Processes最新文献

{"title":"Extraction pH Controls Assessed Biotoxicity of Chlorination Disinfection Byproducts from Amphoteric Precursors","authors":"Yanting Zuo, Sen Xu, Zheng Wang, Jiane Zuo, Fei Hui, Haolin Liu, Chenglu Bi, Guofen Rui, Shi Cheng","doi":"10.3390/pr13103355","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.3390/pr13103355","url":null,"abstract":"Effect-based toxicity assessments are crucial for evaluating the risks of disinfection byproducts (DBPs), particularly unknown species, generated during drinking water chlorination. However, the accuracy of this approach is highly dependent on unbiased sample extraction. Conventional methods often employ single, low-pH extraction, which may fail to recover pH-sensitive amphoteric DBPs derived from amphoteric precursors (e.g., nitrogenous compounds). This study investigated how extraction pH affects the measured biotoxicity of DBPs formed from three model precursors: biopterin (Bip), cytosine (Cyt), and tryptophan (Trp). Under excess chlorine conditions, all three precursors degraded rapidly. The formation of aliphatic DBPs followed the order Trp > Cyt > Bip, and the maximum toxicity of the non-volatile extracts, assessed via a Vibrio fischeri bioassay, followed the reverse order: Bip > Trp > Cyt. This toxicity profile was significantly influenced by extraction pH, with maximum toxicity observed for Bip at around pH 4.0, under weakly acidic conditions for Trp, and under neutral to alkaline conditions for Cyt. For all precursors, the total organic carbon concentration remained constant throughout chlorination, indicating negligible mineralization and the predominant formation of non-aliphatic, likely heteroaromatic, products. These findings demonstrate that conventional extractions at a single low pH can lead to the incomplete recovery of toxic DBPs from amphoteric precursors. Therefore, pH-optimized extraction protocols are necessary for a more accurate risk assessment of chlorinated drinking water.","PeriodicalId":20597,"journal":{"name":"Processes","volume":"13 10","pages":"3355-3355"},"PeriodicalIF":0.0,"publicationDate":"2025-10-20","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"147907031","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":4,"RegionCategory":"工程技术","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"OA","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}

{"title":"Elucidation of Flavor Profile Dynamics in Tea-Flavor Baijiu During Long-Term Storage Using Sensory Evaluation, Electronic Nose, HS-GC-IMS, and HS-SPME-GC-MS","authors":"Qingqing Liu, Yan Lv, Yu Zhou, Min Liu, Hao Feng, Caihong Shen, Hongwei Wang, Xiaonian Cao, Kan Jian-quan","doi":"10.3390/pr13103359","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.3390/pr13103359","url":null,"abstract":"Tea-flavor baijiu, in which the aroma combines the tea note and the typical profile of baijiu, has brought a fresh flavor to the market. Yet its flavor evolution during the storage period and the associated changes in volatile compounds remain poorly characterized. To systematically address the flavor profile dynamics during storage, the study evaluated tea-flavor baijiu of varying ages using integrated sensory and instrumental analyses. Through napping with ultra-flash profiling (Napping-UFP) and check-all-that-apply (CATA), the sensory attributes from aroma, flavor, and mouthfeel profiles of tea-flavor baijiu were established, and quantitative descriptive analysis (QDA) was employed to distinguish the distinct sensory profiles among samples with different aging durations. The overall aroma patterns were examined using an electronic nose (E-nose), and the distinction of sample A401 with the longest storage period was notable. Headspace gas chromatography–ion mobility spectrometry (HS-GC-IMS) and headspace solid-phase microextraction–gas chromatography–mass spectrometry (HS-SPME-GC-MS) were used to identify and quantify the volatile compounds, while aging notably altered volatile composition with increased ester levels and reduced alcohol content; hence, the short-aged (one to three years), mid-aged (four to six years), and long-aged (seven and eight years) samples could be easily differentiated. Through the analysis of the data, 12 key odor-active compounds, namely (E)-2-methyl-2-butenal, ethyl caproate, 3-methylbutanal, 2-pentanone, ethyl acetate, ethyl heptanoate, ethyl 2-methylbutanoate, ethyl pentanoate, ethyl butyrate, ethyl hexanoate, ethyl octanoate, and 2,4-di-tert-butylphenol, were identified as major contributors to shifts. Furthermore, Pearson correlation analysis revealed a strong negative association between the accumulation of esters and the intensity of tea aroma in long-aged samples, clarifying the chemical mechanism underlying the diminished tea note in aged tea-flavor baijiu. This study provides new insights into the impact of aging on the flavor profile of tea-flavor baijiu and offers a scientific foundation for improving its production, storage, and quality management.","PeriodicalId":20597,"journal":{"name":"Processes","volume":"13 10","pages":"3359-3359"},"PeriodicalIF":0.0,"publicationDate":"2025-10-20","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"147331028","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":4,"RegionCategory":"工程技术","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"OA","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}

