Renewable Energy Global Innovations features: Bimetallic Cu-Ni catalysts supported on MCM-41 and Ti-MCM-41 porous materials for hydrodeoxygenation of lignin model compound into transportation fuels

Significance 

Bio-oils are becoming alternatives to fossil fuels in view of the ever rising global energy demands, greenhouse emissions, and crude oil shortage. Bio-oils extracted from lignocellulosic biomass are composed of multicomponent molecules extracted from lignin, cellulose, and hemicellulose. The lignin component of lignocellulose is a promising renewable feedstock for the production of a number of chemicals and fuels. Lignin has an advantage over its counterparts hemicellulose and cellulose considering that bio-oils extracted from lignin can be upgraded to higher quality transportation fuels. This is in view of the high stability of the lignin aromatic structures with reference to resonance stabilization.

Fast pyrolysis has been an extensively applied method for converting lignin into bio-oil. Unfortunately, the potential of the resulting bio-oil is limited by the presence of a number of oxygenated functional groups, which in consequence lead to undesirable physicochemical attributes including low thermal and chemical stability, low heating values, easy corrosiveness and high density. In addition, lignin-extracted bio-oils are incompatible with either direct use or in combination with a petroleum fraction. This has forced researchers to look for alternative strategies which can enhance the commercial viability of lignin-extracted bio-fuels for use as a transportation fuel.

One method to remove chemically bonded oxygen from lignin-extracted oil and therefore enable the use of lignin-extracted bio-fuels is through catalytic hydrodeoxygenation processes. However, the direct application of catalysts in such processes is associated with numerous challenges owing to the complex nature of its oxygenated aromatic elements such as anisole, furan, benzofuran, and phenols. In order to overcome these issues, heterogeneous catalysts are attracting much attention, containing both a metal centre for the hydrogenation of the acidic support and an aromatic ring for the deoxygenation. While noble metals such as platinum, palladium, and ruthenium have been used in this process, their application is limited by the high cost and scarcity of these noble metals. Therefore, researchers have focused their attention on transition metal based catalysts including cobalt, nickel, iron, and copper-nickel.

Putla Sudarsanam and Suresh Bhargava at the Centre for Advanced Materials and Industrial Chemistry, School of Science, RMIT University in Australia in collaboration with Murtala Ambursa, Lee Hwei Voon, and Sharifah Bee Abd Hamid at the University of Malaya investigated the preparation, characterization and catalytic application of bimetallic Cu-Ni catalysts supported on Ti-MCM-41 for the hydrodeoxygenation of guaiacol. Their research work is published in the journal Fuel Processing Technology.

The authors prepared Cu-Ni catalysts supported on either Ti-MCM-41 or pure MCM-41 and compared their catalytic efficiencies for the hydrodeoxygenation of guaiacol. They performed the catalytic experiments in an autoclave reactor and investigated the effect of hydrogen pressure on guaiacol conversion as well as product selectivity.

Through the catalytic activity investigation, the authors observed that the CuNi/Ti-MCM-41 catalysts had a higher catalytic performance in guaiacol conversion as well as cyclohexane selectivity as opposed to a CuNi/MCM-41 catalyst. The high catalytic activity of the CuNi/Ti-MCM-41 catalyst was as a result of the cooperative function of the larger surface area, hexagonal pore geometry, medium-sized mesopores, adequate acidic sites, and excellent redox attributes. For this reason, Ti-MCM-41 is an efficient catalyst support for the hydrodeoxygenation of oxygenated elements to saturated hydrocarbons.

The research team also found that increased hydrogen pressures improved the guaiacol conversion and selectivity of the oxygenated compounds to hydrocarbons over the Ti-MCM-41 supported CuNi catalyst, increasing the impact of these catalysts within this important field of research.

About the author

Dr. Putla Sudarsanam obtained his PhD in chemistry at the CSIR-Indian Institute of Chemical Technology (Hyderabad, India) in 2015. He is currently working at the KU Leuven (Leuven, Belgium) as a Marie Curie individual post-doctoral fellow on the topic of designing nanostructured metal oxide based catalysts for the efficient conversion of agricultural bio-waste to produce biodegradable polymer building blocks and fuel grade chemicals.

He has been honoured for his work with many prestigious awards/fellowships including the Marie Skłodowska-Curie individual post-doc fellowship (2017); participation in the 67^th Lindau Nobel Laureate meeting (Germany, 2017); Leibniz-DAAD post-doc fellowship (Germany, 2016);  all India level best PhD thesis award (Catalysis Society of India, 2015); EFCATS PhD student award (XI^th EuropaCat conference, France, 2013); Australian endeavour research fellowship (Australia, 2013) and many others.

His expertise is mainly designing novel nanostructured metal oxide based catalysts for the 1) selective conversion of alcohols, olefins, and amines to useful fine chemicals; 2) transformation of renewable biomass feedstocks to value-added fine chemicals and bio-fuels and 3) efficient catalytic abatement of auto-exhaust pollutants (e.g., carbon monoxide, particulate matter, and nitrogen oxides). He has contributed over 44 refereed journal articles and 1 book chapter. He has in excess of 1170 citations with an h-index of 23 and an i10-index of 29.

About the author

Professor Bhargava is a world-renowned interdisciplinary scientist and is recognised for delivering research excellence that underpins significant industrial applications. As a passionate advocate in the application of technological science and engineering to innovation, he provides consultancy and advisory services to many government and industrial bodies around the world including BHP Billiton, Alcoa World Alumina, Rio Tinto and Mobil Exxon. He was also a member of the independent board of directors of one of the Aditya Birla group of industries. Out of his 7 patents, 5 have been adopted by the industrial partners and one has been licenced for commercialization.

During his distinguished career, Professor Bhargava has been awarded many prestigious national and international awards including the 2017 Non-Resident Indian of the Year Award by the TIMES Network. This award recognised him as the most outstanding Indian academic in the Asia-Pacific region, with the Bombay ceremony being broadcast to more than 110 countries around the world. Other notable awards he has received include the 2016 Khwarizmi International Award (KIA) by the Government of Iran, the 2015 CHEMECA medal (The most prestigious award in the chemical engineering profession in Australia and New Zealand), the highly esteemed Indian National Science Academy’s P. C. Ray Chair (distinguished lecture series 2014), RMIT University Vice Chancellor’s Research Excellence Award (2006 and 2014), and the Applied Research Award (2013) and the R. K. Murphy Medal (2008) from the Royal Australian Chemical Institute. He is also an elected fellow of six learned academies around the world including the Australian Academy of Technological Sciences and Engineering and the National Academy of Sciences, India.

