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At least 145 records · Page 8

GLEAM: Galaxy Line Emission & Absorption Modeling

We present Galaxy Line Emission & Absorption Modeling (gleam), a Python tool for fitting Gaussian models to emission and absorption lines in large samples of 1D extragalactic spectra. gleam is tailored to work well in batch mode without much human interaction. With gleam, users can uniformly process a variety of spectra, including galaxies and active galactic nuclei, in a wide range of instrument setups and signal-to-noise regimes. gleam also takes advantage of multiprocessing capabilities to process spectra in parallel. With the goal of enabling reproducible workflows for its users, gleam employs a small number of input files, including a central, user-friendly configuration in which fitting constraints can be defined for groups of spectra and overrides can be specified for edge cases. For each spectrum, gleam produces a table containing measurements and error bars for the detected spectral lines and continuum and upper limits for nondetections. For visual inspection and publishing, gleam can also produce plots of the data with fitted lines overlaid. In the present paper, we describe gleam’s main features, the necessary inputs, expected outputs, and some example applications, including thorough tests on a large sample of optical/infrared multi-object spectroscopic observations and integral field spectroscopic data. gleam is developed as an open-source project hosted at https://github.com/multiwavelength/gleam and welcomes community contributions.

79 ASTRONOMY AND ASTROPHYSICS↗

First direct 7 Be electron-capture $\mathrm{Q}$-value measurement toward high-precision searches for neutrino physics beyond the Standard Model

Here, we report the first direct measurement of the nuclear electron-capture (EC) decay Q value of 7 Be → 7 Li via high-precision Penning trap mass spectrometry (PTMS). This was performed using the LEBIT Penning trap located at the National Superconducting Cyclotron Laboratory/Facility for Rare Isotope Beams (NSCL/FRIB) using the newly commissioned Batch-Mode Ion-Source (BMIS) to deliver the unstable 7 Be + samples. With a measured value of Q EC = 861.963(23) keV, this result is three times more precise than any previous determination of this quantity. This improved precision and accuracy of the 7 Be EC decay Q value is critical for ongoing experiments that measure the recoiling nucleus in this system as a signature to search for beyond the Standard Model (BSM) neutrino physics using 7 Be-doped superconducting sensors. This experiment has extended LEBIT capabilities, using the first low-energy beam delivered by BMIS at FRIB for PTMS, as well as measuring the lightest-mass isotopes so far with LEBIT.

73 NUCLEAR PHYSICS AND RADIATION PHYSICS↗

A graphics processing unit accelerated sparse direct solver and preconditioner with block low rank compression

We present the GPU implementation efforts and challenges of the sparse solver package STRUMPACK. The code is made publicly available on github with a permissive BSD license. STRUMPACK implements an approximate multifrontal solver, a sparse LU factorization which makes use of compression methods to accelerate time to solution and reduce memory usage. Multiple compression schemes based on rank-structured and hierarchical matrix approximations are supported, including hierarchically semi-separable, hierarchically off-diagonal butterfly, and block low rank. Here, in this paper, we present the GPU implementation of the block low rank (BLR) compression method within a multifrontal solver. Our GPU implementation relies on highly optimized vendor libraries such as cuBLAS and cuSOLVER for NVIDIA GPUs, rocBLAS and rocSOLVER for AMD GPUs and the Intel oneAPI Math Kernel Library (oneMKL) for Intel GPUs. Additionally, we rely on external open source libraries such as SLATE (Software for Linear Algebra Targeting Exascale), MAGMA (Matrix Algebra on GPU and Multi-core Architectures), and KBLAS (KAUST BLAS). SLATE is used as a GPU-capable ScaLAPACK replacement. From MAGMA we use variable sized batched dense linear algebra operations such as GEMM, TRSM and LU with partial pivoting. KBLAS provides efficient (batched) low rank matrix compression for NVIDIA GPUs using an adaptive randomized sampling scheme. The resulting sparse solver and preconditioner runs on NVIDIA, AMD and Intel GPUs. Interfaces are available from PETSc, Trilinos and MFEM, or the solver can be used directly in user code. We report results for a range of benchmark applications, using the Perlmutter system from NERSC, Frontier from ORNL, and Aurora from ALCF. For a high frequency wave equation on a regular mesh, using 32 Perlmutter compute nodes, the factorization phase of the exact GPU solver is about 6.5× faster compared to the CPU-only solver. The BLR-enabled GPU solver is about 13.8× faster than the CPU exact solver. For a collection of SuiteSparse matrices, the STRUMPACK exact factorization on a single GPU is on average 1.9× faster than NVIDIA’s cuDSS solver.

