Evaporation Stage Research Articles

Analyte enrichment and sensitive detection over nanosecond laser textured stainless steel superhydrophobic surfaces

In this report, we have investigated the use of nanosecond laser texturing produced superhydrophobic surfaces for enrichment and sensitive detection of analytes. We have shown that by carefully choosing the laser processing parameters, the superhydrophobic surfaces capable of maintaining a small (5 μL) aqueous droplet in spherical shape till the last stage of evaporation and hence enabling the droplet to deposit its entire content over ∼80–100 μm size residual spot upon complete evaporation, can be prepared. The spot was found to get formed by bridging over the micro structures suggesting that the droplet remained suspended over the structures i.e. did not penetrate the structures till the very end of the evaporation process. By performing fluorescence spectroscopy of the residual spot, Rhodamine 6G could be detected at an ultra-low concentration of 10−18 molL−1 in a 5 μL water droplet. When compared with the results obtained on unprocessed stainless steel substrate, these superhydrophobic steel surfaces were found to provide four orders of magnitude enhancement in the lowest detectable concentration of Rhodamine 6G.

Origin of lithium-rich salt lakes on the western Kunlun Mountains of the Tibetan Plateau: Evidence from hydrogeochemistry and lithium isotopes

Lithium-rich salt lakes have attracted much attention as important lithium resources. The source and enrichment mechanisms of lithium in salt lakes are fundamental to uncovering the genesis of brine-type lithium deposits. However, the origin of lithium in salt lakes has been controversial, especially for lithium-rich brines associated with hard rock lithium ore has not been concerned by scholars. In this study, for the first time, we investigated the lithium isotope and hydrochemical composition characteristics of a lithium-rich salt lake (Kushui Lake) and a series of surrounding water samples in the lithium pegmatites district of West Kunlun, Xinjiang, China. Hydrochemical composition shows that different samples in the basin are rich in Li, Na, and K and poor in Mg and Ca. The water chemistry of the Kushui River, the largest river within the catchment, changes from carbonate type to sulfate subtype through evaporation. The precipitate of sulfate and chloride minerals is also gradually increasing. In addition, Li, B, Sr, Rb, Cs, U, Ti, V, Mn, Cu, Zn, Cr, Co, Ni, and REE are abnormally enriched in the rivers and lakes of the basin, especially in the spring water, which is several times higher than in the rivers. Likewise, dissolved Li and δ7Li showed ranges of 0.01–287.86 mg/L and 3.28–16.44 ‰, respectively. These data were used to determine the origin of lithium and its enrichment process in salt lakes. The results show that the source of Li in Kushui Lake is closely related to the surrounding felsic volcanic rocks, pegmatite-type lithium ore and deep fluids, whereas the water–rock interaction in the deep crust and the chemical weathering in the supergene environment play an influential role during the formation of Li-rich fluids. In addition, the spring samples in the northwestern of Kushui Lake have inherited the lithium isotopic signature of lithium-bearing source rocks from the water–rock reaction process in the deep crust, allowing us further to isolate the source of Li in the target waters. With the movement of water, lithium exhibits a trend of continuous enrichment under the influence of evaporation and mixing. At different stages of evaporation, the Li/Na ratio in water in this catchment shows a trend of increasing, decreasing, and increasing due to the adsorption of 6Li by secondary minerals and the crystallization of Na. It suggests that strong evaporation under arid conditions is the main mechanism responsible for the rapid enrichment of Li in salt lakes. Moreover, the positive relationship between Li content and the δ7Li value of rivers along the discharge path indicated that the adsorption of 6Li by secondary minerals still existed even at a minor watershed scale, resulting in the fractionation of lithium isotopes in river waters. This study may contribute to a deeper understanding of lithium sources and their enrichment processes in Li-rich salt lakes. In addition, it is also beneficial to search for new lithium resources based on the source relationships among the various lithium reservoirs.

Search for the evaporation of primordial black holes with H.E.S.S.

