Farmers' preferences for adopting on-farm concentration of raw milk: Results from a discrete choice experiment in Germany

Milk concentrates are used in the manufacturing of dairy products such as yogurt and cheese or are processed into milk powder. Processes for the nonthermal separation of water and valuable milk ingredients are becoming increasingly widespread at farm level. The technical barriers to using farm-manufactured milk concentrate in dairies are minimal, hence the suspicion that the practice of on-farm raw milk concentration is still fairly uncommon for economic reasons. This study, therefore, set out to investigate farmers' potential willingness to adopt a raw milk concentration plant. The empirical analysis was based on discrete choice experiments with 75 German dairy farmers to identify preferences and the possible adoption of on-farm raw milk concentration. The results showed that, in particular, farmers who deemed the current milk price to be insufficient viewed on-farm concentration using membrane technology as an option for diversifying their milk sales. We found no indication that adoption would be impeded by a lack of trustworthy information on milk processing technologies or capital.     

Flow distribution and mass removal in floating treatment wetlands arranged in series and spanning the channel width

Floating treatment wetlands (FTWs) use plants’ roots for water quality improvement. The plants are supported by a buoyant structure deployed at the water surface. The roots form a porous zone beneath the structure and remove pollutants carried in suspension through filtering, absorption and uptake. This paper used CFD simulation to model FTWs arranged in series and spanning the channel width and to study the effects of root length and spacing between FTWs on flow distribution and mass removal. The root zone was modelled as a porous media, and removal was computed using first-order decay, for which a range of removal constants was tested. Longer roots increased the reactive volume of the root zone, which increased the fraction of pollutant inflow entering the FTWs. Increasing the distance between FTWs allowed greater mixing between water that went through and beneath the upstream FTW. This increased the concentration entering each FTW, which enhanced mass removal per FTW. However, a larger distance between FTWs reduced the number of FTWs in the channel, reducing the reactive volume. In the tradeoff between mixing and reactive volume, the reactive volume was more important, such that total removal in the channel increased with longer roots and more units of FTW (shorter gap distance). However, removing the gap entirely was detrimental, as FTWs in series removed more mass than a continuous FTW of same volume. This study points to two design recommendations for FTWs in series. First, if resources for building FTWs are not limiting, but the channel length is, it is preferable to prioritize higher reactive volume (shorter gap distance) to achieve maximum removal per channel length. Second, if resources for FTWs are limiting, but channel length is not, it is better to place the FTWs with a longer gap distance, preferably along enough to allow mixing over the full depth between FTWs, as this will achieve maximum removal per FTW.     

Concentration dependence of physical properties of low temperature processed ZnO quantum dots thin films on polyethylene terephthalate as potential electron transport material for perovskite solar cell

Colloidal Zinc oxide quantum dots (ZnO QDs) prepared with varying concentrations through precipitation method were deposited on flexible ITO/PET substrates using spin-coating technique. Various characterization tools were utilized to investigate the morphological, structural, electrical and optical properties of the films. The crystallinity of the films was found to improve with increasing ZnO QD concentration (ZQ_C) as evident from the X-ray diffraction (XRD) and field emission scanning electron microscopy (FE-SEM) studies. Crystallographic and optical parameters were evaluated and explained in depth. The average nanograin size and bandgap were increased and decreased respectively, from ～5 nm to ～8 nm and 3.29 eV–3.24 eV with an increase in ZQ_C from 10 mg/mL to 70 mg/mL. Columnar structure growth of the films is revealed by AFM results. The films showed decent optical transparency up to 81%. All the ZnO films exhibited n-type semiconducting property as indicated by the electrical measurements with carrier mobility and low resistivity of 12.21–26.63 cm²/Vs and 11.84 × 10^?3 to 13.16 × 10^?3 Ω cm respectively. Based on the experimental findings, ZnO QD nanostructure film grown at 50 mg/mL is envisaged to be a potential candidate for flexible perovskite photovoltaic application.     

