Abstract In this work, a high limestone content waste was evaluated as a potential material for CO2 capture. The influence of calcination conditions on the CO2 capture capacity was evaluated using 5 cycles of calcination-hydration-carbonation reactions. A Central Composite Design of Experiments was set using calcination temperatures and time as variables. The response evaluated was the CO2 capture measured by thermogravimetric analysis. The results indicate that both calcination temperature and time influence the CO2 capture capacities in the initial cycles but, after a large number of cycles, the effect becomes less relevant. The optimum calcination temperature did not change significantly between cycles - about 893 °C in the first and 850 °C in the fourth cycle. However, the optimum calcination time decreased from 40.1 min in the first to 22.5 min in the fourth cycle. The maximum CO2 capture capacity declines over the reaction cycles due to the sorbent sintering, which becomes more noticeable. Moreover, the waste used in this work is suitable for separating CO2 from flue gas, achieving more than 0.2 g/g of capture capacity after five cycles.

Filtering hydrocyclone is a device that was developed and patented by the Particulate System Research Group at the Federal University of Uberlandia. This equipment consists of a hydrocyclone whose conical section is replaced by a conical filtering wall. Thus, during the operation of these devices, besides the underflow and overflow streams, there is another stream of liquid, resulting from the filtrate produced in the porous cone. In the present work, the influence of some geometric variables of a filtering hydrocyclone was analyzed by an experimental and CFD study. The geometric variables analyzed were underflow orifice diameter (D U) and vortex finder length (ℓ). Data from a conventional hydrocyclone of the same configuration were also obtained. The results indicated that the performance of hydrocyclones is significantly influenced by the conical filtering wall. The incorporation of the filtering medium decreased the Euler numbers and increased the total efficiency of the hydrocyclones. Depending on the specific functions of the separator (as a classifier or concentrator) the best values of D U and ℓ were also found for the filtering hydrocyclone.

Avaliou-se o efeito da fonte de fósforo usado como fertilizante do capim-mombaça (Panicum maximum Jacq. cv. Mombaça) sob pastejo, sobre a produção de material morto, material senescente e liteira, e sobre a concentração e a quantidade de minerais (N, P, K, Ca e Mg) no material morto. No experimento, realizado no período de dezembro/2003 a abril/2004, utilizaram-se os tratamentos: testemunha (sem aplicação de fósforo), superfosfato simples+superfosfato triplo e Yoorin, os últimos usados como fonte de fósforo. O manejo do pasto foi realizado com novilhos em pastejo contínuo e cargas variáveis. Utilizou-se o delineamento em blocos completos ao acaso, com três repetições. A produção de material morto, senescente, liteira e a percentagem de material morto não foram diferentes segundo a fonte de fósforo. A produção de material morto variou de 4.521 a 5.097kg ha-1. A concentração e a quantidade de N, K, Ca e Mg no material morto foram semelhantes entre os tratamentos, a quantidade e a concentração de P foram diferentes segundo a fonte de fósforo, variando de 2,16 a 5,04kg ha-1 e 0,52 a 1,01gk g-1, respectivamente. O uso das fontes de fósforos não afetou a produção de massa seca de liteira, material senescente, material morto e a concentração e quantidade de minerais do material morto.

The effects of phosphorus sources (Yoorin, simple superphosphate (SS) + triple superphosphate (TS)) of fertilizers of Mombaçagrass (Panicum maximum Jacq. cv. Mombaça) pasture were evaluated on the death and senescent material, litter production, and concentration and amount of minerals (N, P, K, Ca, and Mg) in the pasture, under grazing. The experiment was carried out from December/2003 to April/2004. The grazing method was the continuous stocking and variable stocking rate, and the animals were crossbred. The design was a randomized complete block with three replications. The phosphorus source did not have significant effect on the death and senescent material and litter production, but the death material production ranged from 4,521 to 5,097kg ha-1. The phosphorus source did not have significant effect on the amount and concentration of N, K, Ca, and Mg. However, the phosphorus amount and concentration were different, influenced by the phosphorous source, ranging from 2,16 to 5,04kg ha-1 and 0,52 to 1,01gkg-1, respectively. The use of the phosphorus sources did not change the litter, senescent and death production, and the concentration and amount of minerals in the death material.

