No description available.

The effects of crop load and berry exposure on the composition of Marlborough Sauvignon blanc grapes and wine from the Brancott vineyard, Blenheim, were explored. Commercially grown, 2-cane and 4-cane Sauvignon blanc vines were used with a row orientation of north-south. Two exposure treatments were imposed in the following manner: complete leaf removal was undertaken in the fruit zone and 50% shade cloth was erected to give a uniform shading treatment to half the trial vines. Weekly thirty-berry and whole bunch samples were taken from each of the 32 plots with the exception of the veraison period when two samples per week were taken. Vine vigour was assessed using pruning and leaf area per vine data. Harvest occurred on different dates for 2-cane and 4-cane pruned vines so that fruit attained from both treatments had similar °Brix. Fruit was processed at the Lincoln University winery. Must analysis and wine analysis were undertaken. As expected, 4-cane vines had almost double the yield of 2-cane vines. Higher crop load significantly reduced leaf area per shoot and shoot thickness. Lower leaf area to fruit ratio for 4-cane berries resulted in delayed onset of veraison and slowed the rate of sugar accumulation. Crop load, which limited leaf area to fruit ratio, appeared to be the dominant factor in determining timing of grape physiological ripeness as expressed by °Brix over other factors such as fruit exposure. Malic acid, tartaric acid, IPMP (iso-propylmethoxypyrazine) and IBMP (iso-butyl-methoxypyrazine) were lower at equivalent °Brix in 4-cane compared with 2-cane berries. Significantly higher concentrations of quercetin were found in exposed compared to shaded berries. Must analysis showed a significant influence of crop load on berry titratable acidity and pH, reflecting berry ripening results. Exposure significantly increased the concentrations of nitrogenous compounds in 4-cane must yet showed no influence on 2-cane must. After wine processing lower malic acid concentrations in wines made from 100% exposed fruit became evident in lower wine titratable acidity but showed no influence on wine pH. Bentonite addition to wines had a small but statistically significant influence on wine by reducing pH, titratable acidity and alcohol. Bound sulphur concentrations were significantly higher in 4-cane versus 2-cane wines. At harvest, methoxypyrazine levels in grapes and wines were very low; IBMP concentrations where significantly lower than those normally found in Sauvignon blanc wines from Marlborough. This was attributed to the absence of basal leaves from the shoots of ripening berries. The results suggest that leaf area to fruit ratio is a powerful determinant of grape and wine quality.

