Electric Power Production Research Articles

Medical Waste Treatment Technologies for Energy, Fuels, and Materials Production: A Review

The importance of medical waste management has grown during the COVID-19 pandemic because of the increase in medical waste quantity and the significant dangers of these highly infected wastes for human health and the environment. This innovative review focuses on the possibility of materials, gas/liquid/solid fuels, thermal energy, and electric power production from medical waste fractions. Appropriate and promising treatment/disposal technologies, such as (i) acid hydrolysis, (ii) acid/enzymatic hydrolysis, (iii) anaerobic digestion, (vi) autoclaving, (v) enzymatic oxidation, (vi) hydrothermal carbonization/treatment, (vii) incineration/steam heat recovery system, (viii) pyrolysis/Rankine cycle, (ix) rotary kiln treatment, (x) microwave/steam sterilization, (xi) plasma gasification/melting, (xii) sulfonation, (xiii) batch reactor thermal cracking, and (xiv) torrefaction, were investigated. The medical waste generation data were collected according to numerous researchers from various countries, and divided into gross medical waste and hazardous medical waste. Moreover, the medical wastes were separated into categories and types according to the international literature and the medical waste fractions’ percentages were estimated. The capability of the examined medical waste treatment technologies to produce energy, fuels, and materials, and eliminate the medical waste management problem, was very promising with regard to the near future.

Economic Feasibility Study on PV/Wind Hybrid Microgrids for Indonesia Remote Island Application

This paper presents the economic feasibility of hybrid microgrid power system for three remote islands of Sumatra, Indonesia. The microgrid system simulated and analysed using Homer Pro software. Optimization results showed that the combination of photovoltaic (PV), diesel generation (G) and batteries (Batt) for microgrid power system in Mandeh and Lagundri Island area were the most economical configuration. Meanwhile, for Mentawai area, the combination of PV, Wind Turbine (WT), G, Batt was the most optimal since it has higher wind speed then the other two areas. The Mandeh area has the highest solar radiation compared to the other two areas, resulting in the lowest CoE of $0.096/kWh as well as the lowest investment and operational costs. For the fixed PV 100 kW scenario, the optimal configuration is obtained with 86 kW supplied by WT for the Lagundri location, and 67 kW supplied by WT for the Mentawai area, while the WT installation area is not recommended for Mandeh location. The power management analysis showed that the average and patterns of weather parameters including solar radiation and wind speed effect both PV and Wind electrical power production.

A new solar energy-based integrated carbon capturing system with a gas turbine-supercritical CO2 combined power cycle

This paper introduces a new multigeneration gas turbine-supercritical carbon dioxide combined power cycle integrated with a solar-powered carbon capturing system to produce electricity, cooling effect, freshwater, and ammonium bicarbonate. This multigeneration system is analyzed using the first and second laws of thermodynamics to assess the system performance. The results of this analysis show that this integrated system is able to produce ammonium bicarbonate at a rate of 1.30 kg s−1, while producing 2,280 kW of electric power. The overall energy and exergy efficiencies of this integrated system are found to be 22.3%, and 11.9%, respectively. Then, some parametric studies are conducted to observe how this integrated system behaves under different operating conditions. One finding is that the solar irradiance affects the overall energy and exergy efficiencies considerably. Also, changing the isentropic efficiencies of the turbines in the system has more significant effects on the net electric power production than changing the isentropic efficiencies of the compressors.

Comparative Study of Electric Machines for Stirling Generator Application

The choice of a machine for an application and a given specification remains a complex problem. This will involve, for example, bringing together criteria such as: performance, space saving, economical, reliable, little acoustic noise and others. The best machine selection to fulfill all constraints is an important step for the project to be realized. This work focus on Stirling Engine based Generator and study all types of rotating machines that can be employed for maximum electric power production. Analytical electromagnetic models where developed for all types of rotating machines that satisfied minimum requirement for the project by solving Maxwell equations. The purpose is to develop the design model and combine electromagnetic and thermal study of the machines. Finite Element Method is used to compare the performances of the generators for the best choice. Results show that for applications not requiring bigger output power, the major criteria for the selection is the optimal magnetic induction created by the inducer in the stationary part of the machine. For application such as Stirling generators, permanent magnet (PM) machine satisfy many comparison criteria such as maximum power at low speed, torque density, high efficiency. Beyond exposing a selection method for a project, this work lay down a step-by-step method for engineers and scientists for the crucial stage of design and conception work

