Effect of Drying Methods on Moisture Distribution of Paddy Rice

Variation during IR and heated-air drying process and effect on milling quality with moisture differenoe of paddy floe were investigated. The results indicate that the moisture SD （Standard Deviation） decreases during IR （Infrared RadiationS） and heated-alr （HA） drying process, and moisture uniform level for the paddy rice dried by IR treatment is higher than that by heated-air treatment. No matter IR or HA, the higher initial SD of MCs is, the bigger of the variable of the SDR value will be at the beginning stage of dried paddy storage.

Effects of high temperature and high relative humidity drying on moisture distribution,starch microstructure and cooking characteristics of extruded whole buckwheat noodles

Drying is a key step in starch noodle production.The effects of high temperature(60,70,80°C)and high relative humidity(65%,75%,85%)drying(HTHD)on the moisture distribution,starch microstructure and cooking characteristics of extruded whole buckwheat noodles were investigated.Compared to the conventional hot-air drying(CHAD)at 40°C,the increase in drying temperature(60–80°C)and the decrease in relative humidity(85%–65%)significantly improved drying efficiency of the extruded noodles.By adjusting drying temperature and relative humidity,the rate of moisture migration in noodles and phase transition of starch could be appropriately controlled.The optimum drying parameters(T70H75,70°C drying temperature and 75%relative humidity)showed smooth and dense network structure,resulting in the lowest cooking loss(6.61%),broken rate(0%),highest hardness(1695.17 g)and springiness(0.92).However,the total flavonoid content(TFC)and the total phenolic content(TPC)reduced by 6.81%–28.50%and 7.19%–53.23%in contrast to CHAD,and the color of buckwheat noodles became darker through HTHD.These findings showed the potential of HTHD for increasing drying efficiency and improving buckwheat noodle quality.The appropriate drying parameters could maintain a balanced relationship between moisture migration in noodles and phase transition of starch,which resulted in better cooking quality for extruded whole buckwheat noodles.Such a study is valuable for regulating the process conditions of buckwheat-based foods and promoting its commercial utilization.

Moisture distribution in sludges based on different testing methods

Moisture distributions in municipal sewage sludge, printing and dyeing sludge and paper mill sludge were experimentally studied based on four different methods, i.e., drying test, thermogravimetric-differential thermal analysis （TG-DTA） test, thermogravimetric- differential scanning calorimetry （TG-DSC） test and water activity test. The results indicated that the moistures in the mechanically dewatered sludges were interstitial water, surface water and bound water. The interstitial water accounted for more than 50% wet basis （wb） of the total moisture content. The bond strength of sludge moisture increased with decreasing moisture content, especially when the moisture content was lower than 50% wb. Furthermore, the comparison among the four different testing methods was presented. The drying test was advantaged by its ability to quantify free water, interstitial water, surface water and bound water; while TG-DSC test, TG-DTA test and water activity test were capable of determining the bond strength of moisture in sludge. It was found that the results from TG-DSC and TG-DTA test are more persuasive than water activity test.

Effects of different sludge disintegration methods on sludge moisture distribution and dewatering performance

A key step in sludge treatment is sludge dewatering. However, activated sludge is generally very difficult to be dewatered. Sludge dewatering performance is largely affected by the sludge moisture distribution. Sludge disintegration can destroy the sludge structure and cell wall, so as change the sludge floc structure and moisture distribution, thus affecting the dewatering performance of sludge. In this article, the disintegration methods were ultrasound treatment, K2 Fe O4oxidation and KMn O4 oxidation. The degree of disintegration（DDCOD）, sludge moisture distribution and the final water content of sludge cake after centrifuging were measured. Results showed that three disintegration methods were all effective, and K2 Fe O4oxidation was more efficient than KMn O4 oxidation. The content of free water increased obviously with K2 Fe O4and KMn O4 oxidations, while it decreased with ultrasound treatment. The changes of free water and interstitial water were in the opposite trend. The content of bounding water decreased with K2 Fe O4oxidation, and increased slightly with KMn O4 oxidation, while it increased obviously with ultrasound treatment. The water content of sludge cake after centrifuging decreased with K2 Fe O4oxidation, and did not changed with KMn O4 oxidation, but increased obviously with ultrasound treatment. In summary, ultrasound treatment deteriorated the sludge dewaterability, while K2 Fe O4and KMn O4 oxidation improved the sludge dewaterability.

