Solution To Energy Crisis Research Articles

An Assessment on the Biomass Energy Resources for the Province of Laguna, Republic of the Philippines

Biomass is one of the very important fuel sources in developing countries, in case of the Philippines. Thus, the energy extracted from these resources can provide several advantages in terms of energy security, socio-economic development, and environment. An illustrative case study is conducted for the whole province of Laguna, Philippines, in order to utilize the energy assessed from biomass, particularly on the livestock waste exploitation on cattle, swine, and poultry. The assessed energy potential for Laguna may lead to have a solution for energy crisis and environmental concerns. The researchers have visited the six (6) local government units of Laguna, namely the cities of Binan, Sta. Rosa, and Calamba, and the municipalities of Los Banos, Calauan, and Cabuyao, in order to gather data and information. Several data from other farms in some areas in the Philippines are also provided, in order to develop a mathematical model that allows the estimation of the electricity consumption in the farm. The evaluation and ultimate selection of the most appropriate livestock waste system is a multi-level and multi-criteria decision problem. This study thus utilizes the Weighted Decision Making (WDM) for problem structuring and eventual ranking of the livestock waste systems. Finally, the location of the proposed biomass-energy plant is determined by utilizing the graphical representation method.

Performance improvement of a direct carbon solid oxide fuel cell via strontium-catalyzed carbon gasification

As a new way of power generation, direct carbon solid oxide fuel cells (DC-SOFCs) exhibit great potential in solution of energy crisis and environmental pollution. According to the working principle, the cell operation is a kinetically controlled process, and the reverse Boudouard reaction is the rate-determining step of the whole system. In this study, a Sr-based catalyst is successfully introduced to accelerate carbon gasification and thus enhance cell performance of DC-SOFCs. The electrochemical performance of DC-SOFCs operated on coconut active charcoal with various Sr loading contents (3 wt%–10 wt%), are studied and compared with that of DC-SOFCs with traditional Fe-catalyzed carbon fuel. Experimental results demonstrate that the best output of 316 mW cm−2 is achieved from the single cell powered with 5 wt% Sr-loaded coconut active charcoal at 850 °C, higher than those of DC-SOFCs fueled by pure and 5 wt% Fe-loaded active charcoal. The superiority of the Sr-based catalyst is also demonstrated by the operation stability of the corresponding DC-SOFC, which displays a relatively long operation time of 22.68 h at 0.25 A cm−2 with the fuel utilization of 18.3%. The SEM/EDX results indicate that the Sr-based catalyst exhibits good stability without agglomeration during cell operation at high temperature. In addition, the carbon gasification mechanism catalyzed by Sr-based catalyst is also proposed on the basis of these properties. This study indicates that the designed Sr-loaded coconut active charcoal is expected to be an alternative carbon fuel for DC-SOFCs.

First Principles Calculation for Photocatalytic Activity of GaAs Monolayer

Solar energy hydrogen production is one of the best solutions for energy crisis. Therefore, finding effective photocatalytic materials that are able to split water under the sunlight is a hot topic in the present research fields. In addition, theoretical prediction is a present low-cost important method to search a new kind of materials. Herein, with the aim of seeking efficient photocatalytic material we investigated the photocatalytic activity of GaAs monolayer by the first principles calculation. According to the obtained electronic and optical properties, we primarily predicted the photocatalytic water splitting activity of GaAs monolayer, which the result further confirmed by the calculated reaction free energy. More remarkably, predicted carrier mobility of GaAs monolayer 2838 cm2V−1s−1 is higher than 200 cm2V−1s−1 of MoS2. Our finding provides a promising material for the development of renewable energy conversion and a new outlook for better designing of a superior photocatalyst for water splitting.

Ordered mesoporous carbon with atomically dispersed Fe-Nx as oxygen reduction reaction electrocatalyst in air-cathode microbial fuel cells

As a renewable energy source, microbial fuel cell (MFC) exhibits a great potential in solution of energy crisis and environmental pollution. The cathode catalyst for oxygen reduction reaction (ORR) is one of the most important factors that can affect the performance of fuel cell. Herein, MOF-derived ordered mesoporous carbon (Fe–N/C) with atomically dispersed Fe-Nx active sites was successfully prepared. It can significantly improve the ORR activity in alkaline, acidic or neutral electrolyte, inspiring us to establish a MFC using it as cathode catalyst. The Fe–N/C-MFC performs great maximum power density (1232.9 mW m−2), high Open Circuit Voltage (0.644 V) and large constant output voltage (0.46 V) which are all superior to that of 20% Pt–C. The ohmic resistance (Rohm) and charge transfer resistance (Rct) of Fe–N/C decrease by 36.2% and 88.7% from 25.4 Ω to 110.6 Ω (N/C) to 16.2 Ω and 12.5 Ω (Fe–N/C), respectively. Note that the Fe–N/C holds an ordered mesoporous structure with the characteristic of Fe-Nx active sites doping, and content of pyridine-like N and graphite-like N are both significantly increased compared with N/C sample. These results make the atomically dispersed Fe-Nx ordered mesoporous Fe–N/C promising for commercial application of MFC.