Dans le cadre de l'étude de faisabilité du stockage en formation argileuse profonde, la disponibilité de l'eau dans les argiles doit être connue. Le statut de l'eau dans un milieu poreux particulier conditionne en effet l'interprétation de nombreuses expériences : altération géochimique, rétention, thermo–hydro–mécanique, modélisations géochimiques, ... . Pour répondre aux préoccupations reliées à la diffusion des polluants à travers des milieux poreux, il est fondamental de décrire correctement les états de l'eau, vecteur des transports. Le but de cette étude est également de clarifier les notions "d'eau libre" et "d'eau liée". <br />Les spectroscopies de vibration sont appliquées à l'étude des états d'hydratation de saponites synthétiques, (Si4-xAlx)Mg3O10(OH)2Mz+x/z, afin de caractériser les molécules d'eau adsorbées et les conséquences de cette adsorption sur la structure des matériaux. La réalisation de ce projet a nécessité la conception, la réalisation et la validation d'un montage expérimental original ; il permet d'enregistrer des spectres proche infrarouge en réflexion diffuse et des spectres de diffusion Raman, les échantillons étant maintenus à température (30°C à 80°C) et pression de vapeur d'eau contrôlées (10-6 < P/P0 < 0,98). Par l'analyse approfondie des spectres proche infrarouge, des isothermes d'adsorption -désorption d'eau sont obtenues et se révèlent être en parfait accord avec les techniques gravimétriques quantitatives, en plus des informations sur les états de l'eau à l'échelle moléculaire. <br />L'étude concomitante des spectres de vibration et une approche pluridisciplinaire originale (Diffraction de Rayons X et de neutrons, Analyse Thermique à Vitesse Contrôlée, gravimétrie d'adsorption d'eau et simulations Grand Canonique Monte Carlo) permet de décrire les mécanismes de l'hydratation ainsi que la localisation et l'organisation des molécules d'eau dans l'espace interfoliaire des saponites. Grâce à la diversité des échantillons synthétiques – deux charges (x=0,4 ou 0,7) et trois cations compensateurs (Mz+x/z=Na+ ou K+ ou Ca2+) –, il est possible d'établir l'influence des paramètres charge et nature du cation compensateur sur l'hydratation. Le cation se révèle alors être l'acteur principal de la structuration de l'eau dans l'espace interfoliaire et du gonflement ; par exemple, le potassium K+ s'avère très difficile à extraire de sa cavité ditrigonale lors de l'hydratation, à tel point que, pour la charge x=0,7, il reste localisé au niveau de la substitution au-delà de P/P0=0,90. La conséquence directe sur la quantité d'eau adsorbée est que, à P/P0=0,40 par exemple, la saponite 0,7 K adsorbe quatre fois moins de molécules d'eau que le même échantillon échangé au sodium. Ensuite, l'étude de l'effet de la température sur l'hydratation des saponites sodiques tend à montrer que le film d'eau interfoliaire reste structuré en deux dimensions jusqu'à plus de 95% d'humidité relative à 80°C alors que le passage à un réseau tridimensionnel est observé dès 60% d'humidité relative à 30°C. Une autre conséquence est qu'à P/P0=0,80, la quantité d'eau adsorbée par un même échantillon est trois fois plus grande à 30°C qu'à 80°C. Après avoir extrait les mécanismes et les paramètres principaux de l'hydratation des saponites, l'hydratation d'une argile méthodologique de l'Andra, la bentonite MX80, est également étudiée. L'accent est mis sur l'importance des phases minérales accessoires de cette argile naturelle qui représentent environ 20% en masse. Notamment, la composition en cations de l'espace interfolaire n'est pas à l'équilibre avec les minéraux extérieurs aux particules de smectite ; un enrichissement de l'espace interfoliaire en cations divalents (Ca2+ et/ou Fe2+) est mis en évidence en présence de vapeur d'eau. Les phases accessoires modifient également la porosité intergranulaire et, par conséquent, la quantité d'eau adsorbée à des P/P0 supérieurs à 0,80 varie entre la phase smectique et la bentonite. Enfin, l'acquisition de nombreux spectres de l'eau a nécessité le développement d'une méthode simple de traitement des profils spectraux. Reposant sur la mesure du barycentre du massif d'absorption des combinaisons de l'eau, elle permet de différencier deux types d'eau tout en les quantifiant ; de l'eau adsorbée sur les cations à haut nombre d'onde et de l'eau engagée dans un réseau de liaisons hydrogène appelée eau auto-associée, à plus bas nombre d'onde. Il apparaît que, jusqu'aux alentours de 0,6 en P/P0, c'est l'eau des cations qui est majoritaire. Au-delà, l'eau auto-associée augmente fortement jusqu'à devenir prédominante, la quantité d'eau sur les cations restant quasi-constante.

Afin d'assurer le confinement de déchets radioactifs en milieu géologique profond, il est envisagé d'utiliser des matériaux argileux de site et des bentonites. Leur stabilité en présence de fer métal, constituant des conteneurs de déchets, est étudiée. Ces études démontrent que la réactivité de tels matériaux est principalement portée par les smectites dioctaédriques et les kaolinites qu'ils contiennent. En revanche, la présence de sulfures inhibe la réaction Fe(0)-argiles. La nature du produit de réaction dépend de la quantité de fer métal disponible. A pH basique, par contact physique avec les agents oxydants de la smectite (H+, OH- et Fe3+), le Fe(0) est corrodé. Cette réaction est favorisée par les hétérogénéités des surfaces latérales de la smectite, qui altérée définit un micro-domaine à l'intérieur duquel nucléent des serpentines-Fe si l'apport en fer est suffisant. De telles néoformations entrainent une diminution des propriétés de confinement de la barrière argileuse.

