Fuel Technology Research Articles

Role of Lean and Agile Supply Chain Models for Pellet Fuel Technologies

Business organisations constantly strive to improve their processes, both internal and external. Within the supply chain of a product, different strategies can be applied. This paper aims to answer the basic questions like what is the core of lean and agile SCM strategies, what are the differences of the two models, and how can they be combined. This paper examines further, which of these SCM models and what elements of them can be applied for wood pellet supply chains, also examining the possibility of their combination. The result of these examinations is, that even though fuel pellets can be considered as simple commodity and not a very innovative product, diversity in input characteristics, optimization of fuel pellet technology process variables and changes in output market qualities and quantities need sometimes agile, flexible answer from pellet fuel SCM. The basically lean character of pellet fuel technologies and SCM can further enhanced by implementing agile SCM model elements, as is the increased integration of suppliers into the supply chain.

Clean coal technologies in China based on methanol platform

Coal is the most abundant fossil energy, however, coal industry is threatened by its environmental problems caused by the traditional way of utilization. In recent years, China has developed a series of clean coal technologies to transform black-dirty coal into clean fuels and chemicals. Shenhua Group, the largest coal company in China is leading the commercialization of modern clean-coal technologies for value-added chemicals and clean transportation fuels, in which CO2 is captured in the process and ready for carbon capture, utilization and storage (CCUS). Industrial plants for coal based methanol production and conversion are flourishing in last decade. With the development of renewable H2, methanol production could be realized by CO2 hydrogenation to transform into “Methanol Economy”, the sustainable energy development system. This paper will focus on the overview of research and development of methanol-based coal conversion technologies in China, such as methanol synthesis, methanol to olefins (MTO), chemicals (formaldehyde, acetic acid, aromatics, ethanol, ethylene glycol, etc.), gasoline (MTG), dimethyl ether (DME), polyoxymethylene dimethyl ethers (DMMn), methyl tert-butyl ether (MTBE), direct combustion (DMFC), and as energy carrier. Commercial and successfully demonstrated units in China on both the synthesis of methanol and its utilization are discussed in detail.

Comparing the Expected Stack Cost of Next Generation Intermediate Temperature Protonic Ceramic Fuel Cells with Solid Oxide Fuel Cell Technology

Lowering the operating temperature of high-temperature fuel cells has historically been motivated by stack and system cost reduction and durability considerations towards making fuel cells a more attractive distributed generation technology. Protonic ceramic fuel cells (PCFCs) operating beneath 600oC have emerged as a promising technology candidate for developing power generation systems. In this paper, we present an economic manufacturing model that was developed to estimate the overall expected cost of a PCFC stack and compare the results with solid oxide fuel cell (SOFC) technology for hydrogen and methane fuels. The costs of PCFC stacks operating on methane at 500oC (0.155 W/cm2) and 550oC (0.240 W/cm2) are estimated to be 4% to 38% lower, respectively, than SOFC stacks operating at 800oC (~0.300 W/cm2).

Call for papers: MWRM 2017

Abstract submissions are being accepted for the 2017 Midwest Regional Meeting, which will take place Oct. 18–20 at the Memorial Union of the University of Kansas, in Lawrence. Symposia will highlight advances in synthesis, catalysis, theory, spectroscopy, materials, chemical biology, and intersections with diverse scientific and technological domains. In addition to technical symposia and poster sessions, the meeting will feature a plenary lecture, a graduate awards symposium, and an instrument exhibition. The symposium sessions include “Joint Symposium on Theory, Spectroscopy & Materials,” “Chemical Biology of Infectious Disease,” “Catalysis & Catalytic Technologies for Fuels, Chemicals & the Environment,” “Starting Companies in the Biotechnology Industry,” “Analytical Applications of Microfluidics,” “From Molecules to Nanomaterials: Applications in Energy & Catalysis,” “Spectroscopy Applied to Structure, Dynamics & Imaging,” “Theory of Interfaces,” “Organic Synthesis & Catalysis,” “Chemical Biology of M...

Limiting photocurrent analysis of a wide channel photoelectrochemical flow reactor

The development of efficient and scalable photoelectrochemical (PEC) reactors is of great importance for the eventual commercialization of solar fuels technology. In this study, we systematically explore the influence of convective mass transport and light intensity on the performance of a 3D-printed PEC flow cell reactor based on a wide channel, parallel plate geometry. Using this design, the limiting current density generated from the hydrogen evolution reaction at a p-Si metal–insulator–semiconductor (MIS) photocathode was investigated under varied reactant concentration, fluid velocity, and light intensity. Additionally, a simple model is introduced to predict the range of operating conditions (reactant concentration, light intensity, fluid velocity) for which the photocurrent generated in a parallel plate PEC flow cell is limited by light absorption or mass transport. This model can serve as a useful guide for the design and operation of wide-channel PEC flow reactors. The results of this study have important implications for PEC reactors operating in electrolytes with dilute reactant concentrations and/or under high light intensities where high fluid velocities are required in order to avoid operation in the mass transport-limited regime.

