A method to improve the quality of rock preparation for extraction with emulsion explosives in open-pit mines with high benches

Increasing the production capacity of open-pit and strip mines while ensuring the efficiency of the mining enterprise can be achieved through enhancing the quality of rock preparation prior to excavation. The use of emulsion explosives and the transition to the high-bench technology can reduce the cost of mining operations by optimizing the drilling and blasting parameters. The article reviews methods to improve the efficiency of rock preparation for extraction based on the applicable scientific and methodological principles and it proposes a method to regulate the density of emulsion explosives. Schemes are presented for calculation of drilling and blasting parameters when implementing technical measures aimed at improving the blasting quality through rock preparation for extraction in conditions of overburden and mining operations with bench height of 15 m and higher. Parameters of drilling and blasting operations on high benches are justified with differentiation of the charge density along the length of the blast hole by controlling the delivery of the gas-generating additive. A simulation has been performed and the results of pilot tests of the emulsion explosive charge density control at the Ural deposits are presented.

Anomalous Thermo-osmotic Conversion Performance of Ionic Covalent-Organic-Framework Membranes in Response to Charge Variations

The development of efficient thermo-osmotic energy conversion devices has fascinated scientists and engineers for several decades in terms of satisfying the growing energy demand. The fabrication of ionic membranes with a high charge population is known to be a critical factor in the design of high-performance power generators for achieving high permselectivity and, consequently, high power extraction efficiency. Herein, we experimentally demonstrated that the thermo-osmotic energy conversion efficiency was improved by increasing the membrane charge density; however, this enhancement occurred only within a narrow window and subsequently exhibited a plateau over a threshold density. The complex interplay between pore−pore interactions and fluid structuration for ion transport across the upscaled nanoporous membranes helped explain the obtained results with the aid of numerical simulations. Consequently, the power generation efficiency of the multipore membrane deteriorated, deviating considerably from the case of simple linear extrapolation of the behavior of the single-pore counterparts. A plateau in the output electric power was observed at a moderate charge density, affording a value of 210 W m−2 at a 50-fold salinity difference with a temperature gradient of 40 K. This study has far-reaching implications for discerning an optimal range of membrane charge populations for augmenting the energy extraction, rather than intuitively focusing on achieving high densities.

Real-space anisotropy of the superconducting gap in the charge-density wave material 2H-NbSe2

We present a scanning tunneling microscopy (STM) and ab-initio study of the anisotropic superconductivity of 2H-NbSe2 in the charge-density-wave (CDW) phase. Differential-conductance spectra show a clear double-peak structure, which is well reproduced by density functional theory simulations enabling full k- and real-space resolution of the superconducting gap. The hollow-centered (HC) and chalcogen-centered (CC) CDW patterns observed in the experiment are mapped onto separate van der Waals layers with different electronic properties. We identify the CC layer as the high-gap region responsible for the main STM peak. Remarkably, this region belongs to the same Fermi surface sheet that is broken by the CDW gap opening. Simulations reveal a highly anisotropic distribution of the superconducting gap within single Fermi sheets, setting aside the proposed scenario of a two-gap superconductivity. Our results point to a spatially localized competition between superconductivity and CDW involving the HC regions of the crystal.