High-Performance BaTiO3 Film Based on Aqueous Tape Casting for Ultrathin MLCC Applications

Environment-friendly aqueous tape-casting are proposed as an inevitable tendency for producing a high-quality BaTiO3-based film in the development of ultra-thin multilayer ceramic capacitors. In this study, aqueous BaTiO3 suspension with high solids loading produced by using polycarboxylate ammonium salt APC (dispersant), proprietary acrylic formulation binder solution WB4101 (binder), and acrylic resin PL002 (plasticizer), respectively. It is demonstrated that the green density, tensile strength, and strain at failure of the 9.5-μm-thin BaTiO3 tape achieves 3.65 g/cm3, 7.65 MPa, and 11%, respectively. In particular, the capacitance and dielectric loss of BaTiO3-based MLCC chips at room temperature are found to be approximately 28 nF and 0.02 compatible with Pt electrodes. Additionally, the TCC, ferroelectric hysteresis loops, change of dielectric constants versus DC-BIAS field, and evolution of electrical resistivity under accelerated DC stressing of BaTiO3-based MLCC are studied. The results provide an effective method for the future improvement in aqueous MLCC applications.

A high solids field-to-fuel research pipeline to identify interactions between feedstocks and biofuel production

Background Environmental factors, such as weather extremes, have the potential to cause adverse effects on plant biomass quality and quantity. Beyond adversely affecting feedstock yield and composition, which have been extensively studied, environmental factors can have detrimental effects on saccharification and fermentation processes in biofuel production. Only a few studies have evaluated the effect of these factors on biomass deconstruction into biofuel and resulting fuel yields. This field-to-fuel evaluation of various feedstocks requires rigorous coordination of pretreatment, enzymatic hydrolysis, and fermentation experiments. A large number of biomass samples, often in limited quantity, are needed to thoroughly understand the effect of environmental conditions on biofuel production. This requires greater processing and analytical throughput of industrially relevant, high solids loading hydrolysates for fermentation, and led to the need for a laboratory-scale high solids experimentation platform. Results A field-to-fuel platform was developed to provide sufficient volumes of high solids loading enzymatic hydrolysate for fermentation. AFEX pretreatment was conducted in custom pretreatment reactors, followed by high solids enzymatic hydrolysis. To accommodate enzymatic hydrolysis of multiple samples, roller bottles were used to overcome the bottlenecks of mixing and reduced sugar yields at high solids loading, while allowing greater sample throughput than possible in bioreactors. The roller bottle method provided 42–47% greater liquefaction compared to the batch shake flask method for the same solids loading. In fermentation experiments, hydrolysates from roller bottles were fermented more rapidly, with greater xylose consumption, but lower final ethanol yields and CO2 production than hydrolysates generated with shake flasks. The entire platform was tested and was able to replicate patterns of fermentation inhibition previously observed for experiments conducted in larger-scale reactors and bioreactors, showing divergent fermentation patterns for drought and normal year switchgrass hydrolysates. Conclusion A pipeline of small-scale AFEX pretreatment and roller bottle enzymatic hydrolysis was able to provide adequate quantities of hydrolysate for respirometer fermentation experiments and was able to overcome hydrolysis bottlenecks at high solids loading by obtaining greater liquefaction compared to batch shake flask hydrolysis. Thus, the roller bottle method can be effectively utilized to compare divergent feedstocks and diverse process conditions.

Exceeding Technical Limit for Drilling and Completing Complex Wells by using an Optimized Flat-Rheology Mud Formulation: A Comprehensive Overview

