Multi-objective optimization of industrial styrene reactor is done using Harmony Search algorithm. Harmony search algorithm is a recently developed meta-heuristic algorithm which is inspired by musical improvisation process aimed towards obtaining the best harmony. Three objective functions – productivity, selectivity and yield are optimized to get best combination of decision variables for sty...

An insoluble, porous, amorphous, homochiral material based on a polypeptide titanium-phosphonate scaffold with an encapsulated achiral Mn(III)-salen was prepared and characterized. Consecutive epoxidation and hydration of styrene and its derivatives by aqueous hypochlorite in THF showed the highly enantioselective (>99%) formation of styrene diol derivatives.

On two occasions a 36-year-old man developed severe postural hypotension and neurological signs after working with a polyester resin canoe building kit in an unventilated shed. It is likely that his recurrent illness was caused by styrene intoxication. Postural hypotension secondary to styrene exposure has not previously been reported.

background: the measurement data regarding the influent and effluent of wastewater treatment plant (wwtp) provides a general overview, demonstrating an overall performance of wwtp. nevertheless, these data do not provide the suitable operational information for the optimization of individual units involved in a wwtp. a full-scale evolution of wwtp was carried out in this study via a reconciled ...

Attempts have been made for the first time to produce a friction material with thermal sensitive modulus by the inclusion of combined plastic/rubber properties of thermoplastic elastomers (TPE) as viscoelastic polymeric materials into the formulation for the purpose of increasing the damping behavior. In order to evaluate the viscoelastic parameters such as loss factor (tan δ) and elastic m...

Waste electrical and electronic equipment (WEEE) is growing rapidly, and the plastics within WEEE have an important role in fulfilling the recovery and recycling targets defined in the European WEEE Directive. This study considers recycling of WEEE plastics by making a blend of the different plastics instead of separating them. The mechanical and thermal properties can be enhanced by adding a c...

Styrene is a toxic pollutant commonly found in waste effluents from plastic processing industries. We herein identified and characterized microorganisms for bioconversion of the organic eco-pollutant styrene into a valuable biopolymer medium-chain-length poly(hydroxyalkanoate) (mcl-PHA). Twelve newly-isolated styrene-degrading Pseudomonads were obtained and partial phaC genes were detected by P...

The role of cobalt(II) complexes containing 2-formylpyrrolyl chelating ligands and phosphine ligands combined with a bromo-alkyl ester, an alkyl bromide or an azo compound in the formation of suitable initiator systems for vinyl monomer controlled radical polymerization was studied. The formation of syndiotactic-rich (Pr>0.7) poly(methyl methacrylate) (PMMA) and atactic (Pr=0.49) poly(styrene) ...

The effect of occupational exposure to styrene on frequencies of chromosomal aberrations and binucleated cells with micronuclei and on single-strand break levels in peripheral blood lymphocytes was studied in 86 reinforced plastic workers and 42 control individuals (including 16 maintenance workers with intermittent, low-dose exposure). In these individuals, the irradiation-specific DNA repair ...

A convenient and reliable gas chromatographic method was developed for the simultaneous determination of six aromatic acid metabolites of styrene and styrene-oxide in rat urine; i.e., benzoic (BA), phenylacetic (PAA), mandelic (MA), phenylglyoxylic (PGA), hippuric (HA) and phenylaceturic (PAUA) acids. The method involves a one-pot esterification-extraction procedure, performed directly on urine...