Fossil Fuels For Transportation Research Articles

Lifecycle energy and greenhouse gas emissions analysis of biomass‐based 2‐ethylhexanol as an alternative transportation fuel

AbstractThis study investigates the environmental performance of 2‐ethylhexanol (2‐EH), as a potential drop‐in transport fuel alternative. Three different biomass‐based production pathways are evaluated and compared using life cycle assessment (LCA) methodology. The environmental impact of 2‐EH is assessed in terms of cumulative energy demand (CED) and global warming potential (GWP). Among the three alternative pathways, 2‐EH produced via syngas results in the lowest primary energy demand and GHG emissions under the baseline assumptions of this work. The two biochemical production pathways (via ethanol and butanol) exhibit higher CED and GWP during biomass conversion steps mainly due to process materials and chemicals used. Process specifications such as transport distance to production facility or the fate of the obtained by‐products are shown to influence the overall environmental impact of the fuel for all studied pathways. The use phase performance of 2‐EH was also considered in this work, as part of a 100% renewable blend and was compared to existing fossil and renewable fuels. The studied blend has the potential to reduce GHG emissions by more than 85% compared to fossil diesel while when certain production pathways are followed, it exhibits lower GWP than renewable fuels already in the market such as ethanol blends and biodiesel. 2‐EH can therefore provide a competitive alternative to fossil transport fuels increasing the share of renewable content in the current vehicle fleet, thus enhancing the efforts for a sustainable transport sector.

Renewable energy in Southeast Asia: Policies and recommendations

Southeast Asian countries stand at a crossroads concerning their shared energy future and heavily rely on fossil fuels for transport and electricity. Within Asia, especially India and China lead the world renewable energy generation undergoing a period of energy transition and economic transformation. Southeast Asian countries have huge potentials for sustainable energy sources. However they are yet to perform globally in renewable energy deployment due to various challenges. The primary objective of the study is to examine the renewable energy growth and analyse the government policies to scale up the deployment of renewables for power generation substantially. The study also offers policy recommendations to accelerate renewable energy exploitation sustainably across the region. To achieve the ambitious target of 23% renewables in the primary energy mix by 2025, ASEAN Governments should take proactive measures like removal of subsidies of fossil fuels, regional market integration and rapid implementation of the existing project. Eventually, each of this strategy will necessitate sustained leadership, political determination, and concrete actions from stakeholders, in particular, increased cooperation across the region.

<i>Balanites Aegyptiaca</i> Fruits' Valorisation by Liquid Biofuels Production

Today, the fight against global warming is a major challenge for the whole world. The widespread use of biofuels is indeed one of the credible alternatives that can lead to a significant reduction in greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions. This study aims to promote the fruits of the desert date in bioenergy. The various treatments showed that the fruits are composed of 52.67 ± 0.18% of nuclei, 40.08 ± 0.50% of mesocarps and 7.26 ± 0.33% of epicarps and other solid particles. From the mesocarps, bioethanol was produced with a yield of 14.74 ± 0.06%; while by Soxhlet extraction of almonds with hexane gave a vegetable oil with a yield of 44.58 ± 5.69%. The monitoring of the ethanolic fermentation reaction, carried out with Saccharomyces cerevisiae yeasts revealed that a pH of 4.0 optimized the reaction, with an attenuation limit of 54.17%. GC-FID analysis showed that other reactions which should compete with ethanolic fermentation, were almost inhibited by the effectiveness of the kinetic control. GC-FID analysis of the chemical composition of the biodiesel produced with the crude oil has showed the presence of oleic acid (41.90%), linoleic acid (29.27%), palmitic acid (12.47%), β-linolenic (10.89%) and stearic (1.17%). Physicochemical analysis and the comparison of energy characteristics indicated that the biofuels produced in this study have properties similar to those of petrodiesel and some standard biofuels. Therefore, the fruits of Balanites aegyptiaca are an interesting source of liquid biofuels that can replace petrol and conventional diesel, the most used fossil fuels in transportation.