A Comparative Study of the Optimal Sizing and Management of Off-Grid Solar/Wind/Diesel and Battery Energy Systems for Remote Areas

Electrification in rural areas is relatively costly compared to urban areas. Therefore, the aim of this research is to identify the best combination of hybrid renewable energy systems (HRESs) to satisfy the load demand in a sustainable and cost-efficient way. The techno-economic study of stand-alone hybrid photovoltaic–wind turbine–diesel–battery-converter energy systems based on the hybrid optimization model for electric renewable (HOMER) simulation has been analyzed for various locations in the Tamil Nadu state, India. Various combinations of the systems have been compared and analyzed based on the performance of their technical parameters, costs, the electrical power production of each source, and unmet load. The findings indicated that the off-grid solar–wind–diesel–battery configuration is the most economical for all the sites among other system configurations. Comparing with conventional diesel generators among all the locations, a combination of solar/wind/diesel/battery is the economically best design for Thoothukudi, with the least and most reliable solution in terms of net present cost and cost of energy. Also, the impact of intermittent variables becomes significant, so sensitivity analysis for the various parameters has been carried out. The study finds that the least cost of electricity and the net present cost of electricity for Thoothukudi are achieved at 0.266 $/kWh and 138,197 $, respectively. This is economical compared to a stand-alone diesel system where the obtained COE is $1.88 and the NPC is $977523. In the stand-alone diesel operating mode, 41854 kg of CO2is produced, which is higher than CO2emissions associated with any other renewable energy systems. According to the results, the Kanyakumari location outperforms in terms of producing environmental pollutants with emission of 1,020 kg/y CO2at their best. Moreover, the results of the proposed study imply that the proposed renewable energy system in remote sites could be a more economical measure.

Total Productive Maintenance and its Effecting on the Application of Lean Production System

Increasing the amount of production, the diversity of products, a commodity and / or service, and increasing the productivity factor ratios contribute to developing the competitive strength of the organization in light of the increasingly difficult market conditions. That made all organizations work according to competitive strategies, including the production strategy for the purpose of achieving the organizations goal through the set of goals that they put. They rely on several new management systems of a strategic nature aimed at their survival and continuity in the production market. Hence, this research aims to evaluate the total productivity maintenance capacity in lean production throughout reducing the various kinds of losses, as the lean production is based on reducing each defective product (a commodity and / or service), costs, errors, and area, and all that and others aimed at improving product quality and customer satisfaction. However, the overall goals and production programs often encounter unexpected breakdowns at unexpected times, which lead to a breakdown in production and an imbalance in production plans as a result. Consequently, the companies suffer the expected revenue loss because they fail to reach the targeted production amount. The research has adopted a questionnaire that has been distributed to (50) employees of the General Company for Electric Power Production, the central region in Baghdad, which constituted more than 10% of the company’s employees. The results show that there is a strong direct relationship between the independent variable (total productivity maintenance) and the dependent variable (lean production). This distinction has explained 90% of the variables in the dependent variable.

Spot Prices and Forward Premia on the MISO Exchange

This paper explores information contained in the basis for wholesale electricity on the Midcontinent Independent System Operator (MISO) electricity exchange. Utilizing Fama and French’s (1987) approach, the basis is found to have predictive power on changes in real-time (spot) prices but provides only limited evidence of a time-varying forward premium. This result contradicts Huisman and Kilic’s (2012) theory that the basis in an electricity market which relies primarily on storable forms of power for electricity production (such as MISO) should contain information on both changes in spot prices and provide evidence of a time-varying forward premium.

Utilization of Biomass to Ash: An Overview of the Potential Resources for Alternative Energy.

