Search results for: carbon emissions
Commenced in January 2007
Frequency: Monthly
Edition: International
Paper Count: 1073

Search results for: carbon emissions

413 Energy Communities from Municipality Level to Province Level: A Comparison Using Autoregressive Integrated Moving Average Model

Authors: Amro Issam Hamed Attia Ramadan, Marco Zappatore, Pasquale Balena, Antonella Longo

Abstract:

Considering the energy crisis that is hitting Europe, it becomes increasingly necessary to change energy policies to depend less on fossil fuels and replace them with energy from renewable sources. This has triggered the urge to use clean energy, not only to satisfy energy needs and fulfill the required consumption, but also to decrease the danger of climatic changes due to harmful emissions. Many countries have already started creating energy communities based on renewable energy sources. The first step to understanding energy needs in any place is to perfectly know the consumption. In this work, we aim to estimate electricity consumption for a municipality that makes up part of a rural area located in southern Italy using forecast models that allow for the estimation of electricity consumption for the next 10 years, and we then apply the same model to the province where the municipality is located and estimate the future consumption for the same period to examine whether it is possible to start from the municipality level to reach the province level when creating energy communities.

Keywords: ARIMA, electricity consumption, forecasting models, time series.

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412 Low Energy Technology for Leachate Valorisation

Authors: Jesús M. Martín, Francisco Corona, Dolores Hidalgo

Abstract:

Landfills present long-term threats to soil, air, groundwater and surface water due to the formation of greenhouse gases (methane gas and carbon dioxide) and leachate from decomposing garbage. The composition of leachate differs from site to site and also within the landfill. The leachates alter with time (from weeks to years) since the landfilled waste is biologically highly active and their composition varies. Mainly, the composition of the leachate depends on factors such as characteristics of the waste, the moisture content, climatic conditions, degree of compaction and the age of the landfill. Therefore, the leachate composition cannot be generalized and the traditional treatment models should be adapted in each case. Although leachate composition is highly variable, what different leachates have in common is hazardous constituents and their potential eco-toxicological effects on human health and on terrestrial ecosystems. Since leachate has distinct compositions, each landfill or dumping site would represent a different type of risk on its environment. Nevertheless, leachates consist always of high organic concentration, conductivity, heavy metals and ammonia nitrogen. Leachate could affect the current and future quality of water bodies due to uncontrolled infiltrations. Therefore, control and treatment of leachate is one of the biggest issues in urban solid waste treatment plants and landfills design and management. This work presents a treatment model that will be carried out "in-situ" using a cost-effective novel technology that combines solar evaporation/condensation plus forward osmosis. The plant is powered by renewable energies (solar energy, biomass and residual heat), which will minimize the carbon footprint of the process. The final effluent quality is very high, allowing reuse (preferred) or discharge into watercourses. In the particular case of this work, the final effluents will be reused for cleaning and gardening purposes. A minority semi-solid residual stream is also generated in the process. Due to its special composition (rich in metals and inorganic elements), this stream will be valorized in ceramic industries to improve the final products characteristics.

Keywords: Forward osmosis, landfills, leachate valorization, solar evaporation.

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411 Development of NOx Emission Model for a Tangentially Fired Acid Incinerator

Authors: Elangeshwaran Pathmanathan, Rosdiazli Ibrahim, Vijanth Sagayan Asirvadam

Abstract:

This paper aims to develop a NOx emission model of an acid gas incinerator using Nelder-Mead least squares support vector regression (LS-SVR). Malaysia DOE is actively imposing the Clean Air Regulation to mandate the installation of analytical instrumentation known as Continuous Emission Monitoring System (CEMS) to report emission level online to DOE . As a hardware based analyzer, CEMS is expensive, maintenance intensive and often unreliable. Therefore, software predictive technique is often preferred and considered as a feasible alternative to replace the CEMS for regulatory compliance. The LS-SVR model is built based on the emissions from an acid gas incinerator that operates in a LNG Complex. Simulated Annealing (SA) is first used to determine the initial hyperparameters which are then further optimized based on the performance of the model using Nelder-Mead simplex algorithm. The LS-SVR model is shown to outperform a benchmark model based on backpropagation neural networks (BPNN) in both training and testing data.

