Benchtop methods for measuring the fraction of free liquid of biomass slurries
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Designing and optimizing the flow-field structure for the liquid phase Br 2 /HBr electrolyte solution of H 2 /Br 2 redox flow batteries (RFBs) is important for improving cell performance. In this study, two electrolyte flow modes, i.e. the flow-by and flow-through modes, are simulated by using a three-dimensional H 2 /Br 2 RFB model. The model is first applied to real-scale H 2 /Br 2 cell geometries and then validated against the experimental polarization curves acquired using the two different flow modes. The model predictions compare well with the experimental data and further highlight the advantages of using the flow-through mode relative to the flow-by mode. Detailed multi-dimensional contours of the electrolyte flow velocity and key species distributions reveal that more uniform diffusion and stronger convective transport are achieved by using the flow-through mode, which alleviates the ohmic loss associated with charge transport in the Br 2 electrode.
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The transport of excess electrons in liquid argon driven out of equilibrium by an applied electric field is revisited using a multi-term solution of Boltzmann’s equation together with ab initio liquid phase cross-sections calculated using the Dirac-Fock scattering equations. The calculation of liquid phase cross-sections extends previous treatments to consider multipole polarisabilities and a non-local treatment of exchange, while the accuracy of the electron-argon potential is validated through comparison of the calculated gas phase cross-sections with experiment. The results presented highlight the inadequacy of local treatments of exchange that are commonly used in liquid and cluster phase cross-section calculations. The multi-term Boltzmann equation framework accounting for coherent scattering enables the inclusion of the full anisotropy in the differential cross-section arising from the interaction and the structure factor, without an a priori assumption of quasi-isotropy in the velocity distribution function. The model, which contains no free parameters and accounts for both coherent scattering and liquid phase screening effects, was found to reproduce well the experimental drift velocities and characteristic energies.
We found that the Calphad method was used to perform a thermodynamic assessment of the Pr–O system. Compound energy formalism representations were developed for the fluorite α-PrO 2–x and bixbyite σ-Pr 3 O 5 ± x solid solutions while the two-sublattice liquid model was used to describe the binary melt. The series of phases between Pr 2 O 3 and PrO 2 were taken to be stoichiometric. Moreover, the equilibrium oxygen pressure, phase equilibria, and enthalpy data were used to optimize the adjustable parameters of the models for a self-consistent representation of the thermodynamic behavior of the Pr–O system from 298 K to melting.
One of the primary conditions necessary for the success of magnetic fusion reactors is the ability to mitigate damage to the first wall during ELMs and plasma disruptions. A potential solution involves the use of flowing liquid metals such as lithium as a first wall, but ensuring its stability under the extreme environments in the reactor would be imperative. The conditions leading to instabilities on the free surface of flowing liquid lithium (LL) layers on a substrate and in a porous material are investigated using both analytical methods and computational modeling, with consideration for the effects of LL velocity, LL layer thickness, substrate porosity, LL permeability, and hydrogen (H) plasma velocity. Linear stability analysis is used to predict the critical velocity and wavelength-dependence of wave growth, as well as the onset of instability. The modeling of LL flows is performed on a flat substrate and in a porous material for various LL thicknesses, LL and H plasma velocities to analyze the conditions leading to droplet formation and ejection.
Exa-pd is a highly parallelizable workflow for constructing multi-element phase diagrams (PDs). It uses standard sampling techniques—molecular dynamics (MD) and Monte Carlo (MC)—as implemented in the LAMMPS package, to simultaneously sample multiple phases on a fine temperature–composition mesh for free-energy calculations. The workflow uses Parsl as a global controller to manage the MD/MC jobs to achieve massive parallelization with almost ideal scalability. The resulting free energies of both liquid and solid phases (including solid solutions) are then fed to CALPHAD modeling using the PYCALPHAD package for the construction of a multi-element PD.
The main objective of this collaborative research project was to identify a formulation and develop a catalyst for electro-oxidation of ethanol. Ethanol is one of the most mass-produced biofuels, and such catalysts will enable the development of Direct Ethanol Fuel Cell technology and through it, will interconnect fuel cells with biofuels. Several catalysts for direct electrochemical oxidation of ethanol have been selected on the principles of rational desig from the knowledge build in studying aqueous oxidation of ethanol. The program involved fundamental study of ethanol oxidation in liquid media, and particularly in alakine solutions. The lessons learned from the heterogeneous catalysis of ethanol thermal oxidation have been applied to the design of an electrocatalyst for direct ethanol fuel cells. The successful chemical compositions are based on PdZn and NiZn allows. The studies reveled the role of the transition metal oxide phase as a co-catalyst and the role of the active support material. To complete the set of materials for ethanol fuel cell, this program also invested n the development of ctalysts for oxygen reduction that are selective against alcohol oxidation. Non-platinum ctalysts based on pyrolyzed macrocycles or similar composites have been studied. This program included also the development of stuctured supports as an integral part of the catalyst development. A new family of materials has been designed based on mesoporous silica templating with synthetic carbon resulting in hierarchicaly porous structure. Structure-to-property relationship of catalysis and catalysts has been the center of this program. This have been engaged in both surface and bulk level and pursued with the tools avialble at the academic institutions and at LANSCE at LANL. The structural studies have been built in interaction with a computational effort on the basis of DFT approach to materials structure and reactivity.