Climate change and the potential depletion of fossil fuels have increased international demand for alternative and renewable energy sources. In terms of the energy sector, for example, most of the South-East Asian countries (SACs) have a large number of biomass sources due to their vast forest resources and agriculture-based economies. Thus, the critical review was aimed at highlighting the overview of biomass energy in South-East Asia as a dynamically developing region, in order to obtain economic and environmental benefits from the existing sources of biomass in the world. The current review analyzed the sources of biomass, as well as their energy potential, use, and management, based on reports from different countries, published studies, and scientific articles. In SAC, the main sources of biomass were found to be coconut residues, oil palm residues, sugar cane residues, rice straw, rice husks, wood waste, and firewood. The combined annual biomass potentials in the forestry and agricultural sectors in South-East Asia were approximately over 500 million tons per year and more than 8 gigajoule of total energy potentials. The study identified the challenges and barriers to using biomass in these countries to achieve sustainable use of biomass sources and recommended sustainable approaches to using biomass energy by comparing traditional uses of biomass. Smart grid technologies have ways for solutions for better electric power production and efficient ways for distribution and transmission of electricity. Smart grids require less space and can be more easily installed when compared to traditional grids because of their versatilities. Upcoming challenges include technology optimization for the following uses of biomass energy: direct combustion of woody biomass; pyrolysis and gasification of biomass; anaerobic digestion of organic waste to produce biogas; landfill gas production direct incineration of organic waste. The barriers in this technology are emissions of carbon and nitrogen oxides, unpleasant odors, as well as the uncontrolled harvesting of biomass, which can harm nature.

Accurate Demand Forecasting: A Flexible and Balanced Electric Power Production Big Data Virtualization Based on Photovoltaic Power Plant

This paper has tried to execute accurate demand forecasting by utilizing big data visualization and proposes a flexible and balanced electric power production big data virtualization based on a photovoltaic power plant. First of all, this paper has tried to align electricity demand and supply as much as possible using big data. Second, by using big data to predict the supply of new renewable energy, an attempt was made to incorporate new and renewable energy into the current power supply system and to recommend an efficient energy distribution method. The first presented problem that had to be solved was the improvement in the accuracy of the existing electricity demand for forecasting models. This was explained through the relationship between the power demand and the number of specific words in the paper that use crawling by utilizing big data. The next problem arose because the current electricity production and supply system stores the amount of new renewable energy by changing the form of energy that is produced through ESS or that is pumped through water power generation without taking the amount of new renewable energy that is generated from sources such as thermal power, nuclear power, and hydropower into consideration. This occurs due to the difficulty of predicting power production using new renewable energy and the absence of a prediction system, which is a problem due to the inefficiency of changing energy types. Therefore, using game theory, the theoretical foundation of a power demand forecasting model based on big data-based renewable energy production forecasting was prepared.

Fundamental understanding of microbial fuel cell technology: Recent development and challenges

The research on microbial fuel cells (MFCs) is rising tremendously but its commercialization is restricted by several microbiological, material, and economic constraints. Hence, a systematic assessment of the research articles published previously focusing on potential upcoming directions in this field is necessary. A detailed multi-perspective analysis of various techniques for enhancing the efficiency of MFC in terms of electric power production is presented in this paper. A brief discussion on the central aspects of different issues are preceded by an extensive analysis of the strategies that can be introduced to optimize power generation and reduce energy losses. Various applications of MFCs in a broad spectrum ranging from biomedical to underwater monitoring rather than electricity production and wastewater treatment are also presented followed by relevant possible case studies. Mathematical modeling is used to understand the concepts that cannot be understood experimentally. These methods relate electrode geometries to microbiological reactions occurring inside the MFC chamber, which explains the system's behavior and can be improved. Finally, directions for future research in the field of MFCs have been suggested. This article can be beneficial for engineers and researchers concerned about the challenges faced in the application of MFC.

