Waste management and energy crisis are some of the greatest issues that the world is facing today. This problem can be mitigated by anaerobic digestion (AD), where microorganisms in the absence of oxygen produce biogas from organic waste. A useful tool for AD process understanding and optimization is numerical simulation by using mechanistically inspired mathematical models. In this paper attention is focused on modeling of the AD process of a full-scale biogas plant. Special attention is focused on calibration of 178 model parameters belonging to the BioModel, developed in-house; this is done by using an active set optimization procedure. The agreement of the obtained results of numerical simulation in a single CSTR and the measured AD performance over a period of one year, confirms the efficiently of the used BioModel when considering the presence of the Kemira BDP-840 additive to reduce H ₂S content of the produced biogas. The obtained results show that the active set optimization procedure, coupled by a gradient based optimizer to calibrate the model parameters, performs very well. The procedure is numerically efficient, especially if the computation of design derivatives is parallelized. The used BioModel can easily be coupled with the procedure of AD performance optimization.

For the last two decades, microbial fuel cell (MFC) has been studied to treat wastewater and simultaneously produce electricity. This innovative bioelectrochemical technology offers the possibility of generating electric current from wide a range of complex organic wastewater. From this perspective, the MFC requires knowledge of structural and material modification in electrodes aimed to enhance the overall performance. Therefore, membrane electrode assembly (MEA) was developed through a combination of electrodes and proton exchange membrane. The MEA provides maximized power generation and extended cell lifetime on the MFC system. In this study, the MFC-MEA was analyzed during the acclimation stage in scale-up aimed at chemical oxygen demand (COD) removal and energy generation from a growth medium rich in acetate. Electrochemical analysis and water quality measurements were assessed. We show that the selection and biofilm acclimatization procedure is a simplified process, starting from anaerobic sludge. The results showed the efficiencies of COD removal and maximum power density were 74.60% and 47.49 mWm ^-2, respectively. Thus, this study indicates a successful startup and a promising reactor configuration for MFC technology.

Food irradiation is a novel, up and coming technology that preserves and extends the lifespan of food. The Philippines (more specifically, its capital city of Manila) has yet to capitalize on this effective technique, which has the potential to mitigate many of its pervasive issues such as hunger and food insecurity, unnecessary food wastage, and air pollution. Many of the Philippines’ neighboring countries in the Asia-Pacific region (such as China, Japan and India) have had major success implementing food irradiation facilities. In fact, the Philippines already has a commercial irradiation facility in Intramuros, Manila; however, it’s relatively small and its impacts are negligible. Currently, there is a dearth of research on the feasibility of utilizing this technology on a larger scale in the Philippines, but the potential benefits a larger facility could bring to the country are too significant to ignore. Thus, this paper will conduct a cost-benefit analysis to assess the feasibility of the Philippines constructing a commercial scale gamma irradiation facility with a capacity of 1 millicurie (MCi)—comparable to those found in the aforementioned neighboring countries and 12 times larger than the current facility in Intramuros. A variation of Bateman et al.’s SEER framework (“Social, Economic and Environmental Assessment for Land Use Decision Making” model)—which evaluates a project from its environmental, economic, and social impacts—will be utilized to guide the cost-benefit analysis, in conjunction with the 5-point Likert assessment framework. Overall, the results deemed that a larger scale facility had a cost-benefit ratio of 1:5 and would be highly advantageous for the Philippines.

This study investigates the energy and environmental impacts of banning the sale of traditional fossil fuel vehicles in China. By using the Logistic model, the dynamic evolution of China’s vehicle market under different timing of banning the sale of traditional fuel vehicles was simulated. Based on this, the fossil energy saving and greenhouse gas emission reduction potential of promoting new energy vehicles under different energy development scenarios was further explored from the life cycle perspective. The results show that under China’s current electricity mix, the life cycle GHG emissions intensity and fossil energy consumption intensity of battery electric vehicles are about 40.94% (120.04 g CO2-eq/km) and 45.90% (1.68 MJ/km) lower than those of gasoline-powered vehicles, respectively. As the proportion of renewable electricity generation continues to increase, by 2050, replacing traditional fuel vehicles with battery electric vehicles can reduce GHG emissions and fossil energy consumption by up to 58.26% and 53.03%, respectively. In addition, if China plans to ban the sale of traditional fuel vehicles between 2040 and 2060, the cumulative fossil energy savings and GHG emissions reductions during the period of 2020~2050 can reach approximately 32.54~129.10 million TJ and 2.70 ~ 9.32 billion tons of CO2-eq, respectively.

