Impact Of Greenhouse Gases Research Articles

How Does COVID-19 Pandemic Affect Rice Yield? Lessons from, Southeast Nigeria

At the global level and particularly across sub-Saharan African (SSA), while rice farmers are still battling the negative impact of climate change and greenhouse gases (GHGs) emissions, the COVID-19 pandemic has brought a new risk that not only threatens farmers livelihoods but also the most important global food security crop “Rice”. Every farming season in Nigeria, rice farmers face risks such as low rainfall, price volatility, methane emissions, rising debts and poor government policies. But the present risks from the COVID-19 pandemic are putting new challenges in front of rice value-chain that is already under serious threat. Additionally, the growing demand for rice across SSA and particularly in Nigeria exceeds supply, resulting in a rice deficit. To overcome this challenge, rice yield should be increased particularly now there is a new threat for farmers. As a matter of urgency, farmers must respond to this new threat (COVID-19) by choosing measures that increase their yield. Incidentally, empirical studies that documented the effect of COVID-19 pandemic on rice yield cannot be found as at the time of this study. These create emptiness in research and make it extremely difficult if not impossible for the government/interest group to know the method they can use in helping farmers mitigate the negative effect of COVID-19 pandemic in rice production. It was against this backdrop that this study was systematically undertaken. The study was meticulously guided five (5) objectives. The survey was conducted from March through July 2020. A cross-sectional data was elicited from 504 rice farmers selected across Southeast Nigeria. Data collected were analyzed using descriptive statistical tools such as means, flow-chart, percentage and likert scale-type. Mean age was 45.00 years. Greater proportions (61.30%) were male. A very salient finding was that COVID-19 pandemic is disrupting activities of rice value-chain like harvesting of 2019/2020 season’s produce that was ongoing and land preparations and planting for 2020/2021 season (x̄=≥3.11). Result show that the non-availability of labour is interrupting planting, harvesting and distribution activities of rice (x̄=≥3.32). There are disruptions in purchase of inputs because of restrictions (x̄=≥3.12). Findings also developed incisive conceptual framework showing the effect of COVID-19 pandemic in rice farming. Result also shows that extension visits to farmers have been seriously limited (85.32% had no visit) due restrictions. With this present threat, Nigeria are likely to experience a reversal in the development gains already achieved and will be unlikely to achieve the 2030 Sustainable Development Goals and the aspirations of African Agenda 2063. The study therefore identified the need for governments at all levels in the country to design a sustainable policy in such a way that farmers should have access to affordable farm credit as well as subsidized agricultural inputs in order to increase their ability and flexibility to change in production strategies in response to COVID-19 pandemic. Keywords: COVID-19 Pandemic; Rice; Conceptual Framework; Socio-economic Variables; Awareness; Source of Information; Precautionary Measure; Perceived effect of COVID-19 Pandemic; Barriers; Recommendations; Southeast Nigeria and sub-Saharan African (SSA), DOI: 10.7176/JBAH/10-15-06 Publication date: August 31 st 2020

Modeling the potential impact of climate change on living beings near coastal areas

At present, climate change is a burning issue which is being changed with the rising of atmospheric temperature due to the emissions of greenhouse gases (GHGs) in the environment. Climate change and the increasing amount of GHGs jointly impact the living beings near coastal areas introducing different and destructive natural disasters that confine their consecutive life-style. On the other hand, the forest area on the earth’s surface is decreasing gradually due to different purposes of human population. As a result, the environment and living beings near coastal areas will have to face a comprehensive natural threat at the end of the century. In this study, a non-linear mathematical model has been proposed to briefly describe the potential impact of GHGs on climate change rising atmospheric temperature and their combined harmful effect on living beings near coastal areas. After investigating the proposed model analytically and numerically, the numerical simulations have been performed to illustrate the effect of rapid emissions of GHGs on the other dynamics in support of analytical findings briefly. The article discloses the potential threat of increasing GHGs emissions on the environmental system.

