Atmospheric balloons are the cheapest source utilized by scientists to investigate various research areas. Thermal analyses of atmospheric balloons is usually performed to attain the required thermal ...equilibrium in the shortest timeframe. In this paper, a mathematical model was developed that numerically solved material properties (i.e., ε (emissivity of balloon surface), αV (balloon absorptivity averaged over the visible and near infrared band), εIR (absorptivity averaged over infrared band), αIR (balloon absorptivity averaged over infrared band), etc.) as well as geometric properties (i.e., AC (cross-sectional area), AS (surface area), M (balloon mass), etc.) by incorporating these values in the heat balance equation. An optimized code was engendered in MATLAB, which simultaneously solved input parameters and delivered the required thermal equilibrium in the shortest timeframes. This may serve as a guide to new material generation.
Display omitted
•Optimization process of WWR for buildings in China low latitude area is proposed.•Sunshade configurations are integrated in evaluating building performances.•Optimal WWR ranges are ...found based on daylighting and energy-saving principles.•Largest WWR could reach to 0.78 with comprehensive sunshade for south-facing units.•Proposed design scenarios are verified and optimization process could be promoted.
Daylight is a valuable resource with characters of both photometry and radiometry, and window-to-wall ratio (WWR) is a crucial building envelope element that decides the indoor luminous and thermal environments. Due to the traditional utilize of external shadings and lack of appropriate design standard for buildings in China low latitude region, this study proposes a workflow for optimizing WWR with sunshades by considering both daylighting performance and energy consumption. The reference WWR is firstly decided based on the requirements of daylighting standards by using Radiance for standard room without external shading, and the reference annual cooling load of the whole building is then calculated by EnergyPlus. A large number of cases with different WWRs and external shadings are calculated and energy-saving and daylighting performances are finally verified with reference case. The optimal WWR value range with different sunshades configurations in different orientations is that meets daylighting requirement while below reference annual cooling load. The results indicate that comprehensive sunshades have the best energy performance with the benefits of both horizontal and vertical ones. With a 1.8 m comprehensive sunshade, the lower threshold of WWR raises to 0.40 for meeting daylighting requirement, and the accepted upper threshold of WWR range for west, north, east and south-facing units could reach to 0.56, 0.6, 0.6 and 0.78 respectively. For designing a building with façade the same in all orientations, the largest WWR could be set as 0.7 for west-east buildings and 0.55 for south-north buildings with 1.8 m comprehensive sunshades. The scenario has been verified and this WWR optimization process could be applied to different buildings in other climate regions.
•Graphical script method was used for optimization of an office building.•Two scenarios were considered to minimize the delivered energy and life cycle cost.•Performance of all air heating and ...radiator-based heating systems were studied.•Office building retrofitting through optimization led to an energy saving up to 55%•Optimizing all air heating system may lead to lower energy use than passive house.
Selecting the most cost-effective retrofit interventions to achieve a significant reduction of energy use and CO2 emissions in the building sectors is challenging, because a large number of possible retrofitting options should be analyzed. To remedy this and simplify the decision-making process, optimization may be adopted. This study developed an iterative optimization process by coupling a dynamic energy simulation software, IDA-ICE, and a generic optimization engine, GenOpt, through the Graphical Script module. This optimization process was applied to an office building located in the Nordic climate. Two scenarios were considered. In the first scenario, the optimal designs were achieved by minimizing the life cycle cost of retrofitting measures over a span of 60 years, while the building energy use for space heating and cooling were the constraints to satisfy the Norwegian passive house standard level. In the second scenario, the delivered energy to the building was minimized and the life cycle cost of retrofitting was limited to a predefined value. Two different space heating systems were used, radiator space heating and all-air systems. The optimization parameters included building envelope elements and heating and cooling set points (in the case of all-air system). The results showed that the specific life cycle cost could be reduced up to 11%, while the energy use for the space heating and space cooling was met according to the Norwegian passive house standards. The delivered energy to the building could be decreased by up to 55% in the second scenario.
