Use Of Albedo Research Articles

Valorization of Albedo Orange Peel Waste to Develop Electrode Materials in Supercapacitors for the Electric Industry

This work proposes the use of albedo of orange peel in generation of carbon for applications in supercapacitors. For this, a comparison of compositional and electrochemical properties present in the carbons obtained of albedo, flavedo, and the complete orange peel was carried out. The morphology and composition of carbons obtained were analyzed by Field Emission Scanning Electron Microscopy (FESEM), Energy Dispersive X-ray (EDX), X-Ray Diffraction (XRD), and Fourier-transform infrared spectroscopy (FT-IR). The synthetized carbons were not subjected to the activation process by chemical compounds to relate only the properties of orange peel parts with their electrochemical behaviour. All samples were tested by cyclic voltammetry (CV) and electrochemical impedance spectroscopy (EIS). The carbon obtained of albedo presented a superior specific capacitance (210 F/g) of the rest samples. The value of albedo-based carbon capacitance is comparable with works presented in the literature that used a whole orange peel with chemical activators. In this way, it is possible to obtain large capacitances using only a part of orange peel (albedo). Thus, the importance of this study is that the albedo can be proposed as a material applied to electrodes for supercapacitors while the flavedo can be used in food industry or for oil extraction.

Low-Fat and High-Quality Fermented Sausages.

The present study, considering for the first time microbiological concerns due to the use of lemon albedo as a fat replacer, aimed at the selection of an anti-Listeria strain to be used as protective culture in low-fat southern Italian fermented sausages. In fact, these kinds of products require appropriate bio-protective strategies to avoid risks due to Listeria monocytogenes. Sixty-seven Lactiplantibacillus plantarum strains isolated from diverse sources were screened for their antimicrobial activity and their interaction with starter strains (Latilactobacillus sakei 152 and Staphylococcus xylosus MVS9). Lactiplantibacillus plantarum Lpls100, highlighting both listericidal activity and the ability to promote Staphylococcus xylosus MVS9 growth, was used as a protective strain in low-fat fermented sausages prepared with lemon albedo as a fat replacer. The effect of the albedo and the protective strain on the fermentation process and the final quality was ascertained. Results highlighted that the use of the albedo did not affect the growth of starter strains and enhanced some quality features, such as fatty acid profiles and certain sensory attributes. However, the albedo also produced a slow decrease in water activity, compromising the microbial quality. The anti-Listeria strain, enhancing coagulase negative cocci growth and exerting antimicrobial activity, avoided the inconveniences caused by the use of the albedo. Moreover, the anti-Listeria effectiveness was assessed through a challenge test using a Listeria cocktail. The study revealed that Lactiplantibacillus plantarum Lpls100, regardless of the presence of the albedo, assures a prompt inhibition of Listeria spp. Therefore, its use could be an important contribution to the quality of low-fat fermented sausages.

Potential Use of ASTER Derived Emissivity, Thermal Inertia and Albedo Image for Discriminating Different Rock Types of Aravalli Group of Rocks, Rajasthan

In the present study, broad band emissivity, apparent thermal inertia and albedo image products have been derived based on processing of Advanced Spaceborne Thermal Emission and reflection (ASTER) data and analyzed their potential for delineating different metasedimentary units of Aravalli Group in Rajasthan. The major focus of the work is to analyze the potential of emissivity bands with respect to conjugated image product of emissivity, albedo and inertia for discriminating different rock types. In this regard, it was observed that combined use of emissivity, thermal inertia and albedo was effective for delineating different rock types as the combined variation of thermo-physical and mineralogical properties were recorded in these parameters. On the other hand, broad band emissivity spectra of rocks of the study area had subtle contrast, which was not optimum for the discrimination of different rock types. This was evident in the ASTER derived emissivity composite in which spatial delineation of rocks of the study area was not possible. Therefore, it is concluded that the combined use of albedo, thermal inertia and emissivity was suitable to delineate different metasedimentary rocks. This was also evident from the three dimensional data plot of selected emissivity band, inertia and albedo which separated different rocks from one another.

