Viscosity of glass-forming melt at the bottom of high-level waste melter-feed cold caps: Effects of temperature and incorporation of solid components

During the final stages of conversion of melter feed (glass batch) to molten glass, the glass-forming melt becomes a continuous liquid phase that encapsulates dissolving solid particles and gas bubbles that produce primary foam at the bottom of the cold cap (the reacting melter feed in an electric glass-melting furnace). The glass-forming melt viscosity plays a dominant role in primary foam formation, stability, and eventual collapse, thus affecting the rate of melting (the glass production rate per cold-cap area). We have traced the glass-forming melt viscosity during the final stages of feed-to-glass conversion as it changes in response to changing temperature and composition (resulting from dissolving solid particles). For this study, we used high-level waste melter feeds—taking advantage of the large amount of data available to us—and a variety of experimental techniques (feed expansion test, evolved gas analysis, thermogravimetric analyzer-differential scanning calorimetry, X-ray diffraction, and viscometer). Starting with a relatively low value at the moment when the melt connects, melt viscosity reached maximum within the primary foam layer and then decreased to its final melter operating temperature value. At the cold-cap bottom—the boundary between the primary foam layer and the thermal boundary layer—where physicochemical reactions of a melter feed influence the driving force of the heat transfer from the melt to the cold cap, the melt viscosity affects the rate of melting predominantly through its effect on the temperature at which primary foam is collapsing.     

In vitro comparisons between Carica papaya and pancreatic lipases during test meal lipolysis: Potential use of CPL in enzyme replacement therapy

High levels of lipase activity are known to occur in Carica papaya latex, and this activity is being used in some biotechnological applications. The lipolytic activity of C. papaya lipase (CPL) on dietary triacylglycerols (TAG) has not yet been studied. Hence, the aim of this study was to characterise the specific activity of CPL on dietary TAG present in a crude preparation. Also, we have determined its stability during the lipolysis of a test meal at various pH values mimicking those occurring in the gastro-intestinal tract, with or without bile, and have compared these properties with those of porcine pancreatic extract (PPE) and human pancreatic lipase (HPL). CPL showed maximum stability at pH 6.0, both with and without bile. Some residual activity was still observed at pH 2 (20%), whereas the pancreatic lipases tested were immediately completely inactivated at this pH. In the absence of bile, the highest specific activities were measured at pH 6 in the case of CPL, PPE and HPL. Adding bile slightly decreased the CPL activity in the 4–6 pH range, thus shifting the optimum CPL activity to pH 7, where the presence of bile had no effect. Lipolysis levels decreased with the pH, but CPL was still more active than PPE at pH 5 on a relative basis. These results suggest that CPL might be a promising candidate for use as a therapeutic tool on patients with pancreatic exocrine insufficiency.     

Analysis of the flavonoid component of bioactive New Zealand mānuka (Leptospermum scoparium) honey and the isolation,characterisation and synthesis of an unusual pyrrole

The flavonoid components of New Zealand mānuka (Leptospermum scoparium) honey have been quantified in a series of 31 honeys of varying non-peroxide antibacterial activity to clarify discrepancies between previous studies reported in the literature. Total flavonoid content was 1.16 mg/100 g honey. The principal flavonoids present were pinobanksin, pinocembrin, luteolin and chrysin and together these represented 61% of the total flavonoid content. 1, 2-formyl-5-(2-methoxyphenyl)-pyrrole, which was weakly correlated with the non-peroxide antibacterial activity, was isolated from the flavonoid fraction and separately synthesised. 1 did not display inhibitory activity against Staphylococcus aureus in vitro and thus the origin of the correlation, which is still unknown, is not a direct contribution.     

Lipoxygenase Products in the Urine Correlate with Renal Function and Body Temperature but not with Acute Transplant Rejection

Acute transplant rejection is the leading cause of graft loss in the first months after kidney transplantation. Lipoxygenase products mediate pro- and anti-inflammatory actions and thus we aimed to correlate the histological reports of renal transplant biopsies with urinary lipoxygenase products concentrations to evaluate their role as a diagnostic marker. This study included a total of 34 kidney transplant recipients: 17 with an acute transplant rejection and 17 controls. LTE4, LTB4, 12-HETE and 15-HETE concentrations were measured by enzyme immunoassay. Urinary lipoxygenase product concentrations were not significantly changed during an acute allograft rejection. Nevertheless, LTB4 concentrations correlated significantly with the body temperature (P ≤ 0.05) 3 months after transplantation, and 12- and 15-HETE concentrations correlated significantly with renal function (P ≤ 0.05) 2 weeks after transplantation. In conclusion, our data show a correlation for LTB4 with the body temperature 3 months after transplantation and urinary 12- and 15-HETE concentrations correlate positively with elevated serum creatinine concentrations but do not predict acute allograft rejection.     

