Excessive Burning Research Articles

Architectural solution by saving energy using photovoltaic panels as an environmentally friendly solution: Existing Egyptian government buildings

Conventional electric power generation methods require excessive burning of fossil fuel, which leads to global warming, excessive carbon dioxide emissions, and resulting in global climate change. Nowadays, the world's main concern is using green electrical power generation methods. Government office buildings currently use excessive electrical power, mostly during the morning. Solar electric power generation through its envelopes is one of its electrical energy-saving methods. The research goal is to illustrate an applicable methodology that can be applied to convert existing office-building envelopes into solar electrical power-generating ones with the minimum effect on their architectural aesthetics. To accomplish the research goal, it began by choosing one of the existing governmental office buildings with a south-oriented façade. Using a 3-dimensional terrestrial laser scanner, a building facade survey was done to distinguish its existing situation. Three architectural adaptation alternatives for merging photovoltaic panel types available in the Egyptian market on the south building façade were done, followed by evaluating the solar amount of electrical power generated by each alternative and the annual savings in electricity costs that could be accomplished. The research concluded that getting an appropriate architectural photovoltaic panel (PVP) façade merging solution will affect the amount of solar electric power generated.

Escalating Global Threat of Heatwaves and Policy Options for Adaptation and Mitigation

This study evaluates the effects of intense and frequent heatwaves on human health, food security and infrastructure all having a direct bearing on sustainable development. It emphasizes that health issues such as cardiac and respiratory disorders, strokes, and mental health diseases are aggravated in harsh climates. This study focuses on the adverse implications of hot weather and the impact of said phenomenon on various fields of life. The aftermath of the excessive burning of fossil fuels and the emission of greenhouse gases have severely impacted the world by disrupting the economic stability of many countries around the globe. The heat waves are also responsible for low crop yield, fertilizer shortage and adverse impact on livestock. The intense and hot weather has not only caused power outages but also challenged infrastructure sustainability. The continuous usage of cooling systems is leading to urban heat islands adding more heat in the environment. This study highlights the challenges of climate change and brings attention to the need for sustainable development and practices to ensure proper heat management. After a deep insight into information and responses collected for the research, the study suggests some recommendations requiring all stakeholders including policymakers, implementing agencies, organizations and civil society to play their crucial role in devising and implementing suitable policy options and practices for adaptation and mitigation of climate change factors.

Sustainable waste management and organizational performance of food and beverage firms

Purpose: Evidence shows that Numerous sustainability measures have been put in place to mitigate the huge impact of uncontrollable solid waste disposal. This study was conducted to investigate the impact of waste management on the performance of food and beverage firms. Research Methodology: The study surveyed nine (9) food and beverage firms, and data were collected with the use of questionnaire from a sample population of one hundred and fifty-one (151) respondents, through a simple random technique. The multiple regression analysis contained in the Statistical Package for Social Sciences (SPSS) IBM version 23 was used to analyze the data obtained from the field of study. Results: The findings from this study revealed a positive significant impact of recycling on resource conservation, while the second finding showed a negative impact of waste incineration on employee health and safety. Limitations: Waste includes solid, liquid, and gas components. However, prior studies have focused on other forms of waste and industrial goods manufacturing firms, specifically solid waste, as the interest area covered only food and beverage manufacturing firms. Contribution: This study addresses one of the major issues related to global warming that occurs as a result of waste dumping and excessive burning. This study has helped curb these challenges by recycling waste and conserving untapped resources for sustainable performance and the healthy coexistence of humans

Temperature drives microbial communities in anaerobic digestion during biogas production from food waste.

