Fossil Energy Utilization Research Articles

Does structural change matter for sustainable development in newly industrialized countries? Fresh evidence from a new sustainability indicator

The economic gap between developed and developing economies has been diminishing due to the recent rapid economic growth performance of developing economies. While achieving this swift growth level, developing economies have structurally transformed their economies. However, the impact of this structural change on environmental sustainability remains unclear. Therefore, this study focuses on the impacts of structural change, energy structure, and economic growth on the load capacity factor, a comprehensive sustainability indicator, in newly industrialized countries during 2000–2020. To this end, second-generation panel data techniques, which account for cross-sectional dependence and heterogeneity, are used to provide more robust and reliable estimates. The results show that economic growth, structural change, and fossil energy utilization decrease the load capacity factor while renewable energy utilization increases it. These findings underscore the need for energy efficiency and resource-conscious policies that align with environmental sustainability while promoting economic growth, highlighting their crucial role in the future of sustainable development.

Digital infrastructure construction and regional mineral resource dependence in China: Heterogeneous characteristics and transmission mechanisms from mining industry

The emergence of the digital economy has challenged many of the theories of traditional environmental resource economics. As an emerging production factor, data have a significant impact and substitutability with digital technology on fossil energy utilization, which also makes the impact of digital infrastructure construction (DIG) on the allocation of mineral resources easily underestimated. This study is based on China's DIG and explores its impact on regional mineral resource dependence (NRD) in 30 provinces of China. We find that, with a 1% increase in DIG, NRD declines by 7.6%, with a lag effect between the two. The analysis of heterogeneous characteristics revealed the heterogeneous effects and dissimilation roles of DIG's effect on NRD. In terms of heterogeneous effects, in regions with high levels of resource endowment and low digital-economy contributions, DIG's empowering effects were more obvious. In terms of dissimilation roles, the facility foundation has played a more prominent role than digital access. We also find that, enhancing resource allocation efficiency, innovation output efficiency, and energy utilization efficiency can mediate the effects of DIG on NRD. Our findings can offer policy insights for reducing NRD to promote high-quality DIG, achieving differentiated digital empowerment patterns, and building multichannel resource reduction paths. This work also has reference value for green transformation in other developing countries and resource-based industries under the 2030 sustainable development goals.

Comprehensive Utilization of Fossil Energy: Fabrication of Fire-Retardant Building Materials from Waste Plastic

As one of the most common fossil derivatives, plastics are widely used for their exceptional chemical stability, low density, and ease of processing. In recent years, there has been a significant increase in the production of waste plastics, coupled with a low recycling rate, resulting in serious environmental pollution. To enhance the use of waste plastics, this research synthesized flame-retardant materials from hypercrosslinked polystyrene with different molar fractions of flame retardants. Waste polystyrene foam was used as the raw material, while aniline, triphenylphosphine, and melamine were employed as flame-retardant additives. The flame-retardant additives were successfully doped into the porous skeleton structure of hypercrosslinked polystyrene through a chemical reaction or physical mixing to achieve in situ flame retardancy, and the materials were shaped by a phenolic resin prepolymer. Then, the samples were characterized in detail, and the results indicate that the addition of a flame retardant enhances the flame retardancy of the material. In addition, the material has excellent thermal insulation performance, with a minimum thermal conductivity of 0.04176 W/(m·K).

Research on the Development and Policy Evolution of CCUS Industry at Home and Abroad

CCUS is internationally recognized as one of the three major pathways to achieve carbon neutrality goals. It is an important choice for realizing zero emissions from large-scale fossil energy utilization and a feasible technological solution to offset carbon emissions in industries such as power, steel, and cement where emissions reductions are challenging. Systematic analysis of the development and policy evolution of the CCUS industry at home and abroad can provide theoretical basis and practical guidance for China's energy transition and development under the background of carbon emission peaking and achieving carbon neutrality. Guided by the strategic goals of national energy security, carbon emission peaking, and achieving carbon neutrality, this study aims to analyze the global development process and stage characteristics of the CCUS industry, investigate the supporting policies in the CCUS field and their evolution patterns, summarize the current status and trends of the CCUS industry at home and abroad, and provide reference for the implementation of national energy green and low-carbon transformation and the construction of a new energy system. In terms of industry, European and American countries emphasize national-level technological guidance and macro-control. The United States has introduced the progressive 45Q tax credit policy, and the European Union has included CCUS in its carbon trading system. The US National Carbon Capture Center provides a testing environment and facilities for CCUS technology research and development, and has established a carbon dioxide industry cluster and transportation hub. In terms of policies, tax credits and carbon trading policies in Europe and America have attracted various types of capital investment, establishing a relatively complete legal framework system. These regions have been leading in CCUS technology research and deployment, holding dominant positions and decision-making power in mainstream international CCUS organizations such as the CSLF, IEA, GCCSI, and OGCI. This study benchmarks the forward-looking and strategic development status of the CCUS industry at home and abroad, elucidates the challenges facing CCUS industry development, and proposes future trends and policy support needs for the CCUS industry. The research reveals that Europe and America emphasize national-level technological guidance and macro-control, focusing on the construction of regional industrial networks and having established a relatively complete legal and regulatory framework system. Compared to other countries, China needs to establish national-level guidance on CCUS development, regional carbon dioxide capture and transportation networks, and enact specific laws, regulations, and technical standards for CCUS.

