The study was aimed to determine the hydrodynamic of water seepage through a porous bed saturated with different amounts of high viscosity liquids. An attempt was made to describe the process of seepage through beds saturated with oils using the theory of outflow of a liquid from the tank. It was assumed that the discharge coefficient will represent changes of flow resistance during the process. It was found that the dependence of this factor on time is linear. In the second part of this work kinetics of the seepage process was investigated. Dependence of oil concentrations, eluted from the deposit with the flowing water, on time has been evaluated. Thanks to these studies it was possible to determine the effectiveness of an elution of high viscosity liquids from porous beds using water as the washing out liquid.

The paper presents selected granular ceramic materials available on the Polish market. Their characteristics have been determined in the aspect on application in the production of iron alloy-ceramic composite. The possibility of obtaining a composite layer by means of bulk grains in molds of plates were considered, which was the foundation for experimental molds to be used in service tests. On the basis of obtaining results was stated that the knowledge of the characteristics of bulk grains enables the calculation of their quantity necessary for the composite production. When using the bulk grains the thickness of the composite layer is restricted by the thermal relations (cooler) and the physical phenomena (buoyancy, metal static pressure). Increasing amount of grains above definite condition causes surface defects in the castings. Each casting, due to its weight, shape and place of composite layer production requires an individual approach, both at the stage of formation and that of calculation of the required quantity of ceramic grains.

The short outlook at main problems related to pollutant migration modelling in the granular layer is critically discussed in the paper. The general model of pollutant migration in granular was transposed into dimensionless form. The general model was adapted to describe the examined decontamination technology and two operational models were differentiated due to the dominant mass transfer resistances in the system. The verification validated the functional effectiveness of the suggested model and its numerical implementation under different conditions. It approves the possibility of the practical application of the proposed method. The problem of influence of irregular distribution of negative mass sources (sorptivc agglomerates) on mass transport in the granular layer was underlined.

The following discussion concerns the use of innovative smart materials called vacuum-packed particles (VPPs) as active energy absorbers. VPP, also known as a granular jamming system, is a structure composed of granular media contained within an elastomer coating. By changing the vacuum pressure inside the coating, it is possible to control the mechanical properties of the structure. VPPs have many applications, e.g. in medicine, robotics, and vibration damping. No attempts have yet been made to use VPPs to absorb the energy of a collision, although, given their properties, this could very well be an interesting application. In the first part of the paper, the general concept of the absorber is presented. Then a prototype and the empirical tests conducted are precisely described. The middle part of the paper considers the basic properties of VPP and modeling methodology. A proposal for a constitutive equation is presented, and a numerical simulation using LS-Dyna was performed. In the final section, the concept of a smart parking post is presented..

The article presents research results of the introduction of powdery activated carbon to the existing technological system of the groundwater treatment stations in a laboratory, pilot plant and technical scale. The aim of the research was to reduce the content of organic compounds found in the treated water, which create toxic organic chlorine compounds (THM) after disinfection with chlorine. Nine types of powdery active carbons were tested in laboratory scale. The top two were selected for further study. Pilot plant scale research was carried out for the filter model using CWZ-30 and Norit Sa Super carbon. Reduction of the organic matter in relation to the existing content in the treated water reached about 30%. Research in technical scale using CWZ-30 carbon showed a lesser efficiency with respect to laboratory and pilot-plant scale studies. The organic matter decreased by 15%. Since filtration is the last process before the individual disinfection, an alternative solution is proposed, i.e. the second stage of filtration with a granular activated carbon bed, operating in combined sorption and biodegradation processes. The results of tests carried out in pilot scale were fully satisfactory with the effectiveness of 70–100%.

