This article presents an approach to the diagnosis of the business area for new entities on the raw material market in Poland. In the face of the need for changes as a result of the assumptions of the Green Deal and the global transformation of production processes toward a sustainable approach and circular economy, a diagnosis was made of the area that can be explored by new entities in the raw material industry. After the diagnosis of this area, a PESTEL analysis was carried out, which may contribute to a better definition of business goals and the scope of activities for new entities on the market or those who want or need to change industries. PESTEL is an analysis aimed at assessing the macroeconomic environment of a company. It helps in making strategic decisions for the enterprise. The research results presented in this article are part of a project implemented as part of an international cooperation within the V4 countries. In each of them, there is a defined market of mineral... [more]

Water scarcity is a global issue, and its severity is expected to worsen in the near future, prompting further efforts to find new sources of freshwater. Solar-Powered Atmospheric Water Harvesting (SPAWH) is a promising passive approach for atmospheric water generation. This study aims to examine the thermal performance of different glazing materials and water production in SPAWH. The research consists of two phases: a laboratory test of various glazing materials and an experimental study to assess system efficiency in producing water in the tropics. The preliminary results indicated that glass demonstrated better thermal performance than acrylic in the lab, with higher thermal conductivity and less heat loss. The experimental findings showed that the maximum water produced by the proposed SPAWH (60 cm length, 60 cm width and 30 cm height) placed on a 30° tilt angle using glass (3 mm) and acrylic (3 mm) was 0.61 L/m2/day and 0.44 L/m2/day, respectively. The cost analysis revealed that... [more]

Lignocellulosic biomass is both low cost and abundant, and unlike energy crops, can escape associated ethical dilemmas such as arable land use and food security issues. However, their usage as raw material in a biorefinery implies an inherent upstream pretreatment step to access compounds of interest derived from lignocellulosic biomass. Importantly, the efficiency of this step is determinant for the downstream processes, and while many pretreatment methods have been explored, extrusion is both a very flexible and promising technology. Extrusion is well-known in both the polymer and pharmaceutical industries and has been used since the 18th century. However, as a pretreatment method for lignocellulosic biomass, extrusion is relatively new. The first use for this purpose dates back to the 1990s. Extrusion enjoys a high degree of flexibility due to the many available parameters, but an understanding of extrusion requires a knowledge of these parameters and the different relationships bet... [more]

The popularity of using phase change materials (PCMs) for heat storage and recovery of metal hydrides’ reaction has grown tremendously. However, a fundamental study of the coupling of such a system with a low-temperature PEM (polymer electrolyte membrane) fuel cell is still lacking. This work presents a numerical investigation of the dehydrogenation performance of a metal hydride reactor (MHR)-PCM system coupled with a fuel cell. It is shown that to supply the fuel cell with a constant H2 flow rate, the PCM properties need to be in an optimized range. The effects of some design parameters (PCM freezing point, the initial desorption temperature, the nature and the size of the PCM) on the dehydrogenation performance of MHR-PCM system are discussed in detail. The results showed that the MHR-PCM could supply hydrogen at 12 NL/min only for 20 min maximum due to the significant endothermic effect occurring in the MHR. However, reducing the requested H2 flowrate to 5.5 NL/min, the hydrogen de... [more]

The Mesozoic Chang 8 Section in the Zhenjing area is a typical low permeability-tight sand reservoir and is regarded as the most important set of paybeds in the study area. Guided by the principles of basic geological theory, the diagenetic evolution process and hydrocarbon accumulation periods of the Chang 8 reservoir in the study area were determined through various techniques. More specifically, core observation, scanning electron microscopy (SEM), X-ray diffraction (XRD), and vitrinite reflectance experiments were performed in combination with systematic studies on rock pyrolysis and the thermal evolutionary history of basins, the illite-dating method, and so on. The Chang 8 reservoir is dominated by feldspar lithic and lithic feldspar sandstones. Quartz, feldspar, and lithic fragments are the major clastic constituents. In clay minerals, the chlorite content is the highest, followed by illite/smectite formation and kaolinite, while the illite content is the lowest. The major diage... [more]

