Final Drying of Whole Milk Powder in Vibrated-Fluidized Beds

Vibro-fluidized beds are widely used in drying sticky powders and agglomerated materials as milk powder. Using a vibro-fluidized laboratory scale dryer, this work is aiming at analyzing preliminarily the effect of its operational variables on the drying kinetics and characteristics of whole milk powder. The full-factorial design technique with three replications at the central point has been employed to generate data and correlations to quantify the effect of inlet air temperature, air flow rate, and vibration bed amplitude on the drying curves and the milk powder properties related to its faster reconstitution in water (as tapped density, Hausner cohesion ratio, agglomerate size distribution, and internal pore concentration). Results obtained are analyzed and discussed to identify the adequate operation condition for final drying whole milk powder in vibro-fluidized beds, assuring a high product quality.     

Nutrient removal performance of an anaerobic–anoxic–aerobic process as a function of influent C/P ratio

The laboratory scale anaerobic–anoxic–aerobic (A²O) process fed with synthetic brewage wastewater was designed to investigate the effects of changing feed C/P ratio on the performance of biological nutrient removal (BNR) processes. In the experiment, the influent chemical oxygen demand (COD) concentration was kept at approximately 300 mg L^?1 while the total phosphorus concentration was varied to obtain the desired C/P ratio. Results showed that when the C/P ratio was lower than 32, phosphorus removal efficiency increased as C/P ratio increased linearly, while when the C/P ratio was higher than 32, the P removal efficiency was maintained at 90–98%, and effluent P concentration was lower than 0.5 mg L^?1. However, regardless of the C/P ratio, excellent COD removal (90% or higher) and good total nitrogen removal (75–84%) were maintained throughout the experiments. It was also found that very good linear correlation was obtained between COD uptake per unit P released in the anaerobic zone and C/P ratio. In addition, the P content in the wasted activated sludge increased with the decrease in the C/P ratio. Based on the results, it was recommended that the wastewater C/P ratio and its effects be incorporated into BNR design and operational procedures, appropriate C/P ratios were used to achieve the effluent treatment goals. Copyright © 2005 Society of Chemical Industry     

Validation of a Method of Determination of Apparent Diffusivity Versus Composition in Solids

A method is presented for computing the values of apparent diffusivity in solids with respect to the concentration of the diffusing substance (water or sodium chloride). This method does not require any assumption upon the mathematical relationship between diffusivity and concentration. It can be applied to experimental measurements of local concentration versus position within the solid (profiles) with relatively few measurements (circa 10) and a mathematical smoothing of the experimental data by using an artificial neural network model. The method was first validated on simulated data obtained by using a constant diffusivity value and on experimental profiles when the relation between diffusivity and concentration was given. It was then applied to original experimental moisture profiles obtained by putting gelatin gels with different initial moisture contents into contact for up to 14 days. The method was also successfully applied to five sets of experimental moisture and sodium chloride profiles taken from the literature and obtained from different food products. Apparent diffusivities calculated by our method were found in agreement with those obtained by authors using different numerical methods to compute the diffusivity values.     

暖通空调工程设计常见问题

通过对施工图审查工作进行总结，指出了暖通空调和防火防排烟设计中存在的问题及防火规范本身的一些不足。     

Structure and dynamics of dipolar fluids under strong shear

Molecular dynamical simulation has been carried out to investigate the structure and dynamics of a dipolar fluid under strong shear. Dipolar fluid consists of polarizable particles, which have an induced dipole moment in the applied field direction. Shear stress is perpendicular to the field direction. When shear stress is small, the flow has a flowing-chain structure. If shear stress increases to pass a critical value, flowing-chain structure changes to flowing layer structure. Each layer is parallel to the flow direction and shear direction. Within one layer, particles form strings in the flow direction.     

成品油汽运发货系统的研究与开发

介绍成品油传统汽运发货流程.指出其中的弊端,提出采用计算机网络化管理的思路,并对计算机成品油汽运发货系统的优点和功能进行了介绍,然后详细讨论了该系统的开发过程和功能实现,最后提出改进和发展方向。     

Evaporation and Evolution of Suspended Solution Droplets at Atmospheric and Reduced Pressures

Thermal history and solute precipitation behavior of suspended solution droplets of sodium chloride (NaCl), magnesium sulphate (MgSO₄), and zirconium hydroxychloride (ZrO(OH)Cl) evaporating at atmospheric and reduced pressures are studied. Experimental measurements on the variation of droplet diameter, solution concentration, and temperature during the evaporation period are presented and discussed. The results of solute precipitation behavior in solution droplets observed under an optical microscope are displayed and discussed. Results indicate that reducing the pressure (∼ 33 kPa) results in a change in the solution droplet evaporation rate, but the thermal histories of a particular solution droplet are similar at the atmospheric and reduced pressures. At atmospheric and reduced pressures used in this study, the d² law for solution droplets is valid at early stages of the evaporation and before the solute precipitation initiates. Drying of MgSO₄ and ZrO(OH)Cl solution droplets results in the formation of spherical particles, whereas drying of spherical NaCl solution droplets results in the formation of cubic particles.     

Stable Oxygen and Carbon Isotopic Compositions of Lates stappersii Otoliths from Lake Tanganyika,East Africa

In this study, we measured growth trends in oxygen and carbon isotopic ratios in whole sagittal otoliths from three adult centropomid fish (Lates stappersii) from each of three sub-basins of Lake Tanganyika, East Africa. Sampling density was 20 to 50 samples per otolith. Both δ¹⁸O and δ¹³C values increase with age. The δ¹⁸O data suggest that otoliths were precipitated near the expected equilibrium with the ambient environment (ca. +3.5‰) and support a migration pattern from surface waters during larval stages to deeper waters (40 to 80 m) for mature fish. Relatively high δ¹⁸O values in the southern sub-basin are consistent with cooler temperatures in the region during seasonal upwelling. The δ13C increase from otolith core to edge is large (up to 4‰) and is interpreted as due to ontogenetic changes in diet and contributions from a decrease in the proportion of respired CO₂ incorporated into otolith carbonate as metabolic rates of the fish dropped with maturity. The data seem to successfully reveal life strategy and migration patterns of L. stappersii, document regional differences in lake conditions, and provide a record of temperature within the water column during which the fish lived. Higher resolution studies and analyses of historical samples could be used to constrain modern and past growth patterns, and to reconstruct past temperature gradients and productivity patterns in the lake.     

Improvement of levitation characteristics in a magnetic bearing system using HTSC‐permanent magnet hybrid structure

Magnetic bearing using pinning force of a permanent magnet and a high‐temperature superconductor has been developed. Additional permanent magnet is introduced to increase the levitation force of the magnetic bearing. In this hybrid magnetic bearing system, levitation force is mainly given by the repulsive force of the permanent magnets, and stability for the lateral direction is given by pinning force of the superconductor. The experimental device is developed. A ring‐type superconductor and a bulk one are examined. Levitation characteristics of the hybrid magnetic bearing are measured. The bulk superconductor shows better characteristics of both levitation and lateral stability than the ring one. Levitation force of the hybrid system becomes about twice as large as that of the nonhybrid one. Although, the repulsive force of the permanent magnet decreases the lateral stability of the system, its influence becomes small by choosing an adequate position of the permanent magnets and the superconductor. © 2004 Wiley Periodicals, Inc. Electr Eng Jpn, 150(1): 71–77, 2005; Published online in Wiley InterScience ( www.interscience.wiley.com ). DOI 10.1002/eej.10350