Search results for: separation efficiency

Authors: Meriam Khelifa

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In recent years, many studies have focused on the harvesting of the vibrations energy to produce electrical energy using contact separation (CS) triboelectric nanogenerators (TENG). The simplest design for a TENG consists of a capacitor comprising a single moving electrode. The conversion efficiency of vibration energy into electrical energy can, in principle, reach 100%. But to actually achieve this objective, it is necessary to optimize the parameters of the TENG, such as the dielectric constant and the thickness of the insulator, the load resistance, etc. In particular, the use of a switch which is actioned at optimal times within the TENG cycle is essential. Using numerical modeling and experimental design, we applied a methodology to find the TENG parameters which optimize the energy transfer efficiency (ETE) to almost 100% for any vibration frequency and amplitude. The rather simple design of a TENG is promising as an environment friendly device. It opens the doors for harvesting acoustic vibrations from the environment and to design effective protection against environmental noise.

Keywords: vibrations, CS TENG, efficiency, design of experiments

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Authors: Patrizia Frontera, Anastasia Macario, Simona Crispi, Angela Malara, Pierantonio De Luca, Stefano Trocino

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The exploration of solar energy for the photoelectrochemical splitting of water into hydrogen and oxygen has been extensively researched as a means of generating sustainable H₂ fuel. However, despite these efforts, commercialization of this technology has not yet materialized. Presently, the primary impediments to commercialization include low solar-to-hydrogen efficiency (2-3% in PEC with an active area of up to 10-15 cm²), the utilization of costly and critical raw materials (e.g., BiVO₄), and energy losses during the separation of H₂ from O₂ and H₂O vapours in the output stream. The SERGIO partners have identified an advanced approach to fabricate photoelectrode materials, coupled with an appropriate scientific direction to achieve cost-effective solar-driven H₂ production in a tandem photoelectrochemical cell. This project is designed to reach Technology Readiness Level (TRL) 4 by validating the technology in the laboratory using a cell with an active area of up to 10 cm², boasting a solar-to-hydrogen efficiency of 5%, and ensuring acceptable hydrogen purity (99.99%). Our objectives include breakthroughs in cost efficiency, conversion efficiency, and H₂ purity.

Keywords: photoelectrolysis, green hydrogen, photoelectrochemical cell, semiconductors

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Authors: S. A. A. Nabeela Nasreen, S. Sundarrajan, S. A. Syed Nizar, Seeram Ramakrishna

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Metal-organic frameworks (MOFs) have attracted considerable interest due to its diverse pore size tunability, fascinating topologies and extensive uses in fields such as catalysis, membrane separation, chemical sensing, etc. Zeolitic imidazolate frameworks (ZIFs) are a class of MOF with porous crystals containing extended three-dimensional structures of tetrahedral metal ions (e.g., Zn) bridged by Imidazolate (Im). Selected ZIFs are used to separate solvent/solvent mixtures. A layer by layer formation of the nanocomposite of Zinc oxide (ZnO) and ZIF on a ceramic support using a solvothermal method was engaged and tested for target solvent/solvent separation. Metal oxide layer was characterized by XRD, SEM, and TEM to confirm the smooth and continuous coating for the separation process. The chemical composition of ZIF films was studied by using X-Ray absorption near-edge structure (XANES) spectroscopy. The obtained ceramic tube with metal oxide and ZIF layer coating were tested for its packing density, thickness, distribution of seed layers and variation of permeation rate of solvent mixture (isopropyl alcohol (IPA)/methyl isobutyl ketone (MIBK). Pervaporation technique was used for the separation to achieve a high permeation rate with separation ratio of > 99.5% of the solvent mixture.

Keywords: metal oxide, membrane, pervaporation, solvothermal, ZIF

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Authors: Peng Li, Luan Wang, Haifeng Fei, Renhong Xie, Yibin Rui, Shanhong Guo

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The applications of satellite-based automatic identification system (S-AIS) pave the road for wide-range maritime traffic monitoring and management. But the coverage of satellite’s view includes multiple AIS self-organizing networks, which leads to the collision of AIS signals from different cells. The contribution of this work is to propose an improved multi-channel blind source separation algorithm based on Artificial Bee Colony (ABC) and advanced stochastic optimization to perform separation of the mixed AIS signals. The proposed approach adopts modified ABC algorithm to get an optimized initial separating matrix, which can expedite the initialization bias correction, and utilizes the Adaptive Moment Estimation (Adam) to update the separating matrix by adjusting the learning rate for each parameter dynamically. Simulation results show that the algorithm can speed up convergence and lead to better performance in separation accuracy.

