Dehydration of natural gas and biogas streams using solid desiccants:a review

Natural gas and biogas are two mixtures that consist of methane as their main component.These two gas mixtures are usually saturated with water vapor,which cause many problems,such as damaging the gas processing equipment by increasing the gas’s corrosion potential or clogging the pipelines due to gas hydrate formation.Thus,removing water vapor from these gas streams is mandatory.In this review paper,the main dehydration methods have been overviewed,and scrutiny of the adsorption dehydration has been carried out.Furthermore,the most important solid desiccants and their improvements have been reviewed.

Design of quaternary ammonium type-ionic liquids as desiccants for an air-conditioning system

The liquid desiccant air-conditioning system allows reducing energy consumption compared to the conventional compressor-type air conditioners.In order to develop desiccant materials for air conditioners,we have investigated the dehumidification capability of quaternary ammonium Ionic Liquids(ILs)and the equilibrium water vapor pressure of aqueous solutions of these ammonium salts.Among the seven tested types of ILs,2-hydroxyN,N,N-trimethylethan-1-aminium dimethylphosphate([Ch][DMPO4])displayed the best dehumidification capability and the lowest equilibrium water vapor pressure.Furthermore,the 80%aqueous solution of[Ch][DMPO4]exhibited a less corrosive effect on four types of metals,i.e.,steel(hot dip zinc-aluminum alloy plated steel),copper(C1100P),aluminum(A5052),and stainless steel(SUS:SUS304).It should be noted that this[Ch][DMPO4]is not only non-toxic but also exhibits a stable nature;the aqueous solution produced no odor after storing for over 1 year under ambient conditions.

Exploring an eco-friendly approach to improve soil tensile behavior and cracking resistance

Soil tensile strength is a critical parameter governing the initiation and propagation of tensile cracking.This study proposes an eco-friendly approach to improve the tensile behavior and crack resistance of clayey soils.To validate the feasibility and efficacy of the proposed approach,direct tensile tests were employed to determine the tensile strength of the compacted soil with different W-OH treatment concentrations and water contents.Desiccation tests were also performed to evaluate the effectiveness of W-OH treatment in enhancing soil tensile cracking resistance.During this period,the effects of W-OH treatment concentration and water content on tensile properties,soil suction and microstructure were investigated.The tensile tests reveal that W-OH treatment has a significant impact on the tensile strength and failure mode of the soil,which not only effectively enhances the tensile strength and failure displacement,but also changes the brittle failure behavior into a more ductile quasi-brittle failure behavior.The suction measurements and mercury intrusion porosimetry(MIP)tests show that W-OH treatment can slightly reduce soil suction by affecting skeleton structure and increasing macropores.Combined with the microstructural analysis,it becomes evident that the significant improvement in soil tensile behavior through W-OH treatment is mainly attributed to the W-OH gel's ability to provide additional binding force for bridging and encapsulating the soil particles.Moreover,desiccation tests demonstrate that W-OH treatment can significantly reduce or even inhibit the formation of soil tensile cracking.With the increase of W-OH treatment concentration,the surface crack ratio and total crack length are significantly reduced.This study enhances a fundamental understanding of eco-polymer impacts on soil mechanical properties and provides valuable insight into their potential application for improving soil crack resistance.

Effects of layer thickness on desiccation cracking behaviour of a vegetated soil

The objective of this study is to explore how different layer thicknesses affect the desiccation cracking behaviour of vegetated soil.During the experiment,an electronic balance was employed to quantify water evaporation,while a digital camera was utilized to capture the initiation and progression of soil surface cracking.Results indicate that in the early drying process,the rate of evapotranspiration in vegetated soil correlates positively with leaf biomass.For soil samples with the same layer thickness,the constant rate stage duration is consistently shorter in vegetated soil samples than in their bare soil counterparts.As the layer thickness increases,both vegetated and bare soil samples crack at higher water content.However,vegetated soil samples crack at lower water content than their bare soil counterparts.Vegetation significantly reduces the soil surface crack ratio and improves the soil crack resistance.The crack reduction ratio is positively correlated with both root weight and length density.In thicker vegetated soil layers,the final surface crack length noticeably declines.