Resource depletion and climate changes due to human activities and excessive burning of fossil fuels are the driving forces to explore alternatives clean energy resources. The objective of this study was to investigate the potential of potato peel waste (PPW) at various temperatures T15 (15°C), T25 (25°C), and T35 (35°C) in anaerobic digestion (AD) for biogas generation. The highest biogas and CH4 production (117mL VS-g and 74mL VS-g) was observed by applying 35°C (T35) as compared with T25 (65mL VS-g and 22mL VS-g) on day 6. Changes in microbial diversity associated with different temperatures were also explored. The Shannon index of bacterial community was not significantly affected, while there was a positive correlation of archaeal community with the applied temperatures. The bacterial phyla Firmicutes were strongly affected by T35 (39%), whereas Lactobacillus was the dominant genera at T15 (27%). Methanobacterium and Methanosarcina, as archaeal genera, dominated in T35 temperature reactors. In brief, at T35, Proteiniphilum and Methanosarcina were positively correlated with volatile fatty acids (VFAs) concentration. Spearman correlation revealed dynamic interspecies interactions among bacterial and archaeal genera; facilitating the AD system. This study revealed that temperature variations can enhance the microbial community of the AD system, leading to increased biogas production. It is recommended for optimizing the AD of food wastes.

Sustainable Approaches for Biohydrogen Production Technology

The excessive burning of fossil fuels causes environmental pollution by releasing carbon dioxide, which ultimately causes global warming. There is an urgent need for alternative sustainable fuels which give higher energy yields, are pollution-free and are renewable. The standard hydrogen production methods are the electrolysis of water and steam reformation of natural gas. However, the biological production of hydrogen proved to be safer and more renewable over thermochemical and electrochemical methods. The biological methods are a good alternative in which microorganisms play an essential role by consuming the carbon sources from the biomass resulting in the production of hydrogen in return. Biohydrogen is an alternative to fossil fuels, is clean, has high-energy content per unit of weight, and has zero greenhouse gas emissions. Hydrogen, an energy source derived from industrial and agricultural waste, can resolve sustainability issues, environmental carbon emissions, and energy security.

Fabrication of Cu-Single Atom Catalyst Supported on Unique 2D Graphdiyne Analogue-Based Porphyrin Metal Covalent Organic Frameworks for Carbon Dioxide Reduction Application

Excessive burning of fossil fuels for energy production has led to an exponential increase in CO2 concentrations in the atmosphere, which is the core of universal problems such as global warming and climate change. One of the new approaches to reducing CO2 emissions is to think of CO2 as a useful raw material and convert this compound into useful products. Moreover, electrocatalytic carbon dioxide reduction (eCO2R) can be conveniently utilized to establish a zero-emission carbon cycle and utilize this CO2 for energy-dense fuels and other chemical raw materials [1]. However, exploring novel catalysts is the ultimate need of the hour for an effective and efficient eCO2R.Heterogeneous single-atom catalysts (SAC) containing isolated metal species on an atomic level are gaining the increasing attention of the scientific community owing to their high metal utilization sites and superior catalytic properties[2]. The SACs are put into the full effect of catalysis by scattering it over conductive support. Therefore, in this work, the copper SACs are supported over a unique porphyrin-based graphdiyne (SAC-PG) with a π-conjugated structure (Figure 1). Graphdiyne possesses two acetylenic linkages between the aromatic rings and is responsible for not only displaying exceptional electronic conductivity but when coupled with the metalloporphyrin network provides numerous active sites for catalysis[3]. This SAC-PG analogue is achieved by a Glaser-Hay coupling reaction on Cu foam or foil. Moreover, SEM analysis is performed in combination with SEM-EDX and elemental mapping to investigate the morphology of the fabricated catalyst (Figure 2). In addition, this unique copper-based SAC-PG is evaluated as a catalyst for eCO2R in a customized H-cell with 0.1M/0.5M KHCO3 as an electrolyte and Pt as a counter electrode. Nafion 117 proton exchange membrane is used for separation between the cathodic and anodic compartments while an Ag/AgCl (3M KCl) was used as a reference electrode. Under these eCO2R conditions, the copper SAC-PG catalyst displayed extremely high current densities (32 – 75 mA/cm2) over a range of voltages (1.0-1.2 V vs RHE) and acceptable faradaic efficiencies for the carbon products (with maximum FE over 60% in total for all carbon products).In conclusion, a 2D metal covalent organic framework containing a repeating unit of Cu-porphyrin linked by butadiyne linkages was established. This unique structure showed effective CO2R catalysis due to its nanoporous structure, high electronic conductivity, and abundant metal cites utilization. Further optimization and constriction of these easily adjustable catalysts open up various possibilities of further exploration in the field of eCO2R. Acknowledgement: The author Zubair Masaud acknowledges support from the Norwegian Micro- and Nano-Fabrication Facility (NorFab, No. 245963/F50) The author Hao Huang acknowledges Marie Skłodowska-Curie Actions individual fellowship CarbonChem 101024758.

