A three-phase separator is the first vessel encountered by well fluids. The application of separators has been of great value to the oil and gas industry. In order to generate the gas phase envelope that is applicable to the study of reservoir fluid and the selection of optimum operating conditions of separators, this research utilizes a specified reservoir fluid stream to simulate a three-phase separator executed in Aspen HYSYS. Subsequently, a comparative study of the effects of specified inlet operating conditions on the output of gas and oil streams was carried out. The results show that changing the inlet pressure of the separator from 1000 to 8000 kPa reduces the gas outlet flow from 1213 to 908.6 kg mol/h, while it increases the liquid flow rate from 374 to 838.0 kg mole/h. By changing the temperature of the separator feed stream from 13 to 83 °C, the gas outlet stream was raised from 707.4 to 1111 kg mol/h, while the liquid flow rate dropped from 1037.0 to 646.1 kg mol/h. It wa... [more]

In this work was evaluated the effect of sequential inoculum of Hanseniaspora uvarum AS27 strain and a commercial Saccharomyces cerevisiae yeast on the physical−chemical and organoleptic features of Aglianico, a traditional red wine of Southern Italy. Four fermentation treatments on a pilot scale were performed. In fermentation treatment A, the alcoholic fermentation was spontaneously conducted by the indigenous yeasts present in grape must. In the fermentation treatments B and C were inoculated respectively S. cerevisiae FE and H. uvarum AS27 strains, as a single starter. The fermentation treatment D was initially inoculated with H. uvarum AS27, and S. cerevisiae strain was added after 72 h (sequential inoculation). Microbiological, physical−chemical parameters and sensory profiles of the wines have been defined. The results showed that the use of H. uvarum AS27, in sequential inoculum with S. cerevisiae FE, influenced the wine composition, enriching it in polyphenolic and volatile co... [more]

SO2 which is usually emitted at high temperature is one of the most important air pollutants. It is of great significance to develop high temperature SO2 adsorbent with high efficiency and low cost. In this work, a series of hydrotalcite-like compound-derived CaAlO and CaXAlO(X = Ce, Co) were prepared by coprecipitation and calcination method, and were employed as adsorbents for SO2 adsorption at high temperature (700 °C). The structure and surface properties of these adsorbents were characterized by XRD, Brunauer−Emmett−Teller (BET), Derivative thermogravimetric analysis (DTG) and CO2-TPD (temperature programmed desorption) measurement. Addition of a minor amount of Ce, Co (5 wt%) could significantly increase the number of weak alkalinity sites. CaO in CaCeAlO showed the best SO2 adsorption capacity of 1.34 g/g, which is two times higher than that of CaO in CaAlO (0.58 g/g).

Due to high demand, monoclonal antibodies (mAbs) production needs to be efficient, as well as maintaining a high product quality. Quality by design (QbD) via predictive process modeling greatly facilitates process understanding and can be used to adjust process parameters to further improve the unit operations. In this work, mechanistic and dynamic kriging models are developed to capture the protein productivity and glycan fractions under different temperatures and pH levels. The design of experiments is used to generate input and output data for model training. The dynamic kriging model shows good performance in capturing the dynamic profiles of cell cultures and glycosylation using only limited input data. The developed model is further used for feasibility analysis, and successfully identifies the operating design space, maintaining high productivity and guaranteed product quality.

Microgrids represent a flexible way to integrate renewable energy sources with programmable generators and storage systems. In this regard, a synergic integration of those sources is crucial to minimize the operating cost of the microgrid by efficient storage management and generation scheduling. The forecasts of renewable generation can be used to attain optimal management of the controllable units by predictive optimization algorithms. This paper introduces the implementation of a two-layer hierarchical energy management system for islanded photovoltaic microgrids. The first layer evaluates the optimal unit commitment, according to the photovoltaic forecasts, while the second layer deals with the power-sharing in real time, following as close as possible the daily schedule provided by the upper layer while balancing the forecast errors. The energy management system is experimentally tested at the Multi-Good MicroGrid Laboratory under three different photovoltaic forecast models: (i)... [more]

