Increased Storage Capacity Research Articles

Unintended consequences of curtailment cap policies on power system decarbonization

As countries pursue power system decarbonization, a well-intentioned strategy being pursued in jurisdictions like China is the strict integration target, often in the form of a curtailment cap. The effects of these curtailment caps have not been systematically studied. Here, we evaluate the effects of these caps on the decarbonization of one provincial power system using a capacity expansion model. Results reveal that curtailment caps yield deleterious effects that do not align with the stated goals of these policies. Capping curtailment significantly increases storage capacity (+43% with a 5% curtailment cap) and reduces renewable capacity (-17%). Even with the increase in flexible storage capacity, the policy still jeopardizes power system reliability by increasing occurrences of over or under generation. It also suppresses power generation from hydropower and reduces energy storage utilization while increasing fossil fuel utilization. Capping curtailment increases economic costs (+6% with a 5% curtailment cap) and CO2 emissions (+7%).

Walking the 'design-build-test-learn' cycle: flux analysis and genetic engineering reveal the pliability of plant central metabolism.

This article is a Commentary on Morley et al. (2023), 239: 1834–1851.

Characteristics and Electrochemical Performance of Hydroxyl-Functionalized Graphene Quantum Dot-Coated Si Nanoparticles/Reduced Graphene Hybrid Anodes for Advanced Li-Ion Batteries

By powering sophisticated lithium-ion batteries (LIBs), silicon/carbon (Si/C) composites have the potential to accelerate the sustainable energy transition. This is a first-of-its-kind Si/C hybrid with hydroxyl-functionalized graphene quantum dots (OH-GQD) electrostatically assembled within interconnected reduced graphene oxide networks (OH-GQD@Si/rGO) prepared through solution-phase ultrasonication and subsequent one-step, low-temperature annealing and thermal reduction. The OH-GQD@Si/rGO hybrid utilized as the LIB anode delivered a high initial specific capacity of 2,229.16, 1,303.21, and 1,090.13 mAh g−1 reversible capacities at 100 mA g−1 after 50 and 100 cycles, and recovered 1,473.28 mAh g−1 at rates as high as 5 A g−1. The synergistic benefits of the OH-GQD/rGO interface give dual, conductive carbon protection to silicon nanoparticles. Consecutive Si surface modifications improved Si–rGO contact modes. The initial OH-GQD carbon coating increased storage capacity through vacancy defects changing the electron density in the lattice, whereas hydroxyl functionality at the edges acted as active storage sites. Secondary protection through rGO encapsulation improved Si conductivity and usage by providing continuous electron/ion routes while minimizing Si volume variations. The proposed OH-GQD/rGO hybridization as a dual-carbon protection strategy to Si stabilized the solid electrolyte interface leading to electrode stability. This work is expected to advance the development of next-generation Si-based LIB anodes.

Accepted Guidelines on the Potential of Water Budgets for Solving Droughts: A Case Study of Chum Saeng Sub-District, Satuek District, Buri Ram Province, Thailand

Drought situations remain a serious problem in the northeast region of Thailand, especially in Buriram province. The official guidelines are not accepted by farmers within the area and are difficult to apply. Therefore, this research aims to find acceptable guidelines for water resource management in order to solve the problem of droughts in Chum Saeng Sub-District, Satuek District, Buriram Province, in which there are three water reservoirs (Nhong Chonlaprathan, Nhong Taban and Nhong Jabok-Takian). In this study, we applied the principles of water balance analysis to evaluate both storage capacity and water demand and we also used community participation to confirm this information. The physical data of the reservoirs considered here comprise water demands, hydrology and monthly rainfall. The evaluation of available water was divided into three parts: the highest rainfall, the lowest rainfall and the average rainfall. It was found that the available water of the three reservoirs would exceed the highest storage capacities of the reservoirs for the highest rainfall and average rainfall cases, whereas when water demands were incorporated, it was found that the available water would exceed the highest storage capacities of the reservoirs only in the highest rainfall case. In addition, the output of the analyses was approved and accepted by the participating communities. It was found that three guidelines were acceptable for including increasing storage capacities: (1) increasing the reserved volumes, (2) expanding the watershed area for collecting rainfall and (3) encouraging the expansion of potential agricultural areas.

