This work discusses what should be the desirable path and correct tools for the optimal re-design and operation of processes in the Industry 4.0 framework, as illustrated in a challenging case study corresponding to a complex network of evaporation plants in a viscose-fiber factory. The goal is to integrate optimal design, to improve the existing cooling systems, together with the optimal operation of the whole network, balancing the initial investment with the potentially achievable savings. A rigorous mathematical model for such optimization purpose has been built. The model explicitly considers different structural alternatives as a superstructure for the incorporation of new equipment into the network. The uncertainty associated to future operating conditions is also considered by using a two-stage stochastic formulation. Furthermore, the model is also the base from which a deterministic real-time optimization (RTO) builds upon to support the daily management of the future network... [more]

Process approaches and intensification technological processes are integrated parts of available devices, which have a positive effect on the parameters of the obtained products. Nanoemulsions as delivery carriers are becoming more popular and there is a real need to increase the possibilities of formulation designing and engineering. Therefore, preparations of oil-in-water nanoemulsion with encapsulated cannabidiol (CBD) as oil phase were carried out in two ways: sonication method and two-stage high-pressure homogenization. The provided analysis showed spherical morphology and much larger sizes and polydispersity of nanoemulsions obtained by the sonication approach. The size of nanodroplets was from 216 nm up to 1418 nm for sonication, whereas for homogenization 128−880 nm. Additionally, it was observed that a proportionally higher percentage of surfactin resulted in a higher value of the Zeta potential. The formulations were found to be stable for at least 30 days. The in vitro exper... [more]

The development process in the coatings industry can be shortened by digital transformation, and its costs can be reduced using a technical enabler. However, formulators need up-to-date and comprehensive data on existing and potential ingredients to develop the formulation. We were curious about how to supply formulators with data. The idea was that suppliers of ingredients provide data using the “common enabling technology”. We hypothesize that direct data entry compensates suppliers because they can shorten the sales process and increase sales. We used a survey to select key sales channels in the industry. Detailed process models were designed using structured interviews. We analyzed models using structural and operational indicators. Finally, we formed a new digital sales process and verified it. The results show that the digitally formatted sales process can be shortened by up to 32%. Simultaneously, more potential customers can be accessed using the common technology. Existing sal... [more]

In order to not only produce an open-die forged part with the desired final geometry but to also maintain economic production, precise process planning is necessary. However, due to the incremental forming of the billet, often with several hundred strokes, the process design is arbitrarily complicated and, even today, often only based on experience or simple mathematical models describing the geometry development. Hence, in this paper, fast process models were merged with a double deep Q-learning algorithm to enable a pass schedule design including multi-objective optimization. The presented implementation of a double deep Q-learning algorithm was successfully trained on an industrial-scale forging process and converged stably against high reward values. The generated pass schedules reliably produced the desired final ingot geometry, utilized the available press force well without exceeding plant limits, and, at the same time, minimized the number of passes. Finally, a forging experime... [more]

Currently, some coffee production centers still perform classification manually, which requires a very long time, a lot of labor, and expensive operational costs. Therefore, the purpose of this research was to design and test the performance of a coffee bean classifier that can accelerate the process of classifying beans. The classifier used consisted of three main parts, namely the frame, the driving force, and sieves. The research parameters included classifier work capacity, power, specific energy, classification distribution and effectiveness, and efficiency. The results showed that the best operating conditions of the coffee bean classifier was a rotational speed of 91.07 rpm and a 16° sieve angle with a classifier working capacity of 38.27 kg/h: the distribution of the seeds retained in the first sieve was 56.77%, the second sieve was 28.12%, and the third sieve was 15.11%. The efficiency of using a classifier was found at a rotating speed of 91.07 rpm and a sieve angle of 16°. T... [more]

