Scabiosa columbaria is a plant traditionally used to treat skin ailments, such as scabies, wound bruises, sores and hyperpigmentation. To find a novel skin depigmenting agent, the present study was investigated to determine the possible anti-melanogenesis, antioxidant and anti-tyrosinase effects of methanol extract of S. columbaria leaves. Cytotoxicity towards human dermal fibroblast (MRHF) cells was assessed using the live-cell fluorescence imaging microscopy. The inhibitory effects of the extract on tyrosinase, collagenase and melanin synthesis were also investigated using standard in vitro method, while ferric reducing power (FRAP) was used to determine the antioxidant potential of the plant extract. The effect of the extract on collagen content in MRHF cells was also investigated. The plant extract displayed no meaningful cytotoxicity towards MRHF cells and no significant cell death was recorded at all the tested concentrations. The extract (25−100 µg/mL) effectively decreased mela... [more]

Moisture transfer characteristics of Alaska pollock (AP) surimi were investigated at various temperatures. The effective moisture diffusivity increased from 5.50 × 10−11 to 2.07 × 10−9 m2/s as the temperature increased from 30 °C to 90 °C. In order to investigate the mass and heat transfer characteristics of AP surimi, the simulation model was developed and evaluated by root-mean-square error (RMSE) (<2.95%). Rheological properties of AP surimi were investigated at different heating rates (1 °C/min, 5 °C/min, 10 °C/min, 20 °C/min and 30 °C/min). As heating rate increased to 20 °C/min and 30 °C/min, elastic modulus (G’) significantly diminished. The diminished G’ could be explained by impaired gel during temperature sweep supported by the predicted temperature distribution in the simulation model. Changes in moisture content of AP surimi during temperature sweep were also measured and predicted by the simulation model. The results showed the decreased amount of moisture content signi... [more]

Steam-assisted gravity drainage (SAGD) is one of the most successful thermal enhanced oil recovery (EOR) methods for cold viscose oils. Several analytical and semi-analytical models have been theorized, yet the process needs more studies to be conducted to improve quick production rate predictions. Following the exponential geometry theory developed for finding the oil production rate, an upgraded predictive model is presented in this study. Unlike the exponential model, the current model divides the steam-oil interface into several segments, and then the heat and mass balances are applied to each of the segments. By manipulating the basic equations, the required formulas for estimating the oil drainage rate, location of interface, heat penetration depth of steam ahead of the interface, and the steam required for the operation are obtained theoretically. The output of the proposed theory, afterwards, is validated with experimental data, and then finalized with data from the real SAGD p... [more]

The rotation speed of a mill is an important factor related to its operation and grinding efficiency. Analysis and regulation of the optimal speed under different working conditions can effectively reduce energy loss, improve productivity, and extend the service life of the equipment. However, the relationship between the optimal speed and different operating parameters has not received much attention. In this study, the relationship between the optimal speed and particle size and number was investigated using discrete element method (DEM). An improved exponential approaching law sliding mode control method is proposed to track the optimal speed of the mill. Firstly, a simulation was carried out to investigate the relationship between the optimal speed and different operating parameters under cross-over testing. The model of the relationships between the optimal rotation speed and the size and number of particles was established based on the response surface method. An improved sliding... [more]

This study investigates the interrelated parameters affecting heat transfer from a hot gas flowing on a flat plate while cool air is injected adjacent to the flat plate. The cool air forms an air blanket that shield the flat plate from the hot gas flow. The cool air is blown from a confined jet and is simulated using a two-dimensional numerical model under three variable parameters; namely, blowing ratio, jet angle and density ratio. The interrelations between these parameters are evaluated to properly understand their effects on heat transfer. The analyses are conducted using ANSYS-Fluent, and the performance of the air blanket is reported using local and average adiabatic film cooling effectiveness (AFCE). The interrelation between these parameters and the AFCE is established through a statistical method known as response surface methodology (RSM). The RSM model shows that the AFCE has a second order relation with the blowing ratio and a first order relation with both jet angle and d... [more]