Reported U.S. wild game consumption and greenhouse gas emissions savings

ABSTRACT Meat production creates high greenhouse gas emissions while consumption of wild game meat presumably has lower greenhouse gas impacts. We estimated the amount of meat legally harvested in the United States for animals with state or federal harvest data and determined caloric value and the greenhouse gas impact (emissions savings) of these harvests. Hunting of reported game accounts for approximately 487 billion Kcal, about 3% of U.S. annual meat consumption, although the total is probably higher if non-reported (small game) are included. Wild game consumption may equal more than two billion kg of avoided CO2 emissions, equivalent to more than $120 million USD in annual carbon avoidance societal benefits. Our results suggest that wild game harvests contribute a relatively small, but not irrelevant, greenhouse gas savings. Wildlife conservation organizations could use the positive climate attributes of wild game harvesting as a public relations tool to encourage hunting and subsequent emissions reductions.

Design of Eco-Efficient Body Parts for Electric Vehicles Considering Life Cycle Environmental Information

The reduction of greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions over the entire life cycle of vehicles has become part of the strategic objectives in automotive industry. In this regard, the design of future body parts should be carried out based on information of life cycle GHG emissions. The substitution of steel towards lightweight materials is a major trend, with the industry undergoing a fundamental shift towards the introduction of electric vehicles (EV). The present research aims to support the conceptual design of body parts with a combined perspective on mechanical performance and life cycle GHG emissions. Particular attention is paid to the fact that the GHG impact of EV in the use phase depends on vehicle-specific factors that may not be specified at the conceptual design stage of components, such as the market-specific electricity mix used for vehicle charging. A methodology is proposed that combines a simplified numerical design of concept alternatives and an analytic approach estimating life cycle GHG emissions. It is applied to a case study in body part design based on a set of principal geometries and load cases, a range of materials (aluminum, glass and carbon fiber reinforced plastics (GFRP, CFRP) as substitution to a steel reference) and different use stage scenarios of EV. A new engineering chart was developed, which helps design engineers to compare life cycle GHG emissions of lightweight material concepts to the reference. For body shells, the replacement of the steel reference with aluminum or GFRP shows reduced lifecycle GHG emissions for most use phase scenarios. This holds as well for structural parts being designed on torsional stiffness. For structural parts designed on tension/compression or bending stiffness CFRP designs show lowest lifecycle GHG emissions. In all cases, a high share of renewable electricity mix and a short lifetime pose the steel reference in favor. It is argued that a further elaboration of the approach could substantially increase transparency between design choices and life cycle GHG emissions.

The Comprehensive Environmental Management Model in Post-Covid19 Era

To restrict the adverse impact of Green House Gas there is a need of rapid action for transformation of the current situation to achieve the targets mentioned by the United Nations Programme. The coronavirus crisis generated additional challenges but also generated a provision for companies to develop a sustainable model in the recovery period by incorporating the non-financial aspect of green environment in their business model. In this paper, we identify some of the main problems of the existing projects related to Green House Gas control and propose the Dragon Value System with a potentiality of overcoming the drawbacks of the existing models. We find a comprehensive environmental management model that will be opportunity driven, based on certain financial assets associated with wide spectrum of stakeholders and applicable by company of any size. The findings of the paper will contribute to the academic literature related to environmental management and SDG 7. The proposed model will assist the investors to identify a comprehensive model to invest and could generate new public-private partnership to apply highly beneficial and comprehensive environmental management model.

A Brief Understanding on Smart Grid Technology

Environmental destruction that is marked by high CO2 level or greenhouse gas emissions due to excessive use of fossil fuels is a serious challenge that must be minimized immediately. One of the most prominent impact is the destruction of natural ecosystems such as forest fires due to very high temperature, rising sea level, flash flood, melting of iceberg in the north and south poles and uncertain natural climates. From the energy sector that contribute most to global warming is the power generation sector. Currently there are still many power plants that use fossil fuels such as petroleum and coal as the main source of turbine drive in generating electrical energy. The burning results certainly produce CO2 gas that contributes to increase levels of global warming. In response to the crucial issue, developed countries make an effort to reduce the impact of greenhouse gases by conducting research and utilization of renewable energy as an environmentally friendly source of energy such as wind energy and solar energy. Renewable energy is capable of generating electrical energy without generating and increasing greenhouse gases. Current renewable energy utilization trends continue to increase which contributes to the birth of the smart grid concept. So the introduction of smart grid technology is a necessity to reduce the impact of global warming while encouraging efficiency, reliability and effective governance in the supply of electrical energy.