In recent years, small, isolated power supply systems have been widely developed, in which the main share of electricity generation is produced based on low-power renewable sources (solar PV converters, wind turbines and other types of RS). At present, schemes of mini and micro-systems of power supply with different composition of renewable sources, differing in parameters depending on geographic and weather conditions of their locations. While there are no universal approaches to choosing the optimal combination used in such systems of renewable sources and traditional sources (diesel generator, batteries) used. This article provides a practical method for the technical feasibility study for the construction of a Stand-Alone Photovoltaic (SAPV) system in Karabakh region of Azerbaijan Republic. Based on the current growing role of the subject region, its energy security and economic development the aim is to build the most efficient and optimal cleaner energy production facilities in this area. Considering the lack of methodology for the measurement of renewable energy potential in Karabakh region, we employed evaluation methods based on mapping techniques, simulation software for solar stand-alone unit and the analytical tools offered by PVSyst Software. Solar module, battery, DC/AC pure sine wave power inverter, and the charge controller are the main components of the suggested PV system design. Choosing optimal capacity and arrangement increase the plant’s efficiency and reduces the overall system costs. In this method, according to the geographical location the number of solar modules and their optimal angles are defined. PVSyst software is used for the system analysis, and the simulation results show the performance of the designed system on an individual residential building located in Zangilan city of Karabakh region. The main novelty of this study is related to the integration of the renewable energy potential maps combined with a density of population, are good predictors of locations for the development of renewable energy source-based facilities. The study concludes with recommendations towards the optimal size of stand-alone solar system and its components and use of renewable energy potential to achieve more balanced regional development and clean energy production.

The case history is of a community called “La Cañada” which is found in the municipality of Huixquilucan, Estado de México, Mexico. It is a village not far from the eastern edge of Mexico City and thus subject to strong social and transcultural pressures. A covering based on textile fibres was proposed for an experimental building in the aforementioned village. The design of the covering took into account relevant climatic factors such as temperature, humidity and rainfall. A double roof was proposed which would attenuate extreme low temperatures and at the same time be impervious. The whole proposal was made considering the villagers, especially their average income (to assure economic feasibility). Statistics for the population were consulted: age distribution, gender, religion etc. with a view to grounding the proposal in their local needs. However, during the development of the proposal, a question arose: are we really designing for this population or are we assuming that they will appropriate the suggested materials and will they identify with our objectives of lower energy use and greater sustainability? This was the objective of the research herein presented…

This paper highlights a study of Solar Photo-Voltaic (PV) energy system from the environmental impact analysis and its effects point of view and the enhancement factors affecting the Solar Photovoltaic (PV) module by the tilt angles variation on power output of MPPT and dust accumulation on solar PV panel. The Efficiency of solar PV energy system from the environmental impacts in Mining Industry and also a Laboratory study is also conducted and a specific investigation on dust deposition effect on the solar photovoltaic (PV) panel, its power loss and overall efficiency of the solar panel are made. The Scanning Electron Microscope (SEM) analysis carried out for the collected dust samples, and obtained images are also analyzed. A specific investigation on dust samples like Iron ore, Coal, Limestone, Sandstone of different weights, and three different irradiation levels of 500,700,900W/m2 is done and the following data collected. In this study, measuring of voltage current, power in the solar photovoltaic (PV) panel is also done. According to the accumulation of dust particles on the solar panel the minimum power of the solar panel is observed for deposition of Coal dust on the solar PV panel and the maximum power of the solar PV panel is observed for deposition of Iron ore dust on the solar PV module.

In the mining industry, HEMM (Heavy Earth Moving Machinery) operators usually suffer from Whole Body Vibration (WBV) exposure. The vibrations generated from machinery sources during operation are transmitted to the human body. There are several undesirable health hazards arises due to WBV exposure in opencast mines, which includes deterioration of ‘nervous system’, ‘circulatory system’, ‘digestive system’, and ‘low back pain’. This paper is anticipated to examine how machine condition, haul road condition, operational culture and work time exposure affect vibration exposure of mine operators in an opencast mine. In this context, a conceptual model is developed by means of path-analysis through Structural Equation Modelling (SEM). As there are no statutory guidelines and standardised threshold limit available for WBV with Indian mine operators, relevant clauses of International Organisation for Standardization are followed for monitoring WBV.