Influence of different energetic plasticizers on the performance of NC-RDX nitramine gun propellants

Energetic plasticizers are an essential component of propellants and have a significant impact on their performance, such as energy, combustion, and mechanics. Therefore, there is significant practical value in understanding how plasticizers affect the performance of propellants. In this work, the glass transition temperatures of several energetic plasticizers were compared. By adding energetic plasticizers with good compatibility with the propellant and a low glass transition temperature to the propellant, nitramine gun propellants containing different energetic plasticizers were prepared through a semi-solvent method. The compatibility, thermal behavior, phase structure, composition, mechanical properties, energy, and combustion performance of the nitramine gun propellants were characterized. The influence of plasticizers on the phase structure of the propellant and its mechanism on the combustion performance of the propellant were discussed. Energetic plasticizers GAPE, DNPH, and BuNENA have good compatibility and chemical stability with NC-RDX and display good plasticization. GAPE–NC–RDX, DNPH–NC–RDX, and BuNENA–NC–RDX propellants exhibit stable combustion performance at −40 °C, 20 °C, and 50 °C. Compared with the nitramine gun propellant plasticized with NG, the impact strength of the propellant plasticized with DNPH and BuNENA increased by 108.1 % and 17.2 % at −40 °C, respectively. This work offers a solution to improve the phase structure, mechanical properties, and combustion stability of heterogeneous gun propellants and provides a way to suppress the excessive burning rate and flame temperature of propellants.

Comparative analysis of predictive models for SOC estimation in EV under different running conditions

Electric vehicles have been introduced to address environmental concerns related to excessive burning of fuels in the automobile industry. The key component solely responsible for its preferences over other modes is the battery. The Charging and discharging states under different running model of vehicle is directly related to the health of battery and thereby the degree of hybridization of the series-parallel hybrid electric vehicle (SP-HEV) considered in this research. In this study, the state of charge of a series parallel hybrid electric vehicle was continuously modeled under different driving conditions, and two models were used to predict the charging states of the battery. A swarm-based prediction model resulted in a prediction error of 0.9114, while a modified differential evolutionary method reduced the error to 0.6672, indicating its effectiveness in estimating battery charge conditions. The prediction of battery SOC will enhance the power efficiency of the vehicle along with its SOH.

ПРІОРИТЕТИ У ВИКОРИСТАННІ ВИКОПНИХ ВИДІВ ПАЛИВА ТА УТРИМАННІ ЖИТЛОВОГО ФОНДУ

The trends of global temperature increase in the world due to excessive burning of fossil hydrocarbons are given. Excessive extraction and burning of fossil fuels (hard coal, petroleum products, natural gas) have led to an increase in their cost and climate change. About 40% of CO2 emissions today come from burning coal, 33% from oil refining products, and 22% from natural gas. An increase in CO2 content in the atmosphere leads to a drop in the Earth's surface temperature. At the global level, the world community has adopted three main international agreements on climate change: the UN Framework Convention on Climate Change (1992); Kyoto Protocol (1997); Paris Agreement (2015). More than 190 countries have signed the Paris Agreement. Its main goals are to achieve carbon neutrality by 2050 and to keep the increase in the global average temperature below 2°C by 2100, preferably to 1.5°C.
 The construction industry is responsible for consumption of up to 40% of all energy. which are used in economies countries of the world In the summarized reports of experts at the 27th UN Conference on Climate Change (COP27), which took place in 2022 year in Egypt (Sharm el-Sheikh) it was stated that in 2022 1% more CO2 will be released into the atmosphere than in in 2021. The main volumes of greenhouse gas emissions come from the burning of fossil fuels. Brought comparative analysis of CO2 emissions when burning different types of fuel.
 The dynamics of the production of fossil fuels - hard coal, oil and natural gas - is studied, which indicates a significant decrease in their production and consumption. Modern approaches to the growth of RES volumes are considered, the dynamics of the growth of SPP capacities are given. On the basis of European experience, the prospects for the installation of balcony mini SPPs are shown.
 Individual heating systems and decentralization of engineering systems for providing housing help to increase their stability in adverse conditions. The organizational features of the transfer of the housing stock from a centralized heating system to individual electric and gas heating are revealed. Based on the analysis of the European experience of maintaining the housing stock, the main directions for reducing energy consumption and greenhouse gas emissions of the existing housing stock are given.