The net greenhouse gas impact of the Jubilee line extension in London, UK

As cities work to reduce their total greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions, the transportation sector is lagging, accounting for a growing percentage of total emissions in many cities. The provision of public transit, and specifically urban rail transit, is widely seen as a useful tool for reducing urban transportation GHG emissions. More research, however, is needed to understand the net impact of new metro rail infrastructure on urban emissions and guide efforts to maximise the GHG savings through rail investments. This paper examines the net GHG emissions of the Jubilee line extension (JLE) in London, UK. The GHG emissions associated with construction, operation, ridership and changes in urban density associated with the provision of the new metro rail infrastructure are assessed. These components are then combined and compared to calculate the net GHG impact across the study period, which extends from opening in 1999 through 2011. The capital GHG emissions from construction of the JLE are calculated as 530 kilotonnes carbon dioxide equivalent (CO2e). The initial mode shift from other rail lines and long-term mode change from automobiles result in yearly GHG savings from riders on the JLE. A quasi-experimental analysis of land-use change near the JLE finds no calculable GHG saving from increased residential density. The GHG payback period is calculated between 13 and 19 years.

Multi-objective optimal design for integrated palm oil mill complex with consideration of effluent elimination

To reduce greenhouse gas (GHG) impact while sustaining palm oil mill (POM) profitability, Malaysia has recognised POME-derived biogas as a renewable energy. Biogas utilisation for on-site fuel replacement and grid electricity contribution is encouraged by government schemes such as Feed-in-tariff (FiT). Nevertheless, adoption rate of biogas facility is still low among Malaysian POMs. An integrated palm-oil based complex (POBC) was proposed for GHG mitigation by integrating POM and refinery processes while addressing sustainability concerns. This study presented a multi-objective optimisation model-based approach to aid POBC planning at maximised economic potential and net energy, while minimising its GHG emission, water footprint (WFP) and land footprint (LFP) for environment protection. Trade-offs between biogas recovery and POME elimination strategies were considered. The developed fuzzy model was applied to case study and analysed under different multi-objective scenarios. In comparison with baseline study, the economic potential of sustainable POBC increase by 6.7% at USD 39.31 × 106 with 88%, 74% and 91% improvements in GHG footprint, WFP and LFP by compromising 76% net energy. Effect of FiT revenue towards POBC synthesis was investigated. Pareto front was generated to verify the fuzzy results and visualise the relationship between objective functions. The optimisation model and optimal results shall provide input to Malaysian POMs on the sustainability benefits of POBC.

The GHG emissions and economic performance of the Colombian palm oil sector; current status and long-term perspectives

Increasing oil palm plantations, both for obtaining crude palm oil (CPO) and for the production of biobased products, have generated growing concern about the impact of greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions on the environment. Colombia has the potential to produce sustainable biobased products from oil palm. Nevertheless, national GHG emissions have not yet been reported by this sector. Achieving the collection of the total primary data from the oil palm sector, in Colombia, entails a tremendous challenge. Notwithstanding, for this study, the data collection of 70% of the production of fresh fruit bunches (FFB) was achieved. Therefore, current situation of CPO production in Colombia is analyzed, including 1) GHG emissions calculation, 2) net energy ratio (NER), and 3) economic performance. Moreover, the analysis includes two future scenarios, where the CPO production chain is optimized to reduce GHG emissions. Future scenario A produces biodiesel (BD), biogas, cogeneration, and compost; while future scenario B produces BD, biogas, cogeneration, and pellets. The methodology, for all the scenarios, includes life-cycle assessment and economic analysis evaluation. The results show a significant potential for improving the current palm oil production, including a 55% reduction in GHG emissions. The impact of land-use change must be mitigated to reduce GHG emissions. Therefore, a sustainable oil palm expansion should be in areas with low carbon stock or areas suitable/available to the crop (e.g., cropland, pastureland). Avoiding the deforestation of natural forests is required. Besides, crop yield should be increased to minimize the land use, using biomass to produce biobased products, and capture biogas to reduce methane emissions. In the biodiesel production life-cycle, the NER analysis shows the fossil energy consumed is lower than the renewable energy produced. Regarding the economic performance, it shows that in an optimized production chain, the capital expenditure and operational expenditure will decrease by approximately 20%.