The global population is moving away from fossil fuel technologies due to their many disadvantages, such as air pollution, greenhouse gases emission, global warming, acid rain, health problems, and high costs. These disadvantages make fossil fuels unsustainable. As a result, renewable energy is becoming more attractive due to its steadily decreasing costs. Harnessing renewable energy promises to meet the present energy demands of the African continent. The enormous renewable energy potential available across the African continent remains largely untapped, especially for wind energy. However, marginal and fair wind speeds and power densities characterize African wind energy resulting in low and unsustainable power in many areas. This research develops a techno-economic model for wind energy cost analysis for a novel, Ferris wheel-based wind turbine. The model is used to techno-economically analyze the siting of wind turbine sites in low wind speed areas on the African continent. The win... [more]

Present work aims to present a complete and detailed heat-mass balance data, streams elemental and species composition as crucial input data for Techno-Economic Assessment (TEA). Combined heat, power and char (CHPC) generation in decoupled pyrolysis and gasification processes ensures a highly efficient, reliable and sustainable economic use of biomass. Innovative process model based on simultaneous heat-mass balance with the elemental (C, H, O) and species (CO, H2, CO2, CH4 and H2O) composition of each stream provides reliable data with a general/average variability in a range of ±10% and ±5% for the main outputs. Thermodynamic calculations verified not only the concept but also a numerical range of the results. Comparisons with recently published, scientific and data from technology providers, prove their general applicability and consistency. TEA cases, presented in a complete and detailed table, allow selection of the relevant calculation basis providing reliable data for doubtless... [more]

The COVID-19 pandemic has motivated the rapid development of numerous vaccines that have proven effective against SARS-CoV-2. Several of these successful vaccines are based on the adenoviral vector platform. The mass manufacturing of these vaccines poses great challenges, especially in the context of a pandemic where extremely large quantities must be produced quickly at an affordable cost. In this work, two baseline processes for the production of a COVID-19 adenoviral vector vaccine, B1 and P1, were designed, simulated and economically evaluated with the aid of the software SuperPro Designer. B1 used a batch cell culture viral production step, with a viral titer of 5 × 1010 viral particles (VP)/mL in both stainless-steel and disposable equipment. P1 used a perfusion cell culture viral production step, with a viral titer of 1 × 1012 VP/mL in exclusively disposable equipment. Both processes were sized to produce 400 M/yr vaccine doses. P1 led to a smaller cost per dose than B1 ($0.15 v... [more]

The use of shrimp waste to obtain chitosan (Ch) is an essential issue, considering a circular economy, waste management, and its application to environmentally friendly materials. In this study, northern prawn shells were utilized to obtain Ch, which could then be used for synthesizing chitosan-based polyurethane (PUR+Ch) foams with different Ch concentration. The chemical structure, morphology, hardness, thermal properties, viscoelastic properties, and sorption properties in relation to oil and water of these materials were determined. The results present that the addition of Ch into PUR influences the physicochemical characteristics and properties of the tested materials. PUR+Ch foams with 1−3 wt% Ch had more open cells and were softer than neat PUR. PUR+Ch1 had the best thermal properties. PUR+Ch2 foam with 2 wt% Ch as a whole was characterized as having the highest water sorption. The PUR+Ch1 foam with 1 wt% Ch had the best oil sorption. This paper shows that the modification of PU... [more]

This paper presents the design and analysis of a mooring buoy and its mooring systems to moor a floating platform mounting an arrayed Wave Energy Converters (WECs). The mooring buoy allows the WEC platform to weathervane around the mooring buoy freely by the prevailing environment directions, which enables consistent power generation. The WEC platform is connected to the buoy with synthetic hawsers, while station-keeping of the buoy is maintained with catenary mooring lines of chains tied to the buoy keel. The buoy also accommodates a power cable to transfer the electricity from the WEC platform to the shore. The WEC platform is designed to produce a total of 1.0 MW with multiple WECs installed in an array. Fully coupled time-domain analyses are conducted under the site sea states, including extreme 50 y and survival 100 y conditions. The buoy motions, mooring tensions and other design parameters are evaluated. Strength and fatigue designs of the mooring systems are validated with requ... [more]

