An exergy approach to efficiency evaluation of desalination

This paper presents an evaluation process efficiency based on the consumption of primary energy for all types of practical desalination methods available hitherto. The conventional performance ratio has, thus far, been defined with respect to the consumption of derived energy, such as the electricity or steam, which are susceptible to the conversion losses of power plants and boilers that burned the input primary fuels. As derived energies are usually expressed by the units, either kWh or Joules, these units cannot differentiate the grade of energy supplied to the processes accurately. In this paper, the specific energy consumption is revisited for the efficacy of all large-scale desalination plants. In today's combined production of electricity and desalinated water, accomplished with advanced cogeneration concept, the input exergy of fuels is utilized optimally and efficiently in a temperature cascaded manner. By discerning the exergy destruction successively in the turbines and desalination processes, the relative contribution of primary energy to the processes can be accurately apportioned to the input primary energy. Although efficiency is not a law of thermodynamics, however, a common platform for expressing the figures of merit explicit to the efficacy of desalination processes can be developed meaningfully that has the thermodynamic rigor up to the ideal or thermodynamic limit of seawater desalination for all scientists and engineers to aspire to

Catalysis in Action via Elementary Thermal Operations

We investigate catalysis in the framework of elementary thermal operations, making use of its unique advantages to illuminate catalytic dynamics. As groundwork, we establish new technical tools that improve the computability of state transition rules for elementary thermal operations, in particular, providing a full characterization of state transitions for a qutrit system. Using these tools in conjunction with numerical methods, we find that by adopting even just a qubit catalyst, one can significantly enlarge the set of state transitions for a qutrit system, largely closing the gap of reachable states between elementary thermal operations and generic thermal operations. In addition, we decompose catalytic transitions into time-resolved evolution, from which the nonequilibrium free energy exchanges are tracked. Our results document the existence of simple and practicable catalytic advantage in thermodynamics, and demonstrate a way to analyse the mechanism of catalytic processes.Comment: 15+19 pages; 9 figures; comments are welcome

Arginase from kiwifruit: properties and seasonal variation

The in vitro activity of arginase (EC 3.5.3.1) was investigated in youngest-mature leaves and roots (1-3 mm diameter) of kiwifruit vines (Actinidia deliciosa var. deliciosa) during an annual growth cycle, and enzyme from root material partially purified. No seasonal trend in the specific activity of arginase was observed in roots. Measurements in leaves, however, rose gradually during early growth and plateaued c. 17 weeks after budbreak. Changes in arginase activity were not correlated with changes in the concentration of arginine (substrate) or glutamine (likely end-product of arginine catabolism) in either tissue during the growth cycle. Purification was by (NH4)2SO4 precipitation and DEAE-cellulose chromatography. The kinetic properties of the enzyme, purified 60-fold over that in crude extracts, indicated a pH optimum of 8.8, and a Km (L-arginine) of 7.85 mM. Partially-purified enzyme was deactivated by dialysis against EDTA, and reactivated in the presence of Mn²⁺, Co²⁺, and Ni²⁺

Influence of substrate heating on hole geometry and spatter area in femtosecond laser drilling of silicon

The objective of this research is to evaluate the effects of the hole geometry and the spatter area around the drilled hole by femtosecond laser deep drilling on silicon with various temperatures. Deep through holes were produced on single crystal silicon wafer femtosecond laser at elevated temperatures ranging from 300K to 873K in a step of 100K. The laser drilling efficiency is increased by 56% when the temperature is elevated from 300K to 873K. The spatter area is found to continuously decrease with increasing substrate temperature. The reason for such changes is discussed based on the enhanced laser energy absorption at the elevated temperature.open0

Quantum Dynamic Programming

We introduce a quantum extension of dynamic programming, a fundamental computational method for efficiently solving recursive problems using memory. Our innovation lies in showing how to coherently generate unitaries of recursion steps using memorized intermediate quantum states. We find that quantum dynamic programming yields an exponential reduction in circuit depth for a large class of fixed-point quantum recursions, including a known recursive variant of the Grover's search. Additionally, we apply quantum dynamic programming to a recently proposed double-bracket quantum algorithm for diagonalization to obtain a new protocol for obliviously preparing a quantum state in its Schmidt basis, providing a potential pathway for revealing entanglement structures of unknown quantum states.Comment: 6 + 23 pages, 1 figur

Mesoscopic transport beyond linear response

We present an approach to steady-state mesoscopic transport based on the maximum entropy principle formulation of nonequilibrium statistical mechanics. Our approach is not limited to the linear response regime. We show that this approach yields the quantization observed in the integer quantum Hall effect at large currents, which until now has been unexplained. We also predict new behaviors of non-local resistances at large currents in the presence of dirty contacts.Comment: 14 pages plus one figure (with an insert) (post-script codes appended), RevTeX 3.0, UCF-CM-93-004 (Revised

Expression and non-chromatographic purification of 1,3-propanediol oxidoreductase in Escherichia coli

The gene dhaT from Klebsiella pneumoniae encodes 1,3-propanediol oxidoreductase (PDOR). Thermally responsive elastin-like polypeptides (ELPs) was used as a fusion tag to purify the proteins (PDOR). The ELP gene was attached to dhaT and ligated into the pET-22b vector. Different NaCl concentrations were employed to decrease the transition temperature (Tt) which was diminished as salt concentration increased. The optimal final concentration of NaCl was 1 M and the corresponding Tt was 39.5\ubaC. Enzymatic assays were determined via every step for purification of fusion PDOR. PDOR showed good stability during the purification process, the specific activity in the first and second round of inverse transition cycling (ITC) was 276.1 \ub1 13.3 and 213.3 \ub1 10.8 U/mg, respectively. The ELPs fusion PDOR was superior to histidine tagged PDOR in both yield and activity after the purification

Sustainable energy technologies for the Global South: Challenges and solutions toward achieving SDG 7

The United Nations (UN) expectations for 2030 account for a renewable, affordable, and eco-friendly energy future. The 2030 agenda includes 17 different Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) for countries worldwide. In this work, the 7th SDG: Affordable and Clean Energy, is brought into focus. For this goal, five main challenges are discussed: (i) limiting the use of fossil fuels; (ii) migrating towards diversified and renewable energy matrices; (iii) decentralizing energy generation and distribution; (iv) maximizing energy and energy storage efficiency; and (v) minimizing energy generation costs of chemical processes. These challenges are thoroughly scrutinized and surveyed in the context of recent developments and technologies including energy planning and supervision tools employed in the Global South. The discussion of these challenges in this work shows that the realization of SDG 7, whether partially or in full, within the Global South and global contexts, is possible only if existing technologies are fully implemented with the necessary international and national policies. Among the key solutions identified in addressing the five main challenges of SDG 7 are a global climate agreement; increased use of non-fossil fuel energy sources; Global North assistance and investment; reformed global energy policies; smart grid technologies and real time optimization and automation technologies