Effects of clay and calcium ions on coal flotation

The microflotation of three single minerals,mixed coal–kaolinite and mixed coal–montmorillonite were examined to study the effects of clay and calcium ions on coal flotation.The results show that the ash content of flotation concentrate increases by 3%in the presence of clay minerals,and the ash content would further increase by 3%in co-presence of clay minerals and high concentration of Ca2+.Scanning electron microscope(SEM)images and elemental spectrum analysis indicate that fne clay particles that coat on the coal surface,which is called slime coating,can affect the coal flotation.The slime coating would be induced much more easily in the presence of Ca2+.

Theoretical study of 2-mercaptobenzimidazole derivatives as chelating collectors in flotation separation of galena and pyrite

Three 2-mercaptobenzimidazole derivatives,1-ethyl-2-mercapto-benzimidazole(EMBI),1-propyl-2-mercapto-benzimidazole(PMBI)and 1-benze-2-mercapto-benzimidazole(BMBI),were designed and synthesized in the paper,and their collecting behavior in flotation separation process of galena over pyrite was investigated by flotation tests on lab scale.Apart from this,density functional theory(DFT)calculation and molecular dynamics(MD)simulation were also used to elucidate their collecting mechanism.Results of flotation tests indicate that separation of galena over pyrite is feasible at pH 10,and BMBI has the best floatability among three collectors.DFT calculations show that BMBI has the highest occupied molecular orbital(HOMO)energy and strongest collecting effciency.The adsorption mode of three collectors on mineral surface by MD method indicates that the combination processes of collectors with mineral are exothermic,and the higher the binding energy,the frmer the collector adsorbs on the mineral surface and the higher collecting capacity.The calculation results demonstrate that the floatability of three collectors follows the order:BMBI>PMBI>EMBI,which is highly consistent with the flotation tests.

Research on sintering process of YSZ electrolyte

Yttria stabilized zirconia (YSZ) has widely been used as electrolyte in solid oxide fuel cell (SOFC). The microstructure of YSZ related to the fabrication process was discussed in the paper. With YSZ nano-powders about 40-100 nm as raw material, the YSZ adobe was manufactured by tape calendering process. The named three-step sintering process was performed at 1000 ℃ for 2 h, then raised the temperature with normal rate and as soon as up to 1400 ℃, the furnace was controlled at 1250-1300 ℃ for 10-20 h. The high dense YSZs with the relative density of 96%-99% were obtained; the grain size of YSZ could be reduced to 0.5-3 μm. The above result is benefited to co-fired in the electrode-supported SOFCs.

The Properties of YSZ Electrolyte Sintering at 1300 ℃

The properties of yttria stabilized zirconia（YSZ） related to the sintering process were discussed.YSZ nano-powders about 40-100 nm as raw material,the sub-micrometer grain sizes such as 0.4-3 μm in YSZ were gotten by sintering process at 1300 ℃,which was performed at 1000 ℃ for 2 h,then raised the temperature at the rate of 50 ℃ / h to 1400 ℃,then decreased directly to 1300 ℃ in 30 minutes,finally at 1300 ℃ for 5-20 hours.The ratio of bigger grain size becomes larger as the holding time increasing at 1300 ℃.The grains less than 1 μm are about 50%,eg,43.2%,52.2% and 51.1% related to 1300 ℃ holding 5 hours,8 hours and 10 hours,respectively.As YSZ grain size became small,the electrical conductivities did not decrease,even increased,about 0.20 s/cm at 1000 ℃.The reduced sintering temperature and time were benefited to co-fire with the electrodes in electrode-supported SOFCs.