Keywords: artificial neural networks, industrial pollution, predictive algorithms, support vector machines

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410 Performance, Emission and Combustion Characteristics of Direct Injection Diesel Engine Running on Rice Bran Oil / Diesel Fuel Blend

Authors: B.K.Venkanna, C. Venkataramana Reddy, Swati B Wadawadagi

Abstract:

Triglycerides and their derivatives are considered as viable alternatives for diesel fuels. Rice bran oil is used as diesel fuel. Highly viscous rice bran oil can be reduced by blending it with diesel fuel. The present research is aimed to investigate experimentally the performance, exhaust emission and combustion characteristics of a direct injection (DI) diesel engine, typically used in agricultural sector, over the entire load range when fuelled with rice bran oil and diesel fuel blends, RB10 (10% rice bran oil + 90% diesel fuel) to RB50. The performance, emission and combustion parameters of RB20 were found to be very close to neat diesel fuel (ND). The injector opening pressure (IOP) undoubtedly is of prime importance in diesel engine operation. Performance, emission and combustion characteristics with RB30 at enhanced IOPs are better than ND. Improved premixed heat release rate were noticed with RB30 when the IOP is enhanced.

Keywords: Rice bran oil, injector opening pressure, performance, emissions.

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409 Residual Modulus of Elasticity of Self-Compacting Concrete Incorporated Unprocessed Waste Fly Ash after Expose to the Elevated Temperature

Authors: Mohammed Abed, Rita Nemes, Salem Nehme

Abstract:

The present study experimentally investigated the impact of incorporating unprocessed waste fly ash (UWFA) on the residual mechanical properties of self-compacting concrete (SCC) after exposure to elevated temperature. Three mixtures of SCC have been produced by replacing the cement mass by 0%, 15% and 30% of UWFA. Generally, the fire resistance of SCC has been enhanced by replacing the cement up to 15% of UWFA, especially in case of residual modulus of elasticity which considers more sensitive than other mechanical properties at elevated temperature. However, a strong linear relationship has been observed between the residual flexural strength and modulus of elasticity, where both of them affected significantly by the cracks appearance and propagation as a result of elevated temperature. Sustainable products could be produced by incorporating unprocessed waste powder materials in the production of concrete, where the waste materials, CO2 emissions, and the energy needed for processing are reduced.

Keywords: Self-compacting high-performance concrete, unprocessed waste fly ash, fire resistance, residual modulus of elasticity.

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408 An Experimental Comparative Study of SI Engine Performance and Emission Characteristics Fuelled with Various Gasoline-Alcohol Blends

Authors: M. Mourad, K. Abdelgawwad

Abstract:

This experimental investigation aimed to determine the influence of using different types of alcohol and gasoline blends such as ethanol - butanol - propanol on the performance of spark ignition engine. The experimental work studied the effect of various fuel blends such as ethanol – butanol/gasoline and propanol/gasoline with two rates of 15% and 20%, at different operating conditions (engine speed and loads), on engine performance emission characteristics. Laboratory experiments are carried out on a four-cylinder spark ignition (SI) engine. In this practical study, all considerations and precautions are taken into account to ensure the quality and accuracy of practical experiments and different measurements. The results show that the performance of the engine improved significantly in the case of ethanol/butanol-gasoline blends. The results also indicated that the engine emitted pollutants such as CO, hydrocarbon (HC) for alcohol fuel blends compared to base gasoline NOx emission increased for different fuel blends either ethanol/butanol-gasoline or propanol-gasoline fuel blend.

Keywords: Gasoline engine performance, emissions, alcohol blends.

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407 Impact of the Transport on the Urban Heat Island

Authors: L. Haddad, Z. Aouachria

Abstract:

The development of transport systems has negative impacts on the environment although it has beneficial effects on society. The car policy caused many problems such as: - the spectacular growth of fuel consumption hence the very vast increase in urban pollution, traffic congestion in certain places and at certain times, the increase in the number of accidents. The exhaust emissions from cars and weather conditions are the main factors that determine the level of pollution in urban atmosphere. These conditions lead to the phenomenon of heat transfer and radiation occurring between the air and the soil surface of any town. These exchanges give rise, in urban areas, to the effects of heat islands that correspond to the appearance of excess air temperature between the city and its surrounding space. In this object, we perform a numerical simulation of the plume generated by the cars exhaust gases and show that these gases form a screening effect above the urban city which cause the heat island in the presence of wind flow. This study allows us: 1. To understand the different mechanisms of interactions between these phenomena.2. To consider appropriate technical solutions to mitigate the effects of the heat island.