In this study, the numerical conjugate heat transfer and hydraulic performance of nanofluids flow in a rectangular microchannel heat sink (RMCHS) with longitudinal vortex generators (LVGs) was investigated at different Reynolds numbers (200−1200). Three-dimensional simulations are performed on a microchannel heated by a constant temperature with five different configurations with different angles of attack for the LVGs under laminar flow conditions. The study uses five different nanofluid combinations of Al2O3 or CuO, containing low volume fractions in the range of 0.5% to 3.0% with various nanoparticle sizes that are dispersed in pure water, PAO (Polyalphaolefin) or ethylene glycol. The results show that for Reynolds number ranging from 100 to 1100, Al2O3−water has the best performance compared with CuO nanofluid with Nusselt number values between 7.67 and 14.7, with an associated increase in Fanning friction factor by values of 0.0219−0.095. For the case of different base fluids, the... [more]

More recent attention has been focused on the utilization of Jatropha curcas in the field of water treatment. The potential of Jatropha oil in the synthesis of membrane for water filtration had been explored, its performance compared to the addition of graphene oxide (GO) in the polymer matrix. Jatropha oil was modified in a two-step method to produce Jatropha oil-based polyol (JOL) and was blended with hexamethylene diisocyanate (HDI) to produce Jatropha polyurethane membrane (JPU). JPU was synthesized in different conditions to obtain the optimized membrane and was blended with different GO loading to form Jatropha/graphene oxide composite membrane (JPU/GO) for performance improvement. The synthesized pristine JPU and JPU/GO were evaluated and the materials were analyzed using fourier transform infrared spectroscopy (FTIR), differential scanning calorimetry (DSC), thermogravimetric analysis (TGA), contact angle, water flux, and field emission scanning electron microscopy (FESEM). Res... [more]

Technoeconomic analyses using established tools such as SuperPro Designer® require a level of detail that is typically unavailable at the early stage of process evaluation. To facilitate this, members of our group previously created a spreadsheet-based process modeling and technoeconomic platform explicitly aimed at joint fermentative‒catalytic biorefinery processes. In this work, we detail the reorganization and expansion of this model—ESTEA2 (Early State Technoeconomic Analysis, version 2), including detailed design and cost calculations for new unit operations. Furthermore, we describe ESTEA2 validation using ethanol and sorbic acid process. The results were compared with estimates from the literature, SuperPro Designer® (Version 8.5, Intelligen Inc., Scotch Plains, NJ, 2013), and other third-party process models. ESTEA2 can perform a technoeconomic analysis for a joint fermentative‒catalytic process with just 12 user-supplied inputs, which, when modeled in SuperPro Designer®, requi... [more]

Gas−solid cyclone separators are widely utilized in many industrial applications and usually involve complex multi-physics of gas−solid flow and heat transfer. In recent years, there has been a progressive interest in the application of computational fluid dynamics (CFD) to understand the gas−solid flow behavior of cyclones and predict their performance. In this paper, a review of the existing CFD studies of cyclone separators, operating in a wide range of solids loadings and at ambient and elevated temperatures, is presented. In the first part, a brief background on the important performance parameters of cyclones, namely pressure drop and separation efficiency, as well as how they are affected by the solids loading and operating temperature, is described. This is followed by a summary of the existing CFD simulation studies of cyclones at ambient temperature, with an emphasis on the high mass loading of particles, and at elevated temperatures. The capabilities as well as the challenge... [more]

Pump annular seals can cause fluid reaction forces that have great effects on the vibration characteristic and stability of a pump system. For this reason, it is important to study rotordynamic characteristics of annular seals. In this paper, a new transient computational fluid dynamics (CFD) method with dynamic mesh is proposed to investigate rotordynamic characteristics of the pump annular seal. The reliability of the transient CFD method is validated by comparison with the results from the experiment and the bulk-flow method, and the relationship between the seal length and rotordynamic characteristics is investigated by the transient CFD method. The results indicate that direct stiffness decreases sharply even turns to negative as the seal length increases, this phenomenon may change the direction of fluid force on the rotor surface and affect supporting condition of the pump rotor. With the increasing seal length, the whirl frequency ratio gradually increases, which would weaken t... [more]

