Resumo em Inglês:

A method to correlate and predict salt solubilities in mixed solvents using a UNIQUAC+Debye-Hückel model is developed. The UNIQUAC equation is applied in a form with temperature-dependent parameters. The Debye-Hückel model is extended to mixed solvents by properly evaluating the dielectric constants and the liquid densities of the solvent media. To normalize the activity coefficients, the symmetric convention is adopted. Thermochemical properties of the salt are used to estimate the solubility product. It is shown that the proposed procedure can describe with good accuracy a series of salt solubility measurements in aqueous organic solvent mixtures.

Resumo em Inglês:

Brookfield R.V.T. apparent viscosity measurements of 31.1 to 73º Brix vinasses, with and without nondissolved solids (N.D.S.), were carried out at varying rotation speeds (N) and temperatures (T). A regression analysis of this data was carried out to select the corresponding mathematical models. It was concluded that apparent Brookfield viscosity for low concentration vinasses (up to 52.4º Brix) depends only on linear and quadratic temperature terms. At higher concentrations (66º and 73º Brix) regression models for apparent viscosity, must also include quadratic as well as rotation speed-temperature interaction terms. This behavior is discussed, identifying two types of rheological behaviors and advancing a preliminary hypothesis about the role of solutes, N.D.S. and temperature.

Resumo em Inglês:

The development of a new simplified model predictive control algorithm has been proposed in this work. The algorithm is developed within the framework of internal model control, and it is easy to understanding and implement. Simulation results for a continuous fermenter, which show that the proposed control algorithm is robust for moderate variations in plant parameters, are presented. The algorithm shows a good performance for setpoint tracking.

Resumo em Inglês:

This work addresses the influence of the prepolymerization of the catalyst particle on the fluidized bed reactor for polyethylene production. The influence of prepolymerization on the temperature and concentration gradients throughout the reactor was studied. The results obtained through simulations confirm industrial observations of the advantages of prepolymerization and extend these observation, showing the viable operational conditions for different superficial gas velocities and gas feeding temperatures as a function of the degree of prepolymerization.

Resumo em Inglês:

A model is presented for the description of the concentration behavior of organometallic and sulfurated compounds in hydrodemetallation and hydrodesulfurization catalytic processes, where catalyst effectiveness decreases with time. Due to the complexity of the mixture, an approach based on pseudocomponents was adopted. The system is modeled as an isothermal tubular reactor with axial dispersion, where the gas phase (hydrogen in excess) flows upward concurrently with the liquid phase (heavy oil) while the solid phase (catalyst) stays inside the reactor in an expanded (confined) bed regime. The catalyst particles are very small and are assumed to be uniformly distributed in the reactor. The heavy oil fractions contain organometallics and sulfurated compounds, from which the metals and sulfur are to be removed, the metals as deposits in the catalyst pores and the sulfur as gas products. Simulations were carried out where the concentration profile inside the reactor was calculated for several residence times.

Resumo em Inglês:

Recently, there has been a growing interest in fractionating orange peel oil by the use of supercritical carbon dioxide (SCCO2). However, progress in this area has been hindered by the lack of more comprehensive work concerning the phase equilibrium behavior of the SCCO2-orange peel oil system. In this context, the aim of this work is to provide new phase equilibrium data for this system over a wide range of temperatures and pressures, permitting the construction of coexistence PT-xy curves as well as the P-T diagram. The experiments were performed in a high-pressure variable-volume view cell in the temperature range of 50-70ºC from 70 to 135 atm and in the CO2 mass fraction composition range of 0.35-0.98. Based on the experimental phase equilibrium results, appropriate operating conditions can be set for high-pressure fractionation purposes.