ANALISIS TEKNO EKONOMI BRIKET ARANG DARI SAMPAH DAUN KERING

Nowadays, Energy comsumption in the world tend to depend on fossil fuels. Alternative energy is still less developed. Indonesia has potential to develop alternative energy, especially biomass. One of this biomass is dried leaf that can be done to be briquettes. Dried leaf briquettes can be as an alternative fuel may be a solution for energy crisis. Economically that briquetting of the dried leaf could be a very promising business. Briquetting of dry leaf can be done with the simplest of techniques. It’s necessary doing techno economic analysis of charcoal briquettes of dried leaf. This research was done by using two types of adhesives briquettes  namely tapioca flour and sago with a weight percentage of 30% by weight of dry leaf briquette. The result of this research is the best briquette adhesive is tapioca flour because it produces water content of 25%, ash content of 13.85%, carbon content 61.15% and calorific value is 7100.23 calories. If this compare with adhesive sago are the water content is 23.08%, ash content of 10.5%, carbon content 69.41% and calorific value is 6325.66 calories. When compared with the comparative quality of briquettes SNI no.1 / 6235/200, only the carbon content of which has not reached for both types of the adhesive. The results of the calculation of the cost of production, to produce briquettes with a capacity of 15,000 kg of briquettes per year is Rp 42,312,600.00 while the cost of production Rp 2820.00/kg and selling price that can be offered to consumers are Rp 4,300/Kg. In this economic calculation values obtained BEP (kg) is 15008.75 kg and BEP in rupiah at Rp 42,324,675.00. While its payback period is for 90 days.

Peclet number analysis of cross-flow in porous gas diffusion layer of polymer electrolyte membrane fuel cell (PEMFC).

Adoption of hydrogen economy by means of using hydrogen fuel cells is one possible solution for energy crisis and climate change issues. Polymer electrolyte membrane (PEM) fuel cell, which is an important type of fuel cells, suffers from the problem of water management. Cross-flow is induced in some flow field designs to enhance the water removal. The presence of cross-flow in the serpentine and interdigitated flow fields makes them more effective in proper distribution of the reactants on the reaction layer and evacuation of water from the reaction layer than diffusion-based conventional parallel flow fields. However, too much of cross-flow leads to flow maldistribution in the channels, higher pressure drop, and membrane dehydration. In this study, an attempt has been made to quantify the amount of cross-flow required for effective distribution of reactants and removal of water in the gas diffusion layer. Unit cells containing two adjacent channels with gas diffusion layer (GDL) and catalyst layer at the bottom have been considered for the parallel, interdigitated, and serpentine flow patterns. Computational fluid dynamics-based simulations are carried out to study the reactant transport in under-the-rib area with cross-flow in the GDL. A new criterion based on the Peclet number is presented as a quantitative measure of cross-flow in the GDL. The study shows that a cross-flow Peclet number of the order of 2 is required for effective removal of water from the GDL. Estimates show that this much of cross-flow is not usually produced in the U-bends of Serpentine flow fields, making these areas prone to flooding.

The Potency of Three-Chambered Microbial Desalination Cells Implementation as an Alternative Solution for Energy Conservation in Indonesia

<p>Energy crisis issue is appearing. The fact that there will no longer be enough unrenewable energy sources to fulfill global energy demand forces us to come up with some initiatives to overcome this. One way to do it is by trying to conserve energy in any way possible, such as in the production of reliable water sources. Microbial desalination cells (MDC) is one of the methods used in salt water desalination process. It runs on bioelectric potential produced because of the metabolism done by microbes. The results of more recent findings shows that wastewater-based three-chambered MDC offers a new solution to resolve both issues concering energy and water crisis, also with higher efficiency than other common desalination process such as reverse osmosis, electrodialysis, thermal distillation, and freezing. Indonesia’s nature as an archipelago country that is surrounded by enormous amount of salt water held the potential of MDC implementation to become a solution of energy crisis caused by the upcoming extinction of fossil fuel. <br /><strong></strong></p><p><strong>Keywords</strong>: Energy conservation; microbial desalination cells; seawater</p>

Nusantara Microalgae Park: Solution of Energy Crisis in Outer and Small Islands of Indonesia

