Science and technology with nuclear tracks in solids

Fission track dating has greatly expanded its usefulness to geology over the last 40 years. It is central to thermochronology—the use of shortened fission tracks to decipher the thermal history, movement, and provenance of rocks. When combined with other indicators, such as zircon color and (U–Th)/He, a range of temperatures from C to C can be studied. Combining fission track analysis with cosmogenic nuclide decay rates, one can study landscape development and denudation of passive margins. Technological applications have expanded from biological filters, radon mapping, and dosimetry to the use of ion track microtechnology in microlithography, micromachining by ion track etching, microscopic field emission tips, magnetic nanowires as magnetoresistive sensors, microfluidic devices, physiology of ion channels in single cells, and so on. In nuclear and particle physics, relatively insensitive glass detectors have been almost single-handedly responsible for our knowledge of cluster radioactivity, and plastic track detectors together with automated measuring systems have been used at the Bevalac, Brookhaven, CERN, and GSI, mainly to study fragmentation of high-energy heavy nuclei. Almost everything we know about the ultraheavy cosmic rays has been learned using Lexan on the Long Duration Exposure Facility and BP-1 phosphate glass on the Mir Station. New topics include development of calorimetric aerogels capable of measuring kinetic energies of hypervelocity interstellar and interplanetary dust grains in space and research on identification of strains of Bacillus spores by measurements of their size and swelling rates when humidified.     

Fabrication, sintering and electrical properties of cobalt oxide doped Gd0.1Ce0.9O2 − δ

Ceria-based electrolytes have been widely researched in intermediate-temperature solid oxide fuel cell (SOFC), which might be operated at 500~600 °C. Gd0.1Ce0.9O1.95(GDC10) powders were prepared by a modified chemical co-precipitation process with Gd(NO3)3 and Ce(NO3)3 as precursors, and ammonia and hydrogen peroxide as precipitants. The precursors of GDC10 were fired at 350 °C for 2 h, then the fluorite structure cerias were identified by X-ray diffraction. The powders are well crystallized, with the size about 5 nm and surface area of 148.3 m2/g. Loading 1mol% cobalt oxide as additive, the GDC10 were succeeded to densify at 950 °C by liquid phase sintering mechanism. The grain size of 1CoGDC10 is small, about 100 nm. The electrical conductivity of samples sintered at 950 °C is about 0.01S/cm at 600 °C. The existence of cobalt oxide and smaller grain size of 1CoGDC10 don't affect the electrical conductivity.     

Comments on the number of sensitivity centres in silver halide grains

A comment on the number of sensitivity centres in silver halide grains of nuclear emulsions is made and a theory for its evaluation at different temperatures is presented. The results at room temperature agree satisfactorily with assumptions made by various workers.     

无烟煤掺混白酒酒糟制备生物质水煤浆

利用白酒酒糟与贵州无烟煤按不同比例掺混制备生物质水煤浆(BCWS),考查了酒糟掺混量、添加剂种类及含量对水煤浆成浆性能的影响。结果表明,在萘磺酸系添加剂(MF、NNO)和木质素磺酸钙(LS)三种添加剂中,MF的分散效果要优于其他两种,且添加量为0.5%时最佳;表观黏度为1 000 m Pa·s时,无烟煤单独制浆最大成浆浓度为70%,而掺混3%(干基)酒糟的BCWS定黏浓度为65.8%,浆体稳定性在3d以上;BCWS属于宾汉塑性流体,酒糟含有大量的亲水性含氧官能团,以及其管束和脉络结构,会引起BCWS表观黏度的升高,有利于提高BCWS的稳定性。     

双水相萃取法从风干香肠中分离提取蛋白酶

双水相萃取(ATPS)是近年来发展起来的蛋白纯化方法。为了扩展该方法适应领域,同时为风干香肠形成过程酶系的研究提供具体方法。本实验研究了运用双水相技术分离提取风干香肠中蛋白酶,对构成双水相体系中的PEG分子量、浓度和类型以及盐浓度的影响进行了分析。确定了双水相组成体系为20%PEG1000(m/m)和25%MgSO4(m/m),在此体系中风干香肠的蛋白酶主要分布在上相,最高酶活12.37U/μg;纯化倍数为4.61;回收率为85%。通过分子筛层析对比,表明风干香肠经过双水相分离提取杂蛋白峰被除去,而蛋白酶峰几乎未受到影响,说明该双水相体系萃取香肠中蛋白酶具有良好的专一性。调解双水相pH值对蛋白酶的萃取没有影响,而添加电解质NaCl反而产生不利影响。     

