For newly developed measuring systems, it is easy to estimate type-B uncertainties based on technical data from the measuring modules applied. However, it is difficult to estimate A-type uncertainties due to the unknown type and level of interferences infiltrating the measuring system. This is a particularly important problem for measurements carried out in the presence of typical of power grid disturbances. The aim of the research was to develop a method and a measurement stand for experimental assessment of uncertainties in a measuring system that makes use of data acquisition modules containing analog-to-digital converters (ADCs). The paper describes, in detail, the design of a completed test stand. It presents an original application in the LabVIEW environment, which enables testing the dependence of the uncertainties with the quantity of the measurements averaged in a series, for different kinds and levels of interferences infiltrating the measuring path. The results of tests for... [more]

With the rapidly development of electricity technology and renewable energy, adopting electric vehicles (EVs) not only can efficiently collaborate with renewable energy, but also can help decrease the negative environmental effects of traditional vehicles. However, even though electric vehicles offer many advantages, most consumers still hesitate to buy or even rent them. While there is a large growing body of studies focusing on topics related to electric public transportation and electric cars, there is still a shortage of them examining electric scooters (ESs). Based on the norm activation model (NAM), green consumption effect, and extrinsic motivation, this study aims to present the crucial antecedence of consumers’ intention to adopt ESs. As a main transportation for most of the people in Taiwan, this research adopts design of experiments and develops two studies to collect data from Taiwan. The results show that warm glow mediates the positive relationship between awareness of co... [more]

With the increasing size and complexity of power systems, it is crucial to have an effective protection system in place to ensure its reliability. One of the important components of the protection system are relays. It is important for a relay to operate dependably and securely so that any fault can be cleared in time to minimize damages to the power network. However, it is important to test a relay in a realistic environment before commissioning it to the network. Testing a relay in the actual network can be expensive with limited fault scenarios. Hence, Hardware-in-the-Loop (HIL) testing is an efficient method to perform closed-loop testing of a relay since numerous fault cases can be simulated to provide a realistic operating environment for the relay under test. This paper sheds light on the HIL testing done for protective relays using a sample distribution system using RTDS. Two SEL-351 relays have been used in this experiment, and proper settings for the relays are calculated for... [more]

The transportation sector has the highest energy demand worldwide and bears the primary responsibility for CO2 emissions. Electromobility has emerged as the most feasible way to alleviate this problem. However, its potential depends heavily on the development of renewable energies. Island regions raise additional barriers to electromobility due to their heavy dependence on fossil fuels. This article addresses this challenge by presenting a comprehensive well-to-wheel framework to assess the levels of efficiency and CO2 emissions of electromobility options such as battery and plug-in electric vehicles (BEVs and PHEVs). The results were compared with those for internal combustion engine vehicles (ICEVs). The framework proposed takes account of various factors including the extraction, refining, and transport of oil, different segments of land vehicles, and electricity system operations. The framework is demonstrated with a case study of the Spanish Canary archipelago. The results show th... [more]

Soil organic carbon (SOC) content is a vital indicator for soil health. The use of moldboard (traditional) plowing for many years had led to a prominent decline in the SOC and soil organic matter (SOM) in Southern Russia. Application of no-tillage (NT) is a sustainable alternative to conventional tillage (CT) as it offers an advantage for SOC store. The aim of the study was to assess soil organic carbon dynamics in response to tillage practices in the steppe zone of Southern Russia. The conservation of SOC under different tillage systems (CT and NT) was evaluated in comparison with the soils of the virgin soils (VS) in three different regions of the steppe zone of the Lower Don region (Southern of the European part of Russia). The SOC content under the conditions of CT was significantly lower than that in the VS and demonstrated an inclining trend when using NT technology. We estimate that the transition to NT over an area of 5.5 million hectares will lead to a significant reduction of... [more]

Microalgae (including cyanobacteria) are the basis for an emerging worldwide industry but still face significant bottlenecks in contributing to the global economy. It is an enormous challenge to translate experiences from established industries such as aquaculture and agriculture to the microalgae sector. In particular, this includes the challenge of adapting regulations that apply to such macroscopic production and mindsets, to the microscopic world of microalgae and to the scale-up to a million times smaller. Current European and country-based regulations do not always, indeed rarely, consider relevant specific issues that limit the path for innovation and growth applicable to the microalgae sector. In this work, the boundaries for the main issues impacting this sector are presented and discussed. Examples and possible analytical frameworks are presented in a question and answer format. Relevant key topics and related boundaries are discussed: What are algae and how do microalgae dif... [more]

Matrix acidizing in carbonate reservoirs is a process that has been long used to increase productivity in oil and gas producing formations. The main goal is to create wormholes that bypass the damage in the formation. Hydrochloric acid (HCl) is the main acid used for this; however, it has several disadvantages that affect the success of these treatments. Its high reaction rate, inability to divert, and corrosive nature are a few of the reasons why research in this area has focused on finding alternative fluids. This paper discusses studies on successful alternatives to HCl. It has been observed that emulsified acids, which work with the addition of a surfactant to HCl, have shown positive results as their high viscosity allows them to retard the reaction rate between the acid and the rock and form effective and dominant wormholes. This is needed, especially in high-temperature environments. As HCl also lacks the ability to divert to low-permeability zones in highly heterogeneous format... [more]

Long-term prediction of hour-concentration of PM2.5 (particles in atmospheric suspension with effective dimensions equal or lower than 2.5 microns) is of great significance for environmental protection and people’s health. At present, the prediction of hour-concentration of PM2.5 is mostly single-step prediction, which is to predict PM2.5 concentration at a future time point based on a period of historical data. In this paper, a model based on multi-time scale fusion is proposed to study single-step prediction and multi-step prediction, respectively. Experimental results show that the proposed model is better than stacked LSTM and CNN-LSTM in predicting PM2.5 hour-concentration.