Carbon nanotubes-based porous media constructed via 3D printing for methane hydrate formation

Utilizing porous materials (e.g., activated carbon) as a fixed bed has been established as an effective method for promoting methane hydrate formation. However, hydrate growth typically leads to significant volume expansion within the fixed bed, resulting in reduced apparent hydrate density. In this study, 3D printing with carbon nanotubes (CNTs) as substrates was employed to create porous media specifically designed for methane hydrate formation. This approach enabled precise control over the size and structure of the media, as well as the ability to achieve pores of varying scales and porosities. As fixed beds, these porous media provided ample pore space (particularly millimeter-sized pores) for methane hydrate growth, leading to compact agglomeration of hydrates and a substantial increase in the apparent methane storage capacity, which is increased from approximately 60 v/v in a pure SDS solution system to 90–100 v/v in the porous medium. Furthermore, unlike traditional activated carbon, which typically undergoes volume expansion during hydrate growth, the porous media developed in this study avoided any volume expansion due to their unique one-piece design and pre-engineered pore structures. This research presents a novel approach to constructing gas hydrate fixed beds, offering significant potential for application in hydrate-based energy storage technologies.

Study on Secondary Brine Drainage and Sand Control Technology of Salt Cavern Gas Storage

Geological conditions of salt cavern gas storage in China are characterized by dominantly layered salt layers with a high content of insoluble mudstone. After the water leaching of the salt layer, a large amount of sediment accumulates at the bottom of the gas storage cavity. During the gas injection process, only the clean brine above the sediment can be expelled, leaving a brine layer of 2–5 m and a large amount of brine in the pore space of the sediment. To increase storage capacity, it is urgent to explore the secondary gas injection and brine drainage technology to further expel residual brine in pores of the sediment at the cavern bottom. The sediment is relatively loosely packed and is composed of mudstone particles, which easily migrate and block the brine withdrawal pipe. In this paper, firstly, the mineral composition, particle size and distribution characteristics of the sediment at the bottom of the salt cavern are fully understood by XRD and sieve analysis methods. Then, a lab simulation device suitable for secondary gas injection and brine drainage of a high-salinity salt cavern with a diameter and height of 25 cm was designed and built. A screen sand control experiment, a gravel pack artificial wall sand control experiment and chemical cementing sand were simulated. The effects of gas injection, brine drainage pressure, brine layer height and insoluble particle size on sand production and liquid drainage were studied. The influence factors of brine withdrawal on the sand control in secondary brine drainage were intensively investigated, and finally, the gravel pack artificial wall sand control technology system was recommended. The optimal construction parameters for secondary brine discharge are recommended as follows: Under the condition of gravel packing with the same particle size, the trend of sand content with different artificial wall thicknesses is not obvious, and a 2 cm wall thickness is the best in the overall experiment, corresponding to 28 cm in the field. The larger the particle size of the gravel pack, the better the sand control, and the best gravel size is 10–20 mesh. The injection pressure should be as low as possible.

Design optimization of low-temperature latent thermal energy storage for urban cooling applications

This study investigates a novel design optimization method for a low-temperature latent thermal energy storage (LTES) in a shell-and-tube heat exchanger configuration for a district/urban cooling network. An ordered hexagonal tube-packing method is first developed for the inner configuration of the LTES followed by the implementation of a differential evolutionary multi-objective optimization scheme for key design variables. Using a numerical model, transient characterisation of the optimized designs from a prior work confirmed that the method was capable of producing improved outcomes of up to 54.7% increased storage capacity. Key observations from the optimization revealed that heat transfer maximization scales costs by up to 10 times while minimizing costs translates to a mere three-fold decrease in heat transfer characteristics. Further characterisation of the optimized LTES designs under district cooling application showed that optimizing for discharge exergy efficiency in addition to cost and heat transfer efficiency was crucial in maximising discharge efficiency by up to 30%, as well as producing 33% and 20% greater capital cost savings compared to the single- and double-objective optimization cases respectively.

