The Sunkist Citrus Plant in Ontario, California, processes about 6 million pounds of citrus fruit per day to make products which include frozen concentrated juice; chilled, pasteurized, natural strength juice; molasses from peel; dried meal from peel; pectin; citrus oil; and bioflavonoids. The energy intensive operations at the plant include concentration, drying, and refrigeration. The objective of the two-year two-phase project is to identify an economically viable alternative to the existing method of meeting energy requirements. Progress on the technical work of Phase I is reported. The following are summarized: requirements (energy price projection, atmospheric emission requirements, citrus juice quality constraints, economic evaluations); characterization (basic citrus processing operations, energy consumption and fruit processed vs time, identification and measurement of energy uses, energy balance for a typical citrus juice evaporator); and thermodynamic analysis (heat pump model, thermal evaporator, and co-generation model).

We have successfully completed a proof-of-concept, one-year grant on a three-year proposal from the former NABIR program. Using a state-of-the-art 300-kV, atomic resolution, Field Emission Gun Transmission Electron Microscope (TEM), we have successfully identified three categories of mineral hosts for uranium in contaminated soils from the Oak Ridge FRC: (1) iron oxides: (2) mixed manganese-iron oxides; and (3) uranium phosphates.