Primordial Black Holes (PBHs) are hypothetical black holes predicted to have been formed from density fluctuations in the early Universe. PBHs with an initial mass around 1014–1015 g are expected to end their evaporation at present times in a burst of particles and very-high-energy (VHE) gamma rays. Those gamma rays may be detectable by the High Energy Stereoscopic System (H.E.S.S.), an array of imaging atmospheric Cherenkov telescopes. This paper reports on the search for evaporation bursts of VHE gamma rays with H.E.S.S., ranging from 10 to 120 seconds, as expected from the final stage of PBH evaporation and using a total of 4816 hours of observations. The most constraining upper limit on the burst rate of local PBHs is 2000 pc-3 yr-1 for a burst interval of 120 seconds, at the 95% confidence level. The implication of these measurements for PBH dark matter are also discussed.

Biomass combustion behaviors based on online monitoring system: Morphological, thermodynamic and kinetic analysis

Identifying the matching law between the morphology, thermodynamic and kinetic characteristics of single biomass can significantly achieve high-efficiency combustion. A visual combustion furnace with online monitoring system was designed and built to record in real-time the apparent volume shrinkage, particle heating process and gas releasing behaviors of single biomass briquette during the combustion process. Furthermore, this work aimed to present a new method to infer the effect of ambient temperature on the pore structure of volatile precipitation and char combustion, mainly through a comparative analysis of the changes in shrinkage ratio and activation energy with carbon conversion efficiency (CCE). The higher the ambient temperature, the faster the biomass heating rate, and the earlier it reached the peak heating rate and the ambient temperature, but the heating process of biomass in the water evaporation stage was almost the same at different ambient temperatures. Oxygen concentration had a significant effect on the volume shrinkage and gas product releasing characteristics, but less on the particle heat transfer. After deducting the experimental system errors, the biomass reaction mode, activation energy and pore structure changed significantly around 40–45% CCE. When the CCE was less than 40%, the biomass mainly underwent volatile precipitation and combustion, with smaller apparent volume shrinkage but larger pore volume at 700 °C compared to 900°C ambient temperature. With the CCE greater than 45% and less than 70%, the char combustion dominated the reaction process, the apparent volume shrinkage was smaller, but the pore structure was more developed at higher ambient temperatures compared to lower temperatures. When the CCE exceeded 70%, the apparent volume and carbon conversion remained almost constant at 700°C, but the volume shrinkage ratio continued to decrease at 900°C ambient temperature. This research and proposed method provide more accurate fundamental support for modeling particle combustion at the reactor scale and designing biomass combustion systems.

Influence of Molasses on the Explosion and Decomposition Properties of the Coal Dust Deposited in Underground Mines

Coal dust endangers the health and safety of workers in underground coal mines. Therefore, developing coal dust suppressants with dust prevention and explosion-proof properties is critical. The influence of molasses on the explosion and decomposition of the coal dust deposited in underground mines was investigated using 20 L explosion experiments and thermogravimetric and differential thermal analysis (TG-DTA). Findings reveal that, first, molasses can weakly promote the explosion of coal dust at low coal dust concentrations (<400 g/m3) but has no significant effect on the explosion at high coal dust concentrations (≥400 g/m3). Second, the decomposition process of the coal dust mixed with molasses has three stages: the moisture evaporation stage (0–150 °C), the molasses decomposition stage (150–300 °C), and the coal dust decomposition stage (300–500 °C). Molasses oxidation consumes oxygen and releases heat; at low coal dust concentrations, the released heat can promote coal dust decomposition to produce combustible gas, enhancing the coal dust explosion; at high coal dust concentrations, under the co-influence of the heat generation and oxygen consumption, molasses has no effect on the coal dust explosion. This is the mechanism of which molasses influences coal dust explosions.