Modelling power plants using real process data is crucial in determining the cost-effectiveness and flexibility of systems. The quality of the elaborated model is determined with the validation of the model, which can also give results for the operating regimes of the plant, which are not often used in practice. In this way, also the operation and responsiveness of power plants outside the range of planned operation are determined. The model simulates the operation of a diesel engine (DE) required to start a combined heat & power plant (CHPP) from a black-out or loss of the electrical power network supply. The model is made on the basis of data provided by the manufacturer and the measured DE data. The results of the model enable detailed insight into the characteristics of the DE behaviour at different operating regimes. The economic and ecological rationale ranges of operation of the DE can be determined from the characteristics of operation. The results of the model show that the DE operates with a 41.72% average efficiency, consumes from 0.114 kg/s of diesel fuel for its operation and up to 3.68 kg/s of air, the air ratio ranges from 2.2 to 2.5. DE develops shaft power up to 2170 kW.

Indoor air quality (IAQ) and thermal comfort issues in schools are of particular public concern because children represent a vulnerable population group to air pollution. In fact, their respiratory and immune systems are still developing and a long-term exposure to indoor air pollutants might have a significant impact on their health and scholarly. This study focuses on the effect of the energy renovation of two classrooms which consists of the implementation of a dual flow ventilation system with high efficiency filters (F7). The classrooms are located in an alpine valley (France) known for its high level of atmospheric pollution. To do this, carbon dioxide (CO2), temperature (T), relative humidity (RH) and PM2.5 were monitored continuously over twice two-month periods before and after the renovation in winter 2018 and 2020, respectively. In addition, the ventilation airflows were measured and a daily questionnaire that report the information on general condition in the classroom were recorded day-to-day. The results of these campaigns indicate that before the renovation, the two rooms were confined, estimated by IAQ index such as ICONE index which are equal to 2. The CO2 concentration reached to 4790 ppmv due to a very low air exchange rate 0.05 h ^-1. During the high PM _2.5 levels episodes observed in outdoor air, the low air exchange rate limited the transport of PM _2.5 from the outside to the inside of the classrooms. As a result, the percentages of concentration exceedance compared to WHO recommendations were 23% and 17%, in class 1 and class 2 respectively, while it reached 68% in outdoor air.

After the renovation, the ventilation airflow was higher than before renovation and reached to 2.46 h ^-1. As consequence, a drastic reduction of the confinement was measured with ICONE index of class 2 reaching to 0. The CO2 concentrations are remained low with a maximum value of 1150 ppmv. Rather the high air renewal generates a significant inflow of outdoor particulate pollution which the indoor PM _2.5 concentrations range were 20-80 μg.m ^-3 during the outdoor air pollution episodes. However, the indoor concentrations were all the time lower than those observed outside with indoor/outdoor concentration ratio about 0.5. It can be assumed that the filtration of the supply air allowed to limit the entrance of the particles. However, this figure should be taken with caution because of the complex physic associated with particle behaviours (e.g. sedimentation, resuspension, etc). In addition, it is interesting to note that a dysfunction of the ventilation system led to a situation close to that before renovation, both with regard to the rate of ventilation airflow, as well as the concentrations of CO2 and PM _2.5.

The reliability and availability of induction motors is significant which can be achieved by monitoring the performance of the motor regularly in the industry. Knowledge-based approaches can be able efficiently to deal with the sensor data for ensuring the reliability with high motor performance. Recently, deep learning networks based on machine learning structures have provided an accurate and faster framework for fault diagnosis by ignoring feature extraction process. However, training a deep convolutional neural network (CNN) is complex and time-consuming procedure. For this reason, this paper proposes a novel deep learning procedure for fault diagnosis using thermal images data of the induction motor applying residual neural network with 50 convolutional layers as feature extraction. The pre-trained deep convolutional (ResNet-50) of the transfer learning is trained on ImageNet based weight. This work includes the effect of data augmentation for enhancing the performance of the proposed model and ensuring its robustness for fault diagnosis. Firstly, the collected images are pre-processed resized as input datatype of Resnet-50 network. Next, transfer leaning model based on convolutional neural network (ResNet-50) structure is built to process the prepared images. Lastly, classifying the prepared images based on the related conditions of the induction motor. The experimental result shows that the proposed model has achieved an accuracy of 99.98%. The presented model has further compared with recent deep learning applications, and it has proved its robustness in fault diagnosis.