There has been an increased interest in replacing synthetic colorants by colorants obtained from natural sources, especially microbial pigments.
Monascus pigments have been used as natural colorings ...and food additives in Asia for centuries but have raised toxicity issues. Recently, Talaromyces/Penicillium species have been recognized as potential strains to produce natural pigments similar to those produced by Monascus species.
To date, it has not been published a literature compilation about the research and development activity of Talaromyces/Penicillium pigments.
Developing a new bioprocess requires several steps, from an initial concept to a practical and feasible application. Industrial applications of fungal pigments will depend on: (i) characterization of the molecules to assure a safe consumption, (ii) stability of the pigments to the processing conditions required by the products where they will be incorporated, (iii) optimizing process conditions to achieve high yields, iv) implementing an efficient product recovery and (v) scale-up of the bioprocess.
The above aspects have been reviewed in detail to evaluate the feasibility of reaching a commercial scale of the pigments produced by Talaromyces/Penicillium. Finally, the biological activities of the pigments and their potential applications are discussed.
•Investigations on natural pigments have increased to satisfy consumers demands.•Microorganisms are attractive natural sources of biocolorants.•Talaromyces/Penicillium produce a broad range of colors of high industrial relevance.•Talaromyces/Penicillium produce high pigments yields with high stability.•Talaromyces/Penicillium pigments are added-value compounds with bioactive properties.
The humidification-dehumidification (HDH) technology is attractiving for limited desalination. The freshwater productivity using a centrifugal sprayer-based solar HDH system at different sprayer hole ...diameters and high speeds is discussed in the present work. The hole diameter and operating speeds range from 0.001 to 0.003 m and 1100–1800 rpm, respectively. Experimental data were analyzed using 120 experiments and optimized by the response surface methodology (RSM). The RSM was used to explain the effects of desalination system factors and their interaction to achieve optimum operating conditions for the highest freshwater productivity. The optimum conditions to reach the highest freshwater productivity are 0.00113 m hole diameter and 1149.48 rpm centrifugal sprayer speed at noon. Also, the optimum operating conditions obtained the highest accumulated productivity at a hole diameter of 0.001 m and a speed of 1219.76 rpm. The analysis of variance indicates that the models can predict freshwater productivity and accumulated productivity with a confidence level of over 98 %.
•Centrifugal sprayer-based solar HDH desalination systems were studied.•RSM was used to characterize factor effects and their interactions.•The sprayer speed and hole diameter affect the productivity of the proposed system.•The model desirability is over 0.98 of the optimization process.
Display omitted
•Ultrasound assisted synthesis of gold-magnetic nanocomposite and loaded on activated carbon.•Application of Au-Fe3O4-NCs-AC for ultrasound assisted adsorption of congo ...red.•Optimization of adsorption process parameters by response surface methodology.•Ultrasound assisted adsorption was well described by second-order kinetic and Langmuir isotherm model.
In this study, gold-magnetic nanocomposite in the presence of ultrasound wave assisted was synthesized and loaded on activated carbon (Au-Fe3O4-NCs-AC) by simple, fast and low-cost process. This novel material was applied for ultrasound assisted adsorption of congo red (CR) as model of toxic and even carcinogenic substance from aqueous solution. The detail of morphology and identity of Au-Fe3O4-AC was characterized by SEM and TEM techniques and correlation among response to variables such as pH (2–10), adsorbent mass (0.005–0.025 g), initial CR concentration (10–30 mg L−1) and ultrasound time (2–6 min) was investigated by response surface methodology (RSM) under central composite design (CCD). Analysis of variance (ANOVA) exhibit a high R2 value of 0.999 and confirm suitability of constructed second-order regression model for excellent evaluation and prediction of the experimental data. The interaction and main factor and optimum conditions of the under study process were determined from response surface plots based on desirability function. The maximum CR adsorption were achieved at pH of 4, 15 mg L−1 of CR, 0.017 g of Au-Fe3O4-AC and 5 min sonication which owing to 99.49% removal efficiency is highly recommended for future CR removal from different matrixes. Adsorption kinetic follow second-order rate expression in combination to inter particle diffusion and equilibrium adsorption data best represented by the Langmuir isotherm with maximum mono-layer adsorption capacity of 43.88 mg g−1.