In this paper we have considered a staggered cavity. It is equipped with purely viscous fluid. The physical design is controlled through mathematical formulation in terms of both the equation of continuity and equation of momentum along with boundary constraints. To be more specific, the Navier-Stokes equations for two dimensional Newtonian fluid flow in staggered enclosure is formulated and solved by well trusted method named finite element method. The novelty is increased by considering the motion of upper and lower walls of staggered cavity case-wise namely, in first case we consider that the upper wall of staggered cavity is moving and rest of walls are kept at zero velocity. In second case we consider that the upper and bottom walls are moving in a parallel way. Lastly, the upper and bottom walls are considered in an antiparallel direction. In all cases the deep analysis is performed and results are proposed by means of contour plots. The velocity components are explained by line... [more]

Inflammatory bowel disease (IBD) is one of the predominant intestinal diseases associated with chronic inflammation and ulceration of the colon. This study explored the ameliorative effect of Aloe vera extract (Aloe) and/or heat-killed Lactobacillus plantarum L.137 (HK L.137) on dextran sodium sulfate (DSS)-induced colitis in mice. Aloe and/or HK L.137 were supplied for 9 days and the mice were challenged with DSS for 7 days. The DSS group demonstrated bloody diarrhea, colitis of high histologic grade, increased nuclear factor-kappa B (NF-κB) p65, inducible nitric oxide synthase (iNOS), myeloperoxidase (MPO), interleukin (IL)-6, and tumor necrosis factor (TNF)-α, and decreased IL-10 expression. These alterations were dwindled in DSS-induced mice treated with Aloe and HK L.137 separately. Aloe and HK L.137 together have augmented the therapeutic effect of each other. In conclusion, our findings demonstrated that Aloe and/or HK L.137 ameliorated DSS-induced colitis by promoting the secre... [more]

In this paper, multiclass classification is used to develop a novel approach to enhance failure mode and effects analysis and the generation of risk priority number. This is done by developing four machine learning models using auto machine learning. Failure mode and effects analysis is a technique that is used in industry to identify possible failures that may occur and the effects of these failures on the system. Meanwhile, risk priority number is a numeric value that is calculated by multiplying three associated parameters namely severity, occurrence and detectability. The value of risk priority number determines the next actions to be made. A dataset that includes a one-year registry of 1532 failures with their description, severity, occurrence, and detectability is used to develop four models to predict the values of severity, occurrence, and detectability. Meanwhile, the resulted models are evaluated using 10% of the dataset. Evaluation results show that the proposed models have... [more]

The control of time-delay systems is a hot research topic. Ever since the theory of linear active disturbance rejection control (LADRC) was put forward, considerable progress has been made. LADRC shows a good control effect on the control of time-delay systems. The problem about the parameter stability region of LADRC controllers has been seldom discussed, which is very important for practical application. In this study, the dual-locus diagram method, which is used to solve the upper limit of the LADRC controller bandwidth, is studied for both first-order time-delay systems and second-order time-delay systems. The characteristic equation roots distribution is firstly transformed into the problem of finding the frequency of the dual-locus diagram intersection point. To solve the problem for second-order time-delay system LADRC controllers, which is a dual 10-order nonlinear equation, a transformation has been made through Euler’s formula and genetic algorithm (GA) has been adopted to se... [more]

This paper’s goal was to select methods and a calibration procedure which would lead to the determination of relevant parameters of a discrete element method (DEM) and virtual material creation. Seven particulates were selected with respect to their shape (spherical and non-spherical), size and density. The first calibration experiment involved “packing test” to determine the shape accuracy and bulk density of virtual packed particulates. The series of simulations were compared with real experiments, and the size, shape and density of virtual particles were optimized. Using three apparatuses, the input parameter values were experimentally determined for a contact model that defines the behavior of particulates in DEM simulations. The research part of the paper examines the influence of factors such as particle number; pile formation method; and the method of evaluation of the angle of repose on the process of the calibration of virtual material. The most reproducible results were achie... [more]