Growing attention on global de-carbonization, energy security, and sustainable development has made wind energy one of the most popular renewable energy sources. With the trend of huge-size wind turbines and more distributed wind farms constructed in densely populated areas of China, the impact of wind turbines on landscape can’t be ignored. This paper aims to assess landscape visual impact at different spatial scales caused by large-size wind turbines. Several wind farms with different topographic and spatial scales in the Yangtze River Delta of China were selected for viewshed analysis in GIS. Based on the theoretical research on visual perception mechanism and visual impact threshold, the indicators are collected by questionnaires and analyzed with linear regression analysis. The outcomes imply that dynamic components are highly related indicators within a close distance (＜ 1 km), landscape aesthetics are correlated within a middle distance (1-4 km), and ecological elements are significant at a large distance (＞ 4km). This paper explores correlated indicators of visual impact at different spatial scales that provide recommendations for wind farm site selection.

Industrial development has an important role in the economic growth, along with this development, industrial sector has been one of the fastest growing sources of greenhouse gas emissions this growth has been driven by the increase of intensive industry subsectors including cement, iron and steel, chemicals, and aluminum, and because of a socio-economic and population growth. industrial sector is accounts of 30% of greenhouse gas emissions and around 37% of global energy consumption. In agreement with the 2015 united nation conference of parties , (COP21) to reduce the global temperature to reach low than 2 ℃ by the year 2050 , 197 participating countries agreed to take measures to reduce greenhouse gas emissions .Achieving this target requires overall changes of the universal economy and may be possible if the level of carbon dioxide ( CO ₂) in the environment remains below 450 part per million , however the concentration of carbon dioxide2 continue to increase which is need to a new policies and technologies to reduce the industrial emissions between 29%-41% by the year 2030. Rapid and deep decarbonisation of industry is needed to reduce emissions through many pathways, replacing fossil fuels with renewable technologies such as wind, solar, developing of new technologies and materials coupling with improving energy efficiency and electrification of high temperature heating. This research will investigate the existing information, scope, methodologies, and toolkit relating to deep decarbonisation and will intend a methodology to validate measures towards decarbonisation that are relevant to the Irish context. The research will focus on the greenhouse emissions from Irish manufacturing industries and will set an energy efficiency and energy reduction metric and will propose a methodology for the validation of deep decarbonisation pathways for manufacturing industries in Ireland.

76% of households mainly cook using polluting fuels and inefficient cooking technologies or devices (Ghana Statistical Service [GSS] , 2017) [1]. As a result 13,000-16,000 people die from the aforementioned factors. Clean cook stoves borders on SDG 7 on clean energy and SDG 3 on health, SDG 2 on food security and sustainable agriculture, SDG 5 on gender, SDG 11 on cities, and SDG 13 on climate change, (Fenny et al., 2017) [2]. However, improved efficient cooking devices that eliminate the death associated with inefficient cooking stoves are not easily accepted, even when subsidized, (Ackah et al., 2021)[3] .What might be the underlying narratives to this resistance? This article tends to find out using OWASS as the first case study and using St. Paul’s Seminary as a control. The research looked at the design of the institutional stove for both firewood and gas. The pot size is 210 liters stainless steel for 6 gas stoves and 6 firewood stoves.

The experiment from start to finish took exactly one year, from studying cooking dynamics including mental modelling mapping and some social philosophies. It also involved changing over from highly inefficient smoky stoves to efficient little or no indoor air pollution stoves. Results indicated a relatively quick adoption of ICs within two months whilst St. Paul’s Seminary took extra funds and a threatening approach to get cooks to adopt the technology over two months, even though incentives in the form of cash were given. Three major narratives emerged as to the reason for the success toward the adoption or acceptance of the technology, namely; safety of the stove, efficiency or huge energy/cost saving, human centered design, power or control of the fire/flame and discipline in the supervision of management protocol by actors in the improved clean cooking devices value chain. Despite the huge success, work still needs to be done on the safety of the gas stove and continuous training on the management of the cooking devices, especially the gas stove.