Modeling and Simulation of Wind Turbine Generator Using Matlab-Simulink

Wind energy utilization for power generation purpose is becoming high interest in electrical power production as a result of easy access to the wind and not be affected by any environment that is clean and sustainable source of energy.In this research a mathematical model and its parameters has been studied that affect the electrical output power generated by the wind turbine. These parameters are wind speed which is affected by temperature that cause air density change and that lead to vary wind speed, and power coefficient as a function of pitch angle and blade tip speed.The modeling and simulation technique will play great role in the design and analysis of these wind turbines.In the past years, the demand of Matlab-Simulink is one of the most common software, which is important for modeling, and simulation of dynamic systems. It provides a graphical interface, easy to access, design, build and verify mathematical models.These programs can easily make new designs and strategies control as well as tests. The wind turbine generators are the best example of these dynamic systems.

Relieving the water-energy nexus pressure through whole supply chain management: Evidence from the provincial-level analysis in China

Water-energy nexus (WEN) is an international hot-spot issue, while more attentions have been paid to the direct nexus effect resulting from production activities. In this context, this study firstly used the multiregional input-output (MRIO) analysis to offer a full spectrum of water and energy usage throughout the whole supply chain in China, considering production-based perspective and betweenness-based and consumption-based perspectives. And then the principal components analysis (PCA) was applied to further target the critical WEN sectors in Chinese's 30 provinces. The results show that: (1) For most of these provinces, the direct WEN pressure caused by production activities can be found in several traditional resource-intensive sectors, especially in S22 (Production and supply of electric power and steam) and S14 (Smelting and pressing of metals). (2) The most critical transmission sectors with WEN pressure was S12 (Manufacture of chemicals and chemical products), followed by S14 in most of these province. S22 was the key transmission center in several provinces, and S7 (Manufacture of textile) in Fujian and Hubei and S10 (Papermaking and printing) in Zhejiang and Hainan should also be highly-concerned. (3) For all of these provinces, the indirect WEN pressure driven by final consumption appeared in S24 (Construction industry). In addition, S16 (Manufacture of general and special-purpose machinery) and S17 (Manufacture of Transport equipment) were the other two key consumption-based WEN sectors in some provinces. Overall, the WEN pressures in Jiangsu were relatively great in China, and S12 in Hubei was the only sector facing great WEN pressure from all three perspectives. Our results can draw implications for regional sustainable development in China.

Gas turbine cogeneration concepts for the pressureless discharge of high temperature thermal energy storage units

Power-to-heat technology allows the leveling of high electrical power production peaks by converting excess electrical energy into high-exergy heat and storing it in a high-temperature thermal energy storage (HTS). When electricity is needed, a gas turbine process can be used for an efficient discharge in decentralized usage scenarios. As a novelty of this work, different configurations of the Brayton cycle are presented and investigated, which permit a pressureless storage discharge and thus a cost-efficient and scalable HTS unit. The processes enable combined heat and power generation (CHP) to increase the total efficiency of the system. Stationary process simulations are conducted with the software EBSILON®Professional to thermodynamically analyze four process designs. The influence of the HTS outlet temperature, process-internal pressure conditions, as well as other component-specific efficiencies are examined in separate parameter studies. Based on state-of-the-art components, the process variants show electrical efficiencies above 29% and total efficiencies about 87% for an HTS outlet temperature of 900 °C. By reducing thermal losses, closed processes can increase the total efficiency to 97%. Two processes can be determined as suitable for CHP. The open externally heated Brayton cycle achieves the highest electrical efficiency of 33.14% at the design point, while the closed inverse Brayton cycle is achieving the highest total energetic and exergetic efficiency.

Cloud Connected Power Inverter

In the Industry 4.0 paradigm, the control of electrical power production and consumption in small energy nodes remains an important objective. The new energy production nodes are usually installed in locations with reduced power requirements. They can produce energy to cover the needs of the consumer and the excess can be pushed in the national power grid system. This paper proposes a scheme to control the balance between produced energy, the locally consumed energy and the energy pushed into the national power grid system, using grid controlled inverters. The inverter connects the local energy source, with the local consumer and also ensures a bidirectional connection to the national power grid system. The inverter can be programmed to satisfy the local consumer power requirements, from the local source or from the national power grid system, and it can also deliver the local excess energy to the national power grid system. The controller is connected with the Internet and is able to send data to an IoT server. This paper presents a solution, along with its supporting technology, to create a network infrastructure based on thinger.io IoT technology. We present this solution for control, monitoring and optimization the electrical power production and consumption for small consumers using the IoT technology. This device can be used in small farm areas where we can monitor and control the balance between energy production and energy consumption from local sources or from the national power grid system. The device can also be used to monitor and control energy flow in remote small industrial plants or agricultural farms.

