Iranian Journal of Chemistry and Chemical Engineering
Volume:41 Issue: 3, Mar 2022

To aid the therapeutic process, illicit chemical substances and drugs are used in drug therapy. Various cultures have used illegal substances for thousands of years in medicine and various practices. The present study is a general approach to pharmaceutical science and attempts to contextualize drug-assisted therapy through an integrative literature review. All related articles were found through the electronic databases Medical Publications (Pubmed) and Scopus. The research question was related to articles written in English within the last 20 years. The database research found 77 articles on psychedelics between Jan 2000 and Oct 2021. Twenty-two articles were selected for analysis according to the inclusion criteria. In analyzing the texts, we have been able to correlate several aspects. We conclude that psychedelic therapy has great potential and that its rebirth occurs in the context of social transformations and demands in psychotherapy that are unmissable. Database searches between Jan 2000 and Oct 2021 found 1164 articles about cannabinoids. According to the inclusion criteria, only 235 articles were selected for analysis. The United States produced the most publications, followed by Canada and Australia; evidence has steadily increased between 2000 and 2021. The contents of the publications deal with beneficial and adverse health effects, the consequences of cannabis legislation, and its association with various variables. There is a lack of research on cannabis' medicinal use regarding treatments and diseases, its standardization, routes of administration, and doses, recognizing the need for more research.

The butadiyne-linked four-metalloporphyrin nanoring (Zn4P4) is a promising candidate in future nanoelectronic applications such as nanosensors for small gas molecules. The aim of this work is to analyze the CO gas sensing capacity of Zn4P4 using Density Functional Theory (DFT) calculations at CAM-B3LYP/6-31G (d,p) level of theory. To predict the gas adsorption properties of the Zn4P4 system the geometrical structures, binding energies, band gaps, the Density of States (DOS), adsorption energies (), HOMO and LUMO energies, Fermi level energies (EFL), natural bond orbital (NBO), and frontier molecular orbital (FMO) were calculated. Here it should be remarked that the adsorption of CO gas molecule on Zn4P4 nanoring from the outer side is higher than the inner side. Moreover, the adsorption from the Carbon site of the CO gas molecule is stronger than from the Oxygen site. Also, the closest distance of CO with the Zn4P4 molecule is in the range of 2.505-2.706A˚. Moreover, the range of values was from -6.50 to -9.40 kCal/mol. The results revealed that during the adsorption of CO gas molecule on Zn4P4 the amounts of Eg and consequently, σ have been considerably changed. Based on the calculated and a notable decrease in the Eg, it is expected that the Zn4P4 is sensitive to CO molecules. Amazingly, the Zn4P4-CO records favorable values of recovery times for different attempt frequencies. Therefore, the results open a way for the development of a new and selective CO nanosensor.

Inorganic antibacterial nanoagents have more advantages compared to popularly organic agents due to chemical stability, thermal resistance, immunity, and long-term activity. In this study, a magnetically hybrid nanocomposite was prepared from the Nigella sativa oil waste as an organic matrix in a green approach. The homogeneous distribution of core-shell Fe3O4@SiO2 nanoparticles on the activated carbon surface was carried out with a simple chemical method. Characterization of the synthesized nanocomposite was performed by different analysis techniques such as scanning electron microscopy–energy dispersive spectroscopy, scanning electron microscopy, X-ray diffraction, and Brunauer-Emmett-Teller surface area analysis. The antibacterial activities of the prepared nanoparticles against gram-positive and gram-negative bacteria were investigated and the minimum inhibitory concentration and the minimum bactericidal concentration values were compared to imipenem as a standard antibiotic. The effects of temperature, time, and the ratio of the activated carbon to Fe3O4@SiO2 on the MIC and MBC values of the prepared nanocomposites were investigated. The obtained results reveal the substantial role of all of these parameters in the gram-positive antibacterial potential, especially for S. agalactiae bacteria. The results show that the new proposed nanocomposite could be an alternative for an effective filter against gram-positive bacteria alongside having magnetic properties.