Distribution prediction of moisture content of dead fuel on the forest floor of Maoershan national forest, China using a LoRa wireless network

The moisture content of dead forest fuel is an important indicator of risk levels of forest fires and prediction of fire spread. Moisture distribution is important to determine wild fire rating. However, it is often difficult to predict moisture distribution because of a complex terrain, changeable environments and low cover of commercial communication signals inside the forest. This study proposes a moisture content prediction system composed of environmental data collected using a long range radio frequency band 433 MHz wireless sensor network and data processing for moisture prediction based on a BP (back-propagation) neural network. In the fall of 2019, twenty nodes for the collection of environmental data were placed in four forest stands of Maoershan National Forest for a month;7440 sets of data including temperature, humidity, wind speed and air pressure were obtained. Half the data were used as a training set, the other as a testing set for a BP neural network. The results show that the average absolute error between the predicted value and the real value of moisture content of fuels of Larix gmelini, Betula platyphylla, Juglans mandshurica, and Quercus mongolica stands was 0.94%, 0.21%, 0.86%, 0.97%, respectively. The prediction accuracy was relatively high. The proposed distributed moisture content prediction method has the advantages of wide coverage and good real-time performance;at the same time, it is not limited by commercial signals and so it is especially suitable for forest fire prediction in remote mountainous areas.

Fine Characterization and Analysis of Drying Strain of the ELM Board via DIC Technology

In this paper,the occurrence and development mechanism of strain on the cross-section during the wood drying is explored.Therefore,strain regularity on the cross-section of 50 mm thickness elm(Ulmus rubra)board at the temperature of 40℃and 80℃is detected via digital image correlation technology.Hence,the difference between tangential and radial strain at surface and core layers was denoted.The results showed that strain distribution in the width direction of the board is uneven.Moreover,a large drying shrinkage strain occurs at the near-core layer,while the maximum strain difference reaches 4.08%.Hence,the surface of the board is cracked along the thickness direction.The radial strain of the board is higher than the tangential strain in the early stage of drying,while these strains are reversed in the later stage of drying.The temperature is related to the difference between the tangential and radial strains of the elm board.These differences at the core layer are larger than those of the surface layer.The conducted research results provide a theoretical basis for process optimization.

Mathematical models and expert system for grate-kiln process of iron ore oxide pellet production(Part Ⅰ):Mathematical models of grate process

Grate process is an important step in grate-kiln pellet production.However,as a relatively closed system,the process on grate is inaccessible to direct detection,therefore,it is hard to control.As a result,mathematical models of temperature distribution,moisture distribution and oxidation degree distribution in pellet bed,with good universality,computation speed and calculation accuracy,are presented based on analysis of heat transfer and physical-chemical reactions during grate process.And real-time visualization of temperature,moisture and oxidation degree distribution in pellet bed during grate process is realized.Model validation is displayed,and the similarity of 91% is proved.The results can reveal real time status on grate,and provide a solid foundation for the subsequent study of artificial intelligence control system of pellet production.

Isothermal diffusion of water vapor in unsaturated soils based on Fick’s second law

In arid regions, water vapor diffusion predominates the total water migration in unsaturated soil, which significantly influences agriculture and engineering applications. With the aim of revealing the diffusion mechanism of water vapor in unsaturated soil, a water vapor migration test device was developed to conduct the water vapor migration indoor test. The test results demonstrate that the characteristics of water vapor diffusion in unsaturated soil conformed to Fick’s second law. A mathematical model for water vapor diffusion under isothermal conditions in unsaturated soil was established based on Fick’s law. Factors including the initial moisture content gradient, initial moisture content distribution, soil type and temperature that affect the water vapor diffusion coefficient were analyzed. The results show that there was good agreement between the moisture content calculated by the mathematical model and obtained by the indoor experiment. The vapor diffusion coefficient increased with increasing initial moisture content gradient and temperature. When the initial moisture content gradient is constant, the vapor diffusion coefficient increases with the increase of matrix suction ratio in dry and wet soil section. The effect of soil type on the water vapor diffusion coefficient was complex, as both the moisture content and soil particle sizes affected the water vapor diffusion.

Convective/Large-scale Rainfall Partitions of Tropical Heavy Precipitation in CMIP6 Atmospheric Models

Convective/large-scale(C/L)precipitation partitions are crucial for achieving realistic rainfall modeling and are classified in 16 phase 6 of the Coupled Model Intercomparison Project(CMIP6)atmospheric models.Only 4 models capture the feature that convective rainfall significantly exceeds the large-scale rainfall component in the tropics while the other 12 models show 50%–100%large-scale rainfall component in heavy rainfall.Increased horizontal resolution generally increases the convective rainfall percentage,but not in all models.The former 4 models can realistically reproduce two peaks of moisture vertical distribution,respectively located in the upper and the lower troposphere.In contrast,the latter 12 models correspond to three types of moisture vertical profile biases:(1)whole mid-to-lower tropospheric wet biases(60%–80%large-scale rainfall);(2)mid-tropospheric wet peak(50%convective/large-scale rainfall);and(3)lower-tropospheric wet peak(90%–100%large-scale rainfall).And the associated vertical distribution of unique clouds potentially causes different climate feedback,suggesting accurate C/L rainfall components are necessary to reliable climate projection.

