Nikolaos A. Kazakis

Influence of Spray Drying Conditions on Tomato Powder Properties

Abstract This work investigates the effect of spray drying conditions on some properties of tomato powder prepared by spray drying of tomato pulp. A pilot scale spray dryer (Buchi, B-191) with cocurrent regime and a two-fluid nozzle atomizer was employed. Sixty-four different experiments were conducted keeping constant the feed rate, the feed temperature, and the atomizer pressure, and varying the compressed air flow rate, the flow rate of drying air, and the air inlet temperature. Tomato powders were analyzed for moisture, solubility, density (bulk and packed), and hygroscopicity. Analysis of experimental data yielded correlations between powder properties and the above-mentioned variable operating conditions. Regression analysis was used to fit a full second order polynomial, reduced second order polynomials and linear models to the data of each of the properties evaluated. F values for all reduced and linear models with an R 2 ≥ 0.70 were calculated to determine if the models could be used in place of full second order polynomials.

A cleaning method to minimize contaminant luminescence signal of empty sample carriers using off-the-shelf chemical agents

Signals acquired during thermoluminescence or optically stimulated luminescence measurements must be completely free of any spurious and/or contamination signals to assure the credibility of the results, especially during exploratory research investigating the luminescence behavior of new materials. Experiments indicate that such unwanted signals may also stem from new (unused) and used empty sample carriers, namely cups and discs, which are widely used for such measurements, probably due to contamination from a fluorite and/or silica-related source. Fluorite and/or silicone oil appear to be the most likely sources of contamination, thus, their removal, along with any other possible source that exhibits undesirable luminescence behavior, is necessary. Conventional cleaning methods fail to eliminate such contaminants from empty cups and discs. In this work a new cleaning method is proposed incorporating off-the-shelf chemical agents. Results of thermoluminescence measurements highlight the efficiency of the new cleaning process, since it can completely remove any observed contaminants from both new and used sample carriers, of various shapes and/or materials. Consequently their signal is minimized even at relatively high beta-doses, where it is prominent, resulting in a clean and only sample-attributed signal.

Thermoluminescence characteristics of a chondrite (Holbrook) and an aubrite achondrite (Norton County) meteorites

The present study constitutes the first part of a meteorite project, currently in progress, towards the full and thorough dosimetric study (TL and OSL) of two different meteorites of recent fall, Norton County and Holbrook. Both meteorites exhibit strong TL sensitivity, linear dose response and no saturation for doses up to 2kGy. However, the two meteorites exhibited a very dissimilar TL glow curve and behaviour regarding sensitization and fading. Notably, the Norton County aubrite achondrite was found to exhibit a strong fading of the high-temperature peak (~300°C), attributed to anomalous fading, whereas Holbrook did not seem to show signs of anomalous fading. Since quantitative conclusions regarding the thermal and irradiation history of meteorites, require knowledge of the detailed peak structure of the glow curve and deeper understanding of the trapping mechanism, the glow curves, after irradiation in the range 10-2000Gy, were deconvoluted using general order kinetics. The fitting parameters extracted point towards complex non-strictly first order mechanisms with a multitude of traps acting very differently. All the above, combined with future OSL measurements, currently in progress, are expected to shed light on the nature of the involved traps in both phenomena (energy depth, light-resistance etc), which would allow to extract more concrete conclusions about their history.