Keywords: satellite-based automatic identification system, blind source separation, artificial bee colony, adaptive moment estimation

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Authors: Ewa Rudnik

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Poster shows a comparison of hydrometallurgical routes of copper recovery from low-grade e-waste. Electronic scrap was smelted to produce Cu–Zn–Ag alloy. The alloy was then treated in the following ways: (a) anodic dissolution with simultaneous metal electrodeposition using ammoniacal and sulfuric acid solutions. This resulted in the separation of metals, where lead, silver and tin accumulated mainly in the slimes, while copper was transferred to the electrolyte and then recovered on the cathode. The best conditions of the alloy treatment were obtained in the sulfuric acid, where the final product was metal of high purity (99% Cu) at the current efficiency of 90%. (b) leaching in ammoniacal solutions of various compositions and then copper electrowinning. Alloy was leached in chloride, carbonate, sulfate and thiosulfate baths. This resulted in the separation of the metals, wherein copper and zinc were transferred to the electrolyte, while metallic tin and silver as well as lead salts remained in the slimes. Copper was selectively recovered from the ammoniacal solutions by the electrolysis, leaving zinc ions in the electrolyte. The best conditions of the alloy treatment were obtained in the ammonia-carbonate system, where the final product was copper of high purity (99.9%) at the current efficiency of 60%. Thiosulfate solution was not applicable for the leaching of the copper alloy due to secondary reactions of the formation of copper (I) thiosulfate complexes and precipitation of copper (I) sulfide.

Keywords: alloy, electrolysis, e-waste, leaching

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Authors: Kul Pun, F. A. Hamad, T. Ahmed, J. O. Ugwu, J. Eyers, G. Lawson, P. A. Russell

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Determining droplet size and distribution is essential when determining the separation efficiency of a two/three-phase separator. This paper investigates the effect of liquid flow and oil pad thickness on the droplet size at the lab scale. The findings show that increasing the inlet flow rates of the oil and water results in size reduction of the droplets and increasing the thickness of the oil pad increases the size of the droplets. The data were fitted with a simple Gaussian model, and the parameters of mean, standard deviation, and amplitude were determined. Trends have been obtained for the fitted parameters as a function of the Reynolds number, which suggest a way forward to better predict the starting parameters for population models when simulating separation using CFD packages. The key parameter to predict to fix the position of the Gaussian distribution was found to be the mean droplet size.

Keywords: two-phase separator, average bubble droplet, bubble size distribution, liquid-liquid phase

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Authors: Fahd I. Alghunaimi, Hind S. Dossary, Norah W. Aljuryyed, Tawfik A. Saleh

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Produced water (PW) is one of the largest by-volume waste streams and one of the most challenging effluents in the oil and gas industry. This is due to the variation of contaminants that make up PW. Severalmaterialshavebeen developed, studied, and implemented to remove hydrocarbonsfrom PW. Adsorption is one of the most effective ways ofremoving oil fromPW. In this work, three new and cost-effective hydrophobic adsorbentmaterials based on 9-octadecenoic acid grafted graphene (POG) were synthesized for oil/water separation. Graphene derived from graphite was modified with 9-octadecenoic acid to yield 9-octadecenoic acid grafted graphene (OG). The newsynthesized materials which called POG25, POG50, and POG75 were characterized by using N₂-physisorption (BET) and Fourier transform infrared (FTIR). The BET surface area of POG75 was the highest with 288 m²/g, whereas POG50 was 225 m²/g and POG25 was lowest 79 m²/g. These three materials were also evaluated for their oil-water separation efficiency using a model mixture, whichdemonstrated that POG-75 has the highest oil removal efficiency and the faster rate of the adsorption (Figure-1). POG75 was regenerated, and its performance was verified again with a little reduced adsorption rate compared to the fresh material. The mixtures that used in the performance test were prepared by mixing nonpolar organic liquids such as heptane, dodecane, or hexadecane into the colored water. In general, the new materials showed fast uptake of the certain quantity of the oildue to the high hydrophobicity nature of the materials, which repel water as confirmed by the contact angle of approximately 150˚. Besides that, novel superhydrophobic material was also synthesized by introducing hydrophobic branches of laurate on the surface of the stainless steel mesh (SSM). This novel mesh could help to hold the novel adsorbent materials in a column to remove oil from PW. Both BOG-75 and the novel mesh have the potential to remove oil contaminants from produced water, which will help to provide an opportunity to recover useful components, in addition, to reduce the environmental impact and reuse produced water in several applications such as fracturing.