Possible Effects of Greenhouse Gases to Ozone Profiles and DNA Active UV-B Irradiance at Ground Level

In this paper, we compare model calculations of ozone profiles and their variability for the period 1998 to 2016 with satellite and lidar profiles at five ground-based stations. Under the investigation is the temporal impact of the stratospheric halogen reduction (chemical processes) and increase in greenhouse gases (i.e., global warming) on stratospheric ozone changes. Attention is given to the effect of greenhouse gases on ultraviolet-B radiation at ground level. Our chemistry transport and chemistry climate models (Oslo CTM3 and EMAC CCM) indicate that (a) the effect of halogen reduction is maximized in ozone recovery at 1–7 hPa and observed at all lidar stations; and (b) significant impact of greenhouse gases on stratospheric ozone recovery is predicted after the year 2050. Our study indicates that solar ultraviolet-B irradiance that produces DNA damage would increase after the year 2050 by +1.3% per decade. Such change in the model is driven by a significant decrease in cloud cover due to the evolution of greenhouse gases in the future and an insignificant trend in total ozone. If our estimates prove to be true, then it is likely that the process of climate change will overwhelm the effect of ozone recovery on UV-B irradiance in midlatitudes.

Dynamic greenhouse gas life cycle inventory and impact profiles of wood used in Canadian buildings

Wood is increasingly promoted due to its reported low climate change impacts; however, the literature reports provides high variability of climate change impact scores, making comparisons with non-wood materials difficult. The objective of this study is to calculate a database of life cycle inventories (LCI) and dynamic climate change impacts (DCCI) of wood building products, for different use contexts across Canada. Temporally differentiated gate-to-gate LCIs were developed, to which dynamic life cycle assessment (DLCA) was applied, yielding a modular database of cradle-to-grave LCIs and DCCIs of wood products. Four wood product case studies were chosen to demonstrate the use of the modular LCI and DCCI database of wood product use in buildings. The results show that most wood building products provide overall net negative climate change impact scores, though for some wood product specifications results show net positive climate change impacts. Results are sensitive to a few factors, including ecosystem carbon cost (ECC), wood carbon content, building lifespan and end-of-life. This research develops a gate-to-gate LCI and DCCI database for each life cycle stage of wood building products, allowing life cycle assessment (LCA) practitioners to calculate DCCI results with respect to a chosen time horizon relevant for decision-making. This modular database would be particularly useful to those practitioners wishing to account for biogenic carbon in wood product life cycle assessment, which is currently quite difficult due to a lack of data. It could also be readily implemented into LCA tools to support building designers in sustainable building material selection.

Screening of Cellulolytic Actinomycetes for Decomposition of Agricultural Waste

Each year, Viet Nam produces around 37 Mt of rice, 17-18 Mt of sugarcane and 4.5 Mt of maize and the total waste created by agriculture is estimated more than 50 Mt. Approximately nearly half of the straw is burned on the field, which is a common practice in intensive rice cultivation systems in this region and significantly impacts greenhouse gas emissions in the country. It has been a challenge for the government to reduce the burning of straw. Using microbials is a potential solution for the reason that fertilized straw, which contains essential nutrients as nitrogen, phosphorous and potassium, can be used as compost to enrich the soil. This study aims to screen for Actinomycetes with high cellulase activities for the decomposition of agricultural wastes. Among 21 isolated actinomycetes, 7 isolates including G1, G3, G11, D4, D5, DE2, X1 were selected with high enzymatic activities. The incubation of selected strains with rice straw and cane bagasse indicated that the ability of all these strains to degrade agricultural wastes. Rice straw showed better degradation results in comparison to sugarcane bagasse. The strains G3 and D4 showed the best degradation performance after 12 d of incubation. The remaining substrate including rice straw and sugarcane bagasse after incubation in turn with D4 and G3 were both 10.5%.

An integrated model for quantifying the impacts of pavement albedo and urban morphology on building energy demand

This contribution details a high-resolution approach to estimate the net greenhouse gas (GHG) impact of changing pavement albedo in urban areas by accounting for both changes in air temperature and building energy demand (BED) caused by the albedo change. The approach uses machine-learning-based meta-models that allow stakeholders to estimate the impact of pavement albedo modification for specific, detailed neighborhoods in a rapid, computationally efficient manner. This method is applied to a case study involving all buildings and the adjacent pavements in Boston, MA. Results from the case study indicate that increasing pavement albedo reduces average temperature and usually reduces carbon emissions from BED for densely-built and medium-density neighborhoods while results from low-density neighborhoods were mixed. Model results suggest that increasing pavement albedo would lead to BED GHG benefits in 88% of Boston neighborhoods. Increasing the albedo of the 1100 miles of roads in those communities would yield nearly 91,720 metric tons of reduced carbon emissions over the next fifty years.