Mixing of granular materials is unquestionably important. Mixing solids is common in industrial applications and frequently represents a critical stage of the processes. The effect of mixing determines the quality of the products. Achieving a gas or liquid mixture ideally homogeneous in terms of composition in the case of dissolving components is not that difficult, while in case of granular materials that usually differ in sizes and densities, obtaining a homogenous mixture is practically impossible. The aim of the paper is to present the kinetics of mixing of a multicomponent, nonhomogeneous granular mixture. For the first time in mixing of granular materials, a reference has been made to the terminology used in kinematics of fluid mixtures to determine the state of the mixture: turbulent or laminar. By means of statistical analysis the mixing process was divided into two stages. The initial phase of the process was called the stage of turbulent changes, due to large differences in the quality of the observed mixtures; the final step of the process was called the stage of laminar, stable changes, where further mixing did not result in a significant improvement in quality. The research was conducted in industrial conditions in a two-tonne mixer.

Belts are widely applied in mine production for conveying ores. Understanding ore granularity, which is a crucial factor in determining the effectiveness of crushers, is vital for optimising production efficiency throughout the crushing process and ensuring the success of subsequent operations. Based on edge computing technology, an online detection method is investigated to rapidly and accurately obtain ore granularity information on high-speed conveyor belts. The detection system utilising machine vision technology is designed in this paper. The high-speed camera set above the belt is used to collect the image of the ore flow, and the collected image is input into the edge computing device. After binary, grey morphology and convex hull algorithm processing, the particle size distribution of ore is obtained by statistical analysis. Finally, a 5G router is used to output the settlement result to a cloud platform. In the GUANBAOSHAN mine of Ansteel Group, the deviation between manual screening and image particle size analysis was studied. Experimental results show that the proposed method can detect the ore granularity, ore flow width and ore flow terminal in real-time. It can provide a reference for the staff to adjust the parameters of the crushing equipment, reduce the mechanical loss and the energy consumption of the equipment, improve the efficiency of crushing operation and reduce the failure rate of the crusher.

This work investigates adsorption of n-hexane on activated tyre pyrolysis char (ATPC) and granular activated carbon (GAC) as a reference material in a fixed-bed column. Microwave-assisted regeneration is also considered. The adsorbed amount of n-hexane on ATPC is in the range of 37–58 mg/g. Microwave-assisted desorption of ATPC samples enables the recovery of up to 95% of adsorbed n-hexane in this non-optimized microwave setup with the efficiency of microwave energy conversion into heat of only 5–6%. For the 50% breakthrough time, ATPC and GAC are able to purify the n-hexane gas volumes in the ranges of 20–90 and 935–1240 cm3/g, respectively. While adsorption kinetics is not satisfactorily described by pseudo-first and pseudo-second order kinetic models, it is very well reflected by a family of dynamic adsorption models, which are modelled with a single logistic function. Internal diffusion is likely the rate limiting step during adsorption on ATPC, while external and internal diffusion likely plays a role in adsorption to GAC. Although microwave-assisted regeneration is performed in a general purpose microwave reactor, both adsorbents show excellent performance and are very good candidates for the adsorption process. Preliminary results show that magnetite can further reduce microwave energy consumption.

This paper presents a method of optical fluorescence analysis for the evaluation of homogeneity of multicomponent grain mixtures. This method is based on the evaluation of the content of fluorescent marker. Maize with two degrees of fineness d1 = 1:25 mm and d2 = 2:00 mm was used as a tracer. Maize was covered with Rhodamine B, which emits red light under the influence of ultraviolet radiation. The tracer was introduced into the mixture before the mixing process began. Nine multicomponent grain mixtures were used. The proportion of fluorescent maize was evaluated on the basis of computer image analysis. Additionally, the fraction of the tracer was evaluated using a control method (validation of the accuracy of the proposed method). The results indicate that the degree of the tracer’s fineness influences the results obtained. The use of fluorescent maize with particle size d2 = 2:00 mm allowed to obtain results which differed less from the control method. The average size of the difference in results ranged from 0.20–0.38 for the 2.00 mm tracer and 0.38–1.34 for the 1.25 mm tracer.