97 MATHEMATICS AND COMPUTING↗

aphBO-2GP-3B: a budgeted asynchronous parallel multi-acquisition functions for constrained Bayesian optimization on high-performing computing architecture

High-fidelity complex engineering simulations are often predictive, but also computationally expensive and often require substantial computational efforts. The mitigation of computational burden is usually enabled through parallelism in high-performance cluster (HPC) architecture. Optimization problems associated with these applications is a challenging problem due to the high computational cost of the high-fidelity simulations. In this paper, an asynchronous parallel constrained Bayesian optimization method is proposed to efficiently solve the computationally expensive simulation-based optimization problems on the HPC platform, with a budgeted computational resource, where the maximum number of simulations is a constant. The advantage of this method are three-fold. Firstly, the efficiency of the Bayesian optimization is improved, where multiple input locations are evaluated parallel in an asynchronous manner to accelerate the optimization convergence with respect to physical runtime. This efficiency feature is further improved so that when each of the inputs is finished, another input is queried without waiting for the whole batch to complete. Second, the proposed method can handle both known and unknown constraints. Third, the proposed method samples several acquisition functions based on their rewards using a modified GP-Hedge scheme. The proposed framework is termed aphBO-2GP-3B, which means asynchronous parallel hedge Bayesian optimization with two Gaussian processes and three batches. The numerical performance of the proposed framework aphBO-2GP-3B is comprehensively benchmarked using 16 numerical examples, compared against other 6 parallel Bayesian optimization variants and 1 parallel Monte Carlo as a baseline, and demonstrated using two real-world high-fidelity expensive industrial applications. The first engineering application is based on finite element analysis (FEA) and the second one is based on computational fluid dynamics (CFD) simulations.

97 MATHEMATICS AND COMPUTING↗

Influence of porous aluminosilicate grain size materials in experimental and modelling Cs + adsorption kinetics and wastewater column process

This paper focuses on the influence of the grain size of a geopolymer based adsorbent on its Cs + adsorption performances both in batch and fixed-bed process. The geopolymer phase was used as a binder to support NaY zeolite particle in a 20 wt% charged porous composite with 160 m 2 .g –1 of porous surface area. These samples were shaped with three grain sizes (50 /100/500 µm) to remove 80–90 mg/g of Cs + in batch and column operations. After their microstructural and porous characterizations, their efficiency and adsorption characteristics were investigated through adsorption isotherms and kinetic in the two processes. While the grain size has no influence on the maximal extraction capacity of the adsorbent, it strongly affects the sorption kinetic. By coupling experimental data and a modelling approach, the complex sorption mechanism was highlighted, suggesting a new insight of the contaminant sorption kinetic. Then, comparison of batch and column adsorption experiments illustrates the detailed explanation of various process parameters for column study. The results show challenges for fixed-bed column utilization by the choice of the appropriate grain size as a compromise between the material sorption kinetic and hydrodynamic considerations. Furthermore, this is of high importance to more accurately optimize the design of column adsorption to assess the transport of Cs+ in multi-porous tailored grain size materials.

