Influence of applied voltage and conductive material in DIET promotion for methane generation

The utilization of biological-, electrode- and conductive material-mediated direct interspecies electron transfer (DIET) between exoelectrogenic bacteria and methanogenic archaea for enhancing methane productivity is widely reported in the literature. However, two cardinal questions are still controversial, i.e., which applied voltage value would be more recommended to enhance methane generation? and how the DIET over IIET has the upper hand in enhancing methane productivity? Herein, the influence of different applied voltages to promote biological-, conductive- and electrode-mediated DIET was investigated in MEC-AD reactors with conductive material. Polarized bioelectrodes induced electrode-mediated DIET (eDIET) and biological DIET (bDIET), in addition to cDIET (conductive material-mediated DIET), improved the methane yield to 315.40 mL/g COD_r with an applied voltage of 0.9 V. Whereas further increase of applied voltage 1.2 V, lessened methane production efficiency due to high-voltage inhibition and adverse effect on DIET promotion. The anaerobic digestion coupled microbial electrolysis cells with optimal electric potential selectively promotes the DIET through polarized electrodes were confirmed through microbial analysis. As the contribution of DIET increased to 80%, the methane yield increased, and the substrate residue decreased, resulting in a significant improvement in methane production.     

南水北调中线总干渠藻类的生态调度

南水北调中线总干渠无在线调蓄水库,对藻类生态调度过程中出现的问题开展生态调度实现策略和实施方式研究。主要实现策略包括:划定自身的调蓄区,隔离生态调度对下游的影响;采用高效的渠池运行方式,减少生态调度时蓄量的反复调整;综合考虑安全、快速、平稳等需求,设定生态调度实施进程和方式。具体实施方式包括:将总干渠划分为流速调控区、调蓄区和正常运行区,分别实施等体积、控制蓄量和闸前常水位方式运行;将生态调度过程划分为充水阶段和泄水阶段,基于流速调控目标值、持续时长和水位降幅约束条件,确定各阶段时长和各分区的闸门群调控方案等。基于2018年3月输水工况,采用明渠一维非恒定流模型,仿真总干渠上游15个渠池的藻类生态调度过程。结果表明,生态调度可在3.5 d内完成,各渠池的平均流速由0.48 m/s增至0.93 m/s,持续时间超过2 h。在整个生态调度过程中,水位变化平稳,水位变幅符合安全阈值要求,下游渠道的正常运行未受生态调度明显影响。     

Application of artificial neural network method to predict the breakage properties of PGE bearing chromite ore

In the present investigation, systematic grinding experiments were conducted in a laboratory ball mill to determine the breakage properties of low-grade PGE bearing chromite ore. The population balance modeling technique was used to study the breakage parameters such as primary breakage distribution (B_{i, j}) and the specific rates of breakage (S_i). The breakage and selection function values were determined for six feed sizes. The results stated that the breakage follows the first-order grinding kinetics for all the feed sizes. It was observed that the coarser feed sizes exhibit higher selection function values than the finer feed size. Further, an artificial neural network was used to predict breakage characteristics of low-grade PGE bearing chromite ore. The predicted results obtained from the neural network modeling were close to the experimental results with a correlation of determination R² = 0.99 for both product size and selection function.     

Experimental and numerical investigations on the heat production and thermal storage characteristics of rapid preparation amorphous powder activated coke

The heat production and thermal storage characteristics of rapid-preparation amorphous powder activated coke (RAC) were investigated. RAC was prepared by using a drop-tube reactor system. The natural oxidation characteristics of RAC were studied through combined TG–FTIR analysis and temperature-programmed experiment. Experimental results showed that CO and CO₂ were the main oxidation products of RAC in air, and that the oxidation reaction was in accordance with the Arrhenius equation and law of mass action. Thermal storage characteristics were studied through computational fluid dynamics simulation. The maximum excess temperature θ_max increases linearly with the increase of the initial temperature. The concentration fields of the products show that CO₂ is mainly concentrated in the upper part of the coke bin, and the CO generated by CO₂ at high temperature is mainly concentrated in the central part of the coke bin.     