Comprehensive recovery of gold and base-metal sulfide minerals from a low-grade refractory ore

The comprehensive recovery of small amounts of valuable minerals such as gold and base-metal sulfide minerals from a low-grade refractory ore was investigated. The following treatment strategy was applied to a sample of this ore： gold flotation-gold concen- trate leaching-lead and zinc flotation from the gold concentrate leaching residue. Closed-circuit trials of gold flotation yielded a gold concen- trate that assayed at 40.23 g·t-1 Au with a recovery of 86.25%. The gold concentrate leaching rate was 98.76%. Two variants of lead-zinc flotation from the residue--preferential flotation of lead and zinc and bulk flotation of lead and zinc--were tested using the middling processing method. Foam from the reflotation was returned to the lead rougher flotation or lead-zinc bulk flotation, whereas middlings from reflotation were discarded. Sulfur concentrate was a byproduct. The combined strategy of flotation, leaching, and flotation is recommended for the treatment of this kind of ore.

Apparent Dissolution Kinetics of Diatomite in Alkaline Solution

The dissolution kinetics of diatomite in alkaline solution is the theoretical basis for the process optimization of alkali-diatomite reaction and its applications.In this study,the dissolution kinetics of diatomite in NaOH solution is investigated.The results indicate that the dissolution reaction fits well the unreacted shrinking core model for solid-liquid heterogeneous reactions.The apparent reaction order for NaOH is 2 and the apparent activation energy for the reaction(Ea) is 28.06 kJ·mol-1.The intra-particle diffusion through the sodium silicate layer is the rate-controlling step.When the dissolution reaction occurs at the interface of unreacted diatomite solid core,the diffusion in the trans-layer(the liquid film around the wetted particle) reduces the rate of whole dissolution process.

Optimizing control of coal flotation by neuro-immune algorithm

Coal flotation is widely used to separate commercially valuable coal from the fine ore slurry, and is an industrial process with nonlinear, multivariable, time-varying and long time-delay characteristics. The online detection of ash content of products as the operation performance evaluation in the flotation system is extraordinarily difficult because of the low solid content and numerous micro-bubbles in the slurry. Moreover, it is time-consuming by manual analysis. Consequently, the optimal separation is not usually maintained. A novel technique, called the neuro-immune algorithm (NIA) inspired by the biological nervous and immune systems, is presented in this paper for predicting the ash content of clean coal and performing the optimizing control to the coal flotation system. The proposed algorithm integrates the deeply-studied artificial neural network (ANN) and the developing artificial immune system (AIS). A two-layer back-propagation network was constructed offline based on the historical process data under the best system situation, using five parameters: the flow and the density of raw slurry, the input flows of water, the kerosene and the GF oil, as the inputs and the ash content of clean coal as the output. The immune cell of AIS is made up of six parameters above as the antigen. The cytokine based clone selection algorithm is used to produce the relative antibody. The detailed computation procedures about the hybrid neuro-immune algorithm are minutely discussed. The ash content of clean coal was predicted by NIA using the practical process data s: (308.6 174.7 146.1 43.6 4.0 9.4), and the absolute difference between the actual and computed ash content values was 0.0967%. The optimizing control on NIA was simulated considering two different situations where the ash content of clean coal was controlled downward from 10.00% or upward from 9.20% predicted by ANN to the target value 9.50%. The results indicate that the target ash content and the value of controlling parameters are obtained after several control cycles.

Experimental Research on Toluene Degradation in Plasma as the Driving Force of Nanomaterials

Plasma technology has some shortcomings, such as higher energy consumption and byproducts produced in the reaction process. However non-thermal plasma associated with catalyst can resolve these problems. So this kind of technology was paid more and more attention to treat waste gas. In this paper, we make use of this technology to decompose toluene under different electric field and packed materials. At the same time, the mechanism of toluene decomposition using plasma and catalyst is discussed. The experimental results show toluene decomposition increases with electric field strength increasing and flow velocity and initial concentration decreasing. There are four conditions in plasma: without packed materials (1);with packed materials (2);with BaTiO3 in the surfaces of packed materials (3);and with nanometer Ba0.8Sr0.2Zr0.1Ti0.9O3 (4). Toluene decomposition represents a obvious trend, that is, η(4) > η(3) > η(2) > η(1). The best decomposition efficiency of toluene arrives at 95%.

