Added Water Content Research Articles

Investigation of lead-acid battery water loss by in-situ electrochemical impedance spectroscopy

Understanding the chemical reactions that occur during lead-acid battery aging is useful for predicting battery life and repairing batteries for reuse. Current research on lead-acid battery degradation primarily focuses on their capacity and lifespan while disregarding the chemical changes that take place during battery aging. Motivated by this, this paper aims to utilize in-situ electrochemical impedance spectroscopy (in-situ EIS) to develop a clear indicator of water loss, which is a key battery aging process and could be repaired, through unique water loss experiments. These experiments were designed to ensure that the percentage of water in the electrolyte or the volume of electrolyte was the only factor that affected in-situ EIS in each experiment, and these values were regularly changed to simulate water loss in a specially designed transparent lead-acid battery. Through an improved equivalent circuit model (ECM) and grey relation analysis (GRA), this work shows that the variation of double-layer capacity and internal resistance can indicate added water content and electrolyte volume. The developed method is simple and can be applied to identify and respond to battery water loss effectively.

Bioaccessibility of Glucosylceramide in Rice Based on the Cooking Condition and Cultivar.

Glucosylceramide (GlcCer), a major sphingolipid in plants, possesses various food functions, including improvement of intestinal impairments. This study evaluated rice cooking conditions and cultivars based on GlcCer levels transferred into the digestive juice using an in vitro digestion model to investigate the factors related to GlcCer availability. GlcCer levels transferred into the digestive juice were higher in rice gruel than in boiled rice. The GlcCer levels in the digestive juice of boiled rice varied based on the rice cultivar, whereas those in rice gruel had no difference. Thus, GlcCer in rice was not fully utilized via digestion. Further, bioaccessibility was related to the amylose ratio and added water content.

Review of scientific instruments: Evaluation of adulteration in honey using a microwave planar resonator sensor.

A microwave microstrip line resonator sensor is developed as an alternative tool for detecting adulteration in honey. A honey-filled tube is placed at the position with the maximum electric field intensity. When the honey is adulterated, its permittivity is changed, leading to a distinct resonance frequency shift and enabling detection. Compared with the existing microwave sensors, this sensor offers the advantages of low cost, compact size, and easy fabrication. Moreover, quantitative analysis of the adulteration could be achieved. Electromagnetic simulation is performed using a co-simulation with CST and MATLAB. The simulation results reveal that the resonance frequency of the resonator decreases as the added water content increases, following a quadratic polynomial relationship. In the experiments, the results demonstrate a successive decrease in the resonance frequency from the empty tube, honey-filled tube to water-filled tube cases. Furthermore, honey samples with varying water contents (up to 70%) are tested, and the resonance frequency decreases with increasing added water content, which agrees well with the simulation results. In addition, there is a quadratic relationship between the two parameters. Principal component analysis is conducted on the transmission coefficients, and the first principal component decreases with increasing water content. With the addition of the second principal component, the cases of different water contents in honey can be well classified.

Comparison of Stress-Strain Relationships in Consolidation Tests for Water Condensation Zone of Green Sand Mold with Different Methods of Added Water Content

Comparison of Stress-Strain Relationships in Consolidation Tests for Water Condensation Zone of Green Sand Mold with Different Methods of Added Water Content

Preparation and characterization of oleogels and emulgels with glycerol monooleate–cholesterol mixtures

This study aimed to prepare and characterize oleogels and emulgels with glycerol monooleate (GMO): cholesterol gelator system. Oleogels, including 5 and 10% of each gelator were prepared. Emulgels with the same organogelator mixture concentrations, and 10 and 20% water phase were also prepared successfully. The gelation time decreased as the added gelator mixture and water concentrations increased. All samples had significant oil binding capacity and creamish-white colors. The oleogels melted just below body temperature, while emulgels melted around body temperature as determined by differential scanning calorimetry. The samples’ crystalline networks were observed with the X-ray diffraction analysis and displayed β and β′ polymorphic type crystals. Rheological measurements revealed that as gelator mixture concentration increased, gel strength enhanced, but in the emulgels, the gel strength decreased significantly as added water content increased. All oleogels and emulgels showed time-dependent thixotropic recovery ability. Temperature ramp tests indicated that the oleogels were stable up to 28 °C, but the emulgels kept their gelled consistency up to 70 °C. Overall, the common properties of these new oleogel and emulgels were provided. Future studies for some applications are foreseen.

