Accurately reproducing and predicting transport behaviors inside spray towers still remain as a challenging issue. Most existing numerical results are validated only against outlet measurements. However, disagreements in internal multiphysics can prevent the results from accurately reflecting two-phase flow and transport within towers. In this work, a three-dimensional spray drying model was constructed using the Euler-Lagrange framework and validated in a pilot-scale centrifugal spray drying system with maltodextrin solution. The reaction engineering approach was adopted to describe the convection mass transfer via a user-defined function. Eighteen internal temperatures and outlet parameters were experimentally measured in validating numerical results. The results showed that the average relative error between the calculated temperatures and the experimental data was 1.76%. The relative errors between the predicted outlet air temperature, product water content, and average particle size and the experimental values were 0.06, 3.48, and 0.68%, respectively. The high-precision prediction of internal temperatures and outlet parameters demonstrated the model's reliability. The results also revealed a stronger evaporation around the tower centerline, where higher air velocity and temperature, as well as lower water vapor content, were observed. Droplet trajectories showed that large-size droplets required longer drying time, whereas small-size droplets dried rapidly but had longer residence time due to swirl and backflow. The effects of inlet air temperature, feed rate, disk rotational speed, and inlet air angle on droplet drying behaviors were further investigated. The research results are expected to provide industrialized guidance for designing a spray dryer and optimizing operating conditions.

ABSTRACT Currently, a variety of land surface temperature (LST) products generated from thermal infrared bands have been already accumulated. Compared to the thermal infrared band, the mid-infrared band exhibits higher transmittance and greater robustness under humid atmospheric conditions, offering potential for further improving LST retrieval accuracy. However, the mid-infrared band presents larger variability in emissivity and higher estimation difficulty, limiting the effectiveness of LST retrieval using mid-infrared remote sensing data sources. This study proposed a MODIS night-time mid-infrared LST retrieval algorithm that integrates reflectance spectral characteristics to estimate emissivity. A few-shot machine learning model was established to build the correlation between MODIS optical band reflectance and mid-infrared band emissivity within a simulated dataset accounting for mixed spectral components, then applied to real observational data. Validation results from SURFRAD ground stations indicate an overall RMSE of 2.5521 K for this new algorithm, with values of 2.5558 K under dry atmospheric conditions and 2.5021 K under humid atmospheric conditions. The new algorithm can accurately retrieve night-time LST without significant error increasing as atmospheric water vapor content rises. Future work will further study on fields including eliminating daytime solar radiance effects, conducting multi-surface-type validation, and reducing dependence on external parameters.

Thermal curing and addition of essential oils improve structural durability of sustainable sponge-like aerogel for food absorbent pads.

Context. Recent observations, including those by JWST, suggest that the atmospheres of many gas giant exoplanets have super-stellar metallicity that is anti-correlated with planetary mass. Several studies suggest that the super-stellar metallicity can be explained by accretion of vapor-enriched disk gas produced by the sublimation of rapidly drifting icy pebbles. However, recent disk observations and experiments suggest that icy dust is fragile at low temperatures, calling into question the conventional picture that icy grains grow efficiently and drift rapidly. Aims. We present a new scenario for heavy-element enrichment in the inner disk by fragile slowly drifting icy dust, assuming that magnetohydrodynamical disk winds drive gas accretion near the disk surface rather than at the midplane. Methods. We simulate the evolution of gas and dust in a surface-accretion disk, taking into account the radial transport of gas and dust, collision growth and fragmentation of fragile dust, and the condensation and sublimation of H 2 O. Two accretion disk models are presented, in which gas accretion flows are assumed to be either vertically uniform or narrowly concentrated near the disk surface. Results. In the uniform-accretion disk model, fragile icy grains increase the water vapor abundance inside the snow line only by a factor of ∼3 due to their slow drift. In contrast, in the surface-accretion disk model, the slow drift of icy dust leads to water vapor enrichment that is higher by an order of magnitude, owing to the selective removal of ice-free gas from the disk. Furthermore, surface accretion yields an anti-correlation between the water vapor concentration in the inner disk and the residual disk gas mass, analogous to the anti-correlation between atmospheric metallicity and planet mass observed in extrasolar giant planets. Conclusions. Surface gas accretion naturally establishes vapor-rich environments inside the snow line when icy dust is fragile. This study provides a novel perspective on the formation environments that dictate the composition of gas giant atmospheres.