Slippery hydrogel with desiccation-tolerant‘skin’for high-precision additive manufacturing

Hydrogels inevitably undergo dehydration,structural collapse,and shrinkage deformation due to the uninterrupted evaporation in the atmosphere,thereby losing their flexibility,slipperiness,and manufacturing precision.Here,we propose a novel bioinspired strategy to construct a spontaneously formed‘skin’on the slippery hydrogels by incorporating biological stress metabolites trehalose into the hydrogel network,which can generate robust hydrogen bonding interactions to restrain water evaporation.The contents of trehalose in hydrogel matrix can also regulate the desiccation-tolerance,mechanical properties,and lubricating performance of slippery hydrogels in a wide range.Combining vat photopolymerization three-dimensional printing and trehalose-modified slippery hydrogels enables to achieve the structural hydrogels with high resolution,shape fidelity,and sophisticated architectures,instead of structural collapse and shrinkage deformation caused by dehydration.And thus,this proposed functional hydrogel adapts to manufacture large-scale hydrogels with sophisticated architectures in a long-term process.As a proof-of-concept demonstration,a high-precision and sophisticated slippery hydrogel vascular phantom was easily fabricated to imitate guidewire intervention.Additionally,the proposed protocol is universally applicable to diverse types of hydrogel systems.This strategy opens up a versatile methodology to fabricate dry-resistant slippery hydrogel for functional structures and devices,expanding their high-precision processing and broad applications in the atmosphere.

Stress Treatments and DNA Methylation Affected the Somatic Embryogenesis of Citrus Callus

The evaluation on the callus embryogenesis capacity of 15 genotypes of citrus showed that stress treatments were conducive to somatic embryogenesis and could enhance the recovery of the missed capacity of embryogenesis for some genotypes. Randomly amplified polymorphic DNA (RAPD) and methylation sensitive amplified polymorphism (MSAP) analysis indicated that there existed significant differences in DNA methylation status between the callus capable of producing somatic embryoids and that which missed the embryogenesis capacity of the same genotype Newhall navel orange ( Citrus sinensis Osb. cv. Newhall). The DNA methylation level of the former was lower than that of the latter. However, RAPD profiles did not show any difference between these two kinds of callus.

The Protective Role of Xanthophyll Cycle in Resurrection Angiosperm Boea hygrometrica During Dehydration and Rehydration

The protective role of xanthophyll cycle in resurrection angiosperm Boea hygrometrica (Bunge) R.Br. was investigated by analysis of the changes of chlorophyll fluorescence and xanthophyll cycle components in response to dehydration and rehydration in detached leaves under very weak light condition (3 mumol photons.m(-2).s(-1)) and in the dark. With declines in the values of PSII photochemical efficiency (Fv/Fm), PSII actual quantum yield (Phi(PSII)), photochemical quenching (qP) and non-photochemical quenching (NPQ) during dehydration, zeaxanthin significantly increased in control Boea leaves under very weak light condition, while no zeaxanthin accumulation was detected in Boea leaves treated with dithiothreitol (DTT) and Boea leaves in the dark, and after 3 d rehydration, the parameters Fv/Fm, Phi(PSII), qP and NPQ showed full recovery in control Boea leaves under very weak light condition, but the parameters only underwent partial recovery in Boea leaves treated with DTT and Boea leaves in the dark, suggesting that the recovery of photosystem II (PSII) photochemical activities in Boea leaves was obviously affected by treatments with DTT and darkness, therefore, zeaxanthin may play an important protective role in desiccated Boea leaves even under very weak light conditions.

