Prompting High-tech Industrialization through Mechanism Innovation

With the further implementation of the knowledge innovation program (KIP), piloted by the Chinese Academy of Sciences (CAS), encouraging progress has been made in contributing to the development of the country's high-tech industry, and forging S&T cooperation with local governments and industrial sectors. This was revealed at the Second CAS Conference on High-tech Industrialization April 25 - 29 in Shenzhen, Guangdong Province.

Impact of Safety-Maintenance Practices on the Overall Performance of an Industry

The study aims to evaluate how safety-maintenance practices affect the mechanical engineering industry’s overall performance in Ghana. The study used a descriptive survey design technique to ascertain the type of maintenance engineering that was practiced in Ghanaian mechanical engineering workshops at the time of the study. In the mechanical engineering workshops, respondents provided both qualitative and quantitative data using a variety of data collecting instruments, with the quantitative approach being more common. The study employed Kumasi, Tamale, and Accra’s mechanical engineering workshops as a case study. The number of mechanical engineering workshop enterprises that made up the sample size for the questionnaire administration was sixty (60), chosen at random from the AGI membership registry. Primary data was gathered using interview guides and questionnaires. To analyse the data, descriptive statistics were employed. According to the study’s findings, mechanical engineering companies combined different maintenance techniques in order to best fit their organisational culture and equipment. Preventive shut-down, with a mean score of 4.78 and RII = 0.98, placing first (1st) in the Likert rating order, is the most frequently used maintenance system by respondents. The maintenance procedures employed by mechanical engineering organisations were influenced not only by their equipment and organisational culture but also by other factors such as cost, personnel expertise and external partnerships.

Interaction between Weibull parameters and mechanical strength reliability of industrial-scale water gas shift catalysts

A fundamental step in the production of an industrial catalyst is its crushing strength assessment. Limited literature exists in which the strength reliability of supported catalysts is investigated from production to their application in a reactor. In this work, cylindrical supports were prepared by pelletizing high poros- ity γ-alumina powder, and Cu-Znf/γ-Al2O3 catalysts were prepared by impregnation of the pelletized γ-alumina supports with an aqueous solution of copper and zinc nitrates. The support-forming variables, such as binder concentration, compaction pressure, calcination temperature, and drying procedure were investigated. The Weibull method was used to analyze the crushing strength data of the supports, and the fresh and used catalysts before and after the low-temperature water gas shift reaction. Support formation at a 50 wt% binder concentration, 1148 MPa compaction pressure, 500 ℃ calcination temperature, and rapid drying （100 ℃, 8 h） led to the maximum support mechanical reliability. The most reliable catalyst with respect to simultaneous appropriate catalytic performance and mechanical strength was prepared from a support with the lowest mean crushing strength （26.25 MPa）. This work illustrates the impor- tance of the Weibull modulus as a useful mechanical reliability index in manufacturing a supported solid catalyst.