Based on the non-linear seepage characteristics of tight reservoirs and the reconstruction mode of vertical wells with actual volume fracturing, a seven-area percolation model for volume fracturing vertical wells in tight reservoirs is established. Laplace transform and Pedrosa transform are applied to obtain analytical solutions of bottom hole pressure and vertical well production under a constant production regime. After verifying the correctness of the model, the influence of the fracture network parameters on the pressure and production is studied. The research results indicate that as the permeability modulus increases, the production of volume fracturing vertical wells decreases. The penetration ratio of the main crack and the half-length of the main crack have a small impact on production, while the diversion capacity of the main crack has a significant impact on the initial production, but it is ultimately limited by the effective volume of the transformation. Under constant pr... [more]

Manufacturing is one of the most heavily contributing sectors to global warming via its high carbon emissions. Initiatives such as the Green Deal and Sustainable Goals by the United Nations are supporting the reduction of carbon emissions in the manufacturing sector, which can be completed by making manufacturing processes more sustainable and with less carbon footprint. This also applies to novel manufacturing processes such as additive manufacturing (AM). In this work, a previously developed framework for carbon footprint calculation was tailor-made and applied to a specific stereolithography (SLA) case. The different steps of the SLA were categorised per process, machine tool and system level, and the respective carbon emissions were calculated, either theoretically or via a life cycle assessment software. The carbon emissions at the process level were significant when compared to the total carbon emissions, and the carbon emissions of the isopropanol (IPA) bath accounted for more t... [more]

In order to solve the problem of the low removal efficiency of fine particles in the flue gases of the metallurgy process, a chemical agglomeration pretreatment method was studied. The coagulant solution of xanthan gum, konjac gum, and their mixtures was selected to research the reunion effects of and the efficiency of gravitational dust removal of fine dust in the gas of the converter flue using a self-built experimental platform. Moreover, the effects of wetting agent type, dust concentration, pressure, and flue gas velocity on the fine grain removal efficiency were investigated. The results showed that the mixed solution of 1 g/L mixed gum and 0.5 g/L SDS had the most obvious effect on the particle size increasing of fine dust particles and the best removal effect when the flue gas velocity was 10 m/s. There was a peak particle size of 85.32 μm increased about eight times larger, and the removal efficiencies reached 51.46% for PM2.5 and 53.13% for PM10. The Box−Behnken experimental... [more]

The aim of this work was to separate ethanol in an experimental adsorption−desorption device. We focused on concentrating ethanol by adsorption onto granulated activated carbon in its gaseous phase, which was produced by stripping a matrix with different ethanol concentrations (2, 5, 10, and 15% v/v). For adsorption, three kinds of granulated activated carbon (GAC) were used, marked as GAC1, GAC2, and GAC3. The separation product had a higher ethanol concentration than the initial ethanol concentration before the adsorption−desorption process. The enrichment factor was, in the case of the initial ethanol concentration, 2% v/v at the level of 10. With our new adsorption−desorption device, it is possible to achieve a product with an ethanol concentration of 59.0% v/v with stripping, adsorption, desorption, and condensation. To verify the separation efficiency, a real matrix (fermentation broth) was used. The ethanol concentration in the real matrix was, at the beginning of the separation... [more]

The global challenge of providing sufficient, safe, and sustainable food to a growing population requires continuous food processing and packaging technology advancements [...]

TiO2 production is a key part of Ti metallurgy and Ti recycling, and the process itself has turned out to be energy-consuming and material-consuming. New technologies are needed to utilize complex Ti ores, such as ilmenite, and reduce the carbon footprint of TiO2 extraction. Ammonium sulfate roasting has been revealed as an efficient way to carry out phase transformations of complex minerals. A low-temperature sulfation roasting approach was studied to chemically breaking down the crystal structure of ilmenite and generate metal soluble sulfates simultaneously. These roasted products were introduced to water leaching, then the residue of the water leaching was leached by diluted HCl acid, and the TiO2 product was enriched in the leaching residue. The effects of roasting temperature, roasting time, ilmenite-to-ammonium sulfate mass ratio, ilmenite particle size, and second-stage roasting on iron removal and titanium loss leaching efficiency were systematically studied. The results show... [more]

