Solid-state electrochemical techniques are applied to the Ga-In-Sb-O system to measure some thermodynamic properties important for the analysis of solid-liquid phase equilibria in these important semiconductor materials. The standard Gibbs energies of formation of the most stable oxides of gallium and of indium are determined with a high-temperature solid-state electrochemical cell utilizing calcia-stabilized zirconia as the solid electrolyte and a (CO + CO/sub 2/) gaseous mixture as the reference electrode.

A description of and operating manual for the FACE Automatic Apparatus has been written along with a documentation of the FACE machine operating program, to provide a user manual for the FACE Automatic Apparatus. In addition, FACE machine performance was investigated to improve transuranium throughput. Analysis of the causes of transuranium isotope loss was undertaken both chemical and radioactive. To lower radioactive loss, the dynamics of the most time consuming step of the FACE machine, the chromatographic column output droplet drying and flaming, in preparation of sample for alpha spectroscopy and counting, was investigated. A series of droplets were dried in an experimental apparatus demonstrating that droplets could be dried significantly faster through more intensie heating, enabling the FACE machine cycle to be shortened by 30-60 seconds. Proposals incorporating these ideas were provided for FACE machine development. The 66% chemical loss of product was analyzed and changes were proposed to reduce the radioisotopes product loss. An analysis of the chromatographic column was also provided. All operating steps in the FACE machine are described and analyzed to provide a complete guide, along with the proposals for machine improvement.

This work is concerned with the production of ..beta..-glucosidase from Aspergillus phoenicis for use in the enzymatic hydrolysis of cellulose. Kinetic growth data indicate that two distinct periods of growth exist. The observed growth kinetics result from a biochemical differentiation of the filament which is independent of the substrate concentration. The optimum temperature for cell mass and ..beta..-glucosidase production was found to be 30/sup 0/C. The optimum pH for ..beta..-glucosidase production is 5 and the highest specific cell growth rate was observed when the growth medium was controlled at pH 4.5. The most economical substrate was 0.75 g/l of Solka Floc, a spruce wood pulp, plus 0.25 g/l of Trichoderma viride cellulase, required because A. phoenicis does not produce all the enzymes required to solubilize cellulose. When freeze-dried A. phoenicis enzyme was added to the hydrolysis of acid treated corn stover by Tricoderma viride cellulase, the total sugar yield was increased by 4 g/l of hydrolysate over the yield of 20 g/l obtained without ..beta..-glucosidase addition. In addition, the cellobiose, which accounted for about 10% of the sugar concentration, was converted to glucose, a more widely useable product. Preliminary designs of several processes for the production of ..beta..-glucosidase were made. …

A system for kinetic analysis of mitotic cycle perturbation by various agents was developed and applied to the study of the mitotic cycle effects and dependency of the chemical carcinogen benzo(a)pyrene-diolepoxide, DE, upon a mouse lever epithelial cell line, NMuLi. The study suggests that the targets of DE action are not confined to DNA alone but may include cytoplasmic structures as well. DE was found to affect cells located in virtually every phase of the mitotic cycle, with cells that were actively synthesizing DNA showing the strongest response. However, the resulting perturbations were not confined to S-phase alone. DE slowed traversal through S-phase by about 40% regardless of the cycle phase of the cells exposed to it, and slowed traversal through G/sub 2/M by about 50%. When added to G/sub 1/ cells, DE delayed recruitment of apparently quiescent (G/sub 0/) cells by 2 hours, and reduced the synchrony of the cohort of cells recruited into active proliferation. The kinetic analysis system consists of four elements: tissue culture methods for propagating and harvesting cell populations; an elutriation centrifugation system for bulk synchronization of cells in various phases of the mitotic cycle; a flow cytometer (FCM), coupled with appropriate staining protocols, to …