A computational fluid dynamic method for dense-phase carbon dioxide centrifugal pump

As an advanced approach for large-scale low-carbon utilization of fossil energy, the carbon capture, utilization and storage technology is a promising means to achieve the carbon-neutrality target by 2060. Among the most widely used approaches for carbon storage is the enhanced oil recovery technique, for which the centrifugal pump is used to inject high-pressure dense-phase carbon dioxide (CO2) into the stratum. This work focuses on real fluid effects and inter-stage matching deviation from the incompressibility assumption for a dense-phase CO2 centrifugal pump, of which the inlet condition is close to the fluid critical point. With a thermophysical-state table for CO2 based on the thermophysical-property database of the National Institute of Standards and Technology embedded into a computational fluid dynamics solver, a numerical simulation method for compressible dense-phase CO2 pumps is established. The developed method is validated in the 50kW main compressor for a supercritical CO2 cycle and then applied to the simulation of a multistage dense-phase CO2 pump designed for carbon storage. The stage with the most remarkable fluid compressibility is determined, which provides a priori basis for the follow-up design optimization of the pump. This work is of promising application prospect for design of advanced dense-phase fluid machinery.

Energy-use efficiency of organic and conventional plant production systems in Germany

Sustainable and efficient energy use in agriculture helps tackle climate change by reducing fossil energy use. We evaluated German farming systems by analysing energy input and output. Data from 30 organic and 30 conventional farms (12 arable, 18 dairy farms each) between 2009 and 2011 was used. Energy input, output, and the influence of farm type, farm structure, and management intensity on energy-use efficiency (EUE) were analysed for crop production using the farm management system REPRO. Conventional farms (CF) always had higher energy input. The energy input for organic farms (OF) was 7.2 GJ ha−1 and for CF 14.0 GJ ha−1. The energy output of CF was also higher. Reductions were higher in energy input than in energy output. In 73.3% of the farm pairs, OF were more energy efficient than CF. The EUE was comparable with CF on 10% of OF and for 16.7% of CF the EUE was higher suggesting better fossil energy utilization. EUE can be increased when reducing fossil energy inputs through more efficient machinery, reduction of agrochemicals, precision farming, the use of renewable energy or energy retention, and by increasing yields. A reduction of inputs is urgently required to lower the (political) dependence on fossil energy.

The effectiveness of alkaline and thermo hydrolysis pretreatments in the bioethanol production from Calliandra calothyrsus wood

The demand in energy is increasing along with the development of technology. However, the utilization of fossil energy as the main current energy sources creates various environmental problems. Hence, it is important to search other energy sources which are environmentally friendly. One of the renewable energy sources is bioethanol produced from woody biomass. The purpose of this study was to investigate the suitability of Calliandra calothyrsus wood under development of alkaline and thermohydrolisis pretreatments. These pretreatments included the variations of 15, 30, 45 and 60 min at 121°C with NaOH concentration of 1, 2, and 3% (w/v). The chemical component analysis was conducted by using the TAPPI method, while the percentage of reducing sugar after saccharification was carried out by the Nelson-Somogy method. The results showed that the highest holocellulose content 60,62%, and the highest α-cellulose content was 64,30%. The highest pulp saccharification test results were obtained from 60 min pretreatment of 3% concentration of NaOH, which was 42,82% and 32,99% wood basis. The highest yield of ethanol potential was obtained from 36 hours saccharification, which was 139 L/Ton. Finally, it is suggested to do additional treatments with variations in concentration and temperature in order to obtain more optimal results.