36 MATERIALS SCIENCE↗

Carbon Fiber Reinforced Plastic with Substantially Improved Through-plane Thermal Conductivity

Thermal conductivity of carbon fiber support structures that also serve as cooling substrates is of increasing importance for high energy physics detectors. One of the shortcomings of current carbon fiber laminates is that they exhibit excellent thermal conductivity of order several hundred W/(m*K) along the fiber direction, whereas the through plane thermal conductivity perpendicular to the fibers is orders of magnitude lower, and at about 1 W/(m*K) more in the range of thermal insulators. This proposal aims to significantly improve the through plane thermal conductivity, by at least a factor five, changing CFRP from being a thermal insulator to a thermal conductor in the through plane direction. Between June 2021 and December 2022, a total of 36 carbon fiber laminate test samples and two carbon loaded epoxy test samples were manufactured and analyzed for thermal performance. Unfortunately, the promising results obtained with a similar sample manufactured in 2017 were not reproduced. We believe this to be mainly due the excessive age of the carbon fiber prepreg material used for this SBIR - the same material batch, produced in 2015, was used in 2017 and in 2021/2022, i.e. the material was seven years old when the final samples were produced - , and to a lesser degree to the difference in pressure attainable with the 2017 and 2021/2022 laminate curing setups. While disappointing, the results are not completely discouraging, since for the samples with the highest compression the through-plane thermal conductivities plotted as a function of per-ply thickness extrapolate well to the data point from the 2017 sample.

72 PHYSICS OF ELEMENTARY PARTICLES AND FIELDS↗

ETF Grout Expansion: Effects of Different Slags and Struvite Precipitation Protocols (Stirring Time)

The ETF ammonia tolerant grout waste form was developed by the Vitreous State Laboratory (VSL) to stabilize ammonium and thereby prevent emission of ammonia vapor during solidification of an ammonium-rich, concentrated sodium sulfate aqueous waste stream generated at the Hanford Effluent Treatment Facility (ETF). VSL personnel did not observe expansion in samples prepared during the waste form development work. However, Savannah River National Laboratory (SRNL) personnel detected expansion, in a few ETF grout samples, up to ~ 20 percent vertical expansion, while preforming work scope to evaluate the effect of ETF brine compositional ranges on the precipitation and solidification processes. The initial work requests can be found in Washington River Protection Services (WRPS) Statement of Work (SOW, Requisitions #: 339922 Revisions 0 and 1, March 11, 2021, and November 2021, respectively. As a result of the waste form expansion observed by SRNL, additional evaluation was requested by WRPS SOW Requisitions #: 356730 Revision 0 and Revision 1, February 1, 2022, and July 11, 2022, respectively. The goal of these requests was to determine whether differences in the slags and / or in sample preparation protocols used by VSL and SRNL were the cause of the expansion observed in the SRNL samples. G. Chen, WRPS, arranged a materials exchange between VSL and SRNL and coordinated the VSL protocol(s) for grouting and curing 1L batches of Base Case ETF base case simulant. Materials were exchanged between VSL and SRNL. Both laboratories performed the VSL struvite precipitation-solidification protocol and cured samples for at least 28 days. Differences in VSL and SRNL slag compositions, mineralogy and particle size results in themselves or combined were determined to not be the cause of the expansion because all samples expanded regardless of whether the VSL or SRNL slags were used. The fundamental cause of the observed expansion could not be attributed to minor variations in the following: 1) chemistry of the slag and other reagents, 2) container wall thickness, 3) ambient bench top curing conditions at VSL and SRNL, 4) pH adjustments to 7 ± a few tenths of unit, nor 5) stirring time between the precipitation and solidification process steps. Additional observations include: grout samples prepared with VSL slag expanded less than those prepared with the SRNL slag and, based on a very limited sample set, some samples stirred for longer times expanded less than those stirred for 20 minutes.

