Theoretical model of a drying system including turbulence aspects

Biological products contain high moisture content in the harvest period. Such moisture could cause their deterioration in storage. Drying is an interesting solution to keep the quality of these products. Generally, drying process is based on contact of a dry air phase with a wet solid. A theoretical model was developed to describe the dynamic behavior of a forced convection drying process. This model takes into account the entire dynamic phenomenon including turbulence, diffusivity and tortuosity effects. Only the mass transfer of water molecules during vaporization was referred to as an empirical expression. The model thus strongly build, was compared to Thompson’s empirical model. Corn grain was used in the validating process. Transient temperature and water content results are presented.     

The use of near infrared reflectance spectroscopy to identify the origin of oak shavings used in wine aging

Near infrared (NIR) reflectance spectroscopy combined with chemometrics was used to classify toasted and untoasted oak wood shavings sourced from two countries (France and USA). Oak wood shaving samples (n = 96) were scanned in the NIR region (680–2,500 nm) using a monochromator instrument operating in reflectance mode. Principal component analysis, partial least squares discriminant analysis (PLS-DA) and linear discriminant analysis (LDA) were used to classify the samples according to their country of origin and level of toasting. Full cross validation (leave-one-out) was used as the validation method when classification models were developed. Correct classification rates of 83, 87 and 100 % for samples sourced from USA, France and toasted treatment were obtained using PLS-DA. For LDA, correct classification rates of 80.4, 85 and 100 % were achieved for samples sourced from USA, France and toasted treatment, respectively. These results demonstrated the ability of NIR spectroscopy to discriminate between oak wood shavings sourced from two different countries and two levels of toasting.     

Safety Evaluation of Green Tea Polyphenols Consumption in Middle‐aged Ovariectomized Rat Model

This work evaluates chronic safety in middle‐aged ovariectomized rats supplemented with different dosages of green tea polyphenols (GTP) in drinking water. The experiment used 6‐mo‐old sham (n = 39) and ovariectomized (OVX, n = 143) female rats. All sham (n = 39) and 39 of the OVX animals received no GTP treatment and their samples were collected for outcome measures at baseline, 3 mo, and 6 mo (n = 13 per group for each). The remaining OVX animals were randomized into 4 groups receiving 0.15%, 0.5%, 1%, and 1.5% (n = 26 for each) of GTP (wt/vol), respectively, in drinking water for 3 and 6 mo. No mortality or abnormal treatment‐related findings in clinical observations or ophthalmologic examinations were noted. No treatment‐related macroscopic or microscopic findings were noted for animals administered 1.5% GTP supplementation. Throughout the study, there was no difference in the body weight among all OVX groups. In all OVX groups, feed intake and water consumption significantly decreased with GTP dose throughout the study period. At 6 mo, GTP intake did not affect hematology, clinical chemistry, and urinalysis, except for phosphorus and blood urea nitrogen (increased), total cholesterol, lactate dehydrogenase, and urine pH (decreased). This study reveals that the no‐observed‐adverse‐effect level (NOAEL) of GTP is 1.5% (wt/vol) in drinking water, the highest dose used in this study.     

Fouling of microfiltration and ultrafiltration membranes by natural waters

Membrane filtration (microfiltration and ultrafiltration) has become an accepted process for drinking water treatment, but membrane fouling remains a significant problem. The objective of this study was to systematically investigate the mechanisms and components in natural waters that contribute to fouling. Natural waters from five sources were filtered in a benchtop filtration system. A sequential filtration process was used in most experiments. The first filtration steps removed specific components from the water, and the latter filtration steps investigated membrane fouling by the remaining components. Particulate matter (larger than 0.45 microm) was relatively unimportant in fouling as compared to dissolved matter. Very small colloids, ranging from about 3-20 nm in diameter, appeared to be important membrane foulants based on this experimental protocol. The colloidal foulants included both inorganic and organic matter, but the greatest fraction of material was organic. When the colloidal fraction of material was removed, the remaining dissolved organic matter (DOM), which was smaller than about 3 nm and included about 85-90% of the total DOM, caused very little fouling. Thus, although other studies have identified DOM as a major foulant during filtration of natural waters, this work shows that a small fraction of DOM may be responsible for fouling. Adsorption was demonstrated to be an important mechanism for fouling by colloids.     

Structural reliability techniques applied to plume impingement loading of the Space Station Freedom photovoltaic array

A new aerospace application of structural reliability techniques is presented, where the applied forces depend on many probabilistic variables. This application is the plume impingement loading of the Space Station Freedom Photovoltaic Arrays. When the space shuttle berths with Space Station Freedom it must brake and maneuver towards the berthing point using its primary jets. The jet exhaust, or plume, may cause high loads on the photovoltaic arrays. The many parameters governing this problem are highly uncertain and random. An approach, using techniques from structural reliability, as opposed to the accepted deterministic methods, is presented which assesses the probability of failure of the array mast due to plume impingement loading. A Monte Carlo simulation of the berthing approach is used to determine the probability distribution of the loading. A probability distribution is also determined for the strength of the array. Structural reliability techniques are then used to assess the array mast design. These techniques are found to be superior to the standard deterministic dynamic transient analysis, for this class of problem. The results show that the probability of failure of the current array mast design due to the examined failure modes is minute. Significantly, this paper details a structural reliability analysis of a complex aerospace structure for which little statistical information is available.     

