Possibility of Slag Sensible Heat Recovery on Drum-like Installations

A variant of utilizing of slag physical heat in drum-like installations has been considered. A high-temperature melt is delivered to movable metal bodies. Heat is picked up from the working bodies surface and newly generated surfaces of slag due to interaction with working bodies. Surface of slag grains, as they cool down, allows to pick up heat with various energy characteristics. Keywords: smelter slags, heat content, drum-like installations, picking up and utilization of heat with various energy characteristics

Plant-Scale Validation of Physical Heat Treatment of Poultry Litter Composts Using Surrogate and Indicator Microorganisms for Salmonella

This study selected and used indicator and surrogate microorganisms for Salmonella to validate the processes for physically heat-treated poultry litter compost in litter processing plants. Initially laboratory validation studies indicated that 1.2- to 2.7-log or more reductions of desiccation-adapted Enterococcus faecium NRRL B-2354 were equivalent to > 5-log reductions of desiccation-adapted Salmonella Senftenberg 775/W in poultry litter compost, depending on treatment conditions and compost types. Plant validation studies were performed in one turkey litter compost processor and one laying hen litter compost processor. E. faecium was inoculated at ca.7 log CFU g−1 into the turkey litter compost and at ca. 5 log CFU g−1 into laying hen litter compost with respectively targeted moisture contents. The thermal processes in the two plants yielded 2.8 - > 6.4 log CFU g−1 (> 99.86%) reductions E. faecium of the inoculated. Similarly, for the processing control samples, reductions of presumptive indigenous enterococci were in the order of 1.8-3.7 log CFU g−1 (98.22% to 99.98%) of the total naturally present. In contrast, there were less reductions of indigenous mesophiles (1.7-2.9 log CFU) and thermophiles (0.4-3.2 log CFU g−1). More indigenous enterococci were inactivated in the presence of higher moisture in the poultry litter compost. Based on the data collected under the laboratory conditions, the processing conditions in both plants were adequate to reduce any potential Salmonella contamination of processed poultry litter compost by at least 5 logs, even though the processing conditions varied among trials and plants.IMPORTANCE Poultry litter compost, commonly used as a biological soil amendment, is subjected to a physical heat-treatment in industry setting to reduce pathogenic bacteria such as Salmonella and produce a dry product. According to the FDA Food Safety Modernization Act (FSMA) Produce Safety Rule, the thermal process for poultry litter compost should be scientifically validated to satisfy the microbial standard requirement. To the best of our knowledge, this is the first validation study in commercial poultry litter compost processing plants, and our results indicated that Salmonella levels, if present, could be reduced by at least 5 logs based on the reductions of surrogate and indicator microorganisms, even though the processing conditions in these commercial plants varied greatly. Furthermore, both indicator and surrogate microorganisms along with the custom-designed sampler can serve as practical tools for poultry litter compost processors to routinely monitor or validate their thermal processes without introducing pathogens into the industrial environments.

Simulation of condensation unit in ASPEN PLUS

The article discusses the scheme of deep utilization of the heat of flue gases. It has been established that in boiler units operating on natural gas, the only way to significantly improve the use of fuel is to deeply cool the combustion products to a temperature at which it is possible to condense the maximum possible portion of the fumes contained in the gases. To analyze the main energy indicators of the condensing unit and optimize its operating modes, a priority scheme was simulated in Aspen Plus. In this scheme, there are tees, heat exchangers and a reactor (boiler furnace). The configuration of tees (mixers) is carried out by setting the costs or fractions of two flows entering or leaving the element. The boiler furnace is modeled as a Gibbs reactor, which calculates the chemical and thermodynamic equilibrium by minimizing the difference in the Gibbs energy of the products and the starting materials. Using the Aspen Plus computer program, the condensation unit circuit was simulated at the PTVM-100 boiler unit with the specification of the optimal operating parameters of material flows and heat exchange equipment. The calculations show that when using a condensing boiler, a triple energy effect is achieved: the physical heat of the flue gases is used; the latent heat of vaporization released during condensation is used; the condensate released from the flue gases is used.

Determination of physical heat capacity of metallurgical production materials by additivity method

Heat capacity is one of most important thermal physic characteristics of materials, allowing determining dependence between amount of heat, input to a body or taken away from it, and alteration of its temperature. The labor intensiveness of the test determination of the heat capacity is rather big. Particularly it is difficult to take into account the influence of changes of chemical composition in the process of heating on changes of their heat capacity. A method of calculation of heat capacity of materials proposed using the additivity method. Difficulties of its determination shown, related to insufficient knowledge of additivity method application. The temperature limits determined, until which it is reasonable to make the calculations of materials heat capacity by the proposed method. An example of calculation of siderite ore physical heat capacity considered. Good enough convergence of the results obtained by calculation and heat capacity data, obtained by experiments shown. Divergence between results of heat capacity determination by experiment method and by calculation using additivity method does not exceed 5%. The considered method of physical heat capacity determination can be used also for other materials providing the content of separate components and their changes within the temperature range under the study is known.

Stimuli-responsive oligonucleotides in prodrug-based approaches for gene silencing

Oligonucleotides (ONs) have been envisaged for therapeutic applications for more than thirty years. However, their broad use requires overcoming several hurdles such as instability in biological fluids, low cell penetration, limited tissue distribution, and off-target effects. With this aim, many chemical modifications have been introduced into ONs definitively as a means of modifying and better improving their properties as gene silencing agents and some of them have been successful. Moreover, in the search for an alternative way to make efficient ON-based drugs, the general concept of prodrugs was applied to the oligonucleotide field. A prodrug is defined as a compound that undergoes transformations in vivo to yield the parent active drug under different stimuli. The interest in stimuli-responsive ONs for gene silencing functions has been notable in recent years. The ON prodrug strategies usually help to overcome limitations of natural ONs due to their low metabolic stability and poor delivery. Nevertheless, compared to permanent ON modifications, transient modifications in prodrugs offer the opportunity to regulate ON activity as a function of stimuli acting as switches. Generally, the ON prodrug is not active until it is triggered to release an unmodified ON. However, as it will be described in some examples, the opposite effect can be sought. This review examines ON modifications in response to various stimuli. These stimuli may be internal or external to the cell, chemical (glutathione), biochemical (enzymes), or physical (heat, light). For each stimulus, the discussion has been separated into sections corresponding to the site of the modification in the nucleotide: the internucleosidic phosphate, the nucleobase, the sugar or the extremities of ONs. Moreover, the review provides a current and detailed account of stimuli-responsive ONs with the main goal of gene silencing. However, for some stimuli-responsive ONs reported in this review, no application for controlling gene expression has been shown, but a certain potential in this field could be demonstrated. Additionally, other applications in different domains have been mentioned to extend the interest in such molecules.