Tianyu Xu, Lixiang Zhang^*

FDMP-Fluid Dynamics & Materials Processing, Vol.16, No.3, pp. 525-536, 2020, DOI:10.32604/fdmp.2020.09618 - 25 May 2020

Abstract In this article, computational fluid dynamics (CFD) are used to explore the dynamics of water transport inside the pitted thickening of a plant xylem vessel. A pitted thickening model combined with the Bernoulli equation is used to analyze the influence of various factors (namely, the inner diameter, thickening width, thickening height, thickening spacing, number of laps and adjacent pit axial rotation). The pressure drop and the flow resistance coefficient are the variable parameters for our analysis. The results show that these two parameters are proportional to the thickening height and thickening width, and inversely proportional More >

Shu Fang¹, Lei Huang¹, Yi Wan², Weize Sun^{1, *}, Jingxin Xu³

CMC-Computers, Materials & Continua, Vol.64, No.1, pp. 541-555, 2020, DOI:10.32604/cmc.2020.010066 - 20 May 2020

Abstract With the development of science and technology, the status of the water environment has received more and more attention. In this paper, we propose a deep learning model, named a Joint Auto-Encoder network, to solve the problem of outlier detection in water supply data. The Joint Auto-Encoder network first expands the size of training data and extracts the useful features from the input data, and then reconstructs the input data effectively into an output. The outliers are detected based on the network’s reconstruction errors, with a larger reconstruction error indicating a higher rate to be… More >

Xing Zhou^1,*, Xin Zhang¹, Dong Wang¹, Changqing Fang^1,*, Wanqing Lei¹, Zhigang Huang², Yonghua Song¹, Xinyu He¹, Yingwei Huang¹

Journal of Renewable Materials, Vol.8, No.6, pp. 631-645, 2020, DOI:10.32604/jrm.2020.010176 - 12 May 2020

Abstract Cellulose plays a key role in abundant organic natural materials meeting the increasing demand for green and biocompatible products. The highly crystalline nanoscale component of cellulose nanocrystals has recently attracted great attention due to the versatile performance as filler or matrix in producing functional materials. In this work, we prepared the waterborne polyurethane via a prepolymer process, and obtained cellulose and cellulose nanocrystals from waste paper via a facile acid hydrolysis process. After that, the cellulose nanocrystals were assembled into film and mixed with polyurethane to prepare flexible polyurethane/cellulose nanocrystals composite membrane with different soaking… More >

Verónica L. Mucci¹, M. E. Victoria Hormaiztegui², Mirta I. Aranguren^1,*

Journal of Renewable Materials, Vol.8, No.6, pp. 579-601, 2020, DOI:10.32604/jrm.2020.09455 - 12 May 2020

Abstract The increasing pressure from consumers and policy makers to reduce the use of synthetic polymers, whose production contributes to the depletion of non-renewable resources and are usually non- biodegradable, has prompted the efforts to find suitable bio-based sources for the production of polymers. Vegetable oils have been a frequently spotted in this search because they are versatile, highly available and a low cost liquid biosource, which can be used in the synthesis of a wide plethora of different polymers and reactive monomers. Following the same idea of reducing the environmental stress, the traditional polyurethanes that… More >

Xingguo Feng^1,2,3, Yiji Zhang¹, Xiangyu Lu^1,*, Yiwen Xu¹, Leyuan Zhang¹, Chao Zhu¹, Tong Wu¹, Yashi Yang⁴, Xuhui Zhao⁵

Journal of Renewable Materials, Vol.8, No.5, pp. 513-534, 2020, DOI:10.32604/jrm.2020.09549 - 29 April 2020

Abstract Durability and ecological effects of the stainless steel reinforced coral waste concrete were compared with those of the carbon steel reinforced ordinary concrete. The results showed that the corrosion current densities of the stainless steel in the coral waste concrete were less than one-tenth of those of the carbon steel in the same grade ordinary concrete. The stainless steel in the seawater coral waste concrete maintained passivation even after more than two years of immersion in 3.5% NaCl solution, while the carbon steel counterparts in the ordinary concrete were seriously corroded under the same condition. More >

Zhichao Han, Yaojun Zhang^*, Panyang He

Journal of Renewable Materials, Vol.8, No.4, pp. 405-416, 2020, DOI:10.32604/jrm.2020.09351 - 24 April 2020