12 MANAGEMENT OF RADIOACTIVE AND NON-RADIOACTIVE W↗

ML-based Micro-CT SOFC Microstructure Models (from Kent 2026 Microstructural Augmentation paper)

Overview -------------------------- This repository contains datasets from the manuscript **"Enhanced Generalizability to Deep-Learning Quantification of 3D Microstructural Characteristics through Microstructurally Aware Augmentation of Scarce Data"** (*William F. Kent, Rochan Bajpai, Rachel C. Kurchin, William K. Epting, Harry W. Abernathy, Paul A. Salvador. Submitted 2026*). The methods are also described in the dissertation **Data Intensive Analysis of Solid Oxide Cell Microstructures** (*Doctoral dissertation, Carnegie Mellon University, 2025*). The datasets here are trained convolutional neural network (CNN) models for predicting key microstructural properties of solid oxide cell (SOC) electrodes from low-res, 2-channel 3D images, as well as some helpful code. The parameters for input images are provided in the paper. Sample data is provided in the file `Combined_anode_aug_dual_1k_examples` - that particular data was used to train `anode_all_aug.pth` and will work most accurately with that model. Please familiarize yourself with all caveats on accuracy and applicability, as detailed in the associated paper. Usage -------------------------- The basic usage is as follows, assuming `model_fn` is the path to the .pth file, and `X` is 2-channel input image(s) of the proper dimensions (either one image of shape `[2,12,24,24]`, or a batch of N input images of shape `[N,2,12,24,24]`): from CNN_inferencer import load_model_for_inference model = load_model_for_inference(model_fn) y_predicted = model(X) The model object automatically handles input scaling and output de-scaling based on the way the models were trained - in other words, pass in a 2-channel micro-CT image, and it will output microstructural property values in real units. ## Other model object attributes Note that model has useful attributes other than its forward pass model(X). * `model.output_descaler` - returns the output descaler object. Model does the de-scaling when generating inferences, but you may want to re-use this de-scaler on other values to e.g. compare predictions to ground truth from already-scaled training data. * `model.prop_names` - Gives the property names of the predicted y values, in order. Only exists if there's an output scaler as part of the model object, which there will be in the models provided here. ## Usage with sample data Here is a short script to use with the included sample data. from CNN_inferencer import display_predictions, load_model_for_inference, calculate_mape, parity_plot import h5py import numpy as np model_fn = 'anode_all_aug.pth' data_fn = 'Combined_anode_aug_dual_1k_examples.h5' N_samples = 200 figure_outdir = '.' model = load_model_for_inference(model_fn) with h5py.File(data_fn,'r') as f: XX = f['X'] #These are the 2-channel 3D images yy = f['y'] #These are the ground-truth microstructural properties, but they have been scaled for training - need to de-scale below N = XX.shape[0] #How many images total in the input data file #Run inferences on N_samples random samples from XX. #Run in a batch, much more efficient than one at a time. ii = np.random.choice(N,N_samples,replace=False) ii.sort() y_pred = model(XX[ii]) #Get the original/true (but normalized/scaled) values from the training dataset... #Because they were normalized, they are not in real units yet. So let's also de-scale them using model.output_scaler. y_true = model.output_scaler.transform(yy[ii]) #Let's display actual values for just 5 random ones for i in np.random.choice(N_samples,5,replace=False): display_predictions(y_true[i], y_pred[i], model.prop_names) #Make parity plots for each property (ground truth vs predicted values) #Also label each plot with the mean abs. percent error (MAPE) of the predicted values for i,key in enumerate(model.prop_names): mape = calculate_mape(y_true[:,i], y_pred[:,i]) parity_plot(y_true[:,i], y_pred[:,i], figure_outdir, key, extra_title=f' ({mape:.2f}% MAPE)')

3D microstructure↗

Pore connectivity influences mass transport in natural rocks: Pore structure, gas diffusion and batch sorption studies

