Unlocking the potential of thin-film composite reverse osmosis membrane performance:Insights from mass transfer modeling

Thin-film composite(TFC)reverse osmosis(RO)membranes have attracted considerable attention in water treatment and desalination processes due to their specific separation advantages.Nevertheless,the trade-off effect between water flux and salt rejection poses huge challenges to further improvement in TFC RO membrane performance.Numerous research works have been dedicated to optimizing membrane fabrication and modification for addressing this issue.In the meantime,several reviews summarized these approaches.However,the existing reviews seldom analyzed these methods from a theoretical perspective and thus failed to offer effective optimization directions for the RO process from the root cause.In this review,we first propose a mass transfer model to facilitate a better understanding of the entire process of how water and solute permeate through RO membranes in detail,namely the migration process outside the membrane,the dissolution process on the membrane surface,and the diffusion process within the membrane.Thereafter,the water and salt mass transfer behaviors obtained from model deduction are comprehensively analyzed to provide potential guidelines for alleviating the trade-off effect between water flux and salt rejection in the RO process.Finally,inspired by the theoretical analysis and the accurate identification of existing bottlenecks,several promising strategies for both regulating RO membranes and optimizing operational conditions are proposed to further exploit the potential of RO membrane performance.This review is expected to guide the development of high-performance RO membranes from a mass transfer theory standpoint.

Modeling Hydrothermal Transfer Processes in Permafrost Regions of Qinghai-Tibet Plateau in China

Hydrothermal processes are key components in permafrost dynamics; these processes are integral to global wanning. In this study the coupled heat and mass transfer model for （CoupModel） the soil-plant-atmosphere-system is applied in high-altitude permafrost regions and to model hydrothermal transfer processes in freeze-thaw cycles. Measured meteorological forcing and soil and vegetation properties are used in the CoupModel for the period from January 1, 2009 to December 31, 2012 at the Tanggula observation site in the Qinghai-Tibet Plateau. A 24-h time step is used in the model simulation. The results show that the simulated soil temperature and water content, as well as the frozen depth compare well with the measured data. The coefficient of determination （R2） is 0.97 for the mean soil temperature and 0.73 for the mean soil water content, respectively. The simulated soil heat flux at a depth of 0-20 cm is also consistent with the monitored data. An analysis is performed on the simulated hydrothermal transfer processes from the deep soil layer to the upper one during the freezing and thawing period. At the beginning of the freezing period, the water in the deep soil layer moves upward to the freezing front and releases heat during the freezing process. When the soil layer is completely frozen, there are no vertical water ex- changes between the soil layers, and the heat exchange process is controlled by the vertical soil temperature gradient. During the thaw- ing period, the downward heat process becomes more active due to increased incoming shortwave radiation at the ground surface. The melt water is quickly dissolved in the soil, and the soil water movement only changes in the shallow soil layer. Subsequently, the model was used to provide an evaluation of the potential response of the active layer to different scenarios of initial water content and climate warming at the Tanggula site. The results reveal that the soil water content and the organic layer provide protection against active layer deepening in summer, so climate warming will cause the permafrost active layer to become deeoer and permafrost degradation.

Heat Transfer Investigation and Modeling of Heat Integrated Distillation Column

The high degree of reversibility of heat integrated distillation column(HIDiC) has been thermodynamically interpreted by the entropy method. In this paper, a heat transfer model and a more universal method were proposed, through which the overall heat transfer coefficient at different height of column under different operating conditions could be obtained before the experiment. Then the separation of a binary ethanol-water system was carried out experimentally as a case study to verify the heat transfer model and the aforementioned calculation method. The close results between the calculation, the simulation, and the experiments suggested that the proposed model and the calculation method in this paper were accurate and applicable. Meanwhile, it was demonstrated that the HIDiC shows obvious effect of reducing entropy increase and improving thermodynamic efficiency as compared to conventional distillation column.