Technical biofuel production and GHG mitigation potentials through healthy diets in the EU

Average diets in the European Union are not in line with the dietary recommendations of the World Health Organization. Too little plant-based and too much livestock-based food is consumed. Livestock production requires substantial resources and causes considerable greenhouse gas emissions (GHGE), especially methane from enteric fermentation in ruminant animals. The livestock sector produces 18% of GHGE worldwide and uses 52% of the crops supplied in dry matter within the EU. Most livestock species are relatively poor feed converters. They require multiple units of feed to produce a unit of meat, milk, or eggs. The EU-average for this food conversion ratio ranges from 1.1 for milk to 34.2 for lamb meat on a dry-matter basis (Wilkinson, 2011). In addition to the impacts on the ecosystem, excess consumption of meat is also associated with substantial health risks.Large parts of the agricultural production capacity are used for a product that leads to high GHGE and even health risks, when consumed at current levels. This work therefore attempts to quantify the technical potential to repurpose feed crops for biofuel production, if healthy, low-meat diets were adopted. The reduction of agricultural GHGE and additional GHG mitigation from using the biofuels are examined as well.The analysis is performed with a modified version of the EUFASOM model. Trade volumes between EU and non-EU regions are fixed at observed levels to assess intra-EU potentials. Consumer preferences are considered in the examined diets. Average supply and demand quantities from 2007 to 2011 serve as the reference.If healthy diets were adopted and meat intake halved from about 200 to 100 g per day and capita, biofuel production could be increased 7.7 fold. With this, 16.1% of all the EU's fossil transport fuels could be displaced. Agricultural GHGE could be reduced by 24% and 14% of GHGE in the EU's transport sector could be additionally mitigated through the increased biofuel production.The adoption of healthy diets with reduced meat consumption can hence lead to large potentials for GHG mitigation in the EU. This holds however only if lower consumption of livestock products is mirrored by lower production as well. Mitigating GHGE by reducing livestock and displacing fossil fuels, is the “double dividend” of lower meat consumption. Furthermore, no innovations or high investments are needed, and substantial health costs can be saved.

Combustion and Emissions of a Small SI Engine with Buthanol Blend Fuels

The bioalcohols are an important alternative in the general efforts to replace the fossil fuels in transportation by renewable fuels. The global share of Bioethanol used for transportation is continuously increasing. Butanol, a four-carbon alcohol, is considered in the last years as an interesting alternative fuel, both for Diesel and for Gasoline application. Its advantages for engine operation are: good miscibility with gasoline and diesel fuels, higher calorific value than Ethanol, lower hygroscopicity, lower corrosivity and possibility of replacing aviation fuels. In the present work research with different Butanol portions in gasoline (BuXX) was performed on the 2-cylinder SI engine with variations of several parameters on engine dynamometer. In the steady state operation, it was found that Bu-blends generally reduce the emissions of CO, HC, NOx in untreated exhaust gas and have a very little influence on catalytic conversion rates of the 3-way-catalyst. At lower engine part load, “Bu” shortens the inflammation lag and reduces the cyclic dispersion of combustion. Nevertheless, this advantage disappears at higher engine loads and with higher “Bu” portions.The present paper shows some examples of the most important results.

Degradation of Proton Exchange Membrane (PEM) Electrolysis: The Influence of Current Density