For this work, six rocks (one granodiorite, one limestone, two chalks, one mudstone, and one dolostone) with different extents of heterogeneity at six different particle sizes (from 75 to 8000 μm) were studied to describe the effects of pore connectivity on mass transport. The methods applied were (i) porosity measurement of granular rocks, (ii) analyses of gas-phase diffusive transport in a bed of packed particles, along with a solid quartz method at these six particle sizes being developed to identify the contribution of intraparticle diffusion, and (iii) batch sorption tests of multiple ions (anions and cations) with subsequent analyses of inductively coupled plasma-mass spectrometry. Granular porosity measurement results reveal that with decreasing particle sizes, the effective porosities for the “heterogenous” group of rocks (Grimsel granodiorite and Edwards limestone) increase, whereas the porosities of another “homogeneous” group (two Israel chalk samples, Japan mudstone, and Wyoming dolostone) remain constant. Gas diffusion results show that the intraparticle gas diffusion coefficient among these two sample groups, varying in the magnitude of 10 -8 to 10 -6 m 2 /s, are not directly correlated to the porosity differences. Moreover, the batch sorption work displays a different affinity of rocks for various tracers. For Grimsel granodiorite, Japan mudstone, and Wyoming dolostone, the adsorption capacity of Sm 3+ and Eu 3+ increases as the particle size decreases. In general, this integrated research of grain size distribution, granular rock porosity, intraparticle diffusivity, and ionic sorption capacity gives insights into the pore connectivity effect on both physical and chemical transport behaviors for different lithologies and/or different particle sizes.

58 GEOSCIENCES↗

Effects of Interactions Between Produced Formation Fluid and Rock Matrix on Pore Structure of Caney Shale, Southern Oklahoma

ABSTRACT: Rock-fluid interactions change properties of shales during exploitation. To investigate effects of rock-fluid interactions on pore structure of shales matrix after hydraulic fracturing, powder samples from two late Mississippian Caney Shale cores in the Ardmore Basin, southern Oklahoma, were used to react with formation produced fluid from the field in the batch reactor analysis. X-ray diffraction for mineralogy and Low-pressure nitrogen adsorption isotherms for pore structure were measured for original, after-7days, and after-30days samples. Results show that the samples consist mainly of quartz, followed by clay minerals, carbonates, and feldspar. The pore sizes of micropore (<2 nm) and mesopore (2-50 nm) increase 14%-233% due to dissolution of pyrite, feldspar, and carbonates after 7 days. Due to the transformation from smectite to illite and the increase of pore size, the specific surface area (SSA) decreases after 7-days interactions. After 30-days interactions, the micropore volume slightly increases and the mesopore and macropore volume decreases. Due to the decrease of pore size, the SSA of 30-days reacted samples increases correspondingly and is lower (for the clay-rich sample) or higher (for the calcareous sample) than that of the unreacted samples. Findings improve our understanding of dynamic alteration of shale properties during production. 1. INTRODUCTION Energy demand will continuously grow owing to the increasing global population as well as energy consumption (EIA, 2023). On the other hand, shale gas and oil reshaped the energy market in the United States, enabling the United States to become a net-export of natural gas country in 2017 (EIA, 2023). However, shale reservoirs are challenging tight formations that are still poorly understood in the extraction and production of hydrocarbons (Ross and Bustin, 2009; Curtis et al., 2012; Xiong et al., 2015, 2021a; Li Y. et al., 2016; Gong et al., 2019a; Benge et al., 2021; Awejori et al., 2022; Huang et al., 2022). One of the most challenging topics is the rock-fluid interactions post hydraulic fracturing and its subsequent impacts on the pore structures of fractured formation matrix.

