It’s possible that I shall make an ass of myself. But in that case one can always get out of it with a little dialectic. I have, of course, so worded my proposition as to be right either way (K.Marx, Letter to F.Engels on the Indian Mutiny)
Wednesday, July 02, 2025
21ST CENTURY ALCHEMY
Researchers uncover new mechanism of ion transport in nanofiltration membranes
A research team led by Prof. WAN Yinhua from the Institute of Process Engineering of the Chinese Academy of Sciences has uncovered a surprising new mechanism that fundamentally alters our understanding of ion transport in nanofiltration (NF) membranes and provides critical insights into improving lithium recovery from high-magnesium brines.
For years, scientists believed that positively charged NF membranes should be more effective at separation of lithium (Li⁺) and magnesium (Mg²⁺) ions than negatively charged membranes based on the principles of co-ion competition and Donnan equilibrium, which describe how ions are repelled by a like-charged membrane. These theories suggested that Li⁺, being smaller and singly charged, would pass through a positively charged membrane more easily than Mg²⁺, which is larger and carry a double charge.
Yet, in practice, negatively charged NF membranes often exhibit superior Li⁺/Mg²⁺ selectivity—an observation that existing theories failed to fully explain.
To understand this inconsistency, the researchers combined molecular dynamics simulations with experimental measurements to examine ion transport dynamics in mixed salt systems. They found that highly negatively charged NF membranes with small pore sizes simultaneously achieved high Mg²⁺ rejection (>90%) and remarkably low Li⁺ rejection (–53.2%), indicating an unusual selectivity mechanism.
To explain this phenomenon, the researchers proposed a "counter-ion competition mechanism." Under this mechanism, strongly hydrated Mg²⁺ ions accumulate near the membrane surface due to charge attraction, promoting dehydration of the weakly hydrated Li⁺ ions at the pore entrance. This dehydration reduces the size of Li⁺ and strengthens its electrostatic interaction with the membrane, ultimately enhancing its transport across the membrane.
"Our findings provide a mechanistic foundation for designing next-generation NF membranes with tailored ion selectivity," said Prof. LUO Jianquan, corresponding author of the study. "This work not only advances the theoretical understanding of the NF process but also opens up new possibilities for efficient lithium extraction from challenging brine resources."
The multi-dimensional data interpretation framework integrates upside-down 3D laser scanning, SCADA sensor data analysis, and CFD simulation validation, tested on actual water treatment filters during backwash operations. The framework features non-invasive detection through geometric feature analysis and time-series pattern recognition, achieving reliable identification of subsurface structural defects. This system could be applied in smart water treatment facilities for automated filter health monitoring, predictive maintenance, and optimized backwash operations.
Researchers have developed a revolutionary non-invasive method combining 3D laser scanning technology and sensor data time-series analysis for identifying defective water treatment filters, achieving significant reductions in inspection time and labor costs while eliminating operational disruptions. Published in Smart Construction, this breakthrough has the potential to transform water treatment facility maintenance, ensuring safer and more efficient water processing by detecting subsurface structural defects through surface geometric changes and operational anomalies.
Water treatment filters serve as the final physical barrier for removing suspended solids and pathogens, making their structural integrity crucial for effective water treatment and public health protection. However, traditional filter inspection methods require manual disruption of filter media, are time-consuming and labor-intensive, involving at least two personnel for several hours, and risk overlooking defects due to limited sampling areas. Addressing this challenge, Dr. Pengkun Liu and Professor Pingbo Tang from Carnegie Mellon University, in collaboration with researchers from Circular Water Solution LLC, has developed a state-of-the-art multi-dimensional data interpretation framework that revolutionizes water treatment filter monitoring without operational interruptions.
"This framework design marks a critical advancement in water treatment facility maintenance," explains Professor Pingbo Tang. "Our central hypothesis is that when subsurface structural irregularities disrupt normal backwash operations and flow patterns, they produce both visible surface deformations and distinctive anomalies in sensor data, enabling non-invasive defect detection."
The newly developed framework utilizes upside-down installed 3D laser scanners to capture high-precision geometric changes on filter media surfaces before and after backwash processes. Lead researcher Pengkun Liu emphasizes, "The integration of geometric feature analysis—including roughness, curvature, omnivariance, and planarity—with time-series sensor data significantly enhances detection accuracy while eliminating the need for invasive media disruption."
