Studies on the application of ultrasound in leather enzymatic unhairing

Enzymatic unhairing is a clean technology for leather industry. However, one problem hinders the utilization of enzymes in leather unhairing is the slow diffusion of enzymes through skins. As another clean technology, ultrasound can be applied to accelerate the diffusion of enzymes through skins. In this work, effects of ultrasound on the enzymatic unhairing were investigated. Effect of frequency of ultrasound on the enzymatic unhairing was compared, and 20 kHz was chosen in this work. Under our conditions, ultrasound has little effect on enzyme activities, and also has little influence on the physical and mechanical properties of leather. Ultrasound can enhance the diffusion of enzyme through skins, thus improving the unhairing capacities of enzymes. It is noted that amylase can interact with proteoglycans by attacking saccharide side chains, thus having some unhairing capacity. Ultrasound can improve the unhairing capacity of amylase more effectively. Furthermore, amylase does no harm on the collagen fibrous structure and can be used safely without the need for a high degree of control. So it is possible to use amylase in enzymatic unhairing in combination with protease. In short, using ultrasound in amylase and protease unhairing is a promising clean technology.     

Investigation into dyeing acceleration efficiency of ultrasound energy

The acceleration efficiency of ultrasound was investigated by different application of ultrasound during dyeing process in an ultrasound cleaner. Actual energy dissipated into the dyeing bath was measured to ensure the formation of ultrasound cavatiation. The experimental findings showed ultrasound pretreatment could improve slightly the dye exhaustion and fixation, but failed to improve fastness of dyed fabrics. Obvious enhancement effects on dye exhaustion and fixation were achieved in continuous and intermittent ultrasound dyeing processes, and slight improvement effects on some fastness properties of fabrics dyed in ultrasound fields were observed. A comparison of the efficiencies in two ultrasound dyeing processes revealed the dyeing process in intermittent ultrasound field would benefit to making full use of ultrasound energy.     

Ultrasound assisted enhancement in natural dye extraction from beetroot for industrial applications and natural dyeing of leather

There is a growing demand for eco-friendly/non-toxic colorants, specifically for health sensitive applications such as coloration of food and dyeing of child textile/leather garments. Recently, dyes derived from natural sources for these applications have emerged as an important alternative to potentially harmful synthetic dyes and pose need for suitable effective extraction methodologies. The present paper focus on the influence of process parameters for ultrasound assisted leaching of coloring matter from plant materials. In the present work, extraction of natural dye from beetroot using ultrasound has been studied and compared with static/magnetic stirring as a control process at 45 °C. The influence of process parameters on the extraction efficiency such as ultrasonic output power, time, pulse mode, effect of solvent system and amount of beetroot has been studied. The use of ultrasound is found to have significant improvement in the extraction efficiency of colorant obtained from beetroot. Based on the experiments it has been found that a mixture of 1:1 ethanol–water with 80 W ultrasonic power for 3 h contact time provided better yield and extraction efficiency. Pulse mode operation may be useful in reducing electrical energy consumption in the extraction process. The effect of the amount of beetroot used in relation to extraction efficiency has also been studied. Two-stage extraction has been studied and found to be beneficial for improving the yield for higher amounts of beetroot. Significant 8% enhancement in % yield of colorant has been achieved with ultrasound, 80 W as compared to MS process both using 1:1 ethanol–water. The coloring ability of extracted beet dye has been tested on substrates such as leather and paper and found to be suitable for dyeing. Ultrasound is also found to be beneficial in natural dyeing of leather with improved rate of exhaustion. Both the dyed substrates have better color values for ultrasonic beet extract as inferred from reflectance measurement. Therefore, the present study clearly offers efficient extraction methodology from natural dye resources such as beetroot with ultrasound even dispensing with external heating. Thereby, also making eco-friendly non-toxic dyeing of fibrous substances a potential viable option.     

功率超声在生物工程中的应用

本文对于不同工作条件下超声在生物过程中的作用、功率超声对活细胞和酶的影响、功率超声在基因工程中的应用等方面,综述了这些领域的研究进展。     

A study on the emulsification of oil by power ultrasound

A commercial ultrasonic probe was used to study emulsification of an o/w system (5 wt% soybean oil stabilised with 1 wt% Tween 80 in water). Two different sets of experiments were performed.