Keywords: Atmospheric pollution, impact on the health, urban transport, heat island.

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406 A Review of Current Trends in Thin Film Solar Cell Technologies

Authors: Adekanmi M. Adeyinka, Onyedika V. Mbelu, Yaqub B. Adediji, Daniel I. Yahya

Abstract:

Growing energy demand and the world's dependence on fossil fuel-based energy systems causing greenhouse gas emissions and climate change have intensified the need for utilizing renewable energy sources. Solar energy can be converted directly into electricity via photovoltaic solar cells. Thin-film solar cells are preferred due to their cost effectiveness, less material consumption, flexibility, and rising trend in efficiency. In this paper, Gallium arsenide (GaAs), Amorphous silicon (a-Si), Copper Indium Gallium Selenide (CIGS), and Cadmium Telluride (CdTe) thin film solar cells are reviewed. The evolution, structures, fabrication methods, stability and degradation methods, and trend in the efficiency of the thin-film solar cells over the years are discussed in detail. Also, a comparison of the thin-film solar cells reviewed with crystalline silicon in terms of physical properties and performance is made.

Keywords: Climate change, conversion efficiency, solar energy, thin-film solar cell.

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405 Landfill Gas Monitoring at Borehole Wells using an Autonomous Environmental Monitoring System

Authors: Breda M. Kiernan, Stephen Beirne, Cormac Fay, Dermot Diamond

Abstract:

An autonomous environmental monitoring system (Smart Landfill) has been constructed for the quantitative measurement of the components of landfill gas found at borehole wells at the perimeter of landfill sites. The main components of landfill gas are the greenhouse gases, methane and carbon dioxide and have been monitored in the range 0-5 % volume. This monitoring system has not only been tested in the laboratory but has been deployed in multiple field trials and the data collected successfully compared with on-site monitors. This success shows the potential of this system for application in environments where reliable gas monitoring is crucial.

Keywords: Environmental monitoring, greenhouse gas, landfill gas, sensor deployment

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404 Design of Wireless Readout System for Resonant Gas Sensors

Authors: S. Mohamed Rabeek, Mi Kyoung Park, M. Annamalai Arasu

Abstract:

This paper presents a design of a wireless read out system for tracking the frequency shift of the polymer coated piezoelectric micro electromechanical resonator due to gas absorption. The measure of this frequency shift indicates the percentage of a particular gas the sensor is exposed to. It is measured using an oscillator and an FPGA based frequency counter by employing the resonator as a frequency determining element in the oscillator. This system consists of a Gas Sensing Wireless Readout (GSWR) and an USB Wireless Transceiver (UWT). GSWR consists of an oscillator based on a trans-impedance sustaining amplifier, an FPGA based frequency readout, a sub 1GHz wireless transceiver and a micro controller. UWT can be plugged into the computer via USB port and function as a wireless module to transfer gas sensor data from GSWR to the computer through its USB port. GUI program running on the computer periodically polls for sensor data through UWT - GSWR wireless link, the response from GSWR is logged in a file for post processing as well as displayed on screen.

Keywords: Gas sensor, GSWR, micro-mechanical system, UWT, volatile emissions.

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403 Na Promoted Ni/γ-Al2O3 Catalysts Prepared by Solution Combustion Method for Syngas Methanation

Authors: Yan Zeng, Hongfang Ma, Haitao Zhang, Weiyong Ying

Abstract:

Ni-based catalysts with different amounts of Na as promoter from 2 to 6 wt % were prepared by solution combustion method. The catalytic activity was investigated in syngas methanation reaction. Carbon oxides conversion and methane selectivity are greatly influenced by sodium loading. Adding 2 wt% Na remarkably improves catalytic activity and long-term stability, attributed to its smaller mean NiO particle size, better distribution, and milder metal-support interaction. However, excess addition of Na results in deactivation distinctly due to the blockage of active sites.

Keywords: Nickel catalysts, Syngas methanation, Sodium, Solution combustion method.