Sulphuric Acid Resistance of Slag Geopolymer Concrete Modified with Fly Ash and Silica Fume

This work is an experimental study on sulphuric acid resistance of geopolymer concrete. The main variables considered throughout the research program were fly ash content from 0.0 to 40% and silica fume content as replacement of quenched slag in addition to sodium hydroxide molarity and added water content. These variables were studied through 18 mixes. Compressive strength loss, weight loss, absorption, SEM, and X-ray diffraction analysis tests were used to evaluate acid resistance. From the test results, the use of slag geopolymer concrete showed the best sulphuric acid attack resistance compared with those containing fly ash and silica fume.

Characterisation of water in honey using a microwave cylindrical cavity resonator sensor

A low-cost microwave cavity resonator sensor is developed for the assessment of honey. When a liquid sample is placed in the cavity, the resonant responses are significantly changed caused by the material perturbation. From the measurement of standard liquid samples with known permittivity, it is well demonstrated that the electric permittivity can be accurately determined. For the honey-water mixtures with the added water content from 10% to 50% w/w, it is found that the resonance frequency decreases with increasing added water content, and its change conforms to the law of mixture. In addition, there is a linear relationship between the added water content and the real part of the permittivity, and a quadratic relationship is found between the real and imaginary parts of the permittivity. These findings agree well with the results of the mixtures with added water contents below 10%. Hence, both the resonant responses of the cavity and the permittivity obtained can be employed for the indication of adulteration and accurate evaluation of the water content. Further, it is shown that the full penetration of the liquid sample can be achieved. The microwave sensor presented here provides an alternative tool for rapid food evaluation.

Influences of Water Content in Feedstock Oil on Burning Characteristics of Fatty Acid Methyl Esters

Strong alkaline-catalyst transesterification with short-chain alcohol is generally used for biodiesel production due to its dominant advantages of shorter reaction time and higher conversion rate over other reactions. The existence of excess water content in the feedstock oil might retard the transesterification rate and in turn deteriorate the fuel characteristics of the fatty acid methyl esters. Hence, optimum water content in the raw oil, aimed towards both lower production cost and superior fuel properties, becomes significant for biodiesel research and industrial practices. Previous studies only concerned the influences of water contents on the yield or conversion rate of fatty acid methyl esters through transesterification of triglycerides. The effects of added water in the reactant mixture on burning characteristics of fatty acid methyl esters are thus first investigated in this study. Raw palm oil was added with preset water content before being transesterified. The experimental results show that the biodiesel produced from the raw palm oil containing a 0.05 wt.% added water content had the highest content of saturated fatty acids and total fatty acid methyl esters (FAME), while that containing 0.11 wt.% water content had the lowest content of total FAME and fatty acids of longer carbon chains than C16 among the biodiesel products. Regarding burning characteristics, palm-oil biodiesel made from raw oil with a 0.05 wt.% added water content among those biodiesels was found to have the highest distillation temperatures, flash point, and ignition point, which implies higher safety extents during handling and storage of the fuel. The added water content 0.05 wt.% in raw oil was considered the optimum to produce palm-oil biodiesel with superior fuel structure of fatty acids and burning characteristics. Higher or lower water content than 0.05 wt.% would cause slower nucleophilic substitution reaction and thus a lower conversion rate from raw oil and deteriorated burning characteristics in turn.

Liquid Wicking in a Paper Strip: An Experimental and Numerical Study.

In this decade, paper-based microfluidics has gained more interest in the research due to the vast applications in medical diagnosis, environmental monitoring, food safety analysis, etc. In this work, we presented a set of experiments to understand the physics of the capillary flow phenomenon through paper strips. Here, using the wicking phenomenon of the liquid in porous media, experimentally, we find out the capillary height of the liquid in filter paper at different time intervals. It was found that the Lucas–Washburn (L–W) model, as well as the evaporation model, fails to predict the capillary rise accurately. However, the detailed numerical solution shows a better similarity with the experimental results. We have also shown the different regimes of the wicking phenomenon using scaling analysis of the modified L–W model. The capillary rise method was applied to detect the added water content in milk. We used milk as a liquid food and found the added water content from the change in the capillary height at different concentrations of milk. Finally, results obtained from the paper-based device were verified with the commercially available lactometer data.

