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At least 631 records · Page 35

Modeling and experimental validation of direct contact crossflow packed beds condenser used in HDH desalination systems

Humidification and dehumidification (HDH) desalination systems are alternatives to reverse osmosis desalination systems, especially for high salinity waters. A HDH system is essentially equipped with a humidifier (also called as evaporator) for air to pick up vapor from saline water, a dehumidifier (also called as condenser) to produce freshwater, and a heating source. HDH systems based on direct contact packed beds heat exchangers have remarkably lower costs than traditional HDH systems due to their inexpensive materials and simple configurations. This paper specifically focuses on direct contact crossflow packed beds condensers, in which cooling water vertically drips through the packed beds, directly contacting the horizontal air-vapor flow. A two-dimensional mathematical model that solves for the enthalpy values of the working fluids is proposed in this paper, and the PDEs are solved using finite differences. To validate the model, an experimental condenser was built and tested. Water temperatures inside the test section at twenty-nine locations were measured, as well as the air vapor temperatures of five locations at the outlet. The measured water and air-vapor temperatures agree with the simulation results with less than 10 % error in most of the compared domain.

42 ENGINEERING↗

Energy-efficient sorption-based gas clothes dryer systems

Standard electric resistance and fuel-driven dehydration technologies exhibit a maximum coefficient of performance of well below 1 mainly due to enthalpy losses associated with the air leaving the dehydration system. To improve energy efficiency, condensing dryer systems condense the moisture captured from a product in a closed-loop air circulation cycle. Existing condensing dehydration systems including heat pump dryers, however, need to significantly cool the air to achieve dehumidification. The added cooling and subsequent heating to return the air to a desired drying temperature consume substantial energy and thus reduce drying performance. Here, an innovative sorption-based gas dehydration system is proposed to overcome barriers deteriorating energy efficiency in existing gas, electric, or heat pump dryer systems. Decoupling latent and sensible loads, the system employs a liquid-desiccant solution to directly capture air humidity, thereby allowing circulation of the air in a closed loop to achieve high drying energy efficiency. In other words, the system captures waste latent heat from the moisture produced during the dehydration process and reuses it to improve energy efficiency. This study focuses on a comprehensive quasi-steady-state thermodynamic modeling of the proposed sorption-based dehydration concept employed for a gas clothes dryer application to predict transient response and overall drying performance (i.e., time and energy metrics). The analysis indicates the proposed sorption-based gas clothes dryer system can deliver a specific moisture extraction rate of 1.71 kg of water per kWh (i.e., a combined energy factor of 3.167 kg (6.98 lbm) of dry cloth per kWh) with a drying time of 44 min. This is a 112% energy improvement compared with state-of-the-art gas clothes dryers exhibiting a combined energy factor of 1.50 kg (3.3 lbm) of dry cloth per kWh. The technology pursued here can potentially be employed as a platform for many fuel-driven equipment to take advantage of available waste thermal energy in the environment instead of simply burning a fuel.

32 ENERGY CONSERVATION, CONSUMPTION, AND UTILIZATI↗

A comprehensive modeling of falling film evaporators subject to vapor flow, pass arrangements, and refrigerants

Improving the heat transfer performance of falling film evaporators is a crucial step for improving the energy efficiency of the heat pump or refrigeration systems. This study conducts a numerical investigation for the practical-scale falling film evaporator based on the epsilon–NTU method with an updated heat transfer correlation. The algorithm was validated with lab-scale and real-scale falling film evaporator experimental results, and the prediction reaches a mean absolute deviation of 12.5%. Here, the parametric study encompasses eight refrigerants: R-134a, R-410A, R-600a, R-717, R-1270, R-152a, R-1234yf, and R-1234ze(E). The results indicate that vaporization enthalpy of refrigerant is a key property in selecting an appropriate working fluid because it helps minimize severe heat transfer degradation caused by dry-out. Additionally, the vapor-flow–induced heat transfer degradation can be predicted using the critical Weber number. Furthermore, the trade-off between extending the tube length and increasing the number of tubes for heat transfer improvement is discussed. Finally, different two-pass arrangements show deviations of less than 4 %.

