Method for efficient calculating earth pressure of retaining wall considering plant transpiration.

An accurate estimation of earth pressure on retaining walls is imperative to achieving its design. This paper presents an analytical method framework that considers the effect of plant transpiration relative to the traditional calculation approaches. Specifically, a closed-form solution for one-dimensional steady unsaturated flow considering plant transpiration is incorporated into a representation of effective stress to obtain the changes in matric suction, and effective stress. The representations are used to extend Hooke's law and Rankine's earth pressure theory to determine at-rest, active, and passive earth pressures. Subsequently, the analytical method is used in a series of analysis case studies on the influence of root architecture types, transpiration rates, and soil types on earth pressure, to reveal that it can rapidly obtain the earth pressure. Notably, the effect of plant transpiration on earth pressure is significant. Furthermore, it is found that soil types and transpiration rates have a larger influence than root architecture types. Collectively, the research not only reveals the effect of plant on earth pressure for retaining wall, but also provides a theoretical basis for further exploration of the contribution of plants to the stability of retaining wall.

Prediction of hot-water-soluble extractive, pentosan and cellulose content of various wood species using FT-NIR spectroscopy.

The potential of near infrared spectroscopy in conjunction with partial least squares regression to predict chemical composition of various wood species including softwoods and hardwoods was examined. Hot-water-soluble extractive, pentosan and cellulose content of various wood species were predicted with high coefficient of determination between the predicted and measured values, the ratio of performance to deviation, range error ratio, and low root mean square error of cross validation for cross-validation and root mean square error of prediction for test set validation. Hot-water-soluble extractive and cellulose content models were only suitable for quality control analysis, but pentosan content model had an excellent fit with the data and could be used in any application. All the results indicate that Fourier transform near infrared spectroscopy could be applied to predict the chemical composition of various wood species.

Furfural formation from the pre-hydrolysis liquor of a hardwood kraft-based dissolving pulp production process.

This study aimed to produce furfural from the PHL. Results showed best furfural yield of 32.8% and the furfural selectivity of 37.7% in the monophase system (170 °C, 100 min), while they were 60.1% and 69.8%, respectively in the biphase system. The lower furfural selectivity in the monophase system was explained by more side reactions, such as fragmentation, condensation reactions, resinification and others. Model compounds such as: xylose, furfural, syringaldehyde, were used to confirm/identify these side reactions. The addition of dilute sulfuric acid/acetic acid in the system under the same conditions decreased the recovery of furfural. The addition of syringaldehyde into the PHL also led to a decrease in the furfural yield, supporting the conclusion that lignin structures in the PHL may also be involved in the side reactions, thus decreasing the furfural yield.

Improvement of bleached wheat straw pulp properties by using aspen high-yield pulp.

The bleached wheat straw pulp (BWSP) accounts for about 25% of the virgin fiber supply in the Chinese Pulp and Paper Industry. As a non-wood chemical pulp, BWSP is known to have low bulk, low light scattering coefficient and poor drainage due to its high content of parenchyma cells. In this study, a high-quality aspen high-yield pulp (HYP) was used to improve the BWSP properties at the laboratory scale. The results indicate that adding 5-20% aspen HYP into unrefined or refined BWSP can minimize many of the drawbacks associated with the BWSP: improving its drainage, bulk, light scattering coefficient and opacity. The addition of a small amount (up to 20%) of aspen HYP can also significantly increase the tear index of BWSP with only a slight decrease of the tensile index.

Treatment of poplar alkaline peroxide mechanical pulping (APMP) effluent with Aspergillus niger.

Although the moderate load (COD of 5000-10,000 mg/L) and biodegradability of the APMP pulping effluent should allow biological treatment, toxic compounds in the effluent can interfere with this type of treatment. Studies were conducted to determine if treatment of the effluent with Aspergillus niger S13 was feasible. Under the optimized conditions (3% inoculum, pH 6, shaking at 160 rpm, 60-72 h, and 30°C), this fungus was able to remove about 97% of the methyl tertiary butyl ether (MTBE) extractives, and 60%, 77% and 43% of the chemical oxygen demand, turbidity and color even without a pre-flocculation step. These results are of practical interest in China because the APMP process has become popular, and efficient and cost-effective effluent treatment technologies are in high demand.

Treatment of APMP pulping effluent based on aerobic fermentation with Aspergillus niger and post-coagulation/flocculation.

A novel two-stage biological/flocculation process was developed for treating the pulping effluent from the alkaline peroxide mechanical pulping (APMP) process. In the first biological stage, the aerobic fermentation by using Aspergillus niger can decrease the chemical oxygen demand (COD) by about 60% while producing about 7 g/l of solid biomass. In the second stage (post-coagulation/flocculation), the residual COD, turbidity and color, can be further decreased by using alum and polyacrylamide (PAM). The overall removal efficiencies of COD, color and turbidity from the APMP pulping effluent by the above two-stage biological-coagulation/flocculation process were 93%, 92% and 99%, respectively, under the conditions studied.

[Spectra analysis of lignin small molecular guaiacyl coniferyl alcohol biological modification treated by laccase].

The enzymatic modification mechanism of lignin small molecular lignin guaiacyl coniferyl alcohol existing in softwood and hardwood treated by laccase was studied. Gas chromatography-mass spectrometry (GC-MS), gel permeation chromatography (GPC), FTIR spectrum and PCD(particle charge detector) etc were used for the measurement. GC-MS could not detect the coniferyl alcohol monomer after treated by laccase, so it was speculated that coniferyl alcohol participated in the reaction totally, and the structure of coniferyl alcohol was changed. GPC demonstrated that the molecular weight of coniferyl alcohol increased when it was treated by laccase, and coniferyl alcohol was polymerized. FTIR spectrum determined the reaction point of coniferyl alcohol when treated by laccase, and it is mainly phenolic hydroxyl, aromatic ring side chain substituent such as methoxy, double bound in side chain, beta-carbonyl groups, and gamma-carbonyl groups. PCD gave a result that the cationic demandv(CD) decreased by 88.38%.