Keywords: graphite to graphene, oleophilic, produced water, separation

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Authors: Xiangjun Li, Huaiyuan Tian, Wujie Zhang, Dianhua Liu

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Polyoxymethylene dimethyl ethers (PODE_n) as clean diesel additive can improve the combustion efficiency and quality of diesel fuel and alleviate the problem of atmospheric pollution. Considering synthetic routes, PODE production from methanol and formaldehyde is regarded as the most economical and promising synthetic route. However, methanol used for synthesizing PODE can produce water, which causes the loss of active center of catalyst and hydrolysis of PODE_n in the production process. Macroporous strong acidic cation exchange resin catalyst was prepared, which has comparative advantages over other common solid acid catalysts in terms of stability and catalytic efficiency for synthesizing PODE. Catalytic reactions were carried out under 353 K, 1 MPa and 3mL·g_cat^-1·h^-1 in a fixed bed reactor. Methanol conversion and PODE_3-6 selectivity reached 49.91% and 23.43%, respectively. Catalyst lifetime evaluation showed that resin catalyst retained its catalytic activity for 20 days without significant changes and catalytic activity of completely deactivated resin catalyst can basically return to previous level by simple acid regeneration. The acid exchange capacities of original and deactivated catalyst were 2.5191 and 0.0979 mmol·g^-1, respectively, while regenerated catalyst reached 2.0430 mmol·g^-1, indicating that the main reason for resin catalyst deactivation is that Brønsted acid sites of original resin catalyst were temporarily replaced by non-hydrogen ion cations. A separation process consisting of extraction and distillation for PODE_3-6 product was designed for separation of water and unreacted formaldehyde from reactive mixture and purification of PODE_3-6, respectively. The concentration of PODE_3-6 in final product can reach up to 97%. These results indicate that the scale-up production of PODE_3-6 from methanol and formaldehyde solution is feasible.

Keywords: inactivation, polyoxymethylene dimethyl ethers, separation process, sulfonic cation exchange resin

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Authors: Pisut Painmanakul, Thawatchai Chintateerachai, Supanid Lertlapwasin, Nusara Rojvilavan, Tanun Chalermsinsuwan, Nattawin Chawaloesphonsiya, Onanong Larpparisudthi

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Conventional coagulation, advance oxidation process (AOPs), and the combined process were evaluated and compared for its suitability to treat the stabilized cutting-oil wastewater. The 90% efficiency was obtained from the coagulation at Al2(SO4)3 dosage of 150 mg/L and pH 7. On the other hands, efficiencies of AOPs for 30 minutes oxidation time were 10% for acoustic oxidation, 12% for acoustic oxidation with hydrogen peroxide, 76% for Fenton, and 92% sono-Fenton processes. The highest efficiency for effective oil removal of AOPs required large amount of chemical. Therefore, AOPs were studied as a post-treatment after conventional separation process. The efficiency was considerable as the effluent COD can pass the standard required for industrial wastewater discharge with less chemical and energy consumption.

Keywords: cutting oily-wastewater, advance oxidation process, sono-fenton, combined process

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Authors: M. Guen

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A three-dimensional numerical study is used to analyze the behavior of the flow inside a vortex tube. The vortex tube or Ranque-Hilsch vortex tube is a simple device which is capable of dividing compressed air from the inlet nozzle tangentially into two flow with different temperatures warm and cold. This phenomenon is known from literature by temperature separation. The K ω-SST and K-ε turbulence models are used to predict the turbulent flow behaviour inside the tube. The vortex tube is an Exair 708 slpm (25 scfm) commercial tube. The cold and hot exits areas are 30.2 and 95 mm2 respectively. The vortex nozzle consists of 6 straight slots; the height and the width of each slot are 0.97 mm and 1.41 mm. The total area normal to the flow associated with six nozzles is therefore 8.15 mm 2. The present study focuses on a comparison between two turbulence models K ω-SST, K-ε by using a new configuration of vortex tube (Conical Vortex Tube). The performance curves of the temperature separation versus cold outlet mass fraction were calculated and compared with experimental and numerical study of other researchers.

Keywords: conical vortex tube, temperature separation, cold mass fraction, turbulence

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Authors: Maliheh Raji, Hossein Abolghasemi, Jaber Safdari, Ali Kargari