This study investigates the techno-economic feasibility of an off-grid integrated solar/wind/hydrokinetic plant to co-generate electricity and hydrogen for a remote micro-community. In addition to the techno-economic viability assessment of the proposed system via HOMER (hybrid optimization of multiple energy resources), a sensitivity analysis is conducted to ascertain the impact of ±10% fluctuations in wind speed, solar radiation, temperature, and water velocity on annual electric production, unmet electricity load, LCOE (levelized cost of electricity), and NPC (net present cost). For this, a far-off village with 15 households is selected as the case study. The results reveal that the NPC, LCOE, and LCOH (levelized cost of hydrogen) of the system are equal to $333,074, 0.1155 $/kWh, and 4.59 $/kg, respectively. Technical analysis indicates that the PV system with the rated capacity of 40 kW accounts for 43.7% of total electricity generation. This portion for the wind turbine and the h... [more]

The objective of this study was to determine the effects of whole-corn moisture and hammermill screen size on subsequent ground corn moisture, particle size and flowability. Treatments were arranged as a 2 × 2 factorial design with two moisture concentrations (14.5 and 16.7%), each ground using 2 hammermill screen sizes (3 mm and 6 mm). Corn was ground using a lab-scale 1.5 HP Bliss Hammermill at three separate timepoints to create three replications per treatment. Ground corn flowability was calculated using angle of repose (AOR), percent compressibility, and critical orifice diameter (COD) measurements to determine the composite flow index (CFI). There was no evidence for a screen size × corn moisture interaction for ground corn moisture content (MC), particle size, standard deviation, or flowability metrics. Grinding corn using a 3 mm screen resulted in decreased (p < 0.041) moisture content compared to corn ground using the 6 mm screen. There was a decrease (p < 0.031) in par... [more]

In view of the current status of catalytic cracking flue gas treatment, it is necessary to study the flow environment of desulfurization ash particles, which are a type of Geldart C particle, in a circulating fluidized bed (CFB) for semi-dry flue gas desulphurization using CFB technology. This study investigated the flow characteristics of desulphurization ash particles in a riser with an inner diameter of 70 mm and a height of 12.6 m, at a gas velocity of 4−7 m/s and a solids circulation rate of 15−45 kg/m2·s. The solids holdup in the axial distribution is relatively high near the bottom of the riser, and gradually decreases as the riser height increases, with a stable value from the middle to the top of the riser. In the radial distribution, the solids holdup of desulfurization ash particles is low in the center and high in the wall region. Within the above operating conditions, the solids holdup ranges from 0.008 to 0.025. The particle-based Archimedes number has a linear relationsh... [more]

The turn-to-turn faults (TTF) are also inevitable in split-winding transformers. The distorted leakage field generated by the TTF current results in large axial forces and end thrusts in the fault windings as well as affecting other branch windings normal operation, so it is of significance to study TTF of split-winding transformers. In this paper, the characteristics analysis of the split-winding transformer under the TTFs of the low voltage winding at different positions are presented. A 3600 KVA four split-windings transformer is taken as an example. Then, a simplified three-dimensional simplified model is established, taking into account the forces of the per-turn coil. The nonlinear-transient field-circuit coupled finite element method is used for the model. The leakage field distribution under the TTFs of the low voltage winding at different positions is studied. The resultant force of the short-circuit winding and the force of the per-turn coil are obtained. Subsequently, the fo... [more]

By activating PPAR-γ, thiazolidinediones normalize glucose levels in animal models of type 2 diabetes and in patients with this pathology. The aim of the present study was to analyze 219 new derivatives in silico and select the best for synthesis, to be evaluated for acute oral toxicity in female rats and for control of diabetes-related parameters in a rat model of streptozotocin-induced diabetes. The best compound was chosen based on pharmacokinetic, pharmacodynamic, and toxicological parameters obtained in silico and binding orientation observed by docking simulations on PPAR-γ. Compound 1G was synthesized by a quick and easy Knoevenagel condensation. Acute oral toxicity was found at a dose greater than 2000 mg/Kg. Compound 1G apparently produces therapeutic effects similar to those of pioglitazone, decreasing glycaemia and triglyceride levels in diabetic animals, without liver damage. Moreover, it did not cause a significant weight gain and tended to reduce polydipsia and polyphagia... [more]