{"title":"Shape-Stabilized Stearic Acid/Expanded Graphite/Chitin-Derived Carbon Phase Change Materials for Enhanced Thermal Storage Performance and Photothermal Conversion","authors":"Hong‐Li Guo, Junchi Wang, Guoning Li, Qiangqiang Xiao, Hui Li","doi":"10.3390/pr13103335","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.3390/pr13103335","url":null,"abstract":"Melting leakage and low thermal conductivity of stearic acid (SA) restrict its application in thermal storage. In this work, a shape-stabilized phase change material (ECNX/SA) with enhanced thermal storage performance and photothermal conversion is designed based on expanded graphite/chitin-derived carbon (ECNX). Thermal storage performance, including phase change temperature, enthalpy, thermal conductivity and shape stability, of ECNX/SA is investigated. With this, the influence mechanism of ECNX on the thermal storage performance is characterized via N2 isothermal adsorption–desorption, FTIR, XRD and SEM. Results show that the prepared ECN15/SA has ideal thermal storage performance, where its phase change enthalpy and thermal conductivity are 121.59 J/g and 1.573 W/(m·K), respectively, and possesses superior shape stability. Moreover, the thermal storage performance of ECN15/SA keeps stable even undergoing several thermal cycles, and its photothermal conversion is as high as 89.2%. Characterizations suggest that ECN15 with a hierarchical pore structure and a high graphitization degree to enhance the shape stability and thermal conductivity of SA. Therefore, the prepared ECN15/SA is potential using in thermal storage.","PeriodicalId":20597,"journal":{"name":"Processes","volume":"13 10","pages":"3335-3335"},"PeriodicalIF":0.0,"publicationDate":"2025-10-18","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"147331336","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":4,"RegionCategory":"工程技术","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"OA","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}

{"title":"Enhancing Breakdown Field Strength and Energy Density in Sandwich-Structured P(VDF-HFP)/BT Films with BN Coating","authors":"Ying Cheng, Xueting Bai, Zhenyu Lu, Ruijue Wang, Wei Wang, Ruizhou Guo, Yudong Xu, Zhipeng Lei","doi":"10.3390/pr13103295","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.3390/pr13103295","url":null,"abstract":"With the rapid development of communication, electronics, medical, and energy industries in modern society, film capacitors have garnered widespread attention and undergone significant growth. However, the low energy density (Ue) resulting from low breakdown strength (Eb) significantly limits the application of thin-film capacitors. In this work, we use a low-cost and effective dip-coating method to apply boron nitride (BN) layers onto the outer layers of poly(vinylidene fluoride-co-hexafluoropropylene)/barium titanate (P(VDF-HFP)/BT) composite films to prepare boron nitride-poly(vinylidene fluoride-co-hexafluoropropylene/barium titanate-boron nitride (BN-P(VDF-HFP)/BT-BN) composite films with a sandwich structure that exhibits extremely high Eb and Ue. The experimental results show that the sandwich-structured BN-P(VDF-HFP)/BT-BN films containing 7.5 wt% BT nanoparticles obtained 530 MV/m Eb and 18.12 J/cm3 Ue, both of which are much higher than those of the corresponding monolayer films. In addition, the finite element simulation results show that the designed sandwich-structured films can reduce local field strength distortion, decrease leakage current, and suppress the development of breakdown channels, thereby significantly improving Eb and Ue. In summary, this study presents a low-cost and effective method for enhancing the breakdown strength and energy density of thin-film capacitors.","PeriodicalId":20597,"journal":{"name":"Processes","volume":"13 10","pages":"3295-3295"},"PeriodicalIF":0.0,"publicationDate":"2025-10-15","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"147332280","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":4,"RegionCategory":"工程技术","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"OA","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}