Hydrogen is expected to play an important role as a crosslinking technology between power generation on one hand and transport and industry on the other hand. It can directly replace fossil fuels in transport and industry when produced by water electrolysis renewable energies such as solar or wind, which are converted with low efficiencies. The relevant technologies are either the mature alkaline electrolysis or the newer proton exchange membrane (PEM) water electrolysis. The main advantage of PEM electrolysis technology is that it provides high efficiency, high power density with low footprint, and flexibility without the need of corrosive chemicals such as KOH (alkaline electrolysis). On the other hand, questions about degradation mechanisms, long-term stability and the high capital costs compared to the alkaline technology hinder the large-scale industrial penetration of this technology in the market. Moreover, these challenges are mutually dependent. Cost reductions of materials and stack components, for example, can have a negative impact on long-term stability. Thus, more information about the degradation mechanisms is necessary to determine an optimum between cost reduction and long-term stability. Furthermore, degradation measurements are expensive and evidently require a lot of time. Consequently, the development of accelerated stress tests (AST) protocols is in the focus of the current research by the academy and industry in particular. This presentation will discuss degradation processes of MEAs under high current density which has been found to accelerate degradation in our laboratory. Degradation was investigated in a HYLYZER™ Hydrogen Generator (HHG) from Hydrogenics under operation at 4 A cm-2 for almost 3000 h. The degradation of the bipolar plates and gas diffusion layers are neglected since these components are well protected against corrosion. The cells were analyzed by electrochemical impedance spectroscopy. Furthermore samples of ion exchange resin, which keeps the water resistivity above 10 MΩ, were collected and analyzed by XPS to quantify the accumulated ions. In addition, post-test investigations of the aged MEAs by conductive and material sensitive AFM, SEM with EDX and XPS were performed to identify degradation mechanisms. An important observation is a decrease of the ohmic resistance during operation at high current densities which is associated to fluoride release into the water. To analyze the time dependence of the cells in the hydrogen generator system a zero-dimensional system model with effective parameters was developed. This model enables quantifying the degradation measurements and the discussion in the context of system behavior. Preventing metal oxidation by corrosion protective layers leads to increased efficiency mainly due to decreasing ohmic resistances. This decrease is assumed to be depending on current density and time. The observed F release rate supports this conclusion. The degradation mechanism is assumed to be an increased permeability for water, oxygen and hydrogen with corresponds to a membrane thinning and ionomer loss in the electrodes. Such an interpretation was backed by the ex-situ post-test analysis. At the anodes a general increase of conductive area fraction evaluated by AFM indicates a loss of ionomer. At the cathodes, a general decrease of conductive area fraction indicates a loss of catalysts. EDX confirmed the loss of Pt and Ir from cathode and anode respectively, and in addition a loss of Ti from the anode was found. Membrane thinning occurred in all cells. It is explained by ionomer decomposition catalyzed by the well distributed Pt content in the membranes detected by XPS. Acknowledgements The research leading to these results has received funding from the European Union’s Seventh Framework Program (FP7/ 2007-2013) for the Fuel Cells and Hydrogen Joint Technology Initiative under grant n° 621237, “ INSIDE- In -situ Diagnostics in Water Electrolyzers“ and from national projects “LastElSys” and “WESpe” by Federal Ministry for Economic Affairs and Energy. Figure 1

Air pollution: an important threat to infant health.

There is abundant scientific evidence indicating that ambient air pollution is associated with a variety of mortality and morbidity outcomes ranging from cardiovascular and respiratory diseases to effects in early life and during pregnancy (Landrigan et al. Lancet 2018;391:462–512). A recent updated estimate from the World Health Organization, indicating that nine out of 10 people in the world breathe air containing high levels of pollutants, reinforces the role of poor ambient air quality as one of the greatest threats to human health in present times. This is because human exposure is practically ubiquitous. For those living in urbanised areas pollution comes mainly from the burning of fossil fuels in transport, industry, and energy production, but air pollution can also be generated by many other process, such as mining industry operations, which involve the emission of particulate matter composed of noxious materials like copper, cadmium, and lead. Arrieta and Guillen show the effect of exposure to mining pollution on birth weight in a community in the Andean region. Their study contributes to the growing body of evidence indicating that pregnant women exposed to atmospheric contaminants are at an increased risk for infants with low birth weight or intrauterine growth restriction (Vrijheid et al. Int J Hyg Environ Health 2016;219:331–342). The underlying mechanisms of these potential adverse effects is not completely understood. Air pollution, in general, induces oxidative stress, inflammation, and haemodynamic changes, which are supposed to impair oxygen and nutrient transport to the fetus, causing anthropometric adverse effects (Laurent et al. Environ Res, 2014;134,488–495). Emitted in several process including mining operations, toxic heavy metals such as lead can accumulate in the placenta, causing abnormal function and reducing nutrient transfer. In particular, lead could also impair fetal bone growth by competing with calcium for deposition into bone, and reducing fetal thyroid hormones (Taylor et al. BJOG 2015;122,322–328). The study by Arrieta and Guillen brings important contributions to the field. Although they did not examine the direct relationship of mining pollution with low birth weight, one expects that reductions on mean birth weight will result in some otherwise normal weight babies being born at <2500 g, increasing their risk of infant mortality and other health outcomes. In addition, they took advantage of a unique natural experiment to show increases in birth weight that followed sharp reductions in air pollution associated with the closure of the mine. Like the landmark study conducted in the Utah Valley in the 1980's (Pope et al. Arch Environ Health 1992;47:211–217), natural experiments ranks high for the strength of evidence for epidemiology, and there are not many studies reported in the air pollution literature using this design. Finally, an important message from their study is that partial or small reductions in air pollution levels might not be enough to provide substantive protection to the health of the population. Only stringent environmental regulations that can lower air pollution levels considerably will be truly effective. None declared. Completed disclosure of interests form available to view online as supporting information. Please note: The publisher is not responsible for the content or functionality of any supporting information supplied by the authors. Any queries (other than missing content) should be directed to the corresponding author for the article.