Dry-out↗

Goldilocks and the three glymes: How Na+ solvation controls Na–O 2 battery cycling

In this work we report a framework to understand the role of solvent-salt interactions and how they mediate the performance of sodium-air/O 2 batteries. The utilization of suitable electrolyte materials remains a point of major concern within the research community, as their stability and decomposition pathways during cycling are intimately connected with capacity and cycle life. Glyme based solvents have been widely utilized in Na–O 2 batteries, however, to date no clear correlation between solvent/electrolyte properties and battery performance has been given. Herein, we have examined the effect of glyme chain length (ethylene glycol dimethyl ether DME; diethylene glycol dimethyl ether, DEGDME; and tetraethylene glycol dimethyl ether, TEGME) on the cycling behaviour of Na–O 2 batteries and conclude that overall cell performance is highly dependent on solvent selection, salt concentration and rate of discharge/charge. We demonstrate how solvent selection helps define cell chemistry and performance by linking salt-solvent interactions to enthalpy of dissolution - and subsequently to sodium battery electrolyte properties - through the combination of both experimental and theoretical methodologies. The approaches detailed in this study could be used to predictively prepare electrolytes for Li-air batteries, other glyme-based electrochemical systems and low temperature applications.

25 ENERGY STORAGE↗

Phase change material-to-refrigerant heat exchangers: Experimental validation and uneven melting analysis

Thermal energy storage (TES) using phase change materials (PCMs) enables load shifting and reduces mismatches between the building's thermal demand and the heat pump (HP) system's thermal capacity. While most TES studies have focused on single-phase heat transfer fluids, PCM-to-refrigerant heat exchangers (PRHX), in which the refrigerant undergoes liquid-vapor phase change, remain largely underexplored. Here, to address this gap, this study systematically investigates a shell-and-tube PRHX operating as the condenser in an HP through experiments and simulations. A two-dimensional enthalpy-based finite-volume PRHX model was developed and validated against experimental data, including refrigerant and PCM temperature profiles, PRHX capacity, and system-level performance. Results show three characteristic stages: Stage I, the condenser temperature rapidly increases with PCM in the solid state absorbing sensible heat; Stage II, stable operation during PCM phase change; and Stage III, performance decline once part of the PCM becomes fully melted. Heat transfer analysis revealed that uneven PCM melting along the condenser length was driven primarily by variations in the refrigerant-side heat transfer coefficient, rather than local approach temperature differences. Further study demonstrated that minimizing refrigerant outlet subcooling led to more uniform PCM melting and extended Stages I and II by up to 89%. This paper provides a validated PRHX model, clarifies the mechanisms of uneven PCM melting, and highlights subcooling control as an effective strategy to improve TES performance in HP systems without requiring secondary loops.

Graphite matrix↗

Computing the solubility of argon and xenon in molten sodium chloride and potassium chloride salts

Molten salt reactors (MSRs) offer significant advancements in nuclear reactor safety and efficiency by operating at higher temperatures and lower pressures compared to traditional reactors. A critical aspect of MSR operation involves understanding the solubility of fission byproducts, particularly noble gases, in the molten salts used. This study employs molecular dynamics (MD) simulations to compute Henry’s law constants and enthalpies of solvation for argon and xenon in molten sodium chloride (NaCl) and potassium chloride (KCl). We developed a new pairwise potential for the noble gas and salt interactions based on first principles calculations. We then used this potential to calculate Henry’s law constants of the two gases in the molten salts, which were modeled using both a rigid ion model (RIM) and a polarizable ion model (PIM). The solubility calculations, performed using the Widom insertion method, show qualitative agreement with limited experimental data, highlighting the temperature dependence and greater solubility of both gases in KCl compared to NaCl. Additionally, free volume analysis elucidated the role of available space within the molten salts in governing solubility trends. Our findings suggest that PIM trajectories provide more reliable predictions for noble gas solubility than RIM due to their accurate density representation. Furthermore, these results enhance understanding of gas solubility in MSR environments, and the methods can be readily extended to other systems.