Professor Bhargava has contributed over 410 refereed journal articles, 1 book and 10 book chapters. He has also co-authored more than 200 refereed full conference papers. He has in excess of 9,700 citations (5/day) with an h-index of 47 and an i10-index of 242.

He has strived over the years to create solid and sustainable global research partnerships to improve and advance Science and Technology. The establishment of the Indian Institute of Chemical Technology (IICT)-RMIT joint research centre, which is jointly funded by the Government of India (CSIR) and RMIT University, is one of the best examples of his international efforts. He has also applied this innovative model to connect RMIT University with the Academy of Scientific and Innovative Research (AcSIR), linking RMIT with a network of CSIR laboratories across India.

Reference

Murtala M. Ambursa, Putla Sudarsanam, Lee Hwei Voon, Sharifah Bee Abd Hamid, Suresh K. Bhargava. Bimetallic Cu-Ni catalysts supported on MCM-41 and Ti-MCM-41 porous materials for hydro-deoxygenation of lignin model compound into transportation fuels. Fuel Processing Technology, volume 162 (2017), pages 87–97.

 

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Renewable Energy Global Innovations features: Fatty acids and related phase change materials for reliable thermal energy storage at moderate temperatures

Significance 

Phase change materials (PCMs) are important for thermal energy storage applications, especially in buildings and in solar thermal systems. The use of PCMs can increase energy efficiency by storage of solar thermal energy,  and reducing heating and cooling demands. Suitable phase change materials need to be inexpensive and reliable, with high latent heats and a phase change at a temperature appropriate to the application. Organic phase change materials can satisfy many of these criteria and are suitable for latent-heat thermal energy storage systems operating in the ambient-to-moderate temperature range. Non-paraffin organic PCMs such as esters, fatty acids and fatty alcohols are particularly attractive because these materials are non-toxic and can be extracted from renewable sources, such as from plant and animal fat. They are also abundant and inexpensive, with a commodity cost of around $1/kg for fatty acids, for example. Their economic and embodied energy payback times can be very favorable.

The optimal design of an energy storage system requires accurate data regarding the thermophysical properties of PCMs. Furthermore, for phase change materials to be useful and reliable in their applications, they must be chemically and thermally stable after many melt-freeze cycles, and must be chemically inert with the materials with which they are in contact. For the very promising fatty acid PCMs, there were significant knowledge gaps and even inconsistencies. For example, there are considerable discrepancies between the values reported by different researchers for the latent heat of fusion and the phase change temperature of the same fatty acid PCM. In addition, thermal properties, such as the thermal conductivity and heat capacity, which are especially necessary for numerical studies for optimization, were largely unknown.

Researchers led by Professor Mary Anne White at Dalhousie University in Canada presented a comprehensive analysis of the thermophysical properties, thermal stability and chemical compatibility of six important organic PCMs: dodecanoic acid, decanoic acid, hexadecenoic acid, tetradecanoic acid, 1-octadecanol, and octadecanoic acid. Their research work is published in the journal Solar Energy Materials and Solar Cells. “We focused on fatty acid PCMs with melting temperatures between 30 and 70 °C because these materials span a wide range of thermal energy storage applications, from integration in building materials and residential solar water heating systems to cooling of portable electronic devices. They are cheap and can be sustainably sourced. They are also useful for preparing new PCMs by forming eutectic mixtures with lower melting temperatures”.

The research team implemented consistent procedures and experimental methods for all six phase change materials to provide direct comparisons. They accurately measured the thermal properties of the PCMs in the solid and liquid phases and related physical properties. In addition to thermophysical characterization, the authors determined the thermal stability of phase change materials over thousands of freeze-thaw cycles, as well as their chemical compatibility with 16 different materials. “Chemical compatibility of PCMs with materials is very important information but had been significantly overlooked in this field. For instance, many studies consider the addition of metallic fillers to enhance the thermal conductivity of fatty acid PCMs, but it is not known whether the fatty acids will react with these fillers over time”.

From the long-term cycling results, the authors observed that all the six phase change materials studied were thermally stable over 3000 melt-freeze cycles. In fact, there were no significant changes in the heats of fusion and melting temperatures, even for a low-purity sample of hexadecenoic acid. For this reason, it was determined that these PCMs are thermally reliable for long-term thermal energy storage applications.

The authors also investigated chemical compatibilities of the phase change materials with nine metal alloys and seven plastic materials. “We chose a wide range of materials which are found in most of the thermal energy storage applications that these PCMs were considered for in previous studies, or will likely be used for in the future. For example, copper and aluminum are typical filler materials, whereas the magnesium alloy, Mg AZ91D, and polycarbonate are commonly used in today’s portable electronic devices”.  They found that two copper alloys, namely Cu110 and Cu101, and one magnesium alloy, Mg AZ91D, were incompatible with the fatty acids, while the nickel alloy Ni C7521 was compatible only with octadecanoic and hexadecenoic acids. They observed that octadecanol was compatible with all the alloys. Polycarbonate was the only plastic material that did not react significantly with any of the phase change materials investigated.

The in-depth information provided in the study conducted at Dalhousie University regarding the thermophysical properties, thermal stability and chemical compatibility of organic non-paraffin phase change materials provides all the required data to design and optimize thermal energy storage systems in the temperature range 30 to 70 °C, for applications from the built environment to compact electronic devices.

About the author

Michel (“Mike”) B. Johnson is a Research Scientist with the Clean Technologies Research Institute (CTRI; formerly Institute for Materials Research) at Dalhousie University, Halifax, Nova Scotia, Canada. Mike is a specialist in the measurement of physical properties of materials, and he both supports the needs of the user community and develops new techniques. He has published widely in areas including phase change materials for energy storage, carbon nanotubes, and minerals, including thermal, electrical and magnetic properties.

About the author

Dr. Mary Anne White is Harry Shirreff Professor of Chemical Research (Emerita) at Dalhousie University, Halifax, Nova Scotia, Canada. Her research interests focus on thermal properties of materials, and the relationship between structure and properties. Professor White has made significant research contributions in areas including phase change materials for energy storage, thermochromic mixtures for thermally erasable inks, materials that exhibit negative thermal expansion, and materials with exceptionally low thermal conductivity. She is author or co-author of more than 200 refereed research publications, and author of the textbook “Physical Properties of Materials” (CRC Press).

For her contributions to public awareness of science, Professor White was awarded the 2007 McNeil Medal of the Royal Society of Canada. She holds honorary doctorates from McMaster University, the University of Western Ontario and University of Ottawa, the Noranda Award of the Canadian Society for Chemistry (for contributions to physical chemistry); the Sunner Award of the Calorimetry Conference, and the Union Carbide Award for Chemical Education from the Chemical Institute of Canada. In 2012, she received an American Chemical Society Award for Incorporation of Sustainability into Chemical Education. In 2013, she was elected as a Fellow of the Royal Society of Canada, and in 2016 she was installed as an Officer of the Order of Canada.