Firstly, we investigated the effect of power, duty cycle and ultrasound time on the production of an oil-in-water emulsion from a coarse pre-emulsion mix. The droplets reached a stable size (0.7 μm) within 5 min independent of the power and duty cycle used.

Secondly, the mechanism of emulsification was studied by observing the emulsification process at an oil–water interface (no pre-mix) with a high-speed camera. Transient cavitation is thought to be responsible for acoustic emulsification; however there have been no measurements to relate the transient cavitation zone to the production of an emulsion. It has already been shown that the transient cavitation in probe systems is directly under the probe tip. High-speed observations showed that an emulsion could only be obtained if the interface was within a few millimetres of the probe tip. These results strongly suggest that the transient cavitation zone is responsible for the acoustic emulsification of oil.     

大功率超声功率计的研制及高强度聚焦超声肿瘤治疗头功率检测

研制一种将机械天平、辐射压力法和智能控制结合在一起的大功率超声功率计,该功率计可以安装不同种类的反射靶面或吸收靶面对多种超声换能器进行功率测量;用砝码对该功率计进行校准和误差分析,结果显示该功率计具有稳定性好、精度高、测量范围大的特点。用锥面反射靶和吸收靶对高强度聚焦超声肿瘤治疗头的输出功率进行测量,实验结果表明:一方面该功率计可以满足大功率、高精度测量要求,另一方面被测量的临床治疗用高强度聚焦超声肿瘤治疗头的驱动电压在600-2200 V之间,其功率输出稳定、可靠,在此范围之外功率输出误差变大,超过5%。     

功率超声对酶促反应的影响

本文评述了功率超声在水溶液和有机中对酶促反应的影响,对固定化酶的影响,同时探讨了功率超声影响酶促反应的可能机理,并并评价功能超声作为一种工业生物化学反应促进手段的可能性。     

Studies on the foundation and development of diagnostic ultrasound

In recent years, various types of diagnostic imaging methods, such as CT, MRI, PET and Ultrasound, have been developed rapidly and become indispensable as clinical diagnostic tools. Among these imaging modalities, CT, MRI and PET all apply electromagnetic waves like radiation rays. In contrast, an ultrasound imaging method uses a completely different mechanical pressure wave: “sound”. Ultrasound has various features, including inaudible sound at very high frequencies, which allows its use in medical diagnoses. That is, ultrasound techniques can be applied in transmission, reflection and Doppler methods. Moreover, the sharp directivity of an ultrasound beam can also improve image resolution. Another big advantage of diagnostic ultrasound is that it does not harm the human body or cause any pain to patients. Given these various advantages, diagnostic ultrasound has recently been widely used in diagnosing cancer and cardiovascular disease and scanning fetuses (Fig. 1) as well as routine clinical examinations in hospitals. In this paper, I outline my almost 50-year history of diagnostic ultrasound research, particularly that performed at the early stage from 1950–56.Open in a separate windowFig. 1.The recent ultrasonic real-time imaging diagnostic instrument by electric scan system and three dimensional images of fetus.     

The effect of blood acceleration on the ultrasound power Doppler spectrum

The purpose of the present work was to study the influence of blood acceleration and time window length on the power Doppler spectrum for Gaussian ultrasound beams. The work has been carried out on the basis of continuum model of the ultrasound scattering from inhomogeneities in fluid flow. Correlation function of fluctuations has been considered for uniformly accelerated scatterers, and the resulting power Doppler spectra have been calculated. It is shown that within the initial phase of systole uniformly accelerated slow blood flow in pulmonary artery and aorta tends to make the correlation function about 4.89 and 7.83 times wider, respectively, than the sensitivity function of typical probing system. Given peak flow velocities, the sensitivity function becomes, vice versa, about 4.34 and 3.84 times wider, respectively, then the correlation function. In these limiting cases, the resulting spectra can be considered as Gaussian. The optimal time window duration decreases with increasing acceleration of blood flow and equals to 11.62 and 7.54 ms for pulmonary artery and aorta, respectively. The width of the resulting power Doppler spectrum is shown to be defined mostly by the wave vector of the incident field, the duration of signal and the acceleration of scatterers in the case of low flow velocities. In the opposite case geometrical properties of probing field and the average velocity itself are more essential. In the sense of signal–noise ratio, the optimal duration of time window can be found. Abovementioned results may contribute to the improved techniques of Doppler ultrasound diagnostics of cardiovascular system.     