In this work, pure copper oxide and Fe-doped copper oxide nanostructures [Cu1-x FexO where 0 ≤ x ≤ 0.08 in steps of 0.02] were synthesized using the co-precipitation method. Iron nitrate nano-hydrate and copper nitrate trihydrate were used as precursors and NaOH was used as precipitating agent. The samples were investigated by X-Ray Diffraction (XRD), Scanning Electron Microscopy (SEM), Energy-Dispersive X-ray Spectroscopy (EDS), and UV-Visible spectroscopy for their structural, morphological, and optical properties, respectively. The effect of iron concentration on antibacterial activity and hemolysis was also investigated for Escherichia coli and Bacillus Subtilis. The XRD pattern showed a single-phase monoclinic structure of CuO nanoparticles. The average crystallite size of pure copper oxide was found 39 nm whereas the average crystallite size of Fe-doped CuO was found in the range 39-44 nm. It was observed that average crystallite size was increased with an increasing iron concentration in CuO. Scanning electron microscopy analysis showed spherical-like morphology and EDS confirmed the presence of iron and copper with proper composition. UV-vis spectroscopy results showed that the band gap was decreased with increasing iron concentration. Samples prepared with higher concentrations of iron exhibited high E. coli and B. subtilis antibacterial activity. Low hemolytic is safer to be used in various applications such as drug delivery.

The Magnetic Cellulose Nanocrystal-Modified Diatomite (MCNCD) composite was synthesized and its adsorption performance for removal of Methylene Blue (MB) dye from aqueous solutions was investigated. The as-prepared MCNCD samples were characterized by Fourier transform infrared spectroscopy, scanning electron microscopy, thermal gravimetric analyzer, and vibration sample magnetometer, respectively. The adsorption parameters such as temperature, initial concentration of MB, adsorption time, and pH, were studied. The adsorption isotherms and kinetics were established. The results showed that adsorption isotherm and kinetics fitted well to the Langmuir model and pseudo-second-order model, respectively. Furthermore, the as-prepared MCNCD samples can be reused/ recycled after regeneration, with an adsorption capacity of 46.21 mg/g after six cycles.

This study attempts to improve the anti-bacterial, thermal and mechanical properties of Poly-Lactic Acid (PLA)/Graphene Oxide (GO) by incorporating the titanium oxide (TiO2) nanoparticles. For this purpose, the TiO2 nanoparticles were introduced into PLA/GO films in the content of 1, 3, and 5 wt%. The film samples were prepared by the solution casting method. The mechanical properties were evaluated by a tensile test to report the tensile strength, elongation, and elastic modulus. The thermal properties were investigated by Differential Scanning Calorimetry (DSC) and Thermal Gravimetric Analysis (TGA) tests, and the agar disk diffusion method was carried out to investigate the antibacterial properties of the film samples. The Field Emission Scanning Electron Microscopy (FE-SEM) images showed the homogenous dispersion of the nanoparticles in the PLA matrix. TGA results showed that incorporating GO and TiO2 nanoparticles improves the thermal stability of the PLA matrix considerably.

Desulfurization using porous materials is based on the capability of a solid sorbent to selectively adsorb organic sulfur-containing compounds. In the present study, different sorbents were prepared by varying the NiO/WO3 loadings onto bentonite for the removal of sulfur from commercial diesel fuel containing approximately 100 ppm total sulfur (S). X-Ray Diffraction (XRD), Fourier Transform InfraRed (FT-IR) spectroscopy, and Scanning Electron Microscopy (SEM) showed the ability of modified bentonite to adsorb dibenzothiophene (DBT) depends strongly on the surface chemistry, particularly on the presence of basic oxygen-containing groups and acid content. A Plackett–Burman Design (PBD) was chosen as a screening method to estimate the relative influence of the factors that could have an influence on the analytical response. The significant variables included: sorbent amount, feed volume, extraction solvent kind, and its volume were optimized using Central Composite Design (CCD). 93.5% removal of sulfur was observed with NiO@WO3@bentonite.

