Amount Of Carbon Loss Research Articles

Evaluation of different peatland management scenarios to reduce GHG emissions from fires. A case study in tropical peatlands in Ogan Komering Ilir, Indonesia.

Tropical peatlands play an important role as carbon pools. Over the last decades, deforestation and degradation of Indonesian peatlands have led to a significant amount of carbon loss. Anthropogenic fires damage the ecology, the economy, and the public health of the entire region. This PhD is based on a case study in Ogan Komering Ilir (OKI) district of Indonesia. In OKI, traditional practices discard unwanted biomass with open fires, and often result in peat fires. We considered different scenarios of biomass valorisation to incite changes of practices, and to reduce peatland fires. We assessed the feasibility of converting aboveground biomass into bioenergy or other ligno-cellulosic materials.
 We estimated a business as usual (BAU) scenario by evaluating sources of emission of the current land management. We investigated potential mitigation scenarios, including biomass valorisation and peatland restoration, as alternative land management options. We evaluated the impact of these mitigation scenarios on climate change, according to their economic limitations.
 The analysis of GHG emissions in the BAU scenario shows that areas affected by fire release 70 ± 30, 140 ± 31 and 160 ± 27 Tonnes CO2-eq/ha/yr for degraded peatland, oil palm plantations and pulpwood plantations, respectively. Areas not affected by fires release 19 ± 12, 85 ± 21 and 108 ± 15 Tonnes CO2-eq/ha/yr, respectively. For the restoration scenario, we found similar GHG emissions of –0.9 Tonnes CO2-eq/ha/yr for the three land uses.
 Encouraging the biomass market in the areas where it is profitable for farmers could help reducing fire occurrences, without government investment. We instead suggest focusing government efforts on other methods such as incentive payments, or peatland restoration strategies, in the areas where biomass market is not economically viable. For the region, we find that biomass valorisation can reduce the GHG emissions by 4% to 6% compared to the BAU.
 As such, biomass valorisation is a promising alternative to current practices, potentially reducing the negative impact of fires while generating a new income for the population.

Identification of Carbon loss in the production of pilot-scale Carbon nanotube using gauze reactor

Carbon loss more than 65% was the major obstacles in the Carbon Nanotube (CNT) production using gauze pilot scale reactor. The results showed that the initial carbon loss calculation is 27.64%. The calculation of carbon loss, then, takes place with various corrections parameters of: product flow rate error measurement, feed flow rate changes, gas product composition by Gas Chromatography Flame Ionization Detector (GC FID), and the carbon particulate by glass fiber filters. Error of product flow rate due to the measurement with bubble soap gives calculation error of carbon loss for about ± 4.14%. Changes in the feed flow rate due to CNT growth in the reactor reduce carbon loss by 4.97%. The detection of secondary hydrocarbon with GC FID during CNT production process reduces carbon loss by 5.14%. Particulates carried by product stream are very few and merely correct the carbon loss about 0.05%. Taking all the factors into account, the amount of carbon loss within this study is (17.21 ± 4.14)%. Assuming that 4.14% of carbon loss is due to the error measurement of product flow rate, the amount of carbon loss is 13.07%. It means that more than 57% of carbon loss within this study is identified.

Characterizing the Structural Degradation in a PEMFC Cathode Catalyst Layer: Carbon Corrosion

In this study, the structural degradation of a polymer electrolyte membrane fuel cell (PEMFC) cathode catalyst layer due to carbon corrosion was investigated. To oxidize the catalyst carbon support, the PEMFC catalyst layer was subjected to a 30 h accelerated stress test that cycled the cathode potential from 0.1 to (where RHE denotes reversible hydrogen electrode) at 30 and 150 s intervals. Carbon dioxide release was measured in the gas exhaust to establish the rate and amount of carbon loss. Cyclic voltammetry, electrochemical impedance spectroscopy (EIS), scanning electron microscopy, and polarization analyses were completed to characterize and correlate the structural degradation of the catalyst layer to the PEMFC performance. The results showed a clear thinning of the cathode catalyst layer and the gas diffusion layer carbon sublayer and a reduction in the effective platinum surface area due to carbon support oxidation. The degradation of the cathode catalyst layer also altered the water management, as evidenced by an increase in the voltage losses associated with oxygen mass transport and catalyst layer ohmic resistance. There was an emphasis on the EIS measurement to further develop and verify this methodology for other degradation mechanisms.

A meta-analytical test of elevated CO2 effects on plant respiration

Contrasting results regarding elevated CO2 effects on leafdark respiration (Rd) have hampered efforts to incorporate this importantcomponent of the plant carbon budget into long-term predictions of ecologicalresponses to rising atmospheric CO2. To help resolve some of theseinconsistencies in the literature, we used meta-analysis to quantitativelysummarize 45 area-based leaf Rd (Rda) and 44 mass-based leaf Rd(Rdm) observations from independent studies on 33 species. Ouranalysis showed that across all studies, leaf Rdm was significantlyreduced (−18%, P 100 days was significantly greater than that for plants exposed toelevated CO2 for < 100 days. Our meta-analysis of publishedresults suggest that the amount of carbon loss through leaf Rd will likelyincrease in a higher CO2 environment because of higher leafRda and a proportionally greater leaf biomass increase than leafRdm reduction at elevated CO2. Our results alsodemonstrated the strong dependency of Rd responses to elevated CO2onexperimental conditions.