功率超声在结晶过程中应用的进展

功率超声在结晶过程中的应用研究促进了结晶技术的发展,丰富了功率超声学和相关学科相互交叉的学术内容。以实例陈述了超声强化溶液结晶过程在化工、食品和制药行业中的应用,从熔融结晶和电结晶两方面阐述了超声改善金属结晶,综述了高分子材料和生物大分子等聚合物结晶过程中超声波的应用,总结了超声波对纳米晶型材料制备和性能的影响,着重说明了功率超声在食品冷冻中冰结晶过程的研究现状和发展方向。最后,总结了超声对结晶的强化机理。     

功率超声在废水处理中的应用

采用不同强度和频率的超声波，对几种生物难降解的有毒污染物（苯胺，硝基苯）废水进行超声处理，实验表明，降解效果主要取决于超声波在反应液中的声强及处理时间，同时，若辅以通氧气或加入催化剂，处理效果更好，这就为设计相应的超声废水处理设备提供了实验基础。     

Studies on modified power law inflation

In this study, we evaluate power law inflation (PLI) with a monomial potential and obtain a novel exact solution. It is well known that the conventional PLI with an exponential potential is inconsistent with the Planck data. Unlike the standard PLI, the present model does not encounter the graceful exit problem, and the results agree fairly well with recent observations. In our analysis, we calculate the spectral index and the tensor-to-scalar ratio, both of which agree very well with recent observational data and are comparable with those of other modified inflationary models. The employed technique reveals that the large cosmological constant decreases with the expansion of the universe in the case of the PLI. The coupling of the inflaton with gravitation is the primary factor in this technique. The basic assumption here is that the two metric tensors in the gravitational and inflaton parts correspond to different conformal frames, which contradicts with the conventional PLI, where the inflaton is directly coupled with the background metric tensor. This fact has direct applications to different dark energy models and the assisted quintessence theory.     

Effect of focused ultrasound stimulation at different ultrasonic power levels on the local field potential power spectrum

Local field potential(LFP) signals of the rat hippocampus were recorded under noninvasive focused ultrasound stimulation(FUS) with different ultrasonic powers. The LFP mean absolute power was calculated with the Welch algorithm at the delta, theta, alpha, beta, and gamma frequency bands. The experimental results demonstrate that the LFP mean absolute power at different frequency bands increases as the ultrasound power increases.     

功率超声对溶液性质的影响

本文研究了在功率超声作用下，电解质溶液，小分子溶液和大分子溶液的粘度，表面张力和电导率等物理化学性质的变化规律。实验结果表明，在超声波作用下，溶液的粘度和表面张力暂时下降，而电导率长期升高。     

毫瓦级超声功率测量系统的研制

本文介绍了一种毫瓦级超声功率测量计的研制。主要包括系统设计、关键部分(吸收靶、反射靶)的设计制作、实际测量以及整体的误差分析。     

功率超声强化溶液冻结机理的研究进展

功率超声波强化溶液结晶是一种新型的结晶技术,由于其具有促进溶液冻结、控制晶体粒径分布和提高冻结产品质量的作用,近年来受到越来越多的关注。从过冷溶液的一次冰晶成核、二次冰晶成核以及树枝状冰晶体的生长速度等方面对超声波强化溶液结晶的机理进行了综述,并对超声结晶机理研究的发展方向提出了建议。     

Influence of different factors on the output power transferred into medium by ultrasound

The influence of several factors (amplitude of ultrasonic waves, external static pressure, temperature and viscosity of medium) acting, either individually or in combination, on the amount of power transferred to a liquid medium during ultrasonication (power output) was measured by calorimetry. At constant amplitude (150 microns) and pressure (200 kPa), the power output decreased as the temperature was raised. The effect of temperature could be compensated by increasing pressure. The magnitude of the increase in power output due to raising the pressure depended on the pressure range and the treatment temperature. At all temperatures and pressures studied, the power output increased exponentially when the amplitude was increased linearly. The magnitude of this power output did not depend on the temperature or pressure of treatment. At 40 degrees C the magnitude of the increase in power output due to increasing the pressure was not influenced by the amplitude of sonic waves. The power output increased as the viscosity of the medium was increased. The magnitude of this effect did not depend on the amplitude but on the static pressure.     