Les smectites en suspension aqueuse sont des argiles gonflantes largement utilisées dans l'industrie pour leurs capacités d'adsorption, d'étanchéité, de transport ou de liant. Ces propriétés sont inégales en fonction des caractéristiques minéralogiques et physico-chimiques des suspensions. Ce travail a pour but de comprendre l'action de la charge interfoliaire sur les structures construites par le système eau argile en fonction de la concentration pour des smectites homoioniques ou mixte. Son originalité est de coupler des méthodes minéralogiques, physico-chimiques et une large gamme d'essais rhéométriques.<br />Deux populations de smectites (Na+ et Ca2+) sont étudiées séparément puis en mélange. A faible concentration (inférieure à 60 g/l), les suspensions sodiques sont très visqueuses car les feuillets dispersés forment des réseaux. Les feuillets de smectite calcique sont associés en flocs aisément déformables rendant les suspensions peu visqueuses et rhéofluidifiantes. En mélange, les deux populations interagissent faiblement, lorsque le cortège d'échange d'équilibre est atteint (20 % de sodium), les viscosités sont minimales.<br />A plus forte concentration (60 à 100 g/l), les courbes d'écoulement permettent de différencier un domaine de déformation viscoélastique, un domaine d'écoulement hétérogène (bandes de cisaillement) et un domaine d'écoulement homogène. L'étude de la thixotropie révèle l'existence de deux cinétiques de déstructuration/restructuration.<br />L'étude de 12 bentonites brutes permet de monter que la rhéomètrie est un bon moyen de différenciation entre les bentonites sodique naturelle (Herschel-Bulkley), calcique naturelle (Newton) ou calcique activée (Bingham).

Poor settling of solids increases land requirement for tailings containment and imposes severe constraints on the water balance. Consequent to these considerations, the alternating current electrocoagulation (AC/EC) technique emerged as a candidate for enhancing the settling behaviour of suspensions in the mineral, coal and oil sands industries. Hence, a fundamental study of AC/EC was undertaken with aluminum electrodes. Ground silica (d50 = 20 m), which formed a stable suspension, served as the model tailings solid at 5.0 wt % in water. The AC/EC process consisted of two developmental stages: coagulation, marked by pH decrease in the silica suspension; and floc growth, characterized by pH increase from the minimum (i.e., the end of coagulation). AC/EC enhanced the initial settling rate of silica by over three orders of magnitude, and exhibited remarkable flexibility by virtue of the wide range of process parameters that could be optimized. For example, AC/EC can be operated in either the indirect or direct mode. The settling behaviour of bentonite (estimated d50 < 1 m) was more enhanced by indirect AC/EC, while that of silica benefited more from direct AC/EC. Any condition that increased aluminum dosage (e.g., current, retention time), increased the initial settling rate of silica. Over the feed water pH range of 3.0 to 9.1, AC/EC was effective in enhancing the settling behaviour of silica. AC/EC was also effective over a wide range of temperatures (23 to 85C). High electrical energy demand by AC/EC was observed throughout this study. Its optimization was beyond the scope of this work. Dilution of a sample of Syncrude mature fine tailings (MFT) to 4.6 wt % solids sustained a stable suspension. Settling occurred after AC/EC treatment, a crystal-clear supernatant resulted and bitumen was recovered as froth. Entrained solids were easily spray-washed from the froth with water. The settling behaviour of a Luscar Sterco fine coal tailings sample was not augmented by AC/EC, possibly due to contamination by the companys own electrocoagulation operation. After having been stored dry for more than a year, electrocoagulated silica was an effective coagulant for as-received silica and Syncrude MFT. / Chemical Engineering

No description available.

No description available.

