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Verification Experiments (verification + experiment)
Selected AbstractsThermal and hydrodynamic characteristics of constructal tree-shaped minichannel heat sinkAICHE JOURNAL, Issue 8 2010Yongping Chen Abstract A three-dimensional thermal and hydrodynamic model for constructal tree-shaped minichannel heat sink is developed. The heat and fluid flow in the constructal heat sink with an inlet hydraulic diameter of 4 mm are numerically analyzed, taking into consideration conjugate heat transfer in the channel walls. The pressure drop, temperature uniformity, and coefficient of performance (COP) of the constructal tree-shaped heat sink are evaluated and compared with those of the corresponding traditional serpentine flow pattern. The results indicate that the constructal tree-shaped minichannel heat sinks have considerable advantages over the traditional serpentine flow patterns in both heat transfer and pressure drop. The strong and weak heat flow can be effectively allocated in tree-shaped flow structures; hence, the inherent advantage of uniform temperature on the heating surface in the constructal tree-shaped heat sink is demonstrated. And in tree-shaped flow structures, the local pressure loss due to confluence flow is found to be larger than that due to diffluence flow. In addition, an aluminum constructal tree-shaped minichannel heat sink is fabricated to conduct the verification experiment. The experimentally measured temperature distribution and pressure drop are in agreement with the numerical simulation, which verifies that the present model is reasonable. © 2009 American Institute of Chemical Engineers AIChE J, 2010 [source] Screening for resistance in the primary and secondary gene pool of barley against the root-lesion nematode Pratylenchus neglectusPLANT BREEDING, Issue 5 2009T. Keil Abstract Root-lesion nematodes of the genus Pratylenchus are significant pests in crop cultivation throughout many parts of the world. A study was initiated to determine the resistance of Hordeum vulgare and H. vulgare ssp. spontaneum (wild barley) against one major representative of the genus Pratylenchus, P. neglectus. A glasshouse test was first established. Barley seedlings were grown in 20 cm3 tubes filled with sand. Each plant was inoculated with 400 P. neglectus juveniles. After 12 weeks of cultivation nematodes were isolated from roots and sand using a misting chamber. The nematodes were counted under a microscope. A representative collection of 565 barley and wild barley accessions was tested in this way. The average number of nematodes per accession ranged from 350 to 12 000. In a verification experiment, 35 accessions with low and high infection rates were tested. This experiment identified a number of accessions with low infection rates. The perspectives for future breeding of barley cultivars resistant to root-lesion nematodes are discussed. [source] Lipase-mediated methanolysis of soybean oils for biodiesel productionJOURNAL OF CHEMICAL TECHNOLOGY & BIOTECHNOLOGY, Issue 1 2008Xin Chen Abstract BACKGROUND: Biodiesel is increasingly perceived as an important component of solutions to the important current issues of fossil fuel shortages and environmental pollution. Biocatalysis of soybean oils using soluble lipase offers an alternative approach to lipase-catalyzed biodiesel production using immobilized enzyme or whole-cell catalysis. The central composite design (CCD) of response surface methodology (RSM) was used here to evaluate the effects of enzyme concentration, temperature, molar ratio of methanol to oil and stirring rate on the yield of fatty methyl ester. RESULTS: Lipase NS81006 from a genetically modified Aspergillus oryzae was utilized as the catalyst for the transesterification of soybean oil for biodiesel production. The experimental data showed that enzyme concentration, molar ratio of methanol to oil and stirring rate had the most significant impact on the yield of fatty methyl ester; a quadratic polynomial equation was obtained for methyl ester yield by multiple regression analysis. The predicted biodiesel yield was 0.928 (w/w) under the optimal conditions and the subsequent verification experiments with biodiesel yield of 0.936 ± 0.014 (w/w) confirmed the validity of the predicted model. CONCLUSION: RSM and CCD were suitable techniques to optimize the transesterification of soybean oil for biodiesel production by soluble lipase NS81006. The related lipase NS81006 reuse stability, chemical or genetic modification, and transesterification mechanism should be taken into consideration. Copyright © 2007 Society of Chemical Industry [source] Sequential Quadratic Programming for Development of a New Probiotic Dairy Tofu with Glucono-,-LactoneJOURNAL OF FOOD SCIENCE, Issue 7 2004M.