BackgroundWater soaking (WS) is an economically important surface disorder in open-field production of strawberry (Fragaria × ananassa). The disorder, which impairs fruit quality and quantity, develops after exposure of maturing fruit to rain or high concentrations of water vapor. The susceptibility to WS differs among genotypes, suggesting a genetic component, with earlier studies establishing a close positive relationship between susceptibility to WS and the water permeance of the fruit skin. However, until now, no published studies on the underlying genetics of WS exist. Here, we aimed to identify genetic regions associated with WS and fruit skin permeability using a genetic mapping approach.ResultsA biparental F1 population was established by crossing two genotypes (201409 × 210706) exhibiting contrasting susceptibility to WS. The trueness-to-type of the progenies was confirmed by genetic fingerprint analysis with molecular markers. WS and permeance for water uptake were phenotyped over two seasons under two different growing conditions using laboratory-based incubation assays. Furthermore, the population was genotyped with the Axiom™ Strawberry FanaSNP 50K Genotyping Array to facilitate genetic mapping and QTL analyses. WS and skin permeance showed a clear segregation and were closely related. Multiple QTL regions were identified for WS and permeance, with one accounting for 16.7% to 28.6% of the phenotypic variation. ConclusionThe detection of several QTLs and the moderate broad-sense heritability of 0.49 suggest a polygenic background of WS. These findings provide the first steps towards understanding the genetic background of this trait, which will allow for developing tolerant cultivars for open-field production.Supplementary InformationThe online version contains supplementary material available at 10.1186/s12870-026-08778-2.

Mn-based catalysts usually exhibit considerable potentialfor enhancingthe catalytic ozonation of volatile organic compounds (VOCs) at alower temperature. In this study, bimetallic oxides M-Mn (M = Cr,Cu, Co) were supported on HZSM-5 zeolites to degrade dimethyl carbonate(DMC, chemical formula C3H6O3), atypical VOC emitted during the productive process of lithium batteries,with Mn/ZSM-5 for comparison. The Cr-doped catalyst CrMn/ZSM-5 couldachieve 92% DMC conversion with 91% CO2 selectivity (O3/DMC = 6, T = 120 °C), showing an excellentcatalytic performance among the prepared catalysts. The exceptionallylow-temperature activity of CrMn/ZSM-5 was attributed to the synergisticeffect of its large surface area, sufficient oxygen vacancies, andsuitable acidity and reducibility, which collectively enhanced thelevel of O3 activation and accelerated DMC degradation.Furthermore, the catalyst demonstrated desirable stability and resistanceto varying concentrations of water vapor. To elucidate the reactionpathway, in situ DRIFTS was employed to track the evolution of intermediatespecies during the adsorption and catalytic ozonation of DMC. Witha further study of DFT calculation, the reaction mechanism of DMCcatalytic ozonation on CrMn/ZSM-5 catalysts was put forward.

• New balanced detection architecture for photothermal gas sensing, featuring: a reduced system complexity by utilizing a single 1-mm air-spaced Fabry-Perot interferometer, an improved signal-to-noise ratio by a factor of 18, a gas cell having a sample probe value of only 1.8 mL. • Robust sensing scheme: Refractive index changes which are induced by a mid-infrared excitation laser are monitored by a near-infrared probe laser intersecting the excitation beam in transverse configuration. • CO gas sensing achieving a minimum detection limit of 2 ppbv, which corresponds to a NNEA of 7.4 x 10 −9 cm −1 W Hz −1/2 . • Investigation of the influence of a varying water vapor concentration on the molecular relaxation process of CO at a modulation frequency of ∼ 300 Hz. This work reports on the implementation of an alternative balanced-detection scheme to the ICAPS sensing method employing solely a single cavity. The new concept was realized by simultaneous detection of the interferometer’s reflectance and transmission. The use of only one cavity significantly reduces the system’s complexity in a balanced configuration by simplifying the detection architecture. Additionally, it increases the sensor’s sensitivity by noise cancellation and an improvement of the detectable signal up to a factor of 2. The set-up employed an optical cavity with a mirror spacing of 1 mm. A mid-infrared laser served as excitation source to induce refractive index changes in the sample, and a near-infrared laser served as probe source to monitor the photo-induced variations. The sensor’s metrological figures of merit were investigated by detection of CO. Moreover, the influence of varying water vapor concentration on the molecular relaxation of CO and thus the monitored photothermal signal employing a modulation frequency of ∼ 300 Hz was investigated. For the targeted absorption band centered at 2179.77 cm −1 a 1σ minimum detection limit of 2 ppbv was achieved using an integration time of 1 s. This result corresponds to a normalized noise equivalent absorption of 7.4 × 10 −9 cm −1 W Hz −1/2 .