Conclusively, acceptability was generally successful with OWASS while St. Paul was with difficulty despite the similarity in problems and solutions.

Today the world is facing multiple challenges of energy security, economic recovery and the effect of the Global increase in temperature. Investing in new fossil fuel will only lock-in uneconomic practices, perpetuate existing risks and increase the threats of climate change. By contrast, renewable energies such as Photovoltaic is considered one of the sources of energy not emitting carbon dioxide and other greenhouse gases, contributing to global warming. Seen its simplicity and low maintenance costs, Solar cells are the most prominent alternative to deal with these issues. However, Standard Test Conditions (STC) of Photovoltaic (PV) modules are, in the most cases, not representative of the real working conditions of a solar module. For operating conditions in arid climate, temperature of PV modules considerably increases above the STC temperature and affects PV system performance. In order to effectively predict energy production for a given location, it is of great importance to develop a robust model to take into account the electrical and thermal behaviors of the PV module. Different models have been previously implemented using a single or double diode model. This work focuses on the latest one, which requires the determination of seven parameters .these parameters are : Iph, Rs, Rsh, n ₁, n ₂, I ₀₁ and I ₀₂. By referring to the estimation methods proposed in the literature such as : Newton-Raphson, Gauss-Seidel and Metaheuristics algorithms. This work introduces a new method of global optimization algorithm based on the use of Flying Foxes Optimization (FFO) technique to estimate the PV cell/module parameters. The proposed population-based approach is inspired from the survival strategies of flying foxes during a heatwave. The two different ways flying foxes move in the search space as well as their replacement mechanism, constitute the main advantages of the proposed optimizer, as they enhance exploration. FFO’s probability-based solution replacement assists its escape from local optima, and helps the optimizer avoid wasting time searching bad regions of the search space. The results demonstrate that the proposed FFO optimizer constitutes an attractive alternative optimization approach to the most successful metaheuristic optimizers, considering local and global search capabilities. Results have been compared with those found by the methods of Newton-Raphson, Gauss-Seidel, Broyden , Genetic algorithm (GA), Particle Swarm Optimization (PSO) and Invasive Weeds Optimization (IWO) to show that the proposed algorithm (FFO) has a high fitting with the experimental data.

This paper presents the results of the research currently being carried out at ISEL with the objective of developing new electrochemistry-based processes to obtain renewable synthetic fuels from alkaline water electrolysis using a carbon source. In the developed process, the gas mixture obtained from alkaline water electrolysis and a carbon source is not separated into their components but rather is introduced into a catalyzed reactor, in order to achieve conversion to synthetic 2 ^nd generation biofuels, such as biomethane, biomethanol, bio-dimethyl ether, etc. Tests have been previously executed in a pilot electrolyzer and reactor of 1 kW, and are now being scaled up to a pilot electrolyzer and reactor of 5 kW, producing 250 l/h CH ₄, as an intermediate step to a pilot of 100 kW.

The essence of this work is to show a possibility to increase the safety of nuclear reactors and extend the life of nuclear fuel by reduction the corrosion of the zirconium fuel tubes by double layer coating consisting of polycrystalline diamond (PCD) and magnetron sputtered Cr. In double layer coating the water permeable 500 nm thick polycrystalline diamond layer consisted of hard diamond grains (<70%) and soft graphitic carbon phase. The Cr coating was 2-3 µm thick. We used Cr layer as bottom and PCD as top coating and also Cr layer as top and PCD as bottom coating of ZIRLO fuel tube. Coated and bare ZIRLO fuel cladding tubes were subjected to hot steam/water tests for 30 min at 900°C and for 40 min at 1000°C. The hot steam processed double layer coated ZIRLO oxidation was lower than uncoated hot steam processed ZIRLO. Surprisingly, the hot steam processed Cr coated ZIRLO oxidation was even lower than the double layer coated hot steam processed ZIRLO when PCD layer was bottom layer. On the contrary, when ZIRLO was coated by Cr layer as bottom and PCD layer as top layer then its accidental oxidation was lowest of all samples we have ever tested. Raman spectroscopy, scanning electron microscopy, X-ray diffraction and energy-dispersive spectroscopy were performed to study relevant processes and states affecting coated ZIRLO hot steam corrosion.