A novel consolidation method to measure powder flow properties using a small amount of material

Bulk flow property characterization often requires large powder samples (tens to hundreds of grams). However, many applications have limited sample availability, due to cost, material availability, safety concerns, etc. Therefore, reducing the amount of required material is of interest. A novel compressibility method is introduced using less than 50 mg, for the materials studied here. The effect of particle size and cohesion due to capillary forces are determined using a small‐scale compressibility cell mounted on a texture analyzer. It is found that the powder bed consolidation occurred in two regimes, described using the Walker and Heckel equations. The small‐scale compressibility method was compared to known behavior at larger scales and validated against the FT4 compressibility test. It was found that bulk behavior could be observed using the small‐scale compressibility method. Additional behavior caused by small‐scale events, which are averaged out in large‐scale measurements, are revealed in the small‐scale device introduced here. © 2016 American Institute of Chemical Engineers AIChE J, 62: 4193–4200, 2016     

Fabrication of cellulose nanofiber‐based ultrafiltration membranes by spray coating approach

Ultrafiltration membranes containing a cellulose nanofiber barrier layer were fabricated by the spray coating method, where the thickness and uniformity of the barrier layer were systematically investigated as a function of air pressure, flow rate and concentration of the cellulose nanofiber suspension. In specific, the surface morphology of the barrier layer was studied by scanning electron microscopy and its uniformity was examined by the fluorescence dye imaging method. The ultrafiltration performance of the membranes fabricated by the spray coating method was also compared with that of the membranes made by the knife coating approach using dextran molecules as probe, where the former consistently exhibited significantly higher permeation flux while remaining the same rejection ratio. © 2016 Wiley Periodicals, Inc. J. Appl. Polym. Sci. 2017 , 134, 44583.     

Computational analysis of insect impingement patterns on wind turbine blades

Wind turbines experience significant power loss due to insect contamination on the blades. In order to estimate power losses, computational fluid dynamics software or empirical models are used to compute drag increases due to roughness‐induced boundary‐layer transition. These models require knowledge of the expected levels and location of insect contamination on the blade surface. This is generally unknown, making power loss predictions unreliable. The present study develops a computer simulation to predict this information and uses this tool to simulate insect impingement for a variety of turbine operating conditions. The simulation code combines an invsicid panel method with a Lagrangian insect particle simulation module to first solve for the turbine velocity field and then track insect paths through this field. The effects of blade thickness, angle of attack and insect size are studied for 2D airfoil sections. The simulations show that increasing blade thickness leads to a larger chordwise extent of insect impingement yet lower maximum levels of contamination. Increasing insect mass is also found to increase the chordwise extent of impingement. These results are consistent with previous wind tunnel results and theoretical predictions. The model is then applied to a representative 5‐MW turbine model to determine spanwise variation in contamination. Results agree qualitatively with field observation, suggesting that this technique may be used in the future to more accurately predict power losses on turbines. Copyright © 2015 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.     

On the tuning of predictive controllers: Impact of disturbances,constraints, and feedback structure

The impact of problem formulation modifications on predictive controller tuning is investigated. First, the proposed tuning method is shown to adapt to disturbance characteristic changes and thus, takes full economic advantage of the scenario. The second topic concerns point‐wise‐in‐time constraints and the impact of constraint infeasibility. Specifically, we shift the tuning question from selection of nonintuitive weighting matrix parameters to that of a few key parameters and results in a rather intuitive trade‐off between expected profit and expected constraint violations. Finally, we show that simple modifications will allow for the consideration of various feedback structures, including computational delay and partial state information. The overall conclusions of the work are that the results of the automated algorithm will help build an intuitive understating of the dynamics of the process and ultimately result in a higher level trade‐off between profit and constraint observance. © 2014 American Institute of Chemical Engineers AIChE J, 60: 3473–3489, 2014     

Fabrication of Photonic/Microfluidic Integrated Devices Using an Epoxy Photoresist

Using a single layer of SU‐8 photoresist to fabricate optical waveguide cores and microfluidic channels on Pyrex glass is an ideal way to achieve photonic/microfluidic integration on a single chip. To address the problem of poor bonding, a thin nanoscale intermediate polymer layer was applied to reduce the stress generated from the material processing while maintaining strong adhesion between the patterning polymer layer and Pyrex. It was found that a 186–600 nm thick intermediate layer of a specialty epoxy photoresist effectively served the purpose without deteriorating the optical performance of the involved waveguides. Quality photonic/microfluidic integrated devices with satisfied optical performance were fabricated.