Context. M dwarfs are key targets for terrestrial exoplanet studies, with prospects for atmospheric spectroscopy. However, strong stellar magnetic activity and frequent flaring require modelling efforts to assess their impact on planetary atmospheres. Aims. We investigated one year of atmospheric chemical evolution of a young exo-Earth orbiting an active M dwarf by coupling our young M dwarf flare (YMDF) model of stellar activity with the photochemical kinetic code VULCAN. Methods. The YMDF model provides time-resolved spectral energy distributions for high- and low-energy electron beam–driven flares, which are used as external radiative inputs to VULCAN to compute the time-dependent photochemistry and kinetics for different primordial atmospheric scenarios. Results. We present the impact of stellar flares on atmospheres with a varying water vapour content, ranging from a plausible primordial atmosphere with solar abundances (representative of a planet-forming region in a dissipating protoplanetary disk) to an extreme water-steam atmosphere with other species reduced to trace abundances. This was explored across several configurations: variable flux in the YMDF model, the previous model representing an active but older M dwarf with 10K or 400K additional bottom boundary heat flux, and a constant stellar flux model. Conclusions. Our study suggests that compared to the previous model, the YMDF model produces synthetic flares that exert significantly greater stress on primordial atmospheres, regardless of the water-vapour content. Increased activity and prevalence of mid-size flares has the potential to induce permanent changes in atmospheric mixing ratios, especially in species with low abundances.

An innovative photoacoustic (PA) sensor based on a single multipass photoacoustic cell with cross-patterned spots has been developed to achieve simultaneous detection of dual-component gases. The multipass cell (MPC) integrates two fiber collimators, each operating at a distinct wavelength, to couple the respective excitation beams into the cell concurrently, inducing multiple reflections and forming two perpendicularly oriented sets of elliptically distributed spots. This dual-coupling design allows each collimator to be independently optimized for its target gas, thus fully utilizing available laser power even when absorption lines are far apart. The capability of the sensor was validated by employing two lasers at 1651 and 2327 nm to selectively excite methane (CH4) and carbon monoxide (CO), respectively. The concentration of water vapor (H2O) in the gas sample was maintained at about 18,000 ppm to avoid the influence from de-excitation rate change. In addition, the cross-interference between CH4 and CO was reduced to almost zero by optimizing the modulation currents. The developed system, confirming the effectiveness of the sensor in resolving and analyzing dual-gas mixtures, achieves minimum detection limits (MDLs) of 25 ppb for CH4 and 240 ppb for CO at 1 s averaging time, with corresponding normalized noise equivalent absorption (NNEA) coefficients of 2.8 × 10-10 and 5.2 × 10-10 cm-1 W Hz-1/2, respectively. The response time of the system is measured as 10 s using 10 ppm of CH4 and 100 ppm of CO, which evaluates the rapid-response capability of the developed system.