Antioxidant and cytoprotective activities of an ancient Mediterranean citrus (Citrus lumia Risso) albedo extract: Microscopic observations and polyphenol characterization

Citrus fruits are a rich source of bio-functional compounds with various and well-proven health properties. We focused our attention on an ancient Mediterranean species, Citrus lumia Risso. The aim of this work was to investigate the polyphenol content and biological activities of C. lumia albedo extract by cell-free and cell-based assays. Fifteen polyphenols were quantified by LC-DAD-FLD analysis (flavonoids 89.34% and phenolic acids 10.66%) with eriocitrin and hesperidin as major components (52.81% and 31.31%, respectively). These results were corroborated also by micromorphological observations, which showed clusters of needle-shaped crystals of hesperidin highlighted by TBO staining. C. lumia albedo extract revealed marked antioxidant and free radical scavenging properties, and a significant cytoprotective activity on t-BOOH-treated lymphocytes. Results indicate that C. lumia albedo extract could be exploited as an antioxidant source, suggesting the use of albedo, currently considered a by-product, as a valuable raw material for nutraceutical employments.

Surface albedo in different land-use and cover types in Amazon forest region

Albedo is the portion of energy from the Sun that is reflected by the earth's surface, thus being an important variable that controls climate and energy processes on Earth. Surface albedo is directly related to the characteristics of the Earth’s surface materials, making it a useful parameter to evaluate the effects of original soil cover replacement due to human occupation. This study evaluated the changes in the surface albedo values due to the conversion of vegetation to other land uses and to analyze the applicability of the use of albedo in the spatial delimitation of land-use classes in the transitional region between the Cerrado and Amazon biomes. Surface albedo measurements were obtained from processing of Landsat Thematic Mapper data in the Geographic Information System (GIS), and land-use information were collected using Google Earth high-resolution images. The results show that human activities such as the cultivation of crops and burning have contributed substantially to variations in the surface albedo, and that albedo estimates from Landsat imagery have the potential to help in the recognition and delimitation of features of land use and cover.

Using albedo to reform wind erosion modelling, mapping and monitoring

Wind erosion and dust emission models are used to assess the impacts of dust on radiative forcing in the atmosphere, cloud formation, nutrient fertilisation and human health. The models are underpinned by a two-dimensional geometric property (lateral cover; L) used to characterise the three-dimensional aerodynamic roughness (sheltered area or wakes) of the Earth’s surface and calibrate the momentum it extracts from the wind. We reveal a fundamental weakness in L and demonstrate that values are an order of magnitude too small and significant aerodynamic interactions between roughness elements and their sheltered areas have been omitted, particularly under sparse surface roughness. We describe a solution which develops published work to establish a relation between sheltered area and the proportion of shadow over a given area; the inverse of direct beam directional hemispherical reflectance (black sky albedo; BSA). We show direct relations between shadow and wind tunnel measurements and thereby provide direct calibrations of key aerodynamic properties. Estimation of the aerodynamic parameters from albedo enables wind erosion assessments over areas, across platforms from the field to airborne and readily available satellite data. Our new approach demonstrated redundancy in existing wind erosion models and thereby reduced model complexity and improved fidelity. We found that the use of albedo enabled an adequate description of aerodynamic sheltering to characterise fluid dynamics and predict sediment transport without the use of a drag partition scheme (Rt) or threshold friction velocity (u∗t). We applied the calibrations to produce global maps of aerodynamic properties which showed very similar spatial patterns to each other and confirmed the redundancy in the traditional parameters of wind erosion modelling. We evaluated temporal patterns of predicted horizontal mass flux at locations across Australia which revealed variation between land cover types that would not be detected using traditional models. Our new approach provided new opportunities to investigate the dynamics of wind erosion in space and time and elucidate aeolian processes across scales.

Use of albedo for neutron reflector regions in reactor core 3-D simulations

In this paper we present two new simplified schemes for the application of the albedo concept of replacing the reflector in 3-D reactor core simulations. Both involve the numerical derivation of albedoes from the fluxes at the core- (blanket-) reflector interface obtained from sample calculations including the reflector. Diffusion theory is used for core calculations in both cases. In the first scheme a new method for “diagonalising” the albedo matrix is demonstrated. This achieves easy applicability of the albedo parameters in core simulations of a fast breeder reactor core, resulting in significant savings in computing efforts. The second scheme, applied to light water reactors, achieves better accuracy in core periphery power predictions with the use of only uniform coarse meshes throughout the core and the numerically derived albedoes.