Development of life cycle assessment of an emerging technology at research and development stage: A case study on single-wall carbon nanotube produced by super growth method

The frontier of lifecycle assessment (LCA) case studies has moved from understanding conventional technologies to analyzing emerging technologies at the research and development (R&D) phase. One new challenge in LCA that aims to deal with this phenomenon is the development of methods to estimate the environmental impacts of emerging technologies in the R&D phase while considering manufacturing at scale. This study proposes a simple and feasible method that allows LCA practitioners to consider scaling effects of energy consumption during production in a case study of the super growth method of producing carbon nanotubes. In this case, the greenhouse gas (GHG) impact of producing 1 kg of carbon nanotubes decreases from 47.05 t-CO2eq to 21.33 t-CO2eq by scaling up the process. Although the total GHG impacts at the commercial scale estimated from the lab scale inventory are similar to those estimated from the pilot scale inventory, the share of GHG emissions of materials are different because of a change in substrate and a change from batch processing to continuous processing. Carbon nanotube production by the super growth method is competitive with those made by other processes from the viewpoint of GHG impact and product quality.

Enhanced biomethane production from anthracite by application of an electric field

The utilization of biogenic coalbed methane (CBM) meets the increasing demand of energy and reduces the impact of greenhouse gases on the environment. Application of an electric field is a promising technology to increase biomethane production from various complex organic compounds. Here, the effects of an applied voltage (0.6 V, 1.2 V, and 1.8 V) on methane production due to coal biodegradation, as well as the structure of microflora and intermediates were studied by anaerobic culture, pyrosequencing, and GC–MS. The maximum methane production was observed at 1.2 V with an average of 63.0 μmol/g of coal, which was 134% higher than the control without electrodes (26.9 μmol/g of coal). The CO2 yield was negatively correlated with the methane yield, suggesting that more carbon in coal has been transferred to methane after application of an electric field. The pyrosequencing results showed that the abundance of bacteria with extracellular electron transfer abilities, such as Soehngenia, Desulfovibrio, and Deferrisoma, increased after applying a 1.2 V electric field. Moreover, the structure of the fungal communities changed significantly, especially the abundance of Mortierella, Thielavia, Humicola, and Plectosphaerella. According to the GC-MS results, most of the products detected at the end of the cultivation period in the control were not detected in the cultures cultivated at 1.2 V. New organic compounds such as alcohols, unsaturated fatty acids, and amines were produced in the cultures cultivated at 1.2 V. These results suggest that application of an electric field changes the structure of the microflora, which promotes extracellular electron transfer and the biodegradation of organic compounds, thus enhancing methane production from coal. Furthermore, the distinct organic products detected after cultivation and the significant changes in microbial communities suggest that the degrading metabolism of organic matter in coal might be altered due to the application of an electric field. Based on the results, a biogenic methane production system implemented by application of an electric field was proposed and described.

The Comprehensive Environmental Management Model in Post-Covid19 Era

To restrict the adverse impact of Green House Gas there is a need of rapid action for transformation of the current situation to achieve the targets mentioned by the United Nations Programme. The coronavirus crisis generated additional challenges but also generated a provision for companies to develop a sustainable model in the recovery period by incorporating the non-financial aspect of green environment in their business model. In this paper, we identify some of the main problems of the existing projects related to Green House Gas control and propose the Dragon Value System with a potentiality of overcoming the drawbacks of the existing models. We find a comprehensive environmental management model that will be opportunity driven, based on certain financial assets associated with wide spectrum of stakeholders and applicable by company of any size. The findings of the paper will contribute to the academic literature related to environmental management and SDG 7. The proposed model will assist the investors to identify a comprehensive model to invest and could generate new public-private partnership to apply highly beneficial and comprehensive environmental management model.