The decarbonization of the aluminium industry requires a transition from fossil fuels to sustainable energy carriers. This study investigates the substitution of natural gas (NG) with hydrogen (H 2 ) in reverberatory furnaces, analyzing the impact on melt quality, furnace integrity and exhaust emissions. Experimental investigations were conducted in a specifically designed furnace setup combining electrical heating with a burner system capable of operating with variable fuel blends ranging from pure natural gas to 100 vol.-% hydrogen. The results demonstrate that the hydrogen content in the aluminium melt depends on the atmospheric conditions — water vapour content in the atmosphere — during the melting and heating phases. In contrast, the holding phase exhibited a quasi-static behavior with negligible further hydrogen uptake, due to the isothermal process control. Numerical simulations (CFD) revealed that admixture rate exceeding 80 vol.-% H 2 leads to significantly higher adiabatic flame temperatures. This results in the formation of local hotspots on the furnace walls and requiring the use of high-performance refractory linings. Furthermore, these thermal conditions correlated with a major increase in NO x emissions, despite a successful reduction in CO 2 output. Considering the material quality, X-ray computed tomography (XCT) analysis indicated a marginal increase in volume porosity with higher hydrogen fractions. However, tensile testing confirmed that this porosity did not compromise the mechanical performance, as yield strength and ultimate tensile strength remained unaffected across all fuel mixtures. The study concludes that standard degassing procedures are sufficient to reduce the increased initial hydrogen load, showing that hydrogen combustion for secondary aluminium production is feasible.

Wet path delay (WPD), required to correct sea-level measurements from satellite altimetry, is routinely estimated using observations from onboard microwave radiometers (MWR). However, when MWR retrievals are invalid or absent, WPD is generally obtained from atmospheric models, unless observations from external sources, such as scanning imaging radiometers, are available in spatial and temporal proximity to the altimeter measurements. These external observations, however, provide total column water vapor (TCWV) rather than WPD, and a reliable TCWV-to-WPD conversion is necessary. Current state-of-the-art conversions use TCWV only or TCWV and near-surface air temperature. The first approach is particularly relevant when external sources provide TCWV only. In this context, this paper presents, first, a comprehensive intercomparison of the methods available in the literature and, second, an improved TCWV-to-WPD conversion. The results show that one of the existing functions underestimates WPD by up to 1.6 cm in regions of high water vapor content, while another provides accurate WPD values only under specific atmospheric conditions. This study proposes an updated methodology that yields accurate WPD across the entire TCWV range, highlighting the importance of a reliable TCWV-to-WPD conversion for accurate sea-level estimation when valid MWR observations are unavailable.

Abstract Utilizing hydrogen for iron ore reduction presents a promising route to significantly mitigate or even eliminate CO 2 emissions associated with traditional iron production, yet its behavior under realistic shaft furnace conditions remains complex. A shaft furnace operates as a dynamic packed bed reactor where temperature and gas composition vary significantly both axially and radially, which causes strong variations in the local chemical potential due to the evolving H 2 /H 2 O ratio. In this study, the reduction behavior of a single iron ore pellet was experimentally examined under non-isothermal and time-dependent gas compositions corresponding to three radial positions as near-wall, intermediate, and axis, derived from CFD simulations of shaft furnace. Thermogravimetric (TGA), X-ray diffraction (XRD), and scanning electron microscopy coupled with energy-dispersive spectroscopy (SEM–EDS) analyses were employed to characterize the reduction, phase evolution and morphology of the reduced samples. The results revealed after approximately 105 minutes, complete reduction (100 pct) near the wall, partial reduction (90 pct) in the intermediate region, and limited reduction (12 pct) in the axis due to high water vapor content and lower temperature. The influence of gas flow rate on reduction kinetics was also investigated. Kinetic modeling using the Coats–Redfern method indicated that, under high H 2 O concentrations, solid-state diffusion predominated as the controlling mechanism across most reduction stages.

