ICON in Climate Limited-area Mode (ICON release version 2.6.1): a new regional climate model

For the first time, the Limited-Area Mode of the new ICON (Icosahedral Nonhydrostatic) weather and climate model has been used for a continuous long-term regional climate simulation over Europe. Built upon the Limited-Area Mode of ICON (ICON-LAM), ICON-CLM (ICON in Climate Limited-area Mode, hereafter ICON-CLM, available in ICON release version 2.6.1) is an adaptation for climate applications. A first version of ICON-CLM is now available and has already been integrated into a starter package (ICON-CLM_SP_betal). The starter package provides users with a technical infrastructure that facilitates long-term simulations as well as model evaluation and test routines. ICON-CLM and ICON-CLM_SP were successfully installed and tested on two different computing systems. Tests with different domain decompositions showed bit-identical results, and no systematic outstanding differences were found in the results with different model time steps. ICON-CLM was also able to reproduce the large-scale atmospheric information from the global driving model. Comparison was done between ICON-CLM and the COnsortium for Small-scale MOdeling (COSMO)-CLM (the recommended model configuration by the CLM-Community) performance. For that, an evaluation run of ICON-CLM with ERA-Interim boundary conditions was carried out with the setup similar to the COSMO-CLM recommended optimal setup. ICON-CLM results showed biases in the same range as those of COSMO-CLM for all evaluated surface variables. While this COSMO-CLM simulation was carried out with the latest model version which has been developed and was carefully tuned for climate simulations on the European domain, ICON-CLM was not tuned yet. Nevertheless, ICON-CLM showed a better performance for air temperature and its daily extremes, and slightly better performance for total cloud cover. For precipitation and mean sea level pressure, COSMO-CLM was closer to observations than ICON-CLM. However, as ICON-CLM is still in the early stage of development, there is still much room for improvement

Methodology of calculation of construction and hydrodynamic parameters of a foam layer apparatus for mass-transfer processes

Промислова реалізація методу стабілізації газорідинного шару дозволяє значно розширити галузь застосування пінних апаратів і відкриває нові можливості інтенсифікації технологічних процесів з одночасним створенням маловідходних технологій. У статті встановлені основні параметри, що впливають на гідродинаміку пінних апаратів, розглянуті основні конструкції та режими роботи пінних апаратів. Виявлено зв'язок гідродинамічних параметрів. Розглянуто гідродинамічні закономірності пінного шару. Вказані фактори, що впливають на процес масообміну, як в газовій, так і в рідкій фазах. Проведений аналіз ряду досліджень показав, що перспективним напрямком інтенсифікації процесу масообміну є розробка апаратів з трифазним псевдозрідженим шаром зрошуваної насадки складних форм із сітчастих матеріалів. Отже, необхідне проведення спеціальних досліджень гідродинамічних режимів роботи апарату з сітчастою насадкою і визначенням параметрів, що впливають на швидкість переходу насадки з одного режиму в інший.Industrial implementation of the stabilization method of the gas-liquid layer can significantly expand the field of use of foaming apparatus and opens up new opportunities for intensifying technological processes with the simultaneous creation of low-waste technologies. The article establishes the basic parameters influencing the hydrodynamics of foam apparatus, considers the basic constructions and operating modes of foam apparatus. The connection of hydrodynamic parameters is revealed. The hydrodynamic laws of the foam layer are considered. The indicated factors affecting the process of mass transfer, both in the gas and in the liquid phases. The conducted analysis of a number of studies showed that the perspective direction of intensification of the mass transfer process is the development of apparatuses with a three-phase fluidized bed of an irrigated nozzle of complex forms with mesh materials

Eight Up-Coming Biotech Tools to Combat Climate Crisis

Biotechnology has a high potential to substantially contribute to a low-carbon society. Several green processes are already well established, utilizing the unique capacity of living cells or their instruments. Beyond that, the authors believe that there are new biotechnological procedures in the pipeline which have the momentum to add to this ongoing change in our economy. Eight promising biotechnology tools were selected by the authors as potentially impactful game changers: (i) the Wood-Ljungdahl pathway, (ii) carbonic anhydrase, (iii) cutinase, (iv) methanogens, (v) electro-microbiology, (vi) hydrogenase, (vii) cellulosome and, (viii) nitrogenase. Some of them are fairly new and are explored predominantly in science labs. Others have been around for decades, however, with new scientific groundwork that may rigorously expand their roles. In the current paper, the authors summarize the latest state of research on these eight selected tools and the status of their practical implementation. We bring forward our arguments on why we consider these processes real game changers

A Simple and Straightforward Method for Activity Measurement of Carbonic Anhydrases

Carbonic anhydrase (CA) is an enzyme of high interest due to its high implications relative to the medical and environmental sectors. In the current paper, an enzyme assay for the determination of CA activity is proposed and it is characterized by its simplicity and high practicability. It permits the straightforward comparison of CAs performance in physiological conditions. The methodology and the theoretical background of the evaluation method are explained in detail. Moreover, the presumed advantages over alternative assays are discussed. The assay has proven to be particularly useful for the screening of CA activity with respect to their application in CO2, capturing processes for further utilization or storage