Svenska Aerogel AB has developed the material Quartzene® which is of the typeprecipitated silica and contains calcium - magnesium silicate ((Ca, Mg) SiO3). Thematerial is used for molecular filtration of contaminated air. Qartzene™, which is inpellet form, is porous and has a high internal surface which is a requirement for themolecular filtration. With the use of various impregnations, filtration can affect thedesired outcome. As an example Quartzene® can be impregnated with Potassiumhydroxide and clear the air of Sulfur dioxide, SO2 (Svenska Aerogel AB, n.d).Svenska Aerogel AB has developed Quartzene® further and new areas of application hasarosee, one of these areas is how the material function within dehumidification. Thepurpose of this study is to research and analyze how different impregnation salts effecthow Quartzene® function in terms of moisture absorption and moisture desorption.Quartzene® is a hygroscopic material, which is a material that easily absorbs and exudatesmoisture from the air. Materials with high porosity absorb moisture by adsorption andcapillary condensation. A hygroscopic material strives for equilibrium with ambientenvironment which is illustrated in a sorption curve where moisture absorption is set inrelation to relative humidity. In this study the jar method is used to measure moistureabsorption, this is shown with the use of sorption curves. The jar method uses saturatesalt solutions to create environments whit a set relative humidity. Quartzene® – pellets areplaced in jars and weighed at regular intervals to determine the moisture absorption.The results of this study indicate that impregnations affect the way that Quartzene®function in terms of moisture absorption and moisture desorption. Some of theimpregnations affect the material to absorb more moisture than Quartzene® that has notbeen impregnated, while others affect the material to absorb less moisture. The resultsalso show that sodium – based impregnation gives similar results as Quartzene® that hasnot been impregnated.

<p>Nicaragua is a country in which the toxic metal contamination of freshwater resources has become an increasingly important problem in certain regions posing a threat to the environment as well as to human health. Among the metals found in the waters of Nicaragua, arsenic is one of the most problematic since its long time consumption is connected to serious health problems such as cancer and neurological disorders. The arsenic contamination of water recourses in Nicaragua is mostly attributable natural factors, even though anthropogenic activities including gold mining may be a contributing factor.</p><p>In this work the biopolymer Chitosan was studied as a potential adsorption material for the removal of arsenic from aqueous solutions for water treatment design purposes.</p><p>The Chitosan used in this study was extracted from shrimp shells with an overall yield of 40% and a deacetylation grade of 59%. The maximum adsorption capacity was determined to 20.9 mg As/g at a controlled pH of 5.5 using the Langmuir isotherm. The adsorption was found to be strongly pH dependant with a fourfold increase in adsorption capacity when pH was well under the pKa of Chitosan. The pH dependence indicates that ionic exchange was the most important mechanism. No difference in adsorption capacity with respect to the initial pH of the solution was detected in the pH range 3-7. This was attributed to the ability of Chitosan to act as a weak base in water solutions.</p><p>The arsenic was desorbed from Chitosan using NaOH, (NH4) 2SO 4 and NaCl, with a 1M NaOH solution being the most efficient displaying a concentration ratio of 1.08. The NaOH and (NH4) 2SO 4 solutions displayed a steep desorption curvature with a large fraction of the arsenic being easily desorbed. The arsenic was, however, not completely desorbed from the Chitosan implying that the adsorption capacity would decrease for the coming cycles. Being a biopolymer the Chitosan is quite easily degraded in acid and alkali solutions, which might be a limiting step for the process applicability.</p>

Nicaragua is a country in which the toxic metal contamination of freshwater resources has become an increasingly important problem in certain regions posing a threat to the environment as well as to human health. Among the metals found in the waters of Nicaragua, arsenic is one of the most problematic since its long time consumption is connected to serious health problems such as cancer and neurological disorders. The arsenic contamination of water recourses in Nicaragua is mostly attributable natural factors, even though anthropogenic activities including gold mining may be a contributing factor. In this work the biopolymer Chitosan was studied as a potential adsorption material for the removal of arsenic from aqueous solutions for water treatment design purposes. The Chitosan used in this study was extracted from shrimp shells with an overall yield of 40% and a deacetylation grade of 59%. The maximum adsorption capacity was determined to 20.9 mg As/g at a controlled pH of 5.5 using the Langmuir isotherm. The adsorption was found to be strongly pH dependant with a fourfold increase in adsorption capacity when pH was well under the pKa of Chitosan. The pH dependence indicates that ionic exchange was the most important mechanism. No difference in adsorption capacity with respect to the initial pH of the solution was detected in the pH range 3-7. This was attributed to the ability of Chitosan to act as a weak base in water solutions. The arsenic was desorbed from Chitosan using NaOH, (NH4) 2SO 4 and NaCl, with a 1M NaOH solution being the most efficient displaying a concentration ratio of 1.08. The NaOH and (NH4) 2SO 4 solutions displayed a steep desorption curvature with a large fraction of the arsenic being easily desorbed. The arsenic was, however, not completely desorbed from the Chitosan implying that the adsorption capacity would decrease for the coming cycles. Being a biopolymer the Chitosan is quite easily degraded in acid and alkali solutions, which might be a limiting step for the process applicability.

Self-heating in storage facilities of biomass pellet can lead to spontaneous combustion. This has resulted in many fires over the years, causing both financial and environmental losses. In order to assess the risk for spontaneous combustion of biomass pellets during storage, it is important to know how prone the fuel is to self-heating, i.e. to determine its reactivity. This thesis presents experimental work performed to develop a sensitive screening test procedure for biomass pellets, using isothermal calorimetry for direct measurement of the heat production rate. This method can be used to compare the reactivity of different biomass pellets. This could be useful for e.g. facility owners to gain better knowledge of their fuels propensity for self-heating and thereby facilitate safer storage. The screening test procedure can also be used for research purposes. Experiments have been performed with 31 different biomass pellet batches to investigate how the pellet composition, origin, etc. influence the reactivity of the pellets. The results from these experiments clearly show a significant difference in reactivity between different types of pellets. The results indicate that pine/spruce mix pellets are significantly more reactive than all other types of pellets tested, and that pellets consisting of 100 % pine are more reactive than pellets consisting of 100 % spruce. Pellets produced from winery wastes, straw, or eucalyptus, have low reactivity compared to pellets consisting of pine and/or spruce. The reactivity of the pellets was shown to be reduced by either introducing certain types of anti-oxidants into the pellets or by extracting lipids from the raw material of pellets. The screening test procedure is already being used today by some facility owners for assessing their fuels propensity for self-heating. The procedure is also one of the suggested test methods in “ISO/CD 20049 Solid biofuels — Determination of self-heating of pelletized biofuels”. / This thesis presents experimental work performed to develop a sensitive screening test procedure for biomass pellets, using isothermal calorimetry for direct measurement of the heat production rate. This method can be used to directly compare the reactivity, that is how prone the fuel is to self-heating, of different batches of biomass pellets. The results could be used for safety assessment by the industry or for research purposes to investigate how different factors influence the self-heating potential. Experiments were performed with 31 different biomass pellet batches to investigate how the pellet composition, origin, etc. influence the heat release rate. The results clearly show that there is a significant difference in reactivity between different types of pellets. Pine/spruce mix pellets are more reactive than the other types of pellets tested and pellets consisting of 100 % pine are more reactive than pellets consisting of 100 % spruce. Pellets produced from winery wastes, straw, or eucalyptus, have low reactivity compared to pellets consisting of pine and/or spruce. The results also show that the reactivity of the pellets can be reduced by either introducing certain types of anti-oxidants into the pellets or by extracting lipids from the raw material of pellets.

Föreliggande uppsats behandlar minimala ytor. De är speciella typer av de ytor som studeras i ämnet differentialgeometri, ur vilket uppsatsen tar upp viktiga definitioner och resultat. Redogörelsen leder fram till ett bekvämt sätt att uttrycka den så kallade medelkrökningen, som definitionen av minimala ytor baseras på. Därefter motiveras namnet minimala ytor och ett antal egenskaper hos dessa diskuteras. Detta följs av en koppling till komplex analys genom Weierstrass–Enneper-parametrisering och några exempel på minimala ytor. Slutligen diskuteras ett par tillämpningar.

