International audienc

Experiments at DIII-D investigated the effects of magnetic error fields similar to those expected from proposed ITER test blanket modules (TBMs) containing ferromagnetic material. Studied were effects on: plasma rotation and locking, confinement, L-H transition, the H-mode pedestal, edge localized modes (ELMs) and ELM suppression by resonant magnetic perturbations, energetic particle losses, and more. The experiments used a purpose-built three-coil mock-up of two magnetized ITER TBMs in one ITER equatorial port. The largest effect was a reduction in plasma toroidal rotation velocity v across the entire radial profile by as much as v/v ∼ 60% via non-resonant braking. Changes to global n/n, β/β and H 98 /H 98 were ∼3 times smaller. These effects are stronger at higher β. Other effects were smaller. The TBM field increased sensitivity to locking by an applied known n = 1 test field in both L-and H-mode plasmas. Locked mode tolerance was completely restored in L-mode by re-adjusting the DIII-D n = 1 error field compensation system. Numerical modelling by IPEC reproduces the rotation braking and locking semi-quantitatively, and identifies plasma amplification of a few n = 1 Fourier harmonics as the main cause of braking. IPEC predicts that TBM braking in H-mode may be reduced by n = 1 control. Although extrapolation from DIII-D to ITER is still an open issue, these experiments suggest that a TBM-like error field will produce only a few potentially troublesome problems, and that they might be made acceptably small.

Cereal Chem. 82(5):528-533 A process was developed to separate fiber from distillers dried grains with solubles (DDGS) in a dry-grind corn process. Separation of fiber from DDGS would provide two valuable coproducts: 1) DDGS with reduced fiber, increased fat, and increased protein contents; and 2) fiber. The process, called elusieve process, used two separation methods, sieving and elutriation, to separate the fiber. Material carried by air to the top of the elutriation column was called the lighter fraction and material that settled to the bottom of the column was called the heavier fraction. We evaluated the compositions of fractions produced from sieving and elutriation. Two commercial samples of DDGS were obtained from two dry-grind corn plants. Sieving over four screens (869, 582, 447, and 234 µm openings) created five size categories. The two smallest size categories contained >40% (w/w) of the original DDGS and had reduced fiber and increased protein and fat contents relative to the original DDGS. Elutriation of the remaining three size categories increased protein and fat contents and reduced fiber contents in the heavier fractions. Elutriation at air velocities of 1.59-5.24 m/sec increased the protein content of the heavier fraction by 13-41% and increased the fat content of the heavier fraction by 4-127% compared with the bulk fractions of each size category. This process was effective in separating fiber from both DDGS samples evaluated. Elusieve process does not require changes in the existing dry-grind process and can be implemented at the end of the drygrind process.

Experiments were conducted to evaluate the nutritional value of corn distillers dried grains with solubles (DDGS) and its components of grains and solubles, the effect on amino acid digestibility of autoclaving DDGS with different proportions of wet grains:solubles, and the effect of several new processing technologies on the nutritional value of DDGS for poultry. In the latter experiments, corn was processed under laboratory conditions to produce ethanol and DDGS by using the conventional dry-grind process and compared with 2 modified dry-grind corn processes. Modified dry-grind corn processes consisted of wet quick germ, quick fiber (QGQF process) and dry degerm defiber (3D process) fractionation of corn to recover the germ and pericarp fiber prior to fermentation. In another process, a commercial DDGS sample was subjected to an Elusieve method to remove fiber and increase the protein content. Freeze-dried solubles were higher in total P but lower in CP than in the grains and DDGS. Digestibilities of several amino acids in the freeze-dried grains and solubles were higher than those for DDGS, particularly for Lys. Autoclaving reduced the digestibility of amino acids in DDGS, and this effect was not influenced by the proportion of grains:solubles. The QGQF and 3D processes increased the protein and reduced the fat and total dietary fiber content in DDGS. Total P was increased by the QGQF process, but was reduced by the 3D process. The Elusieve process increased the protein, amino acids, and fat, and decreased the total dietary fiber content of DDGS from 34.5 to 19.7% on a DM basis. None of the processing technologies had a significant effect on DDGS amino acid digestibility. The results of this study indicated that the nutritional value of DDGS can be influenced greatly by the proportion of grains vs. solubles and by processing technologies.

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Bio-oil produced from pinewood by fast pyrolysis has the potential to be a valuable substitute for fossil fuels. Pretreatment prior to the fast pyrolysis process has been shown to alter the structure and chemical composition of biomass. To determine the influence of biomass pretreatments on bio-oil produced during fast pyrolysis, we tested three pretreatment methods: dilute acid, dilute alkali, and steam explosion. Bio-oils were produced from untreated and pretreated pinewood feedstocks in an auger reactor at 450 °C. The bio-oils' physical properties including pH, water content, acid value, density, viscosity, and heating value were measured. Chemical characteristics of the bio-oils were determined by gas chromatographyÀmass spectrometry. Results showed that bio-oil yield and composition were influenced by biomass pretreatment. Of the three pretreatment methods, 1% H 2 SO 4 pretreatment resulted in the highest bio-oil yield and best bio-oil quality.

Solid state metathesis reactions between RECl(3) (RE = La, Ce) and Li(2)CN(2) at 800 degrees C have led to the discovery of the rare earth chloride carbodiimide nitrides La(2)Cl(CN(2))N (1) and Ce(2)Cl(CN(2))N (2), respectively. Single crystal X-ray diffraction analyses revealed that 1 and 2 crystallize isotypic in an orthorhombic system (Cmmm, Z = 4, a = 13.3914(8) A, b = 9.6345(7) A, c = 3.9568(2) A for 1 and a = 13.340(1) A, b = 9.5267(8) A, c = 3.9402(5) A for 2). The crystal structures of 1 and 2 contain linear chains of edge-sharing octahedra built from rare earth metal atoms. Similar to [M(6)X(8)] type clusters, the [RE(6)] octahedra are capped by eight nitrogen atoms above their faces, of which four are from N(3-) ions and the other four are from (CN(2))(2-) ions. The chains are interconnected by bridging (CN(2))(2-) to form a three-dimensional network with Cl(-) ions in linear channels. Compounds 1 and 2 are surprisingly stable toward air and water. They have been characterized by thermal analysis, infrared spectroscopy, and magnetic susceptibility studies.

Neutral particle behavior in Aditya tokamak, which has a circular poloidal ring limiter at one particular toroidal location, has been investigated using DEGAS2 code. The code is based on the calculation using Monte Carlo algorithms and is mainly used in tokamaks with divertor configuration. This code has been successfully implemented in Aditya tokamak with limiter configuration. The penetration of neutral hydrogen atom is studied with various atomic and molecular contributions and it is found that the maximum contribution comes from the dissociation processes. For the same, H α spectrum is also simulated and matched with the experimental one. The dominant contribution around 64% comes from molecular dissociation processes and neutral particle is generated by those processes have energy of ~2.0 eV. Furthermore, the variation of neutral hydrogen density and H α emissivity profile are analysed for various edge temperature profiles and found that there is not much changes in H α emission at the plasma edge with the variation of edge temperature (7-40 eV).