A methanol−steam reformer (MSR) can safely provide hydrogen-rich fuel for a fuel cell system. Since the operating temperature of an MSR is relatively low, convective heat transfer is typically used to provide thermal energy to the endothermic reactions in the MSR. In this study, the use of phase change heat transfer to provide thermal energy to the endothermic reactions was investigated, which enhanced the temperature uniformity longitudinally along the MSR. ANSYS Fluent® software was used to investigate the performance of the reforming reactions. A comparative analysis using sensible heat and latent heat as the heat supply sources was performed. Using latent heat as a heat source achieved a lesser temperature drop than sensible heat that was under 5.29 K in the outer pipe. Moreover, a sensitivity analysis of methanol−steam-reforming reactions that use phase change heat transfer in terms of the carbon ratio, gas hourly velocity (for the inner and outer pipes of the MSR), inlet temperat... [more]

Over time, the dependence on oil has increased to meet industrial and domestic needs. Enhanced oil recovery (EOR) techniques in this regard have captured immense growth as EOR is not only used to increase the oil recovery but also to augment the sweep efficiency. Several techniques over the past decades have been used to improve oil recovery with cost-effectiveness. Cost-effective alkaline flooding has been effective for those oil reservoirs with a high total acid number. In this review, the significance of alkaline flooding has been discussed in detail, as well as the features of alkaline flooding in comparison to other modes of flooding. This review entails (1) alkaline flooding, (2) hybrid modes of injection, (3) experimental work, (4) pilot projects, (5) screening criteria, and (6) field applications. The findings of this study can help increase the understanding of alkaline flooding and provide a holistic view of the hybrid modes of flooding.

The burning of organic fuel is one of the main factors influencing the greenhouse effect on the climate of the planet. The article examines the influence of the properties of lignite and coal−water slurries on the amount of carbon dioxide molecules formed as a result of chemical reactions. The authors give an overview of the results of other researchers in recent years and give the results of their research and development in the field of burning lignite and coal−water slurries in industrial recycling plants. The authors present the results of experimental studies of the thermophysical properties of coal and a coal−water mixture. The results obtained were compared with the results of calculations using a mathematical model and the results of numerical modeling in Ansys. New methods of approximation of step functions were used for the mathematical model. These methods make it possible to reduce errors in the approximation of the functions of the thermal properties of coal. The proposed... [more]

Currently, energy demand is more significant than ever due to population growth and advances in recent technologies. In order to supply more energy while maintaining a healthy environment, renewable energy resources are employed. This paper proposes a novel solar-driven shape memory alloy thermomechanical actuator as an eco-friendly solution for solar thermal applications. The proposed actuator was assessed numerically and experimentally. The numerical tests showed that the designed actuation mechanism’s inner temperature has a minimum variation per day of about 14 °C and a temperature variation of 19 °C for most days of the year, which allows for proper activation and deactivation of the actuator. As for the experimental tests, the presented actuation mechanism achieved a bi-directional force of over 150 N, where the inner temperatures of the actuator were recorded at about 70.5 °C while pushing forces and 28.9 °C while pulling forces. Additionally, a displacement of about 127 mm was... [more]

Climate change, a consequence of global warming, is a global issue resulting due to greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions [...]