The effect of texture and irrigation on the soil moisture vertical-temporal variability in an urban artificial landscape： a case study of Olympic Forest Park in Beijing

Soil moisture variability in natural landscapes has been widely studied; however, less attention has been paid to its variability in the urban landscapes with respect to the possible influence of texture stratification and irrigation management. Therefore, a case study was carried out in the Beijing Olympic Forest Park to continuously monitor the soil in three typical profiles from 26 April to 11 November 2010. The texture stratification significantly affected the vertical distribution of moisture in the non- irrigated profile where moisture was mostly below field capacity. In the profile where irrigation was sufficient to maintain moisture above field capacity, gravity flow led to increased moisture with depth and thus eliminated the influence of texture. In the non-irrigated sites, the upper layer （above 80 cm） exhibited long-term moisture persis- tence with the time scale approximating the average rainfall interval. However, a coarse-textured layer wea- kened the influence of rainfall, and a fine-textured layer weakened the influence of evapotranspiration, both of which resulted in random noise-like moisture series in the deeper layers. At the irrigated site, frequent irrigation neutralized the influence of evapotranspiration in the upper layer （above 60 em） and overshadowed the influence of rainfall in the deeper layer. As a result, the moisture level in the upper layer also behaved as a random noise-like series; whereas due to deep transpiration, the moisture of the deep layer had a persistence time-scale longer than a month, consistent with characteristic time-scales found for deep transpiration.

Improvement of gelation properties of myofibrillar proteins from porcine longissimus dorsi muscle through microwave combined with air convection thawing treatment

The effects of the microwave combined with air convection thawing(MAT)on the gelling properties of pork myofibrillar proteins(MPs)were further studied and compared with those of fresh meat(FM),and single thawing methods(microwave thawing(MT)and air convection thawing(AT)).Results revealed that the thawing methods,excluding MAT,induced deterioration in the gelling properties of MPs.There was no significant difference(p>0.05)in the water holding capacity(WHC),cooking loss,whiteness,and strength of gel samples subjected to MAT and those of FM samples,demonstrating that the gelling properties were retained after MAT.As well,protein aggregation was limited,since MAT reduced the change in zeta potential and turbidity compared to that observed with MT or AT.The dynamic rheology and scanning electron microscopic results were relatively consistent,revealing that among the different thawing techniques,MAT had the least negative impact on the microstructure of MPs gel,leading to the generation of a more elastic and uniform gel structure than that of the MT or AT gels.Moreover,MAT resulted in higher water retention in the gels than that achieved with MT or AT.These findings indicated that MAT improved the gelling properties of MPs,thereby confirming the suitability of this treatment for use in the meat processing industry.

Establishment of a Hybrid Rainfall-Runoff Model for Use in the Noah LSM

There is an increasing trend to incorporate the basin hydrological model into the traditional land surface model （LSM） to improve the description of hydrological processes in them. For incorporating with the Noah LSM, a new rainfall-runoff model named XXT （the first X stands for Xinanjiang, the second X stands for hybrid, and T stands for TOPMODEL） was developed and presented in this study, based on the soil moisture storage capacity distribution curve （SMSCC）, some essential modules of the Xinanjiang model, together with the simple model framework of the TOPMODEL （a topography based hydrological model）. The innovation of XXT is that the water table is incorporated into SMSCC and it connects the surface runoff production with base flow production. This improves the description of the dynamically varying saturated areas that produce runoff and also captures the physical underground water level. XXT was tested in a small-scale watershed Youshuijie （946 km2） and a large-scale watershed Yinglouxia （10009 km2） in China. The results show that XXT has better performance against the TOPMODEL and the Xinanjiang model for the two watersheds in both the calibration period and the validation period in terms of the Nash-Sutcliffe efficiency. Moreover, XXT captures the largest peak flow well for both the small： and large-scale watersheds during the validation period, while the TOPMODEL produces significant overestimates or underestimates, so does the Xinanjiang model.

Experimental study and modeling of particle drying in a continuously-operated horizontal fluidized bed

Multistage fluidized beds are frequently used for product drying in industry. One advantage of these fluidized beds is that they can achieve a high throughput, when operated continuously. In this study, γ- A1203 particles were dried in a pilot-scale horizontal fluidized bed, without considering any comminution effects. For each experiment, the particle moisture content distribution and residence time distribution were determined. To take into account particle back mixing in our experiments, a one-dimensional pop- ulation balance model that considers particle residence time was introduced into a fluidized bed-drying model. Experimental particle residence time distributions were reproduced using a tank-in-series model. Subsequently, the moisture content distribution was implemented, as a second dimension to the popu- lation balance in this model. These two-dimensional simulations were able to describe the experimental data, especially the spread in the residual particle moisture distribution, much more accurately than one-dimensional simulations. Using this novel two-dimensional model, the effects of different operating parameters （process gas temperature, solid feed rate, superficial air velocity） on the particle moisture content distribution were systematically studied.