In this study, zero-valent iron nanoparticles immobilized on activated carbon (nZVI-AC) were synthesized to rapidly remove Acid Red 33 (AR 33) as an azo dye from an aqueous medium. This novel nanocomposite was characterized by Scanning Electron Microscopy (SEM), Energy Dispersive X-ray Spectroscopy (EDS), X-Ray Diffraction (XRD), and Fourier Transform InfraRed (FT-IR)spectroscopy. The effect of experimental variables, including adsorbent dosage, pH, initial concentration of AR 33, and temperature was studied to select the optimum conditions for maximum removal efficiency. The optimal conditions were achieved at an adsorbent dosage of 0.2 g/L, pH=3, initial dye concentration of 10 mg/L, and a temperature of 313 K. Isotherms and kinetics studies indicated that Langmuir isotherm with regression determination (R2) of 0.9914 and pseudo-first-order model with R2=0.9922 fitted well to the experimental data. The calculated thermodynamic parameters such as ΔGº, ΔHº, and ΔSº revealed that the adsorption process was spontaneous and endothermic. The reusability of the nZVI-AC was investigated and it found that this adsorbent had a potential ability to remove AR 33 dye.

Accurate analysis of the catalysis of ferric chloride in the preparation of graphene oxide film can improve the performance of the finished product. The thermal conductivity of graphene film prepared by the original method is low, so a new catalytic analysis method is proposed. Firstly, the flake double-layer graphite oxide is prepared by the improved Hummers method. Under the catalysis of FeC13, different reaction temperatures and reaction times are set to get the finished products of graphene oxide under different conditions. The structure characteristics of the finished products are analyzed, and the structure of that the graphene oxide films prepared at 90℃  and 0.5h is determined to be the best. So far, the catalysis of ferric chloride in the preparation of graphene oxide film has been analyzed. The results show that the thermal conductivity of graphene oxide film prepared by catalysis is 900W/(m.K), which is higher than that of traditional products.

In order to improve the application performance of methanol selective photochemical oxidation in the preparation of methyl formate, the catalytic performance of different oxides was analyzed. A series of TiO2 catalysts supported by gold, silver, and copper were synthesized by the method of metal sol deposition. The catalytic properties of different oxides were analyzed. The most appropriate amount of methanol was selected to explore its application in the preparation of metal formate. The effects of temperature, load, space velocity, and other factors on the catalytic properties were explored through experiments. By comparing the catalytic performance of different oxides, it is found that when the oxides are CH3OH, the prepared CH3OH/MoO3-SnO2 has a better catalytic effect. Therefore, the catalyst with good dispersion and suitable acid-base position is more favorable for the formation of methyl formate and the conversion of methanol.

The reported methods for the synthesis of midazolam include a number of disadvantages, such as high production costs and low yields. The purpose of this investigation was to develop a more economical and technically feasible route to the synthesis of midazolam. In this research, two easy and scalable synthetic methods for the production of midazolam drugs are presented. One-pot condensation of imidoyl chloride or 1,4-benzodiazepinic N-nitrosoamidines with carbanion of two isocyanide reagents is described and two important and key tricyclic ring intermediates are synthesized. These imidazole-type structures can be derivatives by the alkylation of the imidazole ring with tert-butyl magnesium chloride at 0 °C in excellent yield, which has not been described for these intermediates in the literature.

The synthesis and characterization of a dinuclear [LCu(m-OH)2CuL](ClO4)2, complex with a tridentate N,N-diisopropyl,N'-3-propylamide-ethylenediamine hemilabile ligand (abbreviated L) is reported. The dinuclear complex was characterized by elemental analysis, molar conductance, thermal analysis, and spectral studies. In the complex, both copper centers are 5-coordinated and bridged through two hydroxo groups.  Thermo- and solvatochromic behaviors of the complex were investigated by visible spectroscopy. Its reversible thermochromism (blue ↔ green) in acetonitrile solution is due to dissociation and re-coordination of Cu-O(amide) moiety. The solvent-dependent absorption maxima, lmax, was studied by a Stepwise Multiple Linear Regression (SMLR) analysis to determine the best model describing the resulting positive solvatochromism.  The statistical results demonstrated that among different solvent parameters, Donor Number (DN) is a dominant parameter that is responsible for the redshift in the d-d absorption band of the complex by increasing its values.

