Durability studies of simulated UK high level waste glass

2014 ◽  
Vol 1665 ◽  
pp. 291-296
Author(s):  
Nor E. Ahmad ◽  
Julian R. Jones ◽  
William E. Lee

ABSTRACTA simulated Magnox glass which is Mg- and Al- rich was subjected to aqueous corrosion in static mode with deionised water at 90 °C for 7-28 days and assessed using X-Ray Diffraction (XRD), Scanning Electron Microscopy (SEM) with Energy X-Ray Dispersive Spectroscopy (EDS) and Inductively Coupled Plasma – Optical Emission Spectroscopy (ICP-OES). XRD revealed both amorphous phase and crystals in the glass structure. The crystals were Ni and Cr rich spinels and ruthenium oxide. After two weeks of incubation in deionised water, the glass surface was covered by a ∼11 μm thick Si-rich layer whilst mobile elements and transition metals like Na, B, and Fe were strongly depleted. The likely corrosion mechanism and in particular the role of Mg and Al in the glass structure are discussed.

Catalysts ◽  
2021 ◽  
Vol 11 (4) ◽  
pp. 490
Author(s):  
Rudaviro Garidzirai ◽  
Phillimon Modisha ◽  
Innocent Shuro ◽  
Jacobus Visagie ◽  
Pieter van Helden ◽  
...  

The effects of Mg and Zn dopants on the catalytic performance of Pt/Al2O3 catalyst were investigated for dehydrogenation of perhydrodibenzyltoluene (H18-DBT) as a liquid organic hydrogen carrier. Al2O3 supports were modified with Mg and Zn to produce Mg-Al2O3 and Zn-Al2O3 with a target loading of 3.8 wt.% for dopants. The modified supports were impregnated with chloroplatinic acid solution to produce the catalysts Pt/Al2O3, Pt/Mg-Al2O3 and Pt/Zn-Al2O3 of 0.5 wt.% Pt loading. Thereafter, the catalysts were characterised using inductively coupled plasma- optical emission spectrometry, scanning electron microscopy-energy dispersive X-ray spectroscopy, hydrogen temperature-programmed reduction, carbon-monoxide pulse chemisorption, ammonia temperature-programmed desorption, X-ray diffraction and transmission electron microscopy. The dehydrogenation experiments were performed using a horizontal plug flow reactor system and the catalyst time-on-stream was 22 h. Pt/Mg-Al2O3 showed the highest average hydrogen flowrate of 29 nL/h, while an average of 27 nL/h was obtained for both Pt/Al2O3 and Pt/Zn-Al2O3. This has resulted in a hydrogen yield of 80% for Pt/Mg-Al2O3, 71% for Pt/Zn-Al2O3 and 73% for Pt/Al2O3. In addition, the conversion of H18-DBT ranges from 99% to 92%, Pt 97–90% and 96–90% for Pt/Mg-Al2O3, Pt/Zn-Al2O3 and Pt/Al2O3, respectively. Following the latter catalyst order, the selectivity to dibenzyltoluene (H0-DBT) ranges from 78% to 57%, 75–51% and 71–45%. Therefore, Pt/Mg-Al2O3 showed improved catalytic performance towards dehydrogenation of H18-DBT.


2014 ◽  
Vol 2014 ◽  
pp. 1-8 ◽  
Author(s):  
Izabela Michalak ◽  
Krzysztof Marycz ◽  
Katarzyna Basińska ◽  
Katarzyna Chojnacka

The biomass ofVaucheria sessilisforms algal mats in many freshwaters. There is a need to find the method of algal biomass utilization.Vaucheria sessilisis a rich source of micro- and macronutrients and can be used as a soil amendment. In the paper, the elemental composition of enriched, via bioaccumulation process, macroalga was investigated. For this purpose, two independent techniques were used: scanning electron microscopy with an energy dispersive X-ray analytical system (SEMEDX) and inductively coupled plasma optical emission spectroscopy (ICP-OES). The biomass was exposed to two microelemental solutions, with Cu(II) and Zn(II) ions. After two weeks of the experiment, macroalga accumulated 98.5 mg of Zn(II) ions in 1 g of dry biomass and 68.9 mg g−1of Cu(II) ions. Micrographs performed by SEM proved that bioaccumulation occurred. Metal ions were bound on the surface and in the interior of cells. Mappings of all cations showed that in the case of the surface of biomass (biosorption), the elements constituted aggregations and in the case of the cross section (bioaccumulation) they were evenly distributed. The algal biomass with permanently bound microelements can find an application in many branches of the industry (feed, natural fertilizers, etc.).