The dynamically rising costs of heating result in an increased interest in thermal insulation materials. The best thermal insulation material available on the market is a rigid polyurethane foam. The rise in mining prices of raw materials is disrupting the polyurethane industry, so it is imperative to reduce the amount of petrochemicals in foams. The aim of the article was to check the possibility of using blackcurrant pomace as a filler for polyurethane foams. First, rigid foam composites containing 10 wt.% of fruit processing waste were produced. The obtained materials were analyzed in terms of structure, basic parameters such as water absorption, dimensional stability, apparent density, mechanical properties and the impact of the aging process on the content of C, H, N elements. The conducted research showed that the pomace has antioxidant properties and has a positive effect on the mechanical properties. In addition, this type of filler has a positive effect on the delay in ignition of the foams.

In recent years, there has been a great interest in the development of lead-free, stable and high efficiency perovskite materials. In our work, we studied a lead-free, inorganic and non-toxic double perovskite solar cell (PSC) based on Cs ₂AgBi(I _(1-x)Br _x)6 using ab-initio calculations density function theory (DFT) study. The stability, electronic and optical properties are studied and the transport properties have been calculated. Thus, we have evaluated the band gap of the Cs ₂AgBi(I _(1-x)Br _x)6 absorber by two approximations GGA-PBE and TB-mbj. We found that the values of absorptivity and dielectric constant also increase with increasing Br doping. These mixed halide compounds show stronger absorption coefficients from 300 to 600 nm, the lowest light absorption capacity is observed between 600 and 800 nm. The performance of the compounds is simulated via SLME. To improve the performance of the device, we analyzed and optimized different parameters of the PSC: optimal thickness, defect density and band gap of the absorber by the numerical simulation method of perovskite solar cell using SCAPS-1D (solar cell capacitance simulator) software. Thus, the optimized values of the doping density for the absorber layer, HTL and ETL were determined; the device achieved a good PCE. Bi-based double mixed halide perovskite materials have provided great scope for a broad range of applications cells with the same high performance as lead-based perovskite. They can be obtained experimentally in future.

Natural resource conservation and environmental protection are essential due to the rapid depletion of natural resources and unfavorable environmental changes on a worldwide scale. Sustainable measures are targeted at decreasing ecological impacts, mainly through technical innovation in producing goods and processes, resulting in increased operational efficiency and higher natural resource management, lowering emissions and waste. Energy is a critical component in sustainable industrial measures to enhance overall production sustainability in pollution prevention and control. Industrial process heating consumes more energy than any other type of energy in the manufacturing industry. Around the world, industrial heating systems are a significant energy consumer and CO2 (GHG) emitter. Most of the direct emissions within the company’s organizational borders are caused by the combustion of the primary fuel used for plant heating, heat production, and other vehicle manufacturing operations. This motivated us to analyze and develop reliable sustainability measures for industrial heating systems. A case study is conducted in the domain of industrial heating systems in an automobile manufacturing plant The study provides an intricate understanding to assess a heating system and its impacts. It will offer opportunities to opt for alternate possibilities of materials & methods to reduce the harmful effects. It also gives a brief idea of the application of the MCDM approach in energy decision making. Furthermore, finding heating applications procedures that use energy-efficient solar thermal systems is crucial for enabling industries with large solar energy potential to reduce their reliance on non – renewable and develop more environmentally friendly industrial systems in the future.

Energy industry is a vital area related to the security and economic development of a sovereign country, and the green and low carbon development is becoming the main development direction of global energy technology innovation (ETI). Driven by the energy revolution and the digital revolution, a new round of global technological revolution and industrial transformation is in the ascendant. China is constantly promoting ETI and actively exploring the factors affecting energy innovation efficiency in order to achieve the commitment of “carbon peak” and “carbon neutral”. China’s ETI still has shortcomings that are expected to break through. Using the province-level data of key variables in the field of ETI from 2008 to 2019, we found the stock of human capital, income level, carbon emission, industrial structure and the financial expenditure on science and technology may influence the energy innovation efficiency. The main reason of the energy innovation efficiency is the stock of human capital. And China is catching up with developed countries in the scale of its talent team with its consistently efforts. The increase of carbon emissions has a significant positive correlation with energy innovation efficiency at the national level while there is a negative correlation between carbon emissions and energy innovation efficiency in eastern China. Although China has formulated an ambitious five-year plan in the field of ETI, the basic research and human capital required to improve the efficiency of energy innovation are still shortcomings. Furthermore, state-owned enterprises and private enterprises cannot jointly build an innovation consortium has significantly restricted the efficiency of China’s ETI. Due to the lack of unified coordination at the national level, there is vicious competition and prominent industry similarities in new energy between provinces The road to progress in China’s energy technology innovation is still quite long.