{"title":"Gas Purification Technology Suitable for Space Mice Cultured in Sealed Box","authors":"Ru Yuan, Haoyuan Sun, Qian Zhang, Le Zhang, Shidong Yuan, Fangwu Liu, Tao Zhang","doi":"10.3390/pr13103277","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.3390/pr13103277","url":null,"abstract":"A stable atmosphere is very important for long-term life science experiments with small mammals in sealed habitats. In this study, we constructed a multi-stage, solid-state purification system to regulate and control the supply of oxygen and remove carbon dioxide, humidity, and trace contaminants in a sealed metal box. Lithium hydroxide was used as the material to absorb CO2; molecular sieves and humidity-indicating silica gel were used as dehumidification material; and activated carbon-based sorbent was used to remove ammonia and hydrogen sulfide. We evaluated the performance of the system by implementing a sealed culture test with mice for 7 days. The pressure, relative humidity, oxygen concentration, carbon dioxide concentration, and ammonia/hydrogen sulfide concentration in the sealed box were maintained at 101–103 kPa, 30–36%, 19–21%, <1000 ppm, and the main goal of this study was to test for single gas absorption. In the future, we will investigate the competitive effect of multi-gas mixtures.","PeriodicalId":20597,"journal":{"name":"Processes","volume":"13 10","pages":"3277-3277"},"PeriodicalIF":0.0,"publicationDate":"2025-10-14","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"https://www.mdpi.com/2227-9717/13/10/3277/pdf?version=1760440522","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"147888143","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":4,"RegionCategory":"工程技术","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"OA","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}

{"title":"The Efficient PAE Degradation by Glutamicibacter sp. FR1 and Its Molecular Mechanism","authors":"Peng Peng, Shuanghu Fan, Xu Min, Liyuan Liu, Xiaolin Zhang, Zihan Feng, Haina Du, Zimeng Wang, Qiao Qin, Weiming Feng, Hongyan Liu, Jingjing Guo","doi":"10.3390/pr13103245","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.3390/pr13103245","url":null,"abstract":"Phthalic acid esters (PAEs) are important plasticizers that have led to the heavy pollution of farmland, which has aroused significant and widespread concern for soil health and food safety. Microbial degradation has been recognized as an efficient pathway for removing PAEs from the environment. In this study, the PAE-degrading strain FR1 was isolated from sewage and determined to belong to Glutamicibacter. This strain degraded PAEs efficiently under a wide range of conditions—10–50 °C, pH of 6.0–11.0, and 0–8% salinity—demonstrating its great potential in PAE bioremediation. Genome sequencing provided complete genomic information, showing that the strain comprises one chromosome (3,404,214 bp) and three plasmids (112,089 bp, 80,486 bp, and 40,002 bp). The chromosome harbors 3238 protein genes, of which the PAE hydrolase genes dphGB1 and mphGB2 have been cloned. The hydrolase DphGB1 from hydrolase family I contained the catalytic triad Ser75-Asp194-His221. After heterogeneous expression and purification, the recombinant protein DphGB1, of about 30 kDa, was obtained. This hydrolase showed strong hydrolytic ability toward DEHP. The protein MphGB2 could also hydrolyze MBP. The molecular docking revealed interaction between DphGB1 and DBP. The main hydrolases of strain FR1-degrading PAEs were functionally identified. These results will promote the elucidation of the catalytic mechanisms of PAE hydrolases and the application of strain FR1 in farmland soil remediation.","PeriodicalId":20597,"journal":{"name":"Processes","volume":"13 10","pages":"3245-3245"},"PeriodicalIF":0.0,"publicationDate":"2025-10-12","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"https://www.mdpi.com/2227-9717/13/10/3245/pdf?version=1760271747","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"147912939","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":4,"RegionCategory":"工程技术","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"OA","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}