71 CLASSICAL AND QUANTUM MECHANICS, GENERAL PHYSIC↗

Tailoring the rheological properties of high protein suspension by thermal-mechanical treatment

The viscoelasticity of concentrated protein suspensions associates closely with the mixing efficiency and cleaning frequency of facility during high-protein food development. This study investigated the effects of thermal-mechanical treatment on the viscoelasticity of milk protein isolate (MPI) suspensions and their underlying mechanisms to develop protein ingredient with low viscoelasticity. MPI suspensions (20%) were treated at 25, 50 and 85°C for 10-60 min under constant shear (100 s -1 ), followed by storage at 4°C. The viscosity (η) of MPI suspension treated at 50°C and 85°C was similar to 1-10% as those treated at 25 ° C. After four days of storage at 4°C, η showed the least value in 50°C-treated samples compared to those at 25 ° C and 85 ° C. The η and storage modulus (G') was decreased with prolonged treatment at 25 and 50°C, whereas opposite trend was found in 85°C treated samples. Differential scanning calorimetry found proteins in 50°C treated samples had smaller enthalpy than those in the control and 25°C treated samples. Protein surface hydrophobicity was increased slightly from 25°C to 50°C, but remarkably in 85°C treated samples. Ultra-small angle x-ray scattering showed the radius of gyration (R-g) of casein micelle was similar to 38 nm at 25°C and 50°C treated samples but increased to similar to 44 nm 85°C treated samples with reduced compactness. A new sphere-like structure with R-g of 18 nm was generated in 85°C treated samples. These findings suggested modulating temperature during thermal-mechanical treatment is essential to alter protein structures and morphology for desirable rheological properties.

59 BASIC BIOLOGICAL SCIENCES↗

Reexamining supercritical gas adsorption theories in nano-porous shales under geological conditions

Adsorption is an important phenomenon in surface chemistry, especially for nano-porous shales. In the shale gas-in-place, adsorbed gas could contribute up to 85%. However, adsorption is hard to quantitatively characterize due to different adsorption mechanisms, patterns, surfaces, and pore sizes. Moreover, key thermodynamic parameters, such as the enthalpy of adsorption, are challenging to determine due to uncertainties in adsorbed gas densities used in constructing absolute isotherms. In this paper, we revisit the Brunauer, Emmett, and Teller (BET) model, analytically simplify Ono-Kondo (OK) models for subsurface shales, and compare commonly used mono- and multilayer adsorption models (e.g., Langmuir, supercritical Dubinin-Radushkevich (SDR), supercritical BET (SBET), and simplified OK (OKs) models) with recently proposed pressure-dependent adsorption densities to develop a practical and reliable methodology that can be used in the supercritical state, typical for subsurface black shale conditions.Three independent data sets were used for nitrogen and methane adsorption isotherms at different temperatures. Furthermore, we demonstrate that adsorption predicted by the SDR model is comparable or lower than that predicted by the SBET model, but higher than the amounts predicted by Langmuir and OK models. The nitrogen BET method tends to underestimate the accessible SSA for methane. Measurement of isosteric heat of adsorption is suggested instead of the experimental fitting method, due to the significant difference between the calculated results by two commonly used methods. Experimental fitting and simulation methods are also briefly reviewed to guide future research on shale gas adsorption.

58 GEOSCIENCES↗

Thermodynamic modeling of MDEA(aq)-NH 3 (aq)-K 2 CO 3 (aq)-CO 2 (aq) using the Extended UNIQUAC model

Here, the development of advanced processes for carbon dioxide capture requires reliable thermodynamic models to ensure accurate process design. This work presents an optimized parameter set of the Extended UNIQUAC model for advanced mixed solvent solutions containing CO 2 -MDEA-NH 3 -K 2 CO 3 in water. The model was parameterized using vapor–liquid equilibrium, pure component saturation pressure, excess enthalpy, heat of absorption, molar heat capacity, apparent molar heat capacity, and solid–liquid equilibrium. These thermal and equilibrium properties cover temperatures between 253.6 K to 600 K and pressures up to 75.6 bar. The current model represents an extension of previous versions that were suitable for modeling aqueous NH 3 and K 2 CO 3 solutions. This parametrization accounts for molecular interactions between MDEA and these two components, which allows for the design of advanced capture processes. This paper demonstrates that the new model parameters are valid within the range of operational conditions typically found in CO 2 capture processes.

