[{"id":671,"title":"Fluidized bed for coffee brewing","sha":"a833e4975bff2455d4d3a9e466b87618","user_id":null,"state":"published","body":"Experimental and theoretical studies of the coffee brewing process have shown that most coffee preparation methods are affected by uneven particle distribution and uneven exposure of coffee grounds to hot water. This results in over-extraction from some percentage of the coffee granules and under-extraction from others, affecting both flavour and extraction efficiency.\r\n\r\nPrior research has focused on adjusting parameters such as coarseness of grind, temperature and pressure of water, and duration of exposure to address these issues, but elementary chemical reactor design offers a more comprehensive solution: the fluidized bed, a type of chemical reactor where upward fluid flow through a particle bed generates enough of a pressure difference to suspend those particles, permitting them to move freely between one another. \r\n\r\nAll conventional coffee brewing methods are essentially packed-bed type extractors, and it is well-known in the chemical industry that fluidized beds offer superior fluid flow dispersion and homogeneity of particle distribution, hence providing more complete and more uniform contact solid-fluid contact. It follows that fluidized bed extraction methods would address the shortfalls of coffee brewing methods, resulting in more complete and more consistent extraction, improving flavour and strength while reducing the quantity of coffee grounds that must be used.\r\n","created_at":"2020-01-24T06:25:15.206Z","updated_at":"2020-04-14T21:33:46.332Z","zenodo_id":3660064,"doi":"https://doi.org/10.5281/zenodo.3660064","subject":null,"tags":["coffee","brewing","engineering"],"vote_count":2,"view_count":1,"score":2.1,"deleted":false,"muted":false,"tweeted":true,"attachment_file_name":null,"attachment_content_type":null,"attachment_file_size":null,"attachment_updated_at":null},{"id":415,"title":"Operational and lifecycle advantages of hybridized iron ore reduction and biomass gasification","sha":"d579f9e2301065453dde71408f1be61c","user_id":null,"state":"published","body":"Recent research has demonstrated that biomass can be used as a reducing agent for iron ore but also that iron ore reduction can be coupled with biomass gasification, co-producing reduced iron and synthesis gas which can itself be converted to liquid fuels through the Fischer Tropsch process. \r\nEconomic analysis has revealed that iron is the preferred product from a financial standpoint and that such processes will tend to focus on producing iron, with a trade-off in terms of synthesis gas production. However, critical operational considerations have yet to be considered. An iron smelter's design capacity is constant but the productivity of an iron mine is initially far below that capacity, taking years to reach full capacity, fluctuating over the course of its lifespan and then diminishing to nothing when the iron deposit is depleted. Co-production permits this operational deficit to be met with increased gasification and allows for conversion to dedicated gasification after the mine's lifespan. \r\nBesides offering a carbon-neutral alternative to coal for iron smelting, this technology therefore offers a means of increasing smelter productivity and a pathway toward a renewable fuels industry, with the capital expenses covered by the iron smelting phase of operation.","created_at":"2017-10-18T08:54:54.610Z","updated_at":"2017-10-19T06:00:33.311Z","zenodo_id":1018918,"doi":"https://doi.org/10.5281/zenodo.1018918","subject":null,"tags":["renewability","carbon emissions","engineering"],"vote_count":0,"view_count":1,"score":0.1,"deleted":false,"muted":false,"tweeted":true,"attachment_file_name":null,"attachment_content_type":null,"attachment_file_size":null,"attachment_updated_at":null},{"id":858,"title":"agricolaeplotr: An R package for visualising experimental designs in science and engineering","sha":"7d5007cfc09d9b9f7958eb6d8ffb5dac","user_id":null,"state":"published","body":"Experimental designs are widely used in the life sciences to substantiate hypotheses through experiments. In the life sciences, this is an indispensable part of gaining scientific knowledge. In addition, open source software is increasingly used in science and engineering. One important programme is R, which is used as a statistical programme for evaluating experiments. The most important R package for designing experiments is the agricolae package, which creates many common experimental designs. However, apart from simple matrix sketches for selected designs, the package does not contain any visualisations of the experimental designs. This gap will be closed by the planned agricolaeplotr package. \r\n\r\nThe planned workflow: The user can enter an object as input, which contains an experimental design from the agricolae package and gets a field map output with a few parameters. \r\nThis shows the spatial dimensions of the experiment, as well as the location of the individual plots in the experiment. In addition, the plot numbers are output as labels, and the plots are coloured according to the levels of a factor (see attachment). This can be further processed, as pure ggplot2 functions are used. These maps can be used to communicate with project stakeholders in science and education.\r\n","created_at":"2021-07-04T16:39:26.157Z","updated_at":"2021-09-13T06:00:54.858Z","zenodo_id":5502175,"doi":"https://doi.org/10.5281/zenodo.5502175","subject":null,"tags":["r","package","agriculture","visualisation","science","engineering"],"vote_count":0,"view_count":1,"score":0.1,"deleted":false,"muted":false,"tweeted":false,"attachment_file_name":"fieldmap_three_factors.pdf","attachment_content_type":"application/pdf","attachment_file_size":15333,"attachment_updated_at":"2021-07-04T16:39:26.137Z"}]