The rheologic properties of a three-phase coal froth are critical to understanding the interfacial properties that are associated with its stability. Due to the fragile nature of froth, oscillatory rheology was used to make sure that the froths were not damaged during measurement. To reveal the relationship between a coal froth’s rheology and its stability, oscillatory rheology was used in this study. The viscoelastic behaviors of coal froths were analyzed, which illustrated that the storage modulus (G′) of a coal froth is larger than its loss modulus (G″), showing that coal froth is solid-like. The complex viscosity of the coal froths decreased with an increase in angular frequency, meaning that coal froth is shear-thinning. The dependence of froth rheology on ionic strength was investigated, which showed that an increase in ionic strength led to an enhancement of the storage modulus G′, as well as a decrease in tanδ (G″/G′). The coal froths tended to be more rigid and viscous with an... [more]

In this paper, based on integer-order Hindmarsh−Rose (HR) neurons under an electric field, the fractional-order model is constructed, and the nonlinear term is decomposed by the Adomian decomposition method, and the numerical solution of the system is obtained. The firing behavior of the neuron model is analyzed by using a phase diagram, interspike interval (ISI) bifurcation diagram, sample entropy (SE) complexity, and largest Lyapunov exponent (LLE). Based on the sliding mode control theory, a chaos synchronization controller of the system is designed. Matlab simulation results show that the controller is realizable and effective, and also has the characteristic of fast response, which provides a reference for the control and application of a memristor neural network system.

This study investigated the impact of high-voltage electric field (HVEF) thawing technology on the thawing rate, water retention characteristics, microstructure, and nutritional composition of thawed beef. Compared with the control group, in which thawing occurred under natural conditions, the experimental group, in which beef was thawed under HVEF (12 kV, 16 kV, 20 kV, 24 kV, 28 kV), showed a significantly shorter thawing time, and the higher the voltage was, the faster the thawing rate. The total loss rate of thawed beef reached its minimum value of (54.2 ± 0.62) % at 28 kV, and the water retention of the experimental group was significantly better than that of the control group (p < 0.05). Therefore, it can be concluded that HVEF thawing enhances the water retention ability of beef. In a color comparison, it was evident that the color of the beef thawed by HVEF was significantly better than that of the control group. The results of scanning electron microscopy (SEM) indicated tha... [more]

The seed oil of Carapa guianensis, known as crabwood oil (CWO), is distinguished for its medicinal and cosmetics applications, attributed to its bioactive components and lipid profile. CWO and its dry and solvent fractionation were studied, with a focus on physicochemical functionality and the partitioning of known bioactive compounds, such as limonoids and sterols. Important bioactive components, including limonoids and sterols, were partitioned depending on the fractionation method; in particular, there is a direct dependence on solvent polarity. There was a very strong solid fraction yield−solvent polarity with a high linear slope of −121.3%. The partitioning of the lipids is significant enough to drive measurable and predictable changes in the physical properties. Palmitic (P: C16:0) and oleic (O: C18:1) fatty acids account for about 60% of the total fatty acid composition of the TAGs of CWO and its fractions. The most abundant limonoid is methyl angolensate (from 28 to 39%), follo... [more]

International interest in using waste-to-energy (WtE) technology toward a circular economy (CE) is developing, spurred by environmental challenges such as inefficient solid waste dumping, pollution, and resource depletion. Incineration, pyrolysis, gasification, landfill, and anaerobic digestion are standard WtE technologies. Although these methods have been used for many decades, all countries try to implement the best plans based on their technologies and capacities. Therefore, an up-to-date comprehensive study is needed to evaluate the existing barriers to draw a logical roadmap for WtE to CE. Therefore, this review addresses the recent policies adopted by developed and developing countries for WtE technologies. Based on the findings, most countries seek the most cost-effective and environmentally sustainable pathways in WtE to CE; meanwhile, international collaboration and governmental support are needed to overcome the existing barriers and find a sustainable and economically viabl... [more]