Blanks, an important raw material for the manufacturing industry, are semi-finished products for further processing. The energy consumption and processing efficiency in the process of blank production and use can be determined to a great extent in the blank design stage. The design of appropriate blank dimensions is an important means of realizing ecological civilization. Current blank designs seldom consider the production conditions of enterprises. In order to design energy-saving and efficient blanks on the basis of the actual conditions of an enterprise, this paper establishes the blank dimension optimization design model from the perspective of a business compass. With energy savings and efficiency as the goals, and the blank production and use-process equipment parameters as variables, the blank dimensions were optimized by an NSGA-II algorithm, and the results showed that the energy efficiency and processing efficiency of the designed blank dimensions were significantly better t... [more]

The main objective of this study was firstly to investigate the influence of freezing process parameters on the formation of the internal structure of frozen coffee granules. It was investigated how these frozen internal structures affect the drying kinetics during freeze-drying. A design of experiment study was carried out using the response surface method to quantify the influence of the freezing step that occurs in a scraped surface heat exchanger (SSHE). Therefore, the coffee extract at a concentration of 30% w/w is entering the SSHE as a liquid and gets partially crystallized up to a weight-based ice content of 0.364. During this step, the influence of factors like cooling temperature, scraper rotation speed and temperature cycles on ice crystal structure was investigated. In a second freezing step, the influence of freezing rates during hardening of the product by air-blast freezing is investigated, where the freezing rate is significantly affected by the cake thickness. The prod... [more]

In recent years, lipid-based nanosystems have emerged as a promising class of nanocarriers for encapsulating many active agents. Solid lipid nanoparticles (SLNs) provide good stability (colloidal as well as physical) and high biocompatibility. Appropriate design of the carrier structure through a selection of components and preparation methods allows us to obtain formulations with desired physicochemical parameters and biological properties. The present contribution has been carried out to investigate SLNs containing biocompatible phosphatidylcholine mixed with non-ionic surfactant Tween 60 as stabilizing agents. The internal lipid phase consisted of glyceryl monostearate was confirmed as safe for drug delivery by the Food and Drug Administration. The SLNs were fabricated by ultrasonic-nanoemulsification method. The preparation process was optimized in regard to variable parameters such as ultrasonication time and used amplitude and number of cycles. The sizes of the studied nanopartic... [more]

Groundwater is the source of all tap water in Kumamoto City, Japan. However, the concentration of nitrate nitrogen (NO3−-N) tends to increase every year due to the influences of overfertilization, field disposal of livestock manure, and inflow of domestic wastewater. A heterotrophic nitrification−aerobic denitrification (HN-AD) system is an attractive approach for nitrate-nitrogen removal. In this study, Rhodotorula graminis NBRC0190, a naturally occurring red yeast that shows high nitrogen removal performance in glucose, was immobilized on calcium alginate hydrogel beads. NO3−-N removal efficiency exceeded 98% in the region of NO3−-N concentration below 10 mg/L in the model groundwater. Even after the same treatment was repeated five times, the denitrification performance of the R. gra immobilized alginate hydrogel beads was maintained. Finally, when this treatment method was applied to actual groundwater in Kumamoto City, it was possible to make the water of even higher quality.

Lyophilization is widely used in the preservation of thermolabile products. The main shortcoming is the long processing time. Lyophilization processes are mostly based on a recipe that is not changed, but, with the Quality by Design (QbD) approach and use of Process Analytical Technology (PAT), the process duration can be optimized for maximum productivity while ensuring product safety. In this work, an advanced PAT approach is used for the endpoint determination of primary drying. Manometric temperature measurement (MTM) and comparative pressure measurement are used to determine the endpoint of the batch while a modeling approach is outlined that is able to calculate the endpoint of every vial in the batch. This approach can be used for process development, control and optimization.

