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Concentration solar power (CSP) systems convert solar radiation to heat and use heat engines to convert the heat to electricity. The solar receiver over which the solar radiation is concentrated and converted to heat is the most important part of the CSP. To attain maximum efficiency, the receiver in the CSP systems needs to be coated with an efficient selective solar absorber coating. In recent years, a lot of research has been focused on solar selective coatings. This has resulted in the synthesis of novel coatings that have high thermal and chemical stability, long term durability, and excellent solar selectivity making them suitable for solar thermal applications. This report reviews various solar selective coatings based on transition metals and their compounds. Various failure mechanisms are discussed in detail along with suggested prevention methods. Several thermal stability and durability tests are reported with their benefits and limitations. The effect of long-term durability on the levelized cost of coating is also discussed. Finally, we list some excellent systems and explore different ways of improving the thermal stability for SSCs, thus providing a reference for the design and optimization of new SSCs.

Concentrating solar power is the most challenging and expensive yet highly efficient source of thermal energy from solar power. This is mainly due to the intermittency of the sun rays and expensive materials used to harness its energy. One of the main components adding to the cost is the solar selective absorber materials which are simply put spectrally selective coatings on a receiver system to capture maximum heat from the sun. These materials add to a large extent to the efficiency of converting the sun’s energy to thermal energy and in turn electricity. An ideal solar selective absorber possesses the property of absorbing maximum radiations in the solar spectrum and emit minimum in the thermal energy spectrum. In the current study, an inexpensive, simple and environment-friendly solar selective absorber is fabricated by a galvanic displacement reaction of copper nanoparticles on galvanised metal substrates. These copper nanoparticles have high absorptivity (0.8–0.9) by virtue of plasmon resonance property. The emissivity is low due to the highly reflective metal substrate. By varying size of the copper nanoparticles from 100 nm to 2 μm emissivity and absorptivity can be varied. However, achieving low emissivity and high absorptivity requires some optimising. The size depends on the concentration of precursor solution and immersion time of substrate. One of the remedies for controlling the deposition rate to tune the nanoparticle size and microstructure of deposited copper nanoparticle is by addition of a deposition inhibitor (e.g. Polyethylene glycol).

Thermo-chemical conversion of biomass using Dual Fluidized Bed (DFB) gasifier is proven to be a promising way for the production of H2 rich syngas. In the present work, the hydrodynamics in the DFB gasifier is investigated experimentally and with Computation Fluid Dynamics (CFD) at cold flow conditions. Three-dimensional Eulerian-Eulerian multi-phase model combined with the kinetic theory for the granular phase has been applied to investigate unsteady-state behaviours of a DFB gasifier. The developed CFD model is validated with experimentally obtained pressure distributions across the riser. The model prediction shows deviation from experimental results (10-14%), which are mainly due to the Gidaspow drag model over predicting drag force. Simulation results are presented in terms of the pressure profile, solids hold-up and solid circulation rate.

Ibuprofen is widely used as an anti-inflammatory drug. Ibuprofen crystallized from non-polar hexane exhibits needle morphology, while from polar solvents, it exhibits a plate or polyhedral morpholo...

A four-parameter, Ghoderao–Dalvi–Narayan 2 cubic equation of state (GDN2 CEOS), is presented which incorporates the following: 1. The experimental value of the critical compressibility factor has been used as a fixed input parameter for calculations; 2. All the parameters (a, b, c, d) of CEOS are temperature dependent functions in the subcritical region and are temperature independent functions in the supercritical region and; 3. A new α function is introduced with two compound specific parameters which are estimated by matching saturated vapor pressure at two fixed temperature points Tr = 0.5, 0.7. Our formalism enables us to cast three of the four parameters of the CEOS as a function of the remaining parameter. The proposed CEOS is used to predict properties of 334 pure compounds, including saturated vapor pressure and liquid density, compressed liquid density, heat capacities at the constant pressure and volume, enthalpy of vaporization, sound velocity. To calculate thermodynamic properties of a pure compound, the present CEOS require the critical temperature, the critical pressure, the Pitzer's acentric factor, the critical compressibility factor, and two parameters of the alpha function. The saturated liquid density predictions for pure fluids are very accurate when compared with GDN1 (Ghoderao–Dalvi–Narayan 1), MPR (Modified Peng–Robinson), and PT (Patel–Teja) equations of state. Unlike MPR EOS, the proposed temperature dependent covolume parameter b in the present work satisfies all the constraints mentioned in the literature to avoid thermodynamic inconsistencies at the extreme temperature and pressure. Using van der Waals one-fluid mixing rule, the present CEOS is further used to predict bubble pressure and the vapor mole fraction of binary mixtures.

