This work is aimed at investigating regular mint (Mentha × villosa) drying behavior and assessing how the heterogeneous composition of plants affects their drying kinetics. Drying kinetics and sorption isotherms ...This work is aimed at investigating regular mint (Mentha × villosa) drying behavior and assessing how the heterogeneous composition of plants affects their drying kinetics. Drying kinetics and sorption isotherms were evaluated for whole branches and their fractions (leaves and stems). Stems and leaves were characterized by measurement of dimensions, apparent density and initial moisture content. The moisture sorption isotherms were obtained under temperatures of 30°C, 40°C and 50°C for branches, stems and leaves and the data were fitted to the GAB model. Mint branches and their fractions were oven dried at temperatures from 40°C to 70°C?and were obtained kinetic curves for each part. Water sorption patterns were similar for leaves and stems and the GAB model described well the sorption behavior of both materials. At a constant temperature, the drying rates were higher for leaves in comparison to stems and the differences increased as the temperature was raised. Therefore, depending on drying conditions, the moisture distribution in dried branches might be significantly different. Since the leaves constitute the major fraction in branches, the drying rates of branches were closer to those of leaves. The kinetic curves were fitted to a diffusion model based on an analytical solution of Fick’s second diffusion law and to an empirical model based on artificial neural network (ANN). The results showed that the model based on the ANN predicted the drying kinetics of the different parts better than the diffusive model. A single network was built to describe the kinetic behavior of branches and fractions in the whole range of temperatures investigated. The diffusive model based on fitting effective diffusivity did not provide good predictions of moisture content, probably because neither the dependence of effective diffusivity on the moisture content nor the heterogeneity and shrinking of static beds were considered.展开更多
Separation of refined soybean oil/n-hexane miscellas was studied using different commercial ultra- and nanofiltration membranes, with cut-oil＇s in the range of 1 to 5 kDa and salt rejection higher than 97% （MgSO4）....Separation of refined soybean oil/n-hexane miscellas was studied using different commercial ultra- and nanofiltration membranes, with cut-oil＇s in the range of 1 to 5 kDa and salt rejection higher than 97% （MgSO4）. Commercial soybean oil and n-hexane miscellas with 1：3 and 1：1 mass ratios were permeated in a dead-end module. The effects of the feed pressure （2-25 bar） on oil and n-hexane fluxes and rejection were investigated. Oil rejection ranged from negative values to 30.8%, soybean oil flux from 28.9 to 617.8 g/m2 hl and n-hexane flux from 8.5 to 1,078.5 g m2 hl. Membrane fouling was observed at all experimental conditions studied. The membrane separation process has proven to be a promising alternative to solvent recovery in soybean oil extraction.展开更多
Polygalacturonase inhibiting proteins(PGIPs)are plant proteins involved in the inhibition of polygalacturonases(PGs),cell-wall degrading enzymes often secreted by phytopathogenic fungi.Previously,we confirmed that PGI...Polygalacturonase inhibiting proteins(PGIPs)are plant proteins involved in the inhibition of polygalacturonases(PGs),cell-wall degrading enzymes often secreted by phytopathogenic fungi.Previously,we confirmed that PGIP2 from Phaseolus vulgaris(PvPGIP2)can inhibit the growth of Aspergillus niger and Botrytis cinerea on agar plate.In this study,we further validated the feasibility of using PGIP as an environmental and ecological friendly agent to prevent fungal infection post-harvest.We found that application of either purified PGIP(full length PvPGIP2 or truncated tPvPGIP2_5-8),or PGIP-secreting Saccharomyces cerevisiae strains can effectively inhibit fungal growth and necrotic lesions on tobacco leaf.We also examined the effective amount and thermostability of PGIP when applied on plants.A concentration of 0.75 mg/mL or higher can significantly reduce the area of B.cinerea lesions.The activity of full-length PvPGIPs is not affected after incubation at various temperatures ranging from20 to 42◦C for 24 h,while truncated tPvPGIP2_5-8 lost some efficacy after incubation at 42◦C.Furthermore,we have also examined the efficacy of PGIP on tomato fruit.When the purified PvPGIP2 proteins were applied to tomato fruit inoculated with B.cinerea at a concentration of roughly 1.0 mg/mL,disease inci-dence and area of disease had reduced by more than half compared to the controls without PGIP treatment.This study explores the potential of PGIPs as exogenously applied,eco-friendly fungal control agents on fruit and vegetables post-harvest.展开更多