Increasing nitrate concentration in ground water from improper disposal of sewage and excessive use of fertilizers is deleterious to human health as ingestion of nitrate contaminated water can cause methaemoglobinemia in infants and possibly cancer in adults. The permissible limit for nitrate in potable water is 45 mg/L. Unacceptable levels of nitrate in groundwater is an important environmental issue as nearly 80 % of Indian rural population depends on groundwater as source of drinking water. Though numerous technologies such as reverse osmosis, ion exchange, electro-dialysis, permeable reactive barriers using zero-valent iron exists, nitrate removal from water using affordable, sustainable technology, continues to be a challenging issue as nitrate ion is not amenable to precipitation or removable by mineral adsorbents. Tapping the denitrification potential of soil denitrifiers which are inherently available in the soil matrix is a possible sustainable approach to remove nitrate from contaminated drinking water. Insitu denitrification is a useful process to remove NO3–N from water and wastewater. In biological denitrification, nitrate ions function as terminal electron acceptor instead of oxygen; the carbon source serve as electron donor and the energy generated in the redox process is utilized for microbial cell growth and maintenance. In this process, microorganisms first reduce nitrate to nitrite and then produce nitric oxide, nitrous oxide, and nitrogen gas. The pathway for nitrate reduction can be written as: NO3-→ NO2-→ NO → N2O → N2. (i) Insitu denitrification process occurring in soil environments that utilizes indigenous soil microbes is the chosen technique for nitrate removal from drinking water in this thesis. As presence of clay in soil promotes bacterial activity, bentonite clay was mixed with natural sand and this mix, referred as bentonite enhanced sand (BES) acted as the habitat for the denitrifying bacteria. Nitrate reduction experiments were carried out in batch studies using laboratory prepared nitrate contaminated water spiked with ethanol; the batch studies examined the mechanisms, kinetics and parameters influencing the heterotrophic denitrification process. Optimum conditions for effective nitrate removal by sand and bentonite enhanced sand (BES) were evaluated. Heterotrophic denitrification reactors were constructed with sand and BES as porous media and the efficiency of these reactors in removing nitrate from contaminated water was studied. Batch experiments were performed at 40°C with sand and bentonite enhanced sand specimens that were wetted with nutrient solution containing 22.6 mg of nitrate-nitrogen and ethanol to give C/N ratio of 3. The moist sand and BES specimens were incubated for periods ranging from 0 to 48 h. During nitrate reduction, nitrite ions were formed as intermediate by-product and were converted to gaseous nitrogen. There was little formation of ammonium ions in the soil–water extract during reduction of nitrate ions. Hence it was inferred that nitrate reduction occurred by denitrification than through dissimilatory nitrate reduction to ammonium (DNRA). The reduction in nitrate concentration with time was fitted into rate equations and was observed to follow first order kinetics with a rate constant of 0.118 h-1 at 40°C. Results of batch studies also showed that the first order rate constant for nitrate reduction decreased to 5.3x10-2 h-1 for sand and 4.3 x10-2 h-1 for bentonite-enhanced sand (BES) at 25°C. Changes in pH, redox potential and dissolved oxygen in the soil-solution extract served as indicators of nitrate reduction process. The nitrate reduction process was associated with increasing pH and decreasing redox potential. The oxygen depletion process followed first order kinetics with a rate constant of 0.26 h-1. From the first order rate equation of oxygen depletion process, the nitrate reduction lag time was computed to be 12.8 h for bentonite enhanced sand specimens. Ethanol added as an electron donor formed acetate ions as an intermediate by-product that converted to bicarbonate ions; one mole of nitrate reduction generated 1.93 moles of bicarbonate ions that increased the pH of the soil-solution extract. The alkaline pH of BES specimen (8.78) rendered it an ideal substrate for soil denitrification process. In addition, the ability of bentonite to stimulate respiration by maintaining adequate levels of pH for sustained bacterial growth and protected bacteria in its microsites against the effect of hypertonic osmotic pressures, promoting the rate of denitrification. Buffering capacity of bentonite was mainly due to high cation exchange capacity of the clay. The presence of small pores in BES specimens increased the water retention capacity that aided in quick onset of anaerobiosis within the soil microsites. The biochemical process of nitrate reduction was affected by physical parameters such as bentonite content, water content, and temperature and chemical parameters such as C/N ratio, initial nitrate concentration and presence of indigenous micro-organisms in contaminated water. The rate of nitrate reduction process progressively increased with bentonite content but the presence of bentonite retarded the conversion of nitrite ions to nitrogen gas, hence there was significant accumulation of nitrite ions with increase in bentonite content. The dependence of nitrate reduction process on water content was