Enhanced Formation of HCFC141b Hydrate with HCFC141b-in-water Emulsion

Enhanced formation of HCFC141b hydrate was studied with HCFC141b emulsion before the hydrate formation. Tergitol TMN6 was selected as emulgator, HCFC141b and water were introduced into an airtight emulsifier at the molecular ratio of 17:1 and emulsified at the temperature of 14℃ under the stirring speed of 4000～6400 r/min. And HCFC141b hydrate formed and decomposed with the change of programmed temperature. The experimental results showed that with the new method HCFC141b hydrate began to form in the time of 30 min (in glycol-water bath) or 100 min (in air bath) even in static state, and under the same condition with conventional method (non-emulsion) the hydrate could not form, at least it difficultly formed. And in dynamic state HCFC141b emulsion formed hydrate in 20 min earlier than the mixed liquid did, liquid from hydrate decomposition was emulsified after brief stirring, and formed hydrate again more easily than the brand-new emulsion.

Research on Effect of Magnetized Pulp on Coal Slime Flotation

Effect of magnetization on oxygen concentration, pH, surface zeta potential, and wet heat of flotation pulp were researched. The result shows that magnetization treatment can improve the floatablility of coal and increase the difference in wet heat among coal, refuse, and pyrite, which is favorable for slime flotation and for removing sulfur and ash from coal.

Advanced oxidation technology for H_2S odor gas using non-thermal plasma

Non-thermal plasma technology is a new type of odor treatment processing.We deal with H2Sfrom waste gas emission using non-thermal plasma generated by dielectric barrier discharge.On the basis of two criteria,removal efficiency and absolute removal amount,we deeply investigate the changes in electrical parameters and process parameters,and the reaction process of the influence of ozone on H2S gas removal.The experimental results show that H2S removal efficiency is proportional to the voltage,frequency,power,residence time and energy efficiency,while it is inversely proportional to the initial concentration of H2S gas,and ozone concentration.This study lays the foundations of non-thermal plasma technology for further commercial application.

Physico-chemical characterization and source tracking of black carbon at a suburban site in Beijing

Particles from ambient air and combustion sources including vehicle emission, coal combustion and biomass burning were collected and chemically pretreated with the purpose of obtaining isolated BC（black carbon） samples. TEM（transmission electron microscopy）results indicate that BC from combustion sources shows various patterns, and airborne BC appears spherical and about 50 nm in diameter with a homogeneous surface and turbostratic structure. The BET（Barrett-Emmett-Teller） results suggest that the surface areas of these BC particles fall in the range of 3-23 m2/g, with a total pore volume of 0.03-0.05 cm3/g and a mean pore diameter of 7-53 nm. The nitrogen adsorption-desorption isotherms are indicative of the accumulation mode and uniform pore size. O2-TPO（temperature programmed oxidation）profiles suggest that the airborne BC oxidation could be classified as the oxidation of amorphous carbon, which falls in the range of 406-490℃ with peaks at 418, 423 and 475℃,respectively. Generally, the BC characteristics and source analysis suggest that airborne BC most likely comes from diesel vehicle emission at this site.

H_2O/CO_2 co-electrolysis in solid oxide electrolysis cells

A solid oxide electrolysis cell(SOEC) is an environmental-friendly device which can convert electric energy into chemical energy with high efficiency. In this paper,the progress on structure and operational principle of an SOEC for co-electrolyzing H2O and CO2to generate syngas was reviewed. The recent development of high temperature H2O/CO2co-electrolysis from solid oxide single electrolysis cell was introduced. Also investigated was H2O/CO2co-electrolysis research using hydrogen electrode-supported nickel(Ni)-yttria-stabilized zirconia(YSZ)/YSZ/Sr-doped LaMnO3(LSM)-YSZ cells in our group. With 50 % H2O,15.6 % H2and 34.4 % CO2inlet gas to Ni- YSZ electrode,polarization curves(I- U curves) and electrochemical impedance spectra(EIS) were measured at 800 ℃ and 900 ℃. Long-term durability of electrolysis was carried out with the same inlet gas at 900 ℃ and 0.2 A/cm2. In addition,the improvement of structure and development of novel materials for increasing the electrolysis efficiency of SOECs were put forward as well.

Study on coal dust wettability measurement using cold briquetting technique

Quantitatively-measuring of coal dust wettability is essential for the R/D of chemical coal dust suppressants in the field of dust control with wetting-agent-added water. Analysed the causes which in present lab testing of coal dust wettability cause out-comes＇ low repeat rate and poor consistency with coal dust suppression practices in fields, and investigated the influence of different briquetting pressure （from 0 to 6.5×10^8 Pa） on the wet behavior of coal dust as a new way to evaluate quantitatively coal dust wettability. The study shows that there is a fairly high coincidence between the coal dust wettability data measured by briquetting technique and the results gained from the lab dust suppression tests using an apparatus MCYZ.

Activated sludge process based on artificial neural network

Considering the difficulty of creating water quality model for activated sludge system, a typical BP artificial neural network model has been established to simulate the operation of a waste water treatment facilities. The comparison of prediction results with the on-spot measurements shows the model, the model is accurate and this model can also be used to realize intelligentized on-line control of the wastewater processing process.

A New Two-dimensional Coordination Polymer Based on Trinuclear Manganese Clusters

A novel two-dimensional Mn（II） coordination polymer, [Mn3（L）R（cis-chdc）fftrans- chdc）]n （L = 2-amino-4-（1H-imidazo[4,5-J][1,10]phenanthrolin-2-yl）phenol and chdc = 1,4-cyclo- hexanedicarboxylate）, has been hydrothermally synthesized and characterized by elemental analysis, IR, TG PL and single-crystal X-ray diffraction. Crystallographic data for this compound： monoclinic space group P2/n with a = 11.0058（13）, b = 9.0179（11）, c = 28.431（3） A, β = 92.850（2）°, V = 2818.3（6） A3, Z = 2, C62Hs6Mn3N10O14, Mr = 1329.99, Dc = 1.567 g/cm3, F（000） = 1370, p（MoKa） = 0.742 mm-1, R = 0.0553 and wR = 0.1421. The chdc carboxylates bridge the Mn（II） atoms to form a trinuclear Mn（lI） cluster. The cis-chdc ligands are held together by the trinuclear Mn（II） clusters to result in a chain structure. Further, the trans-chdc ligands link adjacent chains to furnish a two-dimensional network. The π-π interactions between neighboring layers link the adjacent layers into a three-dimensional supramolecular architecture. Moreover, the N-H...O and O-H...O hydrogen bonds further stabilize the 3D supramolecular architecture.

Distribution of methylsiloxanes in benthic mollusks from the Chinese Bohai Sea

Methylsiloxanes are a class of silicone compounds that have been widely used in various industrial processes and personal care products for several decades. This study investigated the spatial distribution of three cyclic methylsiloxanes(D4–D6) and twelve linear methylsiloxanes(L5–L16) in mollusks collected from seven cities along the Bohai Sea. D4–D6(df = 71%–81%) and L8–L16(df = 32%–40%) were frequently detectable in the mollusk samples, while L5–L7 were not found in any mollusk samples. Cyclic methylsiloxanes(D4–D6) were found in mollusks with the mean concentrations of 15.7 ± 12.3 ng/g ww for D4,24.6 ± 15.8 ng/g ww for D5 and 34.0 ± 23.0 ng/g ww for D6. Among the seven sampling cities, the cyclic methylsiloxanes were predominant in mollusks, with the total cyclic methylsiloxanes(sum of D4–D6, ∑ CMS) accounting for 74.2%–80.7% of the total methylsiloxanes. ∑ CMS along the coastline demonstrated a clear gradient, with the highest concentrations in mollusks at the sampling sites located in the western part of the Bohai Sea and the lowest concentrations in mollusks from cities located in the eastern part of the Bohai Sea. The biota-sediment accumulation factors for cyclic methylsiloxanes(D4–D6) and linear methylsiloxanes(L8–L16) were estimated as 0.42 ± 0.06–0.53 ± 0.06 and0.13 ± 0.03–0.19 ± 0.05, respectively.

