REMOVAL OF MINERAL IMPURITIES FROM AFTER - HARVESTING RESIDUES OF CORN

Due to the energy crisis, special attention is paid to the production and use of biofuels. After-harvesting residues of corn (AHRC) may become a perspective source of energy for grain dryers. The following components of the AHRC are distinguished: stem, leaves, rod and wrapper of the cob. The AHRC is about 55...60% of the total weight of the plant. The annual harvest of corn grain is more than 20 million tons. The calorific value at burning of wheat straw is 14.4 MJ/kg, AHRC -15.7 MJ/kg. For comparison, the calorific value of wood on average is 14.24 MJ/kg, and natural gas is 33.5 MJ/m3 [1]. Using the AHRC can significantly reduce the need for imported gas. One of the directions of the use of plant raw materials as fuel is the production of granules [2]. The technology involves purifying raw materials from impurities, crushing and granulation. For a similar scheme, granulated feeds are produced. When picking up a harvester, following transportation and reloading, various contaminants, including mineral impurities in the form of stones, fall into the green mass. Having hit the crusher stones lead to damage to parts of the crushing mechanism, an accident and even an explosion. Clearing straw from impurities in agriculture is carried out on pneumatic separating machines [3]. But in the technical literature there is no data available to the separation of mineral impurities from the AHRC. As a result of the experiments, it was found that leaves and stalks can be separated by air from large stones, and the separation of rods from stones is complicated. Under the influence of air flow, the rods are rotated along the pneumatic separating canal and unfolded by a long axis in parallel with the air flow, which leads to a decrease in the area of the midel section and to the reduction of the aerodynamic resistance. Therefore, to provide the required force acting on the core from the air stream, they increase the air velocity, which causes the capture and joint movement of the stones. To improve the separation process of the AHRC from the stones, it is necessary to develop a nutritional mechanism of the separator, in which to predict the possibility of orientation of the rods in the pneumocaps to the long axis across the air flow. This will enable you to reduce the air velocity required for separation and increase the difference in aerodynamic forces acting on the stones and rods. Accordingly, at the same time, the energy intensity of the pneumatic separation process will decrease and the efficiency of separating the AHRC from the stones increases. The separation of small stones smaller than 3 mm only by air is impossible, since they are picked up by the air flow that moves at the speed necessary for separating the stems (7.5...12.5 m/s). For the separation of small stones, it is proposed to use grid separators with combined air purge. For the complete separation of mineral impurities from corn cores, it is recommended to use hydro-separators

Investigation of Hygroscopic Properties of the Spelt Grain

The object of research is the hygroscopic properties of the not collapsed (with flower films) and the collapsed (with the removed films) spelt grains. One of the problems is that during post-harvest processing and storage of spelt grain in different environmental conditions, its moisture can occur, which can lead to deterioration in the quality of the harvested crop. To prevent this, it is necessary to know the hygroscopic properties of spelt, in particular its equilibrium moisture, depending on the parameters of the air – its temperature and relative humidity. It is promising to predict the equilibrium moisture content of spelt according to the conditions of its processing or storage, which will avoid undesirable consequences. For the study of the hygroscopic properties of not collapsed and collapsed spelt, a common tensometric method for determining the equilibrium moisture is used. The experiments are carried out in the range of air temperatures of 5...25 °C and its relative humidity of 33...70 %, simulating the conditions of active ventilation and storage of grain at different times of the year. The numerical values of the equilibrium moisture content of spelt of variety Zorya Ukrainy of 2016 harvest are obtained for the indicated temperature ranges and relative air humidity. The equilibrium humidity of not collapsed spelt (in flower films) is within 9.35...13.78 %, collapsed (without films) – within 9.98...14.58 %. Compared with not collapsed spelt, the equilibrium moisture content of the collapsed is higher by 0.42...0.74 %, which must be taken into account when storing the latter. The nature of the dependence of the equilibrium humidity of not collapsed and collapsed spelt on the parameters of the ambient air – temperature and relative humidity is established. An empirical equation is proposed that allows predicting the values of the equilibrium moisture content of spelt depending on environmental parameters. This allows to justify the rational modes of post-harvest processing of spelt, especially active ventilation, predict safe storage periods depending on environmental conditions and prevent a decline in grain quality indicators

Alginate beads as a highly versatile test-sample for optoacoustic imaging.

Test-samples are necessary for the development of emerging imaging approaches such as optoacoustics (OA); these can be used to benchmark new labeling agents and instrumentation, or to characterize image analysis algorithms or the inversion required to form the three-dimensional reconstructions. Alginate beads (AlBes) loaded with labeled mammalian or bacterial cells provide a method of creating defined structures of controllable size and photophysical characteristics and are well-suited for both in vitro and in vivo use. Here we describe a simple and rapid method for efficient and reproducible production of AlBes with specific characteristics and show three example applications with multispectral OA tomography imaging. We show the advantage of AlBes for studying and eventually improving photo-switching OA imaging approaches. As highly defined, homogeneous, quasi point-like signal sources, AlBes might hold similar advantages for studying other agents, light-fluence models, or the impact of detection geometries on correct image formation in the near future

Multiplexed whole-animal imaging with reversibly switchable optoacoustic proteins.

We introduce two photochromic proteins for cell-specific in vivo optoacoustic (OA) imaging with signal unmixing in the temporal domain. We show highly sensitive, multiplexed visualization of T lymphocytes, bacteria, and tumors in the mouse body and brain. We developed machine learning-based software for commercial imaging systems for temporal unmixed OA imaging, enabling its routine use in life sciences