Chemical Engineering @ChemengFiles.Com

Investigators from the Consejo Superior de Investigaciones Científicas (CSIC) have discovered an essential role of protein PI3Kbeta in the process of cell division. The finding that provides new data on this key process for both embryonic and postnatal development and for maintenance and renovation of blood or skin in adults, also opens avenues of research for the treatment of pathological situations in which the division cell is uncontrolled, as in the tumor. The findings of the study are published in Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences USA.

The research was conducted by researchers at the CSIC and Amit Kumate Miriam Marqués, under the direction of Ana Carrera, Department of Immunology and Oncology Centro Nacional de Biotecnología (CSIC) in Madrid. The authors have had the collaboration of Philippe Pasero, the Center National de la Recherche Scientifique (France), and Shaun Jackson, Australian Center for Blood Diseases (Australia).

This chemical engineering ebook discusses findings gained through work with the NOx abatement system at Radford Facility and Army Ammunition Plant (RFAAP). Removal of harmful substances from flue-gas emissions has garnered increased priority in the chemical industry in preceding decades, as governmental restrictions on these substances become more stringent and as national awareness concerning environmental quality and resource utilization continues to grow. These reasons make the study of NOx abatement an important and challenging endeavor. This work concerns itself specifically with reduction of NOx in flue-gas emissions from stationary sources. First we present an overview of current technology and approaches to controlling NOx for stationary sources. Next, we focus in on one particular approach to control of NOx within the context of a case study of the technology used at the Radford Facility and Army Ammunition Plant. RFAAP employs a scrubber/absorber tower followed in series by a selective catalytic reduction (SCR) reaction vessel in their NOx abatement system. We use as the method of study computer simulations within ASPEN Plus, a process simulation software package for chemical plants. We develop three different models with which to characterize NOx abatement at RFAAP, a conversion model, an equilibrium model and a kinetic model. The conversion-reaction model approximates the absorption and SCR reactions with constant percentage extent-of-reaction values. Though useful for initial investigation and mass balance information, we find the conversion model's insensitivity to process changes to be unacceptable for in-depth study of the case of NOx absorption and SCR. The equilibrium-reaction model works on the assumption that all the reactions reach chemical equilibrium. For the conditions studied here, we find the equilibrium model accurately simulates NOx absorption but fails in the case of SCR. Therefore, we introduce a kinetic-reaction model to handle the SCR. The SCR reactions prove to be highly rate-dependant and the kinetic approach performs well. The final evolution of the ASPEN Plus simulation uses an equilibrium model for the absorption operation and a kinetic model for the SCR. We explore retrofit options using this combined model and propose process improvements. We end this work with observations of the entire project in the form of conclusions and recommendations for improving the operation of the NOx abatement system through process-parameter optimization and equipment-retrofit schemes.

Oxford Advanced Surfaces Group Plc (OAS), specialty materials company, announced it has developed an industrial adhesive coating that promotes a higher level of membership with a wide range of industrial epoxy adhesives. ® Onto the adhesive coating can increase adherence to Polimi and polymer materials such as PET, in which case the adhesive epoxy alone can not achieve satisfactory adherence.

Marcelo Bravo, CEO of OAS said, "The epoxy adhesives are industrial structural adhesives used, as they are stronger and more resistant to severe conditions. However, do not adhere well to the chemically inert material or have an energy surface low, in which cases require various forms of surface treatment to be effective. Onto ® adhesive coatings can combine materials with epoxy adhesives that usually do not work well with the epoxy or the use of an epoxy system where Use an adhesive more expensive or complex. "