Wastewater treatment plants (WWTPs), which operate due to the vital activity of microorganisms, often do not achieve high nitrogen and phosphorus removal from wastewater. Nitrogen and phosphorus compounds in treated wastewater enter surface water bodies and cause their eutrophication. The effective treatment of wastewater is essential for creating a sustainable environment. Three WWTPs were selected with similar effluent discharges (10 m ³/d) and the removal of pollutants was analyzed. Chemical analysis data of wastewater samples of WWTPs effluent was collected and evaluated for each quarter for 5 years (2017-2021). The results showed that 76.67% of the residual total phosphorus concentration, 1.67% of biochemical oxygen demand (BOD7), and 25% of total nitrogen from all analyzed samples did not meet the requirements for treated wastewater. In order to achieve a higher level of removal of nitrogen and phosphorus compounds, additional tertiary treatment is recommended.

Dry processing within metal-cutting manufacture needs to be applied in order to reduce the adverse effects of cooling lubricants on the environment. In a study by Schäpermeier, the author indicates that during machining above a fixed temperature value, the contact area between the underside of the chip and the rake face (chip underside/rake face) experience boundary friction. As this process generates lubricants that are not harmful to the environment, the basic requirement for dry processing during chip formation with boundary friction is fulfilled. In addition, the production of lubricants reduces the wear rate of the tool and eventually creates an economic incentive to achieve dry processing, by selecting the specifications to allow for boundary friction during the process of machining. During the machine processing the highest temperatures occur in the contact area chip underside/rake face.

In contrast to the assumption of FE modelling, the chip underside and the rake face are not smooth, but show a microscopic roughness. As a result, only parts of the contact area experience friction. This roughness on both surfaces leads to the formation of “cavities” that can be filled with cooling lubricants at low temperatures, and hence affects chip formation. With increasing temperature, the protrusions of the chip underside “soften” and the cavities’ volume decreases. Following that, the protrusions are welded onto the rake face and form built-up edges. Eventually the temperature of the protrusions reaches the melting temperature of steel and the cavities are filled, thus the requirements for boundary friction are met. In this case only the protrusions of the rake face are in contact with the chip underside and the chip can transmit normal and transverse forces.

The main characteristic of this process is that the total area of the protrusions represents the size of the machining surface. In spite of the melting temperatures, the protrusions at the chip underside do not melt due to the significantly short residence time and remain on the chip when it exits the contact area. It is therefore crucial to achieve the required temperature within the contact area to allow for a machining process with boundary friction. This temperature range is solely dependent on the dimensions of the machining surfaces of both the work piece and the tool, as well as the cutting speed. The dimensions generally differ between roughing and finishing and further depend on the magnitude of the speed ratio. Merely the specifications of the feed and cutting speed determine whether the machining process can be achieved in an economically and ecologically advantageous way..

Consumers in many countries prefer local food of regional origin. In the UK, priority is often given to historic desert apple varieties such as ‘Cox’s Orange Pippin’ (1825), ‘Egremont Russet’ (1872), ‘Discovery’ , ‘Spartan’, ‘Beauty of Bath’ (1864), cider apples and the cooking apple cv. ‘Bramley’s Seedling’ (1883) in the UK and similarly ‘Roter Berlepsch’ and ‘Boskoop’ in Germany. However, some of the imported goods can have a lower carbon footprint i.e. better environmental score irrespective of the food miles involved, e.g. tomatoes imported from open field production in winter in Spain into the UK versus home-grown greenhouse tomatoes.

In our part of the world, apples are harvested in autumn. To provide year-round supply for the consumers, apples have to be stored commonly using electricity of the National grid. For home-grown apples, this storage (cooling and grading) is the largest contributor to the environmental burden.