-J. Chen ABSTRACT: The purpose of this research was to evaluate the effects of various concentrations of glucono-,-lactone (GDL) and skim milk powder, as well as the addition of prebiotics, on the rheology and probiotic viabilities of dairy tofu. Additionally, modern optimization techniques were applied to attempt to determine the optimal processing conditions and growth rate for the selected probiotics (Lactobacillus. acidophilus, L. casei, Bifidobacteria bifidum, and B. longum). There were 2 stages in this research to accomplish the goal. The 1st stage was to derive surface models using response surface methodology (RSM); the 2nd stage performed optimization on the models using sequential quadratic programming (SQP) techniques. The results were demonstrated to be effective. The most favorable production conditions of dairy tofu were 1% GDL, 0% peptides, 3% isomaltooligosaccharides (IMO), and 18% milk, as confirmed by subsequent verification experiments. Analysis of the sensory evaluation results revealed no significant difference between the probiotic dairy tofu and the GDL analog in terms of texture and appearance (P < 0.05). The viable numbers of probiotics were well above the recommended limit of 106 CFU/g for the probiotic dairy tofu throughout the tested storage period. [source] Critical flux determination by flux-steppingAICHE JOURNAL, Issue 7 2010Søren Prip Beier Abstract In membrane filtration related scientific literature, often step-by-step determined critical fluxes are reported. Using a dynamic microfiltration device, it is shown that critical fluxes determined from two different flux-stepping methods are dependent upon operational parameters such as step length, step height, and flux start level. Filtrating 8 kg/m3 yeast cell suspensions by a vibrating 0.45 × 10,6 m pore size microfiltration hollow fiber module, critical fluxes from 5.6 × 10,6 to 1.2 × 10,5 m/s have been measured using various step lengths from 300 to 1200 seconds. Thus, such values are more or less useless in itself as critical flux predictors, and constant flux verification experiments have to be conducted to check if the determined critical fluxes can predict sustainable flux regimes. However, it is shown that using the step-by-step predicted critical fluxes as start guesses, in our case, in constant flux verification experiments for 5 and 1/2 hours, a sustainable flux was identifiable. © 2009 American Institute of Chemical Engineers AIChE J, 2010 [source] Lipase-Catalyzed Acyl Exchange of Soybean Phosphatidylcholine in n -Hexane: A Critical Evaluation of Both Acyl Incorporation and Product RecoveryBIOTECHNOLOGY PROGRESS, Issue 2 2005Anders F. Vikbjerg Lipase-catalyzed acidolysis was examined for the production of structured phospholipids in a hexane system. In a practical operation of the reaction system, the formation of lyso-phospholipids from hydrolysis is often a serious problem, as demonstrated from previous studies. A clear elucidation of the issue and optimization of the system are essential for the practical applications in reality. The effects of enzyme dosage, reaction temperature, solvent amount, reaction time, and substrate ratio were optimized in terms of the acyl incorporation, which led to the products, and lyso-phospholipids formed by hydrolysis, which led to the low yields. The biocatalyst used was the commercial immobilized lipase Lipozyme TL IM and substrates used were phosphatidylcholine (PC) from soybean and caprylic acid. A response surface design was used to evaluate the influence of selected parameters and their relationships on the incorporation of caprylic acid and the corresponding recovery of PC. Incorporation of fatty acids increased with increasing enzyme dosage, reaction temperature, solvent amount, reaction time, and substrate ratio. Enzyme dosage had the most significant effect on the incorporation, followed by reaction time, reaction temperature, solvent amount, and substrate ratio. However the parameters had also a negative influence on the PC recovery. Solvent amount had the most negative effect on recovery, followed by enzyme dosage, temperature, and reaction time. Individually substrate ratio had no significant effect on the PC recovery. Interactions were observed between different parameters. On the basis of the models, the reaction was optimized for the maximum incorporation and maximum PC recovery. With all of the considerations, the optimal conditions are recommended as enzyme dosage 29%, reaction time 50 h, temperature 54 °C, substrate ratio 15 mol/mol caprylic acid/PC, and 5 mL of hexane per 3 g substrate. No additional water is necessary. Under these conditions, an incorporation of caprylic acid up to 46% and recovery of PC up to 60% can be obtained from the prediction. The prediction was confirmed from the verification experiments. [source] |