Droplet-Based Fuel Property Measurements

Ongoing work to find renewable biofuels to function as drop-in replacements or blending components with gasoline has identified a large number of fuel candidates. Given the vast number of potential biomass-derived fuel molecules and limited sample sizes, screening tools are required to down-select candidate fuels having desired physical properties to ensure good engine performance. This work investigates approaches for rapid screening of candidate fuels using micro-liter sample sizes targeting four properties -- surface tension, viscosity, heat of vaporization (HOV), and vapor pressure. Measurement techniques for fuel properties are developed based on unit phenomena for liquid fuel droplets including droplet oscillation and evaporation. For surface tension and viscosity predictions, the approach uses shape oscillation dynamics of single droplets generated by a piezo-electric device and their decay over time. Lamb’s theory for small-amplitude droplet oscillations is utilized to calculate viscosity and surface tension. Measurements are obtained for both primary reference fuels (isooctane and n-heptane) and bio-derived candidate fuels from four functional groups of interest. Measurements results show that the droplet oscillation based approach is capable of reproducing surface tension and viscosity values for the tested fuels within deviations of 7% and 13% respectively from literature data. Results are obtained using an average of 5 µL per fuel sample per run within about 20 s. For surface tension and viscosity prediction at elevated temperatures, the measurements show deviations within 10% of reference values obtained from the literature. The simulations are further used to study the relative contribution to deviations in surface tension and viscosity predictions due to heat and mass transfer from the droplet, as well as viscous effects violating the inviscid flow assumption in the droplet oscillation theory. For HOV and vapor pressure predictions, evaporation of moving heated fuel droplets is studied. Measurement results for n-heptane, isobutanol, and PRF 84 are compared with literature data at different temperatures. The predictions of HOV and vapor pressure have deviations within 10% and 22% respectively from literature data. Extended schemes are proposed involving additional measurements for droplet temperature and velocity. These extended schemes can potentially increase the number and accuracy of predicted fuel properties

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Small-volume, high-throughput screening techniques are sought to enable downselection from a large candidate pool of bio-blendstocks to a select few, having physical properties consistent with requirements of downsized, turbo-boosted internal combustion engines. This work presents a droplet evaporation-based approach to predict heat of vaporization, vapor pressure, diffusion coefficient, and Lennard-Jones parameters for an unknown fuel. Two different schemes, considering the isothermal evaporation of a moving droplet in ambient air, are proposed, which combine droplet velocity and temperature measurements, with some known properties to predict unknown properties. The schemes utilize an inverse solution of a transient model of droplet evaporation solved in an iterative fashion. A baseline scheme, which only requires droplet size change measurements, is evaluated using test data for three liquid fuels, comprising of alkanes and alcohols, as obtained in a temperature-controlled chamber. Results yield temperature-dependent heat of vaporization and vapor pressure predictions within 10 % and 22 %, respectively, of reference values. The advanced scheme, which additionally requires droplet temperature measurement, is numerically evaluated in the current work and will be experimentally validated in future efforts. The advanced scheme is found to significantly improve prediction quality, with deviations less than 2 % and 1 % for heat of vaporization and vapor pressure, while also predicting diffusion coefficient and Lennard-Jones parameters within 5 % and 8 %, respectively. The combined set of approaches, which primarily track droplet evaporation, can be incorporated into a small-volume, high-throughput fuel screening process

Tenecteplase versus alteplase in treatment of acute ST-segment elevation myocardial infarction: A randomized non-inferiority trial

Abstract. Background:. A phase II trial on recombinant human tenecteplase tissue-type plasminogen activator (rhTNK-tPA) has previously shown its preliminary efficacy in ST elevation myocardial infarction (STEMI) patients. This study was designed as a pivotal postmarketing trial to compare its efficacy and safety with rrecombinant human tissue-type plasminogen activator alteplase (rt-PA) in Chinese patients with STEMI. Methods:. In this multicenter, randomized, open-label, non-inferiority trial, patients with acute STEMI were randomly assigned (1:1) to receive an intravenous bolus of 16 mg rhTNK-tPA or an intravenous bolus of 8 mg rt-PA followed by an infusion of 42 mg in 90 min. The primary endpoint was recanalization defined by thrombolysis in myocardial infarction (TIMI) flow grade 2 or 3. The secondary endpoint was clinically justified recanalization. Other endpoints included 30-day major adverse cardiovascular and cerebrovascular events (MACCEs) and safety endpoints. Results:. From July 2016 to September 2019, 767 eligible patients were randomly assigned to receive rhTNK-tPA (n = 384) or rt-PA (n = 383). Among them, 369 patients had coronary angiography data on TIMI flow, and 711 patients had data on clinically justified recanalization. Both used a -15% difference as the non-inferiority efficacy margin. In comparison to rt-PA, both the proportion of patients with TIMI grade 2 or 3 flow (78.3% [148/189] vs. 81.7% [147/180]; differences: -3.4%; 95% confidence interval [CI]: -11.5%, 4.8%) and clinically justified recanalization (85.4% [305/357] vs. 85.9% [304/354]; difference: -0.5%; 95% CI: -5.6%, 4.7%) in the rhTNK-tPA group were non-inferior. The occurrence of 30-day MACCEs (10.2% [39/384] vs. 11.0% [42/383]; hazard ratio: 0.96; 95% CI: 0.61, 1.50) did not differ significantly between groups. No safety outcomes significantly differed between groups. Conclusion:. rhTNK-tPA was non-inferior to rt-PA in the effect of improving recanalization of the infarct-related artery, a validated surrogate of clinical outcomes, among Chinese patients with acute STEMI. Trial registration:. www.ClinicalTrials.gov (No. NCT02835534)

Female mice are more susceptible to developing inflammatory disorders due to impaired transforming growth factor beta signaling in salivary glands

Objective. Transforming growth factor 13 (TGF)3) plays a key role in the onset and resolution of autoimmune diseases and chronic inflammation. The aim of this study was to delineate the precise function of TGF beta signaling in salivary gland inflammation. Methods. We impaired TGF beta signaling in mouse salivary glands by conditionally inactivating expression of TGF beta receptor type I (TGF beta RI), either by using mouse mammary tumor virus-Cre mice or by delivering adenoviral vector containing Cre to mouse salivary glands via retrograde infusion of the cannulated main excretory ducts of submandibular glands. Results. TGF beta RI-conditional knockout (TGF beta RI-coko) mice were born normal; however, female TGF beta RI-coko mice developed severe multifocal inflammation in salivary and mammary glands and in the heart. The inflammatory disorder affected normal growth and resulted in the death of the mice at ages 4-5 weeks. Interestingly, male TGF beta RI-coko mice did not exhibit any signs of inflammation. The female TGF beta RI-coko mice also showed an increase in Th1 proinflammatory cytokines in salivary glands and exhibited an up-regulation of peripheral T cells. In addition, these mice showed an atypical distribution of aquaporin 5 in their salivary glands, suggesting likely secretory impairment. Administration of an adenoviral vector encoding Cre recombinase into the salivary glands resulted in inflammatory foci only in the glands of female TGF beta RI-loxP-flanked (floxed) mice (TGF beta RI-f/f mice), but not in those of male and female wild-type mice or male TGF beta RI-f/f mice. Conclusion. These results suggest that female mice are uniquely more susceptible to developing inflammatory disorders due to impaired TGF beta signaling in their salivary glands