As the exploitation of solar energy has taken place in the field of R&D, structural steel has become a major part of the design and development of the next generation collectors. The design practice used in India and in the Asian community has been considered in major designing and has been considered as a new approach in analysing the wind-load, dead load conditions. These load conditions have been evaluated and analysed at various angular positions of the collector. The optimum dimension for some elements due to the state of the art design has been described in this work and has been highlighted.

A four parameter cubic equation of state, GDN-CEOS, is presented to describe thermodynamic properties of pure fluids and mixtures. We have cast three of the four parameters in terms of the remaining parameter and all the parameters are temperature independent. A new alpha function is proposed in the attractive term of the CEOS; which requires two compound-specific parameters determined from saturation vapor pressure data at two reduced temperature points T r = 0.5 and 0.7. Hence, the GDN CEOS has five inputs per substance: the critical temperature (Tc), the critical pressure (Pc), the critical compressibility factor (Zc) and two compound specific parameters (m, n) of the alpha function. The saturated vapor pressure and liquid density of 334 pure compounds, representing a large variety of functional groups, are predicted successfully. Other thermodynamic properties such as isobaric and isochoric heat capacities, sound velocity, compressed liquid density and enthalpy of vaporization have been calculated using GDN CEOS with remarkably good accuracy. The GDN CEOS is further applied to the prediction of bubble pressure and vapor mole fraction of several binary mixtures using the van der Waals one fluid mixing rules. The accuracy of GDN CEOS is demonstrated by comparing results with three well-known equations of state: Haghtalab-Kamali-Mazloumi-Mahmoodi (HKM1), Modified Peng Robinson (MPR) and Patel-Teja (PT) cubic equations of state.

The paper discusses alternative designs of receivers for parabolic trough collectors with smaller rim angles. The Half Insulation Filled Receiver (HIFR) and Linear Cavity Receiver (LCR) designs have been studied and optimized for minimum heat loss. Different combinations of insulations and annulus gasses have been evaluated. From this study, the best combination of insulation material and annulus gas and its pressure has been obtained for geometry optimization of the receiver. Configuration of SCHOTT PTR 70 receiver has been considered as the base case for this study. Heat losses from the HIFR and LCR for the microtherm – air (at 0.1 atm pressure) combination are the least being 255 W/m and 246 W/m respectively. The radius ratio (RR = DG/DP) value of HIFR for this is 2.5 and insulation thickness for LCR receiver is 20 mm. HIFR and LCR show maximum optical efficiency at rim angle ψ = 45° whereas, for a conventional cylindrical receiver the same is true at rim angle ψ = 90°. Therefore, both the proposed receiver designs are expected to be suitable alternatives of evacuated receivers for parabolic trough collectors with smaller rim angle (around 45°).

We report a process that can use a modified turbocharged piston engine to simultaneously heat-treat aqueous streams and produce electricity. The additional electricity generated by this process more than offsets the cost of heat-treating aqueous stream: thus opening up for commercial utilization water treatment approach that was hitherto considered cost prohibitive. The process provides the technological means for remote or off-grid communities to simultaneously treat their aqueous wastes and generate electricity. In this work, we present a detailed technoeconomic evaluation of the process to demonstrate both its technical feasibility and its cost effectiveness. The variation in overall efficiency, specific work, low-grade heat efficiency and treatment cost of the aqueous stream is studied as a function of turbocharger exit pressure, piston engine compression ratio and mass flow ratio of the aqueous stream to air. For an optimized process, the overall efficiency of the system is 50%. The cost of aqueous stream treatment is negative at −0.998 US$ per cubic meter of water treated based on a 15% return on incremental investment.

