High-level Expression of an Acidic and Thermostable Chitosanase in Pichia pastoris Using Multi-copy Expression Strains and High-celldensity Cultivation

Zhou Ronghua,Liao Xianqing,Liu Fang,Dong Qing,Chen Wei,Wang YaPing,Rao Ben 한국생물공학회 2020 Biotechnology and Bioprocess Engineering Vol.25 No.4

Chitin is a linear homopolymer of acetylated β- (1,4)-linked glucosamine residues and among the most abundant polysaccharides in the world. Here, we identified and purified a novel chitosanase (CCHA) from Aspergillus oryzae NKY2017 obtained from Hu’bei province in China. Construction of a cDNA library from this strain revealed the gene sequence subsequently expressed in Pichia pastoris and subsequent construction of multi-copy expression plasmids (CCHA1/2/3/4). The results demonstrated elevated levels of CCHA expression in multi-copy strains, with strain CCHA4 chosen for high-density fermentation and enzyme-activity experiments. High-density fermentation achieved a CCHA yield of 22,500 U/mL, and temperature and pH optimization resulted in the highest CCHA activity at 40°C and 4.0, respectively. We used this enzyme for a large-scale preparation of oligosaccharides: 4 g enzyme could convert 150 kg chitosan into oligosaccharides in 24 h at 40°C. These results demonstrated abundant CCHA expression in P. pastoris and suggested the efficacy of CCHA for use in industrial applications.

Segment Training Based Individual Channel Estimation for Multi-pair Two-Way Relay Network with Power Allocation

( Xiandeng He ),( Ronghua Zhou ),( Nan Chen ),( Shun Zhang ) 한국인터넷정보학회 2018 KSII Transactions on Internet and Information Syst Vol.12 No.2

In this paper, we design a segment training based individual channel estimation (STICE) scheme for the classical two-way relay network (TWRN) with multi-pair sources (MPS) and amplify-and-forward (AF). We adopt the linear minimum mean square error (LMMSE) channel estimator to minimize the mean square error (MSE) without channel estimation error, where the optimal power allocation strategy from the relay for different sources is obtained. Then the MSE gains are given with different source pairs among the proposed power allocation scheme and the existing power allocation schemes. Numerical results show that the proposed method outperforms the existing ones.

Numerical simulation of natural convection around the dome in the passive containment air-cooling system

Dong Chunhui,Chen Shikang,Chen Ronghua,Tian Wenxi,Qiu Suizheng,Su G.H. 한국원자력학회 2023 Nuclear Engineering and Technology Vol.55 No.8

The Passive containment Air-cooling System (PAS) can effectively remove the decay heat of the modular small nuclear reactor after an accident. The details of natural convection around the dome, which is a key part of PAS, were investigated numerically in the present study. The thermal dynamics around the dome were studied through the temperature, pressure and velocity contours and the streamlines. Additionally, the formation of the buoyant plume at the top of the dome was investigated. The results show that with the increase of Ra, the lift-off point moves toward the bottom of the dome, and the eddy under the buoyant plume grows larger gradually, which enhances the heat transfer. And the heat transfer along the dome surface with different truncation angles was investigated. As the angle increases, the heat transfer coefficient becomes stronger as well. Consequently, a newly developed heat transfer correlation considering the influence of truncation angle for the dome is proposed based on the simulated results. This study could provide a better understanding of natural convection around the dome of PAS and the proposed correlation could also offer more predictive value in the improvement of nuclear safety.

Water film covering characteristic on horizontal fuel rod under impinging cooling condition

Zhang Penghui,Wang Bowei,Chen Ronghua,Su G.H.,Tian Wenxi,Qiu Suizheng 한국원자력학회 2022 Nuclear Engineering and Technology Vol.54 No.11

Jet impinging device is designed for decay heat removal on horizontal fuel rods in a low temperature heating reactor. An experimental system with a fuel rod simulator is established and experiments are performed to evaluate water film covering capacity, within 0.0287e0.0444 kg/ms mass flow rate, 0 e164.1 kW/m2 heating flux and 13.8e91.4C feeding water temperature. An effective method to obtain the film coverage rate by infrared equipment is proposed. Water film flowing patterns are recoded and the film coverage rates at different circumference angles are measured. It is found the film coverage rate decreases with heating flux during single-phase convection, while increases after onset of nucleate boiling. Besides, film coverage rate is found affected by Marangoni effect and film accelerating effect, and surface wetting is significantly facilitated by bubble behavior. Based on the observed phenomenon and physical mechanism, dry-out depth and initial dry-out rate are proposed to evaluate film covering potential on a heating surface. A model to predict film coverage rate is proposed based on the data. The findings would have reliable guide and important implications for further evaluation and design of decay heat removal system of new reactors, and could be helpful for passive containment cooling research.