CONSTRUCTION DESIGN FOR 4.5 BAR WATER TUBE TYPE BOILER USING SOLIDWORKS 2018 SOFTWARE

Distillation or simple distillation uses the principle of separating two or more liquids based on differences in the boiling points of each component. The distillation process itself has two main stages, namely the evaporation stage and the condensation or condensation stage. Therefore, distillation equipment uses a heating device in the form of a boiler and a cooler in the form of a heat exchanger. In the refining process, the heart of the distillation system lies in the boiler as a steam producing component. Therefore, the effectiveness of the boiler to produce saturated steam greatly determines the results of the refining process. To determine the power of the boiler, it is necessary to analyze the Boiler simulation calculations which include Von misses, displacement and safety factor simulations. The simulation is carried out at a pressure of 4.5 Bar which produces a Von misses max value. of 3.444 MPa, with the highest displacement value of 0.002 mm and the smallest value of 0 mm, and produces a safety factor value of 75. With this safety factor value, it can be said that the frame construction is safe.

Evaporation of Suspended Nanofluid (SiO$$_{2}$$/Water) Droplets: Experimental Results and Modelling

The results of experimental studies and modelling of the evaporation of suspended water droplets containing silicon dioxide SiO $$_{2}$$ nanoparticles at mass fractions 0.02 and 0.07 are presented. The experimental results are analysed using the previously developed model for multicomponent droplet heating and evaporation. In this model droplets are assumed to be spherical and the analytical solutions to the heat transfer and species diffusion equations are incorporated into the numerical code. They are used at each timestep of the calculations. Silicon dioxide nanoparticles are considered to be a non-evaporating component. It is demonstrated that both experimental and predicted values of droplet diameters to the power 1.5 decrease almost linearly with time, except at the beginning and the final stages of the evaporation process, and are only weakly affected by the presence of nanoparticles. At the final point in this process, the effect of nanoparticles becomes dominant when their mass fraction at the droplet surface reaches about 40 % and a cenosphere-like structure is formed. Both predicted and observed droplet surface temperatures rapidly decrease during the initial stage of droplet evaporation. After about $$t=100$$ s the predicted surface temperature remains almost constant whilst its experimentally observed values increase with time. This might be related to a decrease in the temperature of ambient air in the vicinity of droplets, not taken into account in the model. Both observed and predicted values of the mass fraction of silicon dioxide at the droplet surfaces are shown to increase with time until they reach about 0.4.

Experiments and Numerical Simulation of N-decane/Ethanol Bi-Component Droplet Evaporation

The evaporation characteristics of n-decane-based bi-component or multi-component droplets have been veiled for application in advanced combustion. This paper proposes to experimentally investigate the evaporation of n-decane/ethanol bi-component droplets settled in the convective hot air, and numerically simulate the key parameters affecting the evaporation charactersitics. It was found that the evaporation behavior was interactively affected by the mass fraction of ethanol and the ambient temperature. For mono-component n-decane droplets, the evaporation process included the transient heating (non-isothermal) and steady evaporation (isothermal) stages. In the isothermal stage, the evaporation rate followed d2-law. The evaporation rate constant linearly increased as the ambient temperature enhanced (573~873 K). For n-decane/ethanol bi-component droplets, at low mass fractions (≤0.2), the isothermal evaporation processes were steady due to the good miscibility between n-decane and ethanol, like mono-component n-decane, whereas at high mass fractions (≥0.4), the evaporation process experienced ultrashort heating and fluctuating evaporation stages. During the fluctuating evaporation, the bubbles formed inside the bi-component droplets and expanded, resulting in the occurrence of the microspray (secondary atomization) and the microexplosion. The evaporation rate constant of bi-component droplets increased as the ambient temperature enhanced, and showed a "V-shaped" trend with the increase of the mass fraction, and the evaporation rate constant was the smallest at 0.4. The evaporation rate constants based on the numerical simulation by using the multiphase flow model and Lee model showed reasonable agreement with the experimental ones, suggesting a potential of application in practical engineering.

What Is the Fate of Hawking Evaporation in Gravity Theories with Higher Curvature Terms?

