Investigation of the ultimate particle size distribution of a carbonate sand

A series of ring shear tests were conducted to investigate the ultimate particle size distribution of a carbonate sand. The tests were carried out under different stress levels, on three types of specimens: 1) uniformly graded specimens made of dry natural sand 2) remoulded specimens of the crushed sand after first shearing to large strains 3) specimens made of natural sand grains but with the same grading as in (2). The first series of tests on type (1), carried out to very large strains, led to apparently stable gradings, distinct for each stress level. Only limited additional particle breakage could be induced by remoulding the specimens after shearing (type (2)) and subjecting them to more shearing. Tests on specimens created at the apparently stable gradings (type (3)) but from the intact sand particles however led to significantly greater breakage. For the three types a stable, fractal grading was achieved. Analyses of the soil particles’ shape showed that the aspect ratio, sphericity and circularity reach a steady value at large strains, in parallel to reaching a stable grading. The mobilized angle of shearing resistance however was not significantly different in the different types of samples, suggesting the final grading dominates the behaviour.     

Destructive and non-destructive evaluation of concrete for optimum sand to aggregate volume ratio

Aggregates are the biggest contributor to concrete volume and are a crucial parameter in dictating its mechanical properties. As such, a detailed experimental investigation was carried out to evaluate the effect of sand-to-aggregate volume ratio (s/a) on the mechanical properties of concrete utilizing both destructive and non-destructive testing (employing UPV (ultrasonic pulse velocity) measurements). For investigation, standard cylindrical concrete samples were made with different s/a (0.36, 0.40, 0.44, 0.48, 0.52, and 0.56), cement content (340 and 450 kg/m³), water-to-cement ratio (0.45 and 0.50), and maximum aggregate size (12 and 19 mm). The effect of these design parameters on the 7, 14, and 28 d compressive strength, tensile strength, elastic modulus, and UPV of concrete were assessed. The careful analysis demonstrates that aggregate proportions and size need to be optimized for formulating mix designs; optimum ratios of s/a were found to be 0.40 and 0.44 for the maximum aggregate size of 12 and 19 mm, respectively, irrespective of the W/C (water-to-cement) and cement content.     

Soybean powder enables the synthesis of Fe–N–C catalysts with high ORR activities in microbial fuel cell applications

The development of microbial fuel cells (MFCs) into a new type of carbon-neutral wastewater treatment technology requires efficient and low-cost oxygen reduction reaction catalysts in air cathodes. The use of raw soybean powder was investigated for synthesizing Fe–N–C ORR catalysts in a sacrificial SiO₂ support method. ZnCl₂ etching in the synthesis was found to facilitate the formation of hierarchical porous structures of Fe–N–C catalysts. Fe–N–C(1-1) catalyst synthesized with an optimal soybean/ZnCl₂ mass ratio of 1:1 exhibited the highest ORR activity in air cathodes. The use of the obtained Fe–N–C(1-1) catalyst enables a maximum power production of ~0.480 mW cm⁻² in MFCs, higher than commercial Pt/C (0.438 mW cm⁻²) with the same catalyst loading of 2 mg cm⁻². Long-term MFC operations demonstrated that the Fe–N–C synthesized from raw soybean have high stability and toxic tolerance, indicating that abundant low cost soybean biomass is a potential material for ORR catalyst development in MFC applications.     

Validating the efficiency of γ-Al2O3/La0.6Sr0.4Co0.2Fe0.8O3-δ double-layer electrolyte for low temperature solid oxide fuel cell

Perovskite La_0.6Sr_0.4Co_0.2Fe_0.8O_3+δ (LSCF) as a promising cathode material possessed overwhelming electronic conduction along with certain ionic conductivity. Its strong electron conduction capability hinder the application of pure-phase LSCF as electrolyte in semiconductor membrane fuel cell (SMFC). In order to constrain the electron transport and take advantage of the decent ion conduction of LSCF, a thin layer of γ-Al₂O₃ with insulating property was added as an electron barrier layer and combine with LSCF to form a two-layer structure electrolyte. Through adjusting the weight ratio of LSCF/γ-Al₂O₃ to optimize the thickness of double layers, an open circuit voltage of 0.98 V and a maximum power density of 690 mW/cm² was received at 550 °C. At the same time, SEM, EIS and other characterization technology had proven that the LSCF/γ-Al₂O₃ bi-layer electrolyte can work efficiently at low temperature. The advantage of this work is the application of double-layer (γ-Al₂O₃/LSCF) structure electrolyte to instead of mixed material electrolyte in low-temperature solid oxide fuel cells. Structural innovation and the using of insulating materials provided clues for the further development of SMFC.     

Evaluation of particle recovery from microalgae

Coccoliths are micro-structured biomineral particles found in cell protective covering layers of coccolithophore species. They are mainly composed of CaCO₃ and their individual crystal entities are arranged in such a way that they construct complex and unique structures. This complexity is found down to the individual particle level and appears to have promising properties to offer. This study focuses on the essential step prior to any kind of implementation, which is the recovery of the material. It summarizes cleaning protocols found in literature, compares them for the first time for the same freshly cultivated material and addresses challenges that still need to be overcome. Further, it highlight the advantages and disadvantages of the best cleaning protocols, suggests optimizations with promising results and uses size distribution measurements to analyse the recovery efficiency. To that end, further characterization techniques, new for coccoliths, are introduced and used to improve our current knowledge of the particles behaviour.     