Background: This study is focused on developing film-forming systems that combine the ease of application of gels with the protective function of traditional bandages. Conventional dressings often require frequent changes, which can disrupt healing and increase infection risks. Film-forming gels address these limitations by transforming from a topical gel into a flexible, adherent film upon contact with the wound epidermis, creating an optimal healing microenvironment. Objective: The primary objective was to create a wound dressing that effectively shields injuries from external environmental contaminants while preventing microbial growth and infection. This gel-to-bandage system was specifically designed to maintain an optimal healing environment by protecting the wound from spoilage factors and pathogenic microorganisms. The formulation combines the advantages of easy topical application with the protective durability of conventional dressings, offering enhanced wound management through its unique phase transition properties. Key evaluation parameters included the formulation's ability to form a continuous protective film, its antimicrobial efficacy, and its capacity to maintain a sterile wound environment conducive to healing. Method: A film-forming gel was developed using chitosan, polyvinyl alcohol (PVA), and polyethylene glycol (PEG) as key components. To optimize the formulation, chitosan concentration, PVA content, and PEG ratio were selected as independent variables, while tensile strength, water vapor absorption capacity, and drying time were analyzed as critical dependent response variables. The developed gel was systematically evaluated for essential physicochemical characteristics, including drying time, viscosity, pH, and water vapor absorption properties, to ensure optimal performance and functionality. The method which is adopted for the optimization of the formulation is 23 factorial design on the Design expert software. Discussion: The formulation's superior performance over conventional dressings stems from its quick-drying film formation and moisture control, though future studies should validate its antimicrobial efficacy and in vivo healing potential to confirm clinical applicability. The 23 factorial design effectively optimized critical parameters for wound care applications. Results: The optimized formulation demonstrated excellent mechanical and physicochemical characteristics, with a tensile strength of 93 ± 0.01%, indicating robust structural integrity. The rapid drying time of 8 ± 0.14 minutes facilitates quick clinical application, while the optimal viscosity (10294 ± 0.5 maP.s) ensures easy spreadability. The formulation maintained skin-compatible pH (5.8 ± 0.5) and showed superior film-forming ability, forming a continuous, flexible protective layer. These combined properties confirm the formulation's suitability as an effective gel-to-bandage wound dressing system, meeting all critical performance criteria for wound protection and healing. Conclusion: The optimized chitosan/ PVA/PEG film-forming gel demonstrated excellent mechanical strength (98.34±0.01%), drying (9 ±0.14 min), and ideal viscosity (10294±0.5 maP.s), proving its effectiveness as a protective wound dressing that combines easy application with durable barrier properties.

ABSTRACT There has been increasing interest in blow sampling for monitoring multiple aspects of cetacean biology and physiology. Yet some limitations remain, including the lack of a fully validated dilution marker for the standardization of hormone concentrations to account for variation in water vapor and environmental water content of breaths. This study investigated both urea and total protein as potential dilution markers in beluga whale blow utilizing trained aquarium belugas. Samples were obtained in conjunction with paired blood samples during monthly clinical draws, in the morning and afternoon, and during opportunistic biological challenge events for physiological validation. Despite previous studies' success with urea in large whales, neither urea nor total protein demonstrated consistent results, nor a clear advantage over the other. In addition, some evidence that a dilution marker may not be necessary within aquaria was noted, and conditions of blow collection within aquaria vs. the field are important considerations for study design and data interpretation.

Perovskite solar cell (PSC) technology is poised to drive further performance gains in photovoltaic module as well as increase in sustainability, accessibility and penetration, but packaging reliability issues have hindered its commercialisation. This investigation evaluates moisture barrier properties of five potential PSC encapsulation materials across four key climates and IEC 61215 Damp Heat Test (DHT) to advise on their encapsulation and edge seal suitability. Moisture ingress into ethylene vinyl acetate (EVA), Surlyn (Ionomer), Polyvinyl butyral (PVB), Polyisobutylene (PIB), and Polyethylene terephthalate (PET) are simulated using analytical and Finite Element Analysis (FEA) methods utilising COMSOL Multiphysics software to characterise their barrier properties. Result analysis reveals that PIB is a potential suitable encapsulation material because it possesses the lowest WVTR of about 0.01 <br/> at steady state, highest water vapour resistance of 60 g/m3 in over 30 years in tropical climate, the longest mean-time-to-failure (MTTF), and the smallest magnitude of accumulated stress rate in all the climates investigated. Ionomer demonstrates the best edge seal property – accumulating the least concentration of water vapour of 227 g/m3 magnitude in extended 5000 h of DHT. These materials are proposed for further qualifications and characterisation for suitability in packaging PSC.