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Dysprosium is a rare earth element which is essential for many growing high-technology applications. Dysprosium along with neodymium plays a significant role in different applications such as metal halide lamps, permanent magnets, and nuclear reactor control rods preparation. The purification and separation of rare earth elements are challenging because of their similar chemical and physical properties. Among the various methods, membrane processes provide many advantages over the conventional separation processes such as ion exchange and solvent extraction. In this work, selective extraction and separation of dysprosium from aqueous solutions containing an equimolar mixture of dysprosium and neodymium by emulsion liquid membrane (ELM) was investigated. The organic membrane phase of the ELM was a nanofluid consisting of multiwalled carbon nanotubes (MWCNT), Span80 as surfactant, Cyanex 272 as carrier, kerosene as base fluid, and nitric acid solution as internal aqueous phase. Factors affecting separation of dysprosium such as carrier concentration, MWCNT concentration, feed phase pH and stripping phase concentration were analyzed using Taguchi method. Optimal experimental condition was obtained using analysis of variance (ANOVA) after 10 min extraction. Based on the results, using MWCNT nanofluid in ELM process leads to increase the extraction due to higher stability of membrane and mass transfer enhancement and separation factor of 6 for dysprosium over neodymium can be achieved under the optimum conditions. Additionally, demulsification process was successfully performed and the membrane phase reused effectively in the optimum condition.

Keywords: emulsion liquid membrane, MWCNT nanofluid, separation, Taguchi method

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Authors: Fatima Mokeddem

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The phonocardiogram signal (PCG) is a physiological signal that reflects heart mechanical activity, is a promising tool for curious researchers in this field because it is full of indications and useful information for medical diagnosis. PCG segmentation is a basic step to benefit from this signal. Therefore, this paper presents an algorithm that serves the separation of heart sounds and heart murmurs in case they exist in order to use them in several applications and heart sounds analysis. The separation process presents here is founded on three essential steps filtering, envelope detection, and heart sounds segmentation. The algorithm separates the PCG signal into S1 and S2 and extract cardiac murmurs.

Keywords: phonocardiogram signal, filtering, Envelope, Detection, murmurs, heart sounds

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Authors: Nasser A. M. Barakat

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Membrane technology is the most promising process for oil-water separation operation if the hydrophilicity, fouling and reusability properties could be improved. In this study, novel effective and reusable membrane for oil-water separation process is introduced based on modification of polysulfone (PSF) electrospun nanofiber mats. The modification process was achieved by incorporation of NaOH nanoparticles inside the PSF nanofibers, and formation of a thin layer from a polyamide polymer on the surface of the electrospun mat. Typically, solutions composed of PSF and NaOH (twelve solutions were prepared based on different PSF concentrations; 15, 18 and 20 wt%, and various NaOH content; 1.5, 1.7 and 2.5 wt%) have been electrospun, then the dried nanofiber mats were treated by m-phenylenediamine and 1,3,5-benzenetricarbonyl chloride to form polyamide thin layer on the surface of the mats. The results indicated that incorporation of NaOH and the formed polyamide could decrease the water contact angle from ~ 130˚ to 13˚ for the nanofiber mats obtained from 20 wt% PSF solutions containing 1.7 wt% sodium hydroxide powders. Interestingly, the membrane having the lowest contact angle could separate oil-water mixture for three successive cycles and 100% removal of the oil with relatively high water flux; 5.5 m3/m2.day. Overall, simplicity of the manufacturing technique, and effectiveness and reusability of the produced nanofiber mats open new avenue for the introduced as promising membranes for the oil-water separation process.

Keywords: electrospinning, oil-water separation, hydrophilic membrane, nanofibers

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Authors: Arash Dalili, Hamed Tahmouressi, Mina Hoorfar

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Advances in lab-on-a-chip (LOC) devices have led to significant advances in the manipulation, separation, and isolation of particles and cells. Among the different active and passive particle manipulation methods, dielectrophoresis (DEP) has been proven to be a versatile mechanism as it is label-free, cost-effective, simple to operate, and has high manipulation efficiency. DEP has been applied for a wide range of biological and environmental applications. A popular form of DEP devices is the continuous manipulation of particles by using co-planar slanted electrodes, which utilizes a sheath flow to focus the particles into one side of the microchannel. When particles enter the DEP manipulation zone, the negative DEP (nDEP) force generated by the slanted electrodes deflects the particles laterally towards the opposite side of the microchannel. The lateral displacement of the particles is dependent on multiple parameters including the geometry of the electrodes, the width, length and height of the microchannel, the size of the particles and the throughput. In this study, COMSOL Multiphysics® modeling along with experimental studies are used to investigate the effect of the aforementioned parameters. The electric field between the electrodes and the induced DEP force on the particles are modelled by COMSOL Multiphysics®. The simulation model is used to show the effect of the DEP force on the particles, and how the geometry of the electrodes (width of the electrodes and the gap between them) plays a role in the manipulation of polystyrene microparticles. The simulation results show that increasing the electrode width to a certain limit, which depends on the height of the channel, increases the induced DEP force. Also, decreasing the gap between the electrodes leads to a stronger DEP force. Based on these results, criteria for the fabrication of the electrodes were found, and soft lithography was used to fabricate interdigitated slanted electrodes and microchannels. Experimental studies were run to find the effect of the flow rate, geometrical parameters of the microchannel such as length, width, and height as well as the electrodes’ angle on the displacement of 5 um, 10 um and 15 um polystyrene particles. An empirical equation is developed to predict the displacement of the particles under different conditions. It is shown that the displacement of the particles is more for longer and lower height channels, lower flow rates, and bigger particles. On the other hand, the effect of the angle of the electrodes on the displacement of the particles was negligible. Based on the results, we have developed an optimum design (in terms of efficiency and throughput) for three size separation of particles.