Xiong, Fengyang↗

Accelerated 133 Xe Quantification in Samples Containing Significant 133 mXe

The quantification of 133 Xe in the presence of its mother radionuclide 133 mXe requires the full quantification of both to perform the ingrowth correction for 133 Xe. Due to the nature of both of these radionuclides, the 133 mXe requires significantly more time to quantify by High Purity Germanium (HPGe) detectors due to lower production yields, lower gamma emission probabilities, and lower detection efficiencies. This work shows that 133 Xe and 133 mXe quantification can be accelerated by measuring the 133m:133 activity ratio for a large batch of material and applying this activity ratio to assays of lower activity subsamples of the same batch of material. Included in this report are derivations of the required decay correction equations, and experiments using actual samples to validate the performance of these equations. A detector calibration method is also shown that leverages this method as an alternative to existing calibration methods for 133 mXe quantification.

133mXe↗

Automated Defect Identification For Triso Fuels

The developed code is to be used to identify manufacturing defects of nuclear fuel kernels using image processing methods. Past batches of TRi-structural ISOtropic particle (TRISO) fuel kernels have on occasion contained fissures that result in the fuel batch not meeting specifications. The developed code automates the inspection process of these kernels. The code analyzes micrographs of TRISO fuel kernels and outputs a count of total kernels in the sample, a count of the number of defective particles in the sample, as well as processed images for more effective manual inspection. This information output will be used to help identify if defective kernels are present in a fuel batch and quantify the countable fissure fraction.

Oncken, JosephE.↗

Simultaneous isotopic analysis of fission product Sr, Mo, and Ru in spent nuclear fuel particles by resonance ionization mass spectrometry

Abstract Fission product Sr, Mo, and Ru isotopes in six 10-μm particles of spent fuel from a pressurized water reactor were analyzed by resonance ionization mass spectrometry (RIMS) and evaluated for utility in nuclear material characterization. Previous measurements on these same samples showed widely varying U, Pu, and Am isotopic compositions owing to the samples’ differing irradiation environments within the reactor. This is also seen in Mo and Ru isotopes, which have the added complication of exsolution from the UO 2 fuel matrix. This variability is a hindrance to interpreting data from a collection of particles with incomplete provenance since it is not always possible to assign particles to the same batch of fuel based on isotopic analyses alone. In contrast, the measured 90 Sr/ 88 Sr ratios were indistinguishable across all samples. Strontium isotopic analysis can therefore be used to connect samples with otherwise disparate isotopic compositions, allowing them to be grouped appropriately for interpretation. Strontium isotopic analysis also provides a robust chronometer for determining the time since fuel irradiation. Because of the very high sensitivity of RIMS, only a small fraction of material in each of the 10 μm samples was consumed, leaving the vast majority still available for other analyses.

11 NUCLEAR FUEL CYCLE AND FUEL MATERIALS↗

MONet/1000 Soils metagenome pathway modelling narrative w/ auto batch import

This narrative performs metabolic modeling and flux balance analysis (FBA) using metagenome-assembled genomes (MAGs) from the 1000 Soils samples, as described by Song et al. (2026, accepted). The set of MAGs (in FASTA format) is converted into a set of assembly objects compatible with functional annotation via RASTtk, yielding a set of genome objects that undergo metabolic modeling via OMEGGA. These genome objects are then used to conduct FBA, generating tables of metabolite uptake rates across the MAGs under investigation.

59 BASIC BIOLOGICAL SCIENCES↗

Melt Processing Pretreatment Effects on Enzymatic Depolymerization of Poly(ethylene terephthalate)