Studying cell metabolism serves a plethora of objectives such as the enhancement of bioprocess performance, and advancement in the understanding of cell biology, of drug target discovery, and in metabolic therapy. Remarkable successes in these fields emerged from heuristics approaches, for instance, with the introduction of effective strategies for genetic modifications, drug developments and optimization of bioprocess management. However, heuristics approaches have showed significant shortcomings, such as to describe regulation of metabolic pathways and to extrapolate experimental conditions. In the specific case of bioprocess management, such shortcomings limit their capacity to increase product quality, while maintaining desirable productivity and reproducibility levels. For instance, since heuristics approaches are not capable of prediction of the cellular functions under varying experimental conditions, they may lead to sub-optimal processes. Also, such approaches used for bioproc... [more]

The mixed free-surface-pressurized flow in the tailrace tunnel of a hydropower station has a great impact on the pressure, velocity, and operation stability of the power station. In the present work, a characteristic implicit method based on the upwind differencing and implicit finite difference scheme is used to solve the mixed free-surface-pressurized flow. The results of the characteristic implicit method agree well with the experimental results, which validates the accuracy of the method. Four factors that influence the amplitude of pressure fluctuation are analyzed and optimized, and the results show that the relative roughness can influence the maximum pressure in the tailrace tunnel. Additionally, the maximum pressure decreases with the increase of the tunnel’s relative roughness. When the surface relative roughness increases from 0.010 to 0.018, the maximum pressure can decrease by 4.33%. The maximum pressure in the tailrace tunnel can be effectively restrained by setting vent... [more]

The utilization of cosmetic raw materials for medicinal purposes in a microneedle patch containing hyaluronic acid (HA) and Lonicerae flos ethanol extract (LEE) has increased based on their eco-friendly characteristics. The moisturizing effects of this microneedle patch were assessed on the forearms of 20 female participants, and our results showed an increase between 29.60% and 88.54% in skin moisture content at the same time points relative to the untreated group. Apart from confirming the safety of HA and Lonicerae flos, our findings may also promote the use of HA and medicinal herbs in relevant industries, indicating their potential as raw ingredients for the development of cosmetic products and topical dermatological drugs. The results suggested that HA, Lonicerae flos, and other combinations of chemical and natural products based on traditional oriental medicine could beneficially affect skin health.

As marine biofouling seriously affects the development and utilization of oceans, the antifouling technology of microstructured surface has become a research hotspot due to its green and environmentally friendly advantages. In the present research, the motion models of microorganisms on the surfaces of five rectangular micropits, in co-current and counter-current flow direction, were established. Dynamic mesh technology was used to simulate the movements of microorganisms with different radii in the near-wall area, and the fluid kinematics and shear stress distributions in different-sized micropits were compared. Furthermore, moving microorganisms were included in the three-dimensional microstructure model to achieve the real situation of biofouling. Simulation results revealed that the vortex flow velocity in the micropits increased with the increase of the inlet flow velocity and the existence of the vortex flow effectively reduced the formation of conditioning layers in the micropit... [more]

In this paper, a new integrated distillation-membrane separation process solution strategy based on genetic programming (GP) was established for azeotrope separation. Then, a price evaluation method based on the theory of unit membrane area was proposed, so that those membranes which are still in the experimental stage and have no actual industrial cost for reference can also be used in the experimental research. For different characteristics and separation requirements of various azeotropic systems, the solution strategy can be matched with difference pervaporation membranes, and the optimal distillation-membrane separation integrated process can be solved quickly and accurately. Taking methanol-toluene as an example, the separation operation was optimized by using the algorithm. The effects of different feed flows and compositions on the modification of the chitosan membrane were discussed. These results provide a reliable basis for the prospects for development and modification dire... [more]

Levan is a versatile and valuable fructose homopolymer, and a few bacterial strains have been found to produce levan. Although levan products have numerous specific functions, their application and promotion were limited by the production capacity and production cost. Bacillus velezensis BM-2 is a levan-synthesizing strain, but its levan production is too low to apply. In this study, the levansucrase gene of B. velezensis BM-2 was cloned to plasmid pET-32a-Acma-zz, and the recombinant plasmids were transferred to Escherichia coli BL21. A transformed clone was selected to express and secrete the fusion enzymes with an Acma-tag efficiently. The expressed products were further purified by a self-developed separating material called bacterial enhancer matrix (BEM) particles. The purification efficiency was 93.4%, with a specific activity of 16.589 U/mL protein. The enzymatic reaction results indicated that the optimal reaction temperature is 50 °C, the optimal pH of the acetate buffer is 5... [more]