Will Aerosol Hygroscopicity Change with Biodiesel, Renewable Diesel Fuels and Emission Control Technologies?

The use of biodiesel and renewable diesel fuels in compression ignition engines and aftertreatment technologies may affect vehicle exhaust emissions. In this study two 2012 light-duty vehicles equipped with direct injection diesel engines, diesel oxidation catalyst (DOC), diesel particulate filter (DPF), and selective catalytic reduction (SCR) were tested on a chassis dynamometer. One vehicle was tested over the Federal Test Procedure (FTP) cycle on seven biodiesel and renewable diesel fuel blends. Both vehicles were exercised over double Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) Highway fuel economy test (HWFET) cycles on ultralow sulfur diesel (ULSD) and a soy-based biodiesel blend to investigate the aerosol hygroscopicity during the regeneration of the DPF. Overall, the apparent hygroscopicity of emissions during nonregeneration events is consistently low (κ < 0.1) for all fuels over the FTP cycle. Aerosol emitted during filter regeneration is significantly more CCN active and hygroscopic; average κ values range from 0.242 to 0.439 and are as high as 0.843. Regardless of fuel, the current classification of "fresh" tailpipe emissions as nonhygroscopic remains true during nonregeneration operation. However, aftertreatment technologies such as DPF, will produce significantly more hygroscopic particles during regeneration. To our knowledge, this is the first study to show a significant enhancement of hygroscopic materials emitted during DPF regeneration of on-road diesel vehicles. As such, the contribution of regeneration emissions from a growing fleet of diesel vehicles will be important.

ҚОҢЫР КӨМІР НЕГІЗІНДЕ ЖОҒАРЫ САПАЛЫ ТҮТІНСІЗ ЖӘНЕ КҮЛДІЛІГІ АЗ БРИКЕТ АЛУДЫҢ БИОТЕХНОЛОГИЯЛЫҚ АСПЕКТІЛЕРІ

Biotechnological processes of coal processing, including transformation and conversion can beaimed at obtaining various solid, liquid and gaseous fuels and products from it, as well as improving itstechnical and consumer characteristics. Combusted in the municipal and industrial sectors, coal fuel,which has a low sulfur content, low smoke, reduced ash content and the required structural-granulometric composition, is combined under the name «smokeless fuel» or «briquettes».Also, the main areas of coal processing based on the use of native or genetically modified microorganisms is to improve their functional and environmental characteristics for energy-engineering applications by removing mustard and organic sulfur. When developing biotechnological approaches, variousgroups of bacteria and fungi are used, and the processes can be performed both in mesophilic and thermophilic conditions in the presence of oxygen. At present, new biotechnological methods are being developed based on the removal of sulfur fromcoal, i.e. biodesulfurization is one of the processes that causes the greatest interest. Natural biodesulfurization process involves microbial ecosystems and biocenoses, which include symbiotic commensalmicroorganisms.For the reasons listed above, the study and creation of new efficient technologies for the productionof solid fuels, including smokeless, is a timely solution to the current problem.Key words: coal, microorganism, biosolubilization, desulfurization, smokeless fuel.

Cu-CDots nanocorals as electrocatalyst for highly efficient CO2 reduction to formate.

Electrochemical reduction of CO2 is a key component of many prospective artificial technologies for renewable carbon-containing fuels, but it still suffers from the high overpotentials required to drive the process, low selectivity for diversiform products and the high cost of the catalyst. Here, we report that Cu-CDots nanocorals is a highly efficient, low-cost and stable electrocatalyst for CO2 reduction in aqueous solution. The major product of CO2 reduction on the Cu-CDots nanocorals is HCOOH with an inconceivable low overpotential of 0.13 V and a high Faraday efficiency of 79% at a moderate potential of -0.7 V vs. RHE. In the present system, CDots can increase the adsorption capacity of CO2 molecules and H+, which play important roles in CO2 reduction. The high selectivity of HCOOH for CO2 reduction may be ascribed to that CDots can greatly diminish the HCOOH desorption energy and improve the catalytic selectivity for HCOOH. Furthermore, Cu-CDots nanocorals exhibit a long-term stability during 5 h-electrolysis.

Developing an advanced biofuels industry in California: The alternative and renewable fuel and vehicle technology program

Developing an advanced biofuels industry in California: The alternative and renewable fuel and vehicle technology program

Artificial photosynthesis: closing remarks.