The future of coproducts from corn processing

Increased demand for ethanol as a fuel additive has resulted in dramatic growth in ethanol production. Ethanol is produced from corn by either wet milling or dry-grind processing. In wet milling, the corn kernel is fractionated into different components, resulting in several coproducts. Wet-milling plants are capital intensive because of equipment requirements; they produce large volumes of ethanol and are corporate owned. In dry-grind processing, the corn kernel is not fractionated and only one coproduct, distillers’ dried grains with solubles (DDGS), is generated. Dry-grind plants require less equipment and capital than wet mills. They generate smaller volumes of ethanol, are producer owned, and add direct benefits to rural economies. Most of the increase in ethanol production during the past decade is attributed to growth in the dry-grind industry. The marketing of coproducts provides income to offset processing costs. For dry-grind plants, this is especially important, because only one coproduct is available. Several issues could affect DDGS marketing. The increasing volume of DDGS accompanying ethanol production could reduce market value; high phosphorous content could limit the use of DDGS, because of animal waste disposal issues. Water removal is a costly processing step and affects the economics of ethanol processing. Technologies to remove germ and fiber from DDGS could produce a new coproduct suitable for feeding to nonruminants; this would expand the markets for DDGS. Reducing phosphorus in DDGS would sustain markets for conventional DDGS. The development of more efficient methods of water removal would increase the efficiency of ethanol processing and reduce the costs of processing. New technologies could contribute to greater stability of dry-grind plants.     

Fermentation and costs of fuel ethanol from corn with quick-germ process

The Quick-Germ process developed at the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign is a way to obtain corn oil, but with lower capital costs than the traditional wet-milling process. Quick-Germ has the potential to increase the coproduct credits and profitability of the existing dry-grind fuel ethanol process, but the fermentability of the corn remaining after oil recovery has not been tested. Therefore, a series of pilot scale (50 L) fermentations was carefully controlled and monitored with unique methods for standard inoculation and automatic sampling. It was found that the concentration of suspended solids was significantly reduced in the Quick-Germ fermentations. When compared at the same concentration of fermentable sugars, the fermentation rate and yield were not statistically different from controls. When Quick-Germ was integrated into a state-of-the-art dry-grind fuel ethanol process, computer simulation and cost models indicated savings of approx $0.01/L of ethanol ($0.04/gal) with the Quick-Germ process. Additional savings associated with the lower suspended solids could not be quantified and were not included. However, the savings are sensitive to the price of corn oil. Mention of brand or firm name does not constitute an endorsement by the U.S. Department of Agriculture over others of a similar nature not mentioned.     

A novel sub-pilot-scale direct-contact ultrasonic dehydration technology for sustainable production of distillers dried grains (DDG)

DDG is a major source of protein, calcium, phosphorus, and sulfur is arguably the most important byproduct of the bioethanol industry with increasing demand over the past few years. Reducing energy consumption in the DDG production process and energy recovery from DDG is vital for sustainable bioethanol productions. In this paper, a novel direct-contact multi-frequency, multimode, and modulated (MMM) ultrasonic dryer (US) was developed for the first time and has been applied in dehydration of wet distillers’ grain (WDG). Ultrasonic drying (US) was combined with a convective airflow (HA) at different temperatures of 25 (room temperature), 50 and 70 °C to evaluate the impact of US, HA, and US + HA on drying kinetics, activation energy, chemical compositions, microstructure, and color of DDG. Semi-empirical kinetic models were developed and evaluating drying performances showed that the application of ultrasound significantly enhanced the drying rate and decreased the drying time (by 46%), especially at low drying temperatures. The activation energy for moisture removal in the presence of ultrasound was about 50% of that without ultrasound. The final dried distillers' grains product processed by ultrasonic drying had a brighter color, a higher available protein, a higher digestible protein (the lowest acid detergent insoluble crude protein), and a better surface profile with no compromise on minerals and fiber contents.