Thermo Gravimetric Analysis (TGA) is one of the most commonly used techniques to study the thermal stability of materials. Thermograms not only give an instant view of thermal stability but can also give insights into the degradation kinetics of the material. This study reports on the degradation kinetics of composite materials based on polyaniline and graphene oxide (PANI-GO) synthesized with varying amounts of GO.  Horwitz & Metzger, Coats & Redfern, and Chan et al., methods were employed for the calculation of activation energy for degradation, using TGA data.  It was observed that their thermal stability and activation energy of degradation are affected by changing the amount of GO during polymerization, indicating PANI and GO synergistically enhance the thermal stability of PANI-GO composites. The highest activation energy value of 29.87 kJ/mol was shown by a composite that contains 6 percent GO. UltraViolet-Visible (UV-Vis) spectroscopy, X-Ray Diffraction (XRD) Analysis also support variations in different properties of the composites as a result of changing GO concentration

In this research, Expandable Polystyrene (EPS) polymerization with conventional and Multi-stage Initiator Dosing (MID) methods is simulated by Multi-Layer Perceptron (MLP) Artificial Neural Networks (ANN). In order to optimize MID method, an efficient algorithm was employed for optimal training of the neural network. An algorithm was used to train the MLP networks more rapidly and efficiently than the conventional procedures. The main objective of MID method implementation is to reduce the time of the polymerization and because of that, by having different tests (first stage polymerization at 4, 3.5, 3, 2.5 hours and different amounts of used initiator at common state 100, 80, 75, 70 percent and the different number of dosings 12, 10, 8, 6) it was found that in an optimal state, the first stage polymerization time can be 3 hours and amount of the used initiator can be reduced to 70% in comparison to common state and number of dosings can be 6 times. The results of the simulation showed that the time of the first step of the polymerization has been reduced, the amount of the used initiator has been optimized and the count of the dosing times reduced to half, and therefore the time of the EPS polymerization is reduced to 60% of the conventional method.

Blended matrix polymer membranes have attracted attention today due to their high efficiency in gas separation. In this study, PS / SAPO 34 polymer membranes were synthesized and evaluated by the phase separation method. ynthesized PS/SAPO-34 mixed matrix membranes (MMMs) were characterized via FESEM, TGA, and DSC analyses. Various parameters such as air gap distance, dope extrusion rate, and jet stretch were examined. After that, the process of separation of CO2 and CH4 gases was investigated. The results showed that the addition of SAPO nanoparticles improved membrane performance. The highest selectivity was obtained at a temperature 28 and a pressure 0.5 bar. Permeation results manifested that the PS/SAPO-34 fabricated at optimum conditions has incredible worth from the perspective of industrial separations of CO2 from the flue and natural gas.

The performance of the ionic liquid (1-ethyl-3methylimidazolium bis (trifluoromethylsulfonyl)imide, [EMIM][NTF2]) as a green, non-aqueous and hydrophobic solvent and sulfolane as a conventional solvent for liquid-liquid extraction of toluene from its mixture with heptane was investigated. The LLE phase behavior was predicted with the help of the UNIFAC as a predictive thermodynamic model. The interfacial tension of the studied systems was measured to investigate the effect of the dissolved toluene concentration on interfacial tension. It was revealed that the average selectivity of the systems with IL (316.752) is much higher than the systems containing sulfolane (18.661) under similar experimental conditions. For low mass fractions of toluene less than 0.4, the performance of the IL is better, whereas, for high toluene mass fractions more than 0.4, sulfolane exhibits superior performance.

In this study, water desalination was performed using the freezing method and Tetrahydrofuran hydrate formation in a stationary reactor. The experimental setup includes two coaxial cylinders, in which ice crystals deposit outside the cool inner cylinder; thus the salt concentration increases in the residual brine. In order to evaluate the performance of these methods, the removal percentage of salt was measured by the electrical conductivity instrument. The results show that the removal efficiency decreases with an increasing salt concentration in the freezing method while a different trend is observed in the hydrate formation method. As an important result, the salt removal efficiency of the hydrate formation method was higher than the freezing process. Also, to investigate the effect of the anionic size on the salt removal efficiency, the experiments were performed with NaCl, NaBr, NaF, and NaI, which have the same cations. The results show that the performance of desalination improves by increasing the anionic radius. So the dissolved mineral components are removed in the following order: I¯>Br¯>Cl¯>F¯. The removal of salts of a higher size is further by hydrate-based and freezing desalination.