A major challenge in filter inspection has been the inability to detect subsurface defects like uneven gravel support beds, mud ball formation, or underdrain blockages without disrupting operations. The team addressed this by developing a comprehensive four-module architecture: data acquisition through 3D laser scanning and SCADA sensor monitoring, geometric analysis using advanced clustering methods, time-series analysis of operational parameters, and fusion diagnosis validated by computational fluid dynamics simulations.
The framework, tested extensively at the Shenango Water Treatment Plant in Pennsylvania across six filter units, underwent rigorous validation over multiple operational cycles. Led by Jinghua Xiao from Circular Water Solution, the team demonstrated that the system effectively identifies abnormal filters through surface elevation irregularities, geometric feature variations, and operational parameter anomalies. Their measurements confirmed that defective filters exhibit distinctive patterns: surface elevation differences, higher geometric feature values, longer backwash durations, elevated turbidity levels, and reduced water production rates.
In practical applications, the framework successfully identified Filter 2 as defective, showing consistent surface bulging patterns across multiple scans, abnormal geometric characteristics, and suboptimal operational performance. These findings were validated through CFD simulations, which confirmed that subsurface defects like mud balls or dead zones disrupt uniform flow distribution from bottom drainage pipes, causing uneven surface deformations. The repeatability tests demonstrated high consistency in defect detection, proving the system's reliability in real-world water treatment settings.
"This framework has the potential to significantly impact the development of smart water treatment systems and infrastructure monitoring applications," says co-researcher Jinghua Xiao. "Its non-invasive nature and comprehensive multi-modal approach could lead to safer, more cost-effective, and more reliable maintenance practices for water treatment facilities worldwide."
In addition to water treatment applications, the techniques developed in this framework could inspire innovations in other infrastructure monitoring settings requiring precise subsurface defect detection, such as advanced pipeline inspection, industrial filtration systems, and civil infrastructure health monitoring.
The multi-dimensional data interpretation framework achieves exceptional performance through its innovative combination of 3D geometric analysis and sensor data fusion. It operates effectively with millimeter-level precision in surface change detection and real-time operational parameter monitoring, offering both geometric and time-series anomaly detection capabilities. "This approach establishes quantitative relationships between surface irregularities and subsurface defects, setting a new standard for non-invasive infrastructure inspection," notes Professor Pingbo Tang.
While the team acknowledges the need for expanding the dataset to more water treatment facilities and developing real-time monitoring systems, this study represents a critical step toward more efficient, safer, and more reliable water treatment operations. Future research directions include integrating 3D LiDAR sensors directly into filter structures for continuous monitoring and developing adaptive backwash control systems based on real-time surface geometry analysis.
This paper ”Multi-dimensional data interpretation for defective filter identification” was published in Smart Construction. Liu P, Xiao J, Tang P. Multi-dimensional data interpretation for defective filter identification. Smart Constr. 2025(2):0014, https://doi.org/10.55092/sc20250014.
Multi-dimensional data interpretation for defective filter identification
Article Publication Date
20-Jun-2025
Climate crisis could force wild vanilla plants and pollinating insects apart, threatening global supply
Researchers find that a reduced overlap of suitable habitats for vanilla plants and the insects that pollinate them could threaten the survival of wild vanilla
Vanilla flavoring is widely used in food, pharmaceutics, and cosmetics. The primary source, Vanilla planifolia, however, is vulnerable to diseases, drought, and heat – stressors expected to become more frequent under climate change. Wild Vanilla species offer a genetic reservoir of crop wild relatives ensuring the future of the vanilla crop. Scientists have now examined how climate change could cause mismatches in habitat overlap of wild vanilla and their pollinating insects.
“Climate change may lead to a reduced habitat overlap between Vanilla orchid species and their pollinators, resulting in plant-pollinator decoupling that negatively affects the survival of wild vanilla populations,” said Dr Charlotte Watteyn, a researcher at KU Leuven and Lankester Botanical Garden Research Center at University of Costa Rica (UVR) and first author of the Frontiers in Plant Science study.
“Conserving the natural populations of wild Vanilla species, and the huge genetic diversity they hold, is crucial to ensure the future of vanilla, a key tropical crop for the global food industry,” added senior author Prof Bart Muys of KU Leuven.
