Examples of Current Practice

A variety of problems, many based on data from the analytical literature, provide the student with practical examples of current research. 

Doubtless, the teacher of inorganic chemistry will include some topics and examples of current or personal interest that are not included in any textbook. That has always been my practice, and it provides an opportunity to show how the field is developing and new relationships. 

By far the most important use of amine salt extractants is in the recovery of uranium from acidic leach liquors. The basic process was developed at the Oak Ridge National Laboratory in the USA,195 and essentially similar processes are currently in operation throughout the world. Examples of plant practice in the USA,196 Canada,197 Australia,198 South Africa199 200 and South West Africa201 have been described. 

Another example of a practical battery, but one less commonly used, is the Edison cell. The active electrode materials consist of iron and nickel dioxide in contact with an electrolyte consisting of aqueous potassium hydroxide solution. Owing to its marked instability, the Ni02 changes spontaneously to Ni203 with liberation of oxygen. The reactions responsible for the flow of current are as follows ... 

The next chapter is a review of current practice in lubrication of internal combustion engines and lubricant design. The role of individual lubricant components and their use in mineral and synthetic formulations is covered. This is followed by a discussion of the tribochemical effects of additive interactions. The heart of the manuscript is chapters, "Tribochemical nature of antiwear film , "Surface tribochemistry and activated processes", and "Analytical techniques in lubricating practices". Topics covered include tribofilm formation, organomolybdenum compounds in surface protection, catalytic activity of rubbing surfaces, introduction of some techniques for evaluation of tribofilms composition and analytical techniques for evaluation of lubricant degradation. Examples of the application of basic concepts are introduced, eg., acidity and basicity in the process of lubricant deterioration. 

Fearon, A.M., Mayne, C.S. 2000. Modifying milk fat composition - An example of current technology in practice. In Milk Composition (R.E. Agnew, K.W. Agnew, A.M. Fearon, eds.), pp. 241-247, Occasional Publication No. 25, British Society of Animal Science, Belfast. 

This paper addresses the limited current state- of-art in laboratory robotics and compares it to current manufacturing practice. Important questions are "When is automation robotics ", "What is a robot anyway " and "Where does a robot fit in a laboratory environment. " Examples of current applications are reviewed and suggestions for future directions are presented. 

We consider a molecular description of solutions of one or more molecular components. An essential feature will be the complication of treating molecular species of practical interest since those chemical features are typically a dominating limitation of current work. Thus, liquids of atomic species only, and the conventional simple liquids, will only be relevant to the extent that they teach about molecular solutions. In this chapter, we will introduce examples of current theoretical, simulation, and experimental interest in order to give a feeling for the scope of the activity to be taken up. 

A few examples of leaching practice are presented with die aim of illustrating types of leaching processes rather than an extensive treatise of current practice. The general outline of ore types presented earlier will he followed. 

Qualitative flowsheets are given for the extraction and purification of all the rare metals discussed in earlier chapters. As far as possible the examples chosen are typical of current practice or of recently proposed processes. Each flowsheet presented begins with a mineral ore and ends with a pure metal, whereas in practice the various component operations are sometimes divided between two or more plants e.g. in the case of uranium, it is convenient to produce a concentrate containing about 70 per cent of the element near the minefield and to ship this to various refineries many thousands of miles away. Metal production may take place at the refinery, or in yet a third factory in association with subsequent metallurgical stages. 

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