Consistency of the activity–composition models of Holland, Green, and Powell (2018) with experiments on natural and synthetic compositions: A comparative study

AbstractThe recent publication of new activity–composition models by Holland, Green and Powell (2018; Journal of Petrology 59: 881–900), with a melt model calibrated for source compositions ranging from peridotitic to granitic, opens the door to the modelling of multiple petrogenetic processes at supersolidus conditions in which the composition of the melt phase changes considerably, without having to change the melt model. This melt model is also the first one using the internally consistent thermodynamic databases published by T. Holland and R. Powell that contains TiO2 and Fe2O3, further expanding the application of this model to more realistic geological scenarios. The accompanying mineral models are also the first in containing some minor elements, like TiO2 in garnet and K2O in clinopyroxene. Consequently, it is relevant to test the applicability of these new models to a large P–T–X range of conditions before they can be used in full. Thermodynamic calculations made with the software Perple_X using these models were compared to experimental results, namely the modal proportions and the composition of the melt and several mineral solution phases. The experiments chosen for the comparative study covered a wide range of source compositions (from mafic to felsic), pressure (from 0.3 to 2.1 GPa), temperature (from 700 to 1,150°C) and total and added water content (structural water: 0.15–1.48 wt%; added water: 0–8 wt%; total water: 0.15%–8.15%). The results indicate that the extended melt model reproduces well the composition of the experimental melts, with an inverse correlation between component amount and fit: the best match is found for SiO2 (−0.8% on average) and the worst match is found for those elements with the lowest amounts, TiO2 and MgO (+241% and +235% on average, respectively; values indicate calculated minus experimental, times 100 and divided by experimental). The TiO2 content in the melt model increases dramatically with increasing pressure, from +90% for P < 1.5 GPa to +593% for P > 1.5 GPa. No comparison was made on the Fe2O3 content, as the published iron contents of the experimental melts were always reported as FeOt. In some cases, there is a substantial mismatch in the modal proportions between experiments and calculations, with the reactant phases less abundant and product phases more abundant in the calculations, an effect that is attributed to kinetic effects in the experiments and to the selected clinoamphibole model. Finally, the extended melt model was compared to the tonalitic melt model of Green et al. (2016; Journal of Metamorphic Geology, 34: 845–869). Both melt models produce very similar results for SiO2, Al2O3, Na2O and K2O, with slightly better results for the tonalitic melt model in FeOt and MgO and for the extended melt model in CaO. No comparison is made on TiO2 because the tonalitic melt model does not include this component. In summary, the new activity–composition models represent a significant contribution to thermodynamic calculations on the evolution of siliceous magmas where their composition, temperature and pressure changes substantially.

Optimization of production parameters of fish protein hydrolysate from Sarda Orientalis black muscle (by-product) using protease enzyme

Fish protein hydrolysate, which is released to the environment as tuna processing waste during the hydrolysis reaction of Sarda Orientalis’ black muscle, could be used as a nutritional source of nitrogen for food products because of its valuable properties in antioxidant effects. This study used Protamex protease (endopeptidase) to hydrolyze the tuna’s black muscle (TBM) and to produce fish protein hydrolysate (FPH) for producing nutritional food powder. To access the FPH production, optimized conditions of reaction in hydrolyzing TBM were determined by factorial experimental design with the Box–Behnken model at a ratio of 0.45% enzyme/substrate, 100% added water content and temperature of 56 °C for 4.0 h. Consequently, the FPH obtained with the optimized condition resulted in an average degree of hydrolysis of 7.72% in response to the required range of 5–20%. Moreover, this FPH was detected for compositions of amino acids and peptides with low molecular weight less than 14 kDa and was tested in high antioxidant activity of 70% at its concentration of 500 µg mL−1. This study has provided an efficient procedure to solve the solid waste of TBM from the seafood manufacturing factories and transformed it into valuable products in the food industry.

Impacts on mechanical strength of chemical reactions induced by hydrous supercritical CO2 in Boise Sandstone

Geomechanics experiments were used to assess mechanical alteration of Boise Sandstone promoted by reactions with supercritical carbon dioxide (scCO2) and water vapor. During geologic carbon storage, scCO2 is injected into subsurface reservoirs, forming buoyant plumes. At brine-plume interfaces, scCO2 can dissolve into native brines, and water from brines can partition into scCO2, forming hydrous scCO2. This study investigates the effect of hydrous scCO2 on the strength of Boise Sandstone. Samples are first exposed to recirculating hydrous scCO2 for 24 h at 70 °C and 13.8 MPa scCO2 pressure. Samples are reacted with scCO2 with added water contents up to 500 mL. After scCO2 exposure, samples are deformed at room temperature under confining pressures of 3.4, 6.9, and 10.3 MPa. The results demonstrate that hydrous scCO2 induces chemical reactions in Boise Sandstone, with ions migrating from the solid into the hydrous scCO2 phase. At the longer time-scales, these reactions could lead to mechanical weakening in the samples; however, on the scale of our experiments, the strength changes are within sample variability. Because the solubility of water in scCO2 is extremely low (0.008 mol H2O per 1 mol CO2), the mineral dissolution of Boise Sandstone was under 0.002 wt.%. Additionally, mineral grains and pore throats in Boise Sandstone are cemented with quartz, which is not susceptible to dissolution at these conditions. Our results indicate that humidity in scCO2 plumes is unlikely to sustain chemical reactions and induce long term strength changes in quartz cemented sandstones due to resistant mineralogies and low water solubility.