Sensors ◽  
2020 ◽  
Vol 20 (9) ◽  
pp. 2509 ◽  
Author(s):  
Camila S. Borges ◽  
David C. Weindorf ◽  
Geila S. Carvalho ◽  
Luiz R. G. Guilherme ◽  
Thalita Takayama ◽  
...  

Foliar analysis is very important for the nutritional management of crops and as a supplemental parameter for soil fertilizer recommendation. The elemental composition of plants is traditionally obtained by laboratory-based methods after acid digestion of ground and sieved leaf samples. This analysis is time-consuming and generates toxic waste. By comparison, portable X-ray fluorescence (pXRF) spectrometry is a promising technology for rapid characterization of plants, eliminating such constraints. This worked aimed to assess the pXRF performance for elemental quantification of leaf samples from important Brazilian crops. For that, 614 samples from 28 plant species were collected across different regions of Brazil. Ground and sieved samples were analyzed after acid digestion (AD), followed by quantification via inductively coupled plasma optical emission spectroscopy (ICP-OES) to determine the concentration of macronutrients (P, K, Ca, Mg, and S) and micronutrients (Fe, Zn, Mn, and Cu). The same plant nutrients were directly analyzed on ground leaf samples via pXRF. Four certified reference materials (CRMs) for plants were used for quality assurance control. Except for Mg, a very strong correlation was observed between pXRF and AD for all plant-nutrients and crops. The relationship between methods was nutrient- and crop-dependent. In particular, eucalyptus displayed optimal correlations for all elements, except for Mg. Opposite to eucalyptus, sugarcane showed the worst correlations for all the evaluated elements, except for S, which had a very strong correlation coefficient. Results demonstrate that for many crops, pXRF can reasonably quantify the concentration of macro- and micronutrients on ground and sieved leaf samples. Undoubtedly, this will contribute to enhance crop management strategies concomitant with increasing food quality and food security.


2020 ◽  
Vol 38 (12) ◽  
pp. 1331-1344
Author(s):  
Shohel Siddique ◽  
Kyari Yates ◽  
Kerr Matthews ◽  
Laszlo J Csetenyi ◽  
James Njuguna

Oil-based mud (OBM) waste from the oil and gas exploration industry can be valorised to tailor-made reclaimed clay-reinforced low-density polyethylene (LDPE) nanocomposites. This study aims to fill the information gap in the literature and to provide opportunities to explore the effective recovery and recycling techniques of the resources present in the OBM waste stream. Elemental analysis using inductively coupled plasma–optical emission spectrometry (ICP-OES) and X-ray fluorescence analysis, chemical structural analysis by Fourier transform infrared (FTIR) spectroscopy, and morphological analysis of LDPE/organo-modified montmorillonite (LDPE/MMT) and LDPE/OBM slurry nanocomposites by scanning electron microscopy (SEM) have been conducted. Further analysis including calorimetry, thermogravimetry, spectroscopy, microscopy, energy dispersive X-ray analysis and X-ray diffraction (XRD) was carried out to evaluate the thermo-chemical characteristics of OBM waste and OBM clay-reinforced LDPE nanocomposites, confirming the presence of different clay minerals including inorganic salts in OBM slurry powder. The microscopic analysis revealed that the distance between polymer matrix and OBM slurry filler is less than that of MMT, which suggests better interfacial adhesion of OBM slurry compared with the adhesion between MMT and LDPE matrix. This was also confirmed by XRD analysis, which showed the superior delamination structure OBM slurry compared with the structure of MMT. There is a trend noticeable for both of these fillers that the nanocomposites with higher percentage filler contents (7.5 and 10.0 wt% in this case) were indicated to act as a thermal conductive material. The heat capacity values of nanocomposites decreased about 33% in LDPE with 7.5 wt% MMT and about 17% in LDPE with 10.0 wt% OBM slurry. It was also noted, for both nanocomposites, that the residue remaining after 1000°C increases with the incremental wt% of fillers in the nanocomposites. There is a big difference in residue amount (in %) left after thermogravimetric analysis in the two nanocomposites, indicating that OBM slurry may have significant influence in decomposing LDPE matrix; this might be an interesting area to explore in the future. The results provide insight and opportunity to manufacture waste-derived renewable nanocomposites with enhanced structural and thermal properties.


2020 ◽  
Vol 105 (9) ◽  
pp. 1392-1403
Author(s):  
Lingcheng Su ◽  
Jiajun Chen ◽  
Huada Ruan ◽  
Dongqi Chen ◽  
Xi Chen ◽  
...  

