Abstract: Devices, systems, and methods within the present disclosure can assist in predicting material structural information based on functional characterization. Such predictions can be achieved by definition including a representation of a surface of a material as an ensemble of unit cells, determination of a pool of possible unit cells based on one or more material input properties, and computation of functional characteristics of the unit cells within the pool; and establishment including determination of a combination of unit cells from the pool to represent a potential surface structure of the material and computation of a corresponding cumulative functional characteristic for the material from the previously computed functional characteristics of individual unit cells of the combination, and validation of whether the computed cumulative functional characteristic matches at least one experimental measurement of the same functional property concerning the material. Iteration can assist.

Abstract: Devices, systems, and methods for material characterization can include detecting definitional data from material samples that are positionally encoded according to know attributes as operational data, characterizing at least some of the samples as training data, and processing the training data via a machine learning model to train the model and/or to characterize the remaining samples based on the training data.

Abstract: The disclosed system and methods advantageously track credits from generation through ownership trades to retirement; raw data will be submitted to one blockchain or a conventional database, while credit transactions will be tracked on a separate blockchain. This system leaves a simple audit trail, significantly reducing the time and cost associated with reconciliation and auditing and enables producers to monetize their credits quickly after generation. Importantly, while microtransactions are currently prohibitively expensive, the use of blockchain technology enables smaller producers to participate in credit programs, and incentives to be designed at the consumer level.

Abstract: In a process involving contacting a gas with a liquid whereby to cool and/or clean the gas, the liquid is sprayed into the gas by a rotary-cup atomizer or other "air-assisted" atomizer in which the spray is produced by impacting a film of the liquid with a high pressure air stream. The atomizer has a low spray angle which is beneficial to ensuring good contact with the gas. The method is particularly applicable to processes where the liquid is an abrasive slurry or solution, as in a process of desulphurizing a hot flue gas by spray drying in a tower.

Abstract: In a method of absorbing pollutant material e.g. sulphur dioxide from a polluted gas, an aqueous suspension of a solid absorbent e.g. calcium hydroxide is sprayed into the gas; and the ambient conditions in the gas are such that all the water is evaporated and the absorption product is dried as it is formed. The spray droplet size is controlled to be a practical maximum consistent with maintaining the ambient conditions. The spray droplet size may be so controlled that the arithmetical average spray droplet lifetime is at least 80% of the theoretical maximum spray droplet lifetime consistent with maintaining the ambient conditions.