Industrial-scale Designs Research Articles

Continuous flow microwave processing of peanut butter: A (hypothetical) computational process design study with experimental validation

The increase in foodborne pathogen cases in low moisture foods has raised a significant food safety concern for food industry. One of the most significant outbreaks related with these food products was observed in 2008–2009 due to Salmonella problem in peanut butter. This issue was recently observed again for a multinational case. Challenges of conventional thermal processing due to the lower thermal conductivity – diffusivity value and higher viscosity, microwave (MW) heating might be an efficient processing while the non-uniform heating is a challenging drawback. Therefore, the objective of this study was to develop a mathematical model for MW processing of peanut butter and present industrial scale designs for continuous flow processing. For this purpose, the mathematical model was first experimentally validated using a lab-scale system and validated with experimental data. Following this, continuous flow MW process design studies were carried out with different holding tube configurations to obtain a temperature increase to enable decontamination and improve the temperature uniformity. These design simulations provided a better understanding to enhance the process efficiency of high viscosity low moisture peanut butter samples and for design and optimization of continuous flow MW processing.

Insights from combining techno-economic and life cycle assessment – a case study of polyphenol extraction from red wine pomace

To determine the environmental and economic performance of emerging processes for the valorization of red wine pomace, a techno-economic assessment (TEA) and a Life Cycle Assessment (LCA) are combined at an early design stage. A case study of two polyphenol extraction methods at laboratory scale, solvent extraction (SE) and pressurized liquid extraction (PLE), were first analyzed via a carbon footprint (CFP). Subsequently, the laboratory scale design was improved and translated into industrial scale and a TEA was performed on the industrial scale designs. Finally, LCA was applied again with all impact indicators and the information gathered from both the TEA and LCA was combined into concise decision support, using Multiple Criteria Decision Analysis (MCDA). SE performs better than PLE, due to a lower solvent to DW ratio and a less expensive processing setup in both environmental and economic terms. The CFP of at laboratory scale aided in showing potential environmental hotspots and highlighted the need to reduce solvent use. The MCDA showed a shift in decision support depending on how strongly economic or environmental benefits are valued and eases the interpretation of the 19 different indicators derived from the TEA-LCA results. Both SE and PLE with a solvent to dry weight (DW) ratio of 5 and 10, respectively, perform competitively while SE with a solvent to DW ratio of 10 outperforms PLE with a solvent to DW ratio of 25. The case study illustrated how early design calculations (CFP), and combined LCA and TEA may be combined to improve process design.

WITHDRAWN: Insights from combining techno-economic and life cycle assessment - a case study of polyphenol extraction from red wine pomace

Abstract To determine the environmental and economic performance of emerging processes for the valorization of red wine pomace, a techno-economic assessment (TEA) and a Life Cycle Assessment (LCA) are combined at an early design stage. A case study of two polyphenol extraction methods at laboratory scale, solvent extraction (SE) and pressurized liquid extraction (PLE), were first analyzed via a carbon footprint (CFP). Subsequently, the laboratory scale design was improved and translated into industrial scale and a TEA was performed on the industrial scale designs. Finally, LCA was applied again with all impact indicators and the information gathered from both the TEA and LCA was combined into concise decision support, using Multiple Criteria Decision Analysis (MCDA). SE performs better than PLE, due to a lower solvent to DW ratio and a less expensive processing setup in both environmental and economic terms. The CFP of at laboratory scale aided in showing potential environmental hotspots and highlighted the need to reduce solvent use. The MCDA showed a shift in decision support depending on how strongly economic or environmental benefits are valued and eases the interpretation of the 19 different indicators derived from the TEA-LCA results. Both SE and PLE with a solvent to dry weight (DW) ratio of 5 and 10, respectively, perform competitively while SE with a solvent to DW ratio of 10 outperforms PLE with a solvent to DW ratio of 25. The case study illustrated how early design calculations (CFP), and combined LCA and TEA may be combined to improve process design.

Post-silicon code coverage for multiprocessor system-on-chip designs

Effective techniques for post-silicon validation are required to better evaluate functional correctness of increasingly complex multi and many-core SoCs. However, there is little data evaluating the coverage of post-silicon validation efforts on industrial-scale designs. In this paper, we address this knowledge gap by instrumenting a nontrivial SoC with on-chip coverage monitors to measure the coverage achieved by typical post-silicon validation tests, such as booting the operating system (OS). We compare coverage achieved pre and post-silicon, and also measure the area overhead required to monitor post-silicon coverage. Our results show that the typical test of booting the OS often achieves high coverage, well correlated to what is achieved by pre-silicon directed tests, but in some blocks the coverage can be low or markedly different between pre and post-silicon, highlighting the importance of post-silicon validation in general and post-silicon coverage measurement in particular.

Bioreactor designs for solid state fermentation

Solid state fermentation has gained renewed attention not only from researchers but also from industry. This technique has become a more and more attractive alternative to submerged fermentation for specific applications due to the recent improvements, especially in the design. This paper reviews the various reactor designs and focuses on the differences between lab-scale and industrial-scale designs. It highlights the main designs that have emerged over the last 10 years and the potential for scaling-up for each category of reactor.

Formal verification in hardware design

In recent years, formal methods have emerged as an alternative approach to ensuring the quality and correctness of hardware designs, overcoming some of the limitations of traditional validation techniques such as simulation and testing.There are two main aspects to the application of formal methods in a design process: the formal framework used to specify desired properties of a design and the verification techniques and tools used to reason about the relationship between a specification and a corresponding implementation. We survey a variety of frameworks and techniques proposed in the literature and applied to actual designs. The specification frameworks we describe include temporal logics, predicate logic, abstraction and refinement, as well as containment between ω-regular languages. The verification techniques presented include model checking, automata-theoretic techniques, automated theorem proving, and approaches that integrate the above methods.In order to provide insight into the scope and limitations of currently available techniques, we present a selection of case studies where formal methods were applied to industrial-scale designs, such as microprocessors, floating-point hardware, protocols, memory subsystems, and communications hardware.