In the bottom region of blast furnaces during the ironmaking process, the liquid iron and molten slag drip into the coke bed by the action of gravity. In this study, a practical multi-interfacial smoothed particle hydrodynamics (SPH) simulation is carried out to track the complex liquid transient dripping behavior involving two immiscible phases in the coke bed. Numerical simulations were performed for different conditions corresponding to different values of wettability force between molten slag and cokes. The predicted dripping velocity changes and interfacial shape were investigated. The relaxation of the surface force of liquid iron plays a significant role in the dripping rate; i.e., the molten slag on the cokes acts as a lubricant against liquid iron flow. If the attractive force between the coke and slag is smaller than the gravitational force, the slag then drops together with the liquid iron. When the attractive force between the coke and slag becomes dominant, the iron-slag i... [more]

The 20th century has witnessed a remarkable enhancement in the demand for varieties of consumer products, ranging from food, pharmaceutical, cosmetics, to other industries. To enhance the quality of the product and to reduce the production cost, industries are gradually inclined towards greener processing technologies. Cavitation-based technologies are gaining interest among processing technologies due to their cost effectiveness in operation, minimization of toxic solvent usage, and ability to obtain superior processed products compared to conventional methods. Also, following the recent advancements, cavitation technology with large-scale processing applicability is only denoted to the hydrodynamic cavitation (HC)-based method. This review includes a general overview of hydrodynamic cavitation-based processing technologies and a detailed discussion regarding the process effectiveness. HC has demonstrated its usefulness in food processing, extraction of valuable products, biofuel synt... [more]

Olive mill wastewater (OMW) presents high environmental impact due to the fact of its elevated organic load and toxicity, especially in Mediterranean countries. Its valorization for simultaneous pollutants degradation and green energy production is receiving great attention, mainly via steam reforming for hydrogen generation. Following previous works, the present research goes into detail about OMW valorization, particularly investigating for the first time the potential benefits of OMW−bioethanol mixtures co-reforming for ultra-pure hydrogen production in Pd-membrane reactors. In this manner, the typical large dilution of OMW and, hence, excess water can be used as a reactant for obtaining additional hydrogen from ethanol. Fresh OMW was previously conditioned by filtration and distillation processes, analyzing later the effect of pressure (1−5 bar), oxidizing conditions (N2 or air as carrier gas), gas hourly space velocity (150−1500 h−1), and alcohol concentration on the co-reforming... [more]

Although Kaibel distillation columns are superior to conventional distillation sequences owing to smaller equipment investment and operation cost, they display high nonlinearity and this greatly increases the difficulty of achieving their tight control. To overcome this problem, four decentralized composition control structures, i.e., the CSR/QR, CSR/B, CSD/QR, and CSD/B structures, are proposed and compared based on the control of a Kaibel distillation column fractionating a methanol/ethanol/propanol/butanol quaternary mixture. These four composition control structures all include five composition control loops. While the four of them are employed to maintain the purity of the top, upper sidestream, lower sidestream, and bottom products, the remaining one is employed to minimize the energy consumption of the Kaibel distillation column by maintaining the composition of propanol at the first stage of the prefractionator. Dynamic simulation results show the CSR/QR and CSR/B structures ca... [more]

The reduction of heavy and radioactive metal pollution of industrial wastewater remains a vital challenge. Due to layered structure and developed surface, potassium polytitanate had potential in becoming an effective sorbent for metal extraction from wastewater in the presented paper. On the basis of the different sorption models, this paper studied the mechanism of Pb2+ and Sr2+ cation extraction from aqueous solution by non-crystalline potassium polytitanate produced by molten salt synthesis. The ion exchange during metal extraction from model solutions was proven by kinetic analysis of ion concentration change, electronic microscopy, and X-ray fluorescence analysis of sorbent before and after sorption, as well as by theoretical modeling of potassium, lead, and strontium polytitanates. The sorption was limited by the inner diffusion in the potassium polytitanate (PPT) interlayer space, as was shown using the Boyd diffusion model. The sorption processes can be described by Ho and McKa... [more]

