Topic Review
Agrivoltaic System
Agrivoltaic systems (AVS) offer a symbiotic strategy for co-location sustainable renewable energy and agricultural production. This is particularly important in densely populated developing and developed countries, where renewable energy development is becoming more important; however, profitable farmland must be preserved. As emphasized in the Food-Energy-Water (FEW) nexus, AVS advancements should not only focus on energy management, but also agronomic management (crop and water management). 
  • 5.2K
  • 05 Sep 2021
Topic Review
Biomass Gasification
Lignocellulosic gasification is a valid thermochemical approach for the conversion of organic solid matter into a gaseous mixture that is constituted of hydrogen, carbon monoxide, carbon dioxide and methane, named synthetic gas or syngas. Although about 55% of syngas is still produced from coal, biomass utilization, especially lignocellulose, is constantly growing. Indeed, gasification could be potentially applied to all different kinds of lignocellulosic biomass, unlike other conversion technologies. Moreover, in the last few decades, a wide range of applications of syngas have been intensively studied. Syngas can be directly used as a combustible substance in power plants for heat and power production (steam cycle, co-combustion, combustion in gas turbines or internal combustion engines, high temperature fuel cells), which represents the most common use of biomass-derived syngas. However, syngas also represents a platform that can be employed in a broad range of chemical and microbial processes, leading to gaseous and liquid fuels, as well as to chemicals. Chemical process research has mainly focused on transportation fuel production from syngas, such as Fischer–Tropsch liquid fuels, hydrogen, methanol, dimethyl ether (DME), mixed alcohols, and synthetic natural gas (SNG). Instead, the biochemical conversion route consists of syngas fermentation in which obligate anaerobic microorganisms convert syngas into organic acids, alcohols, and other chemicals. The most commonly used microorganisms are acetogens, which use the Wood–Ljungdahl metabolic pathway. Syngas fermentation is defined as an indirect fermentation process because biomass is not fed directly into the fermenter, but it is previously converted into syngas through gasification. 
  • 4.9K
  • 17 Dec 2020
Topic Review
Lithium-Ion Battery Fire Suppression
Lithium-ion Batteries (LiBs) hazards, techniques for mitigating risks, the suppression of LiB fires and identification of shortcomings for future improvement were thoroughly reviewed. Water is identified as an efficient cooling and suppressing agent and water mist is considered the most promising technique to extinguish LiBs fire. 
  • 4.8K
  • 29 Apr 2021
Topic Review
Seaport
Seaports are well known as the medium that has evolved into the central link between sea and land for complex marine activities. The growth in maritime logistics particularly necessitates a large volume of energy supply in order to maintain the operation of sea trade, resulting in an imbalance between generation and demand sides. Future projections for three major concerns show an increase in load demand, cost of operation, and environmental issues. The involvement of a variety of heavy loads such as all-electric ships, cranes, cold ironing, and buildings infrastructure renders it a complicated arrangement task in several aspects, which necessitates further research and leaves space for improvement.
  • 4.7K
  • 06 Dec 2021
Topic Review
Olefins Production via Steam Cracking:Effect of Operating Parameters
Various parameters need to be considered to optimize a pyrolysis reactor for the production of ethylene and propylene. These parameters are included temperature, residence time, steam-to-hydrocarbon ratio, and feedstock composition. A higher reaction temperature results in a higher yield of ethylene, a shorter residence time, and higher reaction velocities. A low operating pressure is preferred for this process because of the gas phase reaction inside the reactor tubes and the production of more gaseous molecules for its reactions to the right. The reactor pressure must be kept as low as possible (between 170 and 250 kPa). The gas pressure in the reactor tube outlet is indirectly adjusted by the suction process gas pressure of the compressor in the compression section, downstream of the process. As mentioned earlier, to reach lower hydrocarbon pressures, process steam is co-fed with the hydrocarbon feed to reduce the hydrocarbon partial pressure and lower coke deposition. The addition of steam decreases the partial pressure of the hydrocarbon feed and favors the formation of primary products.
  • 4.4K
  • 16 Dec 2021
Topic Review
Wave Energy Converter
The overview of the types of wave energy converters (WECs) are classified through operational principle, absorbing wave direction, location, and power take-off.
  • 4.4K
  • 20 Oct 2020
Topic Review
Supercritical Water Gasification (SCWG)
Gasification with supercritical water (SCWG) is a thermochemical process which, exploiting the properties of supercritical water (374.1 °C and 22.1 MPa ), allows to obtain a syngas rich in hydrogen. Both biomass and waste plastic can be used as feedstock.
  • 4.4K
  • 18 Sep 2020
Topic Review
Green Monopropellants
Green propellants are usually defined as low-hazard, low-toxicity, environmentally friendly propellants that are considered safe during various phases of spacecraft development, launch, and operations. Such propellants provide safe handling and storability when compared to conventional toxic propellants such as hydrazine and its derivatives that require special handling protocols and adhering to strict safety measurements that, in addition to others, include using Self-Contained Atmospheric Protective Ensemble (SCAPE) suits. Due to their favorable characteristics, green propellants demonstrate higher commercial value by being able to cut costs related to transportation, storage, handling, and further reduces ground operations time. Recently, a more specified definition has been noted by Mayer et al. (2018) [3], based on the Acute Toxicity Classification (ATC) by the Global Harmonized System of classification and labeling of chemicals (GHS) [6], which denotes that propellants possessing ATC levels of three and safer are considered as green propellants. ATC levels are typically categorized on a 1:5 scale where level one denotes the most toxic class and level five is considered the least toxic class. Moreover, a controversial topic arises when referring to some modern green propellants, whether to address them by the term “monopropellants” or by more specific terms including (premixed propellants, fuel blends, or mixtures). Monopropellants are fundamentally defined as propellants consisting of chemical compounds (for example N2H4), which release energy through exothermic chemical decomposition. Since the evolution of liquid gun propellants based on HAN compound and other nitrate salts aqueous solutions, the term “monopropellants” was used to describe such premixed formulations. As widely used in literature and industry, some modern green propellants, for instance the Energetic Ionic Liquids (EILs), are undoubtedly classified and described as “monopropellants.” Basically, it can be interpreted from the previous that a "green monopropellant" may be defined as: "A low-hazard, low-toxicity, and safe-to handle propellant that is stored in a single tank and is able to decompose from its storage state by the help of a catalyst or other ignition method, such as thermal or electric ignition, can be considered a “green monopropellant” as long as it does not require another separately stored propellant for decomposition."
  • 4.3K
  • 28 Sep 2021
Topic Review
Properties of Phase Change Materials
The main drawback of phase change materials (PCMs) is their low thermal conductivity, which limits the possibilities of a wide range of implementations. Therefore, the researchers, as found in the literature, proposed several methods to improve the thermal conductivity of PCMs, including inserting high thermal conductivity materials in nano-, micro-, and macro-scales, as well as encapsulation of PCMs. However, these inserts impact the other properties of PCMs like latent heat, melting temperature, thermal stability, and cycling stability. 
  • 4.2K
  • 18 Sep 2021
Topic Review
Hydrogen for Cooking
About 3 billion people use conventional carbon-based fuels such as wood, charcoal, and animal dung for their daily cooking needs. Cooking with biomass causes deforestation and habitat loss, emissions of greenhouse gases, and smoke pollution that affects people’s health and well-being. Hydrogen can play a role in enabling clean and safe cooking by reducing household air pollution and reducing greenhouse gas emissions.
  • 4.1K
  • 12 Jan 2023
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