Magnetic properties,phase evolution,hollow structure and biomedical application of hematite (α-Fe2O3) and QUAIPH

We investigate synthesis, phase evolution, hollow and porous structure and magnetic properties of quasi-amorphous intermediate phase (QUAIPH) and hematite (α-Fe₂O₃) nanostructure synthesized by annealing of akaganeite (β-FeOOH) nanorods. It is found that the annealing temperature determines the phase composition of the products, the crystal structure/size dictates the magnetic properties whereas the final nanorod morphology is determined by the starting material. Annealing of β-FeOOH at ～300 °C resulted in the formation of hollow QUAIPH nanorods. The synthesized material shows low-cytotoxicity, superparamagnetism and good transverse relaxivity, which is rarely reported for QUAIPH. The QUAIPH nanorods started to transform to porous hematite nanostructures at ～350 °C and phase transformation was completed at 600 °C. During the annealing, the crystal structure changed from monoclinic (akaganeite) to quasi-amorphous and rhombohedral (hematite). Unusually, the crystallite size first decreased (akaganeite → QUAIPH) and then increased (QUAIPH → hematite) during annealing whereas the nanorods retained particle shape. The magnetic properties of the samples changed from antiferromagnetic (akaganeite) to superparamagnetic with blocking temperature T_B = 84 K (QUAIPH) and finally to weak-ferromagnetic with the Morin transition at T_M = 244 K and high coercivity H_C = 1652 Oe (hematite). The low-cytotoxicity and MRI relaxivity (r₂ = 5.80 mM^?1 s^?1 (akaganeite), r₂ = 4.31 mM^?1 s^?1 (QUAIPH) and r₂ = 5.17 mM^?1 s^?1 (hematite)) reveal potential for biomedical applications.     

基于平均飞行航迹的CCO减噪效用研究

近年来，通过优化飞行程序降低机场飞机噪声影响成为机场环境保护的重要研究方向。文章首先建立了基于飞机“噪声-功率-距离”数据的噪声计算模型，介绍了平均飞行航迹以及连续爬升运行(Continuous Climb Opera-tion, CCO)离场程序的相关理论，最后以大型国际机场为实例，使用飞机平均飞行航迹进行噪声预测，运用综合噪声模型计算出噪声影响面积并绘制噪声影响等值线图，比较了CCO离场相对常规的标准仪表离场(Standard Instru-ment Departure, SID)的降噪效果。结果表明，CCO离场程序可有效降低机场噪声影响，在高噪声级影响区域的降噪效果更佳。     

Firs-principles investigation of ZrCo and its hydrides

The electronic structures of Zr₈Co₈ and its hydrides have been systematically investigated using the first-principles calculation based on density functional theory. Additionally, the influence of the Ti and Hf doping on the atomic bonding properties of Zr₈Co₈ and its hydrides (Zr₇HfCo₈, Zr₇HfCo₈H, Zr₁₆Co₁₅HfH₄₈, Zr₇TiCo₈, Zr₇TiCo₈H, and Zr₁₆Co₁₅TiH₄₈ compounds) were also studied to provide new insights into the hydrogenation of Zr₈Co₈. The Ti and Hf atoms were occupied the Zr position in the ZrCo alloy, while they were occupied the Co position in the Zr₁₆Co₁₆H₄₈ system. Ti and Hf doping could achieve the purpose of anti-disproportionation. Ti and Hf could weak the Zr–Co bond for the improvement of the hydrogenation performance of Zr₈Co₈, and the covalence of the Co–H bond was higher than that of the Zr–H bond. The existence of a Co–H covalent bond in the crystal is conducive to the hydrogen absorption of Zr₈Co₈ to form Zr₁₆Co₁₆H₄₈. Inhibition of Co–H interaction during Zr₈Co₈ hydrogenation can accelerate the formation of Zr₈Co₈H for the improvement of its hydrogenation performance.     