Under the background of intelligent manufacturing, in order to solve the complex problems of manual detection of metallurgical saw blade defects in enterprises, such as real-time detection, false detection, and the detection model being too large to deploy, a study on a metallurgical saw blade surface defect detection algorithm based on SC-YOLOv5 is proposed. Firstly, the SC network is built by integrating coordinate attention (CA) into the Shufflenet-V2 network, and the backbone network of YOLOv5 is replaced by the SC network to improve detection accuracy. Then, the SIOU loss function is used in the YOLOv5 prediction layer to solve the angle problem between the prediction frame and the real frame. Finally, in order to ensure both accuracy and speed, lightweight convolution (GSConv) is used to replace the ordinary convolution module. The experimental results show that the mAP@0.5 of the improved YOLOv5 model is 88.5%, and the parameter is 31.1M. Compared with the original YOLOv5 model,... [more]

The microbial fermentation of plants is a promising approach for enhancing the yield of polysaccharides with increased activity. In this study, ten microbial strains, Lactiplantibacillus plantarum CCFM8661, Limosilactobacillus reuteri CCFM8631, Lactobacillus helveticus M10, Lacticaseibacillus rhamnosus CCFM237, Lactilactobacillus sakei GD17-9, Lacticaseibacillus casei CCFM1073, Bacillus subtilis CCFM1162, Bacteroides cellulosilyticus FTJSI-E-2, Bacteroides stercoris FNMHLBEIK-4, and Saccharomyces cerevisiae HN7-A5, were used to ferment Dendrobium officinale. The skin care activity of the resulting polysaccharides (F-DOP) was evaluated in cultured HaCaT and RAW 264.7 cells, and a mouse model. The results indicated that D. officinale medium promoted strain proliferation, and fermentation significantly enhanced polysaccharide yield (up to 1.42 g/L) compared to that without fermentation (0.76 g/L). Moreover, F-DOPs, especially after CCFM8631 fermentation, exhibited an excellent ability to... [more]

Because of the unclear understanding of the characteristics associated with coupled rock breaking using multiple water jets, a numerical model combining smoothed particle hydrodynamics (SPH) and the finite element method (FEM) was established to investigate the rock-breaking capacity of a high-pressure, double-stranded water jet structure. The effectiveness of this model was verified through field experiments. The study further examined the specific energy required for rock breaking using the high-pressure double water jets and analyzed the effects of jet pressure, nozzle diameter, jet impact angle, and impact point spacing on rock-breaking volume. The results demonstrate that the rock-breaking ability of a high-pressure double water jets is better than that of a single water jet. When the impact angle of the high-pressure double water jets was 15° and the distance between impact points was 2.0 d, the rock damage effect was the best. By comparing the specific energies for rock breaking... [more]

The aim of the study was to develop a suitable recipe for wheat-corn snack pellets fortified with insect flour addition and to evaluate the relevant processing aspects and physical characteristics of the developed products. Varying levels of edible insect flour (10, 20, and 30%) were incorporated into a new type of fortified snack pellet as a half product for further expansion. The effects of the edible insect flour level, as well as processing variables (moisture levels 32, 34, 36% and screw speeds 60, 80, 100 rpm), were analyzed on the extrusion stability and on selected snack pellets’ physical properties processed via single-screw extrusion cooking. This research indicated that an increasing amount of edible insect flour significantly affected the processing output and energy consumption. The incorporation of insect flour in blends significantly increased the specific mechanical energy and efficiency of pellet extrusion, especially at a high moisture level and high screw speed durin... [more]