The Low-Activity Waste Pretreatment System (LAWPS) facility is planned to pretreat Hanford tank waste supernate by filtering to remove solids and processing through ion exchange columns to remove cesium. The ion exchange media is currently (since 2018) targeted to be crystalline silicotitanate (CST). This material has been produced as an engineered form (generally spherical beads) by Honeywell UOP LLC (Des Plaines, IL). Previous forms of this media have been tested in a wide array of simulants and process scales, but column breakthrough and batch contact testing to date on actual tank waste has been limited to a few tank wastes. Washington River Protection Solutions requested a series of studies to demonstrate Cs load behavior in a small column format and determine if a simple batch contact test with CST can be used to qualify tank waste supernate prior to processing it in the LAWPS. The goal of the batch contact testing is to determine if there are any issues with the tank waste that would preclude Cs removal by the ion exchanger. Testing was conducted with IONSIV TM R9140-B CST provided by Honeywell UOP in 2018 (Batch 2081000057). The CST was received in the sodium (Na) form, so no pretreatment conditioning to convert to the Na form was required. Before use in testing, the CST was passed through a #25 sieve (710-micron openings) and collected on a #60 sieve (250-micron openings) with the intent of removing any large and fine particles. Physical properties were measured on the CST including particle size distribution (d50 = 570 microns) and scanning electron micrographic examination. The CST was rinsed with water until the contact solution was visually nearly clear. The CST bed density (1.00 g/mL) and CST bed void fraction (0.656) were measured on the sieved and rinsed CST. The batch contact testing varied Cs concentration in a 5.6 M Na simple simulant solution. Testing was conducted in a liquid volume to solids mass ratio of 200. The distribution coefficient (K d ) was determined to be 770 mL/g at the Cs equilibrium condition of 8.0 μg/mL; with a bed density of 1.00 g/mL, this corresponds to a predicted 50% Cs breakthrough of 770 bed volumes (BVs). The Cs load capacity at 8.0 μg/mL equilibrium condition was determined to be 6.16 mg Cs/g dry CST. The column testing was prototypic to the intended LAWPS operations in a lead-lag column format, albeit on a small-scale basis with 10-mL CST beds. The feed was processed downflow through the lead column and then through the lag column. Three flowrates were tested: 1.19, 1.99, and 4.56 BV/h. The feed was displaced with 0.1 M NaOH, and then the columns were rinsed with water sequentially through the lead then lag columns. One column system was evaluated top to bottom with a gamma scanner to assess the axial Cs loading. Table ES.1 summarizes the relevant Cs loading characteristics.
The present waste chemistry controls for the Hanford double-shell tanks (DSTs) were established in the 1980s in response to tank failures caused by stress corrosion cracking (SCC) at the DOE Savannah River Site (SRS). Portions of the SRS chemistry limits were coupled with corrosion testing results from Pacific Northwest Laboratory (PNL) and adopted for corrosion control of the DST waste at the Hanford Site. Since that time, the temperatures of many DST wastes have decreased to less than 50 °C as the radioactive material has decayed, the testing program in Argentina demonstrated that chloride ion in Hanford Site waste could cause pitting, and other work showed that dilute solutions could cause pitting at the liquid air interface (LAI). Moreover, future transfers from the single shell tanks and the waste treatment plant and process changes may shift the DST waste chemistries to a broader range of compositions with higher aggressive anion concentrations than the wastes that are presently stored. The decreasing temperatures led to the formulation of new chemistry controls for the minimization of SCC risks for operations below 50 °C in 2010, and these controls were partially adopted. The Tank Integrity Expert Panel (TIEP) Corrosion Subgroup (CSG) recommended that additional testing be performed to assess the potential for pitting and LAI corrosion. Since 2015, DNV-GL, SRNL, and the Hanford Site laboratory have investigated pitting and LAI corrosion at current and anticipated DST chemistries and Savannah River National Laboratory (SRNL) undertook a statistically based investigation of the role of nitrate and halide ion induced pitting corrosion. The objective was to develop a comprehensive waste chemistry envelope for the simultaneous minimization of the pitting and SCC risks caused by halide and nitrate ions. This report summarizes the technical basis for the new waste chemistry envelope to minimize the potential for both pitting and cracking corrosion induced by nitrate and halide ions, and the strategies used for the validation of the new controls.
