http://www.hindawi.comThe latest articles from Hindawi Publishing Corporation© 2012, Hindawi Publishing Corporation. All rights reserved.http://www.hindawi.com/journals/ijce/2012/674761/Dehydration of sugars to 5-hydroxymethylfurfural (HMF) has recently been under intensive study by a multitude of research groups. On the other hand, when lignocellulosic biomass is applied as the starting material, very few studies can be found in the open literature. The direct synthesis of HMF, in line with the idea of “one-pot” synthesis strategy from lignocellulose, is demanding since the overall process should encompass dissolution, hydrolysis, and dehydration steps in a single processing unit. Ionic liquid-assisted methods to produce hydroxymethyl-furfural directly from lignocellulosic biomass are reported here together with a short overview of the most important biofuels. In reality, HMF is not suitable to be used as a single-component fuel as such, and, consequently, methods to produce HMF derivatives suitable as liquid fuels are reported.Päivi Mäki-Arvela, Eero Salminen, Toni Riittonen, Pasi Virtanen, Narendra Kumar, and Jyri-Pekka MikkolaCopyright © 2012 Päivi Mäki-Arvela et al. All rights reserved.http://www.hindawi.com/journals/ijce/2011/659012/Processing of dilute liquid streams in the industries like food, agro-, biotechnology, pharmaceuticals, environment, and so forth needs special strategy for the separation and purification of the desired product and for environment friendly disposal of the waste stream. The separation strategy adopted to achieve the goal is extremely important from economic as well as from environmental point of view. In the present paper we have reviewed the various aspects of some selected universal separation strategies such as adsorption, membrane separation, electrophoresis, chromatographic separation, and electroosmosis that are exercised for processing of dilute liquid streams.Sujata Mandal and Bhaskar D. KulkarniCopyright © 2011 Sujata Mandal and Bhaskar D. Kulkarni. All rights reserved.http://www.hindawi.com/journals/ijce/2011/830610/Five reaction schemes are suggested for the initiated nonbranched-chain addition of free radicals to the multiple bonds of alkenes, formaldehyde, and oxygen. The schemes include reactions competing with chain propagation through a reactive free radical. The chain evolution stage in these schemes involves three or four types of free radicals. One of them—CH2=C(CH3)C•H2, CH2=CHC•HOH, HC•=O, o−CH3C6H4CH2O4•, or HO4•—is relatively low-reactive and inhibits the chain process by shortening of the kinetic chain length. Based on the suggested schemes, nine rate equations containing one to three parameters to be determined directly are set up using quasi-steady-state treatment. These equations provide good fits for the nonmonotonic (peaking) dependences of the formation rates of the molecular addition products (1 : 1 adducts) on the concentration of the unsaturated component in liquid homogeneous binary systems consisting of a saturated component (hydrocarbon, alcohol, etc.) and an unsaturated component (olefin, formaldehyde, or dioxygen). The unsaturated compound in these systems is both a reactant and an autoinhibitor generating low-reactive free radicals. A similar kinetic description is applicable to nonbranched-chain free-radical hydrogen oxidation. The energetics of the key radical-molecule reactions is considered.M. M. SilaevCopyright © 2011 M. M. Silaev. All rights reserved.http://www.hindawi.com/journals/ijce/2011/231828/A general overall feasibility methodology of batch reactive distillation of multireaction systems is developed to study all the possible configurations of batch reactive distillation. The general model equations are derived for multireaction system with any number of chemical equilibrium-limited reactions and for any number of components. The present methodology is demonstrated with the detailed study of the transesterification of dimethyl carbonate in two reversible cascade reactions in batch reactive distillation process. Pure methanol is produced as distillate, and pure diethyl carbonate is produced at the bottom simultaneously in middle-vessel column; in each section, continuous feeding of ethanol is necessary. The results of feasibility study are successfully validated by rigorous simulations.T. Lukács, C. Stéger, E. Rév, M. Meyer, and Z. LelkesCopyright © 