O pH é um importante parâmetro para o controle do processo de produção de inúmeros insumos e produtos finais da indústria alimentícia, farmacêutica, petroquímica, entre outras. Assim, o uso de soluções tampão certificadas na calibração de medidores de pH é necessário para conferir confiabilidade às medições. Uma das missões da Divisão de Metrologia Química (Dquim) do Inmetro é a certificação de materiais de referência, no caso do pH, soluções tampão, utilizando o sistema primário de medições de pH implantado em 2003. A solução tampão de fosfato com valor nominal de pH igual a 6,865 será a primeira solução a ser certificada, sendo importante para isso o estudo de determinados parâmetros de medição, tais como: concentração de HCl e NaCl, potencial padrão do eletrodo de Ag/AgCl e temperatura. Neste trabalho, a influência de alguns parâmetros na medição exata da grandeza pH é discutida, valendo-se dos resultados obtidos pelo Inmetro com amostras da comparação SIM 8.11P, utilizando o sistema primário de medição de pH. Observou-se que a influência dos valores nominais e experimentais das concentrações de NaCl e HCl afetam o valor de pH em 0,33% e 0,11%, respectivamente, em comparação ao valor de consenso da comparação, utilizado como valor de referência.

pH is an important parameter to control the production of food, medicine, petrochemical products and others. Thus, standard reference materials used to calibrate pH meters are necessary to guarantee reliability of the measurements. The Chemical Metrology Division (Dquim) of the National Metrology Institute of Brazil (Inmetro) has as one of its missions the certification of standard reference materials. In the case of pH, it will be done by the pH primary measurement system of Inmetro, in operation at Dquim since 2003. The buffer solution of nominal pH value equal to 6.865 will be the first to be certified. The study of some measurement parameters has already been accomplished, and will lead to the improvement of the primary pH measurement. In this paper, the effect of NaCl and HCl concentrations on the primary pH measurement is discussed, based on the results obtained by Inmetro in the regional comparison SIM 8.11P.

Determination of the size distribution of solid particles is fundamental for analysis of the performance several pieces of equipment used for solid-fluid separation. The main objective of this work is to compare the results obtained with two traditional methods for determination of the size grade distribution of powdery solids: the gamma-ray attenuation technique (GRAT) and the LADEQ test tube technique. The effect of draining the suspension in the two techniques used was also analyzed. The GRAT can supply the particle size distribution of solids through the monitoring of solid concentration in experiments on batch settling of diluted suspensions. The results show that use of the peristaltic pump in the GRAT and the LADEQ methods produced a significant difference between the values obtained for the parameters of the particle size model.

The filtering hydrocyclone is a solid-liquid separation device patented by the Chemical Engineering Department at the Federal University of Uberlândia, which consists of a hydrocyclone whose conical section was replaced by a conical filtering wall. The objective of this work is to compare the performances of the filtering hydrocyclones designed by Bradley and by Rietema. The experimental results obtained with the filtering hydrocyclones under the same operational conditions as those used with the conventional device allow the conclusion that performance of the Bradley and Rietema types is significantly influenced by the filtering medium. Rietema's filtering hydrocyclones had a lower volumetric feed flowrate than the conventional device and Bradley's filtering hydrocyclones showed increases in this same variable. In both designs, overall efficiency was influenced by the underflow-to-throughput ratio.

The polymerization of poly (2- furyl) methylenesulfide -- POLYTHIOFURFURAL -- was performed in an 0.36 mol/L aqueous solution of furfuraldehyde, saturated by bubbling hydrogen sulfide for 2 h at different temperatures. The reaction product was thoroughly washed and dried at 40 °C under vacuum. Poly (2-furyl) methylenesulfyde is a yellow powder with a rather unpleasant odor. The polythiofurfural obtained [ -CH(C4H3O)-S-] is a furan with thiols end groups. These are active adsorption centers for metal ions. The polythiofurfural was soluble in acetone and chloroform and its yields attained 80%. Morphological analysis by Scanning Eletronic Microscopy indicates a regular and dense surface in an interesting spacial arrangement. Preliminary isotherms adsorption studies indicate specific affinity forNi (II) and Co (II) and different capacity adsorption, 0.022 and 0.045 mmol per gram, respectively.