In situ monitoring of internal water storage reveals nitrogen first flush phenomena, intermittent denitrification, and seasonal ammonium flushing

Internal water storage (IWS) can be included in bioretention practices to increase storage capacity or promote denitrification—the microbial reduction of nitrate to nitrogen gas. IWS and nitrate dynamics are well studied in laboratory systems. However, the investigation of field environments, consideration of multiple nitrogen species, and determination between mixing versus denitrification is lacking. This study employs in situ monitoring (∼24 h duration) of water level, dissolved oxygen (DO), conductivity, nitrogen species, and dual isotopes of a field bioretention IWS system for nine storms events over a year period. Rapid peaks in IWS conductivity, DO, and total nitrogen (TN) concentrations occurred along the rising limb of the IWS water level and indicated a first flush effect. TN concentrations generally peaked during the first ∼0.33 h of sampling and the average peak IWS TN concentration (Cmax = 4.82 ± 2.46 mg-N/L) was 38% and 64% greater than the average TN along the IWS rising and falling limb, respectively. Dissolved organic nitrogen (DON) and nitrate plus nitrite (NOx) were the dominant nitrogen species of IWS samples. However, average IWS peak ammonium (NH4+) concentrations August through November (0.28 ± 0.47 mg-N/L) demonstrated statistically significant shifts compared to February through May (2.72 ± 0.95 mg-N/L). Average lysimeter conductivity measurements were more than ten times higher February through May. The sustained presence of sodium observed in lysimeters, from road salt application, contributed to NH4+ flushing from the unsaturated media layer. Dual isotope analysis showed denitrification occurred for discrete time intervals along the tail of the NOx concentration profile and the hydrologic falling limb. Longer antecedent dry periods (17 days) did not correlate to enhanced denitrification but did correspond to more leaching of soil organic nitrogen. Results from field monitoring highlight the complexities of nitrogen management in bioretention systems. First flush behavior into the IWS suggests management to prevent TN export is most critical during the onset of a storm.

Picking for Production Made Easy by BITO

Storage and order picking equipment are essential for maintaining efficient material flow. Creating the ideal system will give manufacturers a massive increase in storage capacity and pick rates within the space they have available, says Edward Hutchison, Managing Director of BITO Storage Systems.

Evaluation of BORAL Panels from an Operating Spent Fuel Pool

Neutron absorber materials are used in spent fuel pool (SFP) storage racks to increase storage capacity while maintaining criticality safety margins. BORAL is the most commonly used neutron absorber material in SFPs in the United States and is used in many countries, including England, Mexico, Korea, and Taiwan. This paper presents the results from an analysis of neutron absorber panels that were removed from an operating SFP. These panels provide very valuable data points due to their age and unique history since they represent rack modules that were placed in two separate SFPs. Given their history and service time, these neutron absorber panels mostly bound the absorber panels within the industry.

Performance evaluation of a solar thermal storage system proposed for concentrated solar power plants

This study aims to assess the performance of the Hybrid Solar Thermal Storage (HSTS) system, the storage system proposed for concentrated solar power (CSP) plants. The heat storage hybridisation concept is based on coupling latent phase change material (PCM) and thermochemical storage system containing paired metal hydride (MH) beds. One base design which uses only thermochemical heat storage mode and two designs of the HSTS system with two distinct PCM heat exchanger designs (i.e., shell-and-tube and cylinder with truncated hollow cones) are proposed and numerically investigated. To predict the dynamic behavior of the three storage systems, a bidimensional mathematical model is established and a numerical code written in Fortran-90 is developed. Key performance indicators used to evaluate the performance of the three storage systems include volumetric storage capacity, specific power, state of hydrogen charge, and energy storage efficiency. Comparing the performance of the three systems reveals that the HSTS system's energy storage efficiency increased by 36% due to the integration of a reaction heat recovery internal system based on Na3Al as PCM. The use of the PCM in truncated hollow cones resulted in a 36.4% reduction of the heat charging and discharging time, an 18.5% increase storage capacity, and a 54.1% increase in specific power. In addition, this study proves that the third design can be imlpemented as a HSTS system in a solar power plant with the following performance indexes: 128 W/kg- Mg2FeH6, 160 MJ/m3 and 88% for specific power, volumetric storage capacity and energy storage efficiency, respectively.