About the author

Dr. Samer Kahwaji is a Research Associate in the group of Professor Mary Anne White in the Department of Chemistry at Dalhousie University, Halifax, Nova Scotia, Canada. His research interests are in materials science and his current focus is on phase change materials (PCMs) for thermal energy storage applications, specifically on the identification and preparation of useful PCMs, and the characterization of their thermophysical properties, long-term stability and chemical compatibility.

During his research on PCMs, Dr. Kahwaji contributed to the development of a database that contains over 3,500 potential PCMs and he developed a computational tool to predict the thermal properties of new organic PCMs based on binary eutectic mixtures. He also has been a collaborator on research projects contracted by industrial partners, including Internat Energy Solutions Canada and Intel Corporation, for incorporation of PCMs in buildings and in portable electronics.

Reference

Samer Kahwaji, Michel B. Johnson, Ali C. Kheirabadi, Dominic Groulx, Mary Anne White. Fatty acids and related phase change materials for reliable thermal energy storage at moderate temperatures. Solar Energy Materials and Solar Cells, volume 167 (2017), pages 109–120.

 

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Renewable Energy Global Innovations features: An assessment of a proposed ETS in Australia by using the MONASH-Green model

Significance 

Climate change mitigation and carbon emission reduction policies have been taking center stage in Australia in the last decade. Australians are broadly in favor of developing clean sources of energy but there’s a political divide about how to approach climate change. To prove its commitment and determination in championing against global warming, the Australian government committed to reduce emissions by 26-28% on 2005 levels by 2030. However, the achievability of such stringent target with the current subsidized emissions abatement policy has been put into question. Regardless, the Emissions Trading Scheme has been demonstrated as a good policy for Australia owing to its small unfavorable effects on the economy.

Dr. Duy Nong at Colorado State University with Dr. Sam Meng and Professor Mahinda Siriwardana at University of New England in Australia evaluated the effects of the proposed Emissions Trading Schemes on the Australian economy as well as the emissions level using MONASH-Green model, and a database containing detailed energy sectors. In their study they applied the stylized BOTE macro model developed by Adams and Parmenter (2013) in order to inform the macroeconomic results generated by the full model. Their work is now published in the research journal, Energy Policy.

The researchers commenced by replacing the output production function in MONASH Green with the ORANI-G model production system as their study did not contain composite commodity outputs. They then altered the input demand structure in MONASH-Green. The team then collected and compiled database from a variety of sources. After policy design, they developed a simulation where they considered microeconomic effects, effects on households, emissions trading among sectors and effects on sectoral outputs and employment.

From the simulation results, the authors demonstrated that the costs of the proposed emissions trading scheme were as low as of those of related studies conducted earlier by Adams et al. For example, it was seen that the permit price would have to increase from A$4.1 in 2015 through A$13.1 in 2020 to A$41.3 in 2030 in order to enable Australia to achieve the 2020 and 2030 emissions targets. More so, the operation of the proposed Emissions Trading Scheme in Australia would cause the economy to contract progressively over the lifetime of the Emissions Trading Scheme. This is due to the fact that the energy sectors will tend to substitute high emission-intensive energy commodities such as brown coal with black coal. Additionally, employment at sectoral level will fluctuate in line with variations in their outputs.

Thus the MONASH-Green model has been successfully used in their study to assess the effects of a proposed Emissions Trading Schemes on the Australian economy, particularly on the energy sectors and multi household groups. The simulation results indicate that the current price of carbon permits cannot suffice to meet the set carbon reduction targets by 2030 without prior adjustments and reviews. These results lend strong support towards the transition to renewable energy. This policy study is therefore likely to be of continuing relevance to Australia and could form future climate policy.

About the author

Mahinda Siriwardana 

Professor of Economics
UNE Business School, University of New England
Email: asiriwar@une.edu.au

Mahinda Siriwardana is Professor of Economics at the University of New England, Australia. He received his PhD from La Trobe University in Melbourne.  Mahinda has taught economics at the University of Colombo, University of Manitoba, La Trobe University, and held a fulltime research position at the Australian National University before he joined UNE. His main research interest includes CGE modelling, trade policy analysis and climate change policy modelling. He has published nine books and numerous journal articles on these subjects. He is also a recipient of several Australian Research Council (ARC) grants.

About the author

Dr. Sam Meng

Affiliation: University of New England
Postal Address: Business School, UNE, Armidale, NSW, 2351.
Telephone: 2 6773 5142,  Fax: 2 6773 3596
Email: xmeng4@une.edu.au

Dr. Sam Meng is a senior researcher fellow at University of New England, Australia. He is currently working for an Australian Research Council (ARC) Linkage project: “Adaptation to Carbon-Tax-Induced Changes in Energy Demand in Rural and Regional Australia”, and formerly on the ARC Discovery project. He is experienced in large database handling, general computable equilibrium (CGE) modeling, time series modelling, and panel data analysis. His papers were published in high quality academic journals, such as Tourism Management, Energy Economics, Energy Policy, Agricultural economics; The Environmental and Resources Economics, Economic Modelling, Applied Economics, Journal of Travel and Tourism Marketing; and Journal of Asian Economics.

About the author

Dr. Duy Nong

Department of Agricultural and Resource Economics
Colorado State University
Fort Collins, CO, 80523
Email: duy.nong@colostate.edu

Dr. Duy Nong has conducted climate change, energy, and environmental research for several years. In particular, he is interested in studying the impacts of climate change issues, environmental policies and energy policies on economy and the environment. He mainly employs computable general equilibrium (CGE) modelling technique for his research and is proficient in developing and extending CGE models for particular tasks. He is currently a member of the American National Science Foundation Project, focusing on the impacts of climate change on species invasion and energy exploitation.

Reference

Duy Nonga, Sam Meng, Mahinda Siriwardana. An assessment of a proposed ETS in Australia by using the MONASH-Green model. Energy Policy 108 (2017) 281–291

 

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Renewable Energy Global Innovations features: Solar collector integrated with a pulsating heat pipe and a compound parabolic concentrator

Significance 

Solar energy is the most abundant renewable energy that has the capability to meet the world’s growing demand. However, it requires good solar concentrators to increase the trap efficiency. The efficient mean to utilize solar energy is to convert solar energy into heat stored in water by solar thermal collectors. Techniques such as high efficiency heat transfer absorber and solar radiation concentration are the main methods to improve the performance of solar thermal collector.