Keywords: COMSOL Multiphysics, Dielectrophoresis, Microfluidics, Particle separation

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Authors: Adesoji Sodeinde

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Analytical derivatives has recently undergone an explosive growth in areas of separation techniques, likewise in detectability of certain compound/concentrated ions. The gloomy and depressing scenario which charaterized the application of analytical derivatives in areas of water analysis, water cycle and the environment should not be allowed to continue unabated. Due to technological advancement in various chemical/biochemical analysis separation techniques is widely used in areas of medical, forensic and to measure and assesses environment and social-economic impact of alternative control strategies. This technological improvement was dully established in the area of comparison between certain separation/detection techniques to bring about vital result in forensic[as Gas liquid chromatography reveals the evidence given in court of law during prosecution of drunk drivers]. The water quality analysis,pH and water temperature analysis can be performed in the field, the concentration of dissolved free amino-acid [DFAA] can also be detected through separation techniques. Some important derivatives/ions used in separation technique. Water analysis : Total water hardness [EDTA to determine ca and mg ions]. Gas liquid chromatography : innovative gas such as helium [He] or nitrogen [N] Water cycle : Animal bone charcoal,activated carbon and ultraviolet light [U.V light].

Keywords: analytical derivative, environment, water analysis, chemical/biochemical analysis

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Authors: Tao Youjun, Zhao Younan

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The separation effect of fine coal can be improved by the process of pre-desliming. It was significantly enhanced when the fine coal was processed using Falcon concentrator with the removal of -45um coal slime. Ultrafine classification tests using Krebs classification cyclone with annular rinse water showed that increasing feeding pressure can effectively avoid the phenomena of heavy particles passing into overflow and light particles slipping into underflow. The increase of rinse water pressure could reduce the content of fine-grained particles while increasing the classification size. The increase in feeding concentration had a negative effect on the efficiency of classification, meanwhile increased the classification size due to the enhanced hindered settling caused by high underflow concentration. As a result of optimization experiments with response indicator of classification efficiency which based on orthogonal design using Design-Expert software indicated that the optimal classification efficiency reached 91.32% with the feeding pressure of 0.03MPa, the rinse water pressure of 0.02MPa and the feeding concentration of 12.5%. Meanwhile, the classification size was 49.99 μm which had a good agreement with the predicted value.

Keywords: hydrocyclone, ultrafine classification, slime, classification efficiency, classification size

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Authors: Jeng-Shin Sheu, Qi-Xun Zheng

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This paper mainly discusses a method of separating speech when using a microphone array without knowing the number and direction of sound sources. In recent years, there have been many studies on the method of separating signals by using masking, but most of the separation methods must be operated under the condition of a known number of sound sources. Such methods cannot be used for real-time applications. In our method, this paper uses Circular-Integrated-Cross-Spectrum to estimate the statistical histogram distribution of the direction of arrival (DOA) to obtain the number of sound sources and sound in the mixed-signal Source direction. In calculating the relevant parameters of the ring integrated cross-spectrum, the phase (Phase of the Cross-Power Spectrum) and phase rotation factors (Phase Rotation Factors) calculated by the cross power spectrum of each microphone pair are used. In the part of separating speech, it uses the DOA weighting and shielding separation method to calculate the sound source direction (DOA) according to each T-F unit (time-frequency point). The weight corresponding to each T-F unit can be used to strengthen the intensity of each sound source from the T-F unit and reduce the influence of the remaining sound sources, thereby achieving voice separation.

Keywords: real-time, spectrum analysis, sound source localization, sound source separation

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Authors: Kang Jian Xian, Huda Abdullah, Md. Akhtaruzzaman, Iskandar Yahya, Mohd Hafiz Dzarfan Othman, Brian Yulianto

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The CZTS absorber layer doped with a silver (Ag) is one of the candidates that suggest improving the efficiency of thin films. Silver element functions to reduce antisite defects, increase grain size and create the plasmonic effect. In this work, an experimental study has been done to investigate the electrical and physical properties of CZTS, ACZTS, and AZTS. Ag replaces the Cu in (Cu1-xAgx)2ZnSnS4 (ACZTS) is up to x ≤1. ACZTS thin-films solar cells have been deposited by sol–the gel spin coating method. There are a total of 19 samples done with 11 significant percentages (0%, 10%, 20%… 100%) to show the whole phenomena of efficiency rate and nine specific percentages to find out the best concentration rate for Ag-doped. The obtained results can be helpful for better understanding ACZTS layers.