Poly(ethylene terephthalate) (PET) is a common thermoplastic material, used in a wide variety of applications (i.e., bottles, fabrics, packaging, electronics, and automotive components). Increasing demand for PET has precipitated a need for improved recycling technology, especially for single-use PET waste. Recently, enzymatic depolymerization has shown promise as an environmentally responsible alternative for PET chemical recycling that yields economically useful products (e.g., terephthalic acid, adipic acid, and ethylene glycol). However, the depolymerization system still suffers from low rates on crystalline PET substrates, and effects of realistic waste streams are not known. In our work, PET waste is pretreated using an ultra-high-speed twin-screw extruder system. PET substrates were modified by various processing pretreatments to allow enzymes better access to depolymerize substrate materials. The effect of varying throughput and mechanical shear on structural properties of the PET waste was analyzed using molecular weight and thermal characterizations. These pretreated samples exhibit modifications in molecular weight, glass transition temperature, crystallinity, and specific surface area. The unpurified leaf-branch compost cutinase enzyme produced from the fed-batch fermentation of Escherichia coli BL21(DE3) was used in enzymatic depolymerization, where a faster reaction was observed as crystallinity was decreased and the specific surface area was increased. The rate of terephthalic acid production was also significantly higher for samples processed at lower mechanical shear with higher throughputs. As a result, this work demonstrates the potential for tailoring pretreatments in pursuit of faster and more energy efficient PET recycling using enzymes, with facile adaptation to the industrial scale for the circular economy.

37 INORGANIC, ORGANIC, PHYSICAL, AND ANALYTICAL CH↗

Preliminary Characterization and Evaluation on FFF Manufactured 316H and ODS Steels

The Advanced Materials and Manufacturing Technology (AMMT) program develops cross-cutting technologies in support of a broad range of nuclear reactor technologies and maintains U.S. leadership in materials and manufacturing technologies for nuclear energy applications. The overarching vision of AMMT is to accelerate the development, qualification, demonstration, and deployment of advanced materials and manufacturing technologies to enable reliable and economical nuclear energy. Solid-state advanced manufacturing techniques can overcome some of the challenges in liquid-based additive manufacturing (AM) processes and should therefore be considered in material design and manufacturing as well. The work presented in this report forms part of a study on solid-state AM techniques of 316 stainless steels (SS) and oxide dispersion strengthened (ODS) steel components and supports the vision and goals of the AMMT program relevant to accelerate the development and deployment of advanced manufacturing processes. Achieving this can provide a safety improvement through larger safety margins, economic benefit for higher efficiency during operation, and a cost reduction through more effective manufacturing processes and less waste. This study provides preliminary information on development of the fused-filament fabrication (FFF) process using different powder types to demonstrate the sensitivity, and therefore the characterization of these sample components. The full solid-state manufacturing feasibility study will be completed and reported in a final feasibility evaluation during 2025. The study investigation used two 14YWT ODS powder batches, which provided information and the effect of different powder morphologies on manufacturability. The two 316SS powders demonstrated the effect of powder size on the manufacturability using FFF. Two product forms, namely a honeycomb structure and flat samples, were manufactured to demonstrate the flexibility of product form.

36 MATERIALS SCIENCE↗

Drying of strawberries with airborne ultrasound and other integrated dehydration mechanisms

This article presents a comprehensive investigation into the drying of strawberries using multiple dehydration methods with an emphasis on energy efficiency and sustainability. Initially, an airborne ultrasonic transducer with a frequency of 21 kHz was employed in batch operations to examine the effects of controlling parameters, including applied power, distance from the transducer plate, sample thickness, and sample holder type. The Energy Ratio, defined as the ratio of thermal energy required to evaporate moisture to ultrasonic energy, was observed to reach up to 2.2, particularly during the initial stages of drying. Subsequently, the Smart Dryer integrated airborne ultrasound (US) dehydration, slot jet reattachment (SJR) nozzle convective drying, infrared (IR) drying, and their combinations, enabling a systematic exploration of various drying conditions on the drying time and quality of strawberries. The integration of airborne US with SJR nozzles and IR drying demonstrates a promising approach for optimizing drying processes. This method not only preserves the quality of dried strawberries but also improves the energy factor to 0.88, reducing drying time by 89% compared with other conditions. Key quality attributes of the dried strawberries, such as color and water activity, were evaluated to understand the influence of each drying method. The findings highlight the potential of these integrated drying techniques as sustainable solutions for efficient and high-quality strawberry dehydration.

42 ENGINEERING↗