2011 T. Lukács et al. All rights reserved.http://www.hindawi.com/journals/ijce/2011/970247/A reduced chemical kinetic model for Titan's atmosphere has been developed. This new model with 18 species and 28 reactions includes the mainfeatures of a more complete scheme, respecting the radiative fluxes. It has been verified against three key elements: a sensitivity analysis, the equilibrium chemical composition using shock tube simulations in CHEMKIN, and the results of computational fluid dynamics (CFDs) simulations.Romain Savajano, Raffaello Sobbia, Michele Gaffuri, and Pénélope LeylandCopyright © 2011 Romain Savajano et al. All rights reserved.http://www.hindawi.com/journals/ijce/2011/545234/Various quaternary CuInxGa1−xS2 (0≤x≤1) chalcopyrite nanoparticles have been prepared from molecular single-source precursors via microwave decomposition. We were able to control the nanoparticle size, phase, stoichiometry, and solubility. Depending on the choice of surface modifiers used, we were able to tune the solubility of the resulting nanoparticles. This method has been used to generate up to 5 g of nanoparticles and up to 150 g from multiple batch reactions with excellent reproducibility. Data from UV-Vis, photoluminescence, X-ray diffraction, TEM, DSC/TGA-MS, and ICP-OES analyses have shown high reproducibility in nanoparticle size, composition, and bandgap.Chivin Sun, Richard D. Westover, Gary Long, Cyril Bajracharya, Jerry D. Harris, Alex Punnoose, Rene G. Rodriguez, and Joshua J. PakCopyright © 2011 Chivin Sun et al. All rights reserved.http://www.hindawi.com/journals/ijce/2011/670108/This paper summarizes some applications of ultrasonic vibrations regarding heat transfer enhancement techniques. Research literature is reviewed, with special attention to examples for which ultrasonic technology was used alongside a conventional heat transfer process in order to enhance it. In several industrial applications, the use of ultrasound is often a way to increase productivity in the process itself, but also to take advantage of various subsequent phenomena. The relevant example brought forward here concerns heat exchangers, where it was found that ultrasound not only increases heat transfer rates, but might also be a solution to fouling reduction.Mathieu Legay, Nicolas Gondrexon, Stéphane Le Person, Primius Boldo, and André BontempsCopyright © 2011 Mathieu Legay et al. All rights reserved.http://www.hindawi.com/journals/ijce/2011/592075/Compositions having the general formula BaTiO3-CuO+x wt% Ag, where x=0,1,1.5, and 2 have been prepared by solid state ceramic processing and sintered at 500 and 700∘C for 5 h. Thermogravimetric analysis (TGA), X-ray powder diffraction (XRD), infrared absorption spectra (IR), and scanning electron microscopy (SEM) were used to characterize the obtained sensor pellets. It was found that no solid state reaction took place between BaTiO3 and CuO during sintering process. The sensitivity of the prepared sensors to CO2 gas increases with increasing sintering temperature and Ag content. The correlation between Ag content at different sintering temperature and structure characterization is discussed.Ahmed Mohamed El-Sayed, Fathy Mohamed Ismail, and Saad Mabrouk YakoutCopyright © 2011 Ahmed Mohamed El-Sayed et al. All rights reserved.http://www.hindawi.com/journals/ijce/2011/209435/Density, surface tension and refractive index were determined for the binary mixture of catalytic deactivated compounds with 1-ethyl-3-methylimidazolium thiocyanate {[EMIM][SCN]} at temperature of (298.15 to 323.15) K. For all the compounds with ILs, the densities varied linearly in the entire mole fraction with increasing temperature. From the obtained data, the excess molar volume and deviation of surface tension and refractive index have been calculated. A strong interaction was found between similar (cation-thiophene or cation-pyrrole) compounds. The interaction of IL with dissimilar compounds such as indoline and quinoline and other multiple ring compounds was found to strongly depend on the composition of IL at any temperatures. For the mixtures, the surface tension decreases in the order of: thiophene > quinoline > pyridine > indoline > pyrrole > water. In general from the excess volume studies, the IL-sulphur/nitrogen mixture has stronger interaction as compared to IL-IL, thiophene-thiophene or pyrrole-pyrrole interaction. The deviation