Biomass pellets are required as a source of energy because of their abundant and high energy. The rapid measurement of pellets is used to control the biomass quality during the production process. The objective of this work was to use near infrared (NIR) hyperspectral images for predicting the properties, i.e., fuel ratio (FR), volatile matter (VM), fixed carbon (FC), and ash content (A), of commercial biomass pellets. Models were developed using either full spectra or different spatial wavelengths, i.e., interval successive projections algorithm (iSPA) and interval genetic algorithm (iGA), wavelengths and different spectral preprocessing techniques. Their performances were then compared. The optimal model for predicting FR could be created with second derivative (D2) spectra with iSPA-100 wavelengths, while VM, FC, and A could be predicted using standard normal variate (SNV) spectra with iSPA-100 wavelengths. The models for predicting FR, VM, FC, and A provided R2 values of 0.75, 0.81... [more]

In this study, aluminum foams reinforced with different steel elements were produced by the AluLight process. The master alloy AlMgSi0.6 was used as the matrix material, titanium hydride (TiH2) powder was used as a foaming agent, and steel wire, cylindrical steel mesh and flat steel mesh were used as reinforcing elements. Reinforcements were placed inside the mold, along with the precursors, and samples were manufactured by gas releasing particles in a semi-solid state. To examine the effect of the reinforcements on specific energy absorption, quasi-static uniaxial compression tests were carried out, with a constant separation rate of 1 mm/s. From the tested results, the energy absorption per unit volume and specific energy absorption efficiency were calculated and then also statistically evaluated. The results showed that examined shapes of reinforcements affect differently specific energy absorption and its efficiency, compared to non-reinforced aluminum foams. The best result obtain... [more]

In recent years Local Energy Markets (LEM) have emerged as an innovative and versatile energy trade solution. They bring benefits when renewable energy sources are used and are more flexible for consumers. There are, however, security concerns that put the feasibility of the local energy market at risk. One of these security challenges is the integrity of data in the smart-grid that supports the local market. In this article the LEM and the types of attacks that can have a negative impact on it are presented, and a security mechanism based on a trust model is proposed. A case study is elaborated using a multi-agent system called Local Energy Market Multi-Agent System (LEMMAS), capable of simulating the LEM and testing the proposed security mechanism.

Given the high interest in promoting crosslinking efficiency of ultraviolet-initiated crosslinking technique and ameliorating electrical resistance of crosslinked polyethylene (XLPE) materials, we have developed the funcionalized-SiO2/XLPE nanocomposites by chemically grafting auxiliary crosslinkers onto nanosilica surfaces. Trimethylolpropane triacrylate (TMPTA) as an effective auxiliary crosslinker for polyethylene is grafted successfully on nanosilica surfaces through thiolene-click chemical reactions with coupling agents of sulfur silanes and 3-mercaptopropyl trimethoxy silane (MPTMS), as characterized by nuclear magnetic resonance and Fourier transform infrared spectroscopy. The functionalized SiO2 nanoparticles could be dispersively filled into polyethylene matrix even at a high filling content that would generally produce agglomerations of neat SiO2 nanofillers. Ultraviolet-initiated polyethylene crosslinking reactions are efficiently stimulated by TMPTA grafted onto surfaces of... [more]

Meso-substituted borondipyrromethene (BODIPY)-porphyrin compounds that include free base porphyrin with two different numbers of BODIPY groups (BDP-TTP and 3BDP-TTP) were designed and synthesized to analyze intramolecular energy transfer mechanisms of meso-substituted BODIPY-porphyrin dyads and the effect of the different numbers of BODIPY groups connected to free-base porphyrin on the energy transfer mechanism. Absorption spectra of BODIPY-porphyrin conjugates showed wide absorption features in the visible region, and that is highly valuable to increase light-harvesting efficiency. Fluorescence spectra of the studied compounds proved that BODIPY emission intensity decreased upon the photoexcitation of the BODIPY core, due to the energy transfer from BODIPY unit to porphyrin. In addition, ultrafast pump-probe spectroscopy measurements indicated that the energy transfer of the 3BDP-TTP compound (about 3 ps) is faster than the BDP-TTP compound (about 22 ps). Since the BODIPY core directl... [more]