Sugars as Emerging Hydrogen Donors in the Synthesis of Alditol via Catalytic Transfer Hydrogenation

AbstractThe utilization of biomass‐derived sugars as the emerging hydrogen donor in catalytic transfer hydrogenation (CTH) reactions has received great attention in recent years. In this work, we proposed two CTH routes of alditol production in the aqueous solution, i. e. self‐disproportionation of sugar and cross CTH of different sugars. Both could realize the process of sugar towards alditol. Taking advantage of the differences in hydrogenation and dehydrogenation capabilities of different sugars, a high C4 alditol yield of 85.9 % was surprisingly obtained via cross CTH route using glucose as the hydrogen donor, which is much better than that obtained when using traditional hydrogen donor isopropanol. The CTH reactions using sugars as the hydrogen donor can not only reduce the utilization of fossil energy, but also provide a new pathway for the production of alditols.

Technical and economic viability of using solar thermal energy for microalgae drying

The solar thermal energy is evaluated to microalgae drying active processes as an alternative more economical and sustainable than conventional methods such as spray-dryer. A case study of microalgae production in a 10,000 m2 raceway reactor was considered where the biomass production capacity per year was calculated based on previously existing models, thus as the heat required. Different designs, configurations and operation modes of solar collectors were studied. Due to the parallel variation of biomass production and solar radiation availability throughout the year, the optimal solution was to design the solar collector for the summer season, the operation mode was optimized, thus the utilization of auxiliary energy systems and air recirculation being analysed. The final design considers the utilization of solar air collectors operating in a recirculation mode. At these conditions, it is possible to completely supply the required heat by using a 200 m2 surface collector, the operation in recirculation mode allowing to save up to 30% of the collectors’s surface required. The techno-economic analysis demonstrates that the utilization of the proposed system avoid the utilization of fossil energy, moreover the cost of the drying step reduces to 1.16 €/kg versus a cost of 2.37 €/kg for conventional spray dryers. Thus, it is demonstrated that the utilization of thermal solar energy is an opportunity to improve sustainability and economy of microalgae drying process.

Effect of biochar support on the catalytic performance of Fe-based catalysts for CH4 cracking

In the context of carbon neutrality, the decarbonization utilization of fossil energy has gradually become a research hotspot. The focus of this paper is on the use of loaded Fe-based catalysts for typical catalytic methane decomposition (CMD) hydrogen production technologies. The temperature response and product characteristics of rice husk-based biochar-Fe catalysts for CMD technology were investigated, with a focus on the effect of functional ‘supports’ on the reaction and product. The results show that the CH4 conversion, H2 yield and carbon yield are significantly higher at 850 °C than the reaction at 750 °C, reaching 24.39%, 739.26 mmol/gFe and 3.05 g/gFe. The solid phase characterization shows that the active metal existed in the form of Fe0 before the reaction and is converted to Fe3C after the reaction, and the average particle size of the metal in the mesopores is only 21.09 nm under the influence of the biochar pore size. The solid phase products are mainly highly graphitized “Coke” due to the negative effect of the biochar support on the dispersion of the active metal; the biochar also enhances the reduction of Fe2O3, which in turn affects the shaping of the active components and products.

Navigating the asymmetric influence of financial inclusion on environmental sustainability: Dynamic role of energy consumption and human capital

Due to the adoption of more financial inclusion (FI), energy utilization with sustainability became a challenge for world economies. Our research examines whether FI symmetrically and asymmetrically affects environmental sustainability in Pakistan. Six proxies are indexed for the FI data through principal component analysis (PCA). In the present research explanatory variables are, energy usage, industrialization, urbanization, and human capital during from 1975 to 2018. Our study engaged the Stochastic Impact by Regression on Population, Affluence, and Technology Approach (STIRPAT). Additionally, the econometric strategy is adopted for the empirical analysis to acquire the symmetric and asymmetric outcomes. The empirical result validates the asymmetric association of FI and carbon dioxide (CO2) emanations in short and long lags. Besides, fossil energy utilization, industrialization, and urbanization smoothen the path of environmental pollution. However, human capital significantly aids in reducing carbon pollution in the short and long terms. The policy makers can practically implement the research to utilize FI effectively to improve environmental sustainability and develop policies that discourage fossil energy utilization. Moreover, we pointed out the alarming situation of dealing with harmful emissions from urbanization and industrialization.

Advanced Progress of Organic Photovoltaics

Modern civilization and economic development of humankind have been largely based on the exploitation and utilization of fossil energy [...]

