Pitch, analysis

Pasa V.M.D., Carazza F., Otani C. (1997) Wood tar pitch analysis and conceptual model of Its structure. In Developments in Thermochemical Bioma.ss Conversion (Ed. by A.V,Bridgwater, D.G.B.Boocock), 1, pp. 448-444617. Blackie Academic and Professional. 

The most popular tests for quantifying the general contamination of a paper machine system are COD (chemical oxygen demand), cationic demand and conductivity. For specific insights regarding pitch contaminants there are other useful tests. Turbidity of stock filtrate can serve to quantify the presence of colloidal dissolved material. Soxhlet extraction with dichloromethane (DCM) is commonly used for quantitative pitch analysis of deposit and paper samples. The hemacytometer is frequently used to measure dispersed pitch. An optical laser counter can... 

Pitch. For the solvent analysis of pitch, a number of methods have been proposed. The solvents may be used sequentially or a fresh sample may be used with each solvent. Either the least or the most powerflil solvent may be used first. The ratio of solvent to pitch or pitch fraction and the temperature and time of extraction vary. 

Elemental analysis was performed on various coals, pitches, and blends. Table 7 reports the elemental composition of products from WVGS 13407. Compared to the raw coal, the NMP-soluble extract (EXT) contams essentially the same amount of carbon, though there is slightly more hydrogen as mdicated by a... 

Coal tar pitch volatiles measurement of particulates and cyclohexane soluble material in air Lab method using filters and gravimetric analysis 68... 

These are semisolid or solid substances formed in nature from crude oils after the volatile components have evaporated and the remainder has undergone oxidation and polymerization. They are also referred to as bitumens, waxes, and pitch. These materials are believed to consist of mixtures of complex organic molecules of high molecular weight. As with crude oils, which contain thousands of different chemical compounds, an exact chemical analysis for identification and composition is impractical to perform on the solid deposits of petroleum. 

To highlight and explain the quantitative chemical differences between the pitches found in the two archaeological sites, a chemometric evaluation of the GC/MS data (normalized peak areas) by means of principal component analysis (PCA) was performed. The PCA scatter plot of the first two principal components (Figure 8.6) highlights that the samples from Pisa and Fayum are almost completely separated into two clusters and that samples from Fayum form a relatively compact cluster, while the Pisa samples are... 

To quantitatively characterize the PM populations using chiroptical characteristics, it may be useful to use the gabs values of 16 at each temperature with reference to the regression curve of these gabs values in 17, which is assumed to adopt a purely P 73-helical structure, instead of the Ae value. The analysis is based on the assumption that the weak temperature dependence of the ymax for 17 is due to a minute modification in the screw pitch of the P helix, rather than any formation of the M-helical motif. 

More recently, Smith et al. have developed another model based on spontaneous curvature.163 Their analysis is motivated by a remarkable experimental study of the elastic properties of individual helical ribbons formed in model biles. As mentioned in Section 5.2, they measure the change in pitch angle and radius for helical ribbons stretched between a rigid rod and a movable cantilever. They find that the results are inconsistent with the following set of three assumptions (a) The helix is in equilibrium, so that the number of helical turns between the contacts is free to relax, (b) The tilt direction is uniform, as will be discussed below in Section 6.3. (c) The free energy is given by the chiral model of Eq. (5). For that reason, they eliminate assumption (c) and consider an alternative model in which the curvature is favored not by a chiral asymmetry but by an asymmetry between the two sides of the bilayer membrane, that is, by a spontaneous curvature of the bilayer. With this assumption, they are able to explain the measurements of elastic properties. 

Sato et al.11 realized that for these lyotropic systems, whose phase boundaries have little temperature dependence, an investigation of the handedness in the widest possible temperature interval should be carried out. As the cholesteric handedness in a few cases is opposite at different temperatures, the data at a single temperature are meaningless. Using a simple thermodynamic analysis, they proposed a plot of the cholesteric wavenumber qc (the reciprocal pitch) as a function of the reciprocal temperature 1 IT [Eq. (1)]... 

However, further analysis of the behavior of the system in LC cells cast doubt on this interpretation. First, while intuitively attractive, the idea that relaxation of the polarization by formation of a helielectric structure of the type shown in Figure 8.20 would lower the free energy of the system is not correct. Also, in a thermodynamic helical LC phase the pitch is extremely uniform. The stripes in a cholesteric fingerprint texture are, for example, uniform in spacing, while the stripes in the B2 texture seem quite nonuniform in comparison. Finally, the helical SmAPF hypothesis predicts that the helical stripe texture should have a smaller birefringence than the uniform texture. Examination of the optics of the system show that in fact the stripe texture has the higher birefringence. 

Reunanen, M., Holmbom, B. and Edgren, T. (1993). Analysis of archaeological birch bark pitches. Holzforschung 47 175-177. 

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