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402 Electricity Power Planning: the Role of Wind Energy

Authors: Paula Ferreira, Madalena Araújo, M.E.J. O’Kelly

Abstract:

Combining energy efficiency with renewable energy sources constitutes a key strategy for a sustainable future. The wind power sector stands out as a fundamental element for the achievement of the European renewable objectives and Portugal is no exception to the increase of the wind energy for the electricity generation. This work proposes an optimization model for the long range electricity power planning in a system similar to the Portuguese one, where the expected impacts of the increasing installed wind power on the operating performance of thermal power plants are taken into account. The main results indicate that the increasing penetration of wind power in the electricity system will have significant effects on the combined cycle gas power plants operation and on the theoretically expected cost reduction and environmental gains. This research demonstrated the need to address the impact that energy sources with variable output may have, not only on the short-term operational planning, but especially on the medium to long range planning activities, in order to meet the strategic objectives for the energy sector.

Keywords: Wind power, electricity planning model, cost, emissions.

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401 Experimental Analysis of the Influence of Water Mass Flow Rate on the Performance of a CO2 Direct-Expansion Solar Assisted Heat Pump

Authors: Sabrina N. Rabelo, Tiago de F. Paulino, Willian M. Duarte, Samer Sawalha, Luiz Machado

Abstract:

Energy use is one of the main indicators for the economic and social development of a country, reflecting directly in the quality of life of the population. The expansion of energy use together with the depletion of fossil resources and the poor efficiency of energy systems have led many countries in recent years to invest in renewable energy sources. In this context, solar-assisted heat pump has become very important in energy industry, since it can transfer heat energy from the sun to water or another absorbing source. The direct-expansion solar assisted heat pump (DX-SAHP) water heater system operates by receiving solar energy incident in a solar collector, which serves as an evaporator in a refrigeration cycle, and the energy reject by the condenser is used for water heating. In this paper, a DX-SAHP using carbon dioxide as refrigerant (R744) was assembled, and the influence of the variation of the water mass flow rate in the system was analyzed. The parameters such as high pressure, water outlet temperature, gas cooler outlet temperature, evaporator temperature, and the coefficient of performance were studied. The mainly components used to assemble the heat pump were a reciprocating compressor, a gas cooler which is a countercurrent concentric tube heat exchanger, a needle-valve, and an evaporator that is a copper bare flat plate solar collector designed to capture direct and diffuse radiation. Routines were developed in the LabVIEW and CoolProp through MATLAB software’s, respectively, to collect data and calculate the thermodynamics properties. The range of coefficient of performance measured was from 3.2 to 5.34. It was noticed that, with the higher water mass flow rate, the water outlet temperature decreased, and consequently, the coefficient of performance of the system increases since the heat transfer in the gas cooler is higher. In addition, the high pressure of the system and the CO2 gas cooler outlet temperature decreased. The heat pump using carbon dioxide as a refrigerant, especially operating with solar radiation has been proven to be a renewable source in an efficient system for heating residential water compared to electrical heaters reaching temperatures between 40 °C and 80 °C.

Keywords: Water mass flow rate, R-744, heat pump, solar evaporator, water heater.

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400 Biodegradation of Carbazole By a Promising Gram-Negative Bacterium

Authors: G. B. Singh, S. Srivastava, N. Gupta

Abstract:

In the present work we report a gram negative bacterial isolate, from soil of a dye industry, with promising biorefining and bioremediation potential. This isolate (GBS.5) could utilize carbazole (nitrogen containing polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbon) as the sole source of nitrogen and carbon and utilize almost 98% of 3mM carbazole in 100 hours. The specific activity of our GBS.5 isolate for carbazole degradation at 30°C and pH 7.0 was found to be 11.36 μmol/min/g dry cell weight as compared to 10.4 μmol/min/g dry cell weight, the highest reported specific activity till date. The presence of car genes (the genes involved in denitrogenation of carbazole) was confirmed through PCR amplification.

Keywords: Biodenitrogenation, Biorefining, Carbazoledegradation, Crude oil.

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399 Extraction of Squalene from Lebanese Olive Oil

Authors: Henri El Zakhem, Christina Romanos, Charlie Bakhos, Hassan Chahal, Jessica Koura

Abstract:

Squalene is a valuable component of the oil composed of 30 carbon atoms and is mainly used for cosmetic materials. The main concern of this article is to study the Squalene composition in the Lebanese olive oil and to compare it with foreign oil results. To our knowledge, extraction of Squalene from the Lebanese olive oil has not been conducted before. Three different techniques were studied and experiments were performed on three brands of olive oil, Al Wadi Al Akhdar, Virgo Bio and Boulos. The techniques performed are the Fractional Crystallization, the Soxhlet and the Esterification. By comparing the results, it is found that the Lebanese oil contains squalene and Soxhlet method is the most effective between the three methods extracting about 6.5E-04 grams of Squalene per grams of olive oil.