West Asian climate during the last millennium according to the EC-Earth model

West Asia is one of the most vulnerable regions to ongoing climate change but has been poorly investigated. Therefore, it is crucial to understand the impact of anthropogenic greenhouse gas, natural forcing, and internal climate variability on temperature and rainfall in this region. In this study, we focus on the climate of West Asia during the last millennium by using a transient simulation of the global earth system model EC-Earth (v3.1). The model performs well in terms of present-day temperature and precipitation patterns and their regional averages. Time series of yearly-mean precipitation and temperature of West Asia show that precipitation increases until the start of the Little Ice Age (1450–1850 CE) and subsequently decreases, whereas temperature shows a cooling trend during the entire last millennium. We first discuss the model output data for climate trends during two periods, 850–1450 CE and 1450–1850 CE. In 850–1450 CE, the largest wetting trend occurred in the eastern regions to the north of the Persian Gulf because of a westward shift of the Indian precipitation core and more moisture transport from the Arabian Sea. The precipitation trend in 1450–1850 CE had a different pattern with a drying trend in the west of the Caspian Sea and overall getting less wet compared with the first period. Temperature showed cooling trends for both periods with the largest values happening in the northern regions. The North Atlantic sea surface temperature cooling and the subsequent change in atmospheric circulation played a role in the wetting and cooling of West Asia. In the second part of the study, we remove the trends and discuss the multi-decadal variability of West Asian climate. It was found that Atlantic multi-decadal and Pacific decadal oscillations strongly contributed to West Asian temperature variability. For West Asian precipitation variability, we found remote connections with the Nordic seas and tropical Pacific Ocean.

Greenhouse Gas Emissions and Technical Efficiency in Alberta Dairy Production: What Are the Trade-Offs?

Abstract:The impact of greenhouse gas (GHG) reduction on the efficiency of Alberta’s dairy industry is assessed through a technical efficiency analysis over the period 1996–2016, with and without emissions included as a “bad” output. Environmentally adjusted technical efficiency and technical efficiency estimates are highly correlated; thus, reducing GHG emissions may not result in decreased efficiency. Increased milk per cow, a southern Alberta location, and increased use of forage are associated with greater environmentally adjusted technical efficiency. The opportunity cost of foregone milk revenue associated with reduced emissions is Can$308.29 per metric ton of GHG. The results imply possible policy strategies to reduce emissions.

A lifecycle cost analysis of transitioning to a fully-electrified, renewably powered, and carbon-neutral campus at the University of Dayton

This paper analyzes the cost-effectiveness of converting the University of Dayton (UD) to a fully-electrified, renewably powered, carbon-neutral campus by 2025. The greenhouse gas (GHG) impact and 30-year lifecycle costs (LCC) of a scenario including four primary strategies for transitioning to carbon-neutrality were analyzed; scaling building energy efficiency was determined to reduce GHG emissions by 12% with $10 million LCC savings from business as usual, switching the campus fleet to electric vehicles would reduce GHG emissions by 0.4% with $2 million LCC savings, switching from on-site natural gas combustion to geothermal heat pumps would reduce GHG emissions by 15% with a $15.5 million LCC premium, and procuring renewable electricity through a power purchase agreement with a new-build renewable generator would eliminate the remaining 73% of GHG emissions with a $1.7 million LCC premium. In total, achieving a carbon-neutral campus would increase the 30-year LCC of UD’s energy systems by 2.4%, from $211.8 million to $216.9 million. This is likely a reasonable investment to consider, given the uncertainties in future commodity pricing, the potential of future regulatory mechanisms like carbon pricing that would internalize the social cost of carbon, and the urgent need to reduce global GHG emissions.

The Effect of Exhaust Temperature on Urea-Water Decomposition in Marine SCR Systems

Reduction of nitrogen oxide (NOx) emissions from ships due to environmental pollution and greenhouse gas impact has been made obligatory by regulations introduced by the International Maritime Organization (IMO). Basically, NOx emission control mechanisms are divided into primary methods and after-treatment methods. After-treatment methods focus on reducing NOx emissions from the exhaust gas by various methods. In this study, the efficiency of the urea transformation for different exhaust temperature values for a modelled Selective Catalytic Reduction (SCR) system has been investigated numerically. As a result of numerical model, isocyanic acid, temperature, urea and ammonia values have been determined for Urea-Water Solutions (UWS) process values. The study has been calculated by the computational fluid dynamics (CFD). The numerical results obtained were confirmed by experimental studies from the literature.