of surface tension was found to be inversely proportional to deviation of refractive index. The quantum chemical based COSMO-RS was used to predict the non-ideal liquid phase activity coefficient for all mixtures. It indicated an inverse relation between activity coefficient and excess molar volumes.Ramalingam Anantharaj and Tamal BanerjeeCopyright © 2011 Ramalingam Anantharaj and Tamal Banerjee. All rights reserved.http://www.hindawi.com/journals/ijce/2011/967198/A model-based predictive control system is designed for a copolymerization reactor. These processes typically have such a high nonlinear dynamic behavior to make practically ineffective the conventional control techniques, still so widespread in process and polymer industries. A predictive controller is adopted in this work, given the success this family of controllers is having in many chemical processes and oil refineries, especially due to their possibility of including bounds on both manipulated and controlled variables. The solution copolymerization of methyl methacrylate with vinyl acetate in a continuous stirred tank reactor is considered as an industrial case study for the analysis of the predictive control robustness in the field of petrochemical and polymer production. Both regulatory and servo problems scenarios are considered to check tangible benefits deriving from model-based predictive controller implementation.Nádson Murilo Nascimento Lima, Lamia Zuñiga Liñan, Flavio Manenti, Rubens Maciel Filho, Marcelo Embiruçu, and Maria Regina Wolf MacielCopyright © 2011 Nádson Murilo Nascimento Lima et al. All rights reserved.http://www.hindawi.com/journals/ijce/2011/646917/Fermentation processes by nature are complex, time-varying, and highly nonlinear. As dynamic systems their modeling and further high-quality control are a serious challenge. The conventional optimization methods cannot overcome the fermentation processes peculiarities and do not lead to a satisfying solution. As an alternative, genetic algorithms as a stochastic global optimization method can be applied. For the purpose of parameter identification of a fed-batch cultivation of S. cerevisiae altogether four kinds of simple and four kinds of multipopulation genetic algorithms have been considered. Each of them is characterized with a different sequence of implementation of main genetic operators, namely, selection, crossover, and mutation. The influence of the most important genetic algorithm parameters—generation gap, crossover, and mutation rates has—been investigated too. Among the considered genetic algorithm parameters, generation gap influences most significantly the algorithm convergence time, saving up to 40% of time without affecting the model accuracy.Maria Angelova and Tania PenchevaCopyright © 2011 Maria Angelova and Tania Pencheva. All rights reserved.http://www.hindawi.com/journals/ijce/2011/939161/Heavy metals are among the most important sorts of contaminant in the environment. Several methods already used to clean up the environment from these kinds of contaminants, but most of them are costly and difficult to get optimum results. Currently, phytoremediation is an effective and affordable technological solution used to extract or remove inactive metals and metal pollutants from contaminated soil and water. This technology is environmental friendly and potentially cost effective. This paper aims to compile some information about heavy metals of arsenic, lead, and mercury (As, Pb, and Hg) sources, effects and their treatment. It also reviews deeply about phytoremediation technology, including the heavy metal uptake mechanisms and several research studies associated about the topics. Additionally, it describes several sources and the effects of As, Pb, and Hg on the environment, the advantages of this kind of technology for reducing them, and also heavy metal uptake mechanisms in phytoremediation technology as well as the factors affecting the uptake mechanisms. Some recommended plants which are commonly used in phytoremediation and their capability to reduce the contaminant are also reported.Bieby Voijant Tangahu, Siti Rozaimah Sheikh Abdullah, Hassan Basri, Mushrifah Idris, Nurina Anuar, and Muhammad MukhlisinCopyright © 2011 Bieby Voijant Tangahu et al. All rights reserved.http://www.hindawi.com/journals/ijce/2011/791218/A particle-laden flow inside solid gas cyclones has been studied