Development and analysis of a novel CSP source driven cogeneration cycle for the production of electric power and low temperature refrigeration

This communication presents the implementation of a central receiver where helically coiled tubes are employed in order to enhance the rate of solar to heat conversion, which is the energy source that drives a cogeneration cycle which consists of organic Rankine cycle and the ejector-absorption refrigeration cycle. A numerical simulation with the application of computational fluid dynamics using the ANSYS-FLUENT package was conducted to examine the effect of the coil diameter and inlet oil (Duratherm 600) temperature on the pressure and temperature of solar heat transfer fluid (SHTF) which leaves the receiver. It is found that for inlet temperature of 92°C and direct normal irradiations of 850 W/m2, the outlet temperature of solar heat transfer fluid is raised by 9% when the coil diameter increased from 150 to 400 mm. Further, cogeneration cycle response to altering operating parameters is also investigated. From 100% radiative solar energy supplied to cogeneration cycle, it is revealed that fluids of organic Rankine cycle; R141b, R600a, and R143a produce the energetic output as 20.64%, 15.04%, and 8.33%, respectively, and the remaining solar input energy is lost to environment through temperature difference. The exergy distribution shows that for R141b operated cycle out of 100% solar exergy, 16.79% is produced as exergetic output, 81.94% is the exergy destroyed, and the remaining 1.27% is the exergy loss.

Using Proactive Maintenance Strategy for Sustainable Electric Power Production in Nigeria

An unpleasant turn of events would compel and prevail upon power plants owners and operators looking for alternative for keeping maintenance activities up and awake. Thus, causing a break away from outdated traditional system originally practiced in maintenance organizations, which affects operations in terms of costs and energy required for sustainable activity in the power production industry; via Generation, Transmission and Distribution. However, the only inevitably obtainable option as per organizational success in the power industry is through a substituent for a failure based system with success based strategy that is concerned with optimization of complex processes, systems or organization by developing, improving and implementing integrated systems of people, money, knowledge, information and equipment, central to manufacturing and production operations. A platform intended to deliver on plant (a) availability (b) reliability and (c) sustainability, which lead to reduced maintenance costs and increased profitability. Keywords: maintenance management; strategy implementation, power sector, performance optimization DOI: 10.7176/IEL/11-3-03 Publication date: October 31 st 2021

Comparative analysis of the efficiency of using hydrogen and steam methane reforming storage at combined cycle gas turbine for cogeneration

Combined cycle gas turbine cogeneration power plants provide maximal thermal efficiency. The facility thermal load depends upon ambient conditions and it may limit its unloading degree, or control range. Energy accumulation extends the control range by the energy storing during the power excess period and the energy discharge during the high consumption period. This paper considers two accumulation technologies, with the steam methane reforming and with hydrogen storage by using electrolyzer and fuel cell. In steam methane reforming technology a part of heat recovery steam generator steam passes to the synthetic gas production and reduces the electric power production during the low load periods. During the peak load periods, the synthetic gas is burned in combined cycle gas turbine and peak load gas turbine combustors. In hydrogen accumulation technology the excessive power produces hydrogen in an electrolyzer, which is stored and used during the peak load periods in fuel cells for additional electricity production. The simulation was carried out in the Aspen Plus software, the thermo-physical fluid properties were determined using the Peng-Robinson state equation. Application of the steam methane reforming accumulation technology increases the facility contribution margin by 2.6%, the hydrogen accumulation technology reduces this margin by 0.1%.