The problem of current agricultural practices is not limited to land management but also to the unsustainable consumption of essential nutrients for plants, such as phosphorus. This article focuses on the valorization of wood ash and anaerobic digestate for the preparation of a slow-release fertilizer. The underlying chemistry of the blend of these two materials is elucidated by analyzing the applications of the mixture. First, the feasibility of employing low doses (≤1 g total solids (TS) ash/g TS digestate) of wood ash is explained as a way to improve the composition of the feedstock of anaerobic digestion and enhance biogas production. Secondly, a detailed description concerning high doses of wood ash and their uses in the downstream processing of the anaerobic digestate to further enhance its stability is offered. Among all the physico-chemical phenomena involved, sorption processes are meticulously depicted, since they are responsible for nutrient recovery, dewatering, and self-ha... [more]

As non-renewable resource, the recovery and utilization of phosphorus from wastewater is an enduring topic. Stimulated by the advances in research on polyphosphates (polyP) as well as the development of Enhanced Biological Phosphorus Removal (EBPR) technology to achieve the efficient accumulation of polyP via polyphosphate accumulating organisms (PAOs), a novel phosphorus removal strategy is considered with promising potential for application in real wastewater treatment processes. This review mainly focuses on the mechanism of phosphorus aggregation in the form of polyP during the phosphate removal process. Further discussion about the reuse of polyP with different chain lengths is provided herein so as to suggest possible application pathways for this biosynthetic product.

Hexavalent chromium (Cr(VI)) waste produced by chrome plating activities pollutes the surrounding environment and harms human health. However, information about the chromium (Cr) pollution characteristics of actual electroplating sites is still lacking. In this study, the concentration, leachability and speciation of Cr in soils from a typical chrome plating site were analyzed. Our results showed that this site was severely contaminated by Cr (7.2 to 7735.2 mg/kg) and Cr(VI) reached the mean concentration of 138.7 mg/kg. The spatial distribution of Cr(VI) was related to the plating processes. Chrome plating and sewage treatment areas could be considered as the hot spots of contaminated sites. The vertical distribution of Cr(VI) was mainly affected by soil properties, where the loam layer retained and reduced a large amount of Cr(VI) due to its high content of iron minerals and finer particle fractions. Additionally, the chemical extraction results showed that Cr was mainly in non-resid... [more]

Water surface plastic pollution turns out to be a global issue, having aroused rising attention worldwide. How to monitor water surface plastic waste in real time and accurately collect and analyze the relevant numerical data has become a hotspot in water environment research. (1) Background: Over the past few years, unmanned aerial vehicles (UAVs) have been progressively adopted to conduct studies on the monitoring of water surface plastic waste. On the whole, the monitored data are stored in the UAVS to be subsequently retrieved and analyzed, thereby probably causing the loss of real-time information and hindering the whole monitoring process from being fully automated. (2) Methods: An investigation was conducted on the relationship, function and relevant mechanism between various types of plastic waste in the water surface system. On that basis, this study built a deep learning-based lightweight water surface plastic waste detection model, which was capable of automatically detectin... [more]

The kinetics and performance of a biological activated carbon (BAC) reactor were evaluated to validate the proposed kinetic model. The Freundlich adsorption capacity (Ka) and adsorption intensity constants (n) obtained from the batch experiments were 1.023 ± 0.134 (mg/g) (L/mg)1/n and 2.036 ± 0.785, respectively. The effective diffusivity (Ds) of the substrate within the activated carbon was determined by comparing the adsorption model value with the experimental data to find the best fit value (4.3 × 10−4 cm2/d). The batch tests revealed that the yield coefficient (Y) was 0.18 mg VSS/mg COD. Monod and Haldane kinetics were applied to fit the experimental data and determine the biokinetic constants, such as the maximum specific utilization rate (k), half-saturation constant (K), inhibition constant (Ki), and biomass death rate coefficient (kd). The results revealed that the Haldane kinetics fit the experimental data better than the Monod kinetics. The values of k, KS, Ki, and kd were 3... [more]

A partial-denitrification coupling with anaerobic ammonium oxidation (anammox) process (PD/A) in a continuous-flow anoxic/oxic (A/O) biofilm reactor was developed to treat carbon-limited domestic wastewater (ammonia (NH4+-N) of 55 mg/L and chemical oxygen demand (COD) of 148 mg/L in average) for about 200 days operation. Satisfactory NH4+-N oxidation efficiency above 95% was achieved with rapid biofilm formation in the aerobic zone. Notably, nitrite (NO2−-N) accumulation was observed in the anoxic zone, mainly due to the insufficient electron donor for complete nitrate (NO3−-N) reduction. The nitrate-to-nitrite transformation ratio (NTR) achieved was as high as 64.4%. After the inoculation of anammox-enriched sludge to anoxic zones, total nitrogen (TN) removal was significantly improved from 37.3% to 78.0%. Anammox bacteria were effectively retained in anoxic biofilm utilizing NO2−-N produced via the PD approