Researchers are currently developing new value-added uses for almond shells, an abundant agricultural by-product. Almond varieties are distinguished by processors as being either hard or soft shelled, but these two broad classes of almond also exhibit varietal diversity in shell morphology and physical characters. By defining more precisely the physical and chemical characteristics of almond sh...

The damage and fracture of materials are technologically of enormous interest due to their economic and human cost. They cover a wide range of phenomena like e.g. cracking of glass, aging of concrete, the failure of fiber networks in the formation of paper and the breaking of a metal bar subject to an external load. Failure of composite systems is of utmost importance in naval, aeronautics and ...

[1] The development of transient thermal stress in suboceanic mantle is investigated on the basis of two-dimensional thermoviscoelastic models incorporating composite rheology appropriate for dry oceanic lithosphere. Thermal stress is shown to be sufficiently high to deeply fracture the coldest part of lithosphere, e.g., to the depth of at least 30 km (and possibly down to 50 km) in 100-Ma-old ...

Among the current IPPC installations, steam cracking for olefin production is the single most energy consuming process (ca. 30%) in the chemical industry, accounting for ca. 180 million tons of CO2 worldwide. This paper reviews steam cracking and innovative emerging olefin technologies in terms of energy efficiency. Pyrolysis section alone consumes ca. 65% of the total energy use and ca. 75% of...

Tensile stress develops in concrete when shrinkage deformations and restraints (internal or external) exist. Utilization of appropriate creep or relaxation functions is crucial for assessing stress and the associated cracking potential in concrete, especially at early ages when chemical and physical properties change rapidly. The existing models, developed either from compressive creep tests or...

Solvents and catalysts for organic reactions:  Friedel-Crafts reactions,  Alkylation,  Izomerisation,  Acylation,  Esterification,  Cracking,  Diels-Alder addition,  Wittig reactions,  Polymerisation. Solvents in separation processes:  Extraction of metals and organic compounds,  Nuclear wastewater treatment,  Production of selective liquid membranes and sensors. Others:...

An overview is given of the anomalous behavior of some metals, in particular Fe and Cr, in acidic aqueous solutions during anodic dissolution. The anomaly is recognizable by the fact that during anodic dissolution more material dissolves than would be expected from the Faraday law with the use of the expected valence of the formed ions. Mechanical disintegration, gas bubble blocking, hydrogen e...