The parabolic trough collector (PTC) technology is the most mature and cost-effective of solar thermal technologies. Given its importance in the use of solar power for electricity and industrial heating, this review presents a chruonological review of important innovations and improvements in reflector structure design and tracking system over a century of development. The fastest evolution is in the support structure of the PTC which has evolved from the old torque tube to the modern space tube. The space tube design is considered better for cost effective performance. The tracking systems have evolved from the conventional light-and-shadow sensing feedback loops to modern image-processing artificial-intelligence based systems with tremendous increases in tracking accuracy. This work also touches on reflective and structural materials. There has not yet been found a material to beat glass reflectors for specular reflectivity and durability. Considerable effort has gone into developing metal/polymer sheet reflectors, but their durability under cyclic weathering conditions is an open question. Similarly, there have been very few alternatives tried for steel as a support structure and most of these have experimented with aluminum. Only two types of actuators have been investigated: the geared motor and the hydraulic so far, and the geared motor has been the most favored. The optimization of all the components namely the reflector structure, tracking system, and reflector can lead to a design of PTC at a cost of 75–100$/m2 of aperture.

It is a stated goal of renewable energy research to make solar power reach price parity with power from fossil fuel based power plants. Solar-thermal plants are capital intensive and do not benefit strongly from economies of scale. Hence, reducing unit costs is the most effective path to an economically attractive technology. Conventional parabolic trough systems have numerous limitations not least of which are the expensive mirror and support requirements required to maintain high precision in the optics. Further, the flexible hosing necessary to enable a moving receiver leads to excessively high pressure drops and pumping costs. While linear Fresnel systems address much of these shortcomings, they require accurate field alignment of a large number of independent reflecting elements leading to complex maintenance issues. Here we propose a relatively simple design with a small number of reflecting elements with a stationary receiver which is facile to fabricate, transport and install while also be far most cost effective. We also present a structural cost optimization together with optical ray tracer analysis using in-house ray tracer code. The concept has been validated with experiments. The proposed optimum design can be considered as a step toward achieving the economically attractive line concentrator technology.

A five parameter cubic equation of state, named 5PGDN is presented for the prediction of thermodynamic properties of pure fluids and mixtures. A new alpha function is proposed with two compound specific parameters which are estimated by matching experimental saturation vapor pressure data at two fixed temperatures Tr=0.5,0.7. We have cast three of the five parameters in terms of the remaining two parameters. The 5PGDN uses the critical temperature, the critical pressure, the critical compressibility factor, and two parameters of the alpha function to calculate thermodynamic properties such as saturated vapor pressure, liquid and vapor density, enthalpy of vaporization, sound velocity, heat capacity at constant pressure and volume. The 5PGDN is further used for the prediction of bubble point pressure and vapor mole fraction of several binary mixtures. The accuracy of 5PGDN is demonstrated by comparing results with the Patel-Teja (PT), Haghtalab-Kamali-Mazloumi-Mahmoodi (HKM1) and Ghoderao-Dalvi-Narayan (4PGDN1) equations of state. Keywords: Alpha function, Cubic equation of state, Mixtures, Thermodynamic properties

Typical Geldart B class particles are often used in a gas-solid fluidized bed for various industrial applications. The quality of fluidization of Geldart B particles depends upon the geometry of the bed containing vessel, properties of fluidization medium and the gas flow rate. The presence of large bubbles/slugs that can happen in beds with intermediate class particles is undesirable. The bubbling and slugging, which decrease the quality of fluidization can be prevented with the phenomenon called packed fluidization. Experiments were carried out on the conventional fluidized bed and packed fluidized bed to investigate some of the hydrodynamic characteristics as a function of bed temperature, small particle size, fluidization medium and fraction of voids of packing filled with small particles. The superficial gas velocity required for packed fluidization reduces significantly than conventional fluidization. The minimum fluidization velocity of particles increases with an increase in density of the fluidization gas and decreases with increase in temperature of the bed. A correlation established from experimental data fairly predicts the minimum fluidization velocity for the packed fluidized bed.

Di-(2-ethylhexyl)phosphoric acid (D2EHPA) and tributylphosphate (TBP) are two of the most studied and researched organophosphorous extractants. D2EHPA is an acidic extractant, offering both hydrogen bond donor and acceptor sites while TBP, a neutral extractant, only offers a single acceptor site per molecule. In spite of this, it is observed that 1 M D2EHPA in dodecane is a poorer extractant for water than 1 M TBP in dodecane. The objective of present work is to look into the molecular interactions that cause such behavior. Experiments were carried out with varying molar ratios of TBP and D2EHPA in the organic dodecane phase. Total extractant concentration was kept constant at 1 M with dodecane as diluent. Water extraction was quantified by measuring the moisture content of the organic phase after equilibration.