In Present communication, the transference of the hybrid nanofluids due to the natural propulsive like shrinkage and relaxation of the flexible walls and the motion has serious applications in several embryonic technologies. Stimulated by the multi-disciplinary development and study of this trend, a mathematical model is suggested to explore the numerical simulation of the hybrid nanofluid flow inside a slant porous cavity to determine the impact of volume fraction, Rayleigh number, heat generation and heat source length, and location on magneto-free convective with entropy analysis. The governing nonlinear problem is converted into non-dimensional partial equations via suitably adjusted transformations. The Successive Under-Relaxation (SUR) technique has been incorporated to find solutions to the non-linear problem. Variation in entropy generation and heat transfer characteristics and thermal performance criteria has been noted for various fluid parameters.  The results are plotted graphically. The outcomes indicate that the thermal performance reduces more in the case of high volume fraction in comparison with low concentration. The addition of nanoparticles for several Rayleigh numbers causes the thermal performance to be declined.

In this experimental study, the effects of slope changes on the heat transfer coefficient in pool boiling in deionized water have been investigated. The experiments were carried out in the average surface roughness of 0.21 µm on a copper cylinder by changing the surface slope including 0°, 5°, 10°, 15°, 20°, 25°, and 30°. The range of heat flux was from 21 to 77 kW/m in atmospheric conditions. The results indicated that by increasing the heater slope, the departure frequency and bubble departure diameter on the heater surface were increased which lead to an increase in the mixing, turbulence, and heat transfer coefficient. Finally, the slope of 15° has reached the highest heat transfer coefficient with an increase of 20.09% compared to other slopes. Besides the optimized model was mostly overlapped with the experimental results in which Stephan Abdelsalam's model with an average error of 13.9% and the McNelly model with an average error of 24% had the minimum and maximum amount of error among the other models, respectively.

All solving methods available in the literature are formulated for direct solution of stagnation point flow and its heat transfer impinging on the surfaces with known boundary conditions. In this study for the first time, an anumerical code based on Levenberg–Marquardt method is presented for solving the inverse heat transfer problem of an annular jet on a cylinder and estimating the time-dependent heat flux using temperature distribution at a specific point. Also, the effect of noisy data on the final results is studied. For this purpose, the numerical solution of the dimensionless temperature and the convective heat transfer in a radial incompressible flow on a cylinder rod is carried out as a direct problem.In the direct problem, the free stream is steady with an initial flow strain rate of k. Using similarity variables and appropriate transformations, momentum and energy equations are converted into Semi-similar equations. The new equation systems are then discretized using an implicit finite difference method and solved by applying the Tri-Diagonal Matrix Algorithm (TDMA). The heat flux is then estimated by applying the Levenberg–Marquardt parameter estimation approach. This technique is an iterative approach based on minimizing the least-square summation of the error values, the error being the difference between the estimated and measured temperatures. Results of the inverse analysis indicate that the Levenberg–Marquardt algorithm is an efficient and acceptably stable technique for estimating heat flux in axisymmetric stagnation flow. This method also exhibits considerable stability for noisy input data. The maximum value of the sensitivity coefficient is related to the estimation of exponential heat flux and its value is 0.1619 also the minimum value of the sensitivity coefficient is 5.62´10-6 which is related to the triangular heat flux. The results show that the parameter estimation error in calculating the triangular and trapezoidal heat flux is greater than the exponential and sinus–cosines heat flux because the maximum value of RMS error is obtained for these two cases, which are 0.481 and 0.489, respectively the reason for the increase in the errors in estimating these functions is the existence of points where the first derivative of the function does not exist. The problem is particularly important in pressure-lubricated bearings.

