Alcoholic fermentations were performed adapting the technology to exploit the residual thermal energy (hot water at 83-85°C) of a cogeneration plant and to valorize agricultural wastes. Substrates were apple, kiwifruit and peaches wastes and Corn Threshing Residue (CTR). Saccharomyces bayanus was chosen as biocatalyst. The fruits, fresh or blanched, were mashed; CTR was gelatinized and liquefied by adding Liquozyme® SC DS (Novozyme); saccharification simultaneous to fermentation was carried out using the enzyme Spirizyme® Ultra (Novozyme). Lab-scale static fermentations were carried out at 28°C and 35°C, using raw fruits, blanched fruits and CTR, monitoring the ethanol production. The highest ethanol production was reached with CTR (10,22%9 and among fruits with apple (8,71%). Distillations at low temperatures and under vacuum, to exploit warm water from cogeneration plant, were tested; distillation at 80°C and 200 mbar or 400 mbar allowed to recover 93,35 and 89,59 % of ethanol respectively. These results support a fermentation process coupled to a cogeneration plant, fed with apple wastes and with CTR when apple wastes are not available, where hot water from cogeneration plant is used in blanching and distillation phases. The scale up in a pilot plant was also carried out.

Threshing device is the core component of grain combine harvester, and its working performance determines the working quality and production efficiency of the harvester to a great extent. The straw guide plate plays an important role in the threshing device to dredge the threshing matter and control the threshing time of the combine harvester matter in the threshing chamber. In the past, the guiding structure of threshing device could not optimize the working performance of the machine by adjusting the spiral angle, that is, most cereal combine harvester may not be fed smoothly or even clogged when operating under different crop types, yield differences and operating environments, a kind of threshing device with adjustable guide straw board was studied. In this study, the movement model of the straw on the straw guide plate was analyzed, and it was found that the spiral angle “α”of the straw guide was 0<α<58°.Three-factor and three-level response surface method was used to carry out field experiment on drum speed, working speed and guide grass plate spiral angle, and the experimental data were analyzed by quadratic polynomial regression.The results show that the drum speed, working speed and the spiral angle of the guide grass plate have significant effects on the loss rate (PLR) , impurity content (PIR) and breakage rate (PBR) , the drum speed and working speed have an interactive effect on the impurity ratio (PIR) , and the working speed and the helical angle of the guide grass plate have an interactive effect on the loss ratio (PLR) and breakage ratio (PBR) , there is an interaction between the rotary speed of the roller and the helical angle of the guide grass plate on the crushing rate (PBR) .Further optimization analysis showed that the predicted value was PLR = 1.18% , PIR = 0.72% , PBR = 0.53% , the experimental verification value was PLR = 1.26% , PIR = 0.73% , PBR = 0.61% . The absolute error between the experimental value and the predicted value was very small, however, the optimized field test verified value decreased by 8.31% , 50.04% and 60.30% respectively, which indicated that the optimized harvester had better operation quality, in particular, PIR, PBR and other two indicators have a greater increase in the effect.

Flails are one of the more contentious and misunderstood classes of medieval weaponry, despite their prevalence in popular media: some researchers question their existence entirely and the bulk of historians are sceptical of widespread temporal and geographical prevalence while others, and a significant volume of period evidence, would argue the contrary. While the expansive use of flails in Eastern Europe and Byzantium is familiar, many Central, Western, and Southern European sources are less well-known or largely forgotten, especially those stemming from the later-early and early-high medieval eras (up to 1250). In this work, I collate and discuss the bulk of the available literary references and artistic depictions of flails and their use alongside some of the archaeological finds from Western, Central, and Southern Europe, with an emphasis on the 12^th and 13^th Centuries. The significance of this volume of evidence is examined, and an assessment of flails as a part of medieval culture and warfare is considered. Collectively, this would suggest that knowledge of flails as instruments of war and associated cultural connotations, if not their actual prevalence and use in warfare, was far more widespread across Europe this time period than has been previously estimated.