Paddle dryer: An analysis of particles' bed distribution and flow dynamics

Characterization of microplastics from antifouling coatings released under controlled conditions with an automated SEM-EDX particle analysis method.

Online quantitative analysis of aluminum aerosol single particles by laser-induced breakdown spectroscopy

Occurrence, fate, and ecological impacts of microplastics in soil: a comparative analysis of conventional, biodegradable microplastics, and tire wear particles.

Cap opening induced microplastic contamination in bottled water revealed by single particle FTIR imaging and analysis

Single particle and single cell analysis by ICP-MS with pneumatic nebulisation: Comparing sample introduction systems.

Chemical characteristics of submicron particles in the Yellow Sea of Korea using aircraft measurements during the 2019-2023 period.

Environmental exposures contribute significantly to the global disease burden. However, identifying key toxicants within these complex exposures remains a challenge. Here, we propose an effect-based identification framework with expanded component-separation strategy that encompasses both organic and previously overlooked inorganic components to identify key components with cardiovascular effect in fine particulate matter (PM2.5). This framework integrates a high-efficiency extraction and separation method, high-content imaging for vascular morphometric outcomes in a zebrafish model, and multidimensional single-particle analysis for ultrafine particles (UFPs). We identified the effect components in PM2.5, with combustion-derived Fe3O4 nanoparticles (NPs) as the strongest effect component. This unanticipated focus on NPs significantly expands the current scope of potential toxicant candidates. Validation using human cell exposure models confirmed that Fe3O4 NPs exhibit higher cardiovascular toxicity than other PM2.5 components. Our results reveal the crucial toxic contributions of previously overlooked components and provide a revolutionary strategy for identifying effect components within complex environmental matrices.

The alpha therapy modeling was performed for the treatment of glioblastoma brain cancer using MCNP6 software. The simulation used a head and neck phantom geometry, with a spherical shape of the radiation direction of the cancer cells with a radius of one cm divided into 27 targets. One radiation source is directed to each target center of the cancer cells with five energy variations, namely (430, 425, 415, 410, and 400) MeV. The simulation results are in the form of a distribution of absorbed doses in all targets and healthy cells around them. The simulation results show an average dose distribution of (1.2902 ± 0.0024) 10-11 Gy/alpha with an isodose level of 69.75%. The healthy organ that receives the largest dose and secondary particle distribution after cancer cells is the brain, with an accumulative dose of (1.7446 ± 0.0033) 10-15 Gy/alpha. The dose distribution on cancer cells shows that the irradiation time to kill glioblastoma cancer cells is (1456±0.14) seconds with an alpha current of 1 nA.

The spatiotemporal heterogeneity of the state of charge (SOC) within battery electrodes significantly impairs the rate capability and cycle life of lithium-ion batteries. However, mapping this heterogeneity is challenging owing to the lack of experimental methods that quantify the SOC at the electrode scale, while also offering nanoscale resolution for in-depth analyses of individual particles. Herein, this work reports an advanced projection X-ray microscopy that combines nanometric resolution, a large field of view, and high chemical sensitivity using spectroscopic imaging. This method enables the operando imaging of SOC heterogeneity across electrodes containing numerous Ni-rich layered oxide (NRLO) particles, while significantly lessening the radiation dose and maintaining rapid imaging speeds. This work characterizes the SOC heterogeneity in the degraded electrode with a cross-section, thereby revealing the considerable heterogeneity in the battery degradation progresses at the individual-particle-level. Further, this work observes inter- and intra-particle heterogeneity during NRLO particle calcination, thereby identifying rapidly oxidized particles that likely facilitate the calcination process.

Microplastics pollution in groundwater remains significantly underreported within scientific literature. This paper presents a comprehensive protocol outlining the methodology for the sampling of groundwater from boreholes, as well as the steps of microplastics separation and analysis. It provides an extensive description of a filtration sampling system designed specifically for this purpose, along with the detailed sampling procedure. In addition, it presents the laboratory analysis of microplastic particles, including their characterization based on size, shape, color, transparency, and chemical structure using attenuated total reflectance-Fourier transform infrared spectroscopy (ATR-FTIR) and micro-FTIR spectroscopy. Factors that can influence results are discussed, and special attention is paid to preventing contamination of samples. The methodology described also considers the requirements of the Annex of Commission Delegated Decision (EU) 2024/1441 of 11 March 2024, supplementing Directive (EU) 2020/2184 of the European Parliament and of the Council. This comprehensive written protocol, accompanied by video guidance, is intended to support the development of a synchronized methodology for monitoring microplastics in groundwater or drinking water. This resource will be of interest to researchers in the field of microplastics worldwide.

