CO2 capture from gaseous effluents is one of the great challenges faced by chemical and environmental engineers, as the increase in CO2 levels in the Earth atmosphere might be responsible for dramatic climate changes. From the existing capture technologies, the only proven and mature technology is chemical absorption using aqueous amine solutions. However, bearing in mind that this process is somewhat expensive, it is important to choose the most efficient and, at the same time, the least expensive solvents. For this purpose, a pilot test facility was assembled and includes an absorption column, as well as a stripping column, a heat exchanger between the two columns, a reboiler for the stripping column, pumping systems, surge tanks and all necessary instrumentation and control systems. Some different aquous amine solutions were tested on this facility and it was found that, from a set of six tested amines, diethanol amine is the one that turned out to be the most economical choice, as it showed a higher CO2 loading capacity (0.982 mol of CO2 per mol of amine) and the lowest price per litre (25.70 €/L), even when compared with monoethanolamine, the benchmark solvent, exhibiting a price per litre of 30.50 €/L.

No abstract

Abstract:In the present study, results from three different CO 2 capture experimental scales (laboratory, pilot unit, and a larger pilot unit), using aqueous amine solutions of methyldiethanolamine (MDEA) 20 wt %, are compared in terms of loading capacity. All three tested scales produced results regarding CO 2 absorption using MDEA aqueous solutions, which were largely in accordance with the theoretical loading capacity of the used amine. Nevertheless, the observed differences between the theoretical and actual absorption behaviors of MDEA solutions for the different scales can be justified with the relative weight that process variables exhibit when the process is scaled up. Therefore, in order to achieve a correct scale-up of the process, simulations should be performed in order to define the best set of operational parameters in order to achieve high production yields and therefore more process profitability.

The ARINC 653 standard has taken a leading role within the aeronautical industry in the development of safety-critical systems based on the Integrated Modular Avionics (IMA) concept. One of the main promises of IMA is cost saving in reduced development, integration and verification and validation effort. To exploit the full potential of cost savings, it is necessary to establish an effective way to prototype, develop, test and analyse on-board applications without having access to the final IMA target platform for all engineers.Target platforms are usually extremely expensive considering hardware and software prices as well as training costs. This paper describes the architecture of the Integrated Modular Avionics Development Environment (IMADE) that is based on Linux and the ARINC 653 simulator Simulated IMA (SIMA) that was developed by Skysoft

The ARINC 653 specification defines the functionality that an Operating System (OS) must guarantee to enforce robust spatial and temporal partitioning as well as an avionics application programming interface for the system.The standard application interface -the ARINC 653 Application Executive (APEX) -is defined as a set of software services a compliant OS must provide to avionics application developers. The ARINC 653 specification defines the interfaces and the behavior of the APEX but leaves implementation details to OS vendors. This paper describes an OS independent design approach of a Portable APEX interface. POSIX, as a programming interface available on a wide range of modern OS, will be used to implement the APEX layer. This way the standardization of the APEX is taken a step further: not only the definition of services is standardized but also its interface to the underlying OS. Therefore, the APEX operation does not depend on a particular OS but relies on a well defined set of standardized components. Inter-partition communication Interfaces:This module implements the communication means between processes in different partitions. All inter-partition communication is conducted via messages. When sent by user applications, messages are copied into local buffers. The underlying PMK is then responsible for actually transferring a given message to the corresponding buffer in the target partition, providing the physical means to activate message exchange between the source process and the outer destination.

In this study, micro-structured calcium oxide obtained from the calcination (850 • C for 3 h) of Gallus gallus domesticus (chicken) eggshells was used as a catalyst in the transesterification of soybean oil. This catalyst was characterized by Scanning Electron Spectroscopy (SEM) methods. The structure of the obtained CaO showed several agglomerates of white granular solids with a non-regular and unsymmetrical shape. In terms of calcium oxide catalytic activity, three different catalyst loadings (1%wt, 3%wt, and 5%wt) were tested for the same reaction conditions, resulting in transesterification yields of 77.27%wt, 84.53%wt, and 85.83%wt respectively. The results were compared to the current literature, and whilst they were lower, they were promising, allowing us to conclude that the tendency of yield improvement for this reaction, when the size range of catalyst particles is to be reduced to a nano scale, can be verified.

No abstract

New technologies for 3D scanning and digital fabrication have greatly contributed to the research and production of artifacts and accessibility services to artistic fruition in museums. Thus, this article presents the results of research conducted in the discipline of 3D Technologies of the Design Graduate Program at the Federal University of Rio Grande do Sul. The work consisted in the research, selection and employment of scanning technologies for 3D scanning of artifacts from the Museum's collection Joaquim José Felizardo --Porto Alegre --RS, for subsequent production of tactile replicates, as an example and validation of these application in this context.