Industrial hydraulic turbines, a kind of small-scaled turbine in a more compact and flexible application, are frequently used in hydrogen cracking, synthesis ammonia, and circulating water field. Besides the energy recovery efficiency, the working stability at variable speed situations is a critical issue, since its rotation speed changes with the flow parameters of the upstream. In this paper, a conventional turbine was numerically investigated under three different rotation speeds and its best efficiency points (BEPs). The velocity profiles, blade load, pressure fluctuation, and vibration features were discussed to form a comprehensive evaluation of turbine stability. The numerical results were validated through turbine external characteristic and vibration tests. The results indicate that the pressure pulsation and vibrations increase when it deviates from the rated rotation speed, but the relatively low flowrate point behaves better than the large point in the aspect of turbine sta... [more]

-Octanol, as an oxygenated fuel, is considered as one of the most promising alternative fuels, owing to advantages such as its low hygroscopic nature, high cetane number, and high energy content. However, the introduction of n-octanol leads to a higher viscosity and latent heat of evaporation (LHOE), affecting the combustion and emission performances of compression ignition (CI) engines. This study sheds light on the effect of injection pressures (IPs, ranging from 60 to 160 MPa) on the combustion and emission performances of a turbocharged CI engine, in conjunction with n-octanol/diesel blends. According to the proportion of oxygen content, the test fuels contain pure diesel (N0), N2.5 (2.5% oxygen content in the blending fuels), and N5 (5% oxygen content in the blending fuels). The results indicate that the blending fuels have little influence on the in-cylinder pressure, ignition delay (ID), and CA50, but they improve the brake thermal efficiency (BTE). In terms of emissions, with t... [more]

The field of thin film technology [...]

This Special Issue on “Process Modeling in Pyrometallurgical Engineering” consists of 39 articles, including two review papers, and covers a wide range of topics related to process development and analysis based on modeling in ironmaking, steelmaking, flash smelting, casting, rolling operations, etc [...]

Bioprocessing is a very important part of biotechnology that utilizes living organisms and their components to produce various types of products [...]

Peer review is the driving force of journal development, and reviewers are gatekeepers who ensure that Processes maintains its standards for the high quality of its published papers [...]

Most cells within the human body interact with neighboring cells and extracellular matrix (ECM) components to establish a unique 3D organization. These cell−cell and cell−ECM interactions form a complex communication network of biochemical and mechanical signals critical for normal cell physiology. The behavior of cells in a 3D environment is fundamentally different from that of cells in monolayer culture. Aggregation can affect cell−cell interactions, being more representative of the normal tissue microenvironment. Therefore, 3D cell culture technologies have been developed. The general method for cell aggregate is a physical method; it is difficult to control the size and number of cell aggregates. In any case, no chemical method has been discovered yet, so a new method to solve these problems is needed. In this paper, we describe the induction of a cell aggregate of the newly discovered (Lys-Pro)12(KP24) peptide. Since it was revealed that KP24 had cell aggregate-inducing activity,... [more]

We describe a new on-line sensitive and selective procedure for the determination of trivalent and hexavalent chromium in liquid samples by a tailor-made contactor (TMC), specifically a liquid membrane annular TMC, coupled with inductively coupled plasma with optical detection. The TMC was designed and developed to integrate the extraction and stripping phases of the analyte in one module to minimize the membrane solvent’s consumption and maximize the speed of transport through the liquid membrane. Moreover, the particular geometry studied, which consists of two coaxial hollow fibers, allows the TMC to be used for both separating and preconcentrating purposes. Both (−)-N-dodecyl-N-methylephedrinium bromide (30 mM) in dichloroethane and HNO3 (0.75 M) were used as the liquid membrane and receiving solution, respectively. The proposed method’s performance was evaluated in terms of the hexavalent chromium extraction efficiency and the coefficient of variation percentages; these were higher... [more]

On research of plasma assisted combustion, effects of electric and plasma discharges in DC, AC and pulse forms on reattachment of a lifted flame have attracted extensive attention. However, the detailed plasma assisted reattachment process and mechanism and roles of induced corona discharge and corona-induced ozone on the reattachment process are still unclear and undocumented. The forced reattachment process of a lifted diffusion jet flame by repetitive DC electric pulse discharges was experimentally investigated in this study using high-speed flame imaging, conditioned particle image velocimetry (PIV), and planar ozone concentration imaging. The forced reattachment process can be divided into three stages in sequence: ionic wind prior to corona initiation, corona initiation, and corona enhancement propagation. The conditioned PIV results showed that the instantaneous flame base propagation velocity is sufficiently enhanced beyond the laminar burning velocity for high pulse-repetition... [more]