using computational fluid dynamics (CFD). The effects of high temperatures and different particle loadings have been investigated. The Reynolds stress (RSM) model-predicted results, in the case of pure gas, are within engineering accuracy even at high temperatures. Using the granular mixture model for the cases of particle-laden flow, discrepancies occurred at relatively high loadings (up to 0.5 kg/m3). Since the pressure drop is strongly related to the friction inside the cyclone body, the concept of entropy generation has been employed to detect regions of high frictional effects. Friction has been observed to be important at the vortex finder wall, the bottom of the conical-part wall, and the interface separating the outer and the core streams. The discrepancies between the present numerical simulation and the experimental results taken from the existing literature, which are caused by the mixture and turbulence models simplifying assumptions, are discussed in this paper.Nabil Kharoua, Lyes Khezzar, and Zoubir NemouchiCopyright © 2011 Nabil Kharoua et al. All rights reserved.http://www.hindawi.com/journals/ijce/2011/518592/Palladium(II) iodide is used as a catalyst in the phenylacetylene oxidative carbonylation reaction that has demonstrated oscillatory behaviour in both pH and heat of reaction. In an attempt to extract the reaction network responsible for the oscillatory nature of this reaction, the system was divided into smaller parts and they were studied. This paper focuses on understanding the reaction network responsible for the initial reactions of palladium(II) iodide within this oscillatory reaction. The species researched include methanol, palladium(II) iodide, potassium iodide, and carbon monoxide. Several chemical reactions were considered and applied in a modelling study. The study revealed the significant role played by traces of water contained in the standard HPLC grade methanol used.Katarina Novakovic and Julie ParkerCopyright © 2011 Katarina Novakovic and Julie Parker. All rights reserved.http://www.hindawi.com/journals/ijce/2011/132435/Stearic acid solid lipid nanoparticles were prepared according to a new technique, called coacervation. The main goal of this experimental work was the entrapment of peptide drugs into SLN, which is a difficult task, since their chemical characteristics (molecular weight, hydrophilicity, and stability) hamper peptide-containing formulations. Insulin and leuprolide, chosen as model peptide drugs, were encapsulated within nanoparticles after hydrophobic ion pairing with anionic surfactants. Peptide integrity was maintained after encapsulation, and nanoparticles can act in vitro as a sustained release system for peptide.Marina Gallarate, Luigi Battaglia, E. Peira, and Michele TrottaCopyright © 2011 Marina Gallarate et al. All rights reserved.http://www.hindawi.com/journals/ijce/2010/587032/This study was undertaken to identify the relevant bending points in ORP, pH, and DO profiles in ammonia removal through online monitoring. A novelty BAF system as newl application for drinking water treatment that equipped with ORP, pH, DO NH4 + and NO3 − sensors was used. Two types of polluted drinking water strength (low and high strength) with various NH4 + concentrations and aeration flow were treated at a fixed-time reaction of 24 h. Experiments were conducted at four track studies (TS) of TS1 (NH4 += 50 mg/L, aeration = 0.3 L/min), TS2 (NH4 + = 100 mg/L, aeration = 2.0 L/min), TS3 (NH4 += 100 mg/L, no aeration) and TS4 (NH4 += 10 mg/L, aeration = 0.1 L/min). The results showed that the removal of NH4 + was more than 95% for TS1, TS2, and TS4. From the online monitoring performances, DO elbow and ammonia valley appeared in ORP and pH profiles, respectively. Similarly, new positive plateaus were observed in DO, indicating that the nitrifiers stopped to consume the DO after NH4 + was completely removed. Hence, based on the bending points, the aeration system is possible to be automatically stopped just after DO elbow and ammonia valley appears in order to save the energy consumption and to shorten the time demands for the drinking water treatment process.Hassimi Abu Hasan, Siti Rozaimah Sheikh Abdullah, Siti Kartom Kamarudin, and Noorhisham Tan KofliCopyright © 2010 Hassimi Abu Hasan et al. All rights reserved.http://www.hindawi.com/journals/ijce/2010/104370/As with any situation that involves