The aim of this study is to investigate the potential improvement of accident-tolerant fuels in pressurized water reactors for replacing existing reference zircaloy (Zr) fuel-cladding systems. Three main strategies for improving accident-tolerant fuels are investigated: enhancement of the present state-of-the-art zirconium fuel-cladding system to improve oxidation resistance, replacement of the current referenced fuel-cladding system material with an alternative high-performance oxidation-resistant cladding, and replacement of the current fuel with alternative fuel forms. This study focuses on a preliminary analysis of the neutronic behavior and properties of silicon carbide (SiC)-fuel and FeCrAl cladding systems, which provide a better safety margin as accident-tolerant fuel systems for pressurized water reactors. The typical physical behavior of both cladding systems is investigated to determine their general neutronic performance. The multiplication factor, thermal neutron flux spec... [more]

A two-stage desulfurization process including an abiotic filtration using cellular concrete waste (first stage) and an anoxic biotrickling filter filling with an inoculated expanded schist material (second stage) was investigated to remove H2S in mimic biogas with limited O2 amount (ranged from 0.5 to 0.8%). The two-stage process was able to satisfactorily remove H2S for all experimental conditions (RE > 97%; H2S concentration = 1500 mg m−3; total Empty Bed Residence Time (EBRT) = 200 s; removal capacity (RC) = 26 g m−3 h−1). Moreover, at a total EBRT = 360 s (i.e., 180 s for each stage), the H2S loading rate (LR) was almost treated by the bed of cellular concrete alone, indicating that abiotic filtration could be applied to satisfactorily remove H2S contained in the gas. According to the H2S concentration entering the biotrickling filter, the majority end-product was either elemental sulfur (S0) or sulfate (SO42−). Thus, the ability of the abiotic filter to remove a significant part o... [more]

The rise of carbon dioxide (CO2) levels in the atmosphere emphasises the need for improving the current carbon capture and storage (CCS) technology. A conventional absorption method that utilises amine-based solvent is known to cause corrosion to process equipment. The solvent is easily degraded and has high energy requirement for regeneration. Amino acids are suitable candidates to replace traditional alkanolamines attributed to their identical amino functional group. In addition, amino acid salt is a green material due to its extremely low toxicity, low volatility, less corrosive, and high efficiency to capture CO2. Previous studies have shown promising results in CO2 capture using amino acids salts solutions and amino acid ionic liquids. Currently, amino acid solvents are also utilised to enhance the adsorption capacity of solid sorbents. This systematic review is the first to summarise the currently available amino acid-based adsorbents for CO2 capture using PRISMA method. Physical... [more]

Hydrothermal treatment (HTT) offers the potential to upgrade low-value biomass such as digestate (DG) or forest residue (FR) by producing solids and liquids for material use or energetic utilization. In this study, microwave-assisted HTT experiments with DG and FR as feedstocks were executed at different temperatures (130, 150, 170 °C) and with different holding times (30, 60, 90 min) to determine the influences on product properties (ash and elemental concentrations, calorific values and chemical compounds). In general, DG and FR reacted differently to HTT. For the DG solids, for instance, the ash concentration was reduced to 8.68%DM at 130 °C (initially 27.67%DM), and the higher heating value increased from 16.55 MJ/kgDM to 20.82 MJ/kgDM at 170 °C, while the FR solids were affected only marginally. Elements with importance for emissions in combustion were leached out in both HTT solids. The DG and FR liquids contained different chemical compounds, and the temperature or holding time... [more]

Despite being commercially available, solid oxide fuel cell (SOFC) technology requires further study to understand its physicochemical processes for diagnostics, prognostics, and quality assurance purposes. Electrochemical impedance spectroscopy (EIS), a widely used characterization technique for SOFCs, is often accompanied by the distribution of relaxation times (DRT) as a method for deconvoluting the contribution of each physicochemical process from the aggregated impedance response spectra. While EIS yields valuable information for the operation of SOFCs, the quantitative analysis of the DRT and its shifts remains cumbersome. To address this issue, and to create a replicable benchmark for the assessment of DRT results, a custom tool was developed in MATLAB to numerically analyze the DRT spectra, identify the DRT peaks, and assess their deviation in terms of peak frequency and DRT amplitude from nominal operating conditions. The preliminary validation of the tool was carried out by a... [more]

