James M. Flink

Volatile transport in frozen aqueous solutions I. Development of a mechanism

Abstract Frozen aqueous butanol solutions are equilibrated at constant subzero temperature over activated charcoal. A fraction of the butanol is lost within 24 hr, the remainder being retained for over 350 hr. The retained butanol is lost only with the simultaneous loss of water. Pure ice is demonstrated to be permeable to the transport of butanol. Based on experiments which remove, the free surface, the butanol loss that is independent of water loss is shown to originate from a surface layer postulated to form during freezing of the solution. Three types of butanol-ice interactions are postulated: (1) Butanol in the surface layer; (2) butanol entrapped in interdendritic spaces; (3) butanol present in pores and cracks after sorption from the vapor state.

Rapid Drying of Water Soaked Books Using a Microwave Tunnel Dryer

Current methods for drying of water soaked books are generally slow and tedious, and it is often necessary to freeze large numbers of volumes to prevent mold growth while awaiting time to conduct the drying. We have investigated the possibility of using microwave drying (which is successfully used in the food industry) to achieve rapid water removal from water soaked books, so that freezing and other slow treatments may be unnecessary.

Volatile transport in frozen aqueous solutions II. Influence of system parameters

Abstract Frozen aqueous butanol solutions are evaluated for the influence of sample preparation and equilibration conditions on the loss of butanol. It is shown that an increase of equilibration temperature results in increased butanol loss, both water independent and water dependent. The freezing rate will influence the equilibration retention level, with faster freezing resulting in smaller butanol loss. An increase in butanol concentration gave the same percentage of butanol loss, i.e., the amount of butanol lost was directly proportional to the initial concentration.

Two simple freeze drying microscope stages

In many instances it is advantageous to make real‐time observations of freeze drying phenomena on a microscopic level. Two simple vacuum freeze drying chambers, suitable for use with the optical microscope at higher magnifications (600×), are described and examples of their use are noted.

Microwave Drying of Water Soaked Books

ABSTRACTCurrent methods for drying of water soaked books are generally slow and tedious, and it is often necessary to freeze large numbers of volumes to prevent mold growth while awaiting time to conduct the drying. We have investigated the possibility of using microwave drying to achieve rapid water removal from water soaked books, so that freezing and other slow treatments may be unnecessary. Results show that sufficient water can be rapidly removed so that the books may be opened and handled without evident danger to the pages. No noticeable changes in paper quality have been observed following the microwave drying process.