The importance of renewables for supplying future energy needs is well accepted. However, the most promising renewables, solar PV and wind, struggle with the problem of intermittency. Until problems of electricity storage are addressed the solution of building a bio-methane based network could act as an important stop-gap arrangement – especially for bioresource rich countries of the developing world. This study is focused on the technical and economic feasibility of developing a biomethane gas network in a developing country, India. From the analysis, the retail price of the biomethane gas is estimated to be 0.63 USD/kg, which is quite competitive with the 0.65 USD/kg of compressed natural gas (CNG). This work shows that CBG has the potential to offset as much as 8.5% of India's fossil fuel imports, significantly increasing energy security. It showcases various benefits which can be availed by the installation of CBG capacity and shortlists key points over which an effective policy needs to be framed.

A six parameter Quartic equation of state (QEOS) is presented in this work to explore the scope of a non-cubic equation of state for the prediction of thermodynamic properties and analyze its improvement over the commonly used cubic equations of state. The QEOS uses 4 compound specific parameters in addition to the critical constants. The QEOS predicted results for various thermodynamic properties are compared with experimental data and with results obtained from Ghoderao-Dalvi-Narayan (4PGDN1) equation of state. The QEOS fits data best when it most resembles a Cubic EOS (CEOS) obtained by setting one compound specific parameter e to nearly zero. This presents an opportunity to use the CEOS for practical calculations while using the theoretically more correct QEOS for theoretical analysis.

Biomass gasification has been a widely explored research area due to world energy security and environmental concerns. It is also found to be commercially viable process for synthetic gas (syngas) production. Different types of gasifiers based on fluid dynamics, modes of heat transfer to the gasification process, gasification agents, and temperature have been studied. Dual fluidized bed gasifiers are one of the recent technologies which can produce syngas of medium heating value (12–20 MJ/Nm3), thereby proving to be industrially more feasible. This review presents analysis of different designs and configurations of dual fluidized bed gasifiers. The impact of different operating conditions, the effect of tar formation, tar abatement techniques and different modeling approaches have been critically evaluated. The present review gives a holistic view on the current research and developments of dual fluidized bed gasification systems for syngas production.

Given its abundance and distribution, solar electricity is clearly the power source of the future. Solar photovoltaics is currently the favoured electricity production technology but high battery costs limit its use as a truly dispatchable solution. Solar thermal electricity, with higher production costs but lower heat storage costs, is an important alternative. In this work we have compared solar thermal and solar photovoltaic renewable energy systems head to head: using simulations with our own models and the latest information from literature. The solar thermal system uses a Uniflow Piston Steam Engine for electricity production. The analysis incorporates the daily variance in electricity demand in the form of the CAISO duck curve. To supply off grid demand, if natural gas driven engines produce electricity at $0.134/kWh, photovoltaics with battery storage can supply it at 0.159 $/kWh (0.107 $/kWh best case) and solar thermal with piston steam engines can supply at 0.144–0.167 $/kWh at current prices. If solar concentrator prices drop to $75/m2-aperture, as seems promising, solar thermal can supply dispatchable electricity at 0.091–0.103 $/kWh. In view of the declining interest in solar thermal electricity, this is a valuable contribution to the conversation about the relative merits of the two technologies.

Different surface modification techniques have been used for enhancement of heat transfer from absorber plates of solar air heaters. It is necessary to have accurate values of design parameters within the operational window while designing the heat transfer equipments. The present work is focused on the development of empirical correlations and evaluation of maximum thermohydraulic performance of a rectangular section ribs installed in solar air heaters considering all the design combinations within the given range of input parameters. It is prescribed by design of experiment algorithms particularly with response surface methodology considering four input parameters viz., Reynolds number ranging from 4000 to 20000, relative rib pitch ranging from 5 to 60, relative rib height ranging from 0.065 to 0.252 and relative rib width ranging from 0.5 to 10. The maximum THP obtained is 2.77 at Reynolds number 20000, relative rib pitch 17.22, relative rib height 0.044 and relative rib height 0.5. The optimal values of design parameters have been verified with CFD simulations and experiments. The errors are within acceptable limit proving the accuracy of empirical correlations used for the design of solar artificial air heater and proper selection of model equations.