Two-dimensional (2D) V2C MXene has fascinating potential for use as electrodes in high-energy-density supercapacitors because of its excellent electrical conductivity and large specific surface area. However, it is not feasible to synthesize V2C by etching vanadium carbon aluminide (V2AlC) with hydrofluoric acid, which is commonly used for preparing other MXenes. In this work, a modified method is developed for synthesizing high-quality 2D V2C. A mixture of sodium fluoride (NaF) and hydrochloric acid (HCl) was used as the etching agent, where V2AlC can be gently etched by a hydrothermal reactor-assisted method. As electrode materials for supercapacitors, V2C shows the characteristics of electric double layer capacitance. The electrochemical results show high specific capacitance (223.5 F/g in 1 M Na2SO4 at a current density of 100 mA/g) and good cycling stability (the capacitance retention rate can be maintained at 94.7% after 5000 cycles). This work provides a new method for the synth... [more]

Low-rank coal samples from the Xishanyao Formation in the southern Junggar basin of Xinjiang were processed under different negative pressures in order to examine the microstructural characteristics of low-rank coal reservoirs. The pore structures of low-rank coal under different negative pressures were tested using scanning electron microscopy, low-temperature nitrogen adsorption−desorption, and water saturation and centrifugal low-field NMR experiments. The results showed that for the low-rank coal samples from the study area, a high portion of the porosity and surface area came from micropores and small pores; the fractal dimension of the adsorption pores of the low-rank coal samples was divided into surface fractal dimension D1 and structural fractal dimension D2, which showed that the microstructure of the low-rank coal from the study area was complex. The transverse relaxation times T2 of the low-rank coal samples in the test were approximately 0.1~2.5, approximately 10, and grea... [more]

Additive manufacturing (AM) is considered the enabling technology for topology optimized components, with its unparalleled, almost free-form design freedom. Over the past decade, AM of electromagnetic materials has evolved into a promising new area of research. Considerable efforts have also been invested by the electrical machine (EM) research community to develop and integrate novel additive components. Several challenges remain, however, in printing soft magnetic flux guides—most prominently, reducing the induced eddy currents to achieve competitive AM core efficiency. This paper demonstrates the workflow of laser additive manufacturing magnetic cores with superior magnetic properties to soft magnetic composites (at 50 Hz excitation): describing the workflow, parameter tuning for both printing and annealing, and shape optimization. Process optimization yielded the optimal energy density of 77 J/mm3 and annealing temperature of 1200 °C, applied to prepare the samples with the highest... [more]

Advanced conductors (such as conducting and semiconducting polymers) are vital building blocks for modern technologies and biocompatible devices as faster computing and smaller device sizes are demanded. Conjugated conducting and semiconducting polymers (including poly(3,4-ethylenedioxythiophene) (PEDOT), polyaniline (PANI), polythiophene (PTh), and polypyrrole (PPy)) provide the mechanical flexibility required for the next generation of energy and electronic devices. Electrical conductivity, ionic conductivity, and optoelectronic characteristics of advanced conductors are governed by their texture and constituent nanostructures. Thus, precise textural and nanostructural engineering of advanced conjugated conducting and semiconducting polymers provide an outstanding pathway to facilitate their adoption in various technological applications, including but not limited to energy storage and harvesting devices, flexible optoelectronics, bio-functional materials, and wearable electronics. T... [more]

The aim of this work was to investigate the effects of the currents flowing through surge arresters on the internal insulating textolite structure. The samples were removed from high-voltage arresters that were taken out of service due to malfunction or failure. Discharge (short-circuit) currents of diverse intensities and durations caused degradation effects of varying degrees of advancement in the material of the tested elements. The samples were examined using microscopic methods. The use of the microanalysis technique EDS (energy-dispersive X-ray spectroscopy) made it possible to register changes in the elemental composition of the surface layer of the textolite materials, along with the intensification of the degradation effects. It was found that the high discharge current flows were subject to melting, charring and even burning of the organic adhesive. These effects caused serious changes in the content of elements in the top layer of the textolite and were the cause of a reduct... [more]

