The vapour extraction process, or &amp / #8216 / VAPEX&amp / #8217 / has attracted a great deal of attention in recent years as a new method of heavy oil or bitumen recovery. The VAPEX (vapour extraction) can be visualized as energy efficient recovery process for unlocking the potential of high viscosity resources trapped in bituminous and heavy oil reservoirs. A total of 20 VAPEX experiments performed with Hele-Shaw cell utilizing three different Turkish crude oils. Two different VAPEX solvents (propane and butane) were used with three different injection rates (20, 40 and 80 ml/min). Garzan, Raman and Bati Raman crude oils were used as light, medium and heavy oil. Apart from normal Dry VAPEX experiments one experiment was conducted with CO2 and another one with butane + steam as Wet VAPEX experiment. All experiments were recorded by normal video camera in order to analyze visually also. For both VAPEX solvents, oil production rates increased with injection rates for all crude oils. Instantaneous asphaltene rate for Garzan oil, showed fluctuated performance with propane solvent. Butane showed almost constant degree of asphaltene precipitation. Instantaneous asphaltene rate for Raman and Bati Raman oils gave straight line results with the injection rate of 20 ml/min for both solvent. When the injection rate increased graphs showed the same performance with Garzan oil and started to fluctuate for both solvent. For asphaltene precipitation, propane gave better results than butane in almost all injection rates for Garzan and Raman oil. In the experiments with Bati Raman oil, butane made better upgrading than propane with the injection rate 80 ml/min. With the other two rates, both solvents showed almost same performace.

The Onsager heat of transport, Q*, has been measured for water vapour above glycerol-water solutions (75 % to 94.5 % glycerol) over a temperature range of -46 to -32 ℃. For solutions of concentrations 80 % and above, Q* varied from 5.41 kJ mol-1 ± 0.97 to 17.37 kJ mol-1 ± 2.61, consistent with previous results for aniline and n-heptanol. The dissociation of glycerol-water complexes was not rate determining, as was the case for sulfuric acid-water solutions, and therefore the glycerol-water system is a better two component system analog for comparison with the CO2-water system than the sulfuric acid-water system.

Thesis (Ph.D.)--University of Wollongong, 2005. / Typescript. Includes bibliographical references: leaf 191-198.

There are numerous pre-existing fingerprint development techniques, however, often prints are difficult to develop, depending on their age or the surface upon which they have been deposited. Forensic scientists are relentlessly looking for new and better methods to enhance fingerprints. More recent technologies have higher sensitivity to very low levels of constituents present in residues and so are able to unearth significant details from a person's fingerprints at molecular level e.g. DNA, drug metabolites. Therefore, research continues in an attempt to generate novel, nondestructive processes that can enhance latent fingerprints. Exposing fingerprints to the p-block compounds selenium dioxide (SeO2), phosphorus sulfides (P4Sx) and phosphonitrilic chloride trimer (NPCl2)3, in the vapour phase resulted in latent prints being visualized on a range of media. Selenium dioxide revealed prints on metal surfaces (e.g. brass) which were enhanced further upon formation of a dark brown coating of copper-selenide formed on the surface when exposed to moisture, giving a better contrast. P4S3 vapour revealed a higher percentage of prints and samples had greater stability in air while although (NPCl2)3 was able to develop fingerprints, the low quality was undesirable. Initially it was thought that (NPCl2)3 has the potential for further derivatisation but was proven very difficult to interact with compounds especially those with the potential to induce fluorescence. However, all three compounds are commercially available and sublimation techniques are straightforward.

Strongly correlated oxides are studied widely for the host of unique applications, such as hightemperature superconductivity, colossal magneto resistance, exotic magnetic, charge and orbital ordering, and insulator-to-metal transitions. Transitional metal oxides which form the majority of the correlated oxide systems and oxides of Vanadium, especially VO2 and V2O5 are the two most favourite systems among researchers for several applications. In this thesis, the growth and characterization of VO2 and V2O5 are discussed along with a special focus on the optical property, especially thermochromic properties. Traditionally SMT behaviour and Infrared reflectively was the focus area for VO2 research, and its only until recently that VO2 is being treated as a much more complex system and investigated as highly responsive naturally disordered metamaterial near the phase transition temperature where the material exhibits semiconducting and metallic phase co-existence. Since each phase of VO2 has a distinct optical and electrical properties, controlling the extent of phase transitions by accurate temperature modulation, enables exploitation of the material for new properties like emissivity modulation in the NIR region and for creating IR visible reversible and rewritable patterns. V2O5 is traditionally seen as a high TCR material and regarded as material of choice for application ranging from catalysis, gas sensors to lithium batteries. In this study, however we focus on the optical properties of the material, especially the visible range thermochromic nature of V2O5 coatings synthesised by oxidative annealing of MOCVD grown VOx coatings. The impact of doping and selective oxygen vacancy generation on the thermochromic property are discussed

This project examined the feasibility of using flux modification to reduce the as-deposited hydrogen content of basic-type shielded metal arc welds. Additions of oxidizing ingredients (micaceous iron oxides) to the reference flux formulation lowered the diffusible weld hydrogen content by up to 70%. Increasing amounts of silica caused a slight reduction in hydrogen content, probably as a result of the reaction between SiO2 and CaF2, which produces SiF4 and CaO as reaction products. Flux formulations containing additions of fluorine-containing compounds and calcite displayed lower hydrogen levels, with the diffusible weld metal hydrogen content reaching a minimum with increasing additions. Higher levels caused an increase in the weld hydrogen content. Thermodynamic slag modelling attributes the existence of these minima to a decrease in slag water capacity with an increase in slag fluorine content (at constant basicity), brought about by higher concentrations of fluorine-containing compounds in the flux formulation. The effect of flux additions on the weld mechanical properties and the electrode operating characteristics was not evaluated during the course of this investigation. / Dissertation (MSc (Metallurgy))--University of Pretoria, 2007. / Materials Science and Metallurgical Engineering / unrestricted

