Thermoelectric Power Plants: Operation, Impact, and Innovations
Thermoelectric Power Plant Operation
From the coal storage site, coal is placed on a conveyor belt and moved into a hopper that feeds the crushing mill, where it is converted into a fine powder to facilitate combustion. The coal dust is mixed with preheated air and injected into burners in the boiler, where combustion occurs. The heat of combustion heats water in pipes, producing steam. A superheater removes moisture and increases the temperature. The steam expands in the various bodies of the turbine.
Read MoreTitanium: Properties, Characteristics, and Medical Uses
Introduction
Titanium is a chemical element (Ti), located in the group of transition metals. This metal is very light, 50% lighter than steel (a metal it competes against in technical applications). Titanium has a high resistance to corrosion and high mechanical strength, but is much more expensive than steel, which limits its industrial use.
It is a very abundant metal in nature. It is estimated to be the ninth most abundant, but not in a pure state. It is found in the form of oxides in the slag
Read MoreSolutions and Mixtures: Types, Properties, and Separation
Solutions: Properties and Characteristics
A solution is a homogeneous mixture of two or more components. It is indistinguishable to the naked eye and has a uniform composition.
The components of a solution are the solute and the solvent.
- Solute: The substance that is dissolved and is present in a smaller quantity.
- Solvent: The substance that dissolves the solute and is present in a greater quantity.
Solubility is the maximum amount of solute that can be dissolved in a fixed amount of solvent at a given
Read MoreHeterogeneous Reactors & Electrochemical Processes
Reactors
1. Length of Residence, Space-Time, and Space Velocity: Definition, Significance, and Relationship
Residence time: The interval that an element of fluid spends inside the reactor. For an ideal plug flow reactor (PFR), the residence time is the same for all elements of the effluent fluid. It is calculated as:
Tr = Vr / Vf
- Where:
- Tr = Residence time
- Vr = Reactor volume
- Vf = Volumetric flow rate of fluid
Space-time: Reactor volume divided by the volumetric flow rate of fluid, taking the proper dimensions.
Read MoreHuman History and Material Science: From Stone to Polymers
ITEM 7. Humans and Materials
7.1 The First Materials
A. It All Started with a Couple of Stones
It is estimated that the beginning of the use of materials made by man was about 2.5 billion years ago. The Stone Age was followed by the Bronze Age and the Iron Age.
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Stone Age
Edged stones were refined, and eventually, axes, arrows, spears, knives, and many other tools appeared that facilitated their daily activities. The Stone Age was born, and so was technology.
Humans worked in tunnels and caves to find
Atomic Theory: From Dalton to Bohr and Beyond
Dalton’s Atomic Theory
Dalton’s atomic theory states that:
- All matter is made up of atoms.
- Atoms are indivisible and indestructible.
- All atoms of a given element are identical in mass and properties.
- Compounds are formed by a combination of two or more different kinds of atoms.
- A chemical reaction is a rearrangement of atoms.
Atoms
Atoms are the smallest particles of everything. There are three basic parts of an atom: electrons, protons, and neutrons. The thing that makes each of those elements different
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