Efficient Surface Display of L-glutamate Oxidase and L-amino Acid Oxidase on Pichia pastoris Using Multi-copy Expression Strains

Rao Ben,Zhou Ronghua,Dong Qing,Liao Xianqing,Liu Fang,Chen Wei,Liu Xiaoyan,Min Yong,Wang YaPing 한국생물공학회 2020 Biotechnology and Bioprocess Engineering Vol.25 No.4

L-glutamate oxidase (GLOD) and L-amino acid oxidase (AAO) were reported to be capable of convert L-glutamic acid to α-aketoglutaric acid (α-KG). These two enzymes gene have been successfully expressed by using pHBM905BDM in Pichia pastoris to produce α-aketoglutaric acid from L-glutamic acid in our previous studies. Here these two enzymes were displayed on P. pastoris to achieve the conversion. We constructed multi-copy expression plasmids using plasmid pHBM905BDM. By using this plasmid, multi-copy strains were constructed and named as PGLOD(1-3)-AGα1 and PAAO(1-3)-AGα1, respectively. The following results showed that expression of GLOD(1-3)- AGα1 and AAO(1-3)-AGα1 in multi-copy strains increased as designed and strain PGLOD3-AGα1 and PAAO3-AGα1 was chosen for high-density fermentation and enzyme activity experiments. By using a multi-copy expression approach and high-density fermentation, we achieved a GLOD expression yield of 688.5 U/g dry cell weight and AAO expression yield of 626.7 U/g dry cell weight. By using displayed GLOD, the average production rate of L-glutamic acid to α-KG was 6.22 g/L/h and the highest α-KG titer (124.5 g/L) was converted from 135 g/L L-glutamic acid. By using displayed AAO, the average production rate of L-glutamic acid to α-KG was 5.78 g/L/h and the highest α-KG titer (115.6 g/L) was converted from 135 g/L L-glutamic acid. It showed that displaying enzymes on P. pastoris are suitable for use in industrial applications.

SEINA: A two-dimensional steam explosion integrated analysis code

Wu Liangpeng,Sun Ruiyu,Chen Ronghua,Tian Wenxi,Qiu Suizheng,Su G.H. 한국원자력학회 2022 Nuclear Engineering and Technology Vol.54 No.10

In the event of a severe accident, the reactor core may melt due to insufficient cooling. the hightemperature core melt will have a strong interaction (FCI) with the coolant, which may lead to steam explosion. Steam explosion would pose a serious threat to the safety of the reactors. Therefore, the study of steam explosion is of great significance to the assessment of severe accidents in nuclear reactors. This research focuses on the development of a two-dimensional steam explosion integrated analysis code called SEINA. Based on the semi-implicit Euler scheme, the three-phase field was considered in this code. Besides, the influence of evaporation drag of melt and the influence of solidified shell during the process of melt droplet fragmentation were also considered. The code was simulated and validated by FARO L-14 and KROTOS KS-2 experiments. The calculation results of SEINA code are in good agreement with the experimental results, and the results show that if the effects of evaporation drag and melt solidification shell are considered, the FCI process can be described more accurately. Therefore, it is proved that SEINA has the potential to be a powerful and effective tool for the analysis of steam explosions in nuclear reactors.

Numerical analysis of melt migration and solidification behavior in LBR severe accident with MPS method

Jinshun Wang,Qinghang Cai,Ronghua Chen,Xinkun Xiao,Yonglin Li,Wenxi Tian,Suizheng Qiu,G.H. Su 한국원자력학회 2022 Nuclear Engineering and Technology Vol.54 No.1