economical risk refineries may share their risk with insurers. The decision process generally includes modelling to determine to which extent the process area can be damaged. On the extreme end of modelling the so-called Estimated Maximum Loss (EML) scenarios are found. These scenarios predict the maximum loss a particular installation can sustain. Unfortunately no standard model for this exists. Thus the insurers reach different results due to applying different models and different assumptions. Therefore, a study has been conducted on a case in a Swedish refinery where several scenarios previously had been modelled by two different insurance brokers using two different softwares, ExTool and SLAM. This study reviews the concept of EML and analyses the used models to see which parameters are most uncertain. Also a third model, EFFECTS, was employed in an attempt to reach a conclusion with higher reliability.Mikael Gustavsson, Mohammad Shahriari, and Mats LindgrenCopyright © 2010 Mikael Gustavsson et al. All rights reserved.http://www.hindawi.com/journals/ijce/2010/941349/In the experiment, nanoparticles of 35 nm Al and 100 nm Al powders, respectively, formed particles with average sizes of 161 nm and 167 nm in agglomeration. The characteristics of dust cloud explosions with the two powder sizes, 35 nm and 100 nm, revealed considerable differences, as shown here: (dp/dt)max-35 nm = 1254 bar/s, (dp/dt)max-100 nm = 1105 bar/s; Pmax-35 nm = 7.5 bar, Pmax-100 nm = 12.3 bar, and MEC-35 nm = 40 g/m3, MEC-100 nm = 50 g/m3. The reason of Pmax-35 nm value is smaller than Pmax-100 nm may be due to agglomeration. From an analysis of the explosive residue, the study found that nanoparticles of 35 nm Al powder became filamentous strands after an explosion, where most of 100 nm Al nanoparticles maintained a spherical structure, This may be because the initial melting temperature of 35 nm Al is 435.71°C, while that for 100 nm Al is 523.58°C, higher by 87.87°C. This study discovered that explosive property between the 35 nm Al and 100 nm Al powders after agglomeration were different.Hong-Chun Wu, Hsin-Jung Ou, Deng-Jr Peng, Hsiao-Chi Hsiao, Chung-Yun Gau, and Tung-Sheng ShihCopyright © 2010 Hong-Chun Wu et al. All rights reserved.http://www.hindawi.com/journals/ijce/2010/608680/Encapsulation of menthol in beeswax was prepared by a modified particles from gas-saturated solutions (PGSS) process with controlling the gas-saturated solution flow rate. Menthol/beeswax particles with size in the range of 2–50 μm were produced. The effects of the process conditions, namely, the pre-expansion pressure, pre-expansion temperature, gas-saturated solution flow rate, and menthol composition, on the particle size, particle size distribution, and menthol encapsulation rate were investigated. Results indicated that in the range of studied conditions, increase of the pressure, decrease of the gas-saturated solution flow rate, and decrease of the menthol mass fraction can decrease the particle size and narrow particle size distribution of the produced menthol/beeswax microparticles. An N2-blowing method was proposed to measure the menthol release from the menthol/beeswax microparticles. Results showed that the microparticles have obvious protection of menthol from its volatilization loss.Linjing Zhu, Hongqiao Lan, Bingjing He, Wei Hong, and Jun LiCopyright © 2010 Linjing Zhu et al. All rights reserved.http://www.hindawi.com/journals/ijce/2011/267218/Particle size and morphology are important properties of pharmaceutical particles. Preparation of microparticles with uniform particle size and morphology is necessary in order to systematically relate these properties to the release behavior and other functionalities such as drug encapsulation and dissolution. In this study, we successfully prepared monodisperse, nonagglomerated chitosan microparticles in a single step by a novel spray-drying technique. The control of particle size and morphology of spray-dried microparticles was investigated experimentally. Microparticles with larger particle size can be produced when chitosan precursor of higher concentration was used. Storage time of chitosan precursor, drying temperature, and addition of lactose were shown to be crucial parameters that affect the particle morphology. Appropriate choice of the drying temperature and precursor storage time permitted control of the particle