Influence of Lithium Oxide Addition on the Sintering Behavior and Electrical Conductivity of Gadolinia Doped Ceria

Ceria-based electrolytes have been widely researched in intermediate-temperature solid oxide fuel cell （SOFC）, which might be operated at 500-600℃. Sintering behavior with lithium oxide as sintering additive and electrical conductivity of gadolinia doped ceria （GdonCe0.902-σ, GDC10） electrolyte was studied in this paper by X-ray diffraction （XRD）, scanning electron microscopy （SEM） and electrochemical impedance spectroscopy （EIS）. As the results,, the fully dense GDC10 electrolytes are obtained at a low temperature of 800℃ with 2.5 mol% Li20 as sintering additive （called 5LiGDCS00）. During sintering process, lithium oxides adsorbed by around GDC10 surface help to sinter at 800~C and are kept at the grain boundary of GDC10 in the end. The fine grains of 100-400 nm and high electrical conductivity of 0.014 S/cm at 600~C in 5LiGDC800 were achieved, which contributed to the lower sintering temperature and enhanced grain boundary conductivity, respectively. Lithium, staying at grain boundary, reduces the depletion of oxygen vacancies in the space charge layers and increases the oxygen vacancy concentration in the grain boundary, which leads to improve the total electrical conductivity of 5LiGDC800.

SURFACE FUNCTIONALIZATION OF POLYSTYRENE TO BIND WITH FMRF PEPTIDES FOR NOVEL BIOCOMPATIBILITY

A generic method was described to change surface biocompatibihty by introducing reactive functional groups onto surfaces of polymeric substrates and covalently binding them with biomolecules.A block copolymer with protected carboxylic acid functionality,poly（styrene-b-tert-butyl acrylate）（PS-PtBA）,was spin coated from solutions in toluene on a bioinert polystyrene（PS） substrate to form a bilayer structure：a surface layer of the poly（tert-butyl acrylate）（PtBA） blocks that order at the air-polymer interface and a bottom layer of the PS blocks that entangle with the PS substrate.The thickness of the PtBA layer and the area density of tert-butyl ester groups of PtBA increased linearly with the concentration of the spin coating solution until a 2 nm saturated monolayer coverage of PtBA was achieved at the concentration of 0.4%W/W.The protected carboxylic acid groups were generated by exposing the tert-butyl ester groups of PtBA to trifluoroacetic acid （TFA） for bioconjugation with FMRF peptides via amide bonds.The yield of the bioconjugation reaction for the saturated surface was calculated to be 37.1%based on X-ray photoelectron spectroscopy（XPS） measurements.The success of each functionalization step was demonstrated and characterized by XPS and contact angle measurements.This polymer functionalization/modification concept can be virtually applied to any polymeric substrate by choosing appropriate functional block copolymers and biomolecules to attain novel biocompatibility.

One-step synthesis of hierarchically porous hybrid TiO2 hollow spheres with high photocatalytic activity

Hierarchically porous hybrid TiO2 hollow spheres were solvothermally synthesized successfully by using tetrabutyl titanate as titanium precursor and hydrated metal sulfates as soft templates. The as-prepared TiO2 spheres with hierarchically pore structures and high specific surface area and pore volume consisted of highly crystallized anatase TiO2 nanocrystals hybridized with a small amount of metal oxide from the hydrated sulfate. The proposed hydrated-sulfate assisted solvothermal （HAS） synthesis strategy was demonstrated to be widely applicable to various systems. Evaluation of the hybrid TiO2 hollow spheres for the photo-decomposition of methyl orange （MO） under visible-light irradiation revealed that they exhibited excellent photocatalytic activity and durability.