Modeling of Mass Transfer in Cavity Limited by a Semi Permeable Membrane （Simulation of Spiral Wound Module）

The reverse osmosis process has been applied in large industrial fields （water treatment, food industry, biotechnology, and ect.）. Despite, this progress more investigation are required to optimize the reverse osmosis process. The present paper deals the modeling of mass transfer in a cavity limited by a semi-permeable membrane. Mass conservation and momentum balances are developed, dimensionless and control volume method has been applied. The velocity and concentration profiles versus the Reynolds number and Sherwood are studied. The results show that the permeability of the membrane decreases as function of the transversal （radial） component of the velocity. The axial （tangential） component of the velocity presents a good stability along the thickness of the cavity; this phenomenon can be attributed to the zero gradient of the tangential velocity. These preliminary results show that the phenomenon of the concentration polarization affects the mass transfer coefficient in a channel. Current study has considered the cavity without a promoter of the turbulence; whereas, the design of the spacer has an important role on mass transfer coefficient in the reverse osmosis module. Our next interest is the integration of the spacer in the cavity, and the study of the effect of its design on the concentration and velocity profiles and the mass transfer coefficient through the reverse osmosis membrane.

NUMERICAL MODELING OF RADIATIVE TRANSFER FOR MICROWAVE REMOTE SENSING

An overall vector radiative transfer theory was developed for numerical modeling, in both active and passive microwave remote sensing. The Theory and approaches are briefly summerized.To quantitatively understand scattering and thermal emission from targets in active and passive remote sensing, we have developed an overall vector radiative transfer theory for a set of theoretical models of discrete scatterer and continuous random media for the earth terrain (wet soil, vegetation, snow, sea-ice, etc.) and atmosphere, and numerical approaches for simulation, data analysis, and parameter sensitivity test. Our numerical results favorably agreed with experimental data in microwave re mote sensing of various earth surfaces. Main approaches are briefly summerized herewith.

Modeling of Heat Transfer and Solidification of Composite Roll

Modeling of heat transfer and solidification of composite roll was established and used to predict the thermal history and solidification process of roll during spray forming. Evolution of temperature field of the preform and cooling rate in the growing deposit during spray deposition and post-deposition were numerically simulated.

Heat transfer model for microwave hot in-place recycling of asphalt pavements

In order to solve for temperature fields in microwave heating for recycling asphalt mixtures, a two-dimensional heat transfer model for the asphalt mixtures within the heating range is built based on the theory of unsteady heat conduction. Four onedimensional heat transfer models are established for the asphalt mixtures outside the heating range, which are simplified into four half-infinite solids. The intensity of the radiation electric field is calculated through experiment by using heating water loads. It is suggested that the mathematical model of boundary conditions can be established in two ways, which are theoretical deduction and experimental reverse. The actual temperature field is achieved by fitting temperatures of different positions collected in the heating experiment. The simulant temperature field, which is solved with the Matlab PDE toolbox, is in good agreement with the actual temperature field. The results indicate that the proposed models have high precision and can be directly used to calculate the temperature distribution of asphalt pavements.

Impact of Separator Thickness on Temperature Distribution in Single Polymer Electrolyte Fuel Cell Based on 1D Heat Transfer

It is known from the New Energy and Industry Technology Development Organization (NEDO) roam map Japan, 2017 that the polymer electrolyte fuel cell (PEFC) power generation system is required to operate at 100°C for application of mobility usage from 2020 to 2025. This study aims to clarify the effect of separator thickness on the distribution of the temperature of reaction surface (Treact) at the initial temperature of cell (Tini) with flow rate, relative humidity (RH) of supply gases as well as RH of air surrounding cell of PEFC. The distribution of Treact is estimated by means of the heat transfer model considering the H2O vapor transfer proposed by the authors. The relationship between the standard deviation of Treact-Tini and total voltage obtained in the experiment is also investigated. We can know the effect of the flow rate of supply gas as well as RH of air surrounding cell of PEFC on the distribution of Treact-Tini is not significant. It is observed the wider distribution of Treact-Tini provides the reduction in power generation performance irrespective of separator thickness. In the case of separator thickness of 1.0 mm, the standard deviation of Treact-Tini has smaller distribution range and the total voltage shows a larger variation compared to the other cases.

Vertical bearing capacity of pile based on load transfer model

The load transfer analytical method is applied to study the bearing mechanism of piles with vertical load in this paper. According to the different hardening rules of soil or rock around the pile shaft, such as work-softening, ideal elasto-plastic and work-hardening, a universal tri-linear load transfer model is suggested for the development of side and tip resistance by various types of soil (rock) with the consideration of sediment at the bottom of the pile. Based on the model, a formula is derived for the relationship between the settlement and load on the pile top to determine the vertical bearing capacity, taking into account such factors as the characteristics of the stratum, the side resistance along the shaft, and tip resistance under the pile tip. A close agreement of the calculated results with the measured data from a field test pile lends confidence to the future application of the present approach in engineering practice.

