtop II Ozonometer were considered for the comparative study of seasonal and intra-seasonal variability for the year 2015. The annual average of total column ozone over Lakshadweep Islands and Cochin was 290 DU and 280 DU respectively for the year 2015. The greater concentrations in daily TCO measurements over Lakshadweep Islands for all seasons compared to Cochin lead to the speculations that, the surface ozone concentration is more because of pollution from the diesel burning emissions, since the whole Island’s population completely depends on diesel generator for the power supply. During winter season maritime station shows a decrease of ~30 DU in TCO over Lak-shadweep Island compared to coastal station Cochin (~18 DU) from the annual mean in the month of December. During pre-monsoon season TCO concentration is high over both locations. There is gradual increase of TCO concentration over Cochin from pre-monsoon to monsoon season and peak in the month of September, but decreasing TCO concentrations measured over Lakshadweep during July to August. In the analysis it was found that Intra-Seasonal Variability (ISV) in total column ozone over Lakshadweep Islands and Cochin during summer monsoon season was modulated by the monsoon dynamics and convection, thereby changes in the photochemistry of ozone production and distributions over the monsoon region. Two significant intra-seasonal oscillations (ISOs) such as Madden Julian Oscillation (MJO) and Quasi-Biweekly Oscillations (QBW) were identified in the TCO during monsoon season. The MJO shows higher periodicity (~54 days) over Lakshadweep Islands compared to the coastal station, Cochin (~48 days). Intra-seasonal variability of TCO over the maritime and coastal stations varies with geographic locations, marine boundary layer characteristics and also with seasons. The intra-seasonal variability or ISOs controls the interannual variability of TCO over a region. Hence deeper knowledge of ISOs in trace gases such as ozone helps us to understand more about the regional climate and air quality.

Automatic segmentation of gas plumes from multibeam water column images using a U-shape network

Cold seeps are widely developed on the seabed of continental margins and can form gas plumes due to the upward migration of methane-rich fluids.The detection and automatic segmentation of gas plumes are of great significance in locating and studying the cold seep system that is usually accompanied by hydrate layers in the subsurface.A multibeam echo-sounder system(MBES)can record the complete backscatter intensity of the water column,and it is one of the most effective means for detecting cold seeps.However,the gas plumes recorded in multibeam water column images(WCI)are usually blurred due to the interference of the complicated water environment and the sidelobes of the MBES,making it difficult to obtain the effective segmentation.Therefore,based on the existing UNet semantic segmentation network,this paper proposes an AP-UNet network combining the convolutional block attention module and the pyramid pooling module for the automatic segmentation and extraction of gas plumes.Comparative experiments are conducted among three traditional segmentation methods and two deep learning methods.The results show that the AP-UNet segmentation model can effectively suppress complicated water column noise interference.The segmentation precision,the Dice coefficient,and the recall rate of this model are 92.09%,92.00%,and 92.49%,respectively,which are 1.17%,2.10%,and 2.07%higher than the results of the UNet.

An optimization method for enhancement of gas–liquid mass transfer in a bubble column reactor based on the entropy generation extremum principle

In this study,an optimization method is proposed to enhance the gas–liquid mass transfer in bubble column reactor based on the entropy generation extremum principle.The mass transfer–induced entropy generation can be maximized with the increase of mass transfer rate,based on which the velocity field can be optimized.The oxygen gas–liquid mass transfer is the major rate–limiting step of the toluene emissions biodegradation process in bubble column reactor,so the entropy generation due to oxygen mass transfer is used as the objective function,and the conservation equations of the gas–liquid flow and species concentration are taken as constraints.This optimization problem is solved by the calculus of variations,the optimal liquid flow pattern is obtained and the relationship of the maximum mass transfer enhancement on viscous dissipation is revealed,which can be used to improve the design of internal structure of the bubble column reactor.

A dynamic control structure of liquid-only transfer stream distillation column

The intention of this fundamental work is to explore the manipulation of a mixture of benzene,toluene and o-xylene separated from liquid-only transfer divided-wall column(LTS-DWC).First,two control structures are clearly proposed,including seven component control loops(CS1)and seven temperature control loops(CS2).However,two control structures can handle ±10% feed disturbances rather than larger feed disturbances.Subsequently,an equivalent four-column model by introducing withdraw ratio is developed to discuss the effect of two liquid-only side-stream on the overall reboiler duty.It is indicated that the second liquid-only side-stream withdraw ratio strongly affects the overall energy consumption.Hence,six-component control loops within the fixed second liquid-only side-stream withdraw ratio(CS3)is proposed and the purity of products returns to set value even as facing ±20% feed disturbances.Finally,based on the above results,it is established a temperature control structure(CS4)for controlling fixed second liquid-only side-stream withdraw ratio,which can cope with ±15% disturbances.Inspired by these findings,an insight into the dynamic control of LTS-DWC promotes the industrial implementation of DWC through new liquid-only side-stream configurations.

