Soil carbon pools of six ecological regions of the United States

Mineralisable soil organic carbon(SOC)pools vary with ecosystem type in response to changes in climate,vegetation and soil properties.Understanding the effect of climate and soil factors on SOC pools is critical for predicting change over time.Surface soil samples from six ecoregions of the United States were analyzed for permanganate oxidizable C(KMnO4-C)and mineralizable C pools.Variations of SOC ranged from 7.9 mg g^-1(Florida site)to 325 mg g^-1(Hawaii site).Mineralisable C pools and KMnO4-C were highest in soils from the Hawaii site.Mean annual precipitation explains SOC and resistant C pool variations.Clay content was related to mineralisable active C pools and bacterial abundance.Mean annual precipitation and clay content are potential variables for predicting changes in SOC pools at large spatial scales.

Numerical investigation of the effect of transitory strand opening on mixing in a multistrand tundish

In a multistrand,the outlet near the inlet produces short circuiting flow.This leads to the formation of dead zones inside the tundish,and consequently,the mean residence time decreases.In the present study,numerical investigation of mixing inside a delta shaped tundish with sloping boundaries was carried out by solving the Navier-Stokes equation and employing the standard turbulence model.To decrease the dead zone volume inside the tundish,the effect of closing the outlet near the inlet for a small amount of time and further opening it on the mixing behavior of the tundish was studied.The outlets near the inlet were closed for varying amount of time,and the transient analysis of fluid flow and the tracer dispersion study were carried out to find the mixing parameters of the tundish,namely,mean residence time and the ratio of mixed to dead volume of the tundish.An optimum closure time of the near outlet has been found,which yields best mixing inside the tundish.The numerical code was validated against the experimental observation by performing the tracer dispersion study inside a multistrand tundish and the reasonably good match between the experimental and numerical results in terms of residence time distribution （RTD） curves.The results obtained from the present study confirm the strong role of choosing the right time for opening and closing the outlets to get improved characteristics for the fluid flow and mixing behavior of the tundish.The educational version of computational fluid dynamics （CFD） software PHOENICS was used to solve the governing equations and interpret the results in different forms.

Physical simulation of mixing on a C-H2 smelting reduction reactor with different tracer feeding positions

With the growing demand for energy saving,emission reduction,and green metallurgy,we had designed a new C-H2 smelting reduction reactor.In order to solve the key problem that the heat transfer efficiency from high temperature oxidation zone in upper region to low temperature reduction zone in lower region is low in traditional metallurgical reduction reactor,a water simulation was adopted to optimize the mean residence time and to improve the transmission efficiency within the reactor.According to the modified Froude similarity,a water model experimental reactor with a ratio of 1:1 to the prototype was constructed.In the prototype,the feed port was used to feed preheated ore and flux.In order to simulate the effect of different feeding positions of the tracer on the mixing behavior in the molten pool,four points of tracer feeding position were arranged for a systematic study.At the same time,based on double-row side nozzle with thick slag layer in a C-H2 smelting reduction reactor,nine influencing factors,including relative angle between upper and lower side nozzles,were studied.The experimental results showed that the tracer feeding position had a great influence on the mean residence time,and the relative angle also had a great influence on tracer feeding position.Finally,through comprehensive analysis,the optimal condition parameters were obtained under different tracer feeding positions.These results provide valuable help for the design and optimization of the C-H2 smelting reduction reactor.

Discharging granular material from a rotary kiln in a slumping regime： Theoretical and experimental studies

This study developed a theoretical approach to understanding how a set amount of a granular bed is discharged from a tilted rotary kiln （an empty cylinder） once its particle size distribution （PSD） is known and slumping motion occurs. The basis of the study is that the preparation of material for thermal treat- ment inside a rotary kiln （pyrolysis, gasification, and]or combustion） involves shredding to a desired particle size. Further mechanical stress results from the feeder screws moving material from storage toward the reactor. The most common PSDs found in uniform size reduction processes and mechanical stresses are Gaussian, log-normal, and Rosin-Rammler, of which the latter best fits the PSD in our study. Different particle diameters in the distribution result in an axial segregation when a slumping motion occurs, resulting in particles of different diameters leaving the kiln at different instants. After develop- ing the model, the theoretical data showed good agreement when compared with experimental results obtained from downloading previously shredded carbonaceous material from a rotary kiln at 2 and 4 rpm rotational speeds. The mean residence times at steady state were determined for both rotational speeds and showed good agreement with data provided in the literature.

Evaluation of flow characteristics in an onshore horizontal separator using computational fluid dynamics

In the petrochemical industry,separation of oil from water is a very important process.Wells produce mixtures of gas,oil,and water which undergo a primary stage of separation inside horizontal gravity separators.The performance of these vessels is evaluated by measuring mean residence time(MRT)and residence time distribution(RTD).Although many researchers studied flow characteristics in horizontal separators,limited number of articles exist that discuss separator MRT and RTD with varying water-cuts.In this article,the authors study an experiment using a horizontal gravity separator by previous researchers and perform computational fluid dynamics(CFD)simulations on the same geometry under similar conditions.The simulation results show qualitative agreement with the experiments by previous researchers.As shown by experiments before,CFD results showed that MRT of the organic phase increased with increase in water-cut.In addition,the RTD characteristics show very similar trends between CFD and experimental results.