Pulsating heat pipe is one of the highly efficient absorber with simple stricture and low cost. The pulsating heat pipe has three working states namely: start-up, steady state and dry-out as the heat input increases.  Altogether, the pulsating heat pipe exhibits an excellent potential for application as heat collector credit due to its high heat transfer capacity. However, the heat flux of the of the evaporation section of pulsating heat pipe should be sufficiently high to meet the demand of its steady and high-efficiency work, which has a significant effect on the thermal performance of pulsating heat pipe. Therefore, a solar concentrator is necessary in order to increase the heat flux of the pulsating heat pipe absorber to ensure that efficient heat transfer capacity of pulsating heat pipe can be fully utilized.

Researchers led by Professor Rong Ji Xu from Beijing University of Civil Engineering and Architecture and in collaboration with Dr. Hua Sheng Wang at Queen Mary University of London proposed a study on a novel solar collector that integrates a closed-end pulsating heat pipe and a compound parabolic concentrator. Their main objective was to test the operating characteristics and thermal performance of the detailed designed collector, under different weather conditions. Their work is now published in the research journal, Energy Conversion and Management.

Briefly, the research team initiated their empirical procedure by developing a prototype of the solar collector. Secondly, they analyzed the operating characteristics of the pulsating heat pipe absorber. The team then assessed the thermal efficiency of the solar collector under different weather conditions.

The authors observed that the collector showed start-up, operational and shutdown stages at the starting and ending temperatures of 75 ⁰C. More so, they noted that the solar collector operated stably even in cloudy days. Additionally, the thermal resistance of the pulsating heat pipe absorber was seen to decrease with the increase in ambient temperature, solar intensity, and evaporation temperature which was found to be the main factor that affects the thermal efficiency of the collector.

Rong Ji Xu and colleagues successfully presented a novel solar collector that integrates a closed-end pulsating heat pipe and a compound parabolic concentrator. In their study, they have assessed the effects of operating parameters on the operating characteristics of the pulsating heat pipe and the performance of the solar collector under varying weather conditions. The experimental results suggest that the heat flux of the pulsating heat pipe absorber’s evaporation section concentrated by compound parabolic concentrator with a concentration ratio of 3.4 is appropriate and the use of compound parabolic concentrator is reasonable. Their proposed design offers a promising efficiency of 50% when compared with conventional solar collectors and pulsating heat pipe solar collectors.

According to Rong Ji Xu, the mathematical model of the solar collector has been built. The effects of the solar density, ambient temperature, weed speed, glass thickness and collecting temperature on the thermal performance were simulated. A theoretical efficiency of 70% can be realized which is more promising than experimental results.

About the author

Rongji Xu，PhD，Associate Professor
School of Environment and Energy Engineering, Beijing University of Civil Engineering and Architecture
1 Zhanlanguan Road, Beijing 100044, China
Email: xurongji@bucea.edu.cn

Research interests:

• Heat and mass transfer
• Development and utilization of solar energy
• Design and optimization of refrigeration & air-conditioning system
• Organic Rankine cycle (ORC)

Research grant applications:

• Failure mechanism study on pulsating heat pipe used in solar energy collector, Project principal, NSFC (No. 51506004)
• Mechanism study on pulsating heat pipe with mixture working fluid, Project principal, BNSF (No. 3162009)
• Development of PV air conditioner, researcher co-investigator, Project principal, University-Industrial Collaboration Project
• Design and optimization on fin-and-tube heat exchanger of air conditioner, Project principal, University- Industrial Collaboration Project

Reference

Rong Ji Xu, Xiao Hui Zhang, Rui Xiang Wang, Shu Hui Xu, Hua Sheng Wang. Experimental investigation of a solar collector integrated with a pulsating heat pipe and a compound parabolic concentrator. Energy Conversion and Management 148 (2017) 68–77

 

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Renewable Energy Global Innovations features: Dynamic filtration control performance of N2/liquid CO2 foam in porous media

Significance 

In the extraction of oil and gas, fracturing fluids are used to create and widen a fracture for easier production. The fluid should be compatible with the rocks. Liquid CO₂ has been used as a fracturing fluid because it is highly soluble in most oil extracts therefore less damaging to the oil extracted as compared to water-based fluids. The high solubility in oil helps in lowering the viscosity of oil and improves the extraction of oil from the ground.

Liquid CO₂ is, however, difficult to control in porous media due to its low viscosity and lack of filter cake formation properties for controlled filtration. This may affect the shape of the desired fracture. Researchers have tried to improve on the viscosity of liquid CO₂ by adding thickening agents, however, improvement of viscosity of liquid CO₂ by enhancement does not guarantee a change in its filtration performance and liquid CO₂ dissolves poorly with thickening agents making the insoluble residues potential pollutants.

Filtration control performance of liquid CO₂ was improved without pollution by mixing it with Nitrogen (N₂). Gupta et al. stabilized the N₂ and CO₂ mixture by introducing fluorochemical stabilizers into the liquid CO₂ and then bubbling N₂ into the liquid to form the N₂/liquid CO₂ foam. The liquid CO₂ was the external phase while the N₂ was the inner face and the fluorochemical stabilizers separated the two phases.

Qichao Lv, under the guidance of Professor Zhaomin Li, at China University of Petroleum investigated the dynamic filtration control performance of N₂/liquid CO₂ foam with a fluorochemical (HFE) as a stabilizer.

The filtration behavior of N₂/liquid CO₂ foam is uncertain as the external phase of the foam is unstable. Temperature and pressure can affect its density, viscosity and phase and changing the flow properties of the foam. Moreover, the behavior of waterless foam with the unique fluorochemical interface is uncertain. The interface may also be a potential pollutant. The experiment seeks to study the factors that may affect the dynamic filtration performance of N₂/liquid CO₂ foam including viscosity, foam quality, temperature, pressure, permeability and the damaging effects of the foam on porous media after filtration.

The setup for the experiment was done as shown in their paper where the preparation for the foaming solution was done and the viscosity measurement and dynamic filtration tests were done. The viscosity measurement results showed that the use of foam enhanced the viscosity of liquid CO₂. The apparent viscosity is related to temperature, pressure and foam quality. The viscosity increased as the foam quality was increased from 31 % to 71 %. The viscosity of high quality foams were 1 order of magnitude larger than that of liquid CO₂ at the same conditions. The apparent viscosity is at a maximum at a foam quality of about 80 % before it starts decreasing as it becomes fragile and sensitive to disturbances such as interactions and pressure fluctuations.