The recovery and storage of process heat in industrial applications are some of the key factors to improve the sustainability and reliability of high temperature applications. In this sense, one of the main drawbacks is focused on the selection of proper thermal energy storage (TES) materials. This paper performs a full characterization of four phase change storage materials (PCM), KOH, LiOH, NaNO3 and KNO3, which are proposed for storage applications between 270 and 500 °C, according to the results obtained through differential scanning calorimeter and thermogravimetric analysis. One of the main innovations includes the corrosive evaluation of these materials in a promising alumina forming alloy (OC4), close to their corresponding phase change temperature during 500 h. The physicochemical properties obtained confirm the optimal use of NaNO3 and KNO3 and recommend the use, with caution, of KOH, due to its higher corrosive potential. FeCr2O4, NiCr2O4 and FeAl2O4 were the main protective... [more]

Chemical pretreatment can significantly improve the enzymatic hydrolysis efficiency of lignocellulosic biomass, thereby improving the yield of sugar materials for the production of cellulosic ethanol, but commonly used acid−base catalysts are difficult to recover and reuse. In this work, a combination method of liquid hot water (LHW) and phosphotungstic acid (PTA) pretreatment was performed to improve the saccharification efficiency of rice straw, and we attempted to evaluate the reuse effect of PTA catalysts. The rice straw was first treated with LHW at 180 °C for 90 min, and then treated with 20 mM PTA at 130 °C for 60 min. After pretreatment, the cellulose hydrolysis efficiency and glucose recovery of the rice straw increased by 201.85% and 164.25%, respectively. Glucose accounted for 96.8% of the total reducing sugar in the final enzymatic hydrolysate. After each PTA pretreatment, approximately 70.8−73.2% of the PTA catalyst could be recycled. Moreover, the catalytic activity of th... [more]

Both flexoelectricity and piezoelectricity belong to the electromechanical coupling effect. While piezoelectricity only exists in materials whose crystal structure is noncentrosymmetric and a pre-polarization process is necessary for ferroelectric piezoelectric ceramics, flexoelectricity theoretically exists in all dielectric materials and does not require pre-polarization. However, this does not mean that flexoelectricity would not be affected by the pre-polarization process, considering that flexoelectricity is a polarization phenomenon. In this work, we prepared ferroelectric perovskite oxide ceramics Ba1−xCaTiO3 and revealed a strong effect of the pre-polarization process on the flexoelectric response of the ceramics, characterized by the apparent piezoelectric response measured by the point-ring method. The effective piezoelectric coefficient was separated into the one contributed by the flexoelectric(-like) response and the piezoelectric(-like) response by quasi-static d33 measur... [more]

Production of Portland clinker is inherently associated with CO2 emissions originating from limestone decomposition, the irreplaceable large-scale source of calcium oxide needed. Besides carbon capture and storage, CO2 mineralization is the only lever left to reduce these process emissions. CO2 mineralization is a reversal reaction to clinker production—CO2 is bound into stable carbonates in an exothermic process. It can be applied in several environmentally and economically favorable ways at different stages of clinker, cement and concrete life cycle. These possibilities are assessed and discussed in this contribution. The results demonstrate that when combined with concrete recycling, the complete circularity of all its constituents, including the process CO2 emissions from the clinker, can be achieved and the overall related CO2 intensity significantly reduced.

Due to the high share of industry in total electricity consumption, industrial demand-side management can make a relevant contribution to the stability of power systems. At the same time, companies get the opportunity to reduce their electricity procurement costs by taking advantage of increasingly fluctuating prices on short-term electricity markets, the provision of system services on balancing power markets, or by increasing the share of their own consumption from on-site generated renewable energy. Demand-side management requires the ability to react flexibly to the power supply situation without negatively affecting production targets. It also means that the management and operation of production must consider not only production-related parameters but also parameters of energy availability, which further increase the complexity of decision-making. Although simulation studies are a recognized tool for supporting decision-making processes in production and logistics, the simultaneo... [more]