Effect of the shaft eccentricity and rotational direction on the mixing characteristics in cylindrical tank reactors

Strategy of the shaft eccentricity is introduced to enhance the mixing characteristics in a flat bottomed cylindrical vessel without baffles. The mixing is ensured by a six-curved blade impeller. Three solutions which are models of food emulsions are used as working fluids. These solutions have a shear thinning behavior modeled by the power-law. The effects of fluid properties, stirring rates, impeller rotational direction and impeller eccentricity on the 3D flow fields and power consumption are investigated. Three values of impeller eccentricity are considered, namely 0%, 24% and 48% of the vessel diameter. It is found that the opposite clockwise rotational direction reduces the power consumption, compared with the clockwise rotational direction. Also, the obtained results show that an impeller placed at an eccentric position between 24% and 48% of the vessel diameter and at the third of the vessel height may ensure the best mixing characteristics.

Suppression of gold nanoparticle agglomeration and its separation via nylon membranes

Use of ultraporous nylon membrane is one of the most widely employed techniques for removal of hard and soft nanoparticles in the semiconductor industry, and the accurate determination of membrane pore size is necessary in order to avoid manufacturing defects caused by contamination. The gold nanoparticle has several benefits for the evaluation of polymeric membranes; however, the nanoparticles agglomerate easily on the nylon membrane and make it difficult to evaluate the membrane precisely. The properties of 2-amino-2-hydroxymethyl-1,3-propanediol(ADP) ligand in gold nanoparticle solution were systematically investigated, and ADP was utilized for improved evaluation of the nylon membranes. Nylon membrane used in this study was prepared by phase inversion techniques. Ultrathin dense layer on top of the membrane surface and Darcy structures in the microporous membrane support were observed. The gold particle rejection was carried out at various p H values from 4 to14 and higher rejection was observed at p H 4 and 8. The suppression of gold colloid agglomeration using ADP and monodispersity of gold colloids was also analyzed by confocal laser scanning microscopy(CLSM), transmission electron microscopy(TEM), and scanning electron microscopy(SEM). van der Waals interaction energy of the particles was reduced in the addition of ADP. The presence of ADP ligand in the gold solutions prevented the agglomeration of gold nanoparticles and reduced the adsorption of the particles on the nylon membrane surface,leading to precise evaluation of membrane pore sizes.

Photoluminescence and radioluminescence properties of (Gd8Ca2)(SiO4)6O2 crystals with different concentrations of Ce

(GdCa)(SiO)Oapatite crystals doped with different concentrations of Ce were synthesized by the Floating Zone(FZ) method, and we have evaluated the photoluminescence(PL) and radio luminescence(RL) properties. In PL, an emission band appeared around 400 nm under excitation at 300 nm due to the5 d-4 f transitions of Ce3+. The PL decay curves were approximated by a second-order exponential decay function, and the derived decay time constants ranged around 20-25 ns and 40-480 ns. Similar emission was observed in RL, but the decay time constants were much longer than those in PL. The RL afterglow was the lowest in the 1.0% Ce-doped sample. The 1.0% and 2.0% Ce-doped samples showed a full-energy peak in the pulse height spectrum measured underAm 5.5 MeV α-ray irradiation, and the absolute scintillation light yields were estimated to be around 55 and 36 ph/5.5 MeV-a, respectively.