Traditionally energy systems were analyzed technically, but current environmental issues and considerations have put new constraints on the planning and managing of energy systems. Such an exergoeconomic and exergoenvironmental analysis were born. This analysis is aimed to describe the necessity and application of a new concept in environmental liability accounting based on physical quantities to overcome the weaknesses of the developed allocation methods and the internalization of external environmental damages. The proposed method is modified in environmental analysis to consider the effect of non-energy flows on a macro-surface energy system. As a case study, this method is tuned for a complex energy system. It has been shown that environmental responsibilities, calculated based on exergy destruction in order, represent the role of the units in the overall emission and contribution to integrated environmental management. The comparison shows that responsibilities are higher than emission reductions for service units, and the difference between duties and permits may not reflect the costs of internal damage. The exergoeconomic and exergoenvironmental analysis is used to model the concept of the system’s economic-environmental footprint in a quantitative process, which is the most crucial advantage of this method. This paper implements this method on a solar thermal power plant combined with the steam cycle system as a case study.

In this research, the phenomenon of direct-contact condensation in porous media has been investigated based on the computational fluid dynamic technique, CFD, for hydraulic and thermal phenomena assessment. This phenomenon occurs in soil remediation by steam injection. The main contribution of this research is developing a new combined model for considering steam condensation in the saturated porous media systems using the direct contact condensation model, DCC, and Navier-Stockes equations rather than solely using Darcy’s law-based model. For the first time, a two-resistance DCC model for porous media application has been included, predicting the propagation of steam front and condensation. The corresponding source and sink terms due to the calculated condensation rate is added to each phase continuity equation and enthalpy equation of the liquid phase by user-defined functions, UDFs. Pressure drop due to flowing fluids in the porous structure was considered by lumped approach model using viscous and inertial loss terms added to momentum equations of the model. Heat loss from the sandbox is considered a sink term based on the calculated overall heat transfer coefficient and local temperature differences. The model results meet acceptable predictions for steam saturation content and temperature distributions over time and the predictions are qualitatively similar to the experimental and simulation results of the previous literature. The quantitative values of the sandbox-covered thermal areas, extracted from propagated saturated temperature fronts over processing time, are compared for both DCC simulation results and available experimental measurements. After elapsing 12 and 18 minutes from the beginning of the process, the simulation values of covered thermal areas are 0.049 m2 and 0.082 m2. The corresponding experimental values are 0.059 m2 and 0.098 m2, respectively. Evaluated absolute values of the relative change percent of covered thermal areas are 16.3% and 16.9% over processing times of 12 and 18 minutes.

The drying characteristics of unbleached Kraft pulpboard have been studied in convective drying equipment under different hot air temperatures and velocities. In this work, the drying experiments were conducted in the range of 80-100℃ and 1.87-2.48m/s, respectively. The results indicated that high air temperature and velocity are beneficial to increasing drying rate and decreasing drying time. Ten thin-layer drying models were evaluated to describe the drying kinetic of unbleached Kraft pulpboard for its suitability. Based on the statistical analysis, the Yun model could predict the pulpboard drying kinetic better than others in terms of fitting performance. Through calculation and fitting, the effective moisture diffusivity varied from 2.077´10-10 to 3.631´10-10m2/s over the investigated temperature range and the average activation energy for moisture diffusion was 22.818 kJ/mol.

The current study aimed to investigate the effects of partial replacement of sodium chloride by potassium chloride on baguettes' rheological, sensory, qualitative, and microbial characteristics. Replacement of sodium chloride by potassium chloride in null flour at 0% potassium chloride (control group, 100% sodium chloride), Treatment 1 (75% sodium chloride and 25% potassium chloride), Treatment 2 (50% sodium chloride and 50% potassium chloride), Treatment 3 (75% sodium chloride and 25% potassium chloride) and Treatment 4 (100% potassium chloride) was studied in baguettes. Results of the microbial count of flour showed that Treatment 2 included the highest yeast number of Saccharomyces cerevisiae. Investigation of rheological characteristics of dough using farinograph and extensograph devices showed significant differences in experimental treatments (p ≤ 0.05) that Treatment 2 showed better conditions than other experimental treatments. Assessment of the sensory characteristics of baguettes demonstrated the efficacy of Treatment 2 in treatments and significant differences were observed in porosity, texture, and taste of bread (p ≤ 0.05). Therefore, it seems possible to produce bread with fewer levels of sodium chloride and partly substitute them with potassium chloride with no significant effects on the quality of bread. In conclusion, a replacement level of 50% potassium chloride with 50% sodium chloride is suggested to produce baguettes of good quality.