During the final stages of black hole evaporation, ultraviolet deviations from general relativity eventually become dramatic, potentially affecting the end state. We explore this problem by performing nonlinear simulations of wave packets in Einstein-dilaton-Gauss-Bonnet gravity, the only gravity theory with quadratic curvature terms which can be studied at a fully nonperturbative level. Black holes in this theory have a minimum mass but also a nonvanishing temperature. This poses a puzzle concerning the final fate of Hawking evaporation in the presence of high-curvature nonperturbative effects. By simulating the mass loss induced by evaporation at the classical level using an auxiliary phantom field, we study the nonlinear evolution of black holes past the minimum mass. We observe a runaway shrink of the horizon (a nonperturbative effect forbidden in general relativity) which eventually unveils a high-curvature elliptic region. While this might hint to the formation of a naked singularity (and hence to a violation of the weak cosmic censorship) or of a pathological spacetime region, a different numerical formulation of the initial-value problem in this theory might be required to rule out other possibilities, including the transition from the critical black hole to a stable horizonless remnant. Our Letter is relevant in the context of the information-loss paradox, dark-matter remnants, and for constraints on microscopic primordial black holes.

Модель формування пористості брикетів губчастого титану на стадії спікання

This article examines the peculiarities of the formation of interparticle connections in porous products based on titanium powders using sponge titanium as an example, which are used in the aviation industry and airfield management. The developed model is based on the results of a previous study, where the structure of cuboctahedral and inverse cuboctahedral clusters of packing spherical powder particles was determined at the most dense packing. During the study, a model of the fusion of particles at the points of pressing deformation due to recrystallization under the influence of high temperatures in a vacuum was developed. 4 main stages of powder briquette sintering were considered, and a mathematical model was developed for each of them. Thus, the stage of liquid evaporation is considered from the viewpoint of the cavitation effect of boiling on the surface of particles and boiling of plasticizers. Euler's film boiling formula was used to describe the forces acting on the particle surface; Tolubinsky's formula was used for bubble boiling; convective heat exchange was considered part of the final stage of sintering. The stage of the formation of metallic bonds is modeled on the basis of the results of practical studies in the REV 5.5 furnace, recrystallization based on differential scanning colorimetry on the NETZSCH STA 449F1 Proteus device, and determining the change in grain size according to the E19 ASTM scales using the Jeffers method. The diffusion stage is modeled on the basis of the approximation of the particle deformation model in the contact zones at the pressing stage using the Frenkel formula. Linear shrinkage is modeled based on direct measurement of sample sizes before and after sintering. The developed model has a certain versatility when applied to simulate the interaction of particles of metal powders under the conditions of the formation of porous briquettes, especially if the shape of the particles is close to round or spongy. The obtained result will make it possible to more accurately evaluate such a factor as the adhesion between the particles of the pressing and predict the tensile strength of the material. Additionally, due to the mathematical characterization of the peculiarities of the formation of corpuscular porosity under the conditions of sintering in a vacuum, we can design materials with differentiated porosity, as well as lay the foundations for powder 3D printing of such materials, by assembling grain by grain, or layer by layer with the adjustment of the force of particle compression one into the other.

A new cavitation model for simulating steady and unsteady cavitating flows

Cavitation is a widespread hydrodynamic phenomenon. Accurate prediction of cavitating flow is beneficial to the design and maintenance of the hydrodynamic machinery. A new cavitation model reducing the number of parameters needed to obtain satisfactory results is presented and validated. Based on the multiphase flow equation, the mass transfer due to cavitation is expressed as a source term in the gas-phase continuity equation. The mass transfer rate is derived from the assumption that the number of cavitation nuclei per unit volume in the mixture varies linearly with the vapor volume fraction during the evaporation stage. The mass transfer rate also incorporates the simplified Rayleigh–Plesset equation and the critical radius of cavitation nuclei. The new cavitation model considers the influence of non-condensable gas and the molar density of non-condensable gas is the only physical parameter that must be specified. The cavitating flow over a hydrofoil, cavitating flow in a sharp-edged orifice, and the unsteady cavitating flow in a venturi tube were predicted to verify the validity of the new cavitation model. The simulation results of the new model are in good agreement with the experimental results. The new cavitation model predicts cavitation regions and periodic unsteady cavitating flows.