morphology, ranging from nearly spherical to cap-shaped. Surface characteristics of the particles can be finely tuned by the amount of lactose added into the chitosan precursor.Wenjie Liu, Winston Duo Wu, Cordelia Selomulya, and Xiao Dong ChenCopyright © 2011 Wenjie Liu et al. All rights reserved.http://www.hindawi.com/journals/ijce/2010/659434/The paper is focused on the recovery of zinc and manganese from alkaline and zinc-carbon spent batteries. Metals are extracted by sulphuric acid leaching in the presence of citric acid as reducing agent. Leaching tests are carried out according to a 24 full factorial design, and empirical equations for Mn and Zn extraction yields are determined from experimental data as a function of pulp density, sulphuric acid concentration, temperature, and citric acid concentration. The highest values experimentally observed for extraction yields were 97% of manganese and 100% of zinc, under the following operating conditions: temperature 40∘C, pulp density 20%, sulphuric acid concentration 1.8 M, and citric acid 40 g L-1. A second series of leaching tests is also performed to derive other empirical models to predict zinc and manganese extraction. Precipitation tests, aimed both at investigating precipitation of zinc during leaching and at evaluating recovery options of zinc and manganese, show that a quantitative precipitation of zinc can be reached but a coprecipitation of nearly 30% of manganese also takes place. The achieved results allow to propose a battery recycling process based on a countercurrent reducing leaching by citric acid in sulphuric solution.Francesco Ferella, Ida De Michelis, Francesca Beolchini, Valentina Innocenzi, and Francesco VegliòCopyright © 2010 Francesco Ferella et al. All rights reserved.http://www.hindawi.com/journals/ijce/2010/106461/Different heat transfer enhancers are reviewed. They are (a) fins and microfins, (b) porous media, (c) large particles suspensions, (d) nanofluids, (e) phase-change devices, (f) flexible seals, (g) flexible complex seals, (h) vortex generators, (i) protrusions, and (j) ultra high thermal conductivity composite materials. Most of heat transfer augmentation methods presented in the literature that assists fins and microfins in enhancing heat transfer are reviewed. Among these are using joint-fins, fin roots, fin networks, biconvections, permeable fins, porous fins, capsulated liquid metal fins, and helical microfins. It is found that not much agreement exists between works of the different authors regarding single phase heat transfer augmented with microfins. However, too many works having sufficient agreements have been done in the case of two phase heat transfer augmented with microfins. With respect to nanofluids, there are still many conflicts among the published works about both heat transfer enhancement levels and the corresponding mechanisms of augmentations. The reasons beyond these conflicts are reviewed. In addition, this paper describes flow and heat transfer in porous media as a well-modeled passive enhancement method. It is found that there are very few works which dealt with heat transfer enhancements using systems supported with flexible/flexible-complex seals. Eventually, many recent works related to passive augmentations of heat transfer using vortex generators, protrusions, and ultra high thermal conductivity composite material are reviewed. Finally, theoretical enhancement factors along with many heat transfer correlations are presented in this paper for each enhancer.M. Siddique, A.-R. A. Khaled, N. I. Abdulhafiz, and A. Y. BoukharyCopyright © 2010 M. Siddique et al. All rights reserved.http://www.hindawi.com/journals/ijce/2010/417875/Most industrial fluids such as polymers, liquid crystals, and colloids contain suspensions of rigid particles that undergo rotation. However, the classical Navier-Stokes theory normally associated with Newtonian fluids is inadequate to describe such fluids as it does not take into account the effects of these microstructures. In this paper, the unsteady mixed convection boundary layer flow of a micropolar fluid past an isothermal horizontal circular cylinder is numerically studied, where the unsteadiness is due to an impulsive motion of the free stream. Both the assisting (heated cylinder) and opposing cases (cooled cylinder) are considered. Thus, both small and large time solutions as well as the