In Lead-based reactor (LBR) severe accident, the meltdown and migration inside the reactor core will lead to fuel fragment concentration, which may further cause re-criticality and even core disintegration. Accurately predicting the migration and solidification behavior of melt in LBR severe accidents is of prime importance for safety analysis of LBR. In this study, the Moving Particle Semi-implicit (MPS) method is validated and used to simulate the migration and solidification behavior. Two main surface tension models are validated and compared. Meanwhile, the MPS method is validated by the l-plate solidification test. Based on the improved MPS method, the migration and solidification behavior of melt in LBR severe accident was studied furthermore. In the Pb–Bi coolant, the melt flows upward due to density difference. The migration and solidification behavior are greatly affected by the surface tension and viscous resistance varying with enthalpy. The whole movement process can be divided into three stages depending on the change in velocity. The heat transfer of core melt is determined jointly by two heat transfer modes: flow heat transfer and solid conductivity. Generally, the research results indicate that the MPS method has unique advantage in studying the migration and solidification behavior in LBR severe accident.

Parallelization and application of SACOS for whole core thermal-hydraulic analysis

Minyang Gui,Wenxi Tian,Di Wu,Ronghua Chen,Mingjun Wang,G.H. Su 한국원자력학회 2021 Nuclear Engineering and Technology Vol.53 No.12

SACOS series of subchannel analysis codes have been developed by XJTU-NuTheL for many years and arebeing used for the thermal-hydraulic safety analysis of various reactor cores. To achieve fine whole corepin-level analysis, the input preprocessing and parallel capabilities of the code have been developed inthis study. Preprocessing is suitable for modeling rectangular and hexagonal assemblies with less errorprone input; parallelization is established based on the domain decomposition method with the hybridof MPI and OpenMP. For domain decomposition, a more flexible method has been proposed which candetermine the appropriate task division of the core domain according to the number of processors of theserver. By performing the calculation time evaluation for the several PWR assembly problems, the codeparallelization has been successfully verified with different number of processors. Subsequent analysisresults for rectangular- and hexagonal-assembly core imply that the code can be used to model andperform pin-level core safety analysis with acceptable computational efficiency

Investigation of single bubble behavior under rolling motions using multiphase MPS method on GPU

Basit, Muhammad Abdul,Tian, Wenxi,Chen, Ronghua,Basit, Romana,Qiu, Suizheng,Su, Guanghui Korean Nuclear Society 2021 Nuclear Engineering and Technology Vol.53 No.6

Study of single bubble behavior under rolling motions can prove useful for fundamental understanding of flow field inside the modern small modular nuclear reactors. The objective of the present study is to simulate the influence of rolling conditions on single rising bubble in a liquid using multiphase Moving Particle Semi-implicit (MPS) method. Rolling force term was added to 2D Navier-Stokes equations and a computer program was written using C language employing OpenACC to port the code to GPU. Computational results obtained were found to be in good agreement with the results available in literature. The impact of rolling parameters on trajectory and velocity of the rising bubble has been studied. It has been found that bubble rise velocity increases with rolling amplitude due to modification of flow field around the bubble. It has also been concluded that the oscillations of free surface, caused by rolling, influence the bubble trajectory. Furthermore, it has been discovered that smaller vessel width reduces the impact of rolling motions on the rising bubble. The effect of liquid viscosity on bubble rising under rolling was also investigated and it was found that effects of rolling became more pronounced with the increase of liquid viscosity.

Numerical study of laminar flow and friction characteristics in narrow channels under rolling conditions using MPS method

Muhammad Abdul Basit,Wenxi Tian,Ronghua Chen,Suizheng Qiu,Guanghui Su 한국원자력학회 2019 Nuclear Engineering and Technology Vol.51 No.8

Modern small modular nuclear reactors can be built on a barge in ocean, therefore, their flow charac-teristics depend upon the ocean motions. In the present research, effect of rolling motion on flow and friction characteristics of laminar flow through vertical and horizontal narrow channels has been studied. A computer code has been developed using MPS method for two-dimensional Navier-Stokes equations with rolling motion force incorporated. Numerical results have been validated with the literature and have been found in good agreement. It has been found that the impact of rolling motions on flow characteristics weakens with increase in flow rate and fluid viscosity. For vertical narrow channels, the time averaged friction coefficient for vertical channels differed from steady friction coefficient. Furthermore, increasing the horizontal distance from rolling pivot enhanced the flow fluctuations but these stayed relatively unaffected by change in vertical distance of channel from the rolling axis. For horizontal narrow channels, the flow fluctuations were found to be sinusoidal in nature and their magnitude was found to be dependent mainly upon gravity fluctuations caused by rolling.