Keywords: Squalene, extraction, crystallization, Soxhlet.‎

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398 CFD Simulation of Fixed Bed Reactor in Fischer-Tropsch Synthesis of GTL Technology

Authors: Sh. Shahhosseini, S. Alinia, M. Irani

Abstract:

In this paper 2D Simulation of catalytic Fixed Bed Reactor in Fischer-Tropsch Synthesis of GTL technology has been performed utilizing computational fluid dynamics (CFD). Synthesis gas (a mixture of carbon monoxide and hydrogen) has been used as feedstock. The reactor was modeled and the model equations were solved employing finite volume method. The model was validated against the experimental data reported in literature. The comparison showed a good agreement between simulation results and the experimental data. In addition, the model was applied to predict the concentration contours of the reactants and products along the length of reactor.

Keywords: GTL, Fischer–Tropsch synthesis, Fixed Bed Reactor, CFD simulation.

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397 Evaluation of NH3-Slip from Diesel Vehicles Equipped with Selective Catalytic Reduction Systems by Neural Networks Approach

Authors: Mona Lisa M. Oliveira, Nara A. Policarpo, Ana Luiza B. P. Barros, Carla A. Silva

Abstract:

Selective catalytic reduction systems for nitrogen oxides reduction by ammonia has been the chosen technology by most of diesel vehicle (i.e. bus and truck) manufacturers in Brazil, as also in Europe. Furthermore, at some conditions, over-stoichiometric ammonia availability is also needed that increases the NH3 slips even more. Ammonia (NH3) by this vehicle exhaust aftertreatment system provides a maximum efficiency of NOx removal if a significant amount of NH3 is stored on its catalyst surface. In the other words, the practice shows that slightly less than 100% of the NOx conversion is usually targeted, so that the aqueous urea solution hydrolyzes to NH3 via other species formation, under relatively low temperatures. This paper presents a model based on neural networks integrated with a road vehicle simulator that allows to estimate NH3-slip emission factors for different driving conditions and patterns. The proposed model generates high NH3slips which are not also limited in Brazil, but more efforts needed to be made to elucidate the contribution of vehicle-emitted NH3 to the urban atmosphere.

Keywords: Ammonia slip, neural-network, vehicles emissions, SCR-NOx.

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396 A Computational Study into the Effect of Design Parameters on Ignition Timing and Emission Characteristics of HCCI Engine in Internal Combustion Engines Fuelled with Isooctane

Authors: Fridhi Hadia, Soua Wadhah, Hidouri Ammar, Omri Ahmed

Abstract:

In order to understand the auto-ignition process in a HCCI engine better, the influence of some important parameters on the auto-ignition is investigated. The inlet temperature, the inlet pressure, and the compression ratio were varied and their influence on the ignition delays and emission characteristics were studied. The inlet temperature was changed from 400 K to 460 K (in step of 15 K), the inlet pressure from 0.9 to 3 atm, while the compression ratio varied from 15 to 23. The fuel that was investigated is isooctane. The inlet temperature, the inlet pressure, and the compression ratio appeared to decrease the ignition delays, with the inlet pressure having the least influence and the compression ratio the most. The effect of these parameters on emissions’ characteristics were also investigated. Results indicate that increasing the compression ratio results in increasing the concentration of all the species.

Keywords: Compression Ratio, intake temperature, intake pressure, HCCI engine, isooctane.

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395 Automated Algorithm for Removing Continuous Flame Spectrum Based On Sampled Linear Bases

Authors: Luis Arias, Jorge E. Pezoa, Daniel Sbárbaro

Abstract:

In this paper, an automated algorithm to estimate and remove the continuous baseline from measured spectra containing both continuous and discontinuous bands is proposed. The algorithm uses previous information contained in a Continuous Database Spectra (CDBS) to obtain a linear basis, with minimum number of sampled vectors, capable of representing a continuous baseline. The proposed algorithm was tested by using a CDBS of flame spectra where Principal Components Analysis and Non-negative Matrix Factorization were used to obtain linear bases. Thus, the radical emissions of natural gas, oil and bio-oil flames spectra at different combustion conditions were obtained. In order to validate the performance in the baseline estimation process, the Goodness-of-fit Coefficient and the Root Mean-squared Error quality metrics were evaluated between the estimated and the real spectra in absence of discontinuous emission. The achieved results make the proposed method a key element in the development of automatic monitoring processes strategies involving discontinuous spectral bands.

