Ionic
liquids have
received wide attention as green recyclable extractants. In view of
their broad applicability, in the current work, ionic liquids were
explored for their ability to extract acetone from n-hexane. Based on the conductor-like screening model for the segment
activity coefficient, the surface charge densities of 15 kinds of
cations, 19 kinds of anions, acetone, and n-hexane
were calculated via quantum chemistry approaches. The infinite dilution
activity coefficients of the ionic liquid–acetone–n-hexane system were calculated, and the distribution coefficient
and selectivity of the system were determined. The effective extractants
[1-butyl-3-methylimidazolium trifluoromethanesulfonate, 1-hexyl-3-methylimidazolium
bis(trifluoromethanesulfonyl), 1-hexyl-3-methylimidazolium trifluoromethanesulfonate,
and 1-hexyl-3-methylimidazolium hexafluorophosphate] were selected.
The experimental data of the liquid–liquid equilibrium were
correlated by the NRTL and UNIQUAC models. The regression of the experimental
data gave the binary interaction parameters of the two models. In
addition, a process of extracting and separating the n-hexane–acetone azeotrope system using Aspen Plus 8.4 was
proposed and the parameters were analyzed. Based on the NRTL model,
a continuous extraction process using ionic liquids as the extractant
was simulated. Ionic liquids are a promising solvent for the extraction
and separation of acetone and n-hexane.
Melatonin is an indole-like neuroendocrine hormone. A large number of studies have shown that melatonin can improve production performance of ewes, but it is not clear in lambs. In this study, the growth and development of the 2-month-old lambs implanted with melatonin were monitored for 60 days. The results showed that the growth rate of body weight and body skew length of lambs with melatonin treatment were significantly improved compared to the controls. The similar results were also observed in red blood cell count, hematocrit, red blood cell volume distribution width, the levels of growth hormone, testosterone, immunoglobulin A, immunoglobulin M and albumin. In addition, the cross sectional area of muscle fibers and adipose cells of lambs with melatonin implantation were also significantly increased compared to the controls (P<0.05). To further explore the potential mechanisms, the muscle and adipose tissue were selected for transcriptome sequencing. KEGG enrichment results showed that melatonin regulated the expression of genes related to apoptotic signaling pathway in muscle and adipocytes. Since the intestinal microbiota are involved in the nutritional balance and animal growth, the 16SrRNA sequencing related to the intestinal microbiota was also performed. The data indicated that the structural differences of fecal microflora mainly occur in the pathways of Cardiovascular disease, Excretory system and Signaling molecules and interaction. In brief, melatonin promotes the growth and development of lambs. The potential mechanisms may be that melatonin increased the growth hormone and testosterone mediated apoptosis signaling pathway and regulated intestinal microbial flora. Our results provide valuable information for melatonin to improve the production of sheep husbandry in the future.
Liquid lead-bismuth eutectic alloy (LBE) is applied in the Accelerator Driven transmutation System (ADS) as the high-power spallation neutron targets and coolant. A 19.2kHz ultrasonic device was deployed in liquid LBE at 550°C to induce short and long period cavitation erosion damage on the surface of weld joint, SEM and Atomic force microscopy (AFM) were used to map out the surface properties, and Energy Dispersive Spectrometer (EDS) was applied to the qualitative and quantitative analysis of elements in the micro region of the surface. The erosion mechanism for how the cavitation erosion evolved by studying the element changes, their morphology evolution, the surface hardness and the roughness evolution, was proposed. The results showed that the pits, caters and cracks appeared gradually on the erode surface after a period of cavitation. The surface roughness increased along with exposure time. Work hardening by the bubbles impact in the incubation stage strengthened the cavitation resistance efficiently. The dissolution and oxidation corrosion and cavitation erosion that simultaneously happened in liquid LBE accelerated corrosion-erosion process, and these two processes combined to cause more serious damage on the material surface. Contrast to the performance of weld metal, base metal exhibited a much better cavitation resistance.
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