Engineering Silver-Enriched Copper Core-Shell Electrocatalysts to Enhance the Production of Ethylene and C2+ Chemicals from Carbon Dioxide at Low Cell Potentials

Copper catalysts are widely studied for the electroreduction of carbon dioxide (CO₂) to value-added hydrocarbon products. Controlling the surface composition of copper nanomaterials may provide the electronic and structural properties necessary for carbon-carbon coupling, thus increasing the Faradaic efficiency (FE) towards ethylene and other multi-carbon (C₂₊) products. Synthesis and catalytic study of silver-coated copper nanoparticles (Cu@Ag NPs) for the reduction of CO₂ are presented. Bimetallic CuAg NPs are typically difficult to produce due to the bulk immiscibility between these two metals. Slow injection of the silver precursor, concentrations of organic capping agents, and gas environment proved critical to control the size and metal distribution of the Cu@Ag NPs. The optimized Cu@Ag electrocatalyst exhibited a very low onset cell potential of −2.25 V for ethylene formation, reaching a FE towards C₂₊ products (FE_C2+) of 43% at −2.50 V, which is 1.0 V lower than a reference Cu catalyst to reach a similar FE_C2+. The high ethylene formation at low potentials is attributed to enhanced C C coupling on the Ag enriched shell of the Cu@Ag electrocatalysts. This study offers a new catalyst design towards increasing the efficiency for the electroreduction of CO₂ to value-added chemicals.     

提升管内颗粒浓度梯度力的特性

由于Kutta-Joukowski横向力与浓度梯度力的共同作用，提升管内颗粒沿径向在边壁大量聚集并形成稳定的环?核结构。根据实验数据，分析了颗粒浓度梯度的径向分布特征，考察了不同操作条件下浓度梯度力系数K的分布特性。由Kutta-Joukowski横向力与浓度梯度的关系，提出了浓度梯度力的表达式Fρ=K(dρ/dr)A及浓度梯度力系数K的表达式K=[?ρg(νg?νp)(?v/?r)r]/?dρ/dr+(d2ρ/dr2)r?。提升管内颗粒群受到的浓度梯度力与浓度梯度力系数K有关。浓度梯度力系数K在提升管中心处为0，沿提升管径向呈“N”型分布，随表观气速增加而增加；提升管内充分发展段K的数值明显大于提升管加速区和出口约束区，总结了浓度梯度力系数K的经验关联式。     

Synthesis of Ionic Ultramicroporous Polymers for Selective Separation of Acetylene from Ethylene

The design of highly stable and efficient porous materials is essential for developing breakthrough hydrocarbon separation methods based on physisorption to replace currently used energy-intensive distillation/absorption technologies. Efforts to develop advanced porous materials such as zeolites, coordination frameworks, and organic polymers have met with limited success. Here, a new class of ionic ultramicroporous polymers (IUPs) with high-density inorganic anions and narrowly distributed ultramicroporosity is reported, which are synthesized by a facile free-radical polymerization using branched and amphiphilic ionic compounds as reactive monomers. A covalent and ionic dual-crosslinking strategy is proposed to manipulate the pore structure of amorphous polymers at the ultramicroporous scale. The IUPs exhibit exceptional selectivity (286.1–474.4) for separating acetylene from ethylene along with high thermal and water stability, collaboratively demonstrated by gas adsorption isotherms and experimental breakthrough curves. Modeling studies unveil the specific binding sites for acetylene capture as well as the interconnected ultramicroporosity for size sieving. The porosity-engineering protocol used in this work can also be extended to the design of other ultramicroporous materials for the challenging separation of other key gas constituents.     

1-甲基环丙烯和乙烯吸收剂结合冰温贮藏对山楂果实品质的影响

以‘敞口’山楂果实为试材,在冰温条件下研究其经过1-甲基环丙烯(1-methylcyclopropene,1-MCP)和乙烯吸收剂处理后生理指标、活性物质含量以及微观组织结构的变化。结果表明:-1.0℃冰温贮藏条件下,1.0μL/L 1-MCP处理相对其他处理能够有效抑制山楂果实乙烯生成和果实呼吸速率,推迟乙烯和呼吸高峰出现,降低了果肉中原果胶向可溶性果胶的转化速率,较好地维持了果肉硬度;减缓了果肉中黄酮类化合物的降解和果皮花色苷含量的上升;抑制了果实中可溶性固形物和可滴定酸的损失,以及果实质量损失率和褐变率的上升,增加了好果率;冰温贮藏是维持果实表皮与果肉组织结构的有效方式。综合分析,1.0μL/L 1-MCP+冰温贮藏处理是保持山楂果实良好品质的有效方法。     

安徽省铜陵市铁山头铜矿床地质特征及找矿潜力

铁山头铜矿床处于铜陵矿集区的中东部，属于扬子陆块下扬子凹陷中的铜陵隆起。矿床位于凤凰山矿田北侧，成矿潜力较大。综合研究分析认为：①接触交代作用使得岩体接触带及附近变质形成矽卡岩矿化带；②区内凤凰山岩体（花岗闪长岩）系成矿母岩；③矿体主要赋存于花岗闪长岩与三叠系下统南陵湖组石灰岩接触带上；④矿床成因类型为高—中温热液交代矽卡岩型矿床。