Ice formed by water vapour deposition has been identified in different terrestrial environments: 1) in the atmosphere; 2) at the ground’s surface; 3) in caves; 4) in seasonally frozen ground; and 5) in perennially frozen ground (permafrost). Thus far, ground ice formed by diffusion and deposition of vapour in soils (types 4 and 5) has rarely been studied in a natural setting and remains one of the most poorly described ice types on Earth. This thesis focuses on the dynamics of deposition and sublimation of atmospheric water vapour into permafrost and the isotopic signature (D/H and 18O/16O) of the emplaced ground ice under different experimental conditions. Ground ice was produced in sediments with different thermo-physical characteristics (glass beads, JSC Mars-1 simulant). After a two-month growth period, the higher porosity sediments (JSC) had more than 7x the gravimetric water content than the lower porosity soil. Ground ice profiles had a distinct concave downwards shape due to the decrease in saturation vapour pressure with depth. Results also indicate that vapour deposited ground ice has a distinct δD-δ18O composition that plots near regression slope value of 8. Pore water isotopes plot below the global meteoric water line (GMWL) when the source of moisture is directly on top of the sediments. If an air gap is introduced between the source of moisture and the sediments, the pore water isotopes shift above the GMWL due to re-sublimation at the ground surface. Overall, this thesis addressed some fundamental knowledge gaps required to better understand the growth and isotopic evolution of ground ice emplaced by vapour deposition.

>Magister Scientiae - MSc / Perovskite solar cells have gained tremendous attention within the past decade, due to its rapid improvement in power conversion e ciency (PCE), with the current record cell at 25%. The aim of this study is to create a repeatable and scalable chemical vapour deposition technique that can be used to construct perovskite solar cells with a high PCE while maintaining long-term stability. The technique requires the formation of a uniform and compact lead halide layer, either PbI2 or PbCl2 that is sequentially converted into the perovskite structure with the exposure of Methylammonium iodide (MAI) vapour. The use of CVD with a 5 cm diameter quartz tube was successfully used to deposit uniform thin lms of both PbI2 and PbCl2 over an area of 6 cm2 with a thickness deviation of 5%. Thickness control was obtained by varying the amount of source material which allows for repeatable control within 5% error, without the need for a crystal thickness monitor.

This dissertation details research aimed at designing a small batch distillation column to purify tetrafluoroethylene and hexafluoropropylene from a mixture containing tetrafluoroethylene, hexafluoropropylene and octafluorocyclobutane. As no vapour-liquid equilibrium data are available for these chemicals in this mixture, new vapour-liquid equilibrium data were experimentally generated and modelled for use in the design of the batch distillation column. The data were fitted to the Peng-Robinson equation of state, utilizing the Mathias-Copeman alpha function. The model was used with the Wong- Sandler mixing rules alongside the NRTL alpha function. The model was fitted with mean relative deviations lower than 1.2 %, indicating an acceptably accurate description of the VLE data gathered by the model. The experimental data and the model also passed the thermodynamic consistency test for all the systems and isotherms. The design simulations were completed by means of the Aspen Batch Distillation, a module of the Aspen Technologies package. The results show that the optimum design for recovering high-purity products requires six equilibrium stages in the column. The batch column should consist of a still pot, also functioning as a reboiler, a packed column section and a total condenser. The total condenser and the reboiler both count as equilibrium stages. Using this design, a TFE product purity of 99.999 % is predicted with a recovery of 96 %. An HFP product purity of 99 % is predicted at a recovery of 68 %. The recovery of the HFP product can be increased, but entails a significant loss of product purity. The minimum column diameter required to achieve the flow rates suggested in the simulation is 29 mm. The column diameter was selectedas 1¼ ″ (or 31.75 mm) on the basis of the standard pipe diameters available in the industry. Pall ring packing is suggested for use in the column, with an estimated maximum HETP of 0.5 m. As there are five equilibrium stages in the column itself, the column has to be at least 2.5 m high. Copyright / Dissertation (MEng)--University of Pretoria, 2011. / Chemical Engineering / unrestricted

Yes / In oil, gas and petrochemical production complexes, steam pressure boosting technology is used to recover low-pressure steam, using both mechanical and thermal solutions to increase energy efficiency. The heat recovery from steam, especially flash steam produced in the return condensate lines, can be considered an economic and attractive solution. In an industrial case study in a gas plant located in the south-west of Iran, the LP condensate returns to the LP condenser waste with a flow rate of 96,000 kg/h and a pressure of 0.45 bar. As a result of the pressure drop, about 6800 kg/h of flash steam is generated. Therefore, in order to recover, the first the return condensate current enters a flash drum to separate the amount of steam produced by the flash operation. In this research, two strategies for increasing the pressure using a steam compressor and an ejector have been investigated. The simulation results show that flash steam recycling using steam compressors and ejectors results in energy saving for the refinery of about one million and USD100k per year, and also about 152 and 137 thousand tons equivalent to carbon dioxide emissions per year are reduced, respectively.