Detrimental Effect and Neutralization of in Situ Produced Water on Zirconia Nanoparticles Obtained by a Nonaqueous Sol-Gel Method.

In this work, the phase purity and size of zirconia nanocrystals samples were studied in terms of zirconium concentration, added water content, and subsequent use of a post solvothermal treatment. The progressive tetragonal-to-monoclinic transformation of zirconia sample was observed to be strongly related to the water content of the alcoholic medium. But more surprisingly, it has been shown that even under initially anhydrous conditions and for particle size below 5 nm, the phase purity of the samples was deteriorated by a side-reaction of alcohol dehydration catalyzed by the surface of the nanoparticles (NPs). Since the phase transformation is essentially driven by the water content of the reaction mixture, we have shown that it was possible to recover an excellent phase purity without the help of any usual dopants by adding a strong alkaline desiccating agent. Provided that a sufficient sodium to zirconium ratio was ensured, the formation of the monoclinic phase was not observed whatever the zirconium precursor concentration. The effectiveness of this cure was related to the ability of sodium metal to generate reactive alkoxide able to neutralize water and to catalyze an alternative sol-gel mechanism leading to the formation of the t-ZrO2 NPs.

Modelling the early strength of alkali-activated cement composites containing palm oil fuel ash

Palm oil fuel ash (Pofa) and polyvinyl alcohol fibres were used to make an alkali-activated cementitious composite mortar, which was then tested. Based on the test results, a support vector regression model was developed to estimate the effect of the alkaline activator/Pofa ratio on early compressive strength at different added water contents. The results from the model show that the mortar strength increased as the sodium silicate+sodium hydroxide/Pofa ratio increased up to an optimum, after which the strength declined considerably. The sodium hydroxide molarity and added water were also found to have a significant effect on strength. Excellent agreement was found between the model results and test results. The precision and accuracy of the developed model show its potential for reducing the challenges of acquiring experimental data.

Stabilization and cyclic utilization of chrome leather shavings.

For the sake of the safe and efficient cyclic utilization of chrome leather shavings (CLS), the temporary stabilization of CLS during the storage and transport processes was optimized. Afterwards, the large-scale stabilized CLS degradation and collagen degradation product (CDP) extraction were completed. In this research, hydroxyapatite (HAP) and calcium hydroxide (Ca(OH)2) were for the first time used as stabilizers in the stabilization of CLS. The results showed that both Ca(OH)2 and HAP displayed resistance to chrome leaching, but HAP provided better stabilization effect than Ca(OH)2. The optimized stabilization conditions giving lower chromium leaching concentration were selected: 2% HAP, temperature 300°C, reaction time 60min, and initially added water contents of 50%. The reason for HAP and Ca(OH)2 stabilization was proved by energy dispersive X-ray spectroscopy (EDS). Subsequently, the exploitation value of the stabilized CLS was described by large-scale experiment. The hydrolysis of stabilized CLS could obtain the collagen degradation product (CDP), which had 3.52% of free amino content and a molecular weight of 3.4~30kDa. The filter residue was treated by 5% sulfuric acid solution extraction and pressure filtration again. The extraction solution and final filter residue were dried separately to obtain chromium-containing organic compounds (COP) and industrial gypsum. The COP, used as a filling for tannery, contains 9.37% Cr2O3 content and 90.6% organic content. The industrial gypsum contains 68.37% CaSO4, 0.13% Cr2O3, and 31.5% residual organic or inorganic compounds, which can be used in building materials. No waste water or solid waste was discharged in this experiment process.