Pressure drop of structured packing in pilot column and comparison to common correlations

Packed columns are widely used in the chemical industry such as absorption,stripping,distillation,and extraction in the production of e.g.organic chemicals,and pharmaceuticals.Pressure loss and pressure drop correlations are of special interest when it comes to the hydrodynamic properties of a column.The pressure loss across the column is of interest in the design phase when the size of the blower to drive the gas stream through the column has to be decided.The loading point and flooding point are also influenced by the pressure loss and the area of operation is determined from these points.This work examines four different correlations on pressure drop.The correlations are(i)Ergun’s equation(1952),(ii)an improved version of Ergun’s equation by Stichlmair,Bravo,and Fair(1989),(iii)an equation developed by Billet and Schultes(1999),and(iv)an equation by Rocha,Bravo,and Fair(1993).The complexity of the correlations is increasing in the mentioned order,Ergun’s equation being the simplest one.This study investigates if the more complicated correlations give better predictions to pressure drop in packed columns.This is determined by comparing the correlations to experimental data for pressure drop in a packed column with 8.2 m of structured packing using water as the liquid and atmospheric air as the gas.Seven experiments were carried out for determining the pressure drop in the column with liquid flows varying from 0 to 500 kg·h^(-1).At constant liquid flow,the gas flow was varied from approximately 10 to 70 kg·h^(-1).The pressure drop across the non-wetted column was best described by the correlation by Rocha et al.while the pressure drop for liquid flows from 100 to 500 kg·h^(-1)was,in general,best described by Stichlmair’s equation.For an irrigated column,the highest deviation was a predicted pressure drop 69.6%lower than measured.The best prediction was 0.1%higher than the measured.This study shows,surprisingly,that for a system of water and atmospheric air,complicated correlations on pressure drop determination do not provide better estimates than simple equations.

A benzenesulfonic acid-modified organic polymer monolithic column with reversed-phase/hydrophilic bifunctional selectivity for capillary electrochromatography

Here,a styrene-based polymer monolithic column poly(VBS-co-TAT-co-AHM)with reversed-phase/hydrophilic interaction liquid chromatography(RPLC/HILIC)bifunctional separation mode was success-fully prepared for capillary electrochromatography by the in situ polymerization of sodium p-styrene sulfonate(VBS)with cross-linkers 3-(acryloyloxy)-2-hydroxypropyl methacrylate(AHM)and 1,3,5-triacryloylhexahydro-1,3,5-triazine(TAT).The preparation conditions of the monolith were optimized.The morphology and formation of the poly(VBS-co-TAT-co-AHM)monolith were confirmed by scanning electron microscopy(SEM)and Fourier transform infrared spectroscopy(FT-IR).The separation perfor-mances of the monolith were evaluated systematically.It should be noted that the incorporation of VBS functional monomer can provideπ-πinteractions,hydrophilic interactions,and ion-exchange in-teractions.Hence,the prepared poly(VBS-co-TAT-co-AHM)monolith can achieve efficient separation of thiourea compounds,benzene series,phenol compounds,aniline compounds and sulfonamides in RPLC or HILIC separation mode.The largest theoretical plate number for N,N0-dimethylthiourea reached 1.7×10^(5)plates/m.In addition,the poly(VBS-co-TAT-co-AHM)monolithic column showed excellent reproducibility and stability.This novel monolithic column has great application value and potential in capillary electrochromatography(CEC).

Bubble size modeling approach for the simulation of bubble columns

The constant bubble size modeling approach(CBSM)and variable bubble size modeling approach(VBSM)are frequently employed in Eulerian–Eulerian simulation of bubble columns.However,the accuracy of CBSM is limited while the computational efficiency of VBSM needs to be improved.This work aims to develop method for bubble size modeling which has high computational efficiency and accuracy in the simulation of bubble columns.The distribution of bubble sizes is represented by a series of discrete points,and the percentage of bubbles with various sizes at gas inlet is determined by the results of computational fluid dynamics(CFD)–population balance model(PBM)simulations,whereas the influence of bubble coalescence and breakup is neglected.The simulated results of a 0.15 m diameter bubble column suggest that the developed method has high computational speed and can achieve similar accuracy as CFD–PBM modeling.Furthermore,the convergence issues caused by solving population balance equations are addressed.

Seismic behavior of steel tubular bridge columns equipped with low-yield-point steel plates in the root replaceable pier

To enable rapid recovery of a steel bridge column after an earthquake,a novel tubular-section steel bridge column equipped with low-yield-point(LYP)steel tubular plates in the root replaceable pier is proposed.For the purpose of discussing the seismic behavior of the novel steel bridge column,quasi-static tests and finite element simulation analyses of the specimens were carried out.The effects of parameters such as the axial compression ratio,eccentricity,and thickness and material strength of the tubular plate in the energy-dissipating zone are discussed.Experimental results from seven specimens that were subjected to four failure modes are presented.The damage to the quasi-static specimens is localized to the replaceable energy-dissipating pier.The seismic behavior of the novel steel bridge columns is significantly influenced by the axial compression ratio and eccentricity of specimens.Numerical results show that the high stress area of the specimens is mainly concentrated in the connection zone between the LYP steel tubular plate and the bottom steel plate,which is consistent with the position of the quasi-static specimen when it was prone to fracture.Finally,a calculation formula is proposed to facilitate the capacity prediction of this new steel tubular bridge column under repeated loading.

Hysteretic behavior of post-tensioned precast segmental CFT double-column piers

Considering the desirable behavior of concrete filled steel tube(CFT)columns and the complicated behavior of segmental double-column piers under cyclic loads,three post-tensioned precast segmental CFT double-column pier specimens were tested to extend their application in moderate and high seismicity areas.The effects of the number of CFT segments and the steel endplates as energy dissipaters on the seismic behavior of the piers were evaluated.The experimental results show that the segmental piers exhibited stable hysteretic behavior with small residual displacements under cyclic loads.All the tested specimens achieved a drift ratio no less than 13%without significant damage and strength deterioration due to the desirable behavior of CFT columns.Since the deformation of segmental columns was mainly concentrated at the column-footing interfaces,the increase of the segment numbers for each column had no obvious effects on the loading capacity but reduced the initial stiffness of the specimens.The use of steel endplates improved the bearing capacity,stiffness and energy dissipation of segmental piers,but weakened their self-centering capacity.Fiber models were also proposed to simulate the hysteretic behavior of the tested specimens,and the influences of segment numbers and prestress levels on seismic behavior were further studied.