Heat-mass transfer and energy performance of [EMIm][Ac] ionic liquid falling films for water vapor absorption and desorption

Abstract A bubble discharge reactor, termed CHIEF (concentrated high-intensity electric field), was investigated to elucidate how reactor configuration, liquid conductivity, and bubble properties (size, deformation, polarization, and water vapor content) govern electric field distribution, streamer dynamics, and plasma chemistry. Experiments revealed that increasing liquid conductivity enhances conduction current and Joule heating within the orifice, leading to thermal instability at the bubble boundary, a decrease in neutral gas density, and an increase in the reduced electric field. Collectively, these effects lower the applied voltage required for streamer initiation, providing a mechanistic basis for leveraging conduction current to facilitate plasma formation. COMSOL simulations showed that the electric field around and inside a deformed air bubble is highly non-uniform, whereas nanobubbles and microbubbles exhibit minimal electric-field enhancement. Experimental analysis, optical emission spectroscopy (OES), and BOLSIG + calculations were used to investigate the reaction pathways of nitrogen fixation in air bubble discharges. The highest NO x production rate of 10.09 µ mol min −1 was achieved using a 6.0 mm orifice length with a solution conductivity of 140 µ S cm −1 . The effects of water molecules on streamer initiation, plasma chemistry, and discharge characteristics were analyzed using OES, BOLSIG + calculations, and simulations. This study provides mechanistic insights into plasma–liquid interactions for atmospheric nitrogen fixation and proposes a sustainable electrosynthesis approach using only air, water, and electricity to produce liquid nitrogen fertilizer.

Abstract Chemical species tomography (CST) is a powerful technique for non-intrusive reconstruction of temperature and species concentration fields in reacting flows. However, conventional full-domain reconstruction methods often suffer from artifacts near the flame boundaries, especially when the absorbing region is confined within a smaller zone. To address this limitation, we propose an absorption-guided region-of-interest (ROI) refinement approach for CST. The method begins with a full-field reconstruction to estimate absorption densities, followed by threshold-based extraction of the absorption-meaningful ROI. A second reconstruction is then performed within this refined ROI while representing the ambient region with a single unknown absorption value. This strategy reduces artifacts at ROI boundaries and improves reconstruction accuracy. The method is firstly validated using synthetic data, demonstrating a 20.90% reduction in average relative squared error for temperature and an 8.90% reduction for mole fraction compared to the adoption of conventional ROI. Experiments further shows improved temperature and water vapor concentration reconstructions on multi-burner flame configurations.

The chemistry of the radioelement polonium has attracted increasing attention owing to its formation in accelerator-driven systems and its high radiotoxicity. Being the lighter homologue of the superheavy element livermorium, whose chemistry is still unexplored, studies of polonium provide a benchmark for verifying the structure of the periodic table at the heavy-element frontier. While the reactivity of elemental polonium towards various surfaces in inert or reducing atmospheres has been investigated previously, the reactivity of oxidized polonium towards quartz has not been explored in detail. Here, we report on gas-solid thermochromatography studies of polonium on quartz glass and α-Al2O3 surfaces in helium, as well as in oxygen- and water-containing atmospheres in the atom-at-a-time regime. We found that polonium chemically reacts in an oxygen-containing atmosphere, forming two oxidized species, which are less volatile than elemental polonium. The chemical reaction is influenced by the water vapour concentration in the carrier gas and the applied temperature. The adsorption enthalpy of elemental polonium on α-Al2O3 in pure helium gas was determined to be -85+4-3 kJ mol-1, which is identical to the adsorption enthalpy on quartz as reported earlier. The results of the reported measurements will support future experiments with the superheavy element livermorium.

Abstract We identify a previously unresolved layer, which we term as the “W‐Layer”, warming at about 2K hr −1 directly above the stratocumulus cloud top using the line‐by‐line radiative transfer model ARTS. The W‐Layer, being only about 5 m thick, poses observational and simulational challenges. We attribute the warming in the W‐Layer to clear‐sky radiative effects. Water vapor and exchange heat locally across the capping inversion due to the strong temperature gradient there and the opaqueness in the water vapor and bands. The W‐Layer is so thin because the radiative warming by the water vapor and is masked by the cloud top radiative cooling by the liquid water in the cloud layer. The warming magnitude and the structure of the W‐Layer are modulated primarily by the inversion strength. The W‐Layer is only weakly sensitive to the water vapor concentration and even less to the concentration. Our analysis suggests that the W‐Layer is probably a common feature for liquid clouds with a capping inversion. Our results advocate the necessity of radiative models that represent clear‐sky effects in metre‐scale resolution simulations.