Photosynthesis of Resurrection Angiosperms

Resurrection plants which are able to quickly reactivate after falling into a period of anabiosis caused by dehydration have been very rare among angiosperms, especially among dicotyledons whose chlorophyll content and chloroplast structure little changed in the course of desiccation, therefore has been called homoiochlorophyllous desiccation-tolerant plants (HDTs). Another type of resurrection angiosperms that lost its chlorophyll dining desiccation is called poikilochlorophyllous desiccation-tolerant plants (PDTs). HDTs have been received more attention because of simplicity of protection mechanism which is much easy to the study and utilization of the desiccation tolerance of resurrection angiosperms. Recent advances in studies of photosynthesis of resurrection angiosperms indicate that photochemical activities are sensitive indicators for the study of physiological state of resurrection angiosperms during desiccation and rehydration. Photochemical activities of resurrection angiosperms are inhibited with loss of water similar to those of general plants, however, the magic thing is that they could reactivate rapidly during rehydration even losing more than 95% water. Up-regulations in xanthophyll cycle and antioxidative systems as well as preservation in integrity and stability of photosynthetic membranes during desiccation may be very important to desiccation tolerance of resurrection angiosperms. The fact that phosphate treatment in rehydration stage also strongly influences resurrection indicated importance of studies on rehydration stages of resurrection angiosperms.

Performance analysis of three-stage liquid desiccant deep dehumidification processor driven by heat pump

A new type of a heat pump driven three-stage lithium bromide liquid desiccant deep dehumidification processor is presented,which can dehumidify the outdoor humid air to a rather dry state,even when there is no available indoor exhaust air.The test results show that with an outdoor air temperature of 28 to 31 ℃ and an outdoor air humidity ratio of 11 to 14 g/kg,the supply air temperature and the supply air humidity ratio are 1.6 to 2.6 ℃ and 2.6 to 3.0 g/kg,respectively,and the coefficient of performance（COP）of the processor is 1.8.During the test,a liquid pipeline link problem leading to mixture losses of hot and cold liquid desiccants is found.These pipelines are modified.Then,the performance of the modified processor is investigated.And the experimental results show that with an outdoor air temperature of 25 to 32 ℃ and an outdoor air humidity ratio of 18 to 21 g/kg,the supply air temperature and the supply air humidity ratio are 3.2 to 4.0 ℃ and 3.4 to 3.6 g/kg,respectively,and the COP is 2.8.Finally,a mathematical model of the processor is established.The comparison of the simulation results and the test results of the processor exhibits that the pipeline modification improves the performance by about 20%.

Numerical study on dehumidifying process in falling film dehumidifier

A counter flow model of simultaneous heat and mass transfer of a vapor absorption process in a falling film dehumidifier is developed. The governing equations with appropriate boundaries and interfacial conditions describing the dehumidifying process are set up. Calcium chloride is applied as the desiccant. The dehumidifying process between falling liquid desiccant film and process air is analyzed and calculated by the control volume approach. Velocity field, temperature distribution and outlet parameters for both the process air and desiccant solution are obtained. The effects of inlet conditions and vertical wall height on the dehumidification process are also predicted. The results show that the humidity ratio, temperature and mass fraction of salt decrease rapidly at the inlet region but slowly at the outlet region along the vertical wall height. The dehumidification processes can be enhanced by increasing the vertical wall height, desiccant solution flow rates or inlet salt concentration in the desiccant solution, respectively. Similarly, the dehumidification process can be improved by decreasing the inlet humidity ratio or flow rates of the process air. The obtained results can improve the performance of the dehumidifier and provide the theoretical basis for the optimization design, and the ooeration and modulation of the solar liquid desiccant air-conditioning systems.

Properties of Advanced Adsorbent for Solid Desiccant Cooling

Characteristics of 13x molecular sieve, silica gel and DH 5 and DH 7 prepared by authors, were investigated for the solid desiccant cooling system. The adsorption isotherms of DH 5 and DH 7 were experimentally determined. The performance parameters of adsorption capacity, air humidity, regeneration temperature and cooling volume were tested and discussed in detail. The results show that the properties of new adsorbents DH 5 and DH 7 on desiccant cooling are much better than those of common desiccants. The maximum adsorption volumes of water on DH 5 and DH 7 are 0.72?kg/kg and 0.73 ?kg/kg, respectively. The desiccant cooling volumes of DH 7and DH 5 are 2.2 and 1.3 times larger than those of silica gel and 13x(molecular sieve), respectively, after regeneration at 100?℃. The cooling volume per mass unit of DH 5 is 1.9 times larger that of 13x.