Keywords: CZTS, ACZTS, AZTS, silver, antisite, efficiency, thin-film solar cell

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Authors: Juan Alfredo Guevara Carrio, Swamy Toolahalli Thipperudra, Riddhi Naik Dharmeshbhai, Sergio Graniero Echeverrigaray, Jose Vitorio Emiliano, Antonio Helio Castro

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In order to advance the hydrogen economy, several industrial sectors can potentially benefit from the trillions of stimulus spending for post-coronavirus. Blending hydrogen into natural gas pipeline networks has been proposed as a means of delivering it during the early market development phase, using separation and purification technologies downstream to extract the pure H₂ close to the point of end-use. This first step has been mentioned around the world as an opportunity to use existing infrastructures for immediate decarbonisation pathways. Among current technologies used to extract hydrogen from mixtures in pipelines or liquid carriers, membrane separation can achieve the highest selectivity. The most efficient approach for the separation of H₂ from other substances by membranes is offered from the research of 2D layered materials due to their exceptional physical and chemical properties. Graphene-based membranes, with their distribution of pore sizes in nanometers and angstrom range, have shown fundamental and economic advantages over other materials. Their combination with the structure of ceramic and geopolymeric materials enabled the synthesis of nanocomposites and the fabrication of membranes with long-term stability and robustness in a relevant range of physical and chemical conditions. Versatile separation modules have been developed for hydrogen separation, which adaptability allows their integration in industrial prototypes for applications in heavy transport, steel, and cement production, as well as small installations at end-user stations of pipeline networks. The developed membranes and prototypes are a practical contribution to the technological challenge of supply pure H₂ for the mentioned industries as well as hydrogen energy-based fuel cells.

Keywords: graphene nano-composite membranes, hydrogen separation and purification, separation modules, indsutrial prototype

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Authors: Hassane Ben Slimane, Dennai Benmoussa, Abderrachid Helmaoui

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We have theoretically calculated the photovoltaic conversion efficiency of a graded interface CdS/CIGS solar cell, which can be experimentally fabricated. Because the conduction band discontinuity or spike in an abrupt heterojunction CdS/CIGS solar cell can hinder the separation of hole-electron by electric field, a graded interface layer is uses to eliminate the spike and reduces recombination in space charge region. This paper describes the role of the graded band gap interface layer in decreasing the performance of the heterojunction cell. By optimizing the thickness of the graded region, an improvement of conversion efficiency has been observed in comparison to the conventional CIGS system.

Keywords: heterojunction, solar cell, graded interface, CIGS

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Authors: Asim Laeeq Khan, Mazhar Amjad Gilani, Tayub Raza

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The use of fossil fuels for energy generation leads to the emission of greenhouse gases particularly CO2 into the atmosphere. To date, several techniques have been proposed for the efficient removal of CO2 from flue gas mixtures. Membrane technology is a promising choice due to its several inherent advantages such as low capital cost, high energy efficiency, and low ecological footprint. One of the goals in the development of membranes is to achieve high permeability and selectivity. Mixed matrix membranes comprising of inorganic fillers embedded in polymer matrix are a class of membranes that have showed improved separation properties. One of the biggest challenges in the commercialization if mixed matrix membranes are the removal of non-selective voids existing at the polymer-filler interface. In this work, mixed matrix membranes were prepared using polysulfone as polymer matrix and ordered mesoporous MCM-41 as filler materials. A new approach to removing the interfacial voids was developed by introducing room temperature ionic (RTIL) at the polymer-filler interface. The results showed that the imidazolium based RTIL not only provided wettability characteristics but also helped in further improving the separation properties. The removal of interfacial voids and good contact between polymer and filler was verified by SEM measurement. The synthesized membranes were tested in a custom built gas permeation set-up for the measurement of gas permeability and ideal gas selectivity. The results showed that the mixed matrix membranes showed significantly higher CO2 permeability in comparison to the pristine membrane. In order to have further insight into the role of fillers, diffusion and solubility measurements were carried out. The results showed that the presence of highly porous fillers resulted in increasing the diffusion coefficient while the solubility showed a slight drop. The RTIL filled membranes showed higher CO2/CH4 and CO2/N2 selectivity than unfilled membranes while the permeability dropped slightly. The increase in selectivity was due to the highly selective RTIL used in this work. The study revealed that RTIL filled mixed matrix membranes are an interesting candidate for gas separation membranes.