A distributive multi-phase waste management model for analyzing synergistic emission mitigation policies – A Chinese case study

Accelerated industrialization results in an irrational emission of multi-phase industrial wastes (IW) such as air/water pollutants and solid/hazardous wastes, making their synergistic management a major challenge. To address this issue, a distributive multi-phase waste management (DMWM) model is developed to facilitate comprehensive emission-reduction analysis in China. The DMWM model first clarifies the emission structure and interrelationships of the various sectors in the multi-waste and corresponding pollutant systems. The sectors with similar economic and environmental attributes could be clustered to facilitate the synergistic mitigation of IW. It is discovered that the highest emitting type of industrial waste in China is industrial solid waste (ISW). Chemical oxygen demand (COD), SO2 (SOG) and common industrial solid waste (CSW) are the pollutants contributing the most to emissions from Industrial wastewater (IWW), industrial waste gas (IWG), and ISW, which accounted for 92.4%, 39.13% and 98.74% of the corresponding IW emissions, respectively. Besides, some typical industries are identified for pollution mitigation, such as smelting and pressing of metals (SPM), production and distribution of electric power and heat (EH), chemical industries (CI) and service (OS). In addition, the overall industrial waste emissions from different sectors in China show clustering characteristics of four sectoral groups, which indicates the need for IW treatment for different sectoral groups. Therefore, it is expected that the results of this study will provide a scientific foundation for evaluating and formulating future industrial pollutant control policies.

Урахування використання акумуляційних систем у моделі прогнозування довгострокового розвитку електроенергетичної системи

The rapid growth of renewable generation share in the power systems worldwide, that could be explained by the world community desire for sustainable clean energy, combating the global climate change, has led to widespread use of wind and solar power plants as today’s most productive and competitive. With significant volumes of generation of these RES there are difficulties in the power system balancing due to insufficient flexibility of traditional generation, which limits electricity supply from renewables. The electricity storage is seemed to be a key solution to a number of technical and economic problems of the wind and solar power integration into the power system due to its unique ability to store and re-supply electricity to the grid. Electricity storage can be used to store excess volumes of renewable energy generation, which will be used later, minimizing or removing restrictions on supply of that excesses. The article presents approaches to taking into account the use of storage systems of electricity storage in a partial-integer model for forecasting of the power system generating capacity structure development. The use of storage system for the consumption/supply of electricity in the daily electrical load curves of the power system is modeled taking into account the available storage capacity. For hydropower the limitation of the water resource availability is taken into account. Battery energy storages ensure the transfer of excess power from wind and solar plants to the peaking periods of daily load if there is absent the possibility to ramp-down conventional generation during maximum wind and solar electric power production. Keywords: power system, the long-term development forecasting, mathematical model, energy storage system, load curve

An Optimal Energy Management System for University Campus Using the Hybrid Firefly Lion Algorithm (FLA)

As the world population and its dependency on energy is growing exponentially day by day, the existing energy generating resources are not enough to fulfill their needs. In the conventional grid system, most of the generated energy is wasted because of improper demand side management (DSM). This leads to a difficulty in keeping the equilibrium between the user need and electric power production. To overcome these difficulties, smart grid (SG) is introduced, which is composed of the integration of two-way communication between the user and utility. To utilize the existing energy resources in a better way, SG is the best option since a large portion of the generated energy is consumed by the educational institutes. Such institutes also need un-interrupted power supply at the lowest cost. Therefore, in this paper, we have taken a university campus load. We have not only applied two bio-inspired heuristic algorithms for energy scheduling—namely, the Firefly Algorithm (FA) and the Lion Algorithm (LA)—but also proposed a hybrid version, FLA, for more optimal results. Our main objectives are a reduction in both, that is, the cost of energy and the waiting time of consumers or end users. For this purpose, in our proposed model, we have divided all appliances into two categories—shiftable appliances and non-shiftable appliances. Shiftable appliances are feasible to be used in any of the time slots and can be planned according to the day-ahead pricing signal (DAP), provided by the utility, while non-shiftable appliances can be used for a specified duration and cannot be planned with the respective DAP signal. So, we have scheduled shiftable appliances only. We have also used renewable energy sources (RES) for achieving maximum end user benefits. The simulation results show that our proposed hybrid algorithm, FLA, has reduced the cost excellently. We have also taken into consideration the consumers’ waiting times, due to scheduling of appliances.