Abstract In this study, a magnetic P zeolite was directly synthesized by utilization of industrial solid wastes of zinc slag (ZS) and circulating fluidized bed fly ash (CFBFA) via one-step hydrothermal method. The effects of different CFBFA/ZS ratios and hydrothermal times on the as-synthesized zeolite were investigated. The X-ray diffraction (XRD) and vibrating sample magnetometer (VSM) results indicated that the magnetic P zeolite possessed well-defined crystals and superparamagnetism. The as-prepared zeolite was employed as a Fenton-like solid catalyst for degradation of direct green B dye wastewater. It was discovered that the magnetic P zeolite took the More >

María Laura Molinelli^*, Rocío Tarifa, Patricia Perissé

Phyton-International Journal of Experimental Botany, Vol.89, No.2, pp. 345-360, 2020, DOI:10.32604/phyton.2020.08796 - 22 April 2020

Abstract Echium plantagineum (Boraginaceae) is native of the Mediterranean regions, has been introduced and become widespread within the American continent (North to South), South Africa, New Zealand and Australia. This plant has seed dormancy, aggressively spreads to infest vast areas of predominantly agricultural land and is considered a toxic weed to livestock. The objectives of this research were: (i) to study the morpho-anatomy of the diaspores of E. plantagineum; (ii) to identify the pathway of water uptake; and (iii) to characterize the germination and the seedling. The morpho-anatomical studies were carried out analyzing semi-permanent slides of transverse and… More >

Mounir Kriraa^1,2,*, Khalid Souhar³, Driss Achemlal⁴, Youssef Ait Yassine^5,6, Abdelmajid Farchi¹

FDMP-Fluid Dynamics & Materials Processing, Vol.16, No.2, pp. 199-209, 2020, DOI:10.32604/fdmp.2020.07986 - 21 April 2020

Abstract In this paper, a detailed investigation of water (Pr ¼ 7:0) convection in a chemical condenser is carried out. Two openings are located along one side of the cavity. The Navier-Stokes equations are solved in the frame of a control volume method using the SIMPLEC algorithm to implement adequate coupling of pressure and velocity. Special emphasis is given to the influence of the Reynolds number, the tilt of the channel and the Rayleigh number on the convective heat transfer. Results are presented and discussed allowing the control parameters to span relatively wide intervals: Rayleigh number (10⁴ More >

Houda Jalali^{1, ∗}, Hassan Abbassi¹

FDMP-Fluid Dynamics & Materials Processing, Vol.16, No.2, pp. 181-198, 2020, DOI:10.32604/fdmp.2020.07804 - 21 April 2020

Abstract The addition of nanoparticles into liquid, even at low concentrations, leads to an increase in both, dynamic viscosity and thermal conductivity. Furthermore, the increase in temperature causes an increase in thermal conductivity and a decrease in the nanofluid viscosity. In this context, a numerical investigation of the competition between viscosity and thermal conductivity about their effects on heat transfer by Al₂O₃-water nanofluid was conducted. A numerical study of heat transfer in a square cavity, filled with Al₂O₃-water nanofluid and heated from the left side, was presented in this paper. Continuity, momentum, and thermal energy equations are… More >

Jonathan Lacuesta^1,*, Iris Beatriz Vega Erramuspe², Liji Sobhana², Dennis Kronlund³, Jouko Peltonen³, Soledad Gutiérrez¹, Pedro Fardim^2,4

Journal of Renewable Materials, Vol.8, No.3, pp. 275-287, 2020, DOI:10.32604/jrm.2020.08861 - 01 March 2020

Abstract Biobased adsorbents are eco-friendly materials used for water and wastewater treatment and air cleaning. This research work explores the potential use of rice husk chars as a low-cost adsorbent for pollutants from water, such as methylene blue and ethinylestradiol. Rice husk chars are prepared by combustion of rice husks (RH-Char) or pre-treated rice husks (PT-Char). A third char (M-Char) supplied by a local company which uses rice husks as combustion material is also studied. The chars are characterized by field emission scanning electron microscopy (FE-SEM) in conjunction with energy dispersive X-ray spectroscopy (EDX), X-ray powder… More >