Sterilization of Turmeric by Atmospheric Pressure Dielectric Barrier Discharge Plasma

In this study atmospheric pressure dielectric barrier discharge （DBD） plasma has been employed for sterilizing dry turmeric powders. A 6 kV, 6 kHz frequency generator was used to generate plasma with Ar, Ar/Ou, He, and He/O2 gases between the 5 mm gap of two quartz covered electrodes. The complete sterilization time of samples due to plasma treatment was measured. The most important contaminant of turmeric is bacillus subtilis. The results show that the shortest sterilization time of 15 rain is achieved by exposing the samples to Ar/O2 plasma. Survival curves of samples are exponential functions of time and the addition of oxygen to plasma leads to a significant increase of the absolute value of time constant of the curves. Magnitudes of protein and DNA in treated samples were increased to a similar value for all samples. Taste, color, and solubility of samples were not changed after the plasma treatment.

Simulation analysis and match experiment on negative and positive pressures of pneumatic precision metering device for rapeseed

Positive and negative pressures determine the performance of pneumatic precision metering device for rapeseed.In order to investigate the relationship between positive and negative pressures of nozzles,fluid models of chamber were developed to simulate the airflow,and the k-εturbulence model was conducted to capture the pressure and velocity of nozzles.Through these efforts linear models were achieved.Meanwhile,the three-factor factorial split-split experiment was designed with negative pressure,positive pressure and the rotating speeds varying from-1000 to-4500 Pa,50 to 250 Pa and 10 to 45 r/min,respectively.The mathematical models were developed through employing the stepwise regression method.The sequence of influential factors on the quality of feed index was positive pressure,negative pressure and rotating speed.To obtain the match regulation of negative and positive pressures with“good”performance,the ratio coefficient K of negative and positive pressures was introduced to build mathematical models.Models relating ratio coefficient K with positive pressure were fitted in different rotating speeds.The results showed that the ratio coefficient was matchedГ∈[f1(x),f2(x)]from the fitting equations with the rotating speed of 10-30 r/min;while the rotating speed has greater influence when it was 35-40 r/min and the setsΛ∈[g1(x),g2(x)]were achieved,where x∈[100,250].This study could be conducted to adjust the rotating speed of the pneumatic system to optimize the ideal performance of the seeder.