Mechanical high-energy treatment of TiNi powder and phase changes after electrochemical hydrogenation

The paper presents the results obtained for the effect of ball milling of Ti–Ni powder, which is close in composition to the equiatomic one, on electrochemical hydrogenation. It is shown that the average size of the powder particles measured by BET and laser diffraction methods is found to reduce during milling, while the average size of the powder particles measured by SEM changes to attain its minimum within 30-s milling due to destruction and subsequent aggregation of particles. The powder in its initial state consists of a mixture of TiNi (austenite, martensite), Ti₂Ni, and TiNi₃ phases, and after ball milling, an X-ray amorphous phase is formed. The CDD size of the TiNi phase (austenite) reduces from 25 to 4 nm. It is found that the lattice parameters of the TiNi (austenite) and Ni₃Ti phases do not change during electrochemical hydrogenation, whereas the crystal lattice parameter of the Ti₂Ni phase increases, which indicates the predominant interaction of hydrogen with the Ti₂Ni phase. The lattice parameter of the Ti₂Ni based phase corresponds to Ti₂NiH_0.5 and Ti₂NiH_0.8 hydrides depending on the milling time and hydrogenation time. It is found that there is an “incubation period” of hydrogenation of the Ti₂Ni phase, which attains 90 min.     

Mild hydrogen production from the hydrolysis of Al–Bi–Zn composite powder

The development of mild hydrogen-generating materials is of great significance to improve the working life of hydrogen–oxygen fuel cells. In this study, Al–Bi–Zn composite powders were designed by phase diagram calculation and then prepared via the gas atomization method. The results indicated that the conversion yield of Al–12Bi–7Zn (wt.%) powder reached 98% with stable hydrogen production within 280 min at 50 °C. When composite powder reacted with NaCl solution to produce hydrogen, the dormant period of the reaction process was significantly shortened, but the conversion rate was slightly reduced. Additionally, the evolution of powder morphology during the reaction was investigated. The results showed that the continuous cracking of the powder led to the continuous exposure of fresh Al to react.     

Effect of lognormal particle size distributions on particle spreading in additive manufacturing

Additive manufacturing (AM) has attracted much attention worldwide in various applications due to its convenience and flexibility to rapidly fabricate products, which is a key advantage compared to the traditional subtractive manufacturing. This discrete element method (DEM) study focusses on the impact of particle polydispersity during the particle spreading process on parameters that affect the quality of the final product, like packing and bed surface roughness. The particle systems include four lognormal particle size distribution (PSD) widths, which are benchmarked against the monodisperse system with the same mean particle diameter. The results reveal that: (i) the solid volume fraction of the initial packed particle bed in the delivery chamber increases then plateaus as the PSD width increases; (ii) regardless of PSD width, the solid volume fraction of the particle bed increases with spreading layer height before compression, but decreases with layer height after compression; (iii) the bed surface roughness increases with PSD width or layer height both before and after the compression of the spreading layer; (iv) the extent of increase in solid volume fraction during compression is correlated with the extent of decrease in bed surface roughness; and (v) the broader PSDs exhibit larger fluctuations of solid volume fraction of the particle bed and bed surface roughness due to greater variability in the arrangement of particles of different sizes. The results here have important implications on the design and operation of particle-based AM systems.     

Recent progress of the gas diffusion layer in proton exchange membrane fuel cells: Material and structure designs of microporous layer

Proton exchange membrane fuel cells (PEMFCs) have become the most attractive power supply units for stationary and mobile applications. The operation, design characteristics, as well as performance of PEMFCs, are closely related to the multiphase transport of mass, heat, and electricity in the cell, a critical of which is the gas diffusion layer (GDL). It is very important to guarantee the transmission of water and gasses under high current density, and which is the weakness of PEMFCs at present. Microporous layer (MPL) is considered to be the key variable for mass transfer, so varieties of works focus on modification of MPL materials and its structure design. However, there is still a lack of special review to summarize and prospect the progress of MPL in recent years. This review article therefore focuses on the insights and comprehensive understanding of four critical issues of the MPL, the porosity, pore size distribution, wettability, structural design and the durability of MPL. At last, the conclusion and recommendations section summarized the future prospects and recommendations for possible research opportunities.     

Effects of particle sizes on performances of the multi-zone steam generator using waste heat in a bio-oil steam reforming hydrogen production system

Hydrogen production by bio-oil steam reforming is an advanced production technology. It is a good method of coupling waste heat utilization with bio-oil steam reforming to produce hydrogen, which increases the cleaning ability of the bio-oil steam reforming system. A multi-zone steam generator using waste heat has been proposed, which can produce the heat source and steam source of the hydrogen system. The DEM model of the multi-zone steam generator was set up. The model has been used to investigate the effects of particle sizes (40 mm–80 mm). With increasing particle size, the flow index and the flow uniformity gradually decrease, the vertical velocity gradient increases in the area on both side with the zone steam generator, and the vertical velocity fluctuation amplitude gradually increases. So, the hydrogen production decreases from the particle size increasing.