1,720,958 research outputs found

    Pilot-scale experiences with aerobic treatment and chemical processes of industrial wastewaters from electronics and semiconductor industry

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    TMAH is quaternary ammonium salt, consists of a methylated nitrogen molecule, and is widely used in the electronics industry as a developer and silicon etching agent. This substance is toxic and fatal if ingested. It can also cause skin burns, eye damage, and organ damage. Moreover, TMAH exhibits long-lasting toxicity to aquatic systems. Despite this known toxicity, the authorities currently do not provide emission limits (i.e., discharge concentrations) for wastewater by EU regulation. The current scenario necessitates the study of the processes for industrial wastewater containing TMAH. This work aims to present a successful example of the treatment process for the degradation of TMAH waste solutions of the E&S industry. Research was conducted at the pilot scale, and the process feasibility (both technical and economic) and its environmental sustainability are demonstrated. This process, which treats three exhausted solutions with a high concentration of toxic substances, is considered to be innovative

    Zero-liquid discharge treatment of wastewater from a fertilizer factory

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    This article describes the improvement of wastewater treatment in a fertilizer plant located in Central Italy (municipality of Vasto). In this facility, water is used for the removal of dust and fluorinated gases from the air. The resulting wastewater contains fluorides and phosphates in hazardous forms. Its treatment ordinarily does not result in a Zero-Liquid Discharge (ZLD) process. To achieve this purpose, several reagents were tested, focusing on the correlation linking pH, type of reagent and the effect on the separation of fluorides and phosphates from the wastewater. It was eventually found, and explained with a model, that hydrated lime at pH = 12 was so effective as a precipitating agent that phosphate and fluoride separation reached a value of 99.9%, thus allowing for reuse of the water in the plant process. Furthermore, phosphates and fluorides precipitated in a non-hazardous form, so that the material could also be recycled. In synthesis, wastewater treatment of the fertilizer plant was upgraded so that it became a ZLD process coupled with the recovery and recycling of fluorides and phosphates

    Treatment of waste water from a winery with an advanced oxidation process (AOP)

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    Producing wine entails the consumption of large quantities of fresh water, and consequently the production of large quantities of wastewater the treatability of which becomes increasingly difficult as purification standards get stringent, year after year. The problem is in the presence of aldehydes, phenolic compounds and detergents which are not easily broken down by the microorganisms of ordinary biological treatment. Wastewaters from wineries command high levels of Chemical Oxygen Demand (COD). In recent years research has focused on using Advanced Oxidation Processes (AOPs) as a means to abate the concentration of organic compounds and polluting contaminants, to render the wastewater suitable for ensuing biological treatment. The object of this study was to investigate how effective a particular type of AOP, the Fenton's reaction, could be as a pre-treatment step aimed at destroying the toxic and biologically stable organic contaminants to reduce the organic load on the ensuing biological treatment of the wastewater. In particular, our experiments showed that if oxidation with Fenton's reagents was followed by neutralization with lime and precipitation with bentonite, the COD reduction could be as high as 54%. Experimental tests were designed according to a 23 full factorial plan. Elaboration of results led to a model of COD reduction as a function of two significant factors. Finally, the flowsheet and the mass balance of the proposed process were defined

    Recovery of zinc from treatment of spent acid solutions from the pickling stage of galvanizing plants

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    Typical methods for the treatment of waste pickling solutions include precipitation by alkaline reagents, most commonly calcium hydroxide. As a result, large volumes of galvanic sludge form, containing iron, calcium, sulphates, and a relatively small quantity of zinc (<20%), making Zn recovery not profitable. In summary, state-of-the-art Zn galvanization processes entail the loss of valuable metals and the irrational and expensive handling of spent pickling solutions (SPSs). The resulting conclusion is that there is room for a significant improvement in the way SPSs are treated, with the double goal of enhancing Zn galvanization methods’ economic viability and achieving a lesser impact on the environment’s processes. The experimental results show that it is possible to use SPS as a coagulant to treat the process wastewaters, kept separated, and added with sodium hydroxide. The results in obtaining precipitates with Zn contents higher than 40%, increasing the added advantage of making Zn recovery profitable. The results show the possibility of using SPS as a coagulant in the process of physical-chemical wastewater treatment and sodium hydroxide to obtain a precipitate with a zinc content of more than 40%

    Going Beyond Counting First Authors in Author Co-citation Analysis

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    The present study examines one of the fundamental aspects of author co-citation analysis (ACA) - the way co-citation counts are defined. Co-citation counting provides the data on which all subsequent statistical analyses and mappings are based, and we compare ACA results based on two different types of co-citation counting - the traditional type that only counts the first one among a cited work's authors on the one hand and a non-traditional type that takes into account the first 5 authors of a cited work on the other hand. Results indicate that the picture produced through this non-traditional author co-citation counting contains more coherent author groups and is therefore considerably clearer. However, this picture represents fewer specialties in the research field being studied than that produced through the traditional first-author co-citation counting when the same number of top-ranked authors is selected and analyzed. Reasons for these effects are discussed

    Variations on the Author

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    “Variations on the Author” discusses two of Eduardo Coutinho’s recent films (Um Dia na Vida, from 2010, and Últimas Conversas, posthumously released in 2015) and their contribution to the general question of documentary authorship. The director’s filmography is characterized by a consistent yet self-effacing form of authorial self-inscription: Coutinho often features as an interviewer that rather than express opinions propels discourses; an interviewer that is good at listening. This mode of self-inscription characterizes him as an author who is not expressive but who is nonetheless markedly present on the screen. In Um Dia na Vida, however, Coutinho is completely absent form the image, while Últimas Conversas, on the contrary, includes a confessional prologue that moves the director from the margins to the center of his films. This article examines the ways in which these works stand out in the filmography of a director who offers new insights into the notion of cinematic authorship

    Appropriate Similarity Measures for Author Cocitation Analysis

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    We provide a number of new insights into the methodological discussion about author cocitation analysis. We first argue that the use of the Pearson correlation for measuring the similarity between authors’ cocitation profiles is not very satisfactory. We then discuss what kind of similarity measures may be used as an alternative to the Pearson correlation. We consider three similarity measures in particular. One is the well-known cosine. The other two similarity measures have not been used before in the bibliometric literature. Finally, we show by means of an example that our findings have a high practical relevance.information science;Pearson correlation;cosine;similarity measure;author cocitation analysis

    Dispelling the Myths Behind First-author Citation Counts

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    We conducted a full-scale evaluative citation analysis study of scholars in the XML research field to explore just how different from each other author rankings resulting from different citation counting methods actually are, and to demonstrate the capability of emerging data and tools on the Web in supporting more realistic citation counting methods. Our results contest some common arguments for the continued use of first-author citation counts in the evaluation of scholars, such as high correlations between author rankings by first-author citation counts and other citation counting methods, and high costs of using more realistic citation counting methods that are not well-supported by the ISI databases. It is argued that increasingly available digital full text research papers make it possible for citation analysis studies to go beyond what the ISI databases have directly supported and to employ more sophisticated methods
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