The filtration control performance of the N₂/liquid CO₂ foam was compared to that of liquid CO₂ and a N₂/liquid CO₂ mixture. The results showed that the filtration control properties of the N₂/liquid CO₂ foam was better than the others. The leak off coefficient lowered with an increase in foam quality up to 80 % where it increased. Foams of 50 – 80 % quality had a high filtration performance with permeability change. Low initial foam quality foams had better filtration performance at high pressure difference. As the foam enters the porous media, the liquid part would evaporate hence increasing the foam quality with depth. Damage by the foam on the porous media depends upon the pressure difference between the two sides of the porous media.  Damage is small under low pressure difference as the CO₂ turns to gas under a high pressure media damaging the porous media.

In their study the research team were able to prove that by mixing N₂, liquid CO₂ and HFE, properties such as viscosity and filtration control performance of the resultant N₂/liquid CO₂ foam, increased substantially without damage to porous media.

About the author

Qichao Lv is currently a doctoral candidate at China University of Petroleum, East China and a research scholar of Foam Fluid Enhanced Oil & Gas Production Engineering Research Center in Shandong province. He is also a member of Nano-Technology for Energy and Environment Group in University of Calgary. His primary areas of interest include foam technology for EOR and fracturing. In particular, he has done an excellent work in green and clean foam fracturing for unconventional oil and gas reservoirs such as shale gas, tight sand oil and gas, and CBM formations. He has published more than 20 articles in peer-reviewed scientific journals and applied for 15 patents of China and US. Because of his contribution to the development of unconventional reservoirs, he has won a first prize of provincial science and technology award as first investigator.

Contact: qichaolv@s.upc.edu.cn

About the author

Prof. Zhaomin Li is vice president of the China University of Petroleum, East China and director of Foam Fluid Enhanced Oil & Gas Production Engineering Research Center in Shandong province. His research emphasis is on the flow laws and equipment for foam fluid, new technologies of heavy oil recovery, CCUS theories and their application. In recent years, he has participated in more than 10 national programs as main contributor, and published more than 100 articles, of which 34 articles are indexed by SCI and 36 articles are indexed by EI.

He also holds more than 30 invention patents, and has established 3 standards for oil and gas industry as manager. In addition, he has won three first prizes of provincial science and technology award as first investigator. In particular, one of his invention as participant, HDCS enhanced oil recovery technology for ultra-heavy oil reservoirs, has increased crude oil production by several millions of tons, which was also selected as one of ten chemical technology highlights by China Chemical Industry News in 2010. A serials of foam stimulation techniques he invented are serving B&R countries, which has been reported by the Journal of International Innovation.

Contact: lizhm@upc.edu.cn

Reference

Lv Q, Li Z, Li B, Zhang C, Shi D, Zheng C, Zhou T. Experimental study on the dynamic filtration control performance of N2/liquid CO2 foam in porous media. Fuel. 2017 Aug 15; 202:435-45.

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Renewable Energy Global Innovations features: A non-fullerene acceptor with a diagnostic morphological handle for streamlined screening of donor materials in organic solar cells

Significance 

Solution-processable organic solar cells are an emerging technology that is capable of providing a cheap route for solar energy conversion. Researchers continue to set new records in power conversion efficiencies every year, yet the organic solar cell technology has remained more of an academic interest. In order to extend the existing lab-scale methodologies to large-scale commercialization, there are a number of inadequacies that will have to be addressed.

Transitioning to high-performance practical materials from currentmaterials with complex and multi-step preparations remains a major issue. This has made the materials expensive and more or less limited to academic settings. To address this issue, low cost and scalable N-annulated perylene diimide building blocks have been incorporated into a wide range of final materials with overall power conversion efficiencies between 2-8% when implemented as a non-fullerene acceptor. While these materials are simple to access and scale-up, their high efficiencies have relied on the use of polymeric donor materials, which are often quite expensive.

In view of the above limitations, solar energy scientists have now shifted their focus to finding simple and scalable donor materials that can sufficiently complement these acceptor materials. Researchers led by Professor Gregory Welch at the University of Calgary streamlined the screening of low cost and scalable donor materials using an N-annulated perylene diimide derivative. The authors established a simple air-processed and air-tested organic photovoltaic device preparation method in order to realize their objective. Their research work is published in Journal of Materials Chemistry A.

The authors took advantage of the diagnostic morphological handle inherent in N-annulated perylene diimide derivative and devised an approach for screening compatible donor materials. Implementing this efficient approach, the authors were able to screen a series of simple donor polymers constructed from low-cost building blocks and settled on PDTT-BOBT as good competitor to the now standard, high performance, yet expensive polymer, PTB7-Th.

The authors observed that optimizing the active layer blend of PDTT-BOBT:PDI-DPP-PDI led to an increase in the performance upon post-deposition chloroform vapor annealing. The best cell power conversion efficiency improved from 1.9 to 4.5% compared to 1.7 to 4.6% for the PTB7-Th. These high efficiencies made the authors recognize PDTT-BOBT as an alternative to PTB7-Th and supported its credibility for screening new acceptor materials.

While performance was impressive, negligible light absorption of PDTT-BOBT beyond 700nm as well as poor photochemical stability in air appear to be the major drawbacks to the polymer design. This polymer has high ionization potential and a high open circuit voltage. It would be therefore prudent to red-shift the onset of absorption with less alteration on the ionization potential. For this reason, any future modifications to the polymer design must be centrally focused on modifying the acceptor component.

Enhancing light stability of this polymer would definitely necessitate substituting the alkoxy side chains on the benzothiadiazole moiety with stable solubilizing substituents, without necessarily minimizing polymer solubility or affecting its self-assembly tendencies.

Addressing these challenges will call for the preparation of a number of new polymeric materials. Seth McAfee and colleagues in this study therefore proposed a simple approach for easy screening of these derivatives to come up with superior polymer designs.

About the author

Seth McAfee is a PhD candidate in Chemistry at the University of Calgary (Canada) working under the supervision of Dr. Gregory Welch.

Seth’s research in the Welch Research Group is focused on practical organic materials development for use in electronic devices, specifically organic solar cells. Motivated to access more sustainable and cost-effective active layer materials, Seth has been designing his organic pi-conjugated compounds to make use of organic dyes, known for their ease of commercial accessibility and excellent light harvesting capabilities.

Current efforts are focused on exploiting a material composed of perylene diimide (structural derivative of Pigment Red 190) and diketopyrrolopyrrole (structural derivative of Pigment Red 254). This compound is easily synthesized in high yields on multi-gram scale and has been able to achieve impressive device efficiencies acting as the electron-accepting material within the bulk heterojunction of solution-processable organic solar cells. A key feature of this material is the solvent vapour annealing induced solid-state re-organization of the compound. This was found to dramatically improve organic solar cell device efficiencies with an array of different electron-donating materials and highlights the versatile compatibility of the compound.