Innovations for sustainable lifestyles: an agent-based model approach

An important aspect of any scientific approach to sustainability must be methods by which the impacts of possible innovations can be assessed. Clearly, we need to make massive changes in our lifestyles if we are to get anywhere near ‘sustainability’. In this paper, an ‘agent-based model’ is developed which for this initial presentation explores probable impacts on household consumption and emissions of possible innovations. The model randomly picks a large number (here 10,000, but it can be much larger) of households from four different countries and calculates the effects resulting from the adoption of specific innovations. The ‘lifestyle’ of the households within the area studied is divided into four different ‘domains’. These are living, food, mobility and energy. Innovations are launched in the four different domains and the model shows the overall effects on the total input requirements (materials, energy, etc.), the household and food wastes and the CO2 emissions, showing how far the system moves towards sustainability. By using the sustainability criteria of 8000 kg ‘input material’ per year per individual developed by the Wuppertal Institute (Lettenmeier et al. in Resources 3:488–515, 2014, https://doi.org/10.3390/resources3030488, http://www.mdpi.com/journal/resources, ISSN 2079-9276), we can calculate how far the nation or region is from sustainability after adopting possible innovations. This is a measure of the total inputs required per individual per year. It allows us to show that for different countries, with widely different climates (e.g. Finland and Spain), different household innovations would have a greater or lesser impact on attaining ‘sustainable lifestyles’. The model does not pretend to develop a full simulation of each system, including the ecosystem, type of economy, etc., but does look at the effect an innovation in one household domain will have on all four domains, thereby providing information that can improve current decisions. It also demonstrates that, although ‘households’ can do much to improve the situation by reducing their demand for energy and materials, some actions at a national/regional level will be required to achieve sustainability. For example, sustainability will require an end to the use of fossil fuels for transportation and a switch to ‘clean’ electrical power generation from renewables and nuclear sources. Without this change, these countries will find it impossible to reach a sustainable lifestyle.

Cost-Effective PEM Electrolysis: The Quest to Achieve Superior Efficiencies with Reduced Investment

Hydrogen can directly replace fossil fuels in transport and industry when produced by water electrolysis with renewable energies such as solar or wind. The relevant technologies are either alkaline electrolysis or proton exchange membrane (PEM) water electrolysis. For PEM electrolysis in particular, key components that determine the stack cost are the bipolar plates (BPP), current collectors (CC), and membrane electrode assemblies (MEA). This paper discusses strategies for cost reduction by synthesizing highly active electrocatalysts with the aim of lowering the high Ir loading in the MEA. Additionally, we use vacuum plasma spraying (VPS) to apply either dense Ti coatings for corrosion protection of stainless steel components or build up Ti backing layers with defined porosity as contact elements with the MEA. The contact resistance of Ti can be reduced with the addition of Nb. The VPS coating and production procedure is adaptable to large-scale industrial production.