occurrence of flow separation, followed by the flow reversal are studied. The flow along the entire surface of a cylinder is solved numerically using the Keller-box scheme. The obtained results are compared with the ones from the open literature, and it is shown that the agreement is very good.Anati Ali, Norsarahaida Amin, and Ioan PopCopyright © 2010 Anati Ali et al. All rights reserved.http://www.hindawi.com/journals/ijce/2010/738482/This paper presents an analytical model of substrate mass transfer through the lumen of a membrane bioreactor. The model is a solution of the convective-diffusion equation in two dimensions using a regular perturbation technique. The analysis accounts for radial-convective flow as well as axial diffusion of the substrate specie. The model is applicable to the different modes of operation of membrane bioreactor (MBR) systems (e.g., dead-end, open-shell, or closed-shell mode), as well as the vertical or horizontal orientation. The first-order limit of the Michaelis-Menten equation for substrate consumption was used to test the developed model against available analytical results. The results obtained from the application of this model, along with a biofilm growth kinetic model, will be useful in the derivation of an efficiency expression for enzyme production in an MBR.B. Godongwana, D. Solomons, and M. S. SheldonCopyright © 2010 B. Godongwana et al. All rights reserved.http://www.hindawi.com/journals/ijce/2010/309103/A Cr-doped TiO2 film was prepared by sol-gel and dip-coating method and used as the photocatalyst for CO2 reforming under the visible light. The ratio of amount of Cr added to amount of Ti in TiO2 sol solution (R) varied from 0 to 100 wt%. The total layer number of Cr-doped TiO2 film (N) coated was up to 7. The CO2 reforming performance with the Cr-doped TiO2 film was evaluated by illuminating under a Xe lamp with or without ultraviolet (UV) light. The concentration of CO which was a product from CO2 reforming was maximized for R=70 wt% when N equals to 1. The visible light responsibility was also maximized for R=70 wt%. The amount of Cr within TiO2 film coated on copper disc was increased with the increase in R up to 70 wt% and started to decrease when R is over 70 wt%. The CO2 reforming performance of TiO2 film with one layer Cr-doped was found better than that of TiO2 film with multi Cr-doped layers under illuminating of UV light. Under the visible light, the performance was maximized at R=70 wt% and N=7 with one layer Cr-doped.Akira Nishimura, Go Mitsui, Masafumi Hirota, and Eric HuCopyright © 2010 Akira Nishimura et al. All rights reserved.http://www.hindawi.com/journals/ijce/2010/681501/Impinging streams (IS) are classified into gas-continuous and liquid-continuous ones (GIS and LIS). Large number of experimental data has shown GIS promotes transfer very efficiently; while it has the intrinsic faultiness of very short residence time, and its flow configuration is relatively complex, resulting in difficulty in arranging multistage process. Essentially, GIS is applicable only for rapid processes controlled by gas film diffusion. The effect of LIS enhancing transfer is negligible; while it has the features of efficient micromixing and strong pressure fluctuation both which are resulted from the intensive interaction between the opposing streams and can promote process kinetics. All the features of IS, including GIS and LIS, have great potential of application. Reviewing the results of number investigations, mostly worked by the authors, a somewhat detailed introduction to the features of IS and several cases of its successful applications, such as wet FGD, preparation of ultrafine or nano powders, successful industrial application of large scale LIS reactors and crystallizers, etc, are described.Yuan Wu, Yuxin Zhou, Jia Guo, and Jun YuanCopyright © 2010 Yuan Wu et al. All rights reserved.http://www.hindawi.com/journals/ijce/2010/682914/The influence of the addition of very effective superplasticizers, that are commercially available, employed for maximising the solid loading of very high-strength Portland cement pastes, has been investigated. Cement pastes were prepared from deionized water and a commercially manufactured Portland cement (Ultracem 52.5 R). Cement and water were mixed with a vane stirrer according to ASTM Standard C305. The 0.38 to 0.44 water/cement ratio range was investigated. Three