The efficacy of the seamless transfer of care model to apply for the patients with cerebral apoplexy in China

Purpose:To evaluate the efficacy of the Seamless Transfer of Care Model(STCM)to improve readmission occurrence of patients withstroke.Methods:The sample was comprised of fifty-nine subjects with stroke who were hospitalized in the geriatric and neurology departments of a large university hospital in China.Subjects were allocated to an STCM group(n=30)or a routine care(control)group(n=29).Results:Compared with the control group,the STCM group had a higher quality of life(p<0.05),higher compliance(p<0.05)and a lower readmission rate(p<0.05).Conclusion:Based on our results,the application of the STCM in Chinese stroke patients can improve quality of life and compliance,and reduce readmission rate.

Analysis and Measurement of Mass Transfer in Airlift Loop Reactors

Inter-phase mass transfer is important to the design and performance of airlift loop reactors for either chemical or biochemical applications, and a good measurement technique is crucial for studying mass transfer in multiphase systems. According to the model of macro-scale mass transfer in airlift loop reactors, it was proved that the airlift loop reactor can be regarded as a continuous stirred tank reactor for measuring mass transfer coefficient. The calculated mass transfer coefficient on such a basis is different from the volumetric mass transfer coefficient in the macro-scale model and the difference is discussed. To describe the time delay of the probe response to the change of oxygen concentration in the liquid phase, a model taking into account the time constant of response is es-tablished. Sensitivity analysis shows that this model can be used to measure the volumetric mass transfer coefficient. Applying this model to the measurement of volumetric mass transfer coefficient in the loop reactor, results that co-incide with the turbulence theory in the literate were obtained.

A Simplified Scheme of the Generalized Layered Radiative Transfer Model

In this paper, firstly, a simplified version （SGRTM） of the generalized layered radiative transfer model （GRTM） within the canopy, developed by us, is presented. It reduces the information requirement of inputted sky diffuse radiation, as well as of canopy morphology, and in turn saves computer resources. Results from the SGRTM agree perfectly with those of the GRTM. Secondly, by applying the linear superposition principle of the optics and by using the basic solutions of the GRTM for radiative transfer within the canopy under the condition of assumed zero soil reflectance, two sets of explicit analytical solutions of radiative transfer within the canopy with any soil reflectance magnitude are derived： one for incident diffuse, and the other for direct beam radiation. The explicit analytical solutions need two sets of basic solutions of canopy reflectance and transmittance under zero soil reflectance, run by the model for both diffuse and direct beam radiation. One set of basic solutions is the canopy reflectance αf （written as α1 for direct beam radiation） and transmittance βf （written as β1 for direction beam radiation） with zero soil reflectance for the downward radiation from above the canopy （i.e. sky）, and the other set is the canopy reflectance （αb） and transmittance βb for the upward radiation from below the canopy （i.e., ground）. Under the condition of the same plant architecture in the vertical layers, and the same leaf adaxial and abaxial optical properties in the canopies for the uniform diffuse radiation, the explicit solutions need only one set of basic solutions, because under this condition the two basic solutions are equal, i.e., αf = αb and βf = βb. Using the explicit analytical solutions, the fractions of any kind of incident solar radiation reflected from （defined as surface albedo, or canopy reflectance）, transmitted through （defined as canopy transmittance）, and absorbed by （defined as canopy absorptance） the canopy and other properties pertinent to the radiative transfer within the canopy can be estimated easily on the ground surface below the canopy （soil or snow surface） with any reflectance magnitudes. The simplified transfer model is proven to have a similar accuracy compared to the detailed model, as well as very efficient computing.