Cost-Effective PEM Electrolysis: The Quest to Achieve Superior Efficiencies with Reduced Investment

Hydrogen is expected to play an important role as a crosslinking technology between power generation on one hand and transport and industry on the other hand. It can directly replace fossil fuels in transport and industry when produced by water electrolysis with renewable energies such as solar or wind. The relevant technologies are either the mature alkaline electrolysis or the newer proton exchange membrane (PEM) water electrolysis. For PEM electrolysis in particular, key components that determine the stack cost are the titanium-based contact elements, such as the bipolar plates (BPP) and the current collectors (CC), and the high iridium loading of electrocatalyst for the OER in state of art membrane electrode assemblies (MEA). However, the cost structure depends on the specific design of the electrolyser. This presentation will discuss strategies for cost reduction by synthesizing novel electrocatalyst with the aim of lowering the high Ir loading. Our concept can be applied to supported and alloy electrocatalysts. The supports need to be highly stable and exhibit sufficient electronic conductivity. The enhancement of activity achieved with improved electrocatalyst reaches a factor of about 15 with respect to the best commercially available electrocatalyst. Additionally, the cost reduction achieved by a titanium coating for stainless steel BPPs or CCs for PEM electrolysis will be discussed. We use vacuum plasma spraying (VPS) to coat either dense coatings for corrosion protection of stainless steel components or build up titanium diffusion layers with defined porosity as contact elements for the MEA. The conductivity of the titanium coating can be improved by well-known Pt or Au additions; however, we have also developed promising non-noble conductivity enhancement elements. Furthermore, the VPS coating and production procedure is adaptable to large-scale industrial production. Acknowledgements The research leading to these results has received funding from the European Union’s Seventh Framework Program (FP7/ 2007-2013) for the Fuel Cells and Hydrogen Joint Technology Initiative under grant n° 621237, “ INSIDE- In -situ Diagnostics in Water Electrolyzers“ and from national projects “LastElSys” and “WESpe” by Federal Ministry for Economic Affairs and Energy. Figure 1

Developing Life Cycle Sustainability Assessment methodology by applying values-based sustainability weighting - Tested on biomass based and fossil transportation fuels

The production and use of transportation fuels can lead to sustainability impacts. Assessing them simultaneously in a holistic way is a challenge. This paper examines methodology for assessing the sustainability performance of products in a more integrated way, including a broad range of social impacts. Life Cycle Sustainability Assessment (LCSA) methodology is applied for this assessment. LSCA often constitutes of the integration of results from social LCA (S-LCA), environmental life cycle assessment (E-LCA) and life cycle costing (LCC). In this study, an S-LCA from an earlier project is extended with a positive social aspect, as well as refined and detailed. E-LCA and LCC results are built from LCA database and literature. Multi Criteria Decision Analysis (MCDA) methodology is applied to integrate the results from the three different assessments into an LCSA. The weighting of key sustainability dimensions in the MCDA is performed in different ways, where the sustainability dimensions are prioritized differently priority based on the assumed values of different stakeholder profiles (Egalitarian, Hierarchist, and Individualist). The developed methodology is tested on selected biomass based and fossil transportation fuels - ethanol produced from Brazilian sugarcane and US corn/maize, and petrol produced from Russian and Nigerian crude oils, where it delineates differences in sustainability performance between products assessed. The outcome in terms of relative ranking of the transportation fuel chains based on sustainability performance differs when applying different decision-maker profiles. This result highlights and supports views that there is no one single answer regarding which of the alternatives that is most sustainable. Rather, it depends strongly upon the worldview and values held by the decision maker. A key conclusion is that sustainability assessments should pay more attention to potential differences in underlying values held by key stakeholders in relevant societal contexts. The LCSA methodology still faces challenges regarding results integration but MCDA in combination with stakeholder profiles appears to be a useful approach to build on further.

