The characteristics of the dual bluff body vortex shedding is investigated, and the
possibility to use dual bluff body combinations to strengthen the hydrodynamic vibration
around the bluff body objects is explored. The numerical and experimental approaches were
utilized to examine the time dependent flow field and the pressure oscillation around the
bluff bodies. The numerical data were obtained by the advanced large eddy simulation model.
The experiment was conducted on a laboratory scale of Karman vortex flowmeter with 40 mm
diameter. It is revealed that the optimized dual bluff body combinations strengthened the
hydrodynamic vibration. It was also found that the hydrodynamic vibration with 180° phase
difference occurred at the axisymmetric points of circular pipe on the lateral faces of the
equilateral triangle-section bluff bodies. Using the dual bluff body configuration and the
differential sensing technique, a novel prototype of vortex flowmeter with excellent noise
immunity and improved sensibility was developed.

The time-dependent liquid film thickness and pressure drop are measured by using parallel-
wire conduc tance probes and capacitance differential-pressure transducer. A mathematical
model with iterative procedure to calculate holdup and pressure drop in horizontal and
inclined gas-liquid stratified flow is developed. The predictions agree well with over a
hundred experimental data in 0.024 and 0.04 m diameter pipelines.

Heavy metal pollution from industrial wastewater is a worldwide environmental issue.
Biosorption of heavy metals by using biosorbents derived from various types of biomass has
been shown to be effective for the uptake of heavy metal ions. In this study, biosorbents
derived from the biomass of a group of marine macroalgae were used for the removal and
recovery of heavy metal ions from aqueous solutions. Results indicated that the biosorbents
have high uptake capacities and affinities for a number of heavy metal ions. The uptake
capacities of the biosorbents were in the range of 1.0 to 1.5mmol·g-1 for divalent heavy
metal ions. The kinetics of the uptake process was fast and the process can be used in both
batch and fixed-bed operations. It appears that the biosorption process by using
biosorbents from marine macroalgae can be an efficient and cost effective technology for
the treatment of heavy metal containing wastewater.

Some aromatic compounds, phenol, aniline and nitrobenzene, were oxidized in supercritical
water. It was experimentally found that the chemical oxygen demand (COD) removal efficiency
of these organic compounds can achieve a high level more than 90% in a short residence time
at temperatures high enough. As temperature, pressure and residence time increase, the COD
removal efficiencies of the organic compounds would all increase. It is also found that
temperature and residence time offer greater influences on the oxidation process than
pressure. The difficulty in oxidizing these three compounds is in the order of nitrobenzene
＞ aniline ＞ Phenol. In addition, it is extremely difficult to oxidize aniline and
nitrobenzene to CO2 and H2O at the temperature lower than 873.15 K and 923.15 K,
respectively. Only at the temperature higher than 873.15 K and 923.15 K, respectively, the
COD removal efficiencies of 90% of aniline and nitrobenzene can be achieved.

A stripping batch distillation column is preferred when the amount of the light component
in the feed is small and the products are to be recovered at high purity. The operation
modes of a batch stripping are believed to be the same as those of a rectifier. However,
the control system of a stripper is different. In this paper, we explore three different
control methods with Hysys (Hyprotech Ltd. 1997) for a batch stripper. The main difference
is the control scheme for reboiler liquid level: (a) controlled by reflux flow; (b)
controlled by reboiler heat duty; (c) controlled by bottom product flow. The main
characteristics of operating a batch stripper with different control scheme are presented
in this paper. Guidelines are provided for the startup of a batch stripper, the effects of
somecontrol tuning parameters on the column performance are discussed.

The interfacial evaporative heat transfer was included in the semi-empirical study of the
heat transfer for the falling liquid film flow. The investigations showed that, the
inclusion of the interfacial evaporative heat transfer in the turbulent model would lower
the predicted convective heat transfer coefficient. Predictions of the new model resulted
in a prominent deviation from that predictions of the normal model in the case of large
mass flow rate and low wall heat flux. This deviation will be decreased with increasing
wall heat flux, such that it will be asymptotic zero at very high wall heat flux.
Predictions of the new model agreed well with the current experimental measurements. This
study has verified that the Reynolds number is not the sole crucial parameter for heat
transfer of falling liquid film flow, and wall heat flux will be another important
independent parameter. This result is consistent with our previous studies.

The scaling process of calcium carbonate on a low-energy heat transfer surface－electroless
plating surface was investigated in a simulated cooling water system. Owing to the very low
surface energy, the electroless plating surface exhibited less scaling susceptibility. A
longer induction period and a lower scaling rate were obtained on the low-energy surface
compared to copper surface under identical conditions. The calcite particles obtained on
the electroless plating surface during the induction period were larger in size than those
on copper surface because fewer crystals formed and grew at the same time on the low-energy
surface. With increasing surface temperature, the induction period reduced and the scaling
rate increased for the low-energy surface. When initial surface temperature was fixed, an
increase in fluid velocity would reduce the induction period and increase the scaling rate
due to the diffusion effect. However, when the heat flux was fixed, an increase in fluid
velocity would decrease the surface temperature, and lead to a longer induction period and
a lower scaling rate. The removal experiments of calcium carbonate scale indicated that
during post induction period, the detachment was not obvious, while during the induction
period, apparent removal of crystal particles was obtained on the electroless plating
surface owing to the weak adhesion force. The more frequently the transient high
hydrodynamic force acted, the more the detached crystal particles were.