In many countries over the world (including Sweden), metal toxicity in freshwater resources causes a severe drinking water quality problem and poses a threat to the environment and human health. Among the different toxic metals in the water resources of Sweden, arsenic and uranium are the biggest threats to health. These elements, over long time consumption, may even lead to cancer and/or neurological disorder. Most of the wells are installed in crystalline and sedimentary bedrock and the received water comes from water bearing fractures in the bedrock. The handling of such water is an issue and there is a need to reduce the arsenic and uranium exposure by improving processes and technologies. It is a very serious problem demanding a safe, sustainable and eco-friendly arsenic and uranium removal technology prior to drinking water supply. Different treatment systems are available, but many of them are not suitable due to their high cost, operation complexity and waste management issues. Through this study, chitosan biopolymer the second largest abundant polysaccharide on earth after cellulose, was verified as a potential adsorbent for arsenic(V) and uranium(VI) removal from water solution. Adsorbent characterizations were also conducted by XRD, FTIR, SEM, UV-visible spectrum and TGA/DTA investigations. Bench-scale batch experiments were conducted using chitosan biopolymer (DDA-85%) as an adsorbent to determine the arsenic(V) and uranium(VI) removal efficiency, by allowing four important effective parameters e.g. chitosan dosages, pH, contact time and contaminant concentration. The adsorption data at optimum conditions were fitted with Langmuir, Freundlich and Dubinin-Radushkhevic (D-R) isotherm and Lagergren pseudo-first-order and pseudo-second-order kinetic model to investigate the adsorption process. The characterization of materials assured the presence of effective amino, hydroxyl, and carboxyl groups of chitosan. Another advanntage is that the materials are bio-degradable. The results show that the arsenic(V) and uranium(VI) removal efficiency was 100% and 97.45% after 300 minutes with optimum pH of 6.0 and 7.0 respectively. The optimum adsorbent dosages and initial concentration were 60 and 80g/L and 100 and 250 µg/L respectively. The adsorption process was suitably described by Freundlich isotherm (R2 = 0.9933) and Langmuir isotherm (R2 = 0.9858) correspondingly for arsenic(V) uranium(VI) compared to other isotherms. This is an important indicator of homogeneous monolayer adsorption of metals. For both of arsenic(V) and uranium(VI), pseudo-second-order explained the adsorption kinetics better than pseudo-first-order and the second-order kinetic regression coefficient (R2) were 0.9959 and 0.9672 correspondingly. Connecting to the above mentioned results, it can be summed up that the chitosan biopolymer (DDA 85%) can be used as an inexpensive, sustainable and environment-friendly treatment option for arsenic(V) and uranium(VI) contaminated drinking water. / I många länder världen runt (även i Sverige) orsakar metallers toxicitet besvärliga vattenkvalitetsproblem och utgör ett hot mot människors hälsa. Bland de toxiska metaller som finns i svenska vatten utgör arsenik och uran i dricksvatten allvarliga hälsorisker vid långvarig exposition då de kan orsaka cancer och neurologiska problem. Flertalet brunnar är installerade i kristallint berg och sedimentära bergarter och vattnet kommer vanligen från sprickor i berggrunden. Hanteringen av sådant vatten kan kräva reduktion av expositionen för arsenik- och uraninnehåll genom förbättrade processer och teknologier. Detta är ett angeläget problem som kräver en säker, pålitlig och ekovänlig teknologi att tillämpas innan vattnet distribueras. En rad olika behandlingssystem är tillgängliga men många av dem är inte lämpliga beroende på deras höga kostnad, den komplicerade tillämpningen och problem med hanteringen av restprodukter. I denna studie has biopolymeren chitosan, den näst vanligaste polymeren efter cellulosa, konstaterats vara en möjlig adsorbent för att avlägsna arsenik(V) och uran(VI) från vatten. Karakterisering av adsorbenten har också genomförts genom XRD, FTIR, SEM, UV och strålning i synligt ljus samt TGA/DTA undersökningar. Batch-tester i bänkskala har genomförts med användning av chitosan (DDA-85%) som adsorbent för att bestämma dess förmåga att avlägsna arsenik(V) och uran(VI)genom att variera fyra parametrar, nämligen kontakttid, pH, dos av chitosan och halt av föroreningen. Adsorptionsdata vid optimala förhållanden bestämdes genom tillämpning av Langmuir, Freundlich och Dubinin-Radushkhevic (D-R) isotermerna. Vidare tillämpades Lagergrens pseudo-first-order och pseudo-second-order kinetiska modell för att undersöka adsorptionsprocessen. Karakteriseringen av materialet visade förefintligheten av effektiva amino- (N-H), hydroxyl- (O-H) samt karboxylgrupper (C=O) i chitosan-polysackariden och att det är lätt nedbrytbart. Preliminära resultat visar att reduktionen av arsenik(V) och uran(VI) var 100 respektive 97,45 % efter 300 minuters kontakttid med optimalt pH på 6,0 respektive 7,0. De optimala doserna av adsorbent och den initiala koncentrationen var 60 och 80 g/L och 100 och 250 µg/L. Adsorptions process beskrevs bäst av Freundlich-isotermen för arsenik(V) (R2 = 0.9933) och med Langmuir-isotermen för uran(VI) (R2 = 0,9858) jämfört med andra isotermer vilket var en viktig indikation på en homogen monolager-adsorption. För både arsenik(V) och uran(VI) beskrev pseudo-second order adsorptionen bättre än pseudo-first-order. Second-order kinetiska regressionskoefficienten (R2) var 0.9959 och 0.9872 respektive. De ovanstående resultaten visar sammanfattningsvis att chitosan (DDA-85%) kan användas som en billig, pålitlig och miljövänlig behandlingsmetod av vatten för arsenik(V) och uran(VI). / <p>QC 20150526</p> / ChitoClean