Molten carbonate fuel cells use carbonate salts of alkali metals as electrolyte. Due to the highly corrosive nature of the electrolyte, various countermeasures are being developed. MCFCs are expected for high-efficiency power generation systems using hydrocarbon fuels, such as natural gas and coal gas. This article describes the mechanisms of operation and cell degradation, as well as the featu...

the aims of the study were to investigate the effect of poly(ε -caprolactone) (pcl) and nano- sio2 within the thermoplastic starch (tps) blends on the rate and extent of starch enzymatic hydrolysis using enzymes α-amylase and amyloglucosidase. the results of this study have revealed that blends with nano-sio2 content at 6 wt% exhibited a significantly reduced rate and extent of starch hydrolysi...

Molten fly ashes generated from melting treatment of municipal solid waste and automobile shredder residues are characterized as hazardous waste due to the high content of heavy metals such as Zn, Pb and Cu. In addition, the heavy metal resources could be depleted in the near future and thus, the research towards conservation of metal resources is required. In the present work, volatilization b...

Although steel production by molten oxide electrolysis offers potential economic and environmental advantages over classic extractive metallurgy, its feasibility is far from being convincingly demonstrated, mainly due to inherent experimental difficulties exerted by harsh conditions and lack of knowledge regarding relevant mechanisms and physico-chemical processes in the melts. The present work...

A systematic investigation of the effect of acid on the denaturation of some 20 monomeric proteins indicates that several different types of conformational behavior occur, depending on the protein, the acid, the presence of salts or denaturant, and the temperature. Three major types of effects were observed. Type I proteins, when titrated with HCl in the absence of salts, show two transitions, ...

Starting from amino acid sequence alone, a general approach for simulating folding into the molten globule or rigid, native state depending on sequence is described. In particular, the 3D folds of two simple designed proteins have been predicted using a Monte Carlo folding algorithm. The model employs a very flexible hybrid lattice representation of the protein conformation, and fast lattice dy...

Molecular dynamics simulations are used to probe the properties of non-native states of the protein human alpha-lactalbumin (human alpha-LA) with a detailed atomistic model in an implicit aqueous solvent environment. To sample the conformational space, a biasing force is introduced that increases the radius of gyration relative to the native state and generates a large number of low-energy conf...

125301-7474 IJET-IJENS @ February 2012 IJENS I J E N S Abstract—To better understand the vacuum arc remelting (VAR) process, a 3D finite element model is established to analyzing the electromagnetic, temperature and flow fields of titanium alloy ingot during steady state melting process using ANSYS software. The research results show that the current flows from the crucible to consumable electr...

Many thermal solar power plants use thermal oil as heat transfer fluid, and molten salts as thermal energy storage. Oil absorbs energy from sun light, and transfers it to a water-steam cycle across heat exchangers, to be converted into electric energy by means of a turbogenerator, or to be stored in a thermal energy storage system so that it can be later transferred to the water-steam cycle. Th...

Molten-salt breeder reactors (MSBR's) are being developed by the Oak Ridge National Laboratory for generating low-cost power while extending the nation's resources of fissionable fuel. The fluid fuel in these reactors, consisting of UF4 and ThF4 dissolved in fluorides of beryllium and lithium, is circulated through a reactor core moderated by graphite. Technology developments over the past 20 y...