The epoxidation process of soybean oil (SBO) and peracid produced by 50 wt% hydrogen peroxide (H2O2) and formic acid (FA) was studied with sulfuric acid (H2SO4) as a catalyst. Three reaction parameters, including reaction temperature, FA-to-SBO ratio, and H2O2-to-SBO ratio, were investigated, along with the combined effect on oxirane value (OV). Based on response surface methodology (RSM), the Box-Behnken design (BBD) was used to optimize the process parameters. According to the results, the calculated OV (7.34%) and the experimental OV (7.31%) were signifi cantly in agreement. The product was confi rmed as epoxidized soybean oil (ESO) by IR and NMR characterization methods. These results demonstrated the reliability of RSM to optimize the SBO reaction to produce ESO with high oxygen content.

Abstract ZnO is an ideal material for UV detection. However, due to the surface effect of ZnO, the photosensitivity of the ZnO based UV detector needs to be improved. In this study, we deposited a hydroxyl group functionalized (3,4-propylenethiophene) polymer (PProDOT-OH) film onto a hydrothermally grown ZnO nanoarray by electro-chemical deposition method to prevent the corrosion of ZnO by phosphotungsten acid (PWA), and then PWA was drip-coated on the composite film to prepare the ZnO/PProDOT-OH/PWA composite based UV detector. The structure and morphology of the composite were characterized by SEM, UV–vis, FT-IR, XRD, Raman, EDS, XPS analysis, illustrating the phosphotungstic acid was uniformly coated on ZnO/PProDOT-OH surface and confirming the composite was successfully synthesized. The UV detection performance was studied through preparing a UV detector with the composite material and results indicate that the introduction of PWA could enhance the responsivity of the ZnO/PProDOT-OH composite-based UV detector.

Abstract Essential oil extraction technique from mandarin pixie peels by hydro-distillation is optimized by response surface methodology (RSM). Mathematical techniques were used in experimental design to evaluate the impacts of factors that affect the extraction process and improve the yield of the extraction process. A central mixed design based on influencing variables such as water ratio (3–5 mL/g), temperature (110–130 °C) and extraction time (90–150 min) was adopted with essential oil yield as the target function. Correlation analysis of the mathematical regression model showed that the quadratic polynomial model can be used to optimize hydro-distillation of pixie mandarin oil. The results showed that under the optimum extraction conditions, the highest quantity of essential oils was achieved (7.28 mL/100 g materials). In terms of statistical analysis, the significance levels (p-value 0.9). The chemical composition of the essential oil was analyzed by Gas Chromatography-Mass Spectrometry, revealing the dominance of limonene content (97.667%), which implies that the essential oil of pixie mandarin could be an alternative source of limonene.

Abstract The paper presents results of thermokinetic investigation of the hazard-type reaction of Norwegian and Australian ilmenite ores with sulfuric acid, modified by the addition of elemental sulfur, to increase the process safety in industrial conditions. In the reactions of both ilmenite ores the addition of sulfur caused a reduction of the thermal power generated in the reaction and a decrease in the value of the thermokinetic parameter ΔTmax/Δτ for almost the whole range of initial concentrations of sulfuric acid. It was also found that the addition of sulfur to the reaction did not negatively affect the degree of ilmenite leaching. The interpretation of the obtained thermokinetic curves allowed to determine safe process conditions for both types of titanium raw materials.

Abstract Studies on the chemical modifications of Rosmarinus officinalis essential oil hydrodistillation process (HD) by using 5% citric acid (CA-HD) and 5% trisodium citrate (TSC-HD) as a water phase were performed. Composition of essential oils obtained in conventional and modified conditions was analyzed by gas chromatography with mass selective detector method (GC-MS) and compared. Antioxidant activity of all essential oils was determined spectrophotometrically by using DPPH radical scavenging method. It was found that applied modifications of hydrodistillation process enhanced yields and antioxidant activity and the best results were obtained using 5% citric acid as a modifier. Effect of this modification on fungicidal activity of essential oils against 8 various fungi strains (Alternaria alternata, Botrytis cinerea, Fusarium culmorum, Phythophtora cactorum, Rhizoctonia solani, Phythophtora infestans, Sclerotinia sclerotiorum and Ascosphaera apis) was also determined and in most cases enhanced activity was observed.