42 ENGINEERING↗

Implications of rootless geothermal models: Missing processes, parameter compensation, and imposter convection

Numerical models of geothermal systems commonly capture only the top of a reservoir. Deeper areas of the reservoir are simplified to a boundary at the base of the model domain. Commonly, the basal boundary is given either a heat source or a source of mass and enthalpy. Here we developed and present simple numerical experiments which demonstrate that these approaches do not produce the correct model behavior in comparison to a model that captures the entire convecting domain with a heat flux only. We describe a variety of incorrect types of model behavior that arise directly from the choice of boundary condition, independent of the specific parameterization of the model. Heat sources are sensitive to the thickness of the domain and parameters take unphysical values to compensate for the reduced height. The combined mass/heat boundary can produce temperatures that show similarities to circulating geothermal systems, but with incorrect fluid flow and a strong boundary layer focused at the base of the simulated clay cap. These errors likely cause parameters to adjust their values to compensate for the incorrect physics. We highlight these issues and show an example from a developed reservoir model. Initial calibrations to natural state temperature were unsuitable for history matching. The 3D model required parameter adjustments to achieve a more realistic production model. Appropriate mitigation measures should be considered to reduce parameter compensation and improve decision-support models.

15 GEOTHERMAL ENERGY↗

Use of tritium-rich fuel to improve the yield of layered deuterium/tritium inertial fusion capsules

In deuterium–tritium (DT) ice layered implosions, nearly all hot spot mass at peak burn comes from the dense fuel. Accurate prediction of the fuel mass ablation, including the enthalpy associated with mass inflow into the hot spot from the dense fuel, is essential to understanding the energetics and ignition of the hot spot in layered implosions. A recently published boundary layer analysis (Daughton et al., 2023) indicates a faster mass ablation rate than in previous analyses of layered implosions. Inclusion of this effect provides a better match to simulations and leads to a new ignition threshold where the temperature of the dense fuel plays a critical role. This analysis motivates possible new directions for improved capsule performance. Here, the authors present evidence in support of one such approach: the use of tritium-rich ice to decrease 14 MeV neutron scattering and heating of the dense fuel, resulting in less mass ablation and more robust burn of the hot spot. It is found from numerical simulations that despite a less favorable D:T ratio in the ice, the use of a 40:60 D:T ratio leads to an increase in capsule yield of 17% percent compared with that of a 50:50 D:T ratio fuel for capsules resembling those of the recent N210808 ignition experiment on the NIF (Abu-Shawareb et al., 2022) and an increase of 74% compared with that of a 60:40 D:T ratio fuel capsule. Finally, these results are potentially important for modeling all layered implosions, since some degree of DT fractionization may arise naturally during the beta layering process. In addition, this physics is important for the feasibility of high-gain capsule designs that seek to minimize tritium usage, as in some inertial fusion energy concepts.

70 PLASMA PHYSICS AND FUSION TECHNOLOGY↗

Experimental measurements and mathematical modeling of cold plate for aviation thermal management

Herein, this study, which has been motivated by the recent applications of the cold plate device in aviation thermal management, reports on physics-based mathematical models derived from the conservation laws of mass, momentum, and energy, and empiricism-based models. One of the objectives of the present work is to report on an elaborate and successful experimental work carried out on an additively manufactured device for the purpose of rigorously validating the numerical predictions. The excellent agreement between the numerical predictions and measured performance provides much needed confidence in the implementation, in the software package, of the offset-strip fin passage correlations, as well as in the software implementation of user-defined wavy fin correlations for aerospace heat exchangers and cold plates operating with ram air at Reynolds numbers below 8000. The contributions of this work can also be found in the development of a new and accurate thermal-hydraulic analysis procedure, referred to in this paper as plate-fin analogy. Results from this procedure are compared with those from thermal resistance network. The comparative study in this paper of the bulk and discrete enthalpy flux method is also new, as is the relative assessment of four off-set strip fin thermal-hydraulic models.