Keywords: Flame spectra, removing baseline, recovering spectrum.

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394 Photo-Fenton Treatment of 1,3-dichloro-2- Propanol Aqueous Solutions Using UV Radiation and H2O2 – A Kinetic Study

Authors: Maria D. Nikolaki, Katerina N. Zerva, Constantine. J. Philippopoulos

Abstract:

The photochemical and photo-Fenton oxidation of 1,3-dichloro-2-propanol was performed in a batch reactor, at room temperature, using UV radiation, H2O2 as oxidant, and Fenton-s reagent. The effect of the oxidative agent-s initial concentration was investigated as well as the effect of the initial concentration of Fe(II) by following the target compound degradation, the total organic carbon removal and the chloride ion production. Also, from the kinetic analysis conducted and proposed reaction scheme it was deduced that the addition of Fe(II) significantly increases the production and the further oxidation of the chlorinated intermediates.

Keywords: 1, 3-dichloro-2-propanol, hydrogen peroxide, photo- Fenton, UV .

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393 Evaluation of an Offshore Wind Power Project: Economic, Strategic and Environmental Value

Authors: Paula Ferreira, Filipa Vieira

Abstract:

The use of wind energy for electricity generation is growing rapidly across the world and in Portugal. However, the geographical characteristics of the country along with the average wind regime and with the environmental restrictions imposed to these projects create limitations to the exploit of the onshore wind resource. The best onshore wind spots are already committed and the possibility of offshore wind farms in the Portuguese cost is now being considered. This paper aims to make a contribution to the evaluation of offshore wind power projects in Portugal. The technical restrictions are addressed and the strategic, environmental and financial interest of the project is analysed from the private company and public points of view. The results suggest that additional support schemes are required to ensure private investors interest for these projects. Assuming an approach of direct substitution of energy sources for electricity generation, the avoided CO2 equivalent emissions for an offshore wind power project were quantified. Based on the conclusions, future research is proposed to address the environmental and social impacts of these projects.

Keywords: Feed-in tariff, offshore wind power, project evaluation.

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392 Adjusting the Furnace and Converter Temperature of the Sulfur Recovery Units

Authors: Hamid Reza Mahdipoor, Hamid Ganji, Hamed Naderi, Hajar Yousefian, Hooman Javaherizadeh

Abstract:

The modified Claus process is commonly used in oil refining and gas processing to recover sulfur and destroy contaminants formed in upstream processing. A Claus furnace feed containing a relatively low concentration of H2S may be incapable of producing a stable flame. Also, incomplete combustion of hydrocarbons in the feed can lead to deterioration of the catalyst in the reactors due to soot or carbon deposition. Therefore, special consideration is necessary to achieve the appropriate overall sulfur recovery. In this paper, some configurations available to treat lean acid gas streams are described and the most appropriate ones are studied to overcome low H2S concentration problems. As a result, overall sulfur recovery is investigated for feed preheating and hot gas configurations.

Keywords: Sulfur recovery unit, Low H2S content

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391 Effect of Fermentation Time on Xanthan Gum Production from Sugar Beet Molasses

Authors: Marzieh Moosavi- Nasab, Safoora Pashangeh, Maryam Rafsanjani

Abstract:

Xanthan gum is a microbial polysaccharide of great commercial significance. The purpose of this study was to select the optimum fermentation time for xanthan gum production by Xanthomonas campestris (NRRL-B-1459) using 10% sugar beet molasses as a carbon source. The pre-heating of sugar beet molasses and the supplementation of the medium were investigated in order to improve xanthan gum production. Maximum xanthan gum production in fermentation media (9.02 g/l) was observed after 4 days shaking incubation at 25°C and 240 rpm agitation speed. A solution of 10% sucrose was used as a control medium. Results indicated that the optimum period for xanthan gum production in this condition was 4 days.

Keywords: Biomass, Molasses, Xanthan gum, Xanthomonascampestris

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390 Thermal Performance and Environmental Assessment of Evaporative Cooling Systems: Case of Mina Valley, Saudi Arabia

Authors: A. Alharbi, R. Boukhanouf, T. Habeebullah, H. Ibrahim

Abstract:

This paper presents a detailed description of evaporative cooling systems used for space cooling in Mina Valley, Saudi Arabia. The thermal performance and environmental impact of the evaporative coolers were evaluated. It was found that the evaporative cooling systems used for space cooling in pilgrims’ accommodations and in the train stations could reduce energy consumption by as much as 75% and cut carbon dioxide emission by 78% compared to traditional vapour compression systems.