Controlling Roll Temperature by Fluid-Solid Coupled Heat Transfer

Currently, when magnesium alloy sheet is rolled, the method of controlling roll temperature is simple and inaccurate. Furthermore, roll temperature has a large influence on the quality of magnesium alloy sheet; therefore, a new model using circular fluid flow control roll temperature has been designed. A fluid heat transfer structure was designed, the heat transfer process model of the fluid heating roll was simplified, and the finite di erence method was used to cal?culate the heat transfer process. Fluent software was used to simulate the fluid?solid coupling heat transfer, and both the trend and regularity of the temperature field in the heat transfer process were identified. The results show that the heating e ciency was much higher than traditional heating methods(when the fluid heat of the roll and tempera?ture distribution of the roll surface was more uniform). Moreover, there was a bigger temperature di erence between the input and the output, and after using reverse flow the temperature di erence decreased. The axial and circum?ferential temperature distributions along the sheet were uniform. Both theoretical calculation results and numerical simulation results of the heat transfer between fluid and roll were compared. The error was 1.8%–12.3%, showing that the theoretical model can both forecast and regulate the temperature of the roll(for magnesium alloy sheets) in the rolling process.

A review on single bubble gas–liquid mass transfer

It is common to empirically correlate volumetric mass transfer coefficient kLa for predicting gas–liquid mass transfer in industrial applications,and the investigation of single bubble mass transfer is crucial for a detailed understanding of mass transfer mechanism.In this work,experiments,models and simulations based on the experimental results were highlighted to elucidate the mass transfer between single bubbles and ambient liquid.The experimental setups,measurement methods,the mass transfer of single bubbles in the Newtonian and the nonNewtonian liquid,models derived from the concept of eddy diffusion,the extension of Whitman’s,Higbie’s and Danckwerts’models,or dimensionless numbers,and simulation methods on turbulence,gas–liquid partition methods and mass transfer source term determination are introduced and commented on.Although people have a great knowledge on mass transfer between single bubbles and ambient liquid in single conditions,it is still insufficient when facing complex liquid conditions or some phenomena such as turbulence,contamination or non-Newtonian behavior.Additional studies on single bubbles are required for experiments and models in various liquid conditions in future.

A Multi-Domain Compression Radiative Transfer Model for the Fengyun-4 Geosynchronous Interferometric Infrared Sounder (GIIRS)

Forward radiative transfer(RT)models are essential for atmospheric applications such as remote sensing and weather and climate models,where computational efficiency becomes equally as important as accuracy for high-resolution hyperspectral measurements that need rigorous RT simulations for thousands of channels.This study introduces a fast and accurate RT model for the hyperspectral infrared(HIR)sounder based on principal component analysis(PCA)or machine learning(i.e.,neural network,NN).The Geosynchronous Interferometric Infrared Sounder(GIIRS),the first HIR sounder onboard the geostationary Fengyun-4 satellites,is considered to be a candidate example for model development and validation.Our method uses either PCA or NN(PCA/NN)twice for the atmospheric transmittance and radiance,respectively,to reduce the number of independent but similar simulations to accelerate RT simulations;thereby,it is referred to as a multi-domain compression model.The first PCA/NN gives monochromatic gas transmittance in both spectral and atmospheric pressure domains for each gas independently.The second PCA/NN is performed in the traditional spectral radiance domain.Meanwhile,a new method is introduced to choose representative variables for the PCA/NN scheme developments.The model is three orders of magnitude faster than the standard line-by-line-based simulations with averaged brightness temperature difference(BTD)less than 0.1 K,and the compressions based on PCA or NN methods result in comparable efficiency and accuracy.Our fast model not only avoids an excessively complicated transmittance scheme by using PCA/NN but is also highly flexible for hyperspectral instruments with similar spectral ranges simply by updating the corresponding spectral response functions.

Time lag characteristics of sap flow in seed-maize and their implications for modeling transpiration in an arid region of Northwest China