Integrating solar thermal systems into power plants can be done with minimal modifications. Statistical analysis shows that such a strategy is more economic than installing carbon-capture and compression equipment to reduce greenhouse-gas emissions.

The thermodynamics of partitioning of water between saline aqueous phase and organic phase was studied to determine the feasibility of desalination by directed solvent extraction using octanoic acid as the solvent. The experimental results were fitted to an extended UNIQUAC model and used in process calculations. Extractive desalination was found to have an order of magnitude higher consumption compared to the state-of-the-art in desalination using reverse osmosis. The equivalent electricity consumption in extractive desalination is estimated to be approximately 30 kWh/m 3 of salt-free water as opposed to 3–5 kWh/m 3 for a reverse osmosis process. Capital costs for the heat exchangers alone are 25-fold higher than the total capital expenditure for an equivalent reverse osmosis process. A fundamental thermodynamic obstacle to the performance of extractive desalination was discovered; the contactor, the device used to countercurrently contact the organic phase with the saline aqueous phase in order to extract water into the former, is severely pinched and can yield only three effective theoretical contact stages. This leads to excessively large circulation of solvent and the concomitant losses in pumping and temperature swing.

The interactions between lithium (Li+) ions, chloride (Cl−) ions and water molecules in aqueous LiCl solutions and their effect on the dynamic and equilibrium properties of the salt solutions have been investigated by molecular dynamics (MD) simulations. The optimized potentials for liquid simulations for all atoms (OPLS-AA) force field have been used to study various properties of lithium chloride solutions for the concentrations, in the range of 0.1 M to 19.28 M. The MD simulation with the OPLS-AA force field gives a fair explanation of many important properties of alkali salt solutions which are in agreement with the experimental results. A microscopic description of LiCl solutions and diffusivity of LiCl obtained by simulation are in good agreement with the experimental data. The MD simulation indicated a strong solvation of monovalent ions in water and cluster formation of the cations at higher salt concentrations. The diffusion coefficient of LiCl decreases depending on the coordination structure of ions that changes with the salt concentration.

Heliostats account for about 50% of the capital cost of power towers. In conventional heliostats with vertical pedestals and azimuth-elevation drives, the support structure contributes 40-50% of this cost due to heavy cantilever arms required by the large spanning structures. Additional costs are imposed by costly, difficult to maintain drive mechanisms. Here we show that a tripod heliostat can substantially address these shortcomings. We have presented the protocol and results of systematic structural analysis of heliostats with aperture areas of 62 and 100 m(2). We have included effects of shape on load reaction and structure cost. An in-house ray-tracing software is incorporated to estimate the performance penalties due to deformation under gravity and wind loads. The analysis shows that the additional energy collection by a less-stiff, larger heliostat more than offsets the spillage due to the greater deformation of the same. We have demonstrated that the economics of power towers are strongly governed by the structural cost of the heliostats rather than by their optical performance. We have brought down the cost of a tripod heliostat to $ 72/m(2) which is less than half that of the conventional systems and meets the target set by the US National Academy of Engineering. (C) 2017 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.

The uranium extraction kinetics with Di-2-Ethyl Hexyl Phosphoric Acid-Tri Butyl Phosphate (D2EHPA–TBP) and Di-2-Ethyl Hexyl Phosphoric Acid-Tri Octyl Phosphine Oxide (D2EHPA–TOPO) dissolved in dodecane has been investigated. The objective of the present study was to identify the reaction location, reaction regime, reaction orders with respect to the reactants and the intrinsic rate constant of the reaction. Experiments were carried out in a constant interfacial area stirred cell and the parameters were varied over a range of 1 − d [ B ] a q d t = [ B ] a q ( S k f / V a q [ A ] o m [ A C ] o q [ H + ] a q p + S k b / V o [ A ] o m − z [ A C ] o q − z [ H + ] a q p + z ) − S k b V o [ B ] a q , t = 0 [ A ] o m − z [ A C ] o q − z [ H + ] a q p + z ( 1 + [ A ] o m [ A C ] o q [ H + ] a q p ( k f / k L a q ) + [ A ] o m − z [ A C ] o q − z [ H + ] a q p + z ( k b / k L o ) ) A systematic procedure has been developed for the estimation of intrinsic kinetics and the mass transfer coefficients.

