Energy Studies, Volume 9, Number 2, November/December 1983 Page: 3
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DECo 01983
CES Update
* Office of
Director
Dr. Herbert H. Woodson, director
of the Center for Energy Studies,
has been selected to receive the
1984 Nikola Tesla Award from the
Institute of Electrical and Electron-
ics Engineers (IEEE).
The award and a $1,000 cash
prize will be presented to Dr.
Woodson at the winter meeting of
the IEEE Power Engineering Society
in Dallas February 1.
Dr. Woodson was cited for his
contributions to power generation
technology, particularly in supercon-
ducting generators and mag-
netohydrodynamic generators."
* A specialist in power systems
and electromechanics, Dr. Woodson
has written numerous articles and
two textbooks on these subjects
and holds four related patents. At
The University of Texas, he is direc-
* tor of the Center for Energy
Studies, director ad interim of the
Center for Fusion Engineering, as-
sociate director of the Center for
Electromechanics, and a professor
of electrical engineering. He holds
the Ernest H. Cockrell Chair in En-
* gineering.
Dr. Woodson is a member of the
National Academy of Engineering
and has received other awards, in-
cluding the Outstanding Power En-
gineering Educator Award from the
Edison Electric Institute and the
Joe J. King Professional Engineer-
ing Achievement Award from The
University of Texas.
The Tesla Award is named after
the Yugoslav-American inventor
Nikola Tesla, who originated the in-
duction motor and the multiphase
alternating current system for elec-
tricity that is the standard today.
Nuclear Studies
0
Nuclear Studies Division re-
searchers have identified and
tested a substance that allows
traces of heavy elements in water
to be more accurately measured.
- In the project, researchers experi-mented with trace amounts of
uranium, thorium, copper,
vanadium, molybdenum, zinc,
selenium, arsenic, and lead.
Dr. Dale Klein, head of the divi-
sion and of the UT Nuclear Engi-
neering Teaching Laboratory, said
that the substance is a synthetic
organic compound. It can be used
in environmental monitoring of wa-
ter, in exploring for uranium de-
posits, and in checking human
urine for radioactive trace elements.
The compound is called APDC,
which stands for ammonium 1-pyr-
rolidine-dithiocarbonate.
Dr. Klein said that the technique
for using APDC is simple and ap-
pears easy to adapt from the labora-
tory to the field.
The researchers studied concen-
trations of 0.2 to 200 parts per bil-
lion of the elements studied. These
are significant levels but extremely
dilute, Dr. Klein said, "pushing the
limits of detection." In fact, the
levels were so low that natural
background radiation interfered,
and a lead shield was constructed.
Previous work carried out by Mr.
Andre H. Pradzynski, a radiochem-
ist formerly in the Nuclear Engi-
neering Teaching Laboratory, first
indicated that APDC was effective
in precipitating (removing) heavy
elements for the purpose of analy-
sis by X-ray fluorescence spectros-
copy.
The most recent APDC project,
supported by the Center for Energy
Studies and carried out in the lab,
was the thesis project of mechan-
ical engineering graduate student
Mohammed Ally, supervised by Dr.
Klein. This research demonstrated
that APDC also performs well with
another leading form of trace ele-
ment analysis, instrumental neutron
activation analysis.
In the laboratory tests APDC,
combined with a zirconium carrier,
was found to be effective as a rea-
gent for precipitating these heavy
elements from water. Precipitation is
important because it gathers and
concentrates the otherwise ex-
tremely dilute contaminants. The
more effective the precipitate, the
more accurate the final measure-
ment, Dr. Klein said.
Other concentration methods-
3such as evaporation, filtration, or
solvent extraction-are not sensitive
enough.
In each test, measured amounts
of all the contaminants were added
to a container of pure, deionized
water. The pH of the solution was
adjusted, the precipitating material
stirred in, and the mixture left to
settle. The solution was filtered. The
thin layer of residue left on the filter
was air dried and then analyzed by
one of the two measurement tech-
niques. The final measurement was
compared with the original concen-
tration to determine its accuracy.
APDC extracted each of the nine
heavy elements, leaving less than
1/10 of a part per million of each.
Five other organic reagents studied
performed much less effectively.
Their detection limits were found to
be in the parts per million range.
Conservation
and Solar Energy
Dr. Bruce Hunn, head of the
Conservation and Solar Energy Divi-
sion, will give a CES Energy Brief-
ing at 4 p.m., December 7, in
Welch 2.312. The topic will be
"Passive/Hybrid Solar Heating,
Cooling, and Lighting of Build-
ings: Designing with the Cli-
mate." The public is invited to at-
tend.
Separations
Research Program
A formal research participation
agreement for the Separations Re-
search Program was approved
September 23 by the UT Austin ad-
ministration.
Dr. Jimmy L. Humphrey, program
manager, said the agreement has
been mailed to companies that
have expressed interest in sponsor-
ing the new program.
The aim of the Separations Re-
search Program is to carry out re-
search on separations processes of
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University of Texas at Austin. Center for Energy Studies. Energy Studies, Volume 9, Number 2, November/December 1983, periodical, November 1983; Austin, Texas. (https://texashistory.unt.edu/ark:/67531/metapth1032319/m1/3/: accessed July 17, 2024), University of North Texas Libraries, The Portal to Texas History, https://texashistory.unt.edu.; crediting UNT Libraries Government Documents Department.