Lipases are an important hydrolytic enzyme with numerous applications and industrial potential. The present study aimed to produce lipase enzyme from bacterial strains. Eight bacterial strains were ...isolated from petrol spilled soil by serial dilution technique. Olive oil was used as the substrate in tributyrin agar medium for screening and showed the zone of activity in five of those bacterial strains. Under submerged fermentation conditions, a high level of lipase production was found at 37 °C with pH 6.0 ± 0.5. The presence of 3% sucrose and 5% yeast extract in the medium enhanced enzyme production when compared with other carbon and nitrogen sources. Produced lipases were partially purified by 40–60% (w/v) ammonium sulphate precipitation method followed by dialysis. The molecular weights of the partially purified lipases were estimated to be 32–47 kDa by SDS-PAGE.
The paper presents a novel method for automatically creating semantic digital models for buildings in Manhattan environments from dense point cloud data. Unlike previous approaches, which rely solely ...on data-driven methods, our method integrates artificial intelligence with domain engineering knowledge to overcome challenges in indoor point cloud processing and geometry representation in complex layouts. A feature-based Decision Tree classifier extracts main building elements, utilized in a knowledge-based algorithm for 3D space parsing. On this basis, an optimization process generates parameterized floor plans, used to finally create volumetric digital models. The method was validated on datasets from the Technical University of Munich and Stanford University, achieving a mean accuracy of approximately 0.08 m for model placement and 0.06 m for estimating element parameters, which highlights its effectiveness for generating a building's semantic digital model. This approach underscores the potential of AI integration in digital twinning workflows for more automated solutions.
Display omitted
•Designing a hybrid bottom-up, top-down approach for automatic building digital model creation.•Align the capabilities of AI in scene understanding with domain knowledge to overcome challenges in indoor 3D reconstruction.•Developing a knowledge-based method for 3D space parsing in largescale indoor point cloud.•Reconstruction of the parametric building's floor plan using point cloud with low sensitivity to poor data quality.•Creation of dynamic parametric building digital models (LOD200) for flexible facility management and space analysis.
The paper presents the results of studies of the reaction of the interaction of phenol with cyclohexene (CH) in the presence of a Zeolite-Y catalyst impregnated with phosphoric acid and studying the ...dependence on the yield and selectivity of the target product on various parameters. As a result of the study of the phenol cycloalkylation by cyclohexene, optimal conditions were found, the yield of which is 81.6 % of theory for the taken CH, and the selectivity is 94.0 % for the target product. The developed mathematical model of the processes of the interaction of phenol with cyclohexene in the form of a regression polynomial made it possible to find the optimal values of the input variables.
Advanced coatings play an important role in a wide range of industrial applications. These coatings are commonly used in machining tools due to their high hardness and wear resistance, but also can ...be applied in jewellery and decorative purposes. Deposition techniques have seen a strong evolution as result of the directly related devices, control evolution and software. Several variants have been developed around the main techniques: arc evaporation and sputtering. The coatings produced present significant differences in their characteristics, namely in terms of structure, mechanical properties and surface morphology. Depending on the substrate material and application, the deposition process needs to be properly selected, providing the particular characteristics requested. This paper intends to do a critical review of the evolution of the advanced coatings deposition process, mainly focused on the Physical Vapour Deposition (PVD) process, particularly in the Magnetron Sputtering technique, which is able to produce smooth surfaces, using lower temperatures, presenting excellent mechanical and tribological properties and having very good adhesion to the main materials used as substrate.
PDF