Keywords: Evaporative cooling, vapour compression, electricity consumption and CO2 emission.

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389 Affordable and Environmental Friendly Small Commuter Aircraft Improving European Mobility

Authors: Diego Giuseppe Romano, Gianvito Apuleo, Jiri Duda

Abstract:

Mobility is one of the most important societal needs for amusement, business activities and health. Thus, transport needs are continuously increasing, with the consequent traffic congestion and pollution increase. Aeronautic effort aims at smarter infrastructures use and in introducing greener concepts. A possible solution to address the abovementioned topics is the development of Small Air Transport (SAT) system, able to guarantee operability from today underused airfields in an affordable and green way, helping meanwhile travel time reduction, too. In the framework of Horizon2020, EU (European Union) has funded the Clean Sky 2 SAT TA (Transverse Activity) initiative to address market innovations able to reduce SAT operational cost and environmental impact, ensuring good levels of operational safety. Nowadays, most of the key technologies to improve passenger comfort and to reduce community noise, DOC (Direct Operating Costs) and pilot workload for SAT have reached an intermediate level of maturity TRL (Technology Readiness Level) 3/4. Thus, the key technologies must be developed, validated and integrated on dedicated ground and flying aircraft demonstrators to reach higher TRL levels (5/6). Particularly, SAT TA focuses on the integration at aircraft level of the following technologies [1]: 1)    Low-cost composite wing box and engine nacelle using OoA (Out of Autoclave) technology, LRI (Liquid Resin Infusion) and advance automation process. 2) Innovative high lift devices, allowing aircraft operations from short airfields (< 800 m). 3) Affordable small aircraft manufacturing of metallic fuselage using FSW (Friction Stir Welding) and LMD (Laser Metal Deposition). 4)       Affordable fly-by-wire architecture for small aircraft (CS23 certification rules). 5) More electric systems replacing pneumatic and hydraulic systems (high voltage EPGDS -Electrical Power Generation and Distribution System-, hybrid de-ice system, landing gear and brakes). 6) Advanced avionics for small aircraft, reducing pilot workload. 7) Advanced cabin comfort with new interiors materials and more comfortable seats. 8) New generation of turboprop engine with reduced fuel consumption, emissions, noise and maintenance costs for 19 seats aircraft. (9) Alternative diesel engine for 9 seats commuter aircraft. To address abovementioned market innovations, two different platforms have been designed: Reference and Green aircraft. Reference aircraft is a virtual aircraft designed considering 2014 technologies with an existing engine assuring requested take-off power; Green aircraft is designed integrating the technologies addressed in Clean Sky 2. Preliminary integration of the proposed technologies shows an encouraging reduction of emissions and operational costs of small: about 20% CO2 reduction, about 24% NOx reduction, about 10 db (A) noise reduction at measurement point and about 25% DOC reduction. Detailed description of the performed studies, analyses and validations for each technology as well as the expected benefit at aircraft level are reported in the present paper.

Keywords: Affordable, European, green, mobility, technologies development, travel time reduction.

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388 Investigation of Mesoporous Silicon Carbonization Process

Authors: N. I. Kargin, G. K. Safaraliev, A. S. Gusev, A. O. Sultanov, N. V. Siglovaya, S. M. Ryndya, A. A. Timofeev

Abstract:

In this paper, an experimental and theoretical study of the processes of mesoporous silicon carbonization during the formation of buffer layers for the subsequent epitaxy of 3C-SiC films and related wide-band-gap semiconductors is performed. Experimental samples were obtained by the method of chemical vapor deposition and investigated by scanning electron microscopy. Analytic expressions were obtained for the effective diffusion factor and carbon atoms diffusion length in a porous system. The proposed model takes into account the processes of Knudsen diffusion, coagulation and overgrowing of pores during the formation of a silicon carbide layer.

Keywords: Silicon carbide, porous silicon, carbonization, electrochemical etching, diffusion.