Our idea is whether this fruit storage could made be more environmental-friendly by solar panels on the roofs of the storage rooms. The challenge is the time, i.e. winter, with the lowest possible energy gain and conversion of solar energy to electricity. Primary (fossil) energy analysis is used here as scientific based on global radiation values for the Southerly fruit growing regions such as Kent, Somerset and Hereford and concomitantly the Meckenheim fruit growing region near Bonn. Two scenarios are employed, a) a static one where the fruit are stored (and require energy) over 5 months and b) a dynamic one, where fruit are successively removed from the store, requiring more energy at the start and less energy at the end of the storage period; both aiming at a cleaner more environmental-friendly apple production. The results are discussed with previous projects such as “383 ppm” (for 383 ppm CO2), when energy for cooling and storage of UK apple was saved by picking and loading the fruit at times of cooler temperatures like morning and evening (rather than in the warmer afternoon).

There is a growing research interest in studying microgrids in rural areas as a means to promote energy access. These microgrids could be the key to energy access on a global scale because of their many advantages compared to classic grid expansion. Despite all these qualities, feedback from microgrids in rural areas shows that most fail to reach sustainability, but the reasons for their long-term failure are still not a consensus in the literature. This work intends to contribute to understanding microgrids’ sustainability and their expansion by modelling them using a systemic vision approach. For this purpose, we propose a diagnosis tool that includes energy, financial, information and social aspects. A series of study cases are analyzed through this approach, showing it as a possible diagnostic tool for microgrids in the short and long term.

The paper presents the utilization of hydrogen in steam and gas turbine cycles. Various configurations proposed in literature are modeled and comparisons between them are made. Steam turbine cycles open the possibility of attaining efficiency levels of 60% (HHV based), which is at least 20 percent points higher than the efficiency of hydrogen fueled gas turbines. The investigated systems are characterized by very high specific power (2.2–4.7 MJ/kg), which is much higher (in extreme cases, by an order of magnitude) than the performance of current gas or steam turbines or combined cycles.

The use of hydrogen as a fuel for gas turbines is one of the solutions to the increasing requirements that are being placed upon them. The subject of this study is to analyze the parameters of a standard gas turbine when methane is replaced with hydrogen. Changes in power and efficiency of cycles were considered.

Metal-organic frameworks are seen to be good adsorbents for dyes due to their large surface area, ordering, and flexible structure. This work is the first presented investigation into the effect of modification of MOFs in dye adsorption on UiO-66. Two samples of Ni/UiO-66 and mothers – UiO-66 were prepared under normal stirring and heating conditions to increase the positive charge of the surface. The characterization using powder X-ray diffraction (XRD), scanning electron microscopy (SEM) and FTIR indicated the promotion of acid sites on UiO-66, while Raman spectroscopy and inductively coupled plasma mass spectrometry (ICP-MS) confirmed the successful addition of Nickel into the UiO-66 structure at the amount of about 1.0 wt %.

Results obtained for methyl orange (MO) adsorption on the surface have shown enhanced adsorption capacity of Ni-UiO-66 compared to parent UiO-66. Moreover, the experiments with highly selective removal of anionic dye as compared to cationic dye were performed and explained in detail for mixed dye solutions of MO with methylene blue (MB), indicating the important role of the electrostatic attraction mechanism. Notably, it is shown that the addition of Ni to UiO-66 results in a higher effect of electrostatic interaction than traditional UiO-66.

The present study discusses the synthesis and characterization of a rigid acceptor-donor-acceptor triad 3 comprising Zn porphyrin (as donor) and a tetracationic cyclobis(paraquat-p-phenylene) (CBPQT ⁴⁺) (as acceptor). The copper(I)-catalyzed Huisgen alkyne-azide 1,3-dipolar cycloaddition (CuAAC “click” reaction) was implemented using a dialkyne substituted Zn porphyrin 1 and azide-functionalized cyclobis(paraquat-p-phenylene) 2 to achieve the target triad 3. The resulting triad was fully characterized by NMR spectroscopy and high-resolution mass spectrometry (HRMS) measurements. In addition, the X-ray crystal structure of 3 revealed a Z-shape of 3 in which the two cyclobis(paraquat-p-phenylene) are in the opposite sides of the Zn porphyrin plane thus leading to the formation of segregated donor/acceptor arrays of 3 at the solid state, a phenomenon that could make 3 a potential candidate as active materials for bulk heterojunction organic solar cells (OSCs) applications. Furthermore, the photo-induced electron transfer processes within triad 3 from the central Zn porphyrin (donor) to tetracationic cyclobis(paraquat-p-phenylene) (acceptor) moieties were investigated through steady-state fluorescence studies.