Black hole remnants are not too fast to be dark matter

We comment on recent claims that recoil in the final stages of Hawking evaporation gives black hole remnants large velocities, rendering them inviable as a dark matter candidate. We point out that due to cosmic expansion, such large velocities at the final stages of evaporation are not in tension with the cold dark matter paradigm so long as they are attained at sufficiently early times. In particular, the predicted recoil velocities are robustly compatible with observations if the remnants form before the epoch of big bang nucleosynthesis, a requirement which is already imposed by the physics of nucleosynthesis itself.

Study on the Variations of Key Groups and Thermal Characteristic Parameters during Coal Secondary Spontaneous Combustion.

To investigate the effect of preoxidation on the secondary spontaneous combustion of coal, the changes in the key groups and thermal characteristic parameters in coal after preoxidation were investigated through Fourier transform infrared spectroscopy (FTIR), laser thermal conductivity, and thermogravimetric experiments. Results showed that the aromatic hydrocarbons in coal gradually decrease with the rise in the preoxidation temperature, the aliphatic hydrocarbons increase and then decrease, the -C-O- group gradually decreases, and the -C=O and -COO- group content slowly increases. Preoxidation promotes the breakdown of aromatic hydrocarbons and the oxidation of oxygen-containing functional groups in coal. Meanwhile, the thermal diffusivity of coal decreases after preoxidation, while the specific heat capacity and thermal conductivity increase and then decrease. The results of the thermogravimetric analysis indicate that preoxidation changes the characteristic temperature, but it does not change the process of spontaneous combustion. The spontaneous combustion process of raw and preoxidized coals can be divided into three stages: water evaporation, oxygen adsorption, and combustion. Further, the apparent activation energy increases and then decreases with a rise in the preoxidation temperature during the moisture evaporation stage, increases during the oxygen adsorption stage, and decreases during the combustion stage.

Thermohydraulic management coupled with flow pattern distinction for concentrating solar direct-steam-generation technology

Concentrating solar direct-steam-generation (DSG) technology is favored for tying solar energy and water to directly power the energy loop, which is positive in achieving a zero-carbon future. Whereas, the external intermittence of the meteorological irradiation and internal instability of flow boiling pose challenges to the thermohydraulic operation and management. Herein, a light-heat-flow-pattern transient coupled analysis model of parabolic trough collector direct-steam-generation (PTC-DSG) loop was established to figure out the action among the irradiance, thermohydraulic and two-phase flow pattern. The transient flow patterns along the loop were investigated under different irradiance (I), mass flowrate (min) and inlet temperature (tin) of the loop. The results showed that increasing I and tin temporarily reduces the probability of stratified flow and increasing tin permanently reduces the probability of stratified flow. In all cases, the proportion of intermittent flow to evaporation stage remains almost unchanged (about 11%.), and the heat transfer in superheating stage still needs a long time (253s ∼ 3646s) to recover after the flow stages distribution is stable. More importantly, a quantified management strategy for irradiance -thermohydraulic-flow pattern is built. To achieve a favorable operating state, the inlet mass flow rate min should be lower than the superheated line ((1.25·I – 6.25)✕10−3 kg s−1) to obtain the superheated steam, and higher than 0.35 kg s−1 to get out of the stratified flow in evaporation stage. When the irradiation is lower than 285 W m−2 for a long time, the start-up and operation is not recommended.