Hydrogen wettability in carbonate reservoirs: Implication for underground hydrogen storage from geochemical perspective

Hydrogen has been considered as a promising renewable source to replace fossil fuels to meet energy demand and achieve net-zero carbon emission target. Underground hydrogen storage attracts more interest as it shows potential to store hydrogen at large-scale safely and economically. Meanwhile, wettability is one of the most important formation parameters which can affect hydrogen injection rate, reproduction efficiency and storage capacity. However, current knowledge is still very limited on how fluid-rock interactions affect formation wettability at in-situ conditions. In this study, we thus performed geochemical modelling to interpret our previous brine contact angle measurements of H₂-brine-calcite system. The calcite surface potential at various temperatures, pressures and salinities was calculated to predict disjoining pressure. Moreover, the surface species concentrations of calcite and organic stearic acid were estimated to characterize calcite-organic acid electrostatic attractions and thus hydrogen wettability. The results of the study showed that increasing temperature increases the disjoining pressure on calcite surface, which intensifies the repulsion force of H₂ against calcite and increases the hydrophilicity. Increasing salinity decreases the disjoining pressure, leading to more H₂-wet and contact angle increment. Besides, increasing stearic acid concentration remarkably strengthens the adhesion force between calcite and organic acid, which leads to more hydrophobic and H₂-wet. In general, the results from geochemical modelling are consistent with experimental observations that decreasing temperature and increasing salinity and organic acid concentration increase water contact angle. This work also demonstrates the importance of involving geochemical modelling on H₂ wettability assessment during underground hydrogen storage.     

Real time power management strategy for fuel cell hybrid electric bus based on Lyapunov stability theorem

The fuel cell/battery durability and hybrid system stability are major considerations for the power management of fuel cell hybrid electric bus (FCHEB) operating on complicated driving conditions. In this paper, a real time nonlinear adaptive control (NAC) with stability analyze is formulated for power management of FCHEB. Firstly, the mathematical model of hybrid power system is analyzed, which is established for control-oriented design. Furthermore, the NAC-based strategy with quadratic Lyapunov function is set up to guarantee the stability of closed-loop power system, and the power split between fuel cell and battery is controlled with the durability consideration. Finally, two real-time power management strategies, state machine control (SMC) and fuzzy logic control (FLC), are implemented to evaluate the performance of NAC-based strategy, and the simulation results suggest that the guaranteed stability of NAC-based strategy can efficiently prolong fuel cell/battery lifespan and provide better fuel consumption economy for FCHEB.     

Effects of four multi-compound freezing medium on the quality of red drum (Sciaenops ocellatus) during frozen storage

Taking air freezing (AF) as the reference, the effects of four types of multi-compound freezing medium for cryogenic liquid quick-freezing (immersion freezing, IF) on the freezing rate, quality and myofibrillar protein (MP) denaturation of red drum (Sciaenops ocellatus) fillets during frozen storage (−18°C) from days 0 to 90 were studied. Samples were gathered on days 0, 15, 30, 45, 60 and 90 for analysis. The results showed that IF groups (IF-1: 20% ethanol, 30% propylene glycol, 10% sodium chloride aqueous solution; IF-2: 20% ethanol, 20% propylene glycol, 10% glycerol, 10% sodium chloride aqueous solution; IF-3: 20% ethanol, 20% propylene glycol, 10% polyethylene glycol, 10% sodium chloride aqueous solution; IF-4: 20% ethanol, 20% propylene glycol, 5% glycerol, 5% polyethylene glycol, 10% sodium chloride aqueous solution) significantly shortened the time to cross the formation zone of maximum ice crystals while the freezing rate was 6.13 times higher than the AF group after adding 30% propylene glycol as the freezing medium. Furthermore, compared with the AF group, the IF groups significantly reduced losses in the water-holding capacity, the myofibrillar fragmentation index, microstructure damage, texture characteristics, drip loss and water migration (P < 0.05). In addition, the MP of IF groups had higher maximum transition temperatures (T_max1 and T_max2), total sulfhydryl content, Ca²⁺-ATPase activity and relative α-helix content compared with the AF group. In conclusion, IF could significantly increase the freezing rate of red drum fillets, and slow down quality deterioration and denaturation of MP during frozen storage for 90 days (−18°C). In particular, IF-2 (20% ethanol, 20% propylene glycol, 10% glycerol, 10% sodium chloride aqueous solution) was found to be more suitable for the immersion freezing of marine fish among the four multi-compound freezing medium.