commercial superplasticizing agents produced by Ruredil S.p.a. were used. They are based on a melamine resin (Fluiment 33 M), on a modified lignosulphonate (Concretan 200 L), and on a modified polyacrylate (Ergomix 1000). Rheological tests were performed at 25°C by using the rate controlled coaxial cylinder viscometer Rotovisko-Haake 20, system M5-osc., measuring device MV2P with serrated surfaces. The tests were carried out under continuous flow conditions. The results of this study were compared with those obtained in a previous article for an ordinary Portland cement paste.Adriano Papo, Luciano Piani, and Riccardo RicceriCopyright © 2010 Adriano Papo et al. All rights reserved.http://www.hindawi.com/journals/ijce/2010/175914/Spherical LiFePO4/C powders were successfully produced at a rate of 100 g/h using a large type spray pyrolysis apparatus. Organic compounds such as citric acid and sucrose were used as carbon sources. Scanning electron microscopy observation showed that they had a spherical morphology with nonaggregation. X-ray diffraction analysis revealed that the olivine phase was obtained by heating at 600∘C under argon (95%)/hydrogen (5%) atmosphere. The chemical composition of LiFePO4/C powders was in good agreement with that of the starting solution. Electrochemical measurement revealed that the use of citric acid was most effective in ensuring a high rechargeable capacity and cycle stability. The rechargeable capacity of the LiFePO4/C cathode obtained using citric acid was 155 mAh/g at a discharge rate of 1 C. Because of the good discharge capacity of the LiFePO4/C cathode, it exhibited excellent cycle stability after 100 cycles at each discharge rate. Moreover, this high cycle stability of the LiFePO4/C cathode was maintained even at 50∘C.Shinsuke Akao, Motofumi Yamada, Takayuki Kodera, and Takashi OgiharaCopyright © 2010 Shinsuke Akao et al. All rights reserved.http://www.hindawi.com/journals/ijce/2010/935315/Multiscale wavelet-based representation of data has been shown to be a powerful tool in feature extraction from practical process data. In this paper, this characteristic of multiscale representation is utilized to improve the prediction accuracy of some of the latent variable regression models, such as Principal Component Regression (PCR) and Partial Least Squares (PLS), by developing a multiscale latent variable regression (MSLVR) modeling algorithm. The idea is to decompose the input-output data at multiple scales using wavelet and scaling functions, construct multiple latent variable regression models at multiple scales using the scaled signal approximations of the data and then using cross-validation, and select among all MSLVR models the model which best describes the process. The main advantage of the MSLVR modeling algorithm is that it inherently accounts for the presence of measurement noise in the data by the application of the low-pass filters used in multiscale decomposition, which in turn improves the model robustness to measurement noise and enhances its prediction accuracy. The advantages of the developed MSLVR modeling algorithm are demonstrated using a simulated inferential model which predicts the distillate composition from measurements of some of the trays' temperatures.Mohamed N. Nounou and Hazem N. NounouCopyright © 2010 Mohamed N. Nounou and Hazem N. Nounou. All rights reserved.http://www.hindawi.com/journals/ijce/2010/242963/A systematic study was made on the synthesis of nanocalcite using a hydrodynamic cavitation reactor. The effects of various parameters such as diameter and geometry of orifice, CO2 flow rate, and Ca(OH)2 concentration were investigated. It was observed that the orifice diameter and its geometry had significant effect on the carbonation process. The reaction rate was significantly faster than that observed in a conventional carbonation process. The particle size was significantly affected by the reactor geometry. The results showed that an orifice with 5 holes of 1 mm size resulted in the particle size reduction to 37 nm. The experimental investigation reveals that hydrodynamic cavitation may be more energy efficient.Shirish H. Sonawane, Sarang P. Gumfekar, Kunal H. Kate, Satish P. Meshram, Kshitij J. Kunte, Laxminarayan Ramjee, Candrashekhar M. Mahajan, Madan G. Parande, and Muthupandian AshokkumarCopyright © 2010 Shirish H. Sonawane et al. All rights reserved.