In this study, a series of Co-based catalysts with alkali metal carbonate promoters were prepared to investigate the interrelation between promotion effect of these carbonates and catalytic performance for aniline hydrogenation to cyclohexylamine in vapour phase. The chemical promoters Li2CO3 and Na2CO3 leading to decrease in catalytic activity of cobalt catalysts for aniline hydrogenation. Catalysts with K2CO3 and Cs2CO3 loadings have practically no catalytic activity for hydrogenation of aniline. Results of TPD of aniline proved that presence of alkali metals carbonates restricts the adsorption of aniline on the surface of cobalt catalysts. Further, it was found that the addition of Na2CO3 greatly enhances the catalytic selectivity towards the cyclohexylamine and inhibits the consecutive reactions of cyclohexylamine leading to formation of by-products such as dicyclohexylamine and N-phenylcyclohexylamine.

The effect of process conditions on the co-processing technology of crude oil and coal was investigated. Crude oil/coal matching performance, swelling degree, crude oil/coal slurry viscosity-temperature characteristics and process parameters were obtained via the laboratory scale and pilot scale studies. The optimum reaction temperature of the co-processing was 445~450 oC, the pressure was 19 MPa, the catalyst addition was 3 wt.%, the reaction time was 2 h, and the ratio of hydrogen to crude oil was 1500 (V/V). Furthermore, the co-processing technology including catalyst and corresponding equipment based on the slurry bed hydrogenation were developed. By using this co-processing technology, the feed ratio of crude oil and coal can be 1:1, the coal conversion rate can be over 99%, the light oil (oil and aromatics) yield was over 70%, and the end products were gasoline, diesel, jet fuel, aromatics and LPG. The product quality meets the Euro V standard, whilst aromatics accounted for 48% of the light oil. So it was proved to be feasible to co-refine crude oil and coal at a ratio of 1:1. What’s more, the slurry bed hydrogenation plant and its equipment were tested for long-term operation, and it has been proved that this co-processing technology could be deployed as large-scale industrial application.

In our work, the process efficiency of the ECMM should be improved by using different combinations of nano-particles and added electrolytes. The superior aim of this work is to improve and predict the ECMM machining characteristics of die hardened steel, namely material removal rate (MRR), Tool wear rate (TWR) and Surface Roughness (Ra). The machining conditions are optimized using Response Surface Methodology (RSM) based on Box Behnken Design. The better Nano electrolyte is optimized using Deer Hunting Optimization (DHO) based on the machined outcomes, and the performances are predicted using a hybrid Deep Neural Network (DNN) based DHO. The hybrid DNN-DHO based predicted outcome of MRR is 0.361 mg/min, TWR is 0.272 mg/min and Ra is 2.511 μm. The validation results show that our proposed DNN-DHO model performed well and obtained above 0.99 regression for both training and validation of DNN-DHO, where the root mean square error ranges between 0.018 and 0.024.

Nowadays, the topics of closed-loop and eco-design are raised very often, especially in the chemical industry. To combine development with these trends, Purinova Sp. z o.o. has focused on pursuing the closed-loop use of post-production condensate from polyester polyols production. To this end, purification and distillation processes have been adapted, both at the laboratory and production scale, to receive treated condensate with decreased Chemical Oxygen Demand (COD) index. The method involves connected purification of production condensate by returning condensate to the top of the distillation column during polycondensation and two stages distillation system afterwards. The method allows for decreasing COD index and contents of diethylene glycol and 1,4-dioxane. The resulting technology has consequently allowed the use of tailored distillation in the purification of post-production condensates in the production of polyester polyols. Furthermore, the quality of the condensate obtained allowed it to be used in the closed loop of the production plant.

In view of the powder feeding system, a multi-physical coupling model of the gas-powder-piston was established based on the Euler-Euler two-fluid model. The numerical simulation method was applied to explore the effects of dense gas-solid flow characteristics under different operating pressures. The results show that gas-solid pulsations at different operating pressures are mainly concentrated in the upper part of the powder tank. An elevated operating pressure efficiently decreases the powder layer area (εp = 0.1) fluctuation. As the operating pressure increases from 0.5 MPa to 3.0 MPa, the rising time and fluctuation rate of pressure are reduced by 71.4% and 62.3%, respectively, and the pressure in the tank has a long stabilization period. Meanwhile, the variation of the instantaneous powder flow rate is more stable and its average value is closer to the theoretical. A high-pressure environment is more conducive to the stable transportation of powder.

