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SCIENCE BRIEFS
Process for Cheaper, Stronger Rayon
A new chemical process that makes a strong, silk-like fibre from sources as varied as corn and wheat stalks, straw and wood pulp can also be used lo make a lough new rayon, according lo a chemical engineer in the United Slates, reports Chemical Engineering Progress.
At the heart of this process lo make fiber from low-grade cellulose is zinc chloride, says Dr. Li Fu Chen. “For Ihc first lime, we can make fibre from almost any source of cellulose, even from office waste paper." the Journal has quoted him as saying
Cellulose is a chain of sugar molecules that makes up producls such as wood and paper. Rayon is formed by separating out the chains and forming them into fibres.
Before Chen's process was developed, rayon could be made from high-quality cellulose with very long chains. In addition lo cloth, rayon is used in cords and industrial products.
Although the melhxl of using zinc chloride lo extract fibre from cellulose was discovered more than a century ago, the fid res produced were not strong enough to use. According lo Chen, his process produces a fibre that is several times stronger than present day rayon.
11c says his process has several advantages over standard ways or producing fiber from cellulose. It can use cellulose from any source. Currently only high quality wood pulp can be used to make rayon.
The new process is much faster and cheaper than methods now used. It allows almost instantaneous production of fiber compared with current methods that can take upto 18 hours. Because the process can use almost any pulp source, the raw materials are much cheaper.
The method produces a fibre that Is free of chemical residue. This would allow the fibre to be used for food packaging. Testing of the process has begun by one large Tennessee manufacturer. Chen says if the tests arc successful, low cost rayon could make its way to consumers wilhin five
On the industrial level, Chen says he foresee* the fibres being used to make an expensive form of graphite or carbon fibre material. This
material. known for its strength and light-weight, currently is used to make products as diverse as plane parts to tennis rackets.
Process Promises to Ease
Sludge Disposal
A process that reduces the volume of toxic petroleum wastes by 85 per cent or more while recovering valuable oil has been developed and patented by researchers at Battelle's Pacific North west Laboratories In the United Stales, reports Chemical Engineering Progress.
Battelle's petroleum sludge treatment process (PST) involves heating the sludge under high pressure. The emulsion breaks apart at relatively low temperatures of 350 degrees F and separates the sludge into three distinct layers of oil. water and solids.
The separation occurs rapidly within a single vessel. The oil and water then can be recycled, leaving only the solids for disposal. The solids remain toxic because of the chromium and lead content, but the amount that must be treated and contained can be reduced by 85 per cent to 95 per cent, according to laboratory test results.
With the PST system, liatlclfe estimates Ihat disposal costs can be cut to Just onefifth lo one-tenth the cost of traditional methods. In fact, the process might be able lo pay for itself because between 10 per cent and 40 per cent of the sludge is oil that can be recovered and returned' to the refinery, the journal said.
The separation process was discovered when researchers added heal and pressure to petroleum sludgctn hopes of producing methane gas. This method did not produce gas, but scientists noticed thal the sludge had separated into three separate layers.
Batlllc has completed bench scale tests on petroleum industry sludge samples in an autoclave and this work resulted In the patent issued last November. The scientists now hope to build a demonstration plant. The journal has quoted a Battelle spokesman as saying that the process also shows promise for oil spill cleanup and treatment and reducing wastes from oil production op-
Fungi Help Recover Metal From Contaminated Water
French scientists have developed a new technique that
uses filamentous fungi biomass lo recover heavy metals from waler, according lo a report in French Technology Survey.
Some filamentous fungi have the property of trapping metallic cations in an aqueous solution even in the form of dead biomass — a consequence of their special wall composition.
Many fermentation industries producing organic acids, antibiotics or enzymes from the culture of filamentous fun-gircject mycelium sludge which arc difficult lo process and for which no attractive use has been found ycl.
Now research conducted at the molecular and structural biology department of Ihc French atomic energy commission employed the mould rhipus arrhizus (mucorale) In which the cell walls contain many anionic sites such as amines, carboxyl and hydroxyl
groups particularly phosphates.
The biomass of rhizopus arrhizus can adsorb between 30 and 130 mg of cadmium per gram of dry matter, depending on the treatment applied and the acidity, the report said. The report said just 1.5 kg of mycelium powder could be used to recover metals from one tonne of water loaded with five grams of cadmium.
Microbes Might Help Protect Buildings
Scientists In France have-shown that certain microorganisms might find use in the protection of buildings, according to a report in French Technology Survey.
Research at the geomicrobiology laboratory at the University of Paris led to the production of chalky substances by growing bacteria extracted from natural growths In suitable nutrient, media. —PTI.