Contact: seth.mcafee@ucalgary.ca

Reference

Seth M. McAfee, Abby-Jo Payne, Sergey V. Dayneko, Gururaj P. Kini, Chang Eun Song, Jong-Cheol Lee and Gregory C. Welch. A non-fullerene acceptor with a diagnostic morphological handle for streamlined screening of donor materials in organic solar cells. Journal of Materials Chemistry A, 2017, 5, 16907.

 

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Renewable Energy Global Innovations features: Continuous Ozonolysis Process to Produce Non-CO Off-Gassing Wood Pellets

Significance 

Exposure to carbon monoxide off-gassed from stored wood pellets can be a major health problem leading to critical occupational and residential exposures. Hazardous incidents and fatalities have been reported from carbon monoxide exposure related to transportation and storage of wood pellets (Gauthier, 2012). The use of wood pellets is on the rise across the world in view of the high demand for high-density, concerns about climate change, renewable energy, and the long-term decline of fossil fuel resources.

Wood pellets are easy to handle, have a homogeneous quality, and high energy density, which make them competitive with fossil fuels for heating applications. In view of the fact that wood pellet consumption as well as production has risen considerably in the last few years, concerns relating to health issues and safety due to CO exposure resulting from  off-gassing from wood pellets  are on the rise.

Researchers have mounted studies to analyze the processes that result in formation of carbon monoxide from stored wood pellets. A previous study has shown that autoxidation of unsaturated compounds, such as terpenes and fatty acids is responsible for the production of carbon monoxide from wood pellets. It was also shown that ozonation of wood fiber passivated the reactive hydrocarbons under static conditions.

Unfortunately, the kinetics of continuous ozonolysis reactions has not been determined.  Elucidating the kinetics would be required for analyzing the feasibility of a continuous process as demanded in a commercial pellet mill. Researchers led by Professor Philip Hopke at Clarkson University in New York studied the kinetics of continuous ozonolysis of wood fiber and implemented those details to adopt ozonolysis at industrial scales. They showed  that a considerable reduction of carbon monoxide emissions achieved at low cost in the pellet production process would eliminate one barrier limiting the expanded use of wood pellets. Their research is published in journal, Energy & Fuels. This work was supported by the New York State Energy Research and Development Authority intend to provide technical assistance to all pellet mills in New York to eliminate CO off-gassing from pellets with the intention of  removing the hazard to consumers

The authors observed that the reaction followed a pseudo-first-order reaction implying that the reduction in carbon monoxide emissions was linearly proportional to the ozone exposure. They also observed that the exposure required to minimize or eliminate completely carbon monoxide formation from the exposed fiber was approximately 42000 ppm min at about 0.57kg/min of fiber or about 0.032g of O3/kg of fiber to be passivated.

The research team investigated the volatile organic compounds generated during the ozonolysis of the fiber implementing gas chromatography. They identified aldehydes such as decanal, and nonanal. This indicated that linoleic, oleic, and linolenic acids were ozonized. The authors also performed thermogravimetric analysis in a bid to analyze changes in wood characteristics following exposure to ozone. However, no major changes in the wood characteristics were observed.

In order to establish an industrial viability of the proposed process, the researchers performed trials at scale in a commercial pellet mill (in collaboration with scientists at Queenaire Technologies and Curran Renewable Energy). The pellets produced through this process had no measurable carbon monoxide off-gassing when given sufficient ozone exposure, therefore this provided the viability of the process.

Fuel attributes of the produced pellets were established and indicated that the wood pellets produced from the treated fiber had a similar calorific value content but had different moisture and ash contents from non-treated pellets.

About the author

Dr. Philip K. Hopke is the Bayard D. Clarkson Distinguished Professor Emeritus at Clarkson University, and former Director of the Center for Air Resources Engineering and Science (CARES), and former Director of the Institute for a Sustainable Environment (ISE).  He holds an adjunct professorship in the Department of Public Health Sciences at the University of Rochester School of Medicine and Dentistry.

Dr. Hopke is a past Chair of EPA’s Clean Air Scientific Advisory Committee (CASAC), and has served on the EPA Science Advisory Board (SAB). Professor Hopke is a Past President of the American Association for Aerosol Research (AAAR), and was a member of the more than a dozen National Research Council committees. He is a member of the NRC’s Board of Environmental Studies and Toxicology.  He is a fellow of the International Aerosol Research Assembly, the American Association for the Advancement of Science and the American Association for Aerosol Research.  He is an elected member of the International Statistics Institute and was the recipient of the Eastern Analytical Symposium Award in Chemometrics and the Chemometrics in Analytical Chemistry Conference Lifetime Achievement Award. He is also a recipient of the David Sinclair Award of the AAAR. He served as a Jefferson Science Fellow at the U.S. Department of State during the 2008-09 academic year. Professor Hopke received his B.S. in Chemistry from Trinity College (Hartford) and his M.A. and Ph.D. degrees in chemistry from Princeton University. After a post-doctoral appointment at M.I.T. and four years as an assistant professor at the State University College at Fredonia, NY, Dr. Hopke joined the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign, rising to the rank of professor of environmental chemistry, and subsequently came to Clarkson in 1989 as the first Robert A. Plane Professor with a principal appointment in the Department of Chemistry. He moved his principal appointment to the Department of Chemical and Biomolecular Engineering in 2000.

In 2002, he became the Clarkson Professor and Director of CARES.  On July 1, 2010, he became Director of ISE that houses Clarkson’s undergraduate and graduate environmental science degree programs as well as managing its sustainability initiatives. In May 2016 he moved to emeritus status.  In 2017, he moved to Rochester, NY to work at the University of Rochester.

Reference

Mohammad Arifur Rahman, Stefania Squizzato, Richard Luscombe-Mills, Patrick Curran, and Philip K. Hopke. Continuous Ozonolysis Process to Produce Non-CO Off-Gassing Wood Pellets. Energy Fuels, volume 31 (2017), pages 8228−8234.

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Renewable Energy Global Innovations features: General Equations of Lumped Parameter Ladder Circuits and a Special Approach to Analyzing Electrical Line Transient States

Significance Statement

The Telegrapher’s equations, two linear partial differential equations, one for voltages and the other for currents, describe the behavior of voltages and currents in each moment and at any point along an electrical line. They can only be integrated in special cases e. g. if the voltage is sinusoidal function of time and the obtained solution is well-known as the General Line Equations. However, these equations are limited in that they are only convenient for analysis of the transmission lines operating in steady state regimes. Also, these equations are not sufficiently accurate in the case of a lumped parameter ladder circuit that is formed in practice by transmission line ground wires and the belonging tower footing electrodes, especially in the cases when the number of the considered spans is small.

