Determination of Ammonia/Air Diffusion Coefficient Using Nafion Lined Tube

Fast production of highly sensitive nanotextured nonwovens for detection of volatile amines, bacterial growth, and pH monitoring: New tools for real-time food quality monitoring

An efficient manufacturing of colorimetric nonwoven indicators represents a promising alternative to enable applications of such materials in food quality monitoring. The objective of this study is to use the solution blow spinning technique (SBS) to rapidly produce colorimetric nonwoven indicators based on polycaprolactone, incorporating natural or synthetic pH indicators to detect volatile amines, bacterial growth and monitor pH. Produced via the SBS method, these indicators were characterized aiming their physical, mechanical, thermal, and spectroscopic properties, evaluating their efficacy in detecting amines, monitoring bacterial growth, and pH, as well as assessing color stability during storage. The thermal stability and mechanical properties of the nonwovens practically always increased with the incorporation of natural and synthetic indicators. When exposed to volatile amines, the nonwoven indicators, particularly those embedded with bromophenol blue, displayed remarkable color change abilities in the presence of five volatile amines. These smart nonwovens in direct contact with E. coli K-12 or its volatiles in 24 h changed their color perceptible to the naked eye. The nanofiber nonwovens displayed visible color changes (ΔE ≥ 3) in response to buffer solutions (pH between 3 and 10). The smart nonwovens rapidly produced by the solution blow spinning method prove to be a promising tool for real-time monitoring of food freshness.

Physical properties of odorants affect behavior of trained detection dogs during close-quarters searches

Trained detection dogs have a unique ability to find the sources of target odors in complex fluid environments. How dogs derive information about the source of an odor from an odor plume comprised of odorants with different physical properties, such as diffusivity, is currently unknown. Two volatile chemicals associated with explosive detection, ammonia (NH3, derived from ammonium nitrate-based explosives) and 2-ethyl-1-hexanol (2E1H, associated with composition C4 plastic explosives) were used to ascertain the effects of the physical properties of odorants on the search behavior and motion of trained dogs. NH3 has a diffusivity 3.6 times that of 2E1H. Fourteen civilian detection dogs were recruited to train on each target odorant using controlled odor mimic permeation systems as training aids over 6 weeks and then tested in a controlled-environment search trial where behavior, motion, and search success were analyzed. Our results indicate the target-odorant influences search motion and time spent in the stages of searching, with dogs spending more time in larger areas while localizing NH3. This aligns with the greater diffusivity of NH3 driving diffusion-dominated odor transport when dogs are close to the odor source in contrast to the advection-driven transport of 2E1H at the same distances.

Characterizing the Opportunity Space for Sustainable Hydrothermal Valorization of Wet Organic Wastes

Resource recovery from wet organic wastes can support circular economies by creating financial incentives to produce renewable energy and return nutrients to agriculture. In this study, we characterize the potential for hydrothermal liquefaction (HTL)-based resource recovery systems to advance the economic and environmental sustainability of wastewater sludge, FOG (fats, oils, and grease), food waste, green waste, and animal manure management through the production of liquid biofuels (naphtha, diesel), fertilizers (struvite, ammonium sulfate), and power (heat, electricity). From the waste management perspective, median costs range from -193 $·tonne-1 (FOG) to 251 $·tonne-1 (green waste), and median carbon intensities range from 367 kg CO2 eq·tonne-1 (wastewater sludge) to 769 kg CO2 eq·tonne-1 (green waste). From the fuel production perspective, the minimum selling price of renewable diesel blendstocks are within the commercial diesel price range (2.37 to 5.81 $·gal-1) and have a lower carbon intensity than petroleum diesel (101 kg CO2 eq·MMBTU-1). Finally, through uncertainty analysis and Monte Carlo filtering, we set specific targets (i.e., achieve wastewater sludge-to-biocrude yield >0.440) for the future development of hydrothermal waste management system components. Overall, our work demonstrates the potential of HTL-based resource recovery systems to reduce the costs and carbon intensity of resource-rich organic wastes.

On the dynamics of Liesegang-type pattern formation in a gaseous system

Liesegang pattern formations are widely spread in nature. In spite of a comparably simple experimental setup under laboratory conditions, a variety of spatio-temporal structures may arise. Presumably because of easier control of the experimental conditions, Liesegang pattern formation was mainly studied in gel systems during more than a century. Here we consider pattern formation in a gas phase, where beautiful but highly complex reaction-diffusion-convection dynamics are uncovered by means of a specific laser technique. A quantitative analysis reveals that two different, apparently independent processes, both highly correlated and synchronized across the extension of the reaction cloud, act on different time scales. Each of them imprints a different structure of salt precipitation at the tube walls.

Ammonia gas transport and reactions in unsaturated sediments: implications for use as an amendment to immobilize inorganic contaminants

Use of gas-phase amendments for in situ remediation of inorganic contaminants in unsaturated sediments of the vadose zone may be advantageous, but there has been limited development and testing of gas remediation technologies. Treatment with ammonia gas has a potential for use in treating inorganic contaminants (such as uranium) because it induces a high pore-water pH, causing mineral dissolution and subsequent formation of stable precipitates that decrease the mobility of some contaminants. For field application of this treatment, further knowledge of ammonia transport in porous media and the geochemical reactions induced by ammonia treatment is needed. Laboratory studies were conducted to support calculations needed for field treatment design, to quantify advective and diffusive ammonia transport in unsaturated sediments, to evaluate inter-phase (gas/sediment/pore water) reactions, and to study reaction-induced pore-water chemistry changes as a function of ammonia delivery conditions, such as flow rate, gas concentration, and water content. Uranium-contaminated sediment was treated with ammonia gas to demonstrate U immobilization. Ammonia gas quickly partitions into sediment pore water and increases the pH up to 13.2. Injected ammonia gas advection front movement can be reasonably predicted by gas flow rate and equilibrium partitioning. The ammonia gas diffusion rate is a function of the water content in the sediment. Sodium, aluminum, and silica pore-water concentrations increase upon exposure to ammonia and then decline as aluminosilicates precipitate when the pH declines due to buffering. Up to 85% of the water-leachable U was immobilized by ammonia treatment.