A Modeling Study Focused on Improving the Aerodynamic Performance of a Small Horizontal Axis Wind Turbine

The excessive burning of the fossil fuels has excessively changed the global temperature in the last few decades. The global warming caused due to the burning of the fossil fuels has initiated a need of increasing the use of renewal energy sources. The wind energy is one of the renewable energy sources that can mitigate the excessive global dependency on the fossil fuels. For locations with low-to-medium wind speeds (less than 7 m/s), the main problem is with the starting of the wind turbine. To start a stationary wind turbine, not only is it necessary to overcome the inertia and static friction of the turbine, but the angle of incidence of the wind relative to blade profile also needs to be favorable. Thus, at low wind speeds, the resulting low torque is not enough to start the turbine. It is, therefore, necessary to incorporate a good starting torque in the design requirements of turbines. In this paper, a modeling study is performed using the Pro/E, ADAMS and MATLAB software to improve the starting behavior of a horizontal axis wind turbine for the Cherat location in the northern areas of Pakistan. The yearly average wind speed in the northern areas of Pakistan is less than 5 m/s. The blade element momentum (BEM) theory is used to calculate the optimized wind turbine blade parameters (blade angles and chord lengths) that correspond to the maximum starting torque. Based on the optimized wind turbine blade parameters, Pro/E models were developed and imported to ADAMS software to calculate the torque. As compared to the initial wind turbine model, for the optimized wind turbine model, the starting torque increased from 22.5 N-m to 28 N-m and the coefficient of performance (COP) increased from 0.42 to 0.49 at a tip–speed ratio of 4. The starting torque of the wind turbine should exceed the resistive torques due to bearing friction, generator static, dynamic torque and the inertia of the rotor in order to start the wind turbine. The starting behavior of the horizontal axis wind turbine was successfully improved, and the optimized wind turbine model showed an increased starting torque for low-to-medium wind speed ranges.

Obavezno telesno vaspitanje - skrivena predvojnička obuka u Kraljevini Jugoslaviji

In the 1930s, the European continent was dominated by the fear of a new war, so almost all countries began to pay special attention to war preparations. In this context, great attention was paid to youth and their physical and military training. The Kingdom of Yugoslavia, faced with many recruits unfit for military service, joined the European trend by introducing compulsory physical education into the social life of students and out-of school youth. This wording concealed the true nature of the new institution, namely pre-military education. Although the legislative solution was ideal in theory, in practice it had several weaknesses that did not allow the development of compulsory physical education. The legislature overlooked several important issues. First, there was a lack of trained teachers to teach the inmates. In addition, the law placed an excessive burn on the municipalities, which were unable to solve all the problems of organizing compulsory physical education, especially the material ones, since they were responsible for providing space and compensating teachers. The army also did not do everything in its power to provide the best possible support for pre-military training especially since the question of equipping the courses with weapons was not settled until before the April War began. Finally, the young people looked for ways to avoid the new obligation, so that less than half of the obligated participated the holiday courses. For this reason, the work results achieved were also not satisfactory.

Enhanced waste hot-pot oil (WHPO) anaerobic digestion for biomethane production: Mechanism and dynamics of fatty acids conversion