Abstract Thermal treatment is one of the most common processes in mineral modification, and this process has been applied to the modification of mineral waste material to improve its adsorption ability of methyl orange (MO) and lead (Pb) in this study. The properties of modified mineral waste material (MMWM) before and after thermal modification were characterized by using the Brunauer–Emmett–Teller (BET) N2 adsorption/desorption measurement, field emission scanning electron microscope (FESEM) coupled with energy-dispersive X-ray (EDX), X-ray diffraction (XRD), and Fourier transform infrared spectroscopy (FTIR). Phase transformation was investigated related to the change in surface morphology and dehydroxylation that occurred in MMWM samples during the process of thermal treatment. To study adsorption performances of Pb and MO onto the newly modified MMWM, several experiments were carried out under different adsorption conditions and the results were determined using inductively coupled plasma optical emission spectrometry (ICP-OES) and UV-Vis spectrophotometry. The thermally treated MMWM samples showed morphological transformation and an increasing trend in BET specific surface area (SSA) up to 500 °C followed by a decreasing trend till 1000 °C. Thermal modification of MMWM successfully improved Pb adsorption from 349 to 515 mg/g, corresponding to the MMWM modified at 600 °C, and the methyl orange (MO) adsorption from 68 to 87.6 mg/g at 400 °C. The adsorptions of Pb and MO were mainly chemisorption and monolayer coverage, as the pseudo-second-order model and the Langmuir equation displayed good correlations for Pb and MO adsorption data.


2008 ◽  
Vol 22 (15) ◽  
pp. 1487-1495 ◽  
Author(s):  
YEXIA FAN ◽  
HONGTAO LI ◽  
LIANCHENG ZHAO

Congruent Ce (0.1 wt %): Cu (0.05 wt %): LiNbO 3 single crystals doped with 0, 1, 3, 4, 5, 6 mol% MgO respectively were grown by the Czochrolski method in air along the C direction. The inductively coupled plasma optical emission/mass spectrometry (ICP-OE/MS), the X-ray powder diffraction (XRD), the differential thermal analysis (DTA), the ultraviolet-visible (UV-Vis) absorption spectra and the infrared (IR) absorption spectrum were measured and discussed in terms of the spectroscopic characterization and the defect structure of the Mg:Ce:Cu:LiNbO 3 crystals. The results indicated that the Mg:Ce:Cu:LiNbO 3 crystal grown from the congruent composition melt showed large [ Li ]/[ Nb ] ratios, which was closer to stoichiometry, an increase in the Curie temperature and a non-linear shift in the absorption edge with MgO concentration increasing. The threshold concentration of MgO in Mg:Ce:Cu:LiNbO 3 of nearly 5.52 mol% was estimated.


2010 ◽  
Vol 24 (11) ◽  
pp. 1471-1488
Author(s):  
A. MEKKI ◽  
G. D. KHATTAK ◽  
M. N. SIDDIQUI

SrO -borovanadate glasses with the nominal composition (V 2 O 5 ) z( SrO )0.2 ( B2 O 3 ) 0.8-z, 0.4≤z ≤0.8 were studied by direct current (DC) electrical conductivity, inductively coupled plasma (ICP) spectroscopy, Fourier transform infrared (FT-IR) spectroscopy and X-ray-powder-diffraction (XRD). These glasses were prepared by a normal quench technique and the actual compositions of the glasses were determined by ICP spectroscopy. XRD patterns confirm the amorphous nature of the present glasses. The temperature dependence of DC electrical conductivity of these glasses has been studied in terms of different hopping models. The IR results agree with previous investigations on similar glasses and it has been concluded that similar to SrO -vanadate glasses, metavandate chainlike structures of SrV 2 O 6 and individual VO 4 units also occur in these SrO -borovanadate glasses. The SrV 2 O 6 and VO n polyhedra predominate in the low B 2 O 3 containing SrO -borovanadate glasses as the B substitutes into the V sites of the various VO n polyhedra and only when the B 2 O 3 concentration exceeds the SrO content do BO n structures appear. This qualitative picture of three distinct structural groupings for the Sr -vanadate and Sr -borovanadate glasses is consistent with the proposed glass structure on previous IR and extended X-ray absorption fine structure (EXAFS) studies on these types of glasses. The conductivity results were analyzed with reference to theoretical models existing in the literature and the analysis shows that the conductivity data are consistent with Mott's nearest neighbor hopping model. However, both Mott VRH and Greaves models are suitable to explain the data. Schnakenberg's generalized polaron hopping model is also consistent with the temperature dependence of the activation energy, but the various model parameters such as density of states, hopping energy obtained from the best fits were found to be not in accordance with the prediction of the Mott model.


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