Seed Recalcitrance:a Current Assessment

Seeds have been categorized as orthodox, recalcitrant and intermediate seeds according to their dehydration behaviors. Identification of desiccation-tolerance and -sensitivity of seeds is the basis making storage strategy of seeds and long-term conservation of species gene resources. In addition to the inherent characteristics of the species, developmental status of the seeds, dehydration rate, and the conditions under which they are dried and subsequently re-imbibed are very important factors influencing desiccation tolerance of seeds. Survival, electrolyte leakage rate, and germination/growth rate produced by survived seeds are a excellent synthetic parameter when discussing desiccation tolerance of seeds. Desiccation tolerance of seeds is a quantitative feature. The term 'critical water content' is incorrect and has caused some confusion in assessment of seed recalcitrance. A new working approach to quantify the degree of seed recalcitrance has been proposed in this paper.

Desiccation Alters the Stability and Distribution of Pea Seed_borne Mosaic Virus in Pea (Pisum sativum) Cotyledon Cells

As a seed transmitted pathogen, pea seed_borne mosaic virus (PSbMV) not only replicates in embryonic cells but can also withstand seed desiccation. To understand the mechanism of PSbMV tolerance to seed desiccation, the authors compared the stability of viral coat protein (CP) and the distribution of viral particles in the cotyledon cells of pea (Pisum sativum L.) embryos collected before and after the dehydration process. Before dehydration, when the embryo was fresh and immature, degradation of CP was observed and a predominantly perinuclear distribution of viral particles in the cotyledon cells was evident. After dehydration, when the embryo was dry and mature, degradation of CP did not occur and the perinuclear viral distribution disappeared. Instead, aggregates containing PSbMV CP were found in the cytoplasm. Electron microscopy showed that these aggregates were composed of PSbMV particles. The formation of PSbMV particle aggregates is apparently triggered by seed dehydration and may be favorable to the virus survival in the desiccated embryonic cells.

Liquid drying of BeO gelcast green bodies using ethanol as liquid desiccant

BeO gelcast green bodies were dried by liquid drying method with liquid desiccant ethanol.Effects of ethanol concentration,solids loading and aspect ratio of green body on the moisture and shrinkage of green bodies were studied through measuring mass and dimension.Additionally,liquid drying stress was analyzed and a model of the initial stage drying stress was established.The results show that higher ethanol concentration,lower solids loading and higher aspect ratio of gelcast green bodies increase the drying rate.Increasing the ethanol concentration decreases the shrinkage rate.Liquid drying stress is generated due to a non-uniform drying rate.During the process of liquid drying,the inner drying stress of the green body changes from compressive stress to tensile stress,while the outer drying stress changes from tensile stress to compressive stress.

Performance analysis on a novel water chiller using liquid desiccant

A new type of liquid desiccant water chiller for applications on air-conditioning and refrigeration is introduced.The system can be driven by low-grade heat sources with temperatures of 60 to 80 ℃,which can be easily obtained by a flat plat solar collector,waste heat,etc.A numerical model is developed to study the system performance.The effects of different parameters on performance are discussed,including evaporating temperature,regenerating temperature,ambient condition,and mass flow rates of closed moist air and regenerating air.The results show that an acceptable performance of a cooling capacity of 2.5 kW and a coefficient of performance of 0.37 can be achieved in a reference case.The regenerating temperature and the humidity ratios of ambient air are two main factors affecting system performance,while the temperature of ambient air functions less.In addition,the mass flow rate of regenerating air and closed moist air should be carefully determined for economical operation.

