Edible oil evaluation by room odor tests: A preliminary report

Room odors developed on heating edible fats in open vessels were evaluated and characterized by a 20 member odor panel. Edible fats tested were: special soybean salad and cooking oils, hydrogenated soybean oil and some commercial salad and cooking oils. Factors were investigated that affect reliability and reproducibility of the test and the acuity of the panel members. The effects of fry temperature and size of sample were investigated. The method has been applied to a study of hydrogenated and unhydrogenated soybean oil samples. Presented at the AOCS Meeting, Chicago, September 1970. No. Market. Nutr. Res. Div., ARS, USDA.     

Engineering microfluidic papers: effect of fiber source and paper sheet properties on capillary-driven fluid flow

In the present study, we introduce a novel approach to control and modulate fluid transport inside microfluidic papers using lab-engineered paper sheets. Lab-sheets consisting of different fiber sources (eucalyptus sulfate and cotton linters pulp) and varying porosities were designed and further modified with small millimeter-scaled channels using hydrophobic barriers consisting of fiber-attached, hydrophobic polymers. The capillary-driven transport of an aqueous solution was monitored visually, and the influence of parameters such as fiber source, paper grammage, and channel width on the flow rates through the channel was investigated. The experimental results were compared with those obtained with commercially available filter papers. Our findings suggest that accurate control of fluid transport processes with standard filter papers is complex. Additionally, if the channel width is smaller than the mean fiber length, flow rates become dependent on the geometric parameters of the channel because of the formation of dead-end pores at the hydrophobic barriers. Finally, control of the paper sheets porosity, by varying the fiber density of the lab-made paper, affords the fabrication of chemically identical sheets whereby capillary flow is largely influenced and can be modulated accordingly by simple papermaking processes.     

The longitudinal impact of enterprise system users’ pre-adoption expectations and organizational support on post-adoption proficient usage

Although enterprise systems (ES) are ubiquitous, many firms report less than stellar payoffs from these costly investments, with underutilization often attributed to failures in the implementation process. Unfortunately, research has not provided sufficient insights into these failures, in part because it has focused on actual usage, as opposed to proficient usage, as the benchmark for successful implementation. Moreover, research has not generally examined how the adoption process unfolds over time, thus overlooking potential underlying mechanisms that may help explain how adopters achieve proficiency. To begin addressing these shortcomings, we study how adopters’ pre-adoption expectations, enacted over time, can influence their post-adoption proficiency, by shaping how and why they spend time using the system during the adoption period. We analyzed time-lagged survey data from 153 financial analysts, required to adopt new ES-based software, at a multinational bank. We found that adopters who hold pre-adoption expectations reflecting greater internal and external motives to adopt the system as well as systematically integrate it into their work routines are more apt to use the system in ways that enhance their cumulative knowledge of it, and subsequently develop higher levels of proficiency post-adoption. Moreover, greater organizational support enhanced the impact of adopters’ expectations on proficiency, except when their actual use is low in which case organizational support had an adverse effect.     

Long term storage of soybean and cottonseed salad oils

Commercially prepared and packaged soybean and cottonseed salad oils from several different processors were evaluated periodically during storage for 12 months. Partially hydrogenated and winterized soybean oils, as well as unhydrogenated soybean salad oils, were stored in bottles and cans at 78 and 100 F. Control samples of all oils were held at 0 F during the entire test. Some lots in bottles and cans were packaged under nitrogen to improve storage stability. Agreement was good between organoleptic and oxidative evaluation of aged oils. After 26 weeks of storage at 100 F, the flavor of partially hydrogenated-winterized oils packaged under nitrogen showed a minimum loss. These same oils did not exhibit much, if any, reduction in their oxidative stability as indicated by storage peroxide values (active oxygen method). Soybean oil not protected with nitrogen demonstrated progressive flavor deterioration at 100 F. After 10 weeks of storage, the deterioration became marked and the flavor score was below 5. From limited observations, bottled oils appear to have a better stability than oils packaged in screw-cap tin cans. Hydrogenated oils packaged under nitrogen in cans had good oxidative stability, but some lowering of the flavor score was observed. Nonhydrogenated soybean oils packaged in tin cans not under nitrogen exhibited the most rapid flavor deterioration of all lots of oil investigated. Presented in part at the AOCS meeting, New York, October 1968 ARS, USDA     

Production of Industrially Useful and Renewable p-Cymene by Catalytic Dehydration and Isomerization of Perillyl Alcohol

We report the dehydration and isomerization of renewable perillyl alcohol to industrially useful p-cymene in 91% yield utilizing 2.0 mol% para-toluenesulfonic acid (pTsOH) catalyst at 110 °C as a 3.0 M solution in toluene. Lower reaction temperatures, catalyst loadings, and/or starting concentrations resulted in lower yields of p-cymene as well as longer reaction times. Conversion of perillyl alcohol to p-cymene yielded atom and carbon economies of 88.1% and 100% as well as an E-factor of 2.7, thereby indicating that the process was both green and sustainable. A lower yield of 86% was observed when the reaction was performed neat, but a lower E-factor of 0.4 indicated that neat conditions were more desirable from an environmental perspective. Application of the optimized parameters to 3.0 M solutions of dl-limonene led predominantly to oligomerization (92%) as opposed to dehydroisomerization (5%), which was attributed to the strong Brønsted acidity of pTsOH. In addition, camphene (44%), terpinene isomers (15%), and limonene (14%) were obtained when dehydroisomerization was attempted on 3.0 M solutions of α- and β-pinene, which was once again attributed to the acidity of the catalyst. Oligomerization was strongly favored when dehydroisomerization of dl-limonene, α- and β-pinene was attempted neat. In summary, synthesis of renewable p-cymene was readily achieved from perillyl alcohol with catalytic pTsOH but competing side reactions suppressed yield when dehydroisomerization of dl-limonene, α- and β-pinene was attempted due to the strong Brønsted acidity of the catalyst.     

A New Research Infrastructure for Investigating Flow Hydraulics and Process Equipment at Critical Fluid Properties

An optimized equipment design for natural gas processing and liquefaction plants becomes increasingly difficult with changing process conditions: Particularly low values of surface tension create rising challenges on the design of phase separators and column internals. The TERESA test rig at HZDR was designed to allow the investigation of multiphase thermohydraulics and phase separator performance under critical fluid properties in industrial dimensions. A versatile pipe test section is available in DN200 and equipment internals may be tested in a sectional DN300/DN500 test separator. The applied test fluid shows a high vapor-liquid density difference between 1470 and 940 kg m⁻³, viscosity as low as 0.12 mm²s⁻¹, and surface tension down to 1.3 mN m⁻¹. Volumetric liquid and vapor flow rates may be varied up to 9 and 530 m³h⁻¹ in the test rig, respectively.