Walkability as an Indicator of Neighbourhood Resilience ( breakout presentation )

Background Reducing car-dependency can significantly reduce the negative impact of neighbourhoods in terms of energy consumption and GHG emissions. In this way, walkable neighbourhoods assist in climate change mitigation plans by decreasing reliance on fossil fuels for transportation. Furthermore, many features associated with walkable environments, including street trees and green space networks, play important roles in supporting overall neighbourhood climate change resilience by mitigating urban heat island (UHI) and managing storm water. In addition to this, walkability can have significant impact on adaptation to climate change-related events, and so plays an important role in increasing the resilience of a neighbourhood. Aim This paper investigates the impact of neighbourhood design on transportation mode choice by examining walkability through its role in satisfying the basic needs of the community during and after a disruption. This is based on the assumption that walkability is employed as a method of transportation, not just as recreation. Placed in context of the wider relationship between walkability, transportation, and land use designation, the significant role played by neighbourhood design in supporting urban resilience is outlined and opportunities for further research highlighted. Method The paper presents a comparison of two neighbourhoods from different eras and examines them in terms of walkability and resilience. Using walkshed mapping, the relationship between walkability, distance, amenities, and basic needs is revealed, and therefore the overall resilience of the subject neighbourhoods are better understood. The relative resilience of different parts of each neighbourhood are also revealed. Results and Conclusion The relationship between neighbourhood resilience, walkability, and transportation must also be considered when creating walkable environments. Distance, local risks, as well as mitigation and adaptation are important factors requiring consideration. Using a checklist of walkable design elements (trees, sidewalks, architectural guidelines) does not necessarily support neighbourhood resilience in the face of extreme weather events especially in the context of supporting the basic needs of the local community.

Cultivating Ciona intestinalis to counteract marine eutrophication: Environmental assessment of a marine biomass based bioenergy and biofertilizer production system

Abstract Eutrophication in the North and Baltic Seas is a major problem to the marine environment and the communities depending on it. To counteract this, the Swedish Marine and Water Authority suggested financial support for measures that increase the uptake of nutrients from the water by e.g. marine organisms and support for the utilisation of these organisms as value added products. In Sweden the use of biogas to replace fossil transportation fuels is widely adopted. The domestic biogas production corresponded to approx. 1.95 TWh (approx. 7010 TJ) in 2015 of which approx. 63% were upgraded for use as e.g. transportation fuel. Other uses are heat and electricity generation as well as industrial applications. To expand production, the biogas industry is searching for new substrates. In this paper the utilisation of the marine evertebrate organism Ciona intestinalis (tunicata), cultivated in the North Sea and used as feedstock for biogas and biofertilizer production is suggested and assessed. The greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions performance of the concept and it's consequences on marine eutrophication are investigated applying life cycle assessment. Results show that at full scale biogas production from C. intestinalis reduces GHG emissions by more than 65% compared to fossil transportation fuels. In addition, the results show that accounting for the system consequences of other products and services such as biofertilizer replacing mineral fertilizers and decreased marine eutrophication largely increase the environmental benefits provided by the concept. Approx. 3.7 g-Neq/MJbiogas of nitrogen are removed from the marine environment during the cultivation of C. intestinalis.

Cost optimization of biofuel production – The impact of scale, integration, transport and supply chain configurations

This study uses a geographically-explicit cost optimization model to analyze the impact of and interrelation between four cost reduction strategies for biofuel production: economies of scale, intermodal transport, integration with existing industries, and distributed supply chain configurations (i.e. supply chains with an intermediate pre-treatment step to reduce biomass transport cost). The model assessed biofuel production levels ranging from 1 to 150PJa−1 in the context of the existing Swedish forest industry. Biofuel was produced from forestry biomass using hydrothermal liquefaction and hydroprocessing. Simultaneous implementation of all cost reduction strategies yielded minimum biofuel production costs of 18.1–18.2 € GJ−1 at biofuel production levels between 10 and 75PJa−1. Limiting the economies of scale was shown to cause the largest cost increase (+0–12%, increasing with biofuel production level), followed by disabling integration benefits (+1–10%, decreasing with biofuel production level) and allowing unimodal truck transport only (+0–6%, increasing with biofuel production level). Distributed supply chain configurations were introduced once biomass supply became increasingly dispersed, but did not provide a significant cost benefit (<1%). Disabling the benefits of integration favors large-scale centralized production, while intermodal transport networks positively affect the benefits of economies of scale. As biofuel production costs still exceeds the price of fossil transport fuels in Sweden after implementation of all cost reduction strategies, policy support and stimulation of further technological learning remains essential to achieve cost parity with fossil fuels for this feedstock/technology combination in this spatiotemporal context.