The reduction of nitric oxide by carbon monoxide over a 4.5 weight precent platinum catalyst supported on silica was studied at 300 C. Reaction rate data was obtained together with in situ infrared spectra of species on the catalyst surface. The kinetics of the system were found to exhibit two distinct trends, depending on the molar ratio of CO/NO in the reactor. For net reducing conditions (CO/NO> 1) the catalyst underwent a transient deactivation, the extent of which was dependent on the specific CO/NO ratio during reaction. Reactivation of the catalyst was obtained with both oxidizing and reducing pretreatments. For molar feed ratios of CO/NO less than one, carbon monoxide conversion was typically 95 to 100%, resulting in strongly oxidizing conditions over the catalyst. Under these conditions no deactivation was apparent. Infrared spectra recorded under reaction conditions revealed intense bands at 2075 and 2300 cm{sup -1} , which were identified as carbon monoxide adsorbed on Pt and Si-NCO, respectively. Isocyanate bands formed under reducing conditions were more intense and exhibited greater stability than those formed under oxidizing conditions. A reaction mechanism based on the dissociation of nitric oxide as the rate-limiting step was used to correlate nitric oxide reaction rates …

The use of high rate anodic dissolution (electrochemical machining) for shaping titanium carbide, zirconium carbide, titanium boride and zirconium boride has been investigated in 2N potassium nitrate and 3N sodium chloride under current densities ranging from 20 to 120 A/cm{sup 2} (corresponding to cutting rates of 0.3 to 1.8 mm/min). The dissolution stoichiometry for all these materials is independent of the current density in the range 20 to 120 A/cm{sup 2}. Both titanium and zirconium appear to dissolve in the +4 state, boron in the +3 state and the weight loss measurements indicate that carbon is oxidized to CO and CO{sub 2}. The current voltage curves permit to establish that, over the entire current density and flow range investigated, dissolution occurs in the transpassive state. The surface roughness obtained on TiC and ZrC is within 3-5 {micro}m and is independent of current density, applied voltage or flow rate.

The potential for contamination of groundwater by organic pollutants leached from in-situ spent shale was studied in a series of laboratory leaching experiments. Both batch-mode and continuous-flow column experiments were conducted to study the leaching phenomenon. Experimental variables included retorting characteristics of spent shale, leaching time, initial quality of leach water, temperature of leach water, and particle size of spent shale. Several unique samples of spent shale were examined during the eaching experiments, including spent shale samples produced during combustion retorting, inert gas retorting, and combustion retorting employing recycle gas. The solid-phase organic carbon content of spent shale samples ranged from 0.2 to 3.9 percent by weight. Leachate derived from the batch-mode experiments was analyzed for organic carbon, organic nitrogen, phenols, and acid/base/netral fractions. The highest levels of organic carbon were detected in leachate derived from spent shale produced during either inert gas retorting or combstion retorting using recycle gas. The highest levels of phenols were observed in leachate obtained from spent shale produced during inert gas retorting; significant levels of organic nitrogen were also detected in various leachate samples. The most predominant organic fraction measured in leachate samples was the neutral fraction associated with spent shale produced during inert …

We report the development of the composite superconducting transition edge bolometer. The temperature sensitive element is an aluminum strip evaporated onto the sapphire substrate. A bismuth film evaporated on the reverse side of the substrate is used to absorb the submillimeter radiation. The noise limitation of the bolometer is calculated. The fabrication and measured performance are described. The best electrical NEP (noise-equivalent-power) obtained is (1.7 {+-} 0.1) x 10{sup -15} WHz{sup -1/2} at 2 Hz at an operating temperature of 1.27 K. This NEP is within a factor of 2 of the thermal noise limit. The effective absorptivity of the bismuth film is measured to be 0.47 {+-} 0.05, and the corresponding detectivity D* is calculated to be (1.1 {+-} 0.1) x 10{sup 14} cm w{sup -1}Hz{sup 1/2}. Suggestions are made for further improvements in sensitivity. The current-dependent noise in thin metal films at the superconducting transition has been further investigated. The measured noise power spectrum of the tin film on sapphire substrate at the superconducting transition is compared with the cosine transforms of the decay curves obtained from step-function and {delta}-function thermal perturbations. The nature of the noise driving term is found to be a random current flowing inside …

Equilibrium measurements of pressure, enthalpy, density, temperature and resistivity have been made on liquid lead, platinum, gold-copper, uranium, niobium, and niobium-hafnium at high temperatures and pressures. A unique method of determining sample temperatures from multi-channel fast radiation pyrometry has been developed and used to calculate temperatures between 1600 and 8000 K without definitive emissivity information. Pseudo-potential theory has been used to model the lead resistivity and equation of state measurements and t-matrix theory has been applied to the uranium resistivity data.