Keywords: ionic liquids, CO2 separation, membranes, mixed matrix membranes

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Authors: Renzo Castillo, George Tsatsaronis

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High-temperature ceramic membranes for air separation represents an important option to reduce the significant efficiency drops incurred in state-of-the-art cryogenic air separation for high tonnage oxygen production required in oxyfuel power stations. This study is focused on the thermodynamic analysis of two power plant model designs: the state-of-the-art supercritical 600ᵒC hard coal plant (reference power plant Nordrhein-Westfalen) and the membrane-based oxyfuel concept implemented in this reference plant. In the latter case, the oxygen is separated through a mixed-conducting hollow fiber perovskite membrane unit in the three-end operation mode, which has been simulated under vacuum conditions on the permeate side and at high-pressure conditions on the feed side. The thermodynamic performance of each plant concept is assessed by conventional exergetic analysis, which determines location, magnitude and sources of efficiency losses, and advanced exergetic analysis, where endogenous/exogenous and avoidable/unavoidable parts of exergy destruction are calculated at the component and full process level. These calculations identify thermodynamic interdependencies among components and reveal the real potential for efficiency improvements. The endogenous and exogenous exergy destruction portions are calculated by the decomposition method, a recently developed straightforward methodology, which is suitable for complex power stations with a large number of process components. Lastly, an improvement priority ranking for relevant components, as well as suggested changes in process layouts are presented for both power stations.

Keywords: exergy, carbon capture and storage, ceramic membranes, perovskite, oxyfuel combustion

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Authors: Arian Ebneyamini, Hoda Azimi, Jules Thibaults, F. Handan Tezel

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In this study, a modification of Hennepe model for pervaporation separation of butanol from aqueous solutions using Polydimethylsiloxane (PDMS) mixed matrix membranes has been introduced and validated by experimental data. The model was compared to the original Hennepe model and few other models which are applicable for membrane gas separation processes such as Maxwell, Lewis Nielson and Pal. Theoretical modifications for non-ideal interface morphology have been offered to predict the permeability in case of interface void, interface rigidification and pore-blockage. The model was in a good agreement with experimental data.

Keywords: butanol, PDMS, modeling, pervaporation, mixed matrix membranes

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Authors: Luke Andrighetto, Paul G. Stevenson, Luke C. Henderson, Jim Pearson, Xavier A. Conlan

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As pseudoephedrine, a common ingredient in cold and flu medications is closely monitored and restricted in Australia, alternative methods of accessing it are of interest. The impurities and by-products of every reaction step of pseudoephedrine/ephedrine and methamphetamine synthesis have been mapped in order to develop a chemical fingerprint based on synthetic route. Likewise, seized methamphetamine contains a combination of different cutting agents and starting materials. Therefore, in-silico optimised two-dimensional HPLC with DryLab® and OpenMS® software has been used to efficiently separate complex seizure samples. An excellent match between simulated and real separations was observed. Targeted separation of model compounds was completed with significantly reduced method development time. This study produced a two-dimensional separation regime that offers unprecedented separation power (separation space) while maintaining a rapid analysis time that is faster than those previously reported for gas chromatography, single dimension high performance liquid chromatography or capillary electrophoresis.

Keywords: chemical fingerprint, ephedrine, methamphetamine, two-dimensional HPLC

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Authors: Xinyan Zhang, Zhipeng Tan, Shan Fan

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The first layer of defense against data loss is the backup data. This paper implements an agent-based network backup system used the backup, server-storage and server-backup agent these tripartite construction, and we realize the snapshot and hierarchical index in the NSBS. It realizes the control command and data flow separation, balances the system load, thereby improving the efficiency of the system backup and recovery. The test results show the agent-based network backup system can effectively improve the task-based concurrency, reasonably allocate network bandwidth, the system backup performance loss costs smaller and improves data recovery efficiency by 20%.