This paper derives from my closing remarks lecture at the 198th Faraday Discussion meeting on Artificial Photosynthesis, Kyoto, Japan, February 28-March 2. The meeting had sessions on biological approaches and fundamental processes, molecular catalysts, inorganic assembly catalysts, and integration of systems for demonstrating realistic devices. The field has had much progress since the previous Faraday Discussion on Artificial Photosynthesis in Edinburgh, UK, in 2011. This paper is a personal account of recent discussions and developments in the field, as reflected in and discussed during the meeting. First it discusses the general directions of artificial photosynthesis and some considerations for a future solar fuels technology. Then it comments on some scientific directions in the area of the meeting.

Assessing Effects of Aircraft and Fuel Technology Advancement on Select Aviation Environmental Impacts

The ability to simultaneously assess airline operations, economics, and emissions would help evaluate the progress toward reduction of aviation’s environmental impact as outlined in the NASA Environmentally Responsible Aviation program. Furthermore, assessment of aircraft utilization by airlines would guide future policies and investment decisions on technologies most urgently required. This paper describes the development of the Fleet-Level Environmental Evaluation Tool, which is a computational simulation tool developed to assess the impact of new aircraft concepts and technologies on aviation’s impact on environmental emissions and noise. This tool uses an aircraft allocation model that represents the airlines’ profit-seeking operational decisions as a mixed-integer programming problem. The allocation model is embedded in a system-dynamics framework that mimics the economics of airline operations, models their decisions regarding retirement and acquisition of aircraft, and estimates market demand growth. This paper describes the development of Fleet-Level Environmental Evaluation Tool to use a single large airline to represent operations of all airlines in the United States aviation market. The paper also demonstrates Fleet-Level Environmental Evaluation Tool’s capabilities using scenarios on the assessment of effects of new technology aircraft and biofuels on aviation’s emissions.

COMPARISON OF LaBr3(CE) AND NaI(TL) SCINTILLATION CRYSTALS RESPONSES TO VARIOUS GAMMA ENERGIES USING MONTE CARLO SIMULATIONS.

23Nov 2016 COMPARISON OF LaBr3(CE) AND NaI(TL) SCINTILLATION CRYSTALS RESPONSES TO VARIOUS GAMMA ENERGIES USING MONTE CARLO SIMULATIONS. R. Bagheri , B. Heidari , B. Ahmadi , S. P. Shirmardi and S.Tuzemen. Nuclear Fuel Cycle Research School, Nuclear Science and Technology Research Institute, Tehran, Iran. Laser and Optic Research School, Nuclear Science and Technology Research Institute, Tehran, Iran. Department of Physics, Faculty of Science, Urmia University, Urmia, Iran. Department of Physics, Faculty of Science, Ataturk University, Erzurum, Turkey.

Discovery of Fe-Ce Oxide/BiVO4 Photoanodes through Combinatorial Exploration of Ni-Fe-Co-Ce Oxide Coatings.

An efficient photoanode is a prerequisite for a viable solar fuels technology. The challenges to realizing an efficient photoanode include the integration of a semiconductor light absorber and a metal oxide electrocatalyst to optimize corrosion protection, light trapping, hole transport, and photocarrier recombination sites. To efficiently explore metal oxide coatings, we employ a high-throughput methodology wherein a uniform BiVO4 film is coated with 858 unique metal oxide coatings covering a range of metal oxide loadings and the full (Ni-Fe-Co-Ce)Ox pseudoquaternary composition space. Photoelectrochemical characterization of the photoanodes reveals that specific combinations of metal oxide composition and loading provide up to a 13-fold increase in the maximum photoelectrochemical power generation for oxygen evolution in pH 13 electrolyte. Through mining of the high-throughput data we identify composition regions that form improved interfaces with BiVO4. Of particular note, integrated photoanodes with catalyst compositions in the range Fe(0.4-0.6)Ce(0.6-0.4)Ox exhibit high interface quality and excellent photoelectrochemical power conversion. Scaled-up inkjet-printed electrodes and photoanodic electrodeposition of this composition on BiVO4 confirms the discovery and the synthesis-independent interface improvement of (Fe-Ce)Ox coatings on BiVO4.

Long-lasting Cu-based oxygen carrier material for industrial scale in Chemical Looping Combustion

One of the most important current objectives of the Chemical Looping Combustion (CLC) technology for gaseous fuels lies in scaling-up the aforementioned technology in the short term from 100kWth to 10MWth scale. In order to meet this challenge, the commercial availability of suitable multi ton-scale oxygen carrier materials at competitive price is needed. In this work, a Cu-based oxygen carrier prepared by the impregnation method using a commercial alumina as support, referred as Cu14γAl_Commercial, has been developed and evaluated in a 500Wth CLC pilot plant during the combustion of CH4 at two different temperatures, i.e., 800°C and 900°C. The outstanding results obtained in terms of both combustion efficiency and mechanical stability have shown that the Cu14γAl_Commercial impregnated oxygen carrier can be selected to upscale CLC technology for gaseous fuels.