A review on computational storage devices and near memory computing for high performance applications

The von Neumann bottleneck is imposed due to the explosion of data transfers and emerging data-intensive applications in heterogeneous system architectures. The conventional computation approach of transferring data to CPU is no longer suitable especially with the cost it imposes. Given the increasing storage capacities, moving extensive data volumes between storage and computation cannot scale up. Hence, high-performance data processing mechanisms are needed, which may be achieved by bringing computation closer to data. Gathering insights where data is stored helps deal with energy efficiency, low latency, as well as security. Storage bus bandwidth is also saved when only computation results are delivered to the host memory. Various applications, including database acceleration, machine learning, Artificial Intelligence (AI), offloading (compression/encryption/encoding) and others can perform better and become more scalable if the “move process to data” paradigm is applied. Embedding processing engines inside Solid-State Drives (SSDs), transforming them to Computational Storage Devices (CSDs), provides the needed data processing solution. In this paper, we review the prior art on Near Data Processing (NDP) with focus on In-Storage Computing (ISC), identifying main challenges and potential gaps for future research directions.

Underground hydrogen storage to balance seasonal variations in energy demand: Impact of well configuration on storage performance in deep saline aquifers

Grid-scale underground hydrogen storage (UHS) is essential for the decarbonization of energy supply systems on the path towards a zero-emissions future. This study presents the feasibility of UHS in an actual saline aquifer with a typical dome-shaped anticline structure to balance the potential seasonal mismatches between energy supply and demand in the UK domestic heating sector. As a main requirement for UHS in saline aquifers, we investigate the role of well configuration design in enhancing storage performance in the selected site via numerical simulation. The results demonstrate that the efficiency of cyclic hydrogen recovery can reach around 70% in the short term without the need for upfront cushion gas injection. Storage capacity and deliverability increase in successive storage cycles for all scenarios, with the co-production of water from the aquifer having a minimal impact on the efficiency of hydrogen recovery. Storage capacity and deliverability also increase when additional wells are added to the storage site; however, the distance between wells can strongly influence this effect. For optimum well spacing in a multi-well storage scenario within a dome-shaped anticline structure, it is essential to attain an efficient balance between well pressure interference effects at short well distances and the gas uprising phenomenon at large distances. Overall, the findings obtained and the approach described can provide effective technical guidelines pertaining to the design and optimization of hydrogen storage operations in deep saline aquifers.

Laboratory Investigation Into the Effect of the Storage Capacity of a City Block on Unsteady Urban Flood Flows

AbstractThe increasing occurrence of urban flooding in recent years demands a more accurate flood hazard assessment. Therefore, a better understanding of the predominant hydraulic processes in urban flood flows is required. The present paper reports an experimental study conducted in a laboratory scale model, which represents an urban area consisting of a rectangular city block and four surrounding streets. The objective is to quantify the impact of open areas within the city block on the key features of floodwaters. Tests are carried out under unsteady flow conditions, by using three inflow hydrographs with different unsteadiness levels. For each inflow hydrograph, the space available for floodwater volume storage within the block (storage capacity, ϕ) is varied, keeping the boundary conditions unchanged. A case where the city block has no space for floodwater storage (i.e., ϕ = 0) is used as a reference case. The results indicate that the unsteadiness level of the inflow hydrograph, especially during the rising stage, has a strong influence on the floodwater volume stored within the city block. The increase in storage capacity within the city block leads to a reduction of the global peak outflow discharge, a decrease in flow depths and a local increase in velocities in some streets and within the city block. Finally, with these variations in floodwater features, the level of risk to pedestrians is also impacted, increasing locally when the storage capacity of the block increases.

Anion-Incorporated Mg-Ion Solvation Modulation Enables Fast Magnesium Storage Kinetics of Conversion-Type Cathode Materials.