Liquid–liquid equilibrium and mechanism study on separation of short carbon chain hydrocarbon mixtures by Cyrene

AbstractThe separation of short‐chain hydrocarbon mixtures is of great significance for the efficient utilization of fossil energy. Liquid–liquid extraction, as one of the commonly used treatment methods, has significant advantages in terms of operation conditions and energy consumption. As a new dipolar aprotic solvent developed in recent years, dihydrolevoglucosenone (Cyrene) has a wide range of sources and a green composition. In this paper, the liquid–liquid equilibrium and extraction mechanism of Cyrene and five hydrocarbon mixtures with short carbon chains, including toluene/n‐heptane, toluene/cyclohexane, n‐hexane/cyclohexane, n‐pentane/pentene, and n‐hexane/hexene, have been studied by combining experiments and quantum chemical calculations, and the extraction effects under different conditions have been investigated. The results showed that the forces between Cyrene and the different solutes are mainly van der Waals (VDW) forces dominated by dispersion forces, with some weak hydrogen bonds present. Due to the difference in interaction energy, the order of extraction selectivity was toluene‐n‐heptane > toluene‐cyclohexane > n‐hexane‐hexene > n‐hexane‐cyclohexane > n‐pentane‐pentene, and the order of distribution coefficients of the extracted components (aromatics, olefins, and cycloalkanes) was toluene > pentene > hexene > cyclohexane. The dissolution processes of all systems were heat‐absorbing, and they all reached the extraction equilibrium within 60 s. The reliability of the experimental data was verified using the Othmer–Tobias equation and the Hand equation, and the binary interaction parameters of all systems were obtained by the non‐random two liquid (NRTL) model, providing basic data and references for the subsequent studies on the separation of Cyrene and short‐chain hydrocarbons.

Estimations of the upper and lower depth limits for kerogen to generate oil/gasworldwide: A hypothesis

This study focuses on the upper and lower depth limits for kerogen to generate oil/gas worldwide. For the first time, the upper and lower depth limits of the conversion process from kerogen to oil/gas are given by the equations with clear physical significance. The method for obtaining the parameters in the equations is also proposed. The results show that the upper limit of hydrocarbon generation of kerogen mainly depends on the ratio of the minimum dissociation energy and initial molar mass of hydrocarbon generation. The smaller the ratio is, the shallower the upper limit of hydrocarbon generation of kerogen is. The upper depth limit of hydrocarbon generation ranges from 688 m to 4925 m, with an average of 1944 m. The lower limit of hydrocarbon generation mainly depends on the ratio of the dissociation energy and molar mass at the end of hydrocarbon generation. The lower depth limit of hydrocarbon generation is proportional to the above ratio. The lower limit of hydrocarbon generation of kerogen ranges from 2539 m to 16 337 m, with an average of 6926 m. This study not only solves a major controversial issue which is the minimum and maximum depth of drilling required to capture oil/gas but also helps select the location of carbon storage. It will be conducive to the effective utilization of fossil energy and the early realization of global carbon neutralization.

Energy transformation and sustainable development: enlightenment from China’s energy plan

The world’s energy development is in an era of great change. Since the Industrial Revolution, the large-scale development and utilization of fossil energy has effectively promoted the progress of human civilization, but it has also brought about prominent problems such as resource scarcity, environmental pollution, and climate change. At present, accelerating energy reform and transformation has become an inevitable choice for countries around the world to solve difficulties and achieve sustainable development. As a practitioner of global energy transformation, China is demonstrating its responsibility and leading role and actively contributing to China’s solutions. This article summarizes China’s energy-saving measures, uses cluster analysis to compare China’s energy data with other countries, affirms China’s role in leading the world’s low-carbon wave, and provides suggestions for the energy-saving development of other countries.

Smart Solar‐Panel Umbrella toward High‐Efficient Hybrid Solar and Rain Energy Harvesting

Solar photovoltaic power generation technology is the top priority of the global energy development strategy. Although the photoelectric conversion efficiency of crystalline silicon solar cells is as high as 33.7%, the power generation efficiency is relatively low or even unable to generate power normally under low‐light environments such as rainy weather and a cloudy day. Herein, a smart solar panel umbrella system with an auto open and close function is realized by integrating a polysilicon solar cell module and an interdigitated electrode structure triboelectric nanogenerator (IDE–TENG) toward hybrid solar and rain energy harvesting. The output performances of the IDE–TENG are systematically investigated and optimized by regulating the dielectric thickness, inclination angle of IDE–TENG, and various drip types. On this basis, combined with the solar module, the function of auto open and close for the smart solar panel system is realized by a 32‐bit microcontroller and a raindrop sensor, which can be automatically switched as the weather changes and maintain high power conversion efficiency of 19.61% of the solar cell. This smart solar panel umbrella system can be used as a self‐powered supply for all‐weather landscape lighting to save the utilization of fossil energy and contribute in the realization of carbon neutrality.