A method is proposed to predict the upper flammability limits for alkanes in air at increased pressures. The upper flammability limits for methane, ethane, propane and n-butane/air mixtures at ambient temperature and initial pressure of 0.3 MPa–2.0 MPa are identified through the adiabatic flame temperature calculation model. The association of calculated adiabatic flame temperature with pressure is presented to determine the upper flammability limit. Research shows the good agreement between the forecast upper flammability limits with pressure dependence and the experimental upper flammability limit values. The average relative error of the estimated upper flammability limits for alkanes in air at high pressures reaches 2.52%.

AgInS2 Quantum dots (AIS QDs) have high quantum yield and catalytic performance, which is promising materials in photo-catalytic and optoelectronic fields. In the paper, it adopted a simple and non-toxic method to synthesize AIS QDs. The effect of reaction temperature on the growth mechanism, optical and physical properties of AIS had been extensively investigated by using L-cysteine as the sulfur source, and their application in catalytic hydrogen production was also studied. The results demonstrated that the fluorescence properties will be quenched with the increase of temperature, indicating that the separation speed of electron hole pairs of samples obtained at higher temperature was faster. Meantime, the electron transport capacity and the photocurrent had also improved with the increase of reaction temperature. Finally, the sample obtained at 100 oC had higher hydrogen production rate.

Abstract In this work, an analytical model describing liquid wicking phenomenon in porous media was constructed, based on the statistical geometry theory and the fractal theory. In the model, a new structure-property relationship, depicted by specific surface, porosity, tortuosity, pore fractal dimension, maximum pore size of the porous media, was introduced into the energy conservation equation. According to the theoretical model, the accumulated imbibition weight in porous media was achieved, and the predictions were verified by available experimental data published in different literatures. Besides, structure parameters influencing the imbibition process upon approaching equilibrium height were discussed. The model and results in this work are useful for the application of porous media in scientific research and industry.

The relevance of the subject matter is conditioned by the constantly growing need to meet human needs in the field of medicine, in particular, the search, study, and further introduction of new types of medicines into practical use. The purpose of this study is to investigate the synthesis of modified quinine alkaloid derivatives, and their structure, to identify the properties and biological activity of antimalarial drugs based on quinine molecules, and to structure the general data of these substances. The leading approach is the analysis of the synthesis of quinine derivatives, their chemical and physical properties, and their ability to exert a medicinal effect. The abstracting method allows structuring alkaloid derivatives and establishing a general relationship between the structural configuration of molecules and their impact on human health in a number of related derivatives. The study identifies the main antimalarial drugs based on quinine molecules, including a comparative analysis of their effectiveness and overall biological activity.

Effect of enzymatic pretreatment before hydrodistillation process on yield and composition of Rosmarinus officinalis essential oil was studied. Results obtained by using two selected commercial enzymes applied in food and beverage industry were compared. Control process with non-enzymatic pretreatment in analogous conditions was also performed for proper interpretation of results. Application of gas chromatography with mass selective detector (GC-MS) enabled analysis and comparison of essential oils composition. Moreover, total phenolic content (TPC) was determined spectrophotometrically in post-processing hydrolates, which are also valuable products e.g. for cosmetic applications. Modifications of isolation process by pretreatment with selected enzymes resulted in significant increase in essential oil yields in comparison to conventional hydrodistillation and control process with non-enzymatic pretreatment in analogous conditions. No substantial changes in the composition of obtained essential oils were observed. In post-processing hydrolates higher values of total phenolic content (TPC) were found both after enzymatic and non-enzymatic pretreatment.

A novel series of complexes with the formula [MLCl] [M = Co(II) (1), Ni(II) (2), Cu(II) (3), Zn(II) (4)] arising from Pyridyl ligand, N,N′-bis(1-(2-pyridyl)ethylidene)-2,2-dimethylpropane-1,3-diamine), ligand, L, was synthesized and investigated by elemental analyses, FT-IR, 1H and 13C NMR, Powder XRD, and thermal analyses. TGA analysis indicated that all complexes degraded in three different steps, while the PXRD examination showed well-defined sharp crystalline peaks for the complexes, indicating significant crystallinity. The antiproliferative activity of the ligand and its complexes were also evaluated in vitro against the HeLa (Human Cervical Cancer Cells) and HCT116 (Colon Cancer Cells) cell lines. The findings suggested complex 4 to be potential anticancer agent against these cell lines. In addition, ligand and its complexes also exhibited considerable emission properties.