Study on Desiccation and Collection Models for Banana Stems

In this study, 8 kinds of desiccation models and 3 kinds of collection models were studied for banana stems. The results showed that the crushing-com- pression-air drying processing model showed the best desiccation effect for banana stems. Under this desiccation model, the moisture content was reduced from 90.5% to 19.93% with weight reduced by 75.2%; after 3 to 6 months of storage, the mois- ture content was still remained within 17%-20%, and the volume was decreased to 30%-40% of the original volume of fresh banana stems. This desiccation model made banana stems basically meet the requirements by drying storage. The plant- cutting down-crushing-compression-transportation-desiccation-storage production model was initially developed for desiccation and collection of banana stems, which would lay a certain foundation for the utilization of banana stem resource by enterprises.

Response of soil water dynamics to precipitation years under different vegetation types on the northern Loess Plateau, China

Implementation of the Grain-for-Green project has led to rapid land cover changes and resulted in a significantly increased vegetation cover on the Loess Plateau of China during the past few decades. The main objective of this study was to examine the responses of soil water dynamics under four typical vegetation types against precipitation years. Soil water contents (SWCs) were measured in 0–4.0 m profiles on a hillslope under the four vegetation types of shrub, pasture, natural fallow and crop in a re-vegetated catchment area from April to October in normal (2010), dry (2011), wet (2014) and extremely wet (2013) years. The results indicated that precipitation and vegetation types jointly controlled the soil water temporal dynamics and profile characteristics in the study region. SWCs in 0–4.0 m profiles of the four vegetation types were ranked from high to low as crop>fallow>pasture>shrub and this pattern displayed a temporal stability over the four years. In the extremely wet year, SWC changes occurred in the 0–2.0 m layer under shrub and pasture while the changes further extended to the depth of 4.0-m deep layers under fallow and crop. In the other three years, SWCs changes mainly occurred in the 0–1.0 m layer and kept relatively stable in the layers deeper than 1.0 m for all the four vegetation types. The interannual variation in soil depth of SWCs was about 0–2.0 m for shrub and pasture, about 0–3.4 m for fallow and about 0–4.0 m for crop, respectively. The dried soil layers formed at the depths of 1.0, 0.6, 1.6 and 0.7 m under shrub, and 1.0, 1.0, 2.0 and 0.9 m under pasture, respectively in 2010, 2011, 2013 and 2014. The infiltrated rainwater mostly stayed in the 0–1.0 m layer and hardly supplied to soil depth >1.0 m in normal, dry and wet years. Even in the extremely wet year of 2013, rainwater recharge depth did not exceed 2.0 m under shrub and pasture. This implied that soil desiccation was difficult to remove in normal, dry and wet years, and soil desiccation could be removed in 1.0–2.0 m soil layers even in the extremely wet year under shrub and pasture. The results indicated that the natural fallow was the best vegetation type for achieving sustainable utilization of soil water and preventing soil desiccation.

Effect of pruning intensity on soil moisture and water use efficiency in jujube(Ziziphus jujube Mill.) plantations in the hilly Loess Plateau Region, China