The purpose of the present paper is to determine rigorously the effect of viscous dissipation on the stability and time-dependent motion of a spinning rigid body with a spherical cavity partially filled with liquid. The cavity is such that its center does not lie on the body axis of rotation. The work includes the problem formulation, consisting of the boundary-value problem for the liquid and moment equations for the entire system. Because of large Reynold's numbers involved, viscosity effects are negligible everywhere except for a thin boundary layer near the wetted surface. Using a boundary-layer analysis, the liquid problem is reduced to the solution of the inviscid equations subject to modified boundary conditions.
Potassium has been found to have extremely limited absolute solubility in Fe-S liquid in the pressure-temperature range of 18 to 40 kbars, 1050 to 1150 C, and fO2 within the field of metallic iron. It also partitioned into a certain silicate phase highly in preference to Fe-S liquid at 30 kbar and 1100 C. The dependence of the partitioning of K between solid silicate and Fe-S liquid on fO2 and compositions of mineral solid solutions have been analyzed. These experimental data, along with those of others, limit the amount of K that could fractionate in Fe-S liquid layers or a core in the early history of the moon and, thus, act as localized heat sources in its thermal history models; the data also seem to argue against a chondritic abundance of potassium for earth. The question of fractionation of enough K-40 in an Fe-S liquid outer core of earth to provide the necesary thermal energy for the geomagnetic dynamo remains unresolved.
Deposition rates on platinum-rhodium cylindrical collectors rotating in the cross streams of the combustion gases of a salt-seeded Mach 0.3 burner rig were determined. The collectors were internally air cooled so that their surface temperatures could be widely varied while they were exposed to constant combustion gas temperatures. The deposition rates were compared with those predicted by the chemically frozen boundary layer (CFBL) computer program, which is based on multicomponent vapor transport through the boundary layer. Excellent agreement was obtained between theory and experiment for the NaCl-seeded case, but the agreement lessened as the seed was changed to synthetic sea salt, NaNO3, and K2SO4, respectively, and was particularly poor in the case of Na2SO4. However, when inertial impaction was assumed to be the deposition mechanism for the Na2SO4 case, the predicted rates agreed well with the experimental rates. The former were calculated from a mean particle diameter that was derived from the measured intial droplet size distribution of the solution spray. Critical experiments showed that liquid phase deposits were blown off the smooth surface of the platinum-rhodium collectors by the aerodynamic shear forces of the high-velocity combustion gases but that rough or porous surfaces retained their liquid deposits.
Ground-based research conducted in order to prepare a microgravity space flight experiment is presented. The thermophysical properties of a PbSnTe alloy used for semiconductors are investigated, and furnace calibration and fluid-flow measurements are performed. The alloy has a zero energy crossing at approximately 40 percent SnTe in its band-gap vs composition diagram, which facilitates the design of long-wavelength IR detectors and lasers. The uniformity of devices made from this material depends on the ratio of PbTe and SnTe and requires the composition of the crystal growth to be closely controlled. The main obstacle to such control is the fact that liquid of this material is always solutally or thermally unstable, and, in a high-temperature gradient, the double convective instability cannot be made stable by balancing thermal and solutal expansion. In order to extend the science of crystal growth, the limits of suppression of convection have to be tested in low earth orbit.
The debate on the history of the Martian atmosphere continues without resolution. Much hinges on a satisfactory solution to the problem of what liquid was responsible for the extensive development of canyons, channels, fretted terrain, and similar features. The 1960s and 1970s saw much debate about the roles of various fluids, namely water or brine, liquid CO2, or H2O sources in CO2 clathrate (CC), or magma. The last was discounted long ago, CC is largely ignored, and the most recent look at CO2 was by ourselves, utilizing the phase diagrams for the CO2-H2O system. In this article, we will further investigate this dilemma.
The present analysis of free liquid drops' inviscid oscillations proceeds through solution of Bernoulli's equation to obtain the free surface shape and of Laplace's equation for the velocity potential field. Results thus obtained encompass drop-shape sequences, pressure distributions, particle paths, and the temporal evolution of kinetic and surface energies; accuracy is verified by the near-constant drop volume and total energy, as well as the diminutiveness of mass and momentum fluxes across drop surfaces. Further insight into the nature of oscillations is provided by Fourier power spectrum analyses of mode interactions and frequency shifts.
An examination is conducted of the influence of partial ionization on the electrophoresis of small particles and fluid globules, with a view to the nature of conditions under which dissociation-association (D-A) alters electrokinetics. It is found that, since D-A processes are important in cases where double-layer polarization and relaxation would otherwise prevail, the predicted effect on electrophoretic mobility is greatest for the drops and bubbles whose surfaces are fluid and convection within the interface is significant. While the computation scheme used applies only to situations where forcing-field magnitude is small, the results obtained indicate that D-A processes involving ionogenic solutes may be significant in apolar liquids where electrokinetic phenomena are driven by strong forcing fields.