Impact and boiling characteristics of a droplet on heated surfaces: A 3D lattice Boltzmann study

• Four typical regimes are numerically reproduced for the first time. • The vapor bubble nucleation, growth, coalescence, and burst are captured. • The dependence of heat transfer on the bubble dynamics is presented. • Three different rebound types are observed and analyzed. Droplet impingement and boiling on heated surfaces play an important role in many industrial applications. Due to its complexity in nature, it is challenging to simulate the process of droplet impact on heated surfaces involving phase change. In the present work, a three-dimensional numerical simulation based on lattice Boltzmann method (LBM) is applied to analyze the dynamic and thermodynamic behaviors of droplet impact on heated surfaces. The process of vapor bubble nucleation, growth, coalescence, and even burst at the interface of the droplet can be successfully captured, and four typical regimes are numerically reproduced, which include film evaporation, nucleate boiling, transition boiling, and film boiling. Due to the idealized smooth surface applied here, a constant contact angle (CCA) model is observed during the process of droplet evaporation, and the time evolution of normalized droplet volume and spreading factor in the evaporation stage are consistent with the sessile droplet evaporation. When the bubble nucleation occurs in the droplet, the droplet interface is seriously distorted, and the heat transfer performance exhibits a strong dependence on vapor bubble dynamics. In addition, according to the numerical results, three different rebound types, including burst rebound, partial rebound, and complete rebound, are observed and analyzed in detail.

Moisture Transfer During its Evaporation from Sugar Solutions

In this work, studies were carried out on the water evaporation from concentrated solutions of such sugars as sucrose, fructose, glucose, galactose, to determine the evaporation mechanisms. Differential scanning calorimetry (DSC) method in the temperature range from –70° C to +200° C, as well as the combined thermogravimetric analysis with differential scanning calorimetry under isothermal conditions at temperatures of 30°, 45°, 60 °C were used. The analysis of the DSC curves of sucrose solutions at low temperatures shows that in sugar solutions with a concentration of 65 %, water does not produce melting peaks. Therefore, it can be considered bound in the first hydration shells of sucrose. Isothermal thermogravimetric measurements give close to linear dependences of mass loss on time, and their slope being determined by temperature. At higher concentrations of sucrose solutions DSC curves for disaccharides are shifted relative to the curves for monosaccharides. This may be due to the lower permeability of the film surface for water. The evaporation model based on the vacancy mechanism of water molecules movement in concentrated sugar solutions was proposed. According to this model, the region enriched with vacancies of water molecules gradually penetrates deep into the sample. In this case, the number of water molecules in each layer of the region sets at a certain level. The given model constructions are applicable to the initial stages of water evaporation from concentrated sugar solutions.

Marangoni effect of surfactant droplet in transition boiling and formation of secondary droplet

The dynamic processes of surfactant droplets impacting onto substrates of varied temperatures have been widely studied in heat transfer, cooling and printing. In this work, we observe the impacting process of aqueous droplets of surfactants SDS, CTAB, and Triton X-100 on a hot aluminum plate via a high-speed camera, in order to study the dynamics of different surfactant droplets impacting on a hot aluminum substrate. Experimentally, it is discovered that the surfactant droplets in transition boiling produce a secondary droplet of non-wetting state in the final stage of evaporation. The analysis demonstrates that after the droplet impacts the substrate, a temperature gradient is created between the top of the droplet and the triple-phase contact line, increasing the surfactant concentration near the triple-phase contact line as compared with that of the top. The top liquid is maintained by the Marangoni effect, which is caused by the concentration gradient. In the final stage of the evaporation process, the residual droplet gradually shrinks into a sphere. It is detached from the substrate and taken off under the impulse force of the bubble explosion at the bottom, generating the secondary droplet. The radius of the secondary drop increases with the raising of initial concentration of the drop, but ultimately reaches the saturation size. This work explains the role of surfactants in forming secondary droplets. Additionally, this work provides a reference for understanding the physical mechanism of Leidenfrost effect and the controlling of boiling heat transmission.