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387 Study of Mordenite ZSM-5 and NaY Zeolites,Containing Cr, Cs, Zn, Ni, Co, Li, Mn, to Control Hydrocarbon Cold-Start Emission

Authors: V. Golubeva, A. Korableva, O. Anischenko, A. Nemova, N. Yegorushina, L. Kustov, G. Kapustin, U.S.Rohatgi

Abstract:

The implementation of Super-Ultra Low Emission Vehicle standards requires more efficient exhaust gas purification. To increase the efficiency of exhaust gas purification, an the adsorbent capable of holding hydrocarbons up to 250-300 ОС should be developed. The possibility to design such adsorbents by modification of zeolites of mordenite type, ZSM-5 and NaY, using different metals cations has been studied. It has been shown that introducing Cr, Cs, Zn, Ni, Co, Li, Mn in zeolites results in modification of the toluene TPD and toluene sorption capacity. 5%LiZSM-5 zeolite exhibits the most attractive TPD curve, with toluene desorption temperature ranging from 250 to 350ОС. The sorption capacity of 5%Li-ZSM-5 is 0.4 mmol/g. NaY zeolite has the highest sorption capacity, up to 2 mmol/g, and holds toluene up to 350ОС, but at 120ОС toluene desorption starts, which is not desirable, since the adsorbent of cold start hydrocarbons should retain them until 250-300ОС. Therefore 5%LiZSM-5 zeolite was found to be the most promising to control the cold-start hydrocarbon emissions among the samples studied.

Keywords: Hydrocarbon emission control, adsorbents, zeolites, temperature-programmed desorption.

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386 Dielectric Properties of MWCNT-Muscovite/Epoxy Hybrid Composites

Authors: Nur Suraya Anis Ahmad Bakhtiar, Hazizan Md Akil

Abstract:

In the present work, the dielectric properties of Epoxy/MWCNT-muscovite HYBRID and MIXED composites based on a ratio 30:70 were studied. The multi-wall carbon nanotubes (MWCNT) were prepared using two methods: (a) MWCNTmuscovite hybrids were synthesised by chemical vapour deposition (CVD) and (b) physically mixing muscovite with MWCNT. The effects of different preparation of the composites and filler loading were evaluated. It was revealed that the dielectric constants of HYBRID epoxy composites are slightly higher than MIXED epoxy composites. It was also indicated that the dielectric constant increased by increasing the MWCNT filler loading.

Keywords: MWCNT-Muscovite, Epoxy, Dielectric Properties, Hybrid Composite.

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385 Hydrodynamic Simulation of Fixed Bed GTL Reactor Using CFD

Authors: Sh. Shahhosseini, S. Alinia, M. Irani

Abstract:

In this work, axisymetric CFD simulation of fixed bed GTL reactor has been conducted, using computational fluid dynamics (CFD). In fixed bed CFD modeling, when N (tube-to-particle diameter ratio) has a large value, it is common to consider the packed bed as a porous media. Synthesis gas (a mixture of predominantly carbon monoxide and hydrogen) was fed to the reactor. The reactor length was 20 cm, divided to three sections. The porous zone was in the middle section of the reactor. The model equations were solved employing finite volume method. The effects of particle diameter, bed voidage, fluid velocity and bed length on pressure drop have been investigated. Simulation results showed these parameters could have remarkable impacts on the reactor pressure drop.

Keywords: GTL Process, Fixed bed reactor, Pressure drop, CFDsimulation.

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384 The Experimental Measurement of the LiBr Concentration of a Solar Absorption Machine

Authors: N. Hatraf, L. Merabeti, Z. Neffeh, W. Taane

Abstract:

The excessive consumption of fossil energies (electrical energy) during summer caused by the technological development involves more and more climate warming.

In order to reduce the worst impact of gas emissions produced from classical air conditioning, heat driven solar absorption chiller is pretty promising; it consists on using solar as motive energy which is clean and environmentally friendly to provide cold.

Solar absorption machine is composed by four components using Lithium Bromide /water as a refrigerating couple. LiBr- water is the most promising in chiller applications due to high safety, high volatility ratio, high affinity, high stability and its high latent heat. The lithium bromide solution is constitute by the salt lithium bromide which absorbs water under certain conditions of pressure and temperature however if the concentration of the solution is high in the absorption chillers; which exceed 70%, the solution will crystallize.

The main aim of this article is to study the phenomena of the crystallization and to evaluate how the dependence between the electric conductivity and the concentration which should be controlled.

Keywords: Absorption chillers, crystallization, experimental results, Lithium Bromide solution.

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