Mismatched habitats
The team modeled the habitat distribution and overlap of 11 neotropical Vanilla species and seven previously observed pollinators under two climate change scenarios. The ‘middle of the road’ scenario (SSP2.4-5) represents moderate challenges to both climate change mitigation and adaptation, and follows a pathway of balanced energy development, while the ‘rocky road’ scenario (SSP3-7.0) is characterized by many challenges, relies heavily on fossil fuels, and there is less global cooperation to mitigate climate change.
They found that for seven Vanilla species, climate conditions could become more favorable by 2050 in both scenarios. These species could expand their habitats by up to 140%, while the area with suitable habitat for the other four species was predicted to shrink by up to 53%.
For pollinators, the future on a warming planet could be more dire. Habitat suitability of all pollinators was found likely to decline, with a slightly higher negative change under the SSP3-7.0 scenario. “Despite the possible increase in suitable habitat for some Vanilla species, their pollinator-dependency may imperil the survival of natural populations,” Watteyn explained.
It is unclear if other pollinators can take the place of those that might disappear from wild vanilla habitats. “Vanilla species are known for their specialized relationships with pollinators, hence, they may experience difficulties in replacing pollinators” Watteyn said. “The future may look brighter for species that are not reliant on a single vector for pollination.” Most species, however, usually depend on just one or a few certain pollinators.
Robust crops needed
Maintaining wild vanilla plants is not only important for biodiversity but also for agriculture. The commercially used crop species is characterized by low genetic diversity which can affect product yield, quality, and stability negatively, but agricultural resilience could be enhanced by diversifying crops. “Wild Vanilla species have potential to mitigate these problems as they continue to co-evolve in the wild, developing traits of interest for crop improvement, for example drought and heat tolerance and pathogen resistance,” explained Muys.
Many Vanilla species are already threatened, and natural pollination rarely occurs. Forest fragmentation, habitat loss, and extreme temperatures exacerbate an already dire scenario for the survival of the ‘queen of all flavors’. “Collaborative research on the ecology and genetic diversity of wild vanilla across its natural distribution is paramount if we want to take vanilla breeding into the future, by ethically and sustainably using the local variation to answer global needs,” said co-author Prof Adam Karremans, the director of Lankester Botanical Garden Research Center at UCR.
The results, the authors cautioned, should be interpreted carefully as occurrence records for wild Vanilla species and pollinators are sparse. Habitat overlaps could shift when ecological interactions like seed dispersion and interactions with microorganisms, or disturbances like habitat conversion and illegal extraction are also included in the models.
“Like cacao and coffee, vanilla is a global export crop with high international market value. It’s grown to make profit, and is a key driver for rural development, agricultural innovation, and overall welfare,” Watteyn concluded. “Cultivation benefits smallholder farming communities across the tropics, so there is an urgent need to enhance the resilience of vanilla farming systems.”
Vanilla hartii flower. Credit: Charlotte Watteyn.
Vanilla trigonocarpa flower. Credit: Charlotte Watteyn
All vanilla species pictured were included in the study. Credit: Charlotte Watteyn.
An image of the coral Stylophora pistillata taken with the new micrsope, BUMP. Each polyp has a mouth and a set of tentacles, and the red dots are individual microalgae residing inside the coral tissue.
The intricate, hidden processes that sustain coral life are being revealed through a new microscope developed by scientists at UC San Diego’s Scripps Institution of Oceanography.
The diver-operated microscope — called the Benthic Underwater Microscope imaging PAM, or BUMP — incorporates pulse amplitude modulated (PAM) light techniques to offer an unprecedented look at coral photosynthesis on micro-scales.
In a new study, researchers describe how the BUMP imaging system makes it possible to study the health and physiology of coral reefs in their natural habitat, advancing longstanding efforts to uncover precisely why corals bleach.
Engineers and marine researchers in the Jaffe Lab for Underwater Imaging at Scripps Oceanography designed and built the cutting-edge microscope with funding from the U.S. National Science Foundation. The microscope is already yielding new insights into the relationship between corals and the symbiotic microalgae that support their health, revealing for the first time how well individual algae photosynthesize within coral tissue.
Their findings were published July 3 in the journal Methods in Ecology and Evolution.
“This microscope is a huge technological leap in the field of coral health assessment,” said Or Ben-Zvi, a postdoctoral researcher at Scripps Oceanography and lead author of the study. “Coral reefs are rapidly declining, losing their photosynthetic symbiotic algae in the process known as coral bleaching. We now have a tool that allows us to examine these microalgae within the coral tissue, non-invasively and in their natural environment.”