Direct atomization of a free-flowing glass melt was carried out using a high-speed flame with the aim of producing tiny, self-expanding glass melt droplets to form hollow glass microspheres. Atomization experiments were carried out using a specially adapted free-fall atomizer in combination with a high-power gas burner to achieve sufficient temperatures to atomize the melt droplets and to directly expand them into hollow glass spheres. In addition, numerical simulations were carried out to investigate non-measurable parameters such as hot gas velocities and temperatures in the flame region by the finite volume-based software Star CCM+® (v. 2022.1.1), using the Reynolds-Averaged Navier−Stokes (RANS) turbulence and the segregated flow model. To calculate the combustion process, the laminar flamelet method was used. The experiments and simulations indicated that a maximum gas velocity of about 170 m/s was achieved at the point of atomization in the flame. The particle size distribution of... [more]

Ectoine is an osmoregulatory compound synthesized by halophiles which has attracted attention in the biotechnology, pharmaceuticals, and cosmetics industries due to its stabilizing and protective properties. Conventional methods for ectoine recovery are complex, costly, and often result in low yields. Therefore, there is a growing interest in exploring simple and cost-effective strategies for ectoine recovery. The aqueous biphasic system (ABS) has been employed for the recovery and purification of numerous biocompounds, but the study of low-molecular weight compounds partitioning in ABS remains limited. This study aimed to investigate the feasibility of alcohol−salt ABS for ectoine recovery from Halomonas salina DSM5928T cells. The influences of types and compositions of phase-forming components, crude load concentration, pH, and adjuvants on ectoine recovery were evaluated. Results revealed that ectoine favoured partitioning into the salt-rich bottom phase of alcohol−salt ABS owing to... [more]

In order to make the average value of each reserve parameter of a set of oil reserves more representative, this paper puts forward the all-factor average method of reserve parameters with crude oil volume and mass constraints. In the first step, the two constraint methods of crude oil volume and mass are adopted to calculate the average value of various parameters of the total items. The weight coefficient when the parameter is averaged is, respectively, the partial derivative of the volume or mass reserve calculation formula with respect to the parameter. Compared with the original calculation results, the average of their parameters all show a shift towards values with a significant share of reserves, especially effective porosity, oil saturation, and crude oil volume factor. The all-factor average method considers a more comprehensive set of factors than the original method. Therefore, each new average parameter should also be much more representative. Since the current reserve spec... [more]

Purpose: Inflammation of various degrees is common among humans. There are associated side effects with orthodox delivery systems and anti-inflammatory agents; hence, the study investigated the characteristics of herbal lipospheres and the anti-inflammatory potency of the lipospheres formulated from Pentaclethra macrophylla with the view to having a drug with a better delivery system and lesser side effects. Methods: Herbal lipospheres were formulated using solidified reverse micellar solutions (SRMS) of P90H and goat fat and characterized for particle size and morphology, pH time dependent analysis, encapsulation efficiency (EE%), and Fourier Transform infrared spectroscopy. The in vitro antinociceptive and anti-inflammatory studies were carried out using membrane stabilization by hypotonicity-induced hemolysis and the determination of anti-platelet aggregatory activity models. The in vivo antinociceptive and anti-inflammatory studies on egg albumin- and formaldehyde-induced arthritis... [more]

This study examines frequent disasters, including large-scale deformation and collapse, caused by underground mining in weakly cemented strata in Western China. The weakly cemented rock’s unique characteristics, including low strength and easy disintegration, demonstrate a different damage pattern than that traditionally seen in the central and eastern regions. Using Fast Lagrangian Analysis of Continua-Particle Flow Code (FLAC2D-PFC2D) coupling, we model the strata, focusing on the 3-1 coal seam roadway at Hongqinghe mine. This study investigates the damage−rupture−destabilization progression in the peripheral rock under varying levels of moisture content. Our findings indicate that a water content of ω = 5.5% is the threshold for roadway damage, and moisture content 5.5% abruptly increases cracks and shifts the rock’s force chain, causing significant deformation and affecting the ceiling the most. Moreover, higher levels of moisture content weaken the anchor solid’s performance, with... [more]