Although the study of oscillatory motion has a long history, going back four centuries, it is still an active subject of scientificr esearch. In this review paper prospective research directions in the field of mechanical vibrations were pointed out. Four groups of important issues in which advanced research is conducted were discussed. The first are energy harvester devices, thanks to which we can obtain or save significant amounts of energy, and thus reduce the amount of greenhouse gases. The next discussed issue helps in the design of structures using vibrations and describes the algorithms that allow to identify and search for optimal parameters for the devices being developed. The next section describes vibration in multi-body systems and modal analysis, which are key to understanding the phenomena in vibrating machines. The last part describes the properties of granulated materials from which modern, intelligent vacuum-packed particles are made. They are used, for example, as intelligent vibration damping devices.

The paper provides statistical analysis of the photographs of four various granular materials (peas, pellets, triticale, wood chips). For analysis, the (parametric) ANOVA and the (nonparametric) Kruskal-Wallis tests were applied. Additionally, the (parametric) two-sample t-test and (non-parametric) Wilcoxon Rank-Sum Test for pairwise comparisons were performed. In each case, the Bonferroni correction was used. The analysis shows a statistical evidence of the presence of differences between the respective average discrete pixel intensity distributions (PID), induced by the histograms in each group of photos, which cannot be explained only by the existing differences among single granules of different materials. The proposed approach may contribute to the development of a fast inspection method for comparison and discrimination of granular materials differing from the reference material, in the production process.

A two-scale numerical homogenization approach was used for granular materials. At small-scale level, granular micro-structure was simulated using the discrete element method. At macroscopic level, the finite element method was applied. An up-scaling technique took into account a discrete model at each Gauss integration point of the FEM mesh to derive numerically an overall constitutive response of the material. In this process, a tangent operator was generated with the stress increment corresponding to the given strain increment at the Gauss point. In order to detect a loss of the solution uniqueness, a determinant of the acoustic tensor associated with the tangent operator was calculated. Some elementary geotechnical tests were numerically calculated using a combined DEM-FEM technique.

In this work, sorption of chromium on granular ferric hydroxide (GFH) has been investigated using batch and column techniques. The adsorption behavior of Cr on GFH, depending on pH, contact lime and sorbent amount were studied. The equilibrium adsorption capacity of GFH for Cr was measured and cxtrapo latcd using Freundlich isotherms. Metal ions bounded lo the GFH could be recovered by alkaline solution, and the GFH can be recycled. The sorption capacity of GFH was 25.0 mg/g. The ion exchange of chromium on GFH follows pseudo-first-order kinetics. The intraparticlc diffusion of chromium on GFH presents the limiting rate. The results indicated practical value of this method for industry and also provide strong evidence to support the proposed thesis about the adsorption mechanism.

This paper concerns the problem of empirical investigation and mathematical modelling of a novel controllable damper using vacuum packed particles. Vacuum packed particles tend to be placed among the group of so-called ‘smart structures’. The macroscopic mechanical features of such structures can be controlled by the partial vacuum parameter. The authors consider an application of Bouc-Wen model in order to represent the dynamic behaviour of the investigated device. The verification of the model response with experimental data is discussed. The Bouc-Wen model parameters identification is described.

In this study, we performed the qualitative analysis of exoproteins during granule formation in the pres- ence or in the absence of cations. The staining of thin granule cryosections showed that nucleic acids, proteins, polysaccharides and calcium cations were the dominant components of the granules. Proteins are the structural components associated with calcium ions. We determined changes in the proteomic profile and tightly bound extracellular polymeric substances (EPS) of the slime. The exopolymeric matrix containing the proteins was extracted using the Dowex resin method. Proteomic profile was analysed by SDS-PAGE method (sodium dodecyl sulphate polyacrylamide gel electrophoresis) using Coomassie blue staining in the samples of the aerobic granule matrix formed in the presence of multivalent cations and compared with that of the aerobic granules cultivated without cations. The results indicate that the granule matrix is predominantly composed of large and complex proteins that are tightly bound within the granular structure. The tightly bound extracellular polymeric substances (TB-EPS) may play a role in improved mechanical stability of aerobic granules. In the supernatant fraction of the sludge, only a small amount of free proteins in the medium molecular mass range was detected. The protein with high molecular mass ( 116 kDa) produced in the reactors with added Ca2+. Ca2+ had a considerable regulatory influence on production of extracellular proteins during aerobic granulation.