Abstract In this paper, CePO4 and CeCO3F were prepared by hydrothermal synthesis based on the ratio of bastnaesite to monazite in the process mineralogy of Baiyun Ebo rare earth concentrate. A comparison of the two treatments, ball milling and ball milling sulphation, revealed that the denitrification efficiency of the catalysts treated with ball milling sulphation increased by 20 percentage points, compared to those treated without sulphation, with denitrification efficiencies of up to 80%. The surface properties, redox properties and catalytic mechanism of the samples before and after the sulphation treatment were analyzed, by using XRD, NH3-TPD, H2-TPR, XPS and in situ IR characterization. The results showed that the CeF3 diffraction peaks in the XRD patterns disappeared in the sulphated samples, NH3-TPD showed that the adsorption capacity of NH3 on the surface of the samples was enhanced, and the introduction of sulphuric acid provided a large number of acidic sites on the catalyst surface, among which the Lewis acidic sites might be more favorable for the promotion of SCR reaction. The acidification of sulphuric acid greatly increases the redox capacity of the catalyst, and the interconversion between Cen+ was enhanced. XPS showed a significant increase in the amount of adsorbed oxygen on the surface of the sample. The presence of -NO2, an important intermediate in the L-H mechanism, was also detected by IR analysis. reactant species during the L-H mechanism reaction were monodentate nitrate, bridged nitrate and NH4 + species produced by NH3 adsorption on the Brønsted acidic site of the catalyst surface.

Abstract The influence of temperature and sulfuric acid concentration on the enthalpy and the rate of heat release during the reaction of Norwegian and Australian ilmenites with sulfuric acid was determined. The experimental results obtained from calorimetric measurements were compared with theoretical calculations based on the oxide composition and the phase composition of the raw material. Experimentally determined heat of reaction for Norwegian ilmenite (900–940 kJ/kg) and Australian ilmenite (800–840 kJ/kg) showed good agreement with theoretical calculations based on the phase composition of the raw material. It was found that the enthalpy of ilmenites decomposition reaction does not depend on the concentration of sulfuric acid in the concentration range from 83% to 93%. It was also demonstrated that the temperature and concentration of sulfuric acid have a significant impact on the thermokinetics of the decomposition process, increasing the value of the average rate of temperature change.

Hydroxycitronellal has been widely used in foods, beverages, perfumery and cosmetics. It can also be used to treat anxiety. The major drawbacks regarding the use of hydroxycitronellal are related to water insolubility, volatility, instability, and sensitization. To overcome these concerns, β-cyclodextrin was adopted as wall material to encapsulate hydroxycitronellal in this work. Hydroxycitronellal-β-cyclodextrin inclusion complex was prepared and the product was characterized. The interaction of hydroxycitronellal and β-cyclodextrin, and the assembly of hydroxycitronellal-β-cyclodextrin inclusion complex were investigated by molecular simulation (MM). The results showed that hydroxycitronellal loading capacity was 8.5%. The thermal stability and lastingness of hydroxycitronellal were improved by the formation of the inclusion complex. The minimum binding energy was –151.2 kJ/mol. Among the perpendicular, staggered parallel and ideally parallel orientation of the inclusion complexes, the minimum energy value was found for the staggered parallel arrangement. These basic data are useful to understand the interaction between hydroxycitronellal and β-cyclodextrin.

Two-component deep eutectic solvents (DES) based on choline dihydrogencitrate and glycerol or urea were tested as starch plasticizers. Thermal analysis techniques were applied to characterize the properties of starch/DES systems. The X-ray diffractometry measurements revealed a significant decrease in crystallinity indicating that used DES exhibited the ability to penetrate the ordered regions of potato starch, which is a necessary feature of a true plasticizer. However, the differential scanning calorimetry and dynamic thermal analysis results surprisingly showed an increase of Tg of starch materials indicating chemical crosslinking at elevated temperature. The eutectic solvents based on choline dihydrogencitrate could act as a plasticizer and a simultaneously crosslinking agent.