Covering a wide range of bulk densities, density profiles for hard-sphere chain fluids
(HSCFs) with chain length of 3,4,8,20,32 and 64 confined between two surfaces were obtained
by Monte Carlo simulations using extended continuum configurational-bias (ECCB) method. It
is shown that the enrichment of beads near surfaces is happened at high densities due to
the bulk packing effect, on the contrary, the depletion is revealed at low densities owing
to the configurational entropic contribution. Comparisons with those calculated by density
functional theory presented by Cai et al. indicate that the agreement between simulations
and predictions is good. Compressibility factors of bulk HSCFs calculated using volume
fractions at surfaces were also used to test the reliability of various equations of state
of HSCFs by different authors.

Orthogonal-test-design method has been used to determine the optimal formula by phase
behavior and interfacial tension studies, respectively. The effect of each component of two
alkaline/surfactant/polymer flooding systems on interfacial tension is discussed, in which
a low-price natural mixed carboxylate (SDC) is used as the major surfactant. The results
indicate that the optimal composition is SDC (0.5%), alkaline NaHCO3/Na2CO3 with mass ratio
of 1 (1.0%), and hydrolyzed polyacrylamide(0.1%). In the coreflood experiment, their oil
recovery is increased by about 25.2% and 26.8% original oil in place, respectively.

Chemical process optimization can be described as large-scale nonlinear constrained
minimization. The modified augmented Lagrange multiplier methods (MALMM) for large-scale
nonlinear constrained minimization are studied in this paper. The Lagrange function
contains the penalty terms on equality and inequality constraints and the methods can be
applied to solve a series of bound constrained sub-problems instead of a series of
unconstrained sub-problems. The steps of the methods are examined in full detail. Numerical
experiments are made for a variety of problems, from small to very large-scale, which show
the stability and effectiveness of the methods in large-scale problems.

Steady-state non-dominated sorting genetic algorithm (SNSGA), a new form of multi-objective
genetic algorithm, is implemented by combining the steady-state idea in steady-state
genetic algorithms (SSGA) and the fitness assignment strategy of non-dominated sorting
genetic algorithm (NSGA). The fitness assignment strategy is improved and a new self-
adjustment scheme of σshare is proposed. This algorithm is proved to be very efficient
both computationally and in terms of the quality of the Pareto fronts produced with five
test problems including GA difficult problem and GA deceptive one. Finally, SNSGA is
introduced to solve multi-objective mixed integer linear programming (MILP) and mixed
integer non-linear programming (MINLP) problems in process synthesis.

This work is concentrated on elucidating the mechanism of the electric field enhanced water
dissociation. A simple model was established for the theoretical current-voltage
characteristics in water dissociation process on a bipolar membrane based on the existence
of a depletion layer and Onsager’s theory. Particular attention was given to the influence
of applied voltage on depletion thickness and the dissociation constant. The factors on the
water splitting process, such as water diffusivity, water content, ion exchange capacity,
temperature, relative permittivity, etc. Were adequately analysed based on the derived
model equations and several suggestions were proposed for decreasing the applied voltage in
practical operation. The water dissociation tests were conducted and compared with both the
theoretical calculation and the measured current-voltage curves reported in the literature,
which showed a very good prediction to practical current-voltage behavior of a bipolar
membrane at high current densities when the splitting of water actually commenced.

The structure and proton conducting mechanism of solid polymer electrolyte (SPE) are
described. Since the conductivity of electrolyte is important in SPE electrochemical cell
research and development, we investigate quantitatively the conductivity of Nafion membrane
and its dependence on temperature and relative humidity. Ex perimental results show that
the conductivity of Nafion membrane increases with temperature and relative humidity. We
also reports on the preparation and development of SPE membrane electrode with the emphasis
on the mix ture pressing method and impregnation-reduction process to prepare SPE composite
electrode assemblies and their application to electrochemical sensors. We also investigate
and fabricate a potentiometric electrochemical sensor of hydrogen and ethylene to measure
the hydrogen and ethylene partial pressure.

The kinetics of CO2 reforming of methane has been studied at 976－1033K on a commercial
NiO/CaO/Al2O3 catalyst in a packed-bed continuous reactor. The reaction was carried out at
atmospheric pressure and CO2/CH4 ratio ＞ 2. The Hougen-Watson rate models were fitted to
experimental data assuming the disso ciative adsorption of methane as the rate-determining
step. The reaction rate showed an effective reaction order of about unity for CH4. The
apparent activity energy was found to be 104 kJ·mol-1. Therefore the kinetic reaction
parameters were determined and a possible reaction mechanism was proposed.

