Trouton's rule for vapor sorption in solids

Hygroscopic salts exhibiting fast and reversible hydration are promising systems for seasonal heat storage, providing the possibility of storing excess solar energy from the warm season for later use during the cold season. For heat storage, the salt is dehydrated with the available heat, and for heat recovery, the salt is rehydrated. There are...

Visibility in the Netherlands during New Year's fireworks: The role of soot and salty aerosol products

The visibility on New Year's nights in the Netherlands is low during stagnant weather. This is due to the scattering and absorption of light by the aerosol-smoke from the fireworks. We made an assessment of the responsible aerosol-species. The investigation took place during the New Year's night of 2009. Measurements were made at a regional site...

Thermochemical Heat Storage: From Reaction Storage Density to System Storage Density

Long-term and compact storage of solar energy is crucial for the eventual transition to a 100% renewable energy economy. For this, thermochemical materials provide a promising solution. The compactness of a long-term storage system is determined by the thermochemical reaction, operating conditions, and system implementation with the necessary...

Study of aerosol hygroscopic events over the Cabauw experimental site for atmospheric research (CESAR) using the multi-wavelength Raman lidar Caeli

This article presents a study of aerosol optical and microphysical properties under different relative humidity (RH) but well mixed layer conditions using optical and microphysical aerosol properties from multi-wavelength (MW) Raman lidar and in-situ aerosol observations collected at the Cabauw Experimental Site for Atmospheric Research (CESAR)....

Preparation and Characterization of Sodium Sulfide Hydrates for Application in Thermochemical Storage Systems

Bottlenecks for realizing a commercial system for thermochemical heat storage (TCS) with hygroscopic salts are the chemical, physical and mechanical stability of the salt under operation conditions. Hence, improved knowledge of thermochemical materials (TCMs) is critical to spur progress in TCS system development. Sodium sulfide hydrates (Na2S...

Determining spatial sodium distribution in fresh and aged bread using laser-induced breakdown spectroscopy

A fast and easy-to-use method using laser-induced breakdown spectroscopy (LIBS) was set up to determine Na (sodium) distribution in baked bread. Standard bread was made using a standard recipe and the amount of salt added was 0, 0.5, 1, 2, 4, 10, 15 and 20g corresponding to 0, 0.25, 0.5, 1.0, 2.0, 5.0, 7.5 and 10.0% salt on the flour base. Dough...

Investigation on the behaviour of a restoration plaster applied on heavy salt loaded masonry

The present paper reports the results of a series of investigations and monitoring performed, during a period of more than three years, on an ancient church flooded by the sea 50 years ago. This building can be considered representative for many other brick-masonry monuments in the flooded areas in the Netherlands. The church, restored several...

Experimental research on hygroscopic behaviour of porous specimens contaminated with salts

Salt crystallisation is one of the main causes of masonry decay in monuments. The salt content in a wall is a very important parameter that should be known in order to give a reliable diagnosis on the causes of damage; if a restoration work and a surface treatment are necessary, the salt content has to be known. In fact the presence of salts in...

Sampling of PM10 at high relative humidity

PM10 contains hygroscopic components which attract water. Due to thiswater uptake particles which actually belong to PM10 may become so large that they are not collected in PM10 sampling. This loss is not considered in calculations of the PM10 concentration, which leads to an overestimate of the modeled PM10. The Netherlands Energy Research...