Evaluation of Water Content in Milk Using Microwave Transmission Approach with Horn Antenna

<span>As the diary industries delivery the milk to consumer bottles in pouches the thickness of the milk is varied with each company. The microwave transmission line approach with horn antenna is introduced as an effective method for the assessment of milk for the first time with different frequency. The electrical permittivity is an intrinsic parameter of a material that can be used as an index of delivered water content. For the permittivity calculation, we use horn antenna transmitter and receiver in microwave frequency .The microwave travelled via the milk according to its thickness. A design of horn antenna and its minimum distance transmission length is followed to evaluate the thickness of milk. The dissipated power is calculated with the help of VSWR meter in decibel. The results are plotted with different microwave frequency with unique wave length with unique concentration of water with milk. Mat lab is used to plot the graph. The effects exhibit that the milk thickness makes the wave travel of microwave produces the decibel value changes at the output. The measurements demonstrate that the permittivity of milk increases with increased added water. A relationship between the added water content and the permittivity of milk -water mixture is established, which should be a powerful tool for detecting milk thickness.</span>

Evaluation of water content in honey using microwave transmission line technique

The microwave transmission line technique is presented as an effective method for the evaluation of honey for the first time. The electrical permittivity is an intrinsic parameter of a material that can be used as an index of added water content. For the permittivity calculation, it is found that the combination of the characteristic matrix method and Tischer’s model can offer the highest accuracy. A genetic algorithm is introduced to provide an initial approximate permittivity value and acquire the Cole-Cole parameters of the honeys examined. The accuracy provided by the methodology used in this study is superior to that offered by a commercially available probe. Operating at room temperature and a frequency range of 6–8 GHz, the measurements demonstrate that the permittivity of honey increases with increased added water. A relationship between the added water content and the permittivity of honey-water mixture is established, which could be a powerful tool for detecting honey adulteration.

Dielectric Thermoscopy Characterization of Water Contaminated Grease

ABSTRACTThe temperature dependence on the dielectric properties of water-contaminated grease is investigated in this article. The purpose of this investigation was to identify the dielectric properties that could be measured to differentiate varying levels of water contamination in calcium sulfonate complex (CaS-X) grease with three different test cells with the purpose of eventually developing a grease condition sensor. Measuring the change in dielectric constant over a small temperature change yielded useful estimations of water content and amount of grease where the added water content ranged from 0.22% to about 5.5%. Additionally, other parameters such as incomplete fill/coverage of the sensors were investigated as a prestudy. The results from this set of experiments show that the measurement has potential to be developed into a condition monitoring sensor in the future.

Influence of the reaction conditions on the enzyme catalyzed transesterification of castor oil: A possible step in biodiesel production

The identification of the influence of the reaction parameters is of paramount importance when defining a process design. In this work, non-edible castor oil was reacted with methanol to produce a possible component for biodiesel blends, using liquid enzymes as the catalyst. Temperature, alcohol-to-oil molar ratio, enzyme and added water contents were the reaction parameters evaluated in the transesterification reactions. The optimal conditions, giving the optimal final FAME yield and FFA content in the methyl ester-phase was identified. At 35°C, 6.0 methanol-to-oil molar ratio, 5wt% of enzyme and 5wt% of water contents, 94% of FAME yield and 6.1% of FFA in the final composition were obtained. The investigation was completed with the analysis of the component profiles, showing that at least 8h are necessary to reach a satisfactory FAME yield together with a minor FFA content.

Fabrication of virus-like particles with strip-pattern surface: A two-step self-assembly approach

Spherical nanostructures with striped patterns on the surfaces resembling the essential structures of natural virus particles were constructed through a two-step self-assembly approach of polystyrene-b-oligo(acrylic acid) (PS-b-oligo-AA) and poly(γ-benzyl L-glutamate)-b-poly(ethylene glycol) (PBLG-b-PEG) copolymer mixtures in solution. On the basis of difference in hydrophilicity and self-assembly properties of the two copolymers, the two-step self-assembly process is realized. It was found that PS-b-oligo-AA copolymers formed spherical aggregates by adding a certain amount of water into polymer solutions in the first step. In the second step, two polymer solutions were mixed and water was further added, inducing the self-assembly of PBLG-b-PEG on the surfaces of PS-b-oligo-AA spheres to form striped patterns. In-depth study was conducted for the indispensable defects of striped patterns which are dislocations and +1/2 disclinations. The influencing factors such as the mixing ratio of two copolymers and the added water content in the first step on the morphology and defects of the striped patterns were investigated. This work not only presents an idea to interpret mechanism of the cooperative self-assembly behavior, but also provides an effective approach to construct virus-like particles and other complex structures with controllable morphology.