<p>Indonesia is the largest archipelago country in the world that has strategic geographical position. Indonesia has about 13,466 islands that have been named, 5.8 million km2 sea areas and the fourth longest coastline in the world with a total length of 95,181 km. Geographically, Indonesia is located in a strategic position of world cruise lines, between the continent of Asia and Australia and between Indian Ocean and Pacific Ocean. Indonesian archipelago has only 28 islands which are not classified as small islands. This fact shows that Indonesia has more than 13 thousands small islands and 92 islands which are the outer small islands. Outer and small islands are potentially for economic development and national defense. Therefore, the number of energy needs increases. To fulfill the energy needs in the form of bio-diesel and bio-kerosene, the marine microalgae is the great potential. Nusantara Microalgae Park is a concept of marine microalgae cultivation area based on coastal societies in outer and small islands. Bio-diesel and bio-kerosene produced from this concept will be very helpful for people in fishing and cooking environmentally friendly. This concept can be integrated with Island Adoption Program, Cooperative Program and Transmigration Program. To implement this concept so that sustainable, there are four principles (pro-poor, pro-job, pro-growth and pro-environment) and five pillars (economy, people, technology, academics and institutions coordination).</p><p><strong>Keywords:</strong> marine microalgae, small islands, coastal community, biofuel, Indonesia, sustainable <br /><br /></p>

A Fine-Grained Access Control Model for Smart Grid

The smart grid that the next-generation electric power system is studied intensively as a promising solution for energy crisis. One important feature of the smart grid is the integration of high-speed, reliable and secure data communication networks to manage the complex power systems effectively and intelligently. The goal of smart grid is to achieve the security of operation, economic efficient and environmental friendly. To achieve this goal, we proposed a fine-grained access control model for smart grid. In order to improve the security of smart grid, an access-trust-degree algorithm is proposed to evaluate the reliability of the user who want to access to the smart grid.

Waste to Energy: A New Dimension in Generating Electricity in Bangladesh

The conventional fuels required for production of electricity is decreasing day by day and it is very important to find out alternative sources which can be used as the fuel for the production of electricity especially for developing countries like Bangladesh. With a population of 160 million Bangladesh produce enough amount of waste per day to ponder about this topic. So, we felt that it is worth working on this field and it is high time to inject the concept of Waste to Energy in Bangladesh. First, a base line survey was conducted for independent research to accumulate the data of total waste generation in Bangladesh. During this Endeavour it was found some local poultry farms are using poultry waste to generate electricity. These case studies encouraged to carry forward the Endeavour and to generate electricity from Municipal Solid Waste (MSW), cafeteria waste, and different composition of different wastes at the university campus to make the technology locally appropriate. A model for community based small and medium waste to energy power plant is being developed for proper waste management and possible solution of energy crisis in Bangladesh.

Vehicle Dynamic Simulation for Efficiency Optimization of Four-wheel Independent Driven Electric Vehicle

Electric vehicle is considered to be the solution for energy crisis and environment pollution in individual transportation. However, electric vehicles are still not competitive with conventional vehicles limited by the driving range with the state-of-art power battery technology. Therefore, energy efficiency is of crucial importance for battery electric vehicles due to the limited stored energy. In order to optimize the energy efficiency of a four-wheel independently driven electric vehicle, the model consisting of the vehicle dynamics model, wheel motor model and PNGV model of LiFePO4 power battery was developed in Matlab/Simulink. As the motor efficiency is low in small torque range, motors should work as much as possible in high efficiency range in order to extend the driving range. A new control algorithm was developed to distribute the total torque requirement dynamically to four wheel motors. When the total torque requirement is low, only two motors drive the vehicle and when the total torque requirement is high, four motors should work together to deliver the required torque. The vehicle switches between 2-wheel drive mode and 4-wheel drive mode according to the driving condition using the new control algorithm. Simulations of the new control algorithm were carried out on a modified urban drive cycle. The result showed that an improvement in driving range was achieved with the new control algorithm.

Stalk Model of Membrane Fusion: Solution of Energy Crisis

Membrane fusion proceeds via formation of intermediate nonbilayer structures. The stalk model of fusion intermediate is commonly recognized to account for the major phenomenology of the fusion process. However, in its current form, the stalk model poses a challenge. On one hand, it is able to describe qualitatively the modulation of the fusion reaction by the lipid composition of the membranes. On the other, it predicts very large values of the stalk energy, so that the related energy barrier for fusion cannot be overcome by membranes within a biologically reasonable span of time. We suggest a new structure for the fusion stalk, which resolves the energy crisis of the model. Our approach is based on a combined deformation of the stalk membrane including bending of the membrane surface and tilt of the hydrocarbon chains of lipid molecules. We demonstrate that the energy of the fusion stalk is a few times smaller than those predicted previously and the stalks are feasible in real systems. We account quantitatively for the experimental results on dependence of the fusion reaction on the lipid composition of different membrane monolayers. We analyze the dependence of the stalk energy on the distance between the fusing membranes and provide the experimentally testable predictions for the structural features of the stalk intermediates.