Microscopic structure and diffusion properties of benzene in ambient water (298 K, 0.1 MPa)
and super critical water (673－773 K, 25－35 MPa) are investigated by molecular dynamics
simulation with site-site models. It is found that at the ambient condition, the water
molecules surrounding a benzene molecule form a hydrogen bond network. The hydrogen bond
interaction between supercritical water molecules decreases dramatically under supercritical
conditions. The diffusion coefficients of both the solute molecule and solvent molecule at
supercritical conditions increase by 30－180 times than those at the ambient condition. With
the temperature approaching the critical temperature, the change of diffusion coefficient
with pressure becomes pronounced.

An innovational test method was developed on the basis of redefinition of the emulsion
stability. The stability was characterized by relative volume percentage of disperse phase
demulsified thoroughly from the top part and the bottom part of an emulsion sample, each
weighting the same amount, after being settled for a given time at constant temperature.
Three series of emulsions were prepared and tested successfully, which were emulsions of
paraffin oil and water stabilized with polyoxyethylene lauryl ether series (AEO3 and AEO9)
at various HLBs, and emulsions of rapeseed oil and water stablized with sorbitan monoleate
(Span80) and each of polyoxyethylene (20) sorbitan carboxylic esters (Tween20, Tween40,
Tween60, Tween80 and Tween85) at different HLBs. It proved that this method is especially
workable while the boundaries are opaque in a wide range of HLBs and is capable of offering
an accurate optimum HLB.

For the mass transfer to single drops during the stage of steady buoyancy-driven motion,
experimental measurement is complicated with the terminal effect of additional mass transfer
during drop formation and coa lescence at the drop collector. Analysis reveals that
consistent operating conditions and experimental procedure are of critical significance for
minimizing the terminal effect of drop coalescence on the accuracy of mass transfer
measurements. The novel design of a totally-closed extraction column is proposed for this
purpose, which guaran tees that the volumetric rate of drop phase injection is exactly equal
to that of withdrawal of drops. Tests in two extraction systems demonstrate that the
experimental repeatability is improved greatly and the terminal effect of mass transfer
during drop coalescence is brought well under control.

The gas and dispersed phase holdups and mass transfer coefficients of liquid-iquid were
determined for gas-liquid-liquid three phase system in a screen plate column. The flow
pattern of gas-liquid-liquid three phase system was studied under different gas velocities.
The shape factors showed the geometric properties of screen plates and the corrected drop
characteristic velocities were introduced. The phase holdup in two phases was correlated.
The research results indicated that mass transfer coefficient for liquid-liquid system in a
column with screen plates and gas agitation was found to increase apparently.

The procedure of enzymatic aqueous extraction of soybean oil was assessed when two-step
controlled enzymatic hydrolysis was applied. With aqueous extraction of soybean oil-
containing protein, the highest yield of oil was 96.1% at the optimized conditions studied.
Soybean oil-containing protein was hydrolyzed and resulted in releasing part of oil. The
separated protein that contained 40% oil was enriched due to its adsorption capacity of
released oil, the average oil extraction yeild reached 93.5%. Then the high oil content
protein was hydrolyzed again to release oil by enzyme, the oil extraction yeild was 80.4%.
As a result, high quality of soybean oil was obtained and the content of total oil yield was
74.4%.

An experimental apparatus composed of microscope, video camera. image-processing, and mini
reactor which can be used for real-time measurement of the growth of polymer particle in gas
phase polymerization was built up to carry out dynamic study of gas phase polymerization of
butadiene by heterogeneous catalyst based on neodymium(Nd). The studies of the shape
duplication of polymer particles and catalyst particles and the growth rate of polymer
particle were made. Results show that the apparatus and procedure designed can be well
utilized to make dynamic observation and data collection of the growth of polymer particle
in gas phase polymerization. A phenomenon of shape duplication of polymer particles and
catalyst particles was observed by the real-time measurement. The result also concludes that
the activity of individual catalyst particle is different, and the effect of reaction
pressure on the growth of polymer particle is significant.

In this companion paper, flow patterns in the upstream and downstream tubes of a sudden-
expansion cross-section (SECS) in a vertical straight pipe were presented. The effect of
SECS on flow patterns upstream and downstream was analyzed by comparing with flow patterns
in uniform cross-section vertical tubes. It is found the effect is great. There exist great
instabilities of two-phase flow in the neighboring areas of the SECS both downstream and
upstream.

In this paper, through two case studies, evaporation systems are considered in the context
of overall process, and then are optimized to obtain energy-saving effect. The possible
evaporation schemes are given when integrated with the background process and how to
optimize the evaporator is shown. From the case studies, it can be seen that sometimes
incomplete integration and heat pump evaporation are better than complete integration so
should be considered as candidate retrofit schemes.