A study on the primary and secondary nucleation of ice by power ultrasound

Several different investigations have been carried out to study the primary and secondary nucleation of ice by sonocrystallisation. Firstly, the primary nucleation of discrete ice crystals in a supercooled sucrose solution has been observed. For increasing concentrations of sucrose solutions from 0 to 45 wt%, the nucleation temperature consistently occurs at a higher nucleation temperature in the presence of ultrasound. The nucleation temperature also increases as the power output and duty cycle of a commercial ultrasonic horn are increased. Snap shot images of the bubble clouds obtained from the ultrasonic horn also show that the number of bubbles appears to increase as the ultrasonic output is increased. This suggests that the nucleation of ice is related to the power output and number of cavitation bubbles. The effect of a single bubble on the sonocrystallisation of ice is discussed. High-speed movies (1120 fps) have shown that the crystallisation appears to occur in the immediate vicinity of the single bubble. In most cases, many crystals are observed and it is not known whether a single ice crystal is being fragmented by the bubble or whether many crystals are being initiated. The bubble appears to undergo a dancing regime, frequently splitting and rejoining and also emitting some small microbubbles. A study on the secondary nucleation of ice in sucrose solutions has been carried out using a unique ultrasonic cold stage device. Images taken using a microscope system show that the pre-existing ice dendrite crystals can be broken up into smaller fragments by an ultrasonic field. Cavitation bubbles appear to be important during the fragmentation process, possibly melting any ice crystals in their path. Flow patterns around cavitation bubbles have also been observed, and these may be responsible for the fragmentation of ice crystals.     

Effect of power ultrasound on crystallization characteristics of magnesium ammonium phosphate

Magnesium ammonium phosphate (MAP) crystallization could be utilized for the recovery of phosphorus from wastewater. However, the effectiveness of the recovery is largely determined by the crystallization process, which is very hard to be directly observed. As a result, a specific ultrasonic device was designed to investigate the crystallization characteristics of MAP under various ultrasonic conditions. The results demonstrated that the metastable zone width (MZW) narrowed along with the rising of the ultrasonic power. Similarly, for the 6 mM MAP solution, with the ultrasonic power gradually enhanced from 0 W to 400 W, the induction time was shortened from 340 s to 38 s. Meanwhile, the crystallization rate was accelerated till the power reached 350 W, and then remained a constant value. It can be observed from the scanning electron microscopy (SEM), the MAP crystal became bigger in size as well as the crystal size distribution (CSD) became broad and uneven, with the increase of ultrasonic power. The results indicate that the crystallization process enhanced by power ultrasound could be used as an effective method to eliminate and recover the phosphorus from wastewater.     

A kinetic study of the effect of ultrasound power on the sonohydrolysis of tetraethyl orthosilicate

A kinetic study of the ultrasound-stimulated and acid-catalyzed sonohydrolysis of tetraethyl orthosilicate (TEOS) in solventless TEOS–water heterogeneous mixtures was carried out by means of a calorimetric method as a function of the ultrasound power. The hydrolysis reaction starts in acidulated heterogeneous water–TEOS mixtures after an induction period under ultrasonic stimulation. The ultrasound power seems to play a role on the dynamical coupling of the system originating a continuum upward shifting of the base line during the induction period of sonication. The rate in which the base line is upward shifted diminishes with the power. The best coupling between the ultrasound and the reactant heterogeneous mixtures for this experimental setup was found to occur at 50 W, for which the gelation time was found to be a minimum. The kinetics of the heterogeneous TEOS sonohydrolysis was studied on the basis of a dissolution and reaction modeling. The heterogeneous reaction pathway as deduced from the kinetic study was drawn in a ternary diagram as a function of the ultrasound power.