Resource depletion and climate changes due to human activities and excessive burning of fossil fuels are the driving forces to explore alternatives clean energy resources. Anaerobic digestion of bio-waste provides a unique opportunity to fulfil this objective through biogas production. The present study aimed to evaluate waste hot-pot oil (WHPO) at different feeding ratios as a novel lipidic waste for anaerobic mono-digestion. The highest recorded maximum biomethane potential (Mmax) was 274.1 L kg−1 VS at 1.2% WHPO, which showed significant differences with those of 0.8% and 1.6% (227.09 and 237.62 L kg−1 VS, respectively). The changes in volatile fatty acids (VFAs), medium chain fatty acids (MCFAs), and long-chain fatty acids (LCFAs) as intermediates of WHPO decomposition were investigated before and after anaerobic digestion. Results showed efficient production and utilization of VFAs at all studied WHPO ratios, whereas the maximum utilization of VFAs (90–95%) was recorded in the reactors with up to 1.2 %WHPO. Although lipid conversion efficiency decreased by increasing the WHPO ratio, 81.2% lipid conversion efficiency was recorded at the highest applied WHPO treatment, which confirms the potential of WHPO as a promising feedstock for anaerobic digestion. The present results will have major implications towards efficient energy recovery and biochemical management of lipidic-waste through efficient anaerobic digestion.

Investigation of Bacterial Load and Their Antimicrobial Susceptibility in an Artisanal Refining Environment

Background: Bacteria present in the atmosphere often show predicable patterns across space and time. and these patterns and properties of the bacteria can be affected by presence of soot which is generated by artisanal refining and excessive burning of fossil fuel. These bacteria are being inhaled by humans on daily basis and this can have detrimental effects on human health and the environment.
 Aim: This work was carried out to investigate the microbial load and antimicrobial susceptibility of an environment associated with artisanal refining activities.
 Methodology: The eight samples were taken randomly from four different locations in a high artisanal refining state Rivers State (Ojoto Roundabout, Nembe Waterside, Rumuokalagbor Village, Rivers State University Teaching Hospital (RSUTH), Rivers State University Microbiology laboratory and Mile 1 Park) all in Port Harcourt, Rivers State and compared to two locations from another state Kano state (No. 33 Lamido Crescent and God is Good Motors Park, Kano State) without artisanal refining activities all in Nigeria and tested for viable bacteria load. The six test and two control samples were collected on prepared dry nutrient agar exposed to free air for a period of five (5) minutes and were covered properly and transferred to the laboratory and incubated at 37OC for 24 hours. The isolates were morphologically and biochemically determined and identified.
 Results: The Total Heterotrophic count indicates that samples from Rumuokalagbor village have a high number of bacteria growth colonies with a colony forming unit of 1.43 x 106 while sample from Rivers State University Teaching Hospital had lesser colony forming unit of 7.5 x 105,. However, the Total Heterotrophic Bacteria Count from our control is seen to be very low with 3.2 x 105 and 2.8 x 105 respectively. Microorganisms such as Staphylococcus aureus, Bacillus species and Staphylococcus species. were identified from the various locations. Few isolates were gotten from the entire laboratory with a total of 22 isolates, 18 Bacillus species (77), 3 Staphylococcus species (18%) and 1 Staphylococcus aureus (5%). The antimicrobial sensitivity results revealed Ciprofloxacin (77%) having higher sensitivity followed by Levofloxacin (66.6%). Norfloxacin (0%), Rifampicin (0%) and Ampiclox (0%) were seen to be highly resistant to the bacteria isolated.
 Conclusion: This work was able to identify Bacillus species,Staphylococcus species and Staphylococcus aerues. as bacteria associated with artisanal refining at the different sampled sites. Strict implementation on stopping artisanal refining in our communities is recommended to reduce the public health risk posed by soot inhalation.

Підвищення ролі будівельної галузі у сповільненні глобального потепління

The work reveals the current state of problems related to the growth of emissions greenhouse gases and environmental temperature due to excessive burning of fossil fuels (oil, coal, natural gas). The analysis of the implementation of the European experience is given introduction of taxation of carbon dioxide emissions, which had a positive effect on sales energy saving and reduction of greenhouse gas emissions. It is shown that the G20 countries account for 78 % of global greenhouse gas emissions, therefore they play a critical role in global mitigation efforts climatic changes. Indicators of Ukraine’s actual global carbon dioxide emissions and international obligations to reduce them and achieve climate neutrality are presented. The potential consequences for the country’s economy of the implementation of the cross-border mechanism have been revealed carbon border adjustment mechanism (Carbon Border Adjustment Mechanism — CBAM), a comparative analysis of taxes on greenhouse gas emissions in Ukraine and other countries is given. There have been generalized modern methods of utilization of carbon dioxide by its use in technologies for the production of cement concrete, fuel and other materials. The construction industry consumes up to 40 % of all energy carriers used in the country has huge reserves of saving energy resources. It is shown that it is an effective solution reducing greenhouse gas emissions and increasing global temperature remains implementation of low-clinker cement, non-metallic construction materials technology fittings Planting bushes, trees, landscaping walls and roofs, parking lots remain a recognized direction of landscape design and serve as a natural mechanism improvement of ecology. It is shown that the reduction plays a decisive role in the reduction of global warming the use of fossil fuels with subsequent abandonment of them in favor of RES. Expansion of the use of pellets for heating, implementation of green standards for new construction and insulation of the outdated housing stock will contribute to the reduction of energy consumption in construction.