Invisible active sites of Ni-Co alloy to toluene pyrolysis and hydrogen production at ultra-low temperature

Environmental problems caused by the utilization of fossil energy are becoming more and more serious, so now more attention has been paid to the use of renewable energy. Pyrolysis of biomass is a method that convert biomass energy into hydrogen, but this method is subject to the performance of the catalyst for the pyrolytic reaction. In this study, NiCo2O4 was synthesized by coprecipitation method and examined by microstructure and textual characterizations. The ability of NiCo2O4 to pyrolyze toluene and produce hydrogen was evaluated by temperature-programmed experiment and lifetime test. It was found that the sample could pyrolyze toluene at the concentration of 1500 ppm at 300 °C with a hydrogen production of 0.6%, suggesting toluene was completely pyrolyzed. In the longevity test, toluene can be completely pyrolyzed for at least 5 h at 400 °C, with a high hydrogen yield of above 80% maintained during the pyrolysis process. As the pyrolysis reaction progresses, NiCo2O4 was gradually reduced to nickel-cobalt alloy by hydrogen from the pyrolysis of toluene, indicating the actual active site of nickel-cobalt alloy. This study gives a hint for developing a good catalyst for the ultra-low temperature biomass pyrolysis to produce hydrogen.

Construction of AgBr/BiOBr S-scheme heterojunction using ion exchange strategy for high-efficiency reduction of CO2 to CO under visible light

CO2 reduction via photocatalytic is regarded as the excellent strategy to resolve the severe environmental crisis and energy crisis caused by the accelerated utilization of fossil energy like natural gas, oil, and coal. The Ag ion and the Br ion in BiOBr are creatively used in the ion exchange strategy to form AgBr on the surface of BiOBr, and an S-scheme BiOBr/AgBr heterojunction with close interface contact is constructed. The visible light utilization rate and CO2 conversion rate of the obtained heterojunction are both remarkably improved. The reduction rate of CO2 over the catalyst was tested under visible light using pure water as the liquid environment. As obtained results displayed that the transformation efficiency of BA-1 to CO from CO2 in the visible light was 12.43 μ mol g-1h−1, which is about 3 times that the pristine BiOBr. The intermediates during the reaction were studied using in situ DRIFTS. The process by which CO2 was degraded was speculated based on in situ DRIFTS spectra. In addition, TPR, EIS, and PL measurements indicate that BA-1 has a high solar utilization rate and strong photo-generated carrier transfer and separation capability. This work showed a novel direction for preparation of efficient photocatalyst for CO2 reduction.

A hybrid crossover multi-agent multi-objective evolutionary algorithm and its application in microgrid operation optimization

The power generation industry needs to adopt renewable energy so as to reduce the utilization of fossil energy and pollution emission. In renewable energy power generation, microgrid operation optimization needs to consider multiple objectives such as economy and environmental protection, which is a multi-objective optimization problem. Aiming at the multi-objective optimization problem, based on the Pareto optimal concept, a hybrid crossover multi-agent multi-objective evolutionary algorithm is proposed and applied to the multi-objective optimization problem of microgrid systems, in which the economical cost and environmental protection are considered. The simulation results under three operating conditions show that compared with the classical NSGA-â ¡ algorithm, the proposed algorithm can obtain higher quality Pareto optimal solution in a shorter time. The efficiency of the proposed algorithm in this problem is higher than that of the classical NSGA-â ¡ algorithm. It can provide a higher quality solution for the optimal operation of a microgrid.

Renewable Energy Policy as Indonesia's Energy Security Strategy

Indonesia has the potential of abundant natural resources that made the country a global energy producer before, but because of the dwindling energy reserves owned makes the position reversed and caused Indonesia’s policy to have energy supply from other countries, besides the high utilization of fossil energy in Indonesia has much impact on environmental damage such as air and water pollution and does not support economic development patterns. Sustainable. For this reason, the Indonesian government needs to improve its policy regulations by focusing on the development and management of new renewable energy as a form of a national resilience strategy and environmental impact reduction. This new renewable energy will be analyzed from 4 dimensions of political considerations in constructivist theory, namely idiographic, purposive, ethics, and instrument, to see if it will be appropriate for Indonesia’s national energy security strategic plan. This research uses qualitative methods that explain the two variables involved in this new renewable energy and energy security and look for reasons for the need to include the concept of renewable energy in the national energy security policy strategy, with qualitative data collection techniques and library literature sources and interview results of related quotations. The results of the four-dimensional analysis will explain that the concept of renewable energy ideas is a social construction that can be a policy recommendation in the field of energy for the government to maintain the availability of energy supply in the strategic issue of national energy security