Volume 19, Issue 6

A review on acoustic field-driven micromixers is given. This is supplemented by the governing equations, governing non-dimensional parameters, numerical simulation approaches, and fabrication techniques. Acoustically induced vibration is a kind of external energy input employed in active micromixers to improve the mixing performance. An air bubble energized by an acoustic field acts as an external energy source and induces friction forces at the interface between an air bubble and liquid, leading to the formation of circulatory flows. The current review (with 200 references) evaluates different characteristics of microfluidic devices working based on acoustic field shaking.

Recently, because of the increasing demand for natural gas and the reduction of greenhouse gases, interests have focused on producing synthetic natural gas (SNG), which is suggested as an important future energy carrier. Hydrogenation of CO 2 , the so-called methanation reaction, is a suitable technique for the fixation of CO 2 . Nickel supported on yttrium oxide and promoted with cobalt were prepared by the wet-impregnation method respectively and characterized using SBET, XRD, FTIR, XPS, TPR, and HRTEM/EDX. CO 2 hydrogenation over the Ni/Y 2 O 3 catalyst was examined and compared with Co–Ni/Y 2 O 3 catalysts, Co% = 10 and 15 wt/wt. The catalytic test was conducted with the use of a fixed-bed reactor under atmospheric pressure. The catalytic performance temperature was 350 °C with a supply of H 2 :CO 2 molar ratio of 4 and a total flow rate of 200 mL/min. The CH 4 yield was reached 67%, and CO 2 conversion extended 48.5% with CO traces over 10Co–Ni/Y 2 O 3 catalyst. This encourages the direct methanation reaction mechanism. However, the reaction mechanism over Ni/Y 2 O 3 catalyst shows different behaviors rather than that over bi-metal catalysts, whereas the steam reforming of methane reaction was arisen associated with methane consumption besides increase in H 2 and CO formation; at the same temperature reaction.

This study aims to present a novel gas counter and to demonstrate its suitability for biochemical methane potential tests. In this system, the gas to be measured is collected in a chamber enclosed with two one-way solenoid valves and the absolute pressure is continuously monitored. After a trigger pressure is reached, a portion of the gas is released and the amount of the released gas is calculated according to ideal gas law and recorded. Three iterations of the supervisory control and data acquisition unit were constructed and tested for BMP measurement. Although it can be further improved and variations are possible, the presented final version works with eight reactors simultaneously and the recommended maximum gas flow is 1.24 mL/min. For those reactors, the measured/theoretical BMP ratio was 65.3% with 4.2% standard uncertainty, which is subjectively acceptable. Therefore, it can be concluded that the concept is valid and applicable to BMP tests.

The Advanced Oxidation Processes (AOPs) are promising environmentally friendly technologies for the treatment of wastewater containing organic pollutants in general and particularly dyes. The aim of this work is to determine which of the AOP processes based on the Fenton reaction is more effective in degrading the methyl orange (MO) dye. The comparative study of the Fenton, photo-Fenton (PF) and electro-Fenton (EF) processes has shown that electro-Fenton is the most efficient method for oxidizing Methyl Orange. The evolution of organic matter degradation was followed by absorbance (discoloration) and COD (mineralization) measurements. The kinetics of the MO degradation by the electro-Fenton process is very rapid and the OM degradation rate reached 90.87% after 5 min. The influence of some parameters such as the concentration of the catalyst (Fe (II)), the concentration of MO, the current density, the nature and the concentration of supporting electrolyte was investigated. The results showed that the degradation rate increases with the increase in the applied current density and the concentration of the supporting electrolyte. The study of the concentration effect on the rate degradation revealed optimal values for the concentrations 2.10 −5  M and 75 mg L −1 of Fe (II) and MO respectively.

Bisphenol-A (BPA), a precursor for many polymers, is a harmful compound for living organisms if present beyond permissible limits in aqueous streams. The combinations of oxidation processes like Hydrodynamic Cavitation (HC), hydrogen peroxide (H 2 O 2 ), and Fenton’s reagent (H 2 O 2  + FeSO 4 ) were examined for the degradation of BPA in the present study. The effects of operating parameters like inlet pressure, initial concentration of BPA, orifice geometry were investigated on BPA degradation. The degradation rates of BPA increased with inlet pressure up to 0.5 MPa and then showed a decreasing trend beyond 0.5 MPa. The initial concentration of BPA had an inverse relation with the degradation percentage. The multiple hole orifice plate showed better degradation of BPA compared to the single hole orifice plate. In the intensification studies, the addition of hydrogen peroxide to BPA in the cavitation reactor favored BPA degradation. A combination of HC + Fenton’s reagent (0.1 M H 2 O 2  + 0.01 M FeSO 4 ) significantly degraded BPA present in the aqueous streams.

Adaptive process was used to treat germanium-containing secondary zinc oxide. The leaching parameters were determined by batch experiment, and continuous experiment was conducted and the stability of the process was verified. The leaching efficiency of Zn and Ge in the batch experiments were 92.51 and 90.67%, respectively, while the leaching efficiencies of Zn and Ge in the continuous experiment were 93.53 and 88.47%, respectively. In the neutralization process, the Fe 3+ concentration in the neutralized solution is within 0.025 g/L. The Fe 2+ in the leaching solution increased gradually, as the neutralized residue was returned to the leaching process, the Zn in leaching residue reduce and the leaching efficiency of Zn increased. The residue mainly contained zinc sulfide and lead sulfate, with some fluffy structures on the surface. The process is promising for industrial application from indicators, economy, and applicability.

In this study, the mixing quality of high-viscosity yield stress fluid (Carbopol aqueous solution) under laminar and turbulent flow regimes was evaluated through a numerical experimental study. A three-dimensional computational fluid dynamics large-eddy simulation (CFD-LES) model was employed to capture large-scale vortex structures. The proposed CFD model was validated by the experimental data in terms of mean velocity profiles and velocity-time history. Thereafter, the CFD model was applied to simulate the residence time distribution using the tracking technique: tracer pulse method and step method. In addition, the non-ideal flow phenomena caused by molecular diffusion and eddy diffusion were evaluated. The effects of the rheological properties on the mixing performance were also investigated. The presented results can provide useful guidance to enhance mass transfer in reactors with high-viscosity fluids.

The waste water generated from sugar industry contains a high degree of organic pollutant. Treating the sugar industry wastewater is thus crucial important for the environmental concern. The treated water can be reprocessed in different unit operation due to lack of fresh water. The purpose of this research work is to treat the sugarcane processing industry wastewater by electrochemical technology. The experiment was carried out with the copper electrode in batch mode. The input process parameters were optimized by using response surface methodology. At optimum condition at pH 6.79, current 4.97, electrode distance 1.41 and treatment ∼30 min, maximum 87.07% of chemical oxygen demand and 99.18% color removals was attained. A fairly high predicted value of regression coefficient for chemical oxygen demand (Pre- R 2 ) 0.81 and color (Pre- R 2 ) 0.851 and adjacent value for chemical oxygen demand (Adj- R 2 ) 0.46 and color (Adj- R 2 ) 0.589 was obtained between the experimental values and the calculate values by using a second-order regression model. The physicochemical characterizations of scum reveal less percentage of inorganic and it cane used as a micronutrient.