controlled by the degree of saturation of the soil specimens. The rate of nitrate reduction process increased with water content until the specimens were saturated. The threshold water content for nitrate reduction process for sand and bentonite enhanced sand specimens was observed to be 50 %. The rate of nitrate reduction linearly increased with C/N ratio till steady state was attained. The optimum C/N ratio was 3 for sand and bentonite enhanced sand specimens. The activation energy (Ea) for this biochemical reaction was 35.72 and 47.12 kJmol-1 for sand and BES specimen respectively. The temperature coefficient (Q10) is a measure of the rate of change of a biological or chemical system as a consequence of increasing the temperature by 10°C. The temperature coefficient of sand and BES specimen was 2.0 and 2.05 respectively in the 15–25°C range; the temperature coefficients of sand and BES specimens were 1.62 and 1.77 respectively in the 25–40°C range. The rate of nitrate reduction linearly decreased with increase in initial nitrate concentration. The biochemical process of nitrate reduction was unaffected by presence of co-ions and nutrients such as phosphorus but was influenced by presence of pathogenic bacteria. Since nitrate leaching from agricultural lands is the main source of nitrate contamination in ground water, batch experiments were performed to examine the role of vadose (unsaturated soil) zone in the nitrate mitigation by employing sand and BES specimens with varying degree of soil saturation and C/N ratio as controlling parameters. Batch studies with sand and BES specimens showed that the incubation period required to reduce nitrate concentrations below 45 mg/L (t45) strongly depends on degree of saturation when there is inadequate carbon source available to support denitrifying bacteria; once optimum C/N ratio is provided, the rate of denitrification becomes independent of degree of soil saturation. The theoretical lag time (lag time refers to the period that is required for denitrification to commence) for nitrate reduction for sand specimens at Sr= 81 and 90%, C/N ratio = 3 and temperature = 40ºC corresponded to 24.4 h and 23.1 h respectively. The lag time for BES specimens at Sr = 84 and 100%, C/N ratio = 3 and temperature = 40ºC corresponded to 13.9 h and 12.8 h respectively. Though the theoretically computed nitrate reduction lag time for BES specimens was nearly half of sand specimens, it was experimentally observed that nitrate reduction proceeds immediately without any lag phase in sand and BES specimens suggesting the simultaneous occurrence of anaerobic microsites in both. Denitrification soil columns (height = 5 cm and diameter = 8.2 cm) were constructed using sand and bentonite-enhanced sand as porous reactor media. The columns were permeated with nitrate spiked solutions (100 mg/L) and the outflow was monitored for various chemical parameters. The sand denitrification column (packing density of 1.3 Mg/m3) showed low nitrate removal efficiency because of low hydraulic residence time (1.32 h) and absence of carbon source. A modified sand denitrification column constructed with higher packing density (1.52 Mg/m3) and ethanol addition to the influent nitrate solution improved the reactor performance such that near complete nitrate removal was achieved after passage of 50 pore volumes. In comparison, the BES denitrification column achieved 87.3% nitrate removal after the passage of 28.9 pore volumes, corresponding to 86 h of operation of the BES reactor. This period represents the maturation period of bentonite enhanced sand bed containing 10 % bentonite content. Though nitrate reduction is favored by sand bed containing 10 % bentonite, the low flow rate (20-25 cm3/h) impedes its use for large scale removal of nitrate from drinking water. Hence new reactor was designed using lower bentonite content of 5 % that required maturation period of 9.6 h. The 5 and 10 % bentonite-enhanced sand reactors bed required shorter maturation period than sand reactor as presence of bentonite contributes to increase in hydraulic retention time of nitrate within the reactor. On continued operation of the BES reactors, reduction in flow rate from blocking of pores by microbial growth on soil particles and accumulation of gas molecules was observed that was resolved by backwashing the reactors.

Author´s name: Bc. Stanislav Klimek School: Brno University of Technology, Faculty of Mechanical Engineering, Energy institute Title: Determining the life storage of a carbon steel cask Consultant: Prof. Ing. Oldřich Matal, CSc. Number of pages: 70 Year: 2009 The assignment of this diploma thesis is to estimate the lifetime of spent fuel container made from carbon steel grade. This container is designed for deep geological disposal of spent nuclear fuel. Basic mechanism of corrosion are described in detail in the first part. Further on, this work deals with the other specific phenomena and influences, which affect at corrosion of steel in conditions of a deep geological repository. Heat, radiation and surroundings are considered of particular importance. In the following part an estimate of the lifetime of model container is introduced, which is affected by temperature and radiation. Here recommendations for protection of container are introduced, arising from the model calculation. Finally, the relevancy of incidence of particular parameters is evaluated, which affect the corrosion.