{"title":"Selective Recovery of Ce and La from Coal Ash Leachates by Stepwise pH-Controlled Precipitation","authors":"Kaster Kamunur, Olesya Tyumentseva, Lyazzat Mussapyrova, Aisulu Batkal, Ardak Karagulanova, Rashid Nadirov","doi":"10.3390/pr13103203","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.3390/pr13103203","url":null,"abstract":"Coal ash represents an abundant secondary resource of rare earth elements (REEs), but their recovery is hindered by low concentrations in leachates and the presence of large amounts of competing matrix elements such as Fe, Al, Ca, and Mg. In this study, a stepwise pH-controlled precipitation approach was applied to real sulfuric acid coal ash leachates for selective recovery of Ce and La. The process combined impurity scrubbing, oxidative precipitation of Ce, and phosphate precipitation of La. Nearly complete recovery was achieved, with >95% of both Ce and La recovered and >99% phase purity. Selectivity analysis further demonstrated strong discrimination of REEs over matrix elements, with Ce showing >400 selectivity over Fe, Al, and Ca, and La showing ~170 over the same ions and ~17 over Ce. These results show the efficiency of the approach under realistic multi-element conditions.","PeriodicalId":20597,"journal":{"name":"Processes","volume":"13 10","pages":"3203-3203"},"PeriodicalIF":0.0,"publicationDate":"2025-10-09","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"https://www.mdpi.com/2227-9717/13/10/3203/pdf?version=1760008091","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"147910205","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":4,"RegionCategory":"工程技术","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"OA","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}

{"title":"Investigation of the Temperature Effect on Oil–Water–Rock Interaction Mechanisms During Low-Salinity Water Flooding in Tight Sandstone Reservoirs","authors":"Min Sun, Yuetian Liu","doi":"10.3390/pr13103135","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.3390/pr13103135","url":null,"abstract":"Temperature is a key factor in regulating interfacial behaviors and enhancing oil recovery during low-salinity water flooding in tight sandstone reservoirs. This study systematically investigates the synergistic mechanisms of temperature and salinity on ion exchange, wettability alteration, interfacial tension, and crude oil desorption. The experimental results show that elevated temperature significantly strengthens the oil–water–rock interactions induced by low-salinity water, thereby improving oil recovery. At 70 °C, the release of divalent cations such as Ca2+ and Mg2+ from the rock surface is notably enhanced. Simultaneously, the increase in interfacial electrostatic repulsion is evidenced by a shift in the rock–brine zeta potential from −3.14 mV to −6.26 mV. This promotes the desorption of polar components, such as asphaltenes, from the rock surface, leading to a significant change in wettability. The wettability alteration index increases to 0.4647, indicating a strong water-wet condition. Additionally, the reduction in oil–water interfacial zeta potential and the enhancement in interfacial viscoelasticity contribute to a further decrease in interfacial tension. Under conditions of 0.6 PW salinity and 70 °C, non-isothermal core flooding experiments demonstrate that rock–fluid interactions are the dominant mechanism responsible for enhanced oil recovery. By applying a staged injection strategy, where 0.6 PW is followed by 0.4 PW, the oil recovery reaches 34.89%, which is significantly higher than that achieved with high-salinity water flooding. This study provides critical mechanistic insights and optimized injection strategies for the development of high-temperature tight sandstone reservoirs using low-temperature waterflooding.","PeriodicalId":20597,"journal":{"name":"Processes","volume":"13 10","pages":"3135-3135"},"PeriodicalIF":0.0,"publicationDate":"2025-09-30","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"https://www.mdpi.com/2227-9717/13/10/3135/pdf?version=1759222651","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"147886409","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":4,"RegionCategory":"工程技术","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"OA","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}