Keywords: agent, network backup system, three architecture model, NSBS

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Authors: Noe Brice Nkoumbou Kaptchouang, Pierre-Guy Vincent, Yann Monerie

Abstract:

The present work addresses the modelling and the simulation of crack initiation and propagation in ductile materials which failed by void nucleation, growth, and coalescence. One of the current research frameworks on crack propagation is the use of cohesive-volumetric approach where the crack growth is modelled as a decohesion of two surfaces in a continuum material. In this framework, the material behavior is characterized by two constitutive relations, the volumetric constitutive law relating stress and strain, and a traction-separation law across a two-dimensional surface embedded in the three-dimensional continuum. Several cohesive models have been proposed for the simulation of crack growth in brittle materials. On the other hand, the application of cohesive models in modelling crack growth in ductile material is still a relatively open field. One idea developed in the literature is to identify the traction separation for ductile material based on the behavior of a continuously-deforming unit cell failing by void growth and coalescence. Following this method, the present study proposed a semi-analytical cohesive model for ductile material based on a micromechanical approach. The strain localization band prior to ductile failure is modelled as a cohesive band, and the Gurson-Tvergaard-Needleman plasticity model (GTN) is used to model the behavior of the cohesive band and derived a corresponding traction separation law. The numerical implementation of the model is realized using the non-smooth contact method (NSCD) where cohesive models are introduced as mixed boundary conditions between each volumetric finite element. The present approach is applied to the simulation of crack growth in nuclear ferritic steel. The model provides an alternative way to simulate crack propagation using the numerical efficiency of cohesive model with a traction separation law directly derived from porous continuous model.

Keywords: ductile failure, cohesive model, GTN model, numerical simulation

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Authors: Adesola O. Orimoloye, Mohammed N. Kajama, Edward Gobina

Abstract:

Gas permeation of Oxygen [O2] and Nitrogen [N2] were investigated at room temperature using 15 and 6000nm pore diameter tubular commercial alumina ceramic membranes with pressure values ranging 1.00 to 2.50 bar. The flow rates of up to 2.59 and 2.77 l/min were achieved for O2 and N2 respectively. The ratio of O2/N2 flow rates were used to compute the O2/N2 selectivity. The experimental O2/N2 selectivity obtained for 15 nm was 1.05 while the 6000 nm indicated 0.95.

Keywords: gas separation, nitrogen, oxygen, selectivity

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Authors: Hyunchul Oh

Abstract:

One of the challenges in modern separation science and technology is the separation of hydrogen isotopes mixtures since D2 and H2 consist of almost identical size, shape and thermodynamic properties. Recently, quantum sieving of isotopes by confinement in narrow space has been proposed as an alternative technique. Despite many theoretical suggestions, however, it has been difficult to discover a feasible microporous material up to now. Among various porous materials, the novel class of microporous framework materials (COFs, ZIFs and MOFs) is considered as a promising material class for isotope sieving due to ultra-high porosity and uniform pore size which can be tailored. Hence, we investigate experimentally the fundamental correlation between D2/H2 molar ratio and pore size at optimized operating conditions by using different ultramicroporous frameworks. The D2/H2 molar ratio is strongly depending on pore size, pressure and temperature. An experimentally determined optimum pore diameter for quantum sieving lies between 3.0 and 3.4 Å which can be an important guideline for designing and developing feasible microporous frameworks for isotope separation. Afterwards, we report a novel strategy for efficient hydrogen isotope separation at technologically relevant operating pressure through the development of quantum sieving exploited by the pore aperture engineering. The strategy involves installation of flexible components in the pores of the framework to tune the pore surface.

Keywords: gas adsorption, hydrogen isotope, metal organic frameworks(MOFs), quantum sieving

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Authors: Dmitry Yu. Korulkin, Raissa A. Muzychkina

Abstract:

In review the generalized data about different methods of extraction, separation and purification of natural and modify anthraquinones is presented. The basic regularity of an isolation process is analyzed. Action of temperature, pH, and polarity of extragent, catalysts and other factors on an isolation process is revealed.

Keywords: anthraquinones; isolation; extraction; polarity; chromatography; precipitation; bioactivity; phytopreparation; chrysophanol; aloe-emodin; emodin; physcion.

Procedia PDF Downloads 341

Authors: Ishtiaq A. Chaudhry, Z. R. Tahir, F. A. Siddiqui, Z. Anwar, F. Valenzuelacalva

Abstract:

A series of experiments involving the particle image velocimetry technique are carried out to analyse the quantitative effectiveness of the synthesized vortical structures towards actual flow separation control. The streamwise vortices are synthesized from the synthetic jet actuator and introduced into the attached and separating boundary layer developed on the flat plate surface. Two types of actuators with different geometrical set up are used to analyse the evolution of vortical structures in the near wall region and their impact towards achieving separation delay on the actual aircraft wing. Firstly a single circular jet is synthesized at varying actuator operating parameters and issued into the boundary layer to evaluate the dynamics of the interaction between the vortical structures and the near wall low momentum fluid in the separated region. Secondly, an array of jets has been issued into the artificially separated region to assess the effectiveness of various vortical structures towards achieving the reattachment of the separated flow in the streamwise direction.

Keywords: boundary layer, flow separation, streamwise vortices, synthetic jet actuator

Procedia PDF Downloads 462