Abstract This study quantifies deuterium-tritium (D-T) fusion power contributions from beam-target reactions in the EAST and CFETR tokamaks, providing support for the planned trace tritium experiments on EAST. A simplified model for tokamak beam-target fusion power is developed, incorporating fast-ion radial distributions. The model is validated against JET's tritium-rich experimental scenario, where beam-target reactions predominate. Simulations assume a tangentially injected neutral beam with a 0.1 m circular cross-section, centered midway between the torus inner wall and magnetic axis. Analysis for individual beam particles shows that the beam-target fusion energy gain Q bt increases significantly with bulk plasma temperature and logarithmically with density. For multi-particle systems, the total beam-target fusion power is enhanced by both a higher beam absorption rate and a more peaked fast-ion spatial distribution. As bulk plasma density increases, the beam absorption rate rises towards saturation while the fast-ion spatial distribution broadens radially from the core towards the edge. Consequently, an optimum bulk plasma density exists that maximizes the beam-target fusion power. Density scans for EAST reveal a peak beam-target fusion power of 0.45 MW (Q_bt of 0.1) at the bulk plasma ion density n i0 = 4.05×10¹⁹ m⁻³ (total deuterium and tritium with ratio of 50/50). Unlike thermal fusion scaling with the square of the bulk plasma density, this represents a notable enhancement in beam-target fusion power and reduction in tritium consumption compared to the higher bulk plasma density case. Due to high bulk plasma temperature in CFETR, the beam target fusion energy gain is higher than EAST and the thermal fusion dominates in the total fusion. With n i0 =10.2×10¹⁹ m⁻³, CFETR obtains 10.42 MW (Q bt of 0.35) beam-target fusion power and ~1 GW thermal fusion power.

Viruses and other extracellular genetic elements play essential roles in marine communities. However, methods to capture their full diversity remain limited by the constraints of bulk sequencing assemblers or pre-sorting throughput. Here we introduce environmental micro-compartment genomics (EMCG), which vastly improves the throughput and efficiency of single-particle genomic sequencing obtained from nanolitre volumes by compartmentalizing particles of a sample into picolitre-sized, semi-permeable capsules for in-capsule DNA amplification and barcoding. From 300 nanolitres of seawater, EMCG obtained genomic sequences of 2,037 particles. The microbiome composition agreed with other methods, and the virus-like assembly lengths indicated that most were near complete. Many viral assemblies belonged to the Naomiviridae, lacked metagenomic representation and aligned to outlier contigs of abundant, putative host lineages, suggesting their use of non-canonical DNA and overlooked ecological importance. This approach provides opportunities for high-throughput, quantitative and cost-effective genome analyses of individual cells and extracellular particles across complex microbiomes.

Spatial distribution and health risk evaluations of toxic metals in indoor aerosols from microenvironments in universities.

A window into vitamin effects on biomineralization in octocorals.

Quantifying pathways of tyre wear into the environment.

Enhanced specificity of immunomagnetic separation of bacteria in milk via hydration layer modulation of iron oxide particles.

Summary The interface between annular cement and wellbore rock is the key to ensuring wellbore integrity protection. However, filter cake on the wellbore wall may cause failure of the interlayer seal of the cement ring. Therefore, it is essential to efficiently degrade the polymer to remove the polymeric filter cake during cementing. The degradation of the polymer and polymeric filter-cake removal by oxidizing preflush fluid were studied. Optimizing potassium persulfate (KPS) content achieved a filter-cake removal efficiency of more than 90% and bonding strength of 1.43 MPa. Structural analysis of drilling fluid additives using environmental scanning electron microscopy (SEM), Fourier transform infrared spectroscopy (FTIR), and gel permeation chromatography (GPC) showed that the degraded drilling fluid network structure of additives was destroyed, functional groups changed, and three orders of magnitude reduced molecular weight. Total organic carbon (TOC) analyzer and SEM analyses confirmed significant TOC reduction in filter-cake particles and no polymer adhesion. The filter-cake structure and properties were studied by filter-cake filtration experiment and full-diameter core nuclear magnetic resonance (NMR) analysis, showing that the oxidation preflush fluid could significantly change the filter properties, permeability, and porosity of filter cake. Through the force analysis of filter-cake particles, it is concluded that large particles are mainly affected by the drag force, and small particles are primarily affected by the interaction force between particles. Laser particle-size analysis revealed that the higher oxidant concentrations increased free filter-cake particle sizes and were beneficial for filter-cake removal. The results show that the oxidation preflush fluid degrading the polymer can significantly promote the removal of filter cake, and it is a promising method for filter-cake removal before cementing.

We have studied the nonlinear electrophoresis of a polarizable charged particle in a monovalent as well as multivalent electrolyte by considering the short-range steric interactions and ion–ion electrostatic correlations of finite-sized ions. At a moderate applied field, in which the voltage drop across the Debye layer becomes higher than the thermal potential, the impact of the dielectric particle polarization becomes significant, resulting in an induced surface charge, which has opposite polarity on the two sides of the particle. In this process, an ionic exchange occurs between the electric double layer, which surrounds the particle, and the bulk solution. The steric effect due to the finite size of ions and correlation among ions modifies the ion distribution in the electric double layer and consequently modifies the polarization of the particle. Most of the earlier studies on nonlinear electrophoresis were limited to conducting particles by imposing a constant ζ-potential for a monovalent electrolyte and were found to have several discrepancies from experimental analysis. By considering the modified electrokinetic model for a dielectric particle, we provide an intricate analysis and justification of several experimentally observed phenomena. We adopt a continuum model, which incorporates the correlations of finite-sized ions and hydrodynamic steric interactions. The viscosity of the suspension is considered to vary with ionic volume fraction. The valence asymmetric electrolyte generates a nonuniform induced surface charge density, which modifies the electric force on the particle. We have validated our numerical algorithm with existing experimental results of nonpolarizable particles and thin-layer analysis of dielectric particles. At a higher imposed electric field, the over-screening of the surface charge due to the correlations among multivalent counterions attenuates, leading to the suppression of mobility reversal. The ion correlations and saturation attenuate the impact of polarization in the modified model.

Online characterization of particle size distribution and molecular structure of cigarette smoke aerosols and their exposure risk assessment.