Interaction and motion of two neighboring Leidenfrost droplets on oil surface

Evaporation of droplets on a hot oil surface is a natural phenomenon. However, most of existing studies focus on the evaporation of a single droplet, and the evaporation of multiple droplets is insufficiently understood. Here, we explore the Leidenfrost evaporation of two identical FC-72 droplets on the surface of a hot oil bath. The oil temperature ranges from 73.6 to 126.6 ℃, and the evaporation of droplets each with an initial diameter of 1.5 mm is recorded by an infrared thermographer and a high-speed camera. The shallow oil depth keeps the oil temperature uniform relatively in the slot compared with that in the deep liquid pool due to the larger ratio of the surface area for copper-oil contact to the slot volume. We find that the neighboring droplets evaporate in three stages: non-coalescing, bouncing, and separating. The radius of neighboring Leidenfrost droplets follows the power law <i>R</i>(<i>t</i>)~(1−<i>t</i>/<i>τ</i>)<sup><i>n</i></sup>, where <i>τ</i> is the characteristic droplet lifetime and <i>n</i> is an exponent factor. Moreover, the diffusion-mediated interaction between the neighboring droplets slows down the evaporation process compared with the action of isolated Leidenfrost droplet and leads to an asymmetric temperature field on the droplet surface, thereby breaking the balance of the forces acting on the droplets. A simple dual-droplet evaporation model is developed which considers four forces acting horizontally on the droplet, namely, the Marangoni force resulting from the non-uniform droplet temperature, the gravity component, the lubrication-propulsion force, and the viscous drag force. Scale analysis shows that the Marangoni force and gravity component dominate dual-droplet evaporation dynamics. In the non-coalescence stage, the gravity component induces the droplets to attract each other, while the vapor film trapped between droplets prevents them from directly contacting. When the droplets turn smaller, the gravity component is insufficient to overcome the Marangoni force. Hence, the droplets separate in the final evaporation stage. Finally, we conclude that the competition between Marangoni force and gravitational force is the origin of the bounce evaporation by comparing the theoretical and experimental transition times at distinct stages. This study contributes to explaining the complex Leidenfrost droplet dynamics and evaporation mechanism.

Co-combustion dynamics and products of textile dyeing sludge with waste rubber versus polyurethane tires of shared bikes

The co-combustions of major waste streams such as textile dyeing sludge (TDS) and waste tires of shared bikes may reduce the dependence on fossil fuels, as well as enhance their circular management and the recovery of their value-added products. In this study, the ash-to-gas products, interaction effects, and reaction mechanisms of the co-combustions of TDS and waste tires were characterized. The mono-combustions included the three stages of water evaporation, volatiles release, and mineral decomposition for TDS and the five stages for both rubber (RT) and polyurethane (PUT) tires. The three substages of the main stage of volatiles release for TDS had the activation energy of 124.5, 144.9, and 167.5 kJ/mol and were best explained by the reaction mechanism models of D3, D5, and F2, respectively. The (co-)combustion performance indices rose with the increased heating rate. The blend of 25% TDS with 75% RT (TR) and 75% PUT (TP) led to the best co-combustion performance according to comprehensive combustion index, with TP outperforming TR. The co-combustions of TP and TR reduced the activation energy required for the main devolatilization stage reaction. There was no significant difference in the main reaction mechanisms between the co-combustions. The interaction between TDS and waste tires reduced the applied energy required for the main devolatilization stage. The co-combustions at the low temperature produced O-H, CH4, CO2, CO, SO2, NO, carbonyl products, olefin products, and ketones. The co-combustions increased the production of C-H, reduced SO2 release and the viscosity of their ashes, promoted the complete combustion of substances, and alleviated the scale and sintering issues regardless of TP versus TR and caused the early release of NO from TP. According to the thermodynamic equilibrium simulations, the TR co-combustion promoted the retentions of Ca, S, Si, and Fe, in particular, the fixation of S. The addition of PUT enhanced the combination of Ca and Si into CaSiO3. The optimization based on the artificial neural networks pointed to the temperature range of 400–800 oC and the TR co-combustion as the optimal operational conditions.

The final stage of droplet evaporation on black silicon by schlieren technique with a graded filter

The final stage of droplet evaporation on black silicon by schlieren technique with a graded filter