Jujube(Ziziphus jujube Mill.)is a traditional economic forest crop and is widely cultivated in hilly areas of the Loess Plateau,China.However,soil desiccation was discovered in jujube plantations.Pruning is recognized as a water-saving method that can reduces soil water consumption.In this study,we monitored the jujube plots with control(CK),light(C1),medium(C2)and high(C3)pruning intensities during the jujube growing period of 2012-2015 to explore the effect of pruning intensity on soil moisture and water use efficiency(WUE)of jujube plantations in the hilly Loess Plateau Region.The results showed that pruning is an effective method for soil water conservation in jujube plantations.Soil moisture increased with increasing pruning intensity during the jujube growing period of 2012-2015.C1,C2 and C3 pruning intensities increased soil water storage by 6.1-18.3,14.4-40.0 and 24.3-63.3 mm,respectively,compared to CK pruning intensity.Pruning promoted soil moisture infiltration to deeper soil layer.Soil moisture infiltrated to soil depths of 240,280 and>300 cm under C3 pruning intensity,220,260 and 260 cm under C2 pruning intensity,200,240 and 220 cm under C1 pruning intensity,and 180,200 and 160 cm under CK pruning intensity in 2013,2014 and 2015,respectively.Soil water deficit was alleviated by higher pruning intensity.In 2013-2015,soil water change was positive under C2(6.4 mm)and C3(26.8 mm)pruning intensities but negative under C1(-20.5 mm)and CK(-40.6 mm)pruning intensities.Moreover,pruning significantly improved fresh fruit yield and WUE of jujube plants.Fresh fruit yields were highest under C1 pruning intensity with the values of 6897.1-13,059.3 kg/hm^2,which were 2758.4-4712.8,385.7-1432.1 and 802.8-2331.5 kg/hm2 higher than those under CK,C2,and C3 pruning intensities during the jujube growing period of 2012-2015,respectively.However,C3 pruning intensity had the highest WUE values of 2.92-3.13 kg/m3,which were 1.6-2.0,1.1-1.2 and 1.0-1.1 times greater than those under CK,C1 and C2 pruning intensities,respectively.Therefore,C3 pruning intensity is recommended to jujube plantations for its economic and ecological benefits.These results provide an alternative strategy to mitigate soil desiccation in jujube plantations in the hilly Loess Plateau Region,which is critical for sustainable cultivation of economic forest trees in this region.

Quantitative Analysis of Relationships Between Crack Characteristics and Properties of Soda-saline Soils in Songnen Plain, China

The Songnen Plain has a typical soda-saline soil, which often shrinks and cracks under natural conditions during water evaporation. This study aims to analyze the relationships between the crack characteristics and the soil properties of soda-saline soils quantitatively, and attempts to establish prediction models for the main soil properties of soda-saline soils based on the results. In order to achieve these objectives, a desiccation cracking test was conducted using 17 soil specimens with different salinity levels under controlled laboratory conditions. Correlation analysis was then performed between the crack characteristics and the soil properties. The results indicate that the crack characteristics can well represent the surface appearances of cracked soils, they also can well distinguish the salinity levels of soda-saline soils while the clay contents and mineralogical compositions of soils are stable. Among the crack characteristics, crack length has the best relationships with the salinity levels of soda-saline soils. Specifically, the crack length has high correlation(R2 > 0.87) with the electrical conductivity(EC), Na+, CO32– and the salinity, it also has reasonable relationship(R2 > 0.68) with HCO3–, this indicates crack length can be well used for the prediction of these properties of soda-saline soils.

Effects of seed moisture content, stratification and sowing date on the germination of Corylus avellana seeds

For Corylus avellana, pericarp permeability,seed desiccation tolerance, and the effect of warm and cold moist stratification combinations on germination and of outdoor sowing date on dormancy breaking and seedling emergence were investigated. Seeds with(intact fruit nut)and without the pericarp were subjected to an imbibition test, and water uptake was measured. After nuts had been stored for 5 months at 3–5℃, seeds and desiccated seeds were cold-stratified at 3–5 ℃(for 0, 1, 2 or 3 months),then tested for germination. Nuts were warm-stratified at 20–25℃(for 0, 1 or 2 months), then cold-stratified(for 0,1, 2 or 3 months) and tested for seed germination. The nuts were sown outdoors on three dates in the same year of their collection: 15 September(immediately after collection), 2 November, and 17 December, and emerged seedlings were counted the following spring. The pericarp was not a barrier to water uptake by the seed;however, the seeds imbibed water faster and had more mass when the pericarp was removed. Seeds tolerated desiccation;germinationpercentage was not reduced when seed moisture content was reduced to 8.71%. Germination of seeds without the pericarp(regardless of the moisture content) was the highest when the seeds were cold-stratified for 2 months.When seeds with the pericarp were tested for germination,2 months of warm stratification before a 2-month cold stratification maximized seed germination. For outdoor sowing of nuts, sowing date affected percentage of seedling emergence the following spring;early autumn sowing(immediately after collection) resulted in the best emergence.