Furthermore, the Telegrapher’s equations can be integrated in the transient regime only using operational calculus, i.e. the Laplas Transformation. However, on the basis of such solution   the finally obtained analytical expressions are not convenient for the interpretation and analysis of resonant phenomena, as well as for determination of transient over-voltages in transmission lines.

Conversely, knowledge exists that lumped parameter ladder circuits represent universal physical and mathematical models of systems having distributed parameters and as such can also be used for analyses of electrical lines. However, these circuits were without the adequate general solutions, i.e. without the equations analogous to the General Line Equations.

Dr. Ljubivoje Popovic at J.P. Elekdrodistribucija-Beograd in Serbia has managed to develop an alternative analytical procedure for obtaining the well-known General Line Equations. Also, on the basis of the same procedure he has obtained the, so far unknown equations and named them “General Equations of Lumped Parameter Ladder Circuits”. These equations enable correct determination of ground fault current distribution for a fault at any point along an HV transmission line. Moreover, these equations enable the analysis of electrical quantities along any actual (with distributed parameters) line in steady state by applying relatively simple mathematical operations and with a desired degree of accuracy.

However, the most important research result is the developed analytical procedure itself, because it opens possibilities for a new approach in analyzing resonant phenomena and transient states in electric-power lines.  The author began by representing an electrical line through its lumped parameter model as a base and then applied the principle of superposition and a summation of the especially formed finite and infinite geometric series. The researcher was able to make observations such as: the developed analytical procedure resulted in relatively simple analytical expressions for the relationship between currents and voltages at different points of transmission lines in transient state conditions. Secondly, the developed analytical procedure was performed to follow, one-by-one, all the phases of the actual physical process occurring during transient states in electrical lines. Eventually, the researcher applied his analytical procedure in a numerical example concerning determination of switching over-voltages in transmission lines and show that this problem can be solved without specially developed computer programs. His research work is now published in the peer-reviewed journal, Electrical Power and Energy Systems.

About The Author

Ljubivoje M. Popović was born in Markovac (at Mladenovac), Serbia, in 1944, graduated (1969) and received Master (1983) and Doctor (1991) degrees, all at the School of Electrical Engineering, University of Belgrade.

In 1969 joined the Electric Power Distribution Company of Belgrade, where he stayed until retirement in 2007.  In 1999 he was elected an associated professor at the School of Electrical Engineering, University of Belgrade and in 2010 he was elected an IEEE R8 Industry Lecturer (Industry Continuing Education Program).

At the beginning of his professional carrier he worked on design of different power installations, including the first 110/10 kV substations in the power distribution network of Belgrade. At the end of the seventies, he moved to the Development and Research Department of the same company.

His research work has been mainly focused on the following  topics:

– Grounding systems of HV substations located in urban areas,
– Ground fault current distribution along the overhead and cable feeding lines,
– Fault locator algorithms,
– Resonant phenomena in the transmission lines and transformer windings,
– Influence of metal installations surrounding the feeding line on the ground fault current distribution,
– Influence of electric-power lines on surrounding metal installations,
– Influence of surrounding metal installations on the transfer characteristics of distribution lines.

In addition to realization of the numerous studies and projects, in the area of power delivery he published: over 50 research papers in international journals and proceedings of international conferences, 2 chapters in two international scientific books and one scientific book, Actual Parameters of Power Lines Passing through Urban Areas.

Some of his papers and research results have had an impact on the following IEC publications: Technical Report IEC 60909-2, Ed 1(1992-09) and IEC standard 60909-3, Ed 2 (2003-09)), and was specially highlighted by: ”Vertical News”, ”High-beam Research”, ”High-beam Business”, ”Goliath Business News” and ”News-edge”. Two of his papers published in 2014 have been selected by ”Renewably Energy Global Innovations” as the key scientific articles.

He was elected a member of the IEC Technical Committee – IEC/TC73- Short Circuit Currents from 2004. A member of IEEE since 1987, he became Senior Member in 1991 and was the Chair of IEEE PES Serbia and Montenegro Chapter from 2002 until 2009.

He received: national ”Nikola Tesla” Award in 2006, IEEE PES Chapter Outstanding Engineer Award, and Certificate of Appreciation for Notable Services and Contributions towards advancement if IEEE and Engineering Professions.

Reference

Ljubivoje M. Popovic. General equations of lumped parameter ladder circuits and a special approach to analyzing electrical line transient states. Electrical Power and Energy Systems, volume 95 (2018) pages 568–576.

 

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Renewable Energy Global Innovations features: Optimal Design of Modular Cogeneration Plants for Hospital Facilities and Robustness Evaluation of the Results

Significance Statement

A cogeneration technique such as the combined heat and power generation offers prospects for emission of non-toxic gases which are in serious need for the energy demand world. Hence several research efforts have been conducted to obtain a desirable balance between energy supply and economic objectives.

Researchers from University of Naples Federico II in Italy proposed a new methodology which involves a coupled calculation algorithm to genetic optimization algorithm MOGA II and a multi-objective robust design optimization approach in order to determine the capabilities of an optimized combined heat and power plants in hospital facilities. The research work is now published in Energy Conversion and Management.

The calculation algorithm developed to the genetic optimization algorithm compares the specific load profiles of two Italian hospital facilities while considering the combined heat and power system-user interaction with the sole objective of increasing the total primary energy conversion and reducing the simple payback period. The multi-objective optimization approach which also involves robust design optimization involved a sensitivity analysis which accommodates certain uncertainties economic-wise and energy as well.

The authors implemented two management strategies in the calculation algorithm; maximum primary energy savings management MPESM logic and maximum profitability management MPM logic. They investigated load profiles of the two hospital facilities were the S. Paolo hospital in Naples and the second, Oncological Reference Center of Basilicata CROB.

Pareto optimal front solutions derived from the multi-objective optimization approach when using the MPSEM strategy in a hospital facility of S. Paolo showed that plant configurations which aid the overall energy savings favors the simple payback period. A multiple gas engine of two and three, gave an optimum relation between the energy and economic results. A reasonable Pareto optimal front solutions were observed in the total primary energy savings at a value greater than 16.5%, the simple payback period between 2.9- 4.6 years and engines between one to three with an electrical power range between 260-570KW for each. The MPM logic had a decreased efficiency in designing an optimized plant configuration.