In this work, the cohesion-specific inputs for a recent continuum theory for cohesive particles are estimated for moderately cohesive particles that form larger agglomerates via discrete element method (DEM) simulations of an oscillating shear flow. In prior work, these inputs (critical velocities of agglomeration and breakage and collision cylinder diameters) were determined for lightly cohesive particles via the DEM of simple shear flow—i.e., a system dominated by singlets and doublets. Here, the DEM is again used to extract the continuum theory inputs, as experimental measurements are infeasible (i.e., collisions between particles of a diameter of <100 μm). However, simulations of simple shear flow are no longer feasible since the rate of agglomeration grows uncontrollably at higher cohesion levels. Instead, oscillating shear flow DEM simulations are used here to circumvent this issue, allowing for the continuum theory inputs of larger agglomerate sizes to be determined efficient... [more]

High-speed planetary mixers can rapidly and efficiently combine rheological liquids, such as polymer resins and paste materials, because of the large centrifugal forces generated by the planetary motion of the mixing vessel. Only a few attempts have been made to computationally model and analyze the intricate mixing patterns of highly viscous substances. This paper presents meshless flow simulations of the planetary mixing of polymeric fluids. This research utilized the smoothed particle hydrodynamics (SPH) approach for numerical calculations. This method has advantages over the finite-volume method, which is a grid-based computational technique, when it comes to modeling interfacial and free surface flow problems. Newtonian rheology and interfacial surface force models were used to calculate the dissipative forces in the partial differential momentum equation of fluid motion. Simulations of the flow of an uncured polyurethane resin were carried out while it was mixed in a planetary mi... [more]

To design gas sensors with fast response speed and high sensitivity for the detection of volatile organic compounds, a stacked MEMS sensor was designed in this study. It utilizes porphyrin-sensitive materials and carbon nanotubes to form composite materials, improve the thermal stability of sensitive materials, and conduct sensor gas sensitivity testing. The results show that the design of the thermal insulation structure makes the sensor obtain lower power consumption and more uniform temperature distribution, and the maximum deformation variable is 3.7 × 10−2 μM. Doping carbon nanotubes in porphyrin-sensitive materials can effectively improve their thermal stability, and the sensor is in a safe state at temperatures below 358 °C. The sensor with higher response recovery characteristics at a low concentration of 80 ppm aniline has better response recovery characteristics, with a response time of 33 s and a recovery time of 23 s, respectively; its response recovery characteristics to 1... [more]

In order to solve the problem of the low qualification rate of the pilling and coating of small-grain forage seeds, a vibration force field is introduced to the traditional vertical disk coating machine to promote the mixing of materials and improve the qualification rate of the pilling. Using the typical small-grain forage seed red clover as an example, we used the vibration force field after adding seed powder particles to a coating pot for the theoretical analysis of the force situation, using the discrete element software EDEM to construct a red clover seed simulation model with the coefficient of discretization as the evaluation index. We studied the effects of the rotational speed of the coating pot, the vibration frequency of the pot, the amplitude of the vibration of the pot, and the other operating parameters of the pot on the uniformity of the seed powder mixing, with the pelletization of the pass rate as the physical evaluation standard, using a one-way test to study the eff... [more]

With the accelerating transportation electrification, increasing numbers of electric vehicles (EVs) are connected to distribution networks via electric vehicle charging stations (EVCSs). Due to the uncertain charging behaviors of EV users, concentrated high-power EV charging during peak hours can result in significant undervoltage issues, affecting the regular operation of distribution networks and having detrimental effects on regular EV charging. Conventional EV charging scheduling methods are conducted in a centralized way, requiring extensive investment in communication infrastructure and intensive computing power. Accordingly, this paper proposes a novel decentralized voltage control scheme with the participation of EVs and EVCSs. The proposed control scheme first divides the distribution network into clusters based on a modified modularity index. Then, it applies the rolling optimization-based control of the EVs and EVCSs within each cluster to solve the regional voltage problems... [more]