Plant capacity for water storage leads to time lags between basal stem sap flow and transpiration in various woody plants. Internal water storage depends on the sizes of woody plants. However, the changes and its influencing factors in time lags of basal stem flow during the development of herbaceous plants including crops remain unclear. A field experiment was conducted in an arid region of Northwest China to examine the time lag characteristics of sap flow in seed-maize and to calibrate the transpiration modeling. Cross-correlation analysis was used to estimate the time lags between stem sap flow and meteorological driving factors including solar radiation（R_s） and vapor pressure deficit of the air（VPD_（air））. Results indicate that the changes in seed-maize stem sap flow consistently lagged behind the changes in R_s and preceded the changes in VPD_（air） both on hourly and daily scales, suggesting that light-mediated stomatal closures drove sap flow responses. The time lag in the maize＇s sap flow differed significantly during different growth stages and the difference was potentially due to developmental changes in capacitance tissue and/or xylem during ontogenesis. The time lags between stem sap flow and R_s in both female plants and male plants corresponded to plant use of stored water and were independent of total plant water use. Time lags of sap flow were always longer in male plants than in female plants. Theoretically, dry soil may decrease the speed by which sap flow adjusts ahead of shifts in VPD_（air） in comparison with wet soil and also increase the speed by which sap flow adjusts to R_s. However, sap flow lags that were associated with R_s before irrigation and after irrigation in female plants did not shift. Time series analysis method provided better results for simulating seed-maize sap flow with advantages of allowing for fewer variables to be included. This approach would be helpful in improving the accuracy of estimation for canopy transpiration and conductance using meteorological measurements.

Model Parameter Transfer for Gear Fault Diagnosis under Varying Working Conditions

Gear fault diagnosis technologies have received rapid development and been effectively implemented in many engineering applications.However,the various working conditions would degrade the diagnostic performance and make gear fault diagnosis(GFD)more and more challenging.In this paper,a novel model parameter transfer(NMPT)is proposed to boost the performance of GFD under varying working conditions.Based on the previous transfer strategy that controls empirical risk of source domain,this method further integrates the superiorities of multi-task learning with the idea of transfer learning(TL)to acquire transferable knowledge by minimizing the discrepancies of separating hyperplanes between one specific working condition(target domain)and another(source domain),and then transferring both commonality and specialty parameters over tasks to make use of source domain samples to assist target GFD task when sufficient labeled samples from target domain are unavailable.For NMPT implementation,insufficient target domain features and abundant source domain features with supervised information are fed into NMPT model to train a robust classifier for target GFD task.Related experiments prove that NMPT is expected to be a valuable technology to boost practical GFD performance under various working conditions.The proposed methods provides a transfer learning-based framework to handle the problem of insufficient training samples in target task caused by variable operation conditions.

Effect of Energy Transfer on UV Spectra of “H-shaped” Azobenzene Derivatives

A series of “H-shaped” organic dimers （azobenzene derivatives） exhibit linear absorption red shift compared with their corresponding monomers experimentally. Dipolar interaction model is not appropriate for the azobenzene derivatives due to the small distance between two “D-π-A” chains. Energy transfer model is suggested for explanation of the absorption red shift. Two necessary conditions for energy transfer were verified. In addition, bi-exponential florescence-delay behavior of the dimer as well as Bella＇s quantum chemistry calculation shows evidence of energy transfer.

A Generalized Layered Radiative Transfer Model in the Vegetation Canopy

In this paper, a generalized layered model for radiation transfer in canopy with high vertical resolution is developed. Differing from the two-stream approximate radiation transfer model commonly used in the land surface models, the generalized model takes into account the effect of complicated canopy morphology and inhomogeneous optical properties of leaves on radiation transfer within the canopy. In the model, the total leaf area index （LAI） of the canopy is divided into many layers. At a given layer, the influences of diffuse radiation angle distributions and leaf angle distributions on radiation transfer within the canopy are considered. The derivation of equations serving the model are described in detail, and these can deal with various diffuse radiation transfers in quite broad categories of canopy with quite inhomogeneons vertical structures and uneven leaves with substantially different optical properties of adaxial and abaxial faces of the leaves. The model is used to simulate the radiation transfer for canopies with horizontal leaves to validate the generalized model. Results from the model are compared with those from the two-stream scheme, and differences between these two models are discussed.

Nonadiabatic Population Transfer in a Tangent-Pulse Driven Quantum Model

Fine control of the dynamics of a quantum system is the key element to perform quantum information processing and coherent manipulations for atomic and molecular systems. We propose a control protocol using a tangentpulse driven model and demonstrate that it indicates a desirable design, i.e., of being both fast and accurate for population transfer. As opposed to other existing strategies, a remarkable character of the present scheme is that high velocity of the nonadiabatic evolution itself not only will not lead to unwanted transitions but also can suppress the error caused by the truncation of the driving pulse.