The Government of the Republic of Indonesia states that the thermal energy for hot-mixed asphalt production shall be supplied by the direct combustion of fossil fuels in the form of diesel oil,natural gas,or fuel gas ...The Government of the Republic of Indonesia states that the thermal energy for hot-mixed asphalt production shall be supplied by the direct combustion of fossil fuels in the form of diesel oil,natural gas,or fuel gas from coal gasification which may generate GHG emission.Biomasses are able to substitute the fossil fuels through gasification technology.Gasification converts the biomass using limited air into gaseous fuel containing mainly CO and H_(2) that are subsequently combusted to produce heat,carbon dioxide,and water.It is obvious that the CO_(2) is then absorbed by the plants for photosynthesis,main-taining a balanced closed cycle.This study examines the level of global warming potential of this system for supplying heat based on the openLCA v1.9 software.The analysis used a gate-to-gate approach to evaluate scenarios of shell gasification to produce 1 metric tonne of hot-mixed asphalt.The scope covers raw material supply and transportation,palm kernel shell gasification,and products.The evaluation concludes that gasification could potentially reduce CO_(2) emissions.Environmental impact analysis and interpretation of the results using the openLCA database of Traci 2.1 recommend that greater CO_(2) emis-sion reduction is possible using palm kernel shell gasification,not only for supplying heat but also for electricity generation to operate all electrical equipments.展开更多
A low-carbon future demands more affordable batteries utilizing abundant elements with sustainable end-of-life battery management.Despite the economic and environmental advantages of Li-MnO_(2)batteries,their applica-...A low-carbon future demands more affordable batteries utilizing abundant elements with sustainable end-of-life battery management.Despite the economic and environmental advantages of Li-MnO_(2)batteries,their applica-tion so far has been largely constrained to primary batteries.Here,we demonstrate that one of the major limiting factors preventing the stable cycling of Li-MnO_(2)batteries,Mn dissolution,can be effectively mitigated by employing a common ether electrolyte,1 mol/L lithium bis(trifluorometha-nesulfonyl)imide(LiTFSI)in 1,3-dioxane(DOL)/1,2-dimethoxyethane(DME).We discover that the suppression of this dissolution enables highly reversible cycling of the MnO_(2)cathode regardless of the synthesized phase and morphology.Moreover,we find that both the LiPF_(6)salt and carbonate solvents present in conventional electrolytes are responsible for previous cycling challenges.The ether electrolyte,paired with MnO_(2)cathodes is able to demonstrate stable cycling performance at various rates,even at elevated temperature such as 60℃.Our discovery not only represents a defining step in Li-MnO_(2)batteries with extended life but provides design criteria of electrolytes for vast manganese-based cathodes in rechargeable batteries.展开更多
文摘This work is aimed at investigating regular mint (Mentha × villosa) drying behavior and assessing how the heterogeneous composition of plants affects their drying kinetics. Drying kinetics and sorption isotherms were evaluated for whole branches and their fractions (leaves and stems). Stems and leaves were characterized by measurement of dimensions, apparent density and initial moisture content. The moisture sorption isotherms were obtained under temperatures of 30°C, 40°C and 50°C for branches, stems and leaves and the data were fitted to the GAB model. Mint branches and their fractions were oven dried at temperatures from 40°C to 70°C?and were obtained kinetic curves for each part. Water sorption patterns were similar for leaves and stems and the GAB model described well the sorption behavior of both materials. At a constant temperature, the drying rates were higher for leaves in comparison to stems and the differences increased as the temperature was raised. Therefore, depending on drying conditions, the moisture distribution in dried branches might be significantly different. Since the leaves constitute the major fraction in branches, the drying rates of branches were closer to those of leaves. The kinetic curves were fitted to a diffusion model based on an analytical solution of Fick’s second diffusion law and to an empirical model based on artificial neural network (ANN). The results showed that the model based on the ANN predicted the drying kinetics of the different parts better than the diffusive model. A single network was built to describe the kinetic behavior of branches and fractions in the whole range of temperatures investigated. The diffusive model based on fitting effective diffusivity did not provide good predictions of moisture content, probably because neither the dependence of effective diffusivity on the moisture content nor the heterogeneity and shrinking of static beds were considered.
文摘Separation of refined soybean oil/n-hexane miscellas was studied using different commercial ultra- and nanofiltration membranes, with cut-oil＇s in the range of 1 to 5 kDa and salt rejection higher than 97% （MgSO4）. Commercial soybean oil and n-hexane miscellas with 1：3 and 1：1 mass ratios were permeated in a dead-end module. The effects of the feed pressure （2-25 bar） on oil and n-hexane fluxes and rejection were investigated. Oil rejection ranged from negative values to 30.8%, soybean oil flux from 28.9 to 617.8 g/m2 hl and n-hexane flux from 8.5 to 1,078.5 g m2 hl. Membrane fouling was observed at all experimental conditions studied. The membrane separation process has proven to be a promising alternative to solvent recovery in soybean oil extraction.