Resumo em Inglês:

Experimental liquid-liquid equilibria of water-ethanol-1-nonanol and water-ethanol-1-decanol systems were investigated at 303.16± 0.20 K. The reliability of the experimental tie-line data was ascertained by using Othmer-Tobias and Hand plots. Distribution coefficients (Di) and separation factors (S) were evaluated for the immiscibility region. It is concluded that the solvents with high boiling point, 1-nonanol and 1-decanol, are suitable separating agents for dilute aqueous ethyl alcohol solutions.

Resumo em Inglês:

In this work, several simulated annealing algorithms presented in the literature as solutions to different problems were compared in the scheduling of multiproduct serial batch plants. A systematic performance study of the original algorithm, based on the Boltzmann statistics, and a recently proposed algorithm, based on the Tsallis statistics, were analyzed for three different annealing schemes. It was observed that performance (defined in terms of the number of configurations) is more sensitive to the annealing scheme than to the statistics used. We also observed that the overall performance of the simulated annealing procedure is very dependent on the parameters of the algorithm and on the kind and size of the problems. For large problems, algorithms based on the Tsallis statistics converged to the global minimum more frequently than those based on the Boltzmann statistics, although they needed a larger number of configurations to obtain the results.

Resumo em Inglês:

The aluminum electroreduction process is still faced with several problems such as high energy consumption, stability of cathode lining, development of nonconsumable anodes, current efficiency, alumina feeding and environmental problems with hazardous spent potliners and fluoride emissions. A short review of recent literature related to these problems has been provided. A critical analysis of these problems, based on practical experience with a modern plant, is also given.

Resumo em Inglês:

The experimental research work was carried out in accordance with the Factorial Design Statistical Method to evaluate and analyze the influence of calcium, magnesium, silica and phosphorus on the precipitation of vanadates. Precipitation was performed by neutralization with H2SO4 of alkaline aqueous solutions containing vanadium pentoxide (V2O5) at 60± 2ºC. The experimental responses measured were percent of vanadium recovery and vanadium pentoxide content in the precipitate. These impurities are considered representative of those present in a leach liquor from the ore obtained at Campo Alegre de Lourdes (Brazil). The operational variables in this work were used under optimum conditions as determined by the statistical approach. Among the impurities under study, phosphorus exhibited the highest negative influence on the experimental responses. Phosphorus diminished the percent of vanadium recovered from 98.9 to 34.5 and the vanadium oxide content in the precipitate from 91.2 % to 39.3 %.

Resumo em Inglês:

There are many methods for separating and purifying proteins from dilute solutions, such as salting out/precipitation, adsorption/chromatography, foam fractionation, and droplet fractionation. In order to determine the optimal condition for a selected separation and purification process, an objective function is developed. The objective function consists of three parameters, which are the protein mass recovery, the separation ratio, and the enzymatic activity ratio. In this paper the objective function is determined as a function of the pH of the bulk solution for egg albumin, cellulase, and sporamin (for foam fractionation) and invertase ( for droplet fractionation). It is found that the optimal pH for all the systems except for cellulase is near their isoelectric point.

Resumo em Inglês:

A number of factors can influence the behavior of yeast during fermentation. Some of these factors (initial wort concentration, initial pH and percentage of corn syrup in the composition of the wort) were studied in order to determine their influence on the productivity of fermentation. Fermentations were carried out at 25ºC utilizing a 2³ factorial design of these factors. The results showed that the percentage of corn syrup had no influence on process productivity, whereas initial pH and especially initial wort concentration did. It can be concluded that using pH and initial wort concentration values higher than those utilized in this work (5.5 and 20ºP, respectively) will result in a higher productivity.

Resumo em Inglês:

Lysozyme protein net is set on a glass fiber support using the self-assembly technique. Enzymatic film formation is followed by surface imaging via atomic force microscopy (AFM). Change in roughness as a function of deposition time is used as an indirect indicator of film formation. The objective was to form a protein film that would have no effect on the permeability of the medium, aiming at its application as a bioactive membrane or reactor suitable for bacteria and chemical interactions in aqueous media.