Kinetics study of solid ammonia borane hydrogen release--modeling and experimental validation for chemical hydrogen storage.

Ammonia borane (AB), NH3BH3, is a promising material for chemical hydrogen storage with 19.6 wt% gravimetric hydrogen capacity of which maximum 16.2 wt% hydrogen can be released via an exothermic thermal decomposition below 200 °C. We have investigated the kinetics of hydrogen release from AB and from an AB-methyl cellulose (AB/MC) composite at temperatures of 160-300 °C using both experiments and modeling. The hydrogen release rate at 300 °C is twice as fast as at 160 °C. The purpose of our study was to show safe hydrogen release without thermal runaway effects and to validate system model kinetics. AB/MC released hydrogen at ∼20 °C lower than neat AB and at a faster release rate in that temperature range. Based on the experimental results, the kinetics equations were revised to better represent the growth and nucleation process during decomposition of AB. We explored two different reactor concepts; auger and fixed bed. The current auger reactor concept turned out to not be appropriate, however, we demonstrated safe self-propagation of the hydrogen release reaction of solid AB/MC in a fixed bed reactor.

Ultraviolet (UV) Raman spectroscopy study of the Soret effect in high-pressure CO2-water solutions.

Spatially resolved deep-ultraviolet (UV) Raman spectroscopy was applied to solutions of CO(2) and H(2)O or D(2)O subject to a temperature gradient in a thermally regulated high-pressure concentric-tube Raman cell in an attempt to measure a Soret effect in the vicinity of the critical point of CO(2). Although Raman spectra of solutions of CO(2) dissolved in D(2)O, at 10 MPa and temperatures near the critical point of CO(2), had adequate signal-to-noise and spatial resolution to observe a Soret effect with a Soret coefficient with magnitude |S(T)| > 0.03, no evidence for an effect of this size was obtained for applied temperature gradients up to 19 °C. In contrast, the concentration of CO(2) dissolved in H(2)O was shown to vary significantly across the temperature gradient when excess CO(2) was present, but the results could be explained simply by the variation in CO(2) solubility over the temperature range and not by kinetic factors. For mixtures of D(2)O dissolved in scCO(2) at 10 MPa and temperatures close to the critical point of CO(2), the Raman peaks for D(2)O were too weak to measure with confidence even at the limit of D(2)O solubility.

Use of novel compounds for pest control: insecticidal and acaricidal activity of essential oil components from heartwood of Alaska yellow cedar.

Laboratory bioassays were conducted to determine the activity of 15 natural products isolated from essential oil components extracted from the heartwood of Alaska yellow cedar, Chamaecyparis nootkatensis (D. Don) Spach., against Ixodes scapularis Say nymphs, Xenopsylla cheopis (Rothchild), and Aedes aegypti (L.) adults. Four of the compounds from the essential oil have been identified as monoterpenes, five as eremophilane sesquiterpenes, five as eremophilane sesquiterpene derivatives from valencene and nootkatone, and one as a sesquiterpene outside the eremophilane parent group. Carvacrol was the only monoterpene that demonstrated biocidal activity against ticks, fleas, and mosquitoes with LC50 values after 24 h of 0.0068, 0.0059, and 0.0051% (wt:vol), respectively. Nootkatone from Alaska yellow cedar was the most effective of the eremophilane sesquiterpenes against ticks (LC50 = 0.0029%), whereas the nootkatone grapefruit extract exhibited the greatest biocidal activity against fleas (LC50 = 0.0029%). Mosquitoes were most susceptible to one of the derivatives of valencene, valencene-13-aldehyde (LC50 = 0.0024%), after 24 h. Bioassays to determine residual activity of the most effective products were conducted at 1, 2, 4, and 6 wk after initial treatment. Residual LC50 values for nootkatone did not differ significantly at 4 wk posttreatment from the observations made at the initial 24-h treatment. The ability of these natural products to kill arthropods at relatively low concentrations represents an alternative to the use of synthetic pesticides for control of disease vectors.

Control of immature Ixodes scapularis (Acari: Ixodidae) on rodent reservoirs of Borrelia burgdorferi in a residential community of southeastern Connecticut.

A 3-yr community-based study was conducted on residential properties on Mason's Island, Mystic, CT, to determine the efficacy of a rodent-targeted acaricide (fipronil) to control immature Ixodes scapularis (Say) on Peromyscus leucopus. Results indicated that modified commercial bait boxes were effective as an acaricide delivery method for reducing nymphal and larval tick infestations on white-footed mice by 68 and 84%, respectively. Passive application of fipronil significantly reduced the infection rate of Borrelia burgdorferi among white-footed mice by 53%. Moreover, the abundance of questing I. scapularis adults on treated properties was reduced by 77% and fewer were infected with spirochetes (31%) compared with untreated sites (47%) after 3 yr of treatment. Likewise, the abundance of host-seeking nymphs was significantly reduced on treated properties by >50%. Finally, infection rates in flagged nymphal ticks for both B. burgdorferi and Anaplasma phagocytophilum were reduced by 67 and 64%, respectively, after only 2 yr of treatment. Results from this 3-yr trial indicate that the use of fipronil passively applied to reservoir animals by bait boxes is an environmentally acceptable means to control ticks, interrupt the natural disease transmission cycle, and reduce the risk of Lyme disease for residents of treated properties.

Genetic and ecologic characteristics of Bartonella communities in rodents in southern China.

Ecologic and bacteriologic observations of small mammals captured in Yunnan Province in the People's Republic of China indicated that Bartonella infections occurred at a high prevalence among some rodent species. Sequence analyses of the citrate synthase genes of these Bartonella demonstrated that rodents in this region harbored a diverse assemblage of strains. The Bartonella isolates obtained from Apodemus, Eothenomys, and Rattus typically clustered separately by genus of rodent host. Cultures obtained from Rattus rats were genetically related to Bartonella elizabethae, a recognized human pathogen. The finding of Bartonella species in a high proportion of the rodent samples from Yunnan suggests the need to investigate whether these agents might be responsible for cases of febrile illnesses of unknown etiology in southern China and elsewhere in southeastern Asia.