42 ENGINEERING↗

Nature-inspired lotus-shaped fins combined with hybrid nanoparticles and metal foam for high-performance latent heat thermal energy storage

Latent heat thermal energy storage (LHTES) systems play a critical role in renewable energy integration by providing high energy density and nearly isothermal operation during phase transitions. However, their performance is often limited by slow melting/charging rates, which motivates the search for enhanced heat transfer designs. This study investigates the melting behavior of RT-82 phase change material (PCM) using novel lotus-shaped fins combined with copper metal foam and conductive graphene nanoparticles and carbon nanotubes. A two-dimensional enthalpy-porosity model in ANSYS Fluent was developed to simulate the charging/melting process, capturing non-thermal equilibrium between the foam and PCM/nano-PCM. In this study, effects of fin geometry, nanoparticle concentration, and foam porosity on melting dynamics and cost-performance trade-offs were investigated. Results showed that natural convection accelerated melting by ~12% compared to conduction-only scenarios. Optimized lotus-shaped fins with higher fin density (T3F4 and T3F10) achieved up to 63% faster melting relative to sparse configurations. Graphene nanoparticles improved thermal conductivity, with a 6% volume fraction, by reducing melting time by ~6.9%, while their combination with 75% porosity foam achieved a maximum reduction in the melting time of ~51% compared to pure PCM. Cost-performance analysis identified T3F4 as the most balanced design, offering rapid thermal response without excessive material costs, while moderate-density designs like T3S6 provided economical alternatives with acceptable performance. These results highlight the performance enhancement that can be achieved by integrating bio-inspired fins, nanoparticles, and foams, into compact and efficient LHTES for solar heating, building thermal management, and industrial waste-heat recovery applications.

25 ENERGY STORAGE↗

Technoeconomic analysis of hydrogen storage using 1,4-butanediol (BDO)/γ-butyrolactone (GBL) as a stationary backup power system

Liquid organic hydrogen carriers (LOHCs) are compounds that store and release hydrogen in stable forms at high density. While one-way carriers such as methanol and ammonia have gained attention, their economic advantages are often realized from their use as an export product and direct use as a fuel. Liquid carrier materials that can instead be cycled for energy storage have promise for stationary power applications. In particular, the reversible LOHC system 1,4-butanediol (BDO, H 2 -rich) and gamma-butyrolactone (GBL, H 2 -lean) has a lower enthalpy of dehydrogenation compared to conventional cyclic hydrocarbons and can utilize non-precious metal copper-based catalysts. Here, in this study, BDO/GBL system capital and operating expenses are characterized for vapor phase versus liquid phase hydrogenation and dehydrogenation in a 10 MW backup power application corresponding to sizing of Tier 2 datacenters as well as other critical infrastructure such as hospitals. Costs are benchmarked against two incumbent technologies: a well-established methylcyclohexane/toluene carrier system and compressed gas storage. BDO/GBL storage costs are found to differ substantially between operating modes, with liquid phase hydrogenation coupled with liquid phase dehydrogenation leading to the lowest LCOS of $\$$4.58/kg H 2 in the absence of byproduct formation. In this bounding case, LCOS for the BDO/GBL system is lower than for MCH/TOL ($\$$6.97/kg H 2 ) and compressed gas ($\$$8.48/kg H 2 at 170 bara and $\$$12.05/kg H 2 at 350 bara). However, escalating costs of carrier replacement due to byproduct formation (ranging from an added $\$$6–11/kg H 2 ) illustrate the need for highly selective catalysts to ensure BDO/GBL carrier viability.

BDO/GBL↗

Development of a CPU/GPU portable software library for Lagrangian–Eulerian simulations of liquid sprays

The Lagrangian–Eulerian method is widely used for simulations of fuel sprays in turbulent combustion because of the advantage of treating the spray droplets as discrete points. One challenge of the Lagrangian–Eulerian method is the intense computational requirement when tracking the large number of Lagrangian particles needed for high fidelity. We have developed a performance-portable library, Grit, to track the Lagrangian particles in parallel on central processing unit (CPU) and graphics processing unit (GPU) accelerated high performance computing (HPC) architectures. Grit is a C++ library which employs Message Passing Interface (MPI) for distributed memory parallelism and Kokkos programming model for on-node shared memory parallelism with performance portability across different architectures of GPUs and multi-core/manycore CPUs. The parallel algorithms, key parallel kernels, and their performances on the pre-exascale supercomputer, Summit, are presented. Grit is coupled with a direct numerical simulation (DNS) solver, S3D, for multiphase simulations. A conservative formulation has been developed and implemented in Grit for phase coupling with thermodynamic consistency. The formulation separates the conservation of mass, momentum and energy from the physical models to prevent accidental violation of conservation laws due to inconsistent models. The formulation also enforces consistent definitions of enthalpies of the fuel for both phases and the latent heat of evaporation. Finally, simulations of turbulent particle-laden flow and the evaporation of dilute turbulent spray jet are performed to verify the software implementation, and to demonstrate the scalability of Grit for large-scale multiphase simulations.