The Pareto optimal front solutions when considering a hospital facility of CROB indicated a higher value of total primary energy savings at 18.2%, while the simple payback period is a little above 3 years with three combined heat and power engines of 440KW. With the use of MPM logic strategy, a decrease in total primary energy savings of 0.5% was discovered. Compared to that of S. Paolo hospital facility, that of CROB had a higher total primary savings value in all cases.

Results from the Pareto optimal solutions for the first multi-objective optimization approach used in the S. Paolo hospital indicated a higher economic sensitivity compared to the energetic sensitivity as standard deviation accounted up to 7% of its mean value ratios under 3% for total primary energy savings. The most stable plant design for the two hospital facilities was also provided.

However, the multi-objective robust design optimization in order to derive a last-longing solution economically and energetically, gave Pareto optimal solutions with standard deviation for a simple payback period less than 3.5% of its mean value, which reaches 7% of the total primary savings in hospital facility of S. Paolo. Pareto optimal solutions for the hospital facility in the CROB had a standard deviation of simple payback less than 2.5% of its mean value while reaching 6% of the total primary energy savings.

The optimization tool proposed in this study provides a reasonable approach for determining long-lasting performance for the combined heat and power plant while considering its effect on the economy and energy supply.

About The Author

Massimiliano Muccillo received his degree in Mechanical Engineering at the University of Naples Federico II, Italy, in 2008, discussing a thesis addressing the study of the prototype of a variable valve actuation system for a motorcycle engine. He received his Ph.D degree in Engineering of Mechanical Systems at the University of Naples Federico II, in 2012, discussing a thesis addressing the use of the multi-objective approach for the optimization of cogeneration systems. Since 2012, he has been a Research fellow at the Department of Industrial Engineering of the University of Naples Federico II.

His research interests include modeling, analysis and optimization of spark ignition reciprocating internal combustion, CHP systems and ORC systems. SAE member since 2012. ATI member since 2012. Author of about 25 scientific publications (13 SCOPUS). “Key Scientific Article contributing to the excellence in Energy research” by RENEWABLE ENERGY GLOBAL INNOVATIONS (http://ift.tt/2ndOosK) in 2014.

About The Author

Alfredo Gimelli associate Professor of Fluid Machines and Energy Systems at the Department of industrial Engineering of the University of Napoli Federico II (Italy). Scientific Council Member of the Industrial Engineering doctoral since 2012. Scientific Council Member of the Mechanical Engineering doctoral since 2008. Research interests are related to: – Internal Combustion Engines: Experiments and Modeling;- Energy Efficiency; – Renewable Energy: Biomass, CSP Thermodynamic Cycles and Syngas from Waste; – Combined Heat and Power; – Multi Objective Optimization; – ORC Power Plants. Graduated with honors in Mechanical Engineering at the University of Napoli (Italy) in 1994. Philosophic Doctor in Mechanical Engineering in 1999. SAE member since 2003. ATI member since 1997.

Author of more than 70 scientific publications (40 SCOPUS – 15 ISI journals) and 1 European Patent. ACA Noise&Vibration Award in 2005. “Key Scientific Article contributing to the excellence in Energy research” by RENEWABLE ENERGY GLOBAL INNOVATIONS (http://ift.tt/2ndOosK) in 2014. Scientific responsible of more than 10 research programs/projects/contracts. Creator and founder of a high-tech company in the renewable and energy saving technologies.

Reference

Gimelli, A., Muccillo, M., Sannino, R. Optimal Design of Modular Cogeneration Plants for Hospital Facilities and Robustness Evaluation of the Results, Energy Conversion and Management 134 (2017) 20–31.

DII – Department of Industrial Engineering, University of Naples Federico II, Via Claudio 21, 80125 Napoli, Italy.

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Renewable Energy Global Innovations features: Decision Framework for Feasibility Analysis of Introducing the Steam Turbine Unit to Recover Industrial Waste Heat Based on Economic and Environmental Assessment

Significance Statement

Various technologies involved in reduction of carbon emissions have been implemented in order to provide an equal source of energy supply and in essence, produce gases which are non-toxic to the environment. In view of advancing energy efficiency, recovery of heat energy from industrial waste which can be classified as a source of renewable energy can certainly satisfy both economic and environmental benefits.

A steam turbine unit can efficiently serve as one of the techniques used for waste heat recovery. However, little or no assessment has been made in essence, of providing a decision framework to test its economic and environmental impacts.

Wujie Zhang and colleagues from Zhejiang University in China provided a decision framework for initiating a feasible criterion by simply undergoing an economic and environmental assessment of an industrial waste heat recovery from a steam turbine unit. The research is now published in Journal of Cleaner Production.

Two working modes of the steam turbine unit were considered as a result of their energy output; electrical and mechanical driving force. After certain assumptions, the authors established economic and environmental models which were based on cost-benefit analysis and life-cycle assessment in order to ascertain the benefits of waste heat recovery from the steam turbine unit according to their respective working modes.

The decision framework incorporates three possible outcomes each for both economic benefit and environmental impact of the steam turbine unit. Nine possible combinations were also provided by the cost-benefit analysis and life-cycle assessment results in order to maximize the economic and environmental benefits of the steam turbine unit. Further analysis, however, indicated that the working mode based on the mechanical driving force showed more environmental benefits, but the economic profits remained the same for the two working modes.

The derived decision framework when utilized in a case study of a petrochemical plant, producing terephthalic acid in China, observed a payback period of 2.28 years with energy conservation as high as 2 x 10⁵ GJ for an approximate payback period of 0.12 years. This result shows that the decision framework provided by the way of the authors, can efficiently assess the environmental and economic benefits of an industrial waste heat recovery system.

With the aid of decision framework, in view of providing feasibility analysis on a waste heat recovery technique, the authors were able to show that the steam turbine unit not only conforms to a renewable energy source, but also provides both economic and environmental benefits to consumers.

Journal Reference

W. Zhang^1,2, F. Gu³, F. Dai^1,2, X. Gu^1,2, F. Yue^1,2, B. Bao^1,2, Decision Framework for Feasibility Analysis of Introducing the Steam Turbine Unit to Recover Industrial Waste Heat Based on Economic and Environmental Assessment, Journal of Cleaner Production 137 (2016) 1491-1502.

Show Affiliations

1. Key Laboratory of Advanced Manufacturing Technology of Zhejiang Province, College of Mechanical Engineering, Zhejiang University, Hangzhou, 310027, China.
2. The State Key Laboratory of Fluid Power Transmission and Control, College of Mechanical Engineering, Zhejiang University, Hangzhou, 310027, China.
3. Faculty of Science and Engineering, University of Nottingham, Ningbo, 315100, China.

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