Horizontal sections drilled in conditions that require high mud densities to prevent wellbore collapse are very challenging from both drilling engineering and drilling fluid management point of views. Due to drilling complications, nonaqueous fluids (NAFs) are the best suitable drilling fluids of choice for drilling complex and long horizontal sections. From the other side, as nonacid soluble weighting materials cannot be used while drilling some reservoir sections, which are completed with open screens in open hole, using calcium carbonate is the most economical and best preferred acid soluble/nondamaging option to formulate these fluids. When the density requirements reach above 90 lb/ft3 (12 lb/gal) while using calcium carbonate in the NAFs, fluid formulations exhibit high rheological values due to excessive solids. High solids loading and improper fluids engineering in these high-density ranges lead to hole instability and differential sticking issues in addition to extreme difficulties in managing completions screens runs. These challenges can severely limit the well depth or increase the operation time, impacting profitability of whole project; failing to tackle even one of them could result in catastrophic failure. To overcome above associated challenges, a flexible novel flat rheology invert emulsion system formulation was introduced, which was customized for sustaining high solids loading while maintaining its signature flat-rheology profile. This system uses new technology emulsifier and rheology modifier package for achieving flat-rheology independent of temperature and pressure changes. The fluid formulation was implemented in the area by loading the mud system with more than 330 pounds per barrel of calcium carbonate for reaching densities up to 99 lb/ft3 (13.25 lb/gal). This paper will present a comprehensive overview of novel technology, the steps taken from planning to execution, the overall performance-based results, the cost effectiveness of the new solution, and the challenges during implementation. The troubleshooting steps taken are also discussed for all the challenges that occurred while drilling.

Direct Ink Writing of Cellulose - plasticized Aqueous Ceramic Slurry for YAG Transparent Ceramics

Additive manufacturing based on direct ink writing (DIW) opens a novel means to prepare transparent ceramics, which can comprise of both complex structures and multiple functional phases. However, there still remains a vital challenge to obtain a stable and printable aqueous ceramic slurry with high solids loading, which is important for forming high quality transparent ceramics. Therefore, we report a fabrication method by using celluloses for enhancing the plasticity of the aqueous YAG ceramic slurry with high solids loading up to 52 vol. %, by which both of the printability of ceramic slurries and the optical quality of transparent ceramics have been considerably improved. In the example, the in-line transmittance at 1064 nm for a 1.2 mm thick YAG ceramic can approach about 81.5%. This research provides a facile DIW method for preparing transparent ceramic from water - based slurry.

Intensification of Xylo-oligosaccharides Production by Hydrothermal Treatment of Brewer’s Spent Grains: Use of Extremely Low Acid Catalyst for Reduction of Degradation Products Associated With High Solids Loading

Brewers’ spent grains (BSG) make up to 85% of a brewery’s solid waste, and is either sent to landfill or sold as cheap animal feed supplement. Xylo-oligosaccharides (XOS) obtained from BSG are antioxidants and prebiotics that can be used in food formulations as low-calorie sweeteners and texturisers. The effect of extremely low acid (ELA) catalysis in liquid hot water (LHW) hydrothermal treatment (HTT) was assessed using BSG with dry matter contents of 15% and 25%, achieved by dewatering using a screw press. Batch experiments at low acid loadings of 5, 12.5 and 20 mg/g dry mass and temperatures of 120, 150 and 170 °C significantly affected XOS yield at both levels of dry mass considered. Maximum XOS yields of 76.4% (16.6 g/l) and 65.5% (31.7 g/l) were achieved from raw BSG and screw pressed BSG respectively, both at 170 °C and using 5 mg acid/g dry mass, after 15 min and 5 min, respectively. These XOS yields were obtained with BSG containing up to 63% less water and temperatures more than 20 °C lower than that reported previously. The finding confirms that ELA dosing in LHW HTT allows lowering of the required temperature that can result in a reduction of degradation products, which is especially relevant under high solids conditions. This substantial XOS production intensification through higher solids loadings in HTT, not only achieved high product yield, but also provided benefits such as increased product concentrations and decreased process heat requirements.

One-pot ethanol production under optimized pretreatment conditions using agave bagasse at high solids loading with low-cost biocompatible protic ionic liquid

Agave bagasse (AG) is used as potential bioenergy feedstock due to its high biomass productivity, even in semiarid lands. In particular, Ionic liquid (IL) pretreatment using aprotic ILs (AILs) has...