Corals are reef-building animals that can’t photosynthesize on their own. Instead, they rely on microalgae living inside their tissues to do it for them. These symbiotic algae use sunlight, carbon dioxide and water to produce oxygen and energy-rich sugars that support coral growth and reef formation.
At just 10 micrometers across, or about one-tenth the width of a human hair, these algae are far too small to be seen with the naked eye. When corals are stressed by warming waters or poor environmental conditions, they lose these microalgae, leading to a pale appearance (“coral bleaching”) and eventual starvation of the coral. Although this process is known, scientists don’t fully understand why, and it hasn’t been possible to study at appropriate scales in the field — until now.
“The microscope facilitates previously unavailable, underwater observations of coral health, a breakthrough made possible thanks to the National Science Foundation and its critical investment in technology development,” said Jules Jaffe, a research oceanographer at Scripps and co-author of the study. “Without continued federal funding, scientific research is jeopardized. In this case, NSF funding allowed us to fabricate a device so we can solve the physiological mystery of why corals bleach, and ultimately, use these insights to inform remediation efforts.”
The new imaging system builds upon previous technology developed by the Jaffe Lab, notably the Benthic Underwater Microscope, or BUM, from 2016. The main component of the BUMP is a microscope unit that is controlled via a touch screen and powered by a battery pack. Through an array of high-magnification lenses and focused LED lights, the microscope captures vivid color and fluorescence images and videos, and it now has the ability to measure photosynthesis and map it in higher resolution via focal scans.
With this tool, scientists are literally shining a light on biological processes underwater, using PAM light measurement techniques to visualize fluorescence and measure photosynthesis, and using imaging to create high-resolution 3D scans of corals.
When viewing the corals under the microscope, the red fluorescence of corals is attributed to the presence of chlorophyll, a photosynthetic pigment in the microalgae. With the PAM technique, the red fluorescence is measured, providing an index of how efficiently the microalgae are using light to produce sugars. The cyan/green fluorescence, concentrated around specific areas such as the mouth and tentacles of the coral, is attributed to special fluorescent proteins produced by the corals themselves and play multiple roles in the coral's life functions.
The tool is small enough to fit in a carry-on suitcase and light enough for a diver to transport to the seafloor without requiring ship-based assistance. In collaboration with the Smith Lab at Scripps Oceanography, Ben-Zvi, a marine biologist, tested and calibrated the instrument at several coral reef hot spots around the globe: Hawaii, the Red Sea and Palmyra Atoll.
Peering through the microscope, she was surprised by how active the corals were, noting that they changed their volume and shape constantly. Coral behavior that looks like kissing or fighting has been previously documented by the Jaffe Lab, and Ben-Zvi was able to add some new observations to the mix, such as seeing a coral polyp seemingly trying to capture or remove a particle that was passing by, by rapidly contracting its tentacles.
“The more time we spend with this microscope, the more we hope to learn about corals and why they do what they do under certain conditions,” said Ben-Zvi. “We are visualizing photosynthesis, something that was previously unseen at the scales we are examining, and that feels like magic.”
Because scientists can bring the instrument directly into underwater study sites, their work is non-invasive — they don’t need to collect samples or even touch the corals.
“We get a lot of information about their health without the need to interrupt nature,” said Ben-Zvi. “It's similar to a nurse who takes your pulse and tells you how well you're doing. We're checking the coral's pulse without giving them a shot or doing an intrusive procedure on them.”
The researchers said that data collected with the new microscope can reveal early warning signs that appear before corals experience irreversible damage from global climate change events, such as marine heat waves. These insights could help guide mitigation strategies to better protect corals.
Beyond corals, the tool has widespread potential for studying other small-scale marine organisms that photosynthesize, such as baby kelp. Several researchers at Scripps Oceanography are already using the BUMP imaging system to study the early life stages of the elusive giant kelp off California.
“Since photosynthesis in the ocean is important for life on earth, a host of other applications are imaginable with this tool, including right here off the coast of San Diego,” said Jaffe.
In addition to Ben-Zvi and Jaffe, this study was co-authored by Paul Roberts — formerly with Scripps Oceanography and now at the Monterey Bay Aquarium Research Institute — along with Dimitri Deheyn, Pichaya Lertvilai, Devin Ratelle, Jennifer Smith, Joseph Snyder and Daniel Wangpraseurt of Scripps Oceanography.
A field deployment of the BUMP in the Red Sea, where local corals were imaged and measured.