Rechargeable magnesium batteries (RMB) have emerged as one of the most promising alternatives to lithium-ion batteries due to the prominent advantages of magnesium metal anodes. Nevertheless, their application is hindered by sluggish Mg-ion storage kinetics in cathodes, although various structural modifications of cathode materials have been performed. Herein, an electrolyte design using an anion-incorporated Mg-ion solvation structure is developed to promote the Mg-ion storage reactions of conversion-type cathode materials. The addition of the trifluoromethanesulfonate anion (OTf- ) in the ether-based Mg-ion electrolyte modulates the solvation structure of Mg2+ from [Mg(DME)3 ]2+ to [Mg(DME)2.5 OTf]+ (DME = dimethoxy ethane), which facilitates Mg-ion desolvation and thus significantly expedites the charge transfer of the cathode material. As a result, the as-prepared CuSe cathode material on copper current collector exhibits a considerable increase in magnesium storage capacity from 61% (228 mAh g-1 ) to 95% (357 mAh g-1 ) of the theoretical capacity at 0.1 A g-1 and a more than twofold capacity increase at a high current density of 1.0 A g-1 . This work provides an efficient strategy via electrolyte modulation to achieve high-rate conversion-type cathode materials for RMBs. The incorporation of the trifluoromethanesulfonate anion in the Mg-ion solvation structure of the borate-based Mg-ion electrolyte enables the fast magnesium storage kinetics of the conversion-type cathode materials. The as-prepared copper selenide cathode achieved a more than twofold capacity increase at a high rate and the highest reversible capacities compared to those of the previously reported metal selenide cathodes.

Agro-industrial production based on digitalization: foreign experience

The goal is to show potential ways, methods and approaches for adapting the international experience in creating a digital platform of the Eurasian Commodity Distribution Network (hereinafter ECDN) of the Eurasian Economic Union and other countries, used to further borrow best practices as a guarantee of food security and a catalyst for export activity. Methods – content analysis, economic and statistical, evaluation and comparison, analytical. Results – technologies and units of UCDN of the EAEU, the Republic of Tajikistan (RT) and the Republic of Uzbekistan (RU) are proposed. The sectors and trends of digitalization of the economy of foreign countries, benefits and risks of this process, which must be taken into account when developing eagriculture of the republic, are considered. The directions, characteristics, areas of application and distribution of digital business processes in agricultural sector are indicated, allowing to increase the added value. An analysis of trends in the information and communication system of the AIC of developed countries confirms that their experience can be successfully used in promoting digital transformation in the agro-industrial complex of the EAEU, Tajikistan and Uzbekistan. Conclusions – the level of development of the digital platform of the Eurasian commodity distribution network is still at the stage of formation. A fully formed supra-country and effectively operating supra-state Platform has not been identified. Subject to deep economic and political integration of the member states of the Eurasian Economic Union, the Republic of Tajikistan and the Republic of Uzbekistan, a project of a digital open integrated system for managing the flow of agricultural products on the territory of the EAEU from the manufacturer through the entire logistics cycle to retail can be developed and implemented. Building a single transport and logistics chain, increasing storage capacity, creating a mechanism for managing commodity and material flows will help increase the scale of mutual trade and stimulate exports.

3D Static Modeling and CO2 Static Storage Estimation of the Hydrocarbon-Depleted Charis Reservoir, Bredasdorp Basin, South Africa

An essential greenhouse gas effect mitigation technology is carbon capture, utilization and storage, with carbon dioxide (CO2) injection into underground geological formations as a core of carbon sequestration. Developing a robust 3D static model of the formation of interest for CO2 storage is paramount to deduce its facies changes and petrophysical properties. This study investigates a depleted oilfield reservoir within the Bredasdorp Basin, offshore South Africa. It is a sandstone reservoir with effective porosity mean of 13.92% and dominant permeability values of 100–560 mD (1 mD = 9.869233 × 10–16 m2). The petrophysical properties are facies controlled, as the southwestern area with siltstone and shale facies has reduced porosity and permeability. The volume of shale model shows that the reservoir is composed of clean sands, and water saturation is 10–90%, hence suitable for CO2 storage based on petrophysical characteristics. Static storage capacity of the reservoir as virgin aquifer and virgin oilfield estimates sequestration of 0.71 Mt (million tons) and 1.62 Mt of CO2, respectively. Sensitivity studies showed reservoir depletion at bubble point pressure increased storage capacity more than twice the depletion at initial reservoir pressure. Reservoir pressure below bubble point with the presence of gas cap also increased storage capacity markedly.