{"title":"Loading of Ni2+ in Coal by Hydrothermal Treatment to Conduct Catalytic Pyrolysis Under the Context of In Situ Pyrolysis","authors":"Xiao Li, Xiaodan Wu, Yushi Li, Ying Tang, Yue Zhang, Shixin Jiang, Jinfang Cui, Chao Wang, Zhibing Chang","doi":"10.3390/pr13103086","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.3390/pr13103086","url":null,"abstract":"Identifying suitable catalyst types and efficient loading methods remains a key research challenge for implementing the in situ catalytic pyrolysis of tar-rich coal. This study investigated a lignite and a gas coal, employing NiCl2 solution for Ni2+ catalyst loading via room-temperature impregnation and hydrothermal treatment on coal particles sized 6–13 mm. The efficiency of Ni2+ loading through hydrothermal treatment and the characteristics of pyrolysis product distribution and composition before and after treatment were examined. The results indicated that after NiCl2 solution impregnation, the Ni2+ content in lignite increased from nearly undetectable to over 20 mg/g, whereas in gas coal, it only rose to less than 2 mg/g. Ion exchange is hypothesized to be a primary pathway for Ni2+ loading into coal. After hydrothermal treatment at 170 °C, the Ni2+ loadings in lignite and gas coal reached 33.6 and 1.45 mg/g, respectively. The loaded Ni2+ exhibited distinct catalytic effects on the two coals. For lignite, Ni2+ catalyzed the deoxygenation of oxygen-containing compounds and the aromatization of aliphatic hydrocarbons. For gas coal, hydrothermal treatment with NiCl2 solution at 170 and 220 °C promoted hydrogen transfer reactions, resulting in an increase in tar yield from 10.67% to 11.30% and 11.64%, respectively. Also, the H2 yield decreased, accompanied by a decrease in aromatic hydrocarbons and an increase in phenolic compounds within the tar.","PeriodicalId":20597,"journal":{"name":"Processes","volume":"13 10","pages":"3086-3086"},"PeriodicalIF":0.0,"publicationDate":"2025-09-26","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"147332673","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":4,"RegionCategory":"工程技术","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"OA","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}

{"title":"Analysis of Trace Rare Earth Elements in Uranium-Bearing Nuclear Materials","authors":"Z.-L. Li, Yang Shao, Frances Xin, Chun Li, Jilong Zhang, Xi Li, Min Luo, Diandou Xu, Lingling Ma","doi":"10.3390/pr13103089","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.3390/pr13103089","url":null,"abstract":"Rare earth elements (REEs) have significant application value in the quality control of nuclear materials and in traceability research in nuclear forensics. Methods were developed for the determination of REEs in uranium-bearing nuclear materials. The digestion parameters for uranium oxides and uranium ores, such as the digestion acid, digestion temperature, and digestion time, were optimized and reported. The optimized digestion parameters for uranium oxides were 2 mL HNO3 at 160 °C for 3 h, and those for uranium ores were 7 mL mixed acid (HNO3–HClO4–HF = 5:5:3) at 180 °C for 36 h. Two digestion methods were demonstrated to be effective for the quantitative recovery of REEs. The suitable system and specifications for different resin columns were investigated to achieve a high decontamination factor of U (105) by UTEVA resin. The corresponding loading system was 10 mL 4 M HNO3, and the elution system was 6 mL 4 M HNO3. Additionally, the analysis of ultra-trace REEs in high-uranium matrices was accomplished using two UTEVA resins. The developed methods were subjected to the Cochran test and the Grubbs test, and the relative standard deviation (RSD) for all REEs was below 6%. In uranium oxide samples with different spiked amounts, the recovery of REEs exceeded 80% in all cases, and the RSDs were all less than 10%. The method’s detection limits were below 10 ppt for all REEs (except for Ce), ensuring the accurate measurement of REEs in uranium-bearing nuclear materials.","PeriodicalId":20597,"journal":{"name":"Processes","volume":"13 10","pages":"3089-3089"},"PeriodicalIF":0.0,"publicationDate":"2025-09-26","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"https://www.mdpi.com/2227-9717/13/10/3089/pdf?version=1758900194","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"147333986","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":4,"RegionCategory":"工程技术","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"OA","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}