Because the traditional method does not consider the release rate of salty whey protein particles after adding flocculants, the error in the peak test of the flocculation activity of the ovarian animal whey protein particle solution is relatively high, which leads to the unreliable analysis of the flocculation activity. Therefore, a method is proposed. A new method for analyzing the flocculation activity of egg-shaped animal whey protein particle solution. According to the basic characteristics of whey protein, the basic structure of the flocculation model was reset to improve the purification effect of the whey protein particle solution in eggs. By calculating the loading rate and analyzing the effect of the flocculating carrier on the stability and release of individual particles, the release rate of salty whey protein particles after adding flocculants can be obtained. Combining the activity distribution with the propagation algebra, the flocculation activity analysis result is obtained. Experimental results show that this method can effectively reduce the error rate of the peak activity test, improve the reliability of the analysis of the flocculation activity of the ovarian animal whey protein particle solution, and has better stability and analysis effect than the traditional method.

In the present study, Ni/ZrO2 catalyst was synthesized via a co-precipitation approach, and its catalytic activity was evaluated in Combined Steam and Carbon dioxide Reforming of Methane (CSCRM) reaction at a temperature range of 773 K–1273 K, CO2:H2O ratio of 0.5-3 and (CO2 + H2O)/CH4 ratio of 0.5-3. The results demonstrated that the higher (CO2+H2O)/CH4 ratio and temperature were required for CH4 conversion of about 100%. The effect of CO2/H2O ratio was little on the CO and H2 yield. A (CO2+H2O)/CH4 ratio of 1.5 associated with CO2/H2O ratio of 0.5 at the minimum temperature of 1073 K was the required reaction condition for the synthesis gas (syngas) formation with H2/CO ratio of about 2. The temperature, type, and amount of the oxidizing agent greatly affected the amount of coke deposition. The least temperature of 1073 K and (CO2+H2O)/CH4 ratio higher than 1.5 irrespective of CO2:H2O ratio was obtained as proper operation conditions to avoid coke formation. Moreover, CO2 revealed a higher portion than H2O in coke formation in CSCRM reaction.

In this study, the effect of anionic and cationic surfactant solutions alone and in combination with silica AEROSIL® R 816 nanomaterial on the wettability alteration of carbonate rock reservoirs has been investigated. The nanofluid properties including stability, surfactant Critical Micelle Concentration (CMC), InterFacial Tension (IFT), and surfactant adsorption were studied in each case, and the synergistic effect of nanoparticles as adjacent particles along with surfactant molecules in the solution with respect to electrostatic and capillary forces has been discussed. The results show that nanoparticles generally reduce ST, CMC, and surfactant adsorption on the rock, and surfactant molecules significantly increase the stability of nanoparticles. Also, contact angle test results indicated an increase in the effect of the wettability alteration of stones in the surfactant solution by the nanoparticles from the lipophilic to the hydrophilic, and the nanopowder solution itself had the most ability to change the wettability. Finally, the results from the observations mentioned above were confirmed by performing an imbibition test based on drop experiments.

In this study, the effect of simultaneous employment of ultrasonic wave radiation, chemical substance of ionic liquid, and operating conditions of thermal cracking is investigated experimentally on upgrading the Atmospheric Residue (AR) of a crude oil atmospheric distillation tower. The five main factors of this process that are investigated are ionic liquid concentration, ultrasonic wave power, ultrasonic radiation time, temperature, and pressure. According to Box-Behnken Design, 46 experiments are conducted. Then, the proper experimental condition of this process is determined and hence, based on Multilevel Categoric Design the efficiency of seven different kinds of ionic liquids is compared. According to this design, 14 experiments are conducted. The results of 46 experiments conclude that this process is able to upgrade AR and even the simultaneous employment of ionic liquid, ultrasonic, and thermal cracking cause a synergistic effect on AR upgrading. Also, the results of 14 experiments indicate that 1-Propyl boronic acid-3-decylimidazolium bromide is a desirable ionic liquid for this process.