A sustainable Ethereum merge-based Big-Data gathering and dissemination in IIoT System

The Industrial Internet of Things (IIoT) has captured the attention of various smart farming industries in recent years by connecting physical objects of smart farms over the internet so that they can be discovered and queried globally using Enterprise Application Software (EAS). This continuous transmission and processing poses a significant challenge in dealing with the massive amount of Big-Data being gathered and disseminated. As more applications use cloud platforms to increase storage capacity by storing Big-Data on an untrusted cloud server, data security precautions should be taken. However, with the rapid increase in the number of IIoT devices and EAS end-users and their diverse categories, the existing device authentication mechanisms in IIoT suffer from single factor authentication and poor adaptability. In light of the security requirements in IIoT Big-Data sharing using untrusted cloud servers, we present in this paper a sustainable Ethereum merge-based Big-Data gathering and dissemination in IIoT system. Extensive theoretical and simulation results validate data gathering with a business incentive mechanism with a proper data propagation threshold is an important parameter for determining equilibrium and analysing dynamic properties of IIoT system, which directly affects data processing speed and its final state. The Ethereum merge mechanism controls data dissemination instances in both the industry and EAS through classification and integrity verification using distributed authentication devices. Proof-of-stake is used for this purpose, which uses randomly selected validators to confirm transactions and add new ledgers to consortium blockchains to transfer data using partial secrets, making it fast, secure, and sustainable. Our proposed scheme outperforms other state-of-the-art schemes in simulation over Hyperledger Fabric with improved security measures.

Assessment of vulnerability to water shortage in semi-arid river basins: The value of demand reduction and storage capacity

Interest in securing reliable water supplies has increased due to climate change and rapid population growth. This challenge is significant in growing areas with limited water supplies. To meet water demands, water managers are considering new storage infrastructure to increase the reliability of water supplies while also identifying opportunities to reduce water use per person. Although these strategies change water consumption patterns, their success at reducing shortages across space and time for different climate change scenarios remains unclear. In this paper, population- and climate-dependent future water supply and demand models are developed and integrated into a water allocation model calibrated for the South Platte River Basin of Colorado. Eight future climate scenarios are simulated using four statistically downscaled models from the Coupled Model Inter-Comparison Project Phase 5 (CMIP5) with two Representative Concentration Pathways (RCP). Lastly, findings from the water allocation model simulations are generalized beyond the study area using a novel approach by introducing dimensionless indices to characterize water shortage and basin conditions. Results reveal a threshold ratio of total storage capacity to mean water supply with a value of 0.64 above which additional storage has no effect on total water shortages. This threshold communicates the limitation of building storage infrastructure as a strategy to adapt to decreasing average water supplies for basins considering increasing storage capacity. However, basins with low current capacity are likely to fall below the threshold and could invest in reservoirs to mitigate future shortages.

Numerical investigation of large‐scale seasonal rock‐pit energy storage system

AbstractA twodimensional axisymmetric model, which is computationally inexpensive, has been proposed to predict the property changes that occur in a seasonal rock‐pit energy storage (RPES) system. The geometry of the rock‐pit has been simplified into a shape that can be extended for any seasonal storage system with a three‐dimensional conical geometry. The computational domain has been solved using both linear thermal equilibrium (LTE) and linear thermal non‐equilibrium (LTNE) models, and the former has been found to be computationally quick and accurate. The model has predicted a 95% energy saving at the highest flow conditions required in the mine. Further analysis has suggested that the increase in storage capacity by decreasing the porosity of rocks in the rock‐pit is insignificant compared to the corresponding increase in fan power. Furthermore, the investigation done on natural rocks has indicated an increased ability to store heat in the rock‐pit when rocks with higher thermal mass have been used. The use of RPES has shown a significant potential to reduce the carbon footprint. Finally, an economic analysis done on the system has shown a return on investment of just under 12 years.