97 MATHEMATICS AND COMPUTING↗

Approximation of refrigerant thermophysical properties using neural networks to speed up transient thermofluid simulations

Accurate and efficient evaluations of refrigerant thermophysical properties and their partial derivatives are essential for transient simulations of thermofluid systems, where several computations need to be executed at each integration time step. Since the utilization of an Equation of State for retrieving properties based on a pair of independent inputs typically involves numerical iterations in solution procedures, when the input variables differ from the refrigerant state variables employed in dynamic models, a variety of approaches including lookup table interpolation and curve fitting have been developed to explicitly approximate these properties based on the state variables, and consequently eliminate internal iterations. This paper presents an alternative method that exploits derivative-informed neural networks to model refrigerant properties explicitly from inputs of pressure and enthalpy, while ensuring consistent partial derivatives generated by differentiating the neural networks. Computational speed and accuracy of the proposed approach are demonstrated via transient simulations of a discretized heat exchanger model in Modelica, and comparisons against other property evaluation routines. Simulation results indicate that the proposed approach can realize a significant speedup with negligible discrepancies in predicted transients. The method is implemented in an open-source Modelica library.

Ma, Jiacheng↗

Product specific thermal degradation kinetics of bisphenol F epoxy in inert and oxidative atmospheres using evolved gas analysis–mass spectrometry

Knowledge of the degradation kinetics for polymer materials is important for understanding thermal stability. In this study, evolved gas analysis–mass spectrometry and pyrolysis gas-chromatography-mass spectrometry were evaluated for the potential to deliver additional insight into thermal degradation kinetics of diglycidal ether of bisphenol F (DGEBF) epoxy thermoset under inert and oxidative atmospheres. Degradation products of selected precursor ions were evaluated for their uniqueness to the specific precursor using extracted ion thermographs. Unique mass peaks, solely attributed to a single reaction pathway of a specific product, were determined from extracted ion thermographs and used to determine both activation energy (E a ) and pre-exponential factors for the specific primary reaction pathways. These primary reaction pathways for DGEBF epoxy degradation were then evaluated in the context of transition state theory (TST) and related transition state enthalpies (ΔH ‡ ) and entropies (ΔS ‡ ) of activation to further elucidate the degradation process. It was determined under pyrolysis conditions, as suggested by the E a , the formation of bisphenol F monomer was the rate-limiting step toward the formation of xanthene and phenol. In contrast, under thermo-oxidative conditions, reactions involving oxygen containing species were identified as the rate-limiting step for all observed products based on the large negative ΔS ‡ calculated from TST. This work demonstrates a powerful combination of technique and theory that can provide new insight into the degradation of polymer materials.

37 INORGANIC, ORGANIC, PHYSICAL, AND ANALYTICAL CH↗

Primary solidification of ternary compounds in Al-rich Al–Ce–Mn alloys

Primary solidification of ternary compounds Al 20 Mn 2 Ce and Al 10 Mn 2 Ce were analyzed through the coupling of the thermodynamic modeling and classic nucleation theory. Thermodynamic models of Al 20 Mn 2 Ce and Al 10 Mn 2 Ce were developed using the CALPHAD approach based on first-principles calculated enthalpy of formation and experimental data obtained from this work and the literature. The analysis suggested that despite the larger thermodynamic driving force for nucleation of Al 10 Mn 2 Ce, nucleation is preferred for the Al 20 Mn 2 Ce phase in the highly undercooled liquid due to its smaller interfacial energy. Therefore, manufacturing methods with rapid cooling rates will favor primary solidification of Al 20 Mn 2 Ce for Al-rich Al–Ce–Mn alloys.

36 MATERIALS SCIENCE↗