Characteristics of Different Systems for the Solar Drying of Crops

Solar dryers are used to enable the preservation of agricultural crops, food processing industries for dehydration of fruits and vegetables, fish and meat drying, dairy industries for production of milk powder, seasoning of wood and timber, textile industries for drying of textile materials. The fundamental concepts and contexts of their use to dry crops is discussed in the chapter. It is shown that solar drying is the outcome of complex interactions particular between the intensity and duration of solar energy, the prevailing ambient relative humidity and temperature, the characteristics of the particular crop and its pre-preparation and the design and operation of the solar dryer

NimbleAI: towards neuromorphic sensing-processing 3D-integrated chips

Computer Systems, Imagery and Medi

The Effects of Acid Activation on the Thermal Properties of Polyvinylpyrrolidone and Organoclay Composites

The thermal stabilities of polyvinylpyrrolidone-organoclays or organo-acid-activated clay composites prepared by chemical exchange reactions were assessed. The raw clay mineral was acid-activated prior to expansion by cetyltrimethylammonium surfactants. The acid activation process affected the intercalated amount of cetyltrimethylammonium cations in the resulting organoclays and, thus, the amount of polyvinylpyrrolidone in the composite. The content of cetyltrimethylammonium cations decreased with the extent of acid activation. The organophilic modification of the clay mineral was an important step in the intercalation of the polyvinylpyrrolidone molecules and, thus, in the expansion of the silicate sheets from 3.80 nm to 4.20 nm. The composites exhibited better crystalline order with intense reflections at lower angles. The thermal stability of organoclays, acid-activated clays, and composites was studied using thermogravimetric analysis and in situ X-ray diffraction. The decomposition of intercalated surfactants occurred at lower temperatures relative to the neat surfactant salt, and the basal spacing of the organoclays (or acid-activated clays) shrunk to 2.0 nm at 215°C. However, the basal spacing of composites exhibited better stability and collapsed to 2.0 nm at 300°C. This type of material could offer an alternative stable product for engineering purposes in the design of new composites

Adsorption of cetyltrimethyl ammonium ions on an acid-activated smectite and their thermal stability

The intercalation of the cationic surfactant cetyltrimethylammonium (C16TMA) into the interlayer of an acid-activated clay in the presence of different anions has been studied in detail. When Br or OH anions were used, the basal spacing increased significantly, the increase being related to the loading concentration of the surfactant solution. For intercalated compounds prepared from the hydroxide form, the basal spacing at room temperature varied from 1.6 to 3.8 nm. However, for organoclays prepared from the surfactant bromide, the basal spacing is almost loading-independent (1.9 nm). The use of hydroxide and bromide at higher pH is crucial to intercalating larger amounts of C16TMA cations and, hence, to improving the exfoliation of the silicate sheets. Magic-angle spinning 13C nuclear magnetic resonance spectroscopy indicates that the intercalated surfactants exhibit a significant degree of gauche conformation. According to in situ powder X-ray diffraction, an increase of the basal spacing to 4.08 nm is observed at intermediate temperatures of 50 to 150°C for organoclay with an initial basal spacing of 3.7 nm. At higher temperatures, decomposition of the surfactant occurs and the basal spacing decreases to ~1.4 nm.status: publishe

A general method for the recovery of pure powder XRD patterns from complex mixtures using no a priori information: Application of band-target entropy minimization (BTEM) to materials characterization of inorganic mixtures

10.1016/j.aca.2004.05.006Analytica Chimica Acta5171-2229-236ACAC

Librational modes in layered double hydroxides and their calcined derivatives

International audienc

Modification of micropore-containing SBA-3 by TEOS liquid phase deposition

10.1016/j.micromeso.2004.10.025Microporous and Mesoporous Materials791-385-91MIMM