DBD-Corona Discharge for Degradation of Toxic Gases

The non-thermal plasma technology is a promising technique to treat SO2 and NOx. Chemical radicals produced with this technology can remove several pollutants at atmospheric pressure in a very short period of time simultaneously. Both theoretical and experimental study on SO2 and NOx removal, by a dielectric barrier discharge （DBD） with corona effect, is presented.

Numerical Simulation of the Blood Flow through a Brain Vascular Aneurysm with an Artificial Stent Using the SPH Method

We present numerical simulations of blood flow through a brain vascular aneurysm with an artificial stent using Smoothed Particle Hydrodynamics (SPH). The aim of this work is to analyze how the flow into an aneurysm changes using different stent configurations. The initial conditions for the simulations were constructed from angiographic images of a real patient with an aneurysm. The wall shear stresses, pressure and highest velocity within the artery, and other particular quantities are calculated which are of medical specific interest. The numerical simulations of the cerebral circulation help doctors to determine if the patient’s own vascular anatomy has the conditions to allow arterial stenting by endovascular method before the surgery or even evaluate the effect of different stent structure and materials. The results show that the flow downstream the aneurysm is highly modified by the stent configuration and that the best choice for reducing the flow in the aneurysm is to use a completely extended Endeavor stent.

Synthesis of Tantalum Hydride Using Mechanical Milling and Its Characterization by XRD,SEM,and TGA

In this paper, we report the results obtained from different phases of metal hydrides. The synthesis and characterization of tantalum hydrides were obtained “in situ” during mechanical milling. Elemental Ta with purity of 99.8% was used in this investigation to obtain the hydrides. A highenergy ball milling technique was utilized to prepare hydrogenated phases. Ta hydrides and oxides were formed as function of milling process time. Milling times of 5, 10 and 20 hours were programmed, and the ball-to-powder weight ratio was 10:1. The material was first characterized by scanning electron microscopy (SEM) and X-ray diffraction (XRD). Before and after hydrogenation process the material was also analyzed by TGA. X-ray diffraction analysis demonstrated that only tantalum hydrides (Ta2H and TaH0.5) were obtained after 20 h of milling. We will discuss the effect of the ball-milling process about formation “in situ” of nanometric tantalum hydrides with methanol as a hydrogen source.

MgO-based adsorbents for CO2 adsorption:Influence of structural and textural properties on the CO_2 adsorption performance

A series of MgO-based adsorbents were prepared through solution–combustion synthesis and ball-milling process.The prepared MgO-based powders were characterized using X-ray diffraction,scanning electron microscopy,N_2 physisorption measurements,and employed as potential adsorbents for CO_2 adsorption.The influence of structural and textural properties of these adsorbents over the CO_2 adsorption behaviour was also investigated.The results showed that MgO-based products prepared by solution–combustion and ball-milling processes,were highly porous,fluffy,nanocrystalline structures in nature,which are unique physico-chemical properties that significantly contribute to enhance their CO_2 adsorption.It was found that the MgO synthesized by solution combustion process,using a molar ratio of urea to magnesium nitrate（2：1）,and treated by ball-milling during 2.5 hr（MgO-BM2.5h）,exhibited the maximum CO_2 adsorption capacity of 1.611 mmol/g at 25℃ and 1 atm,mainly via chemisorption.The CO_2 adsorption behaviour on the MgO-based adsorbents was correlated to their improved specific surface area,total pore volume,pore size distribution and crystallinity.The reusability of synthesized MgO-BM2.5h was confirmed by five consecutive CO_2adsorption–desorption times,without any significant loss of performance,that supports the potential of MgO-based adsorbent.The results confirmed that the special features of MgO prepared by solution–combustion and treated by ball-milling during 2.5 hr are favorable to be used as effective MgO-based adsorbent in post-combustion CO_2 capture technologies.