The condensed polynuclear aromatic clusters of coal are believed to be linked principally by straight-chain aliphatic bridges varying from 0 to 4 carbon atoms in length and the cleavage of these linkages is expected to be an important step in the coal liquefaction process. This study focuses on the means by which Lewis acid catalysts, specifically AlCl/sub 3/ and ZnCl/sub 2/, promote the cleavage of these linkages. To facilitate product identification and interpretation of reaction mechanisms, organic compounds which model the aliphatic bridges were used on substrates. All experiments were performed in a magnetically stirred autoclave under either an H/sub 2/ or N/sub 2/ atmosphere at elevated pressure to determine the role of H/sub 2/. Reaction temperatures ranging from 200 to 350/sup 0/C were used to avoid the complication of pyrolysis reactions. Reaction products were identified with the aid of gas chromatography/mass spectrometry, and quantitative product yields were determined by gas chromatography. Experiments with AlCl/sub 3/ and the substrates containing two phenyl rings linked by 0 to 4 carbon atoms showed that AlCl/sub 3/ catalyzed cleavage of all the aliphatic bridges. ZnCl/sub 2/ was totally inactive in cleaving the alkyl bridges in these compounds. Substitution of a phenyl group by …

A fundamental numerical study of turbulent heat and mass transport processes in two- and three-dimensional convective flows is presented. The model of turbulence employed is the type referred to as a second-order closure. In this scheme transport equations for all nonzero components of the Reynolds stress tensor, for the isotropic dissipation rate of turbulent kinetic energy, for all nonzero scalar flux tensor components and for the mean square scalar fluctuations are solved by a finite difference method along with the mean momentum and mean enthalpy (or concentration) equations. The model used for the stresses was developed earlier. Parallel ideas were utilised in obtaining a model for turbulent heat and mass transfer processes. The study has focused especially on the problem of nonaxisymmetric convective heat and mass transport in pipes, which arises when the boundary conditions are not axisymmetric. The few available experimental data on such situations have indicated anisotropy in effective diffusivities. To expand the available data base an experiment was conducted to obtain heat transfer measurements in strong three-dimensional heating conditions. Numerical procedures especially suitable for incorporation of second-order turbulent closure models have been developed. The effect of circumferential conduction in the tube material, which is influential in the …

Catalytic reactions of solvent refined coal (SRC) were studied using mixed metal oxide and low melting Lewis acid catalysts in extracting solvent media. From characterization of the benzene- and cyclohexane-soluble products, ZnCl/sub 2/ and SnCl/sub 2/ were determined to be the most effective at hydrogenating and solubilizing SRC while assisting in heteroatom removal. ZnCl/sub 2/ and SnCl/sub 2/ were also found to be more effective at producing oil-like products rather than alphaltene-like products. Further enhancement of the solubilization of SRC could be achieved by the addition of isopropanol to the Lewis acid-substrate-solvent reaction mixture. Dry HCl was also investigated for its effect on the solubilization of SRC. Characterization of the solubilized products and residues was performed by elemental analysis, /sup 1/H-NMR, and gel permeation chromatography. Investigations were performed to determine what effect reaction temperature, hydrogen pressure, and catalyst loading had on the yield of soluble products as well as the chemical analyses of the products. The results showed that the conversion of SRC to soluble products increases monotonically with hydrogen pressure and catalyst loading. The effect of temperature is not as straightforward.

..beta..-glucosidase obtained from Aspergillus phoenicis was immobilized onto phenol formaldehyde resin using glutaraldehyde as a fixing agent, and kinetic characteristics such as pH optimum, temperature stability and Michaelis-Menton constants were determined. Three experiments were performed where a batch hydrolysis of a cellulosic source was carried out with a recycle stream through an immobilized ..beta..-glucosidase column in order to continuously remove cellobiose. The first two experiments using pretreated corn stover as the substrate showed no increase in hydrolysis over that of a control system, presumably because the cellobiose production was too low for cellobiose inhibition to occur. The third experiment, using Solka Floc as the substrate, which produced as high as 8.8 grams per liter of cellobiose, showed only a slight increase in soluble sugar production over that of the control system. Since the current process indicates the use of corn stover or a similar substrate, it does not appear useful to include an immobilized enzyme reactor in this manner. Since the fermentation part of the process cannot use cellobiose to produce ethanol, the use of the immobilized ..beta..-glucosidase reactor to convert the cellobiose to glucose may have economic significance by increasing the ethanol yield in this fashion. A computer program …