This study was based on a numerical effort to use the motor support (prop) as a guide vane when the motor of a wall-mounted axial fan was located at the fan outlet while maintaining the structural and spatial advantage. The design for the guide vane followed two- and three-dimensional methods. The inlet vane angle, meridional length (total), and meridional length with a vane angle of zero (0) degrees (linear) were considered as design variables. At the design and some low flow rate points, the 2D design offered the most favorable performance when the meridional length with a vane angle of zero (0) degrees (linear) was 30% based on total length, and was the worst for 70%. The 3D design method applied in this study did not outperform the 2D design. In the 2D design concept, averaging the flow angle for the entire span at the design flow rate could ensure a better pressure rise over a more comprehensive flow rate range than weighting the flow angle for a specific span. In addition, the nu... [more]

The processing of large quantities of water in biorefining processes can lead to immense costs for heating, evaporation, and wastewater disposal. These costs may prohibit the exploitation of alternative products, e.g., xylooligosaccharides from straw, which are regarded as too costly. A new counter-current extractions method is proposed that aims at low solvent (water) consumption, as well as high yields and extract concentrations. This process was evaluated with suspension extraction experiments with steam pretreated wheat straw and the process window analysis based on a mass balance for a washing and a leaching scenario. The latter was conducted with two other suspension extraction processes as a comparison. The equilibration time was found to be well below 10 min. While the suspension extraction with and without recycling need to be designed to achieve a high yield or a high concentration and low solvent consumption, the proposed extraction method can reach all three simultaneously.... [more]

Over the past decades, awareness of the increase in environmental impact due to industrial development and technological advancement has gradually increased. Green manufacturing is one of the key approaches that begin to address environmental issues. With the current global attention, methodologies to incorporate green manufacturing into the design of green products through the green process route are much needed. However, it is challenging for industries to achieve this, as there is no definite definition of green. This work presents a systematic approach that provides a clear and consistent green manufacturing definition with a measurement method in terms of both product and process. With the consistent green definitions, the developed approach designs a product that satisfies green property and other product performance properties. In addition, the developed approach synthesises the production process that fulfils green manufacturing definitions and financial considerations for the... [more]

Methane is the second highest contributor to the greenhouse effect. Its global warming potential is 37 times that of CO2. Flaring-associated natural gas from remote oil reservoirs is currently the only economical alternative. Gas-to-liquid (GtL) technologies first convert natural gas into syngas, then it into liquids such as methanol, Fischer−Tropsch fuels or dimethyl ether. However, studies on the influence of feedstock composition are sparse, which also poses technical design challenges. Here, we examine the techno-economic analysis of a micro-refinery unit (MRU) that partially oxidizes methane-rich feedstocks and polymerizes the syngas formed via Fischer−Tropsch reaction. We consider three methane-containing waste gases: natural gas, biogas, and landfill gas. The FT fuel selling price is critical for the economy of the unit. A Monte Carlo simulation assesses the influence of the composition on the final product quantity as well as on the capital and operative expenses. The Aspen Plu... [more]

Titanium hydride (TiH2) is one of the basic materials for titanium (Ti) powder metallurgy. A novel method was proposed to produce TiH2 from the reduction of titanium tetrachloride (TiCl4) with magnesium hydride (MgH2) in the hydrogen (H2) atmosphere. The primary approach of this process is to produce TiH2 at a low-temperature range through an efficient and energy-saving process for further titanium powder production. In this study, the thermodynamic assessment and technoeconomic analysis of the process were investigated. The results show that the formation of TiH2 is feasible at low temperatures, and the molar ratio between TiCl4 and metal hydride as a reductant material has a critical role in its formation. Moreover, it was found that the yield of TiH2 is slightly higher when CaH2 is used as a reductant agent. The calculated equilibrium composition diagrams show that when the molar ratio between TiCl4 and metal hydrides is greater than the stoichiometric amount, the TiCl3 phase also f... [more]