Stepped Solar Stills’ Development and Improvement for Seawater Desalination

Nowadays freshwater needs were covered by fossil fuel-based desalination systems in many areas over the world. However, fossil fuels’ excessive burning results in rapid depletion and pollution of the local environment as well as threat to life sustainability. Therefore, through the last few decades the scientific community focused on the systems relying on solar energy in seawater desalination as a clean alternative. Stepped solar stills, which convert solar energy to the required heat for producing freshwater in seawater desalination, are paid much attention. This article provides a comprehensive analysis of stepped solar stills’ development. Performance enhancement techniques, desalinated water production, efficiency and maximum theatrical production are discussed. This work aims to keep researchers and concerned scientific community abreast of stepped solar stills’ improvements. Such stills of low construction and running costs can meet the freshwater daily needs for small communities in coastal areas, islands and rural areas especially in Mideast. In conclusion, this review clarified that the stepped type solar stills still need multiple improvements to enhance their production efficiency and freshwater quantity. Further attention should be paid to the design of modified stills to attain better and efficient solar heat absorption as well as evaporation of seawater.

Electrothermal analysis of radiofrequency tissue ablation with injectable flexible electrodes considering bio-heat transfer

Flexible electrodes have been widely focused on in recent years due to their special mechanical properties, which can be directly integrated onto human soft tissues to actively take effects on human body or passively monitor human vital signs. These flexible electrodes provide a new routine to realize clinical treatment of accurate thermal ablation in the biological tissues via radiofrequency ablation (RFA). Meanwhile, accurately controlling of thermal field is very significant for the thermal ablation in the clinical therapeutics to prevent the healthy tissue from excessive burning. In this paper, both one-dimensional and two-dimensional axisymmetric analytical models for the electrothermal analysis of radiofrequency ablation considering bio-heat transfer are established, which are verified by finite element analysis (FEA) and in vitro experiments on pig skins. In the model, the electrical field and thermal field are both derived analytically to accurately predict the temperature rise in the biological tissues. Furthermore, parameters, such as the blood flow convection in living tissues and thickness of tissue, have obvious effects on the thermal field in the tissues. They may pave the theoretical foundation and provide guidance of RFA with flexible electrodes in the future.

Evidence of adaptation, mitigation, and development co-benefits of solar mini-grids in rural Ghana

The deployment of renewable energy can potentially offer co-benefits for rural populations in sub-Saharan Africa. However, empirical studies identifying the linkages between adaptation, mitigation, and development co-benefits of renewable energy in the region are scarce in the academic literature. This article provides evidence of adaptation, mitigation, and development co-benefits of solar mini-grids to rural Ghanaian islands. Drawing on climate compatible development framework, the study applied surveys to identify solar mini-grids' benefits. The results show that solar minigrids have delivered co-benefits to the rural islanders. The co-benefits include mediated impacts of heatwaves through use of fans, reduced harmful gases from excessive burning of wood, and reduced social vices at night. We conclude that a full recognition of broad array of co-benefits of solar mini-grids can stimulate interests in their deployment and accelerate the transition to clean energy in the region. We thus argue for continuous research in the region to identify the full range of solar mini-grid co-benefits, which may provide a new landscape for addressing climate change and development concurrently in sub-Saharan Africa.