文摘Polygalacturonase inhibiting proteins(PGIPs)are plant proteins involved in the inhibition of polygalacturonases(PGs),cell-wall degrading enzymes often secreted by phytopathogenic fungi.Previously,we confirmed that PGIP2 from Phaseolus vulgaris(PvPGIP2)can inhibit the growth of Aspergillus niger and Botrytis cinerea on agar plate.In this study,we further validated the feasibility of using PGIP as an environmental and ecological friendly agent to prevent fungal infection post-harvest.We found that application of either purified PGIP(full length PvPGIP2 or truncated tPvPGIP2_5-8),or PGIP-secreting Saccharomyces cerevisiae strains can effectively inhibit fungal growth and necrotic lesions on tobacco leaf.We also examined the effective amount and thermostability of PGIP when applied on plants.A concentration of 0.75 mg/mL or higher can significantly reduce the area of B.cinerea lesions.The activity of full-length PvPGIPs is not affected after incubation at various temperatures ranging from20 to 42◦C for 24 h,while truncated tPvPGIP2_5-8 lost some efficacy after incubation at 42◦C.Furthermore,we have also examined the efficacy of PGIP on tomato fruit.When the purified PvPGIP2 proteins were applied to tomato fruit inoculated with B.cinerea at a concentration of roughly 1.0 mg/mL,disease inci-dence and area of disease had reduced by more than half compared to the controls without PGIP treatment.This study explores the potential of PGIPs as exogenously applied,eco-friendly fungal control agents on fruit and vegetables post-harvest.
文摘The Government of the Republic of Indonesia states that the thermal energy for hot-mixed asphalt production shall be supplied by the direct combustion of fossil fuels in the form of diesel oil,natural gas,or fuel gas from coal gasification which may generate GHG emission.Biomasses are able to substitute the fossil fuels through gasification technology.Gasification converts the biomass using limited air into gaseous fuel containing mainly CO and H_(2) that are subsequently combusted to produce heat,carbon dioxide,and water.It is obvious that the CO_(2) is then absorbed by the plants for photosynthesis,main-taining a balanced closed cycle.This study examines the level of global warming potential of this system for supplying heat based on the openLCA v1.9 software.The analysis used a gate-to-gate approach to evaluate scenarios of shell gasification to produce 1 metric tonne of hot-mixed asphalt.The scope covers raw material supply and transportation,palm kernel shell gasification,and products.The evaluation concludes that gasification could potentially reduce CO_(2) emissions.Environmental impact analysis and interpretation of the results using the openLCA database of Traci 2.1 recommend that greater CO_(2) emis-sion reduction is possible using palm kernel shell gasification,not only for supplying heat but also for electricity generation to operate all electrical equipments.
基金supported by NSF through the UC San Diego Materials Research Science and Engineering Center(UCSD MRSEC)DMR-2011924Part of the work used the UCSD-MTI Battery Fabrication Facility and the UCSDArbin Battery Testing Facility.Electron microscopic characterization was performed at the San Diego Nanotechnology Infrastructure(SDNI)of UCSD,a member of the National Nanotechnology Coordinated Infrastructure,which is supported by the National Science Foundation(Grant No.ECCS-1542148)Use of the Stanford Synchrotron Radiation Light source,SLAC National Accelerator Laboratory,is supported by the U.S.Department of Energy,Office of Science,Office of Basic Energy Sciences,under Contract No.DE-AC02-76SF00515.
文摘A low-carbon future demands more affordable batteries utilizing abundant elements with sustainable end-of-life battery management.Despite the economic and environmental advantages of Li-MnO_(2)batteries,their applica-tion so far has been largely constrained to primary batteries.Here,we demonstrate that one of the major limiting factors preventing the stable cycling of Li-MnO_(2)batteries,Mn dissolution,can be effectively mitigated by employing a common ether electrolyte,1 mol/L lithium bis(trifluorometha-nesulfonyl)imide(LiTFSI)in 1,3-dioxane(DOL)/1,2-dimethoxyethane(DME).We discover that the suppression of this dissolution enables highly reversible cycling of the MnO_(2)cathode regardless of the synthesized phase and morphology.Moreover,we find that both the LiPF_(6)salt and carbonate solvents present in conventional electrolytes are responsible for previous cycling challenges.The ether electrolyte,paired with MnO_(2)cathodes is able to demonstrate stable cycling performance at various rates,even at elevated temperature such as 60℃.Our discovery not only represents a defining step in Li-MnO_(2)batteries with extended life but provides design criteria of electrolytes for vast manganese-based cathodes in rechargeable batteries.