Polypiperazinamide membranes are most commonly used membranes for nanofiltration (NF) of solution. These membranes suffer low flux due to the relatively flexible hydrophobic backbone. Hydrophilic graphene oxide (GO) was incorporated in the top layer of these membranes to improve flux. However, GO is expensive therefore, the GO was modified with starch, a benign and inexpensive hydrophilic matrix to minimize the economic burden. Starch functionalized GO was added in the polypiperazinamide network to give high-flux hyperbranched starch functionalized graphene oxide composite (HGOST) nanofiltration membranes. GO-starch composites were integrated in the polyamide (PA) top layer by esterification. Abundant oxygen functional groups in starch and graphene oxide decreased contact angle to 22.18°. Permeance of the membranes increased to 79.6 L m−2 h-1 (LMH) with the addition of HGOST to the top layer, with slight increase in the ionic rejection. The use of starch decreased the amount of graphene oxide needed to improve performance by about 80%. Hydrophilic nature of starch-GO composite, its compatibility with the polypiperazinamide matrix and enhance surface negative charge on the membrane in combination with a thin top layer are responsible for enhanced performance. Excellent stability was obtained due to bonding between starch, GO and polypiperazinamide layer. Membranes displayed excellent rejection of charged and neutral dyes as well. The inclusion of GO-starch composites shows good promise for enhancing the performance of polyamide membranes.

There is considerable interest in developing a nonfluorous capping ligand that is effective in dispersing nanoparticles in supercritical carbon dioxide. To augment the experimental search for such a molecule, a simulation protocol is developed, involving atomistic molecular dynamics simulations, which captures the relevant physical phenomena related to the effectiveness of capping ligands in stabilizing nanoparticle dispersions, evidenced by a consistency with empirical observation. The method is used to determine why the cheap and benign alkanethiol ligands are effective in supercritical ethane and several organic solvents but not in supercritical CO2 at convenient conditions of temperature and pressure; n-dodecanethiol is used as the representative ligand. We conclude that the ineffectiveness of the alkanethiol ligands in CO2 is primarily because they cannot compensate for the quadrupolar interactions which account for a substantial portion of the cohesive energy of bulk CO2, which is lost to the CO2 mo...

To augment the experimental search for a nonfluorous capping ligand that is effective in dispersing nanoparticles in supercritical carbon dioxide, we have developed a simulation protocol, involving atomistic molecular dynamic simulations, which semiquantitatively reproduces empirical observations and hence can be used to gain insight into the relevant physical phenomena. We have used this protocol to examine the reasons behind the exceptional effectiveness of perfluoroalkanethiols, compared to alkanethiols, as capping ligands for nanoparticles in supercritical carbon dioxide. From these simulations, we infer that the principal reason for this enhanced effectiveness is that the C−F bond is much more polar than the C−H bond and hence the fluorocarbons can interact with the quadrupolar carbon dioxide in addition to interacting with its van der Waals centers. For the models studied, the effect of the electrostatic interaction offsets the fact that the dispersion forces exerted by a dense fluorocarbon layer ar...

We have undertaken atomistic molecular simulations to systematically determine the structural contributions to the hydrophobicity of fluorinated solutes and surfaces compared to the corresponding hydrocarbon, yielding a unified explanation for these phenomena. We have transformed a short chain alkane, n-octane, to n-perfluorooctane in stages. The free-energy changes and the entropic components calculated for each transformation stage yield considerable insight into the relevant physics. To evaluate the effect of a surface, we have also conducted contact-angle simulations of water on self-assembled monolayers of hydrocarbon and fluorocarbon thiols. Our results, which are consistent with experimental observations, indicate that the hydrophobicity of the fluorocarbon, whether the interaction with water is as solute or as surface, is due to its “fatness.” In solution, the extra work of cavity formation to accommodate a fluorocarbon, compared to a hydrocarbon, is not offset by enhanced energetic interactions with water. The enhanced hydrophobicity of fluorinated surfaces arises because fluorocarbons pack less densely on surfaces leading to poorer van der Waals interactions with water. We find that interaction of water with a hydrophobic solute/surface is primarily a function of van der Waals interactions and is substantially independent of electrostatic interactions. This independence is primarily due to the strong tendency of water at room temperature to maintain its hydrogen bonding network structure at an interface lacking hydrophilic sites.