Model Expression (model + expression)

Distribution by Scientific Domains


Selected Abstracts


How good are the Electrodes we use in PEFC?

FUEL CELLS, Issue 3 2004
M. Eikerling
Abstract Basically, companies and laboratories implement production methods for their electrodes on the basis of experience, technical capabilities and commercial preferences. But how does one know whether they have ended up with the best possible electrode for the components used? What should be the (i) optimal thickness of the catalyst layer? (ii) relative amounts of electronically conducting component (catalyst, with support , if used), electrolyte and pores? (iii) "particle size distributions" in these mesophases? We may be pleased with our MEAs, but could we make them better? The details of excellently working MEA structures are typically not a subject of open discussion, also hardly anyone in the fuel cell business would like to admit that their electrodes could have been made much better. Therefore, we only rarely find (far from systematic) experimental reports on this most important issue. The message of this paper is to illustrate how strongly the MEA morphology could affect the performance and to pave the way for the development of the theory. Full analysis should address the performance at different current densities, which is possible and is partially shown in this paper, but vital trends can be demonstrated on the linear polarization resistance, the signature of electrode performance. The latter is expressed through the minimum number of key parameters characterizing the processes taking place in the MEA. Model expressions of the percolation theory can then be used to approximate the dependence on these parameters. The effects revealed are dramatic. Of course, the corresponding curves will not be reproduced literally in experiments, since these illustrations use crude expressions inspired by the theory of percolation on a regular lattice, whereas the actual mesoscopic architecture of MEA is much more complicated. However, they give us a flavour of reserves that might be released by smart MEA design. [source]


Supercritical water oxidation of quinoline in a continuous plug flow reactor,part 2: kinetics

JOURNAL OF CHEMICAL TECHNOLOGY & BIOTECHNOLOGY, Issue 6 2006
Lisete DS Pinto
Abstract The results of a detailed investigation into the kinetics of quinoline oxidation in supercritical water are presented. The novel kinetic data presented were obtained in a continuously operated, plug flow reactor where parameters such as temperature, pressure, residence time and stoichiometric ratio of oxidant to quinoline were investigated and detailed in the companion paper (Pinto LDS, Freitas dos Santos LMF, Al-Duri B and Santos RCD, Supercritical water oxidation of quinoline in a continuous plug flow reactor,part 1: effect of key operating parameters. J Chem Technol Biotechnol). An induction time was experimentally observed, ranging from 1.5 to 3.5 s, with longer times observed in experiments carried out at lower temperatures. A pseudo-first-order rate expression with respect to quinoline concentration (with oxygen excess) was first adopted and the activation energy of 234 kJ mol,1 and a pre-exponential factor of 2.1 × 1014 s,1 were estimated. Furthermore, an integral power rate model expression was established, attributing a reaction order for quinoline as 1 and for oxygen as 0.36. An activation energy and pre-exponential factor for this model were determined as 224 kJ mol,1 and 3.68 × 1014 M,0.36 s,1, respectively. A global rate expression was then regressed for the quinoline reaction rate from the complete set of data. The resulting activation energy was 226 ± 19 kJ mol,1 and the pre-exponential factor was 2.7 × 1013 ± 2 M,0.1 s,1. The reaction orders for quinoline and oxygen were 0.8 ± 0.1 and 0.3 ± 0.1, respectively. It was shown that the least-squares regression method provided the best-fit model for experimental results investigated in this study. Copyright © 2006 Society of Chemical Industry [source]


Combustion of chlorinated hydrocarbons in catalyst-coated sintered metal fleece reactors,

JOURNAL OF CHEMICAL TECHNOLOGY & BIOTECHNOLOGY, Issue 2-3 2003
K Everaert
Abstract Incinerators emit chlorinated hydrocarbons, such as polychlorinated benzenes (PCBz) and phenols (PCPh), polychlorinated biphenyls (PCB) and polychlorinated dibenzodioxins and furans (PCDD/F), as very dilute streams. High temperatures (>1000,°C) are required in traditional oxidizers. From an energy-saving perspective and to avoid de novo synthesis of PCDD/F, exhaust gas clean-up must be performed at low temperatures (250,350,°C). Catalytic combustion can be applied in this temperature range and different reactor layouts are used (eg monoliths, honeycomb). The present investigation uses a novel catalyst-coated sintered metal fleece. Thin metal fibers are sintered (non-woven) to fleece of various thickness, structure and porosity. V,Ti,W catalysts are examined. The paper will briefly review the catalyst coating method suitable to provide a structured fleece reactor with adequate characteristics. Experiments were carried out in the temperature range of 260,340,°C with various hydrocarbons injected in a carrier air stream. The experimental investigations demonstrated: (i) that the conversion of the hydrocarbons (volatile organic compounds, VOC) is independent of the oxygen concentration, corresponding to a zero-order dependence of the reaction rate; (ii) that the conversion of the hydrocarbons is a first-order reaction in the VOC; (iii) that the oxidation of the VOC proceeds to a greater extent with increasing temperature, with chlorine substitution enhancing the reactivity, and (iv) that the reaction rate constant follows an Arrhenius-dependence with activation energies between 37.3 and 58.4,kJ,mol,1. An assessment of the results leads to a model expression with kinetic reaction control. This model can be used in a scale-up strategy. © 2003 Society of Chemical Industry [source]


Mechanism studies on CVD of boron carbide from a gas mixture of BCL3, CH4, and H2 in a dual impinging-jet reactor

AICHE JOURNAL, Issue 3 2009
Mustafa Karaman
Abstract Nearly pure boron carbide free from impurities was produced on a tungsten substrate in a dual impinging-jet chemical vapor deposition reactor from a BCl3, CH4, and H2 mixture. The Fourier Transform Infrared (FTIR) analysis proved the formation of reaction intermediate BHCl2, which is proposed to occur mainly in the gaseous boundary layer next to the substrate surface. Among a large number of reaction mechanisms proposed only the ones considering the molecular adsorption of boron carbide on the substrate surface gave reasonable fits. In the proposed mechanism dichloroborane is formed in the gas phase only as a by-product. Boron carbide, on the other hand, is formed through a series of surface reactions involving adsorbed boron trichloride, adsorbed methane and gas phase hydrogen. The simultaneous fit of the experimental rate data to the model expressions gave correlation coefficient values of 0.977 and 0.948, in predicting the B4C and BHCl2 formation rates, respectively. © 2009 American Institute of Chemical Engineers AIChE J, 2009 [source]