Inteligência Artificial a Serviço da Biodiversidade do Pantanal

Pantanal é uma das maiores planícies alagáveis do mundo, um local rico em biodiversidade e, por isso, conhecido como um dos principais hot spot de biodiversidade do Novo Mundo. Considerando essa rica biodiversidade e diante do avanço da agricultura, pecuária, turismo, usinas hidrelétricas e excessivas queimadas, tornou-se ainda mais necessário o seu constante monitoramento. Para monitorar e extrair informações são utilizadas diversas técnicas de Inteligência Artificial (IA) como Rede Neural Artificial (incluindo deep learning), Random Forest, Support Vector Machine, dentre outras. Essas informações evidenciam o potencial das técnicas de IA em contribuir fortemente com o processo de monitoramento ambiental, a construção de políticas públicas, visando à conservação da biodiversidade.

Effects of reservoir size and boundary conditions on pore-pressure buildup and fault reactivation during CO2 injection in deep geological reservoirs

The excessive burning of the fossil fuels has caused severe global climatic changes such as increasing the global temperature, causing initiation of the wild fire, rising the sea level, increasing the floods, storms, amount of rain and snow. One of the effective global mitigation strategies is sequestration of huge quantity of CO2 deep below the ground level for a long period of time. An important issue is to ensure the permanency and safety of the sequestration process due to the associated pore-pressure buildup. It is necessary to have correct estimates of the pore-pressure buildup, ground uplift and re-activation of any existing fault during the process of CO2 injection and long-term storage. In this investigation, the effects of reservoir size and boundary conditions are investigated by means of geomechanical modeling of the deep Biyadh sandstone reservoir in Saudi Arabia. Currently, carbon dioxide is not injected into the actual Biyadh reservoir. In this investigative modeling, CO2 is injected for an injection period of ten years using a single injection well at the center of the reservoir. The developed modeling scheme for a single injection well has been extended further to include multiple injection wells. For multiple injection wells, the reservoir size and locations of injection wells are varied to evaluate their effect on the pore-pressure buildup and ground uplift. The reservoir stability analysis has been performed using Mohr–Coulomb failure criterion for both small and large reservoir models, with the same injection parameters. The simulation results demonstrated that pressure buildup and ground uplift are relatively higher for reservoirs with small sizes and closed boundaries; while in the case of large sizes and open boundaries, the pore-pressure buildup and ground uplift are relatively lower. Moreover, the effect of the reservoir size and boundary conditions on the reactivation of faults during CO2 injection has been evaluated. The stability analysis performed in this study shows that injecting CO2 into larger size reservoir is safer as compared to smaller size reservoir. Injecting CO2 with multiple injection wells will cause pore-pressure buildup of huge magnitudes. The modeling results show that suggesting a representative volume for the reservoir during CO2 injection can under-estimate the pore-pressure buildup and fault re-activation that can cause the reservoir failure and leakage of the stored CO2.

Sustainable packaging waste-derived activated carbon for carbon dioxide capture

Global greenhouse gases emissions have increased tremendously since 1950’s due to excessive burning of fossil fuel. The objective of this work is to develop and investigate packaging waste-derived activated carbon for carbon capture. Activated carbon was synthesized by carbonization of peanut-shaped packaging waste followed by chemical activation using KOH at a ratio of one to four. The activated carbon was characterized for it is textural properties using N2 adsorption at 77 K, and carbon dioxide adsorption isotherms at 273, 298 and 323 K. Non-Linear Density Functional Theory (NDLFT) was applied to carbon dioxide isotherm at 273 K to characterize narrow micropores and microporous structure of activated carbon. Field emission scanning electron microscopy (FE-SEM) and transmission electron microscopy (TEM) were used to investigate morphology and microstructure. TEM micrographs confirmed the existence of random micropores. We have also noticed that the textural properties were highly dependent on the concentration of the activating agent. Carbon dioxide adsorption on activated carbon materials has shown dependency on the volume of narrow micropores (less than 0.8 nm). The activated carbon materials have narrow micropore volume in a range of 0.155–0.292 cm3, and BET surface area of 761–1383 m2/g. Carbon activated with KOH ratio of three (WDC-03) has shown excellent CO2 uptake of 5.33 and 4.24 mmol/g at 273 and 298 K respectively. Moreover, it has also shown a high value for the isosteric heat of adsorption (29.8–14.3 KJ/mol) and selectivity of ∼16 over nitrogen.