Experimental evaluation on oxidation stability of biodiesel/diesel blends with alcohol addition by rancimat instrument and FTIR spectroscopy

Use of alcohols blended with biodiesel as alternative fuel in diesel engine is an attractive solution for depletion and demand of fossil fuels in transportation and industrial applications. Calophyllum Inophyllum is a higher oil yielding species with high heating value and notably non-edible oil. One of the most important criteria used for assessing the quality of biodiesel blended fuel is ‘storage oxidation stability’. Deprived oxidation stability is the important technical obstacle associated with the biodiesel commercialization. This study investigated the oxidation stability of biodiesel blends at 100 % (B100) and 20 % (B20) volume concentrations with diesel through induction time determined by Rancimat instrument. Effects of pentanol addition with B20 biodiesel at 10 % (P10) and 15 % (P15) volume concentrations are also analyzed. FTIR spectroscopy characterizes the oxidation variability of all test fuels. It can be concluded that the biodiesel (B100) shows good oxidation stability (I.P = 8.47 h). Addition of pentanol (10 %) enhances the storage ability by 44.57 % than B20, whereas further addition of pentanol (15 %) declines by 19.48 % when compared to P10. More concentration of pentanol weakens the hydrophilic and hydrophobic clusters formed between pentanol/diesel/biodiesel compounds which have been characterized using infra red spectroscopic analysis.

Sustainability Research Project: Research of Suitable Locations, Design and Operation of Microalgae Production Plants for Biofuel’s

One of the most damaging of these environmental issues is the use of fossil fuels resulting global warming due to the release of carbon dioxide (CO2) into the atmosphere. The world’s dependency on fossil fuels has also led to depleting supplies creating a need to develop alternative energy sources. Fossil fuels are used to supply energy for many applications such as industry and farming but the use of fossil fuels for transport is by far the most extensive.

Potential for greenhouse gas emission reductions using surplus electricity in hydrogen, methane and methanol production via electrolysis

Using a life cycle perspective, potentials for greenhouse gas emission reductions using various power-to-x processes via electrolysis have been compared. Because of increasing renewable electricity production, occasionally surplus renewable electricity is produced, which leads to situations where the price of electricity approach zero. This surplus electricity can be used in hydrogen, methane and methanol production via electrolysis and other additional processes. Life cycle assessments have been utilized to compare these options in terms of greenhouse gas emission reductions. All of the power-to-x options studied lead to greenhouse gas emission reductions as compared to conventional production processes based on fossil fuels. The highest greenhouse gas emission reductions can be gained when hydrogen from steam reforming is replaced by hydrogen from the power-to-x process. High greenhouse gas emission reductions can also be achieved when power-to-x products are utilized as an energy source for transportation, replacing fossil transportation fuels. A third option with high greenhouse gas emission reduction potential is methane production, storing and electricity conversion in gas engines during peak consumption hours. It is concluded that the power-to-x processes provide a good potential solution for reducing greenhouse gas emissions in various sectors.

Recent Achievements in the Production of Biogas from Microalgae

Microalgae are nowadays regarded as a potential biomass feedstock to help reducing our dependence on fossil fuels for transportation, electricity and heat generation. Besides, microalgae have been widely investigated as a source of chemicals, cosmetics and health products, as well as animal and human feed. Among the cutting-edge applications of microalgae biomass, anaerobic digestion has shown promising results in terms of (bio)methane production. The interest of this process lies on its potential integration within the microalgae biorefinery concept, providing on the one hand a source of bioenergy, and on the other hand nutrients (nitrogen, phosphorus and CO2) and water for microalgae cultivation. This article reports the main findings in the field, highlighting the options to increase the (bio)methane production of microalgae (i.e. pretreatment and co-digestion) and bottlenecks of the technology. Finally, energy, economic and environmental aspects are considered.