Physical mixtures as simple and efficient alternative to alloy carriers in chemical looping processes

Chemical looping combustion is a clean combustion technology for fossil or renewable fuels. In a previous demonstration, chemical looping was applied to CO2 activation via reduction to CO with concurrent production of synthesis gas (CO + H2) from CH4 via rationally designed Fe‐Ni alloys. Here, it is demonstrated that that a simple physical mixture can even outperform the equivalent alloy based on an intricate gas phase mediated coupling between the two metals: Ni cracks methane to carbon and H2. The latter then reduces iron oxide carrier, forming steam, which gasifies the carbon deposits on Ni to produce a mixture of CO + H2, thus regenerating the active Ni surface. It was suggested that the principle demonstrated here—the gas phase‐mediated coupling of two solid reactants with distinct functionalities—should be applicable broadly toward oxidation reactions and hence opens a new avenue for rational design of chemical looping processes. © 2016 American Institute of Chemical Engineers AIChE J, 63: 51–59, 2017

Iron–Nickel Alloys for Carbon Dioxide Activation by Chemical Looping Dry Reforming of Methane

AbstractChemical looping combustion is a clean combustion technology for fossil or renewable fuels. We have previously shown that the process can also be used to enable CO2 activation through reduction to CO with Fe oxygen carriers in so‐called “chemical looping dry reforming” (CLDR). Although Fe shows good reactivity with CO2, its reactivity with methane as a fuel is low. In contrast, Ni is highly reactive for methane conversion but cannot be oxidized with CO2. Here, we demonstrate that Fe–Ni alloys combine the reactivities of each metal synergistically. By combining materials synthesis and characterization with reactive evaluation in multicycle CLDR operation, we demonstrate that relatively low amounts of Ni suffice to activate the carrier for methane conversion and that the presence of Fe enables the reoxidation of Ni with CO2. Moreover, the weak oxidant CO2 allows the controlled oxidation of the Fe–Ni alloy, which enables CH4 upgrading through syngas (CO+H2) production.

Advanced Combustion and Fuel Technologies for Economical and Environmentally Friendly Power Generation in Engines and Power Plants: Issues and Challenges

Advanced Combustion and Fuel Technologies for Economical and Environmentally Friendly Power Generation in Engines and Power Plants: Issues and Challenges

Effect of Fuel Properties on Emissions from Euro 4 and Euro 5 Diesel Passenger Cars

The EN 590 specification allows up to 7% v/v FAME to be blended into conventional diesel fuel which can then be used in most light-duty diesel vehicles. It is anticipated that higher FAME levels may be needed in order to meet the 10% renewable energy target mandated by the Renewable Energy Directive (2009/EC/28). Certain diesel fuel specification properties are considered to be environmental parameters according to the European Fuels Quality Directive (FQD, 2009/EC/30) and previous regulations. These limits included in the EN 590 specification were derived from the European Programme on Emissions, Fuels and Engine Technologies (EPEFE) which was carried out in the 1990's on diesel vehicles meeting up to Euro 3 emissions standards. These limits could potentially constrain FAME blending levels higher than 7% v/v. No significant work has been conducted to investigate whether relaxing these limits would give rise to efficiency or emissions debits or benefits. For this reason, Concawe was interested in studying the impact of these parameters in Euro 4+ vehicle technology.A test programme has been conducted to evaluate the impact of specific diesel properties on emissions on a Euro 5 light-duty diesel vehicle. Tests were also carried out in a Euro 4 vehicle to provide comparison with previous work. Properties studied were Poly-Aromatic Hydrocarbon (PAH) content, density, and cetane number. The Fatty Acid Methyl Ester (FAME) content was an additional variable in the study. Results of emissions testing will be presented and discussed including effects of the above fuel properties on particulates, NOx, CO2 and fuel consumption.

Stability and self-passivation of copper vanadate photoanodes under chemical, electrochemical, and photoelectrochemical operation.

Deployment of solar fuels technology requires photoanodes with long term stability, which can be accomplished using light absorbers that self-passivate under operational conditions. Several copper vanadates have been recently reported as promising photoanode materials, and their stability and self-passivation is demonstrated through a combination of Pourbaix calculations and combinatorial experimentation.

Communication—Electrochemical Characterization of Commercial Bipolar Membranes under Electrolyte Conditions Relevant to Solar Fuels Technologies

Water electrolysis using a catholyte and anolyte at different pH values requires a bipolar membrane to sustain the pH difference and 1.23 V to electrolyze water. Bipolar membranes that separated concentrated aqueous acid and base exhibited an open-circuit potential consistent with the Nernst equation and rapid transport of protons and hydroxide ions. When excess supporting electrolyte was added to both solutions the membrane potential was measured to be ∼0 V, which suggested that water electrolysis occurred at ≪1.23 V and therefore, protons and hydroxide ions were not the majority ionic charge carriers.