Performance evaluation of canine-associated Bacteroidales assays in a multi-laboratory comparison study

The contribution of fecal pollution from dogs in urbanized areas can be significant and is an often underestimated problem. Microbial source tracking methods (MST) utilizing quantitative PCR of dog-associated gene sequences encoding 16S rRNA of Bacteroidales are a useful tool to estimate these contributions. However, data about the performance of available assays are scarce. The results of a multi-laboratory study testing two assays for the determination of dog-associated Bacteroidales (DogBact and BacCan-UCD) on 64 single and mixed fecal source samples created from pooled fecal samples collected in California are presented here. Standardization of qPCR data treatment lowered inter-laboratory variability of sensitivity and specificity results. Both assays exhibited 100% sensitivity. Normalization methods are presented that eliminated random and confirmed non-target responses. The combination of standardized qPCR data treatment, use of normalization via a non-target specific Bacteroidales assay (GenBac3), and application of threshold criteria improved the calculated specificity significantly for both assays. Such measures would reasonably improve MST data interpretation not only for canine-associated assays, but for all qPCR assays used in identifying and monitoring fecal pollution in the environment.     

Sediment and discharge yields within a minimally disturbed,headwater watershed in North Central Pennsylvania,USA, with an emphasis on Superstorm Sandy

We estimated discharge and suspended sediment (SS) yield in a minimally disturbed watershed in North Central Pennsylvania, USA, and compared a typical storm (September storm, 4.80 cm) to a large storm (Superstorm Sandy, 7.47 cm rainfall). Depending on branch, Sandy contributed 9.7–19.9 times more discharge and 11.5–37.4 times more SS than the September storm. During the September storm, the upper two branches accounted for 60.6% of discharge and 88.8% of SS at Lower Branch; during Sandy these percentages dropped to 36.1% for discharge and 30.1% for SS. The branch with close proximity roads had over two‐three times per area SS yield than the branch without such roads. Hysteresis loops showed typical clockwise patterns for the September storm and more complicated patterns for Sandy, reflecting the multipeak event. Estimates of SS and hysteresis in minimally disturbed watersheds provide useful information that can be compared spatially and temporally to facilitate management.     

Model for microbiologically influenced corrosion potential assessment for the oil and gas industry

Corrosion is one of the major causes of failure in onshore and offshore oil and gas operations. Microbiologically influenced corrosion (MIC) is inherently more complex to predict, detect and measure because, for instance, the presence of biofilm and/or bacterial products is not sufficient to indicate active microbiological corrosion. The major challenge for current MIC models is to correlate factors that influence corrosion (i.e. chemical, physical, biological and molecular variables) with the potential of having MIC. Previous work has proposed the potential for MIC as a simple product of multiple factors, without fully considering the synergy or the interference among the factors. The present work proposes a network-based approach to analyse and predict MIC potential considering the complex interactions among a total of 60 influencing factors and 20 screening parameters. The proposed model has the ability to capture the complex interdependences and the synergic interactions of the factors used to assess MIC potential and uses an object-oriented approach based on a Bayesian Network. The model has been tested and verified using real data from a pipeline leakage incident that was a result of MIC. The proposed model constitutes a significant step in deepening the understanding of when MIC occurs and its predictability.

List of acronyms: APB: acid producing bacteria; Aw: water activity; BN: Bayesian network; MIC: microbiologically influenced corrosion; MMMs: molecular microbiological methods; NRB: nitrate-reducing bacteria; OOBN: object-oriented Bayesian network; PWRI: produced water re-injection; SPs: screening parameters; SRB: sulphate-reducing bacteria; SRPs: sulphate-reducing prokaryotes; TDSs: total dissolved solids     

Particle loss: An initial investigation into size effects and stress-dilatancy

Drained triaxial tests have been performed to explore the effect of particle loss on shearing behaviour and critical states in granular mixtures. The mixtures comprise Leighton Buzzard sand (d₅₀ = 0.8 mm), to which was added 15% by mass of salt particles of different nominal sizes: 0.063 mm, 0.25 mm and 0.5 mm. Shearing behaviours before and after particle loss (by dissolution) were compared. A good fit is observed between the test data and a stress-dilatancy relationship for the post-dissolution tests, highlighting the ability of the stress-dilatancy analysis as a means to interpret the effects of particle loss on shearing. It was noted that critical state strength parameter M is determined by the post-dissolution grading regardless of size of removed particle. However, the duration of contractant volumetric strain increased with the larger removed particles (0.25 mm & 0.5 mm) even when initial specific volumes were virtually identical. It is suggested that a loose volumetric state is reached if the sand particle network is initially disrupted by the amount and/or size of salt particles, which following dissolution results in structural or fabric phenomena that are not reflected in scalar volumetric measures such as specific volume.