Critical behaviour in charging of electric vehicles

The increasing penetration of electric vehicles over the coming decades, taken together with the high cost to upgrade local distribution networks and consumer demand for home charging, suggest that managing congestion on low voltage networks will be a crucial component of the electric vehicle revolution and the move away from fossil fuels in transportation. Here, we model the max-flow and proportional fairness protocols for the control of congestion caused by a fleet of vehicles charging on two real-world distribution networks. We show that the system undergoes a continuous phase transition to a congested state as a function of the rate of vehicles plugging to the network to charge. We focus on the order parameter and its fluctuations close to the phase transition, and show that the critical point depends on the choice of congestion protocol. Finally, we analyse the inequality in the charging times as the vehicle arrival rate increases, and show that charging times are considerably more equitable in proportional fairness than in max-flow.

Challenging a Deeply Buried Electrode By Vibrational Sum Frequency Spectroscopy. Towards the Understanding the CO2 Electroreduction on Ionic Liquid-Metal

Understanding the molecular dynamics on buried electrodes is of significant interest in electrochemistry. There is a big gap of knowledge in the CO2 electroreduction mechanism due to the limitations to access to the liquid-metal interface. Vibrational Sum Frequency Spectroscopy (VSFS) is a non-invasive and surface sensitive technique, with molecular level detection that can be used to probe electrochemical reactions occurring on the electrolyte-electrode interface [1]. In this study, we observed the CO2 electroreduction to CO in ionic liquid on poly Ag using VSFS synchronized with cyclic voltammetry. In order to follow the CO2 reaction in situ on the ionic liquid-Ag interface, the CO, CO2 and imidazolium vibrational modes (resonant SFS) were monitored as a function of potential. We identified at which potential the CO was produced and how the EMIM+-BF4 - played an important role in the electron transfer to the CO2, lowering the intermediate, CO2 - , energy barrier. We also present a new approach to reveal the double layer dynamics to the electrostatic environment by the study of the nonresonant SFS as a function of potential. In this analysis, we observed a strong third order effect in the susceptibility of the high electric field created in the double layer [2]. Finally, we discuss the intrinsic technical difficulties of probing deeply buried electrodes, as the IR absorption from the species of the electrolyte and how we tackled this problem. Note: why do we specifically study this electrochemical cell? Ionic liquids (ILs) attracted a wide attention within the electrochemical community due to their unique properties; such a high charge density, stable electrolytes and low volatility. In particular, imidazolium-based ILs were proposed as a promising electrolyte to use in CO2 fuel reactors, due to the CO2 high solubility. These gas flow-electrochemical cells, convert the CO2 into useful products such a CO, methane, ethanol [3]. The development of this technology can address two important environmental problems: the excess of CO2 in the atmosphere and the use of a different energy sources than fossil fuels for transportation. However, CO2 electroreduction is energetically very expensive, and higher energetic efficiency and reaction rates need to be fulfilled to become feasible [4]. Previous studies have shown, CO2 electroreduction in a water mixture with imidazolium–based ILs on Ag nanoparticles at lower overpotential [5]. Our study help to understand the dynamics of the ionic liquid at electrified interfaces and the influence in the CO2electroreduction to improve these gas electrochemical reactors. [1] (a) Bain, C. D.; J. Chem. Soc., Faraday Trans., 1995, 91, 1281. (b) Tadjeddine, A.; Vidal, F.; In-situ Spectroscopic Studies of Adsorption at the Electrode and Electrocatalysis, Elsevier Science B.V., Amsterdam,2007, pp. 273-298. [2] (a) Eisenthal, K. B.; Chem. Rev.; 1996, 96 (4): 1343. (b) Koelsch, P.; Muglali, M. I.; Rohwerder, M. and Erbe, A.; J. Opt. Am. B, 2013, 30 (1), 219. [3] Jhong, H.-R. M.; Ma, S.; Kennis, P. J. A.; Curr. Opin. Chem. Eng. 2013, 2: 191. [4] Whipple, D. T. & Kenis, P. J. A.; J. Phys. Chem. Lett.; 2010, 1 (24), 3451. [5] Rosen, B. A.; Salehi-Khojin, A.; Thorson, M. R.; Zhu, W.; Whipple, D. W., Kenis, P. J. A.; and Masel, R.I.; Science, 2011, 334 (6056), 643.