T.W.J. Scheenen

Intact Plant Magnetic Resonance Imaging to Study Dynamics in Long-Distance Sap Flow and Flow-Conducting Surface Area

Due to the fragile pressure gradients present in the xylem and phloem, methods to study sap flow must be minimally invasive. Magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) meets this condition. A dedicated MRI method to study sap flow has been applied to quantify long-distance xylem flow and hydraulics in an intact cucumber (Cucumis sativus) plant. The accuracy of this MRI method to quantify sap flow and effective flow-conducting area is demonstrated by measuring the flow characteristics of the water in a virtual slice through the stem and comparing the results with water uptake data and microscopy. The in-plane image resolution of 120 × 120 μm was high enough to distinguish large individual xylem vessels. Cooling the roots of the plant severely inhibited water uptake by the roots and increased the hydraulic resistance of the plant stem. This increase is at least partially due to the formation of embolisms in the xylem vessels. Refilling the larger vessels seems to be a lengthy process. Refilling started in the night after root cooling and continued while neighboring vessels at a distance of not more than 0.4 mm transported an equal amount of water as before root cooling. Relative differences in volume flow in different vascular bundles suggest differences in xylem tension for different vascular bundles. The amount of data and detail that are presented for this single plant demonstrates new possibilities for using MRI in studying the dynamics of long-distance transport in plants.

Gas and liquid phase distribution and their effect on reactor performance in the monolith film flow reactor

Nuclear magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) has been applied to study the phase distribution in the monolith film flow reactor. The accumulation of the liquid in the corners of the square channel with an arc-shaped gas–liquid interface has been determined. The average liquid saturation is in good agreement with model calculations. Non-uniformities of the liquid distribution over the four corners of the square channel were apparent, besides the maldistribution over the cross-section of the monolith. Computational fluid dynamics (CFD) calculations applying the measured liquid distribution predict a broadening of the residence time distribution and a shorter break-through time, due to the maldistribution, which is in very good agreement with experimental results. The impact on the modeled gas–liquid mass transfer performance seems to be negligible, due to the nearly linear relation between kGLaV and uLs.

Functional Imaging of Plants: A Nuclear Magnetic Resonance Study of a Cucumber Plant

Functional magnetic resonance imaging was used to study transients of biophysical parameters in a cucumber plant in response to environmental changes. Detailed flow imaging experiments showed the location of xylem and phloem in the stem and the response of the following flow characteristics to the imposed environmental changes: the total amount of water, the amount of stationary and flowing water, the linear velocity of the flowing water, and the volume flow. The total measured volume flow through the plant stem was in good agreement with the independently measured water uptake by the roots. A separate analysis of the flow characteristics for two vascular bundles revealed that changes in volume flow of the xylem sap were accounted for by a change in linear-flow velocities in the xylem vessels. Multiple-spin echo experiments revealed two water fractions for different tissues in the plant stem; the spin-spin relaxation time of the larger fraction of parenchyma tissue in the center of the stem and the vascular tissue was down by 17% in the period after cooling the roots of the plant. This could point to an increased water permeability of the tonoplast membrane of the observed cells in this period of quick recovery from severe water loss.

Using NMR displacement imaging to characterize electroosmotic flow in porous media.

Pulsed field gradient nuclear magnetic resonance (PFG-NMR) and NMR imaging were used to study temporal and spatial domains of an electrokinetically-driven mobile phase through open and packed segments of capillaries. Characteristics like velocity distribution and an asymptotic dispersion are contrasted to viscous flow behavior. We show that electroosmotic flow in microchannel geometries can offer a significant performance advantage over the pressure-driven flows at comparable Peclét numbers, indicating that velocity extremes in the pore space of open tubes and packed beds are drastically reduced. An inherent problem of capillary electrochromatography that we finally address is the existence of wall effects when in the general case the surface zeta-potentials of the capillary inner wall and the adsorbent particles are different. Using dynamic NMR microscopy we were able resolve this systematic velocity inequality of the flow pattern which strongly influences axial dispersion and may be responsible for long time-tails of velocity distribution in the mobile phase.

Spatially resolved transport properties in radially compressed bead packings studied by PFG NMR.

Pulsed field gradient (PFG) multi-echo (ME) and turbo spin-echo (TSE) imaging is used to study dispersive flow in radially compressed chromatographic columns packed with porous silica beads. By using the pulsed field gradient turbo spin-echo sequence spatially resolved displacement imaging can be accelerated by a factor of 16. The positive effect of homogeneous radial packing on flow velocity and dispersion is demonstrated. Small heterogeneities of only a few percent are shown to cause changes of the dispersion coefficient of up to 50%.