Waste heat recovery of the internal combustion engine (ICE) has attracted much attention, and the supercritical carbon dioxide (S-CO2) cycle was considered as a promising technology. In this paper, a comparison of four S-CO2 cycles for waste heat recovery from the ICE was presented. Improving the exhaust heat recovery ratio and cycle thermal efficiency were significant to the net output power. A discussion about four different cycles with different design parameters was conducted, along with a thermodynamic performance. The results showed that choosing an appropriate inlet pressure of the compressor could achieve the maximum exhaust heat recovery ratio, and the pressure increased with the rising of the turbine inlet pressure and compressor inlet temperature. The maximum exhaust heat recovery ratio for recuperation and pre-compression of the S-CO2 cycle were achieved at 7.65 Mpa and 5.8 MPa, respectively. For the split-flow recompression cycle, thermal efficiency first increased with th... [more]

An operating space partition method with control performance is proposed, where the heterogeneous multiple model is applied to a nonlinear system. Firstly, the heterogeneous multiple model is obtained from a nonlinear system at the given equilibrium points and transformed into a homogeneous multiple model with auxiliary variables. Secondly, an optimal problem where decision variables are composed of control input and boundary conditions of sub-models is formulated with the hybrid model developed from the homogeneous multiple model. The computational implementation of an optimal operating space partition algorithm is presented according to the Hamilton−Jacobi−Bellman equation and numerical method. Finally, a multiple model predictive controller is designed, and the computational implementation of the multiple model predictive controller is addressed with the auxiliary vectors. Furthermore, a continuous stirred tank reactor (CSTR) is used to confirm the effectiveness of the developed met... [more]

TiO2 membranes were prepared on porous Ti supports through the in situ oxidation method. The effects of oxygen concentration, oxidation temperature, and oxidation time on the thickness, pore size, and microstructure of the prepared TiO2 membrane were investigated. The results showed that with increasing oxygen concentration, oxidation temperature, and oxidation time, the thickness of the prepared TiO2 membrane gradually increased, and the pore diameter gradually decreased. The optimum preparation conditions were—oxygen concentration was N2:O2 = 2:1, oxidation temperature was 800 ℃, and oxidation time was 60 min. The prepared TiO2/Ti composite membranes had a flat and smooth surface, uniform thickness, and only a rutile TiO2 characteristic peak formed on the surface of the membrane. The prepared TiO2/Ti composite membrane had a narrow pore size distribution, and the average pore size was about 0.312 μm. In addition, the prepared TiO2/Ti composite membranes showed an excellent stability.

Radial Basis Function Neural Network (RBFNN) is a class of Artificial Neural Network (ANN) that contains hidden layer processing units (neurons) with nonlinear, radially symmetric activation functions. Consequently, RBFNN has extensively suffered from significant computational error and difficulties in approximating the optimal hidden neuron, especially when dealing with Boolean Satisfiability logical rule. In this paper, we present a comprehensive investigation of the potential effect of systematic Satisfiability programming as a logical rule, namely 2 Satisfiability (2SAT) to optimize the output weights and parameters in RBFNN. The 2SAT logical rule has extensively applied in various disciplines, ranging from industrial automation to the complex management system. The core impetus of this study is to investigate the effectiveness of 2SAT logical rule in reducing the computational burden for RBFNN by obtaining the parameters in RBFNN. The comparison is made between RBFNN and the exist... [more]

The switched inertance hydraulic converter (SIHC) is a new technology providing an alternative to conventional proportional or servo-valve-controlled systems in the area of fluid power. SIHCs can adjust or control flow and pressure by means of using digital control signals that do not rely on throttling the flow and dissipation of power, and provide hydraulic systems with high-energy efficiency, flexible control, and insensitivity to contamination. In this article, the analytical models of an SIHC in a three-port flow-booster configuration were used and validated at high operating pressure, with the low- and high-pressure supplies of 30 and 90 bar and a high delivery flow rate of 21 L/min. The system dynamics, flow responses, and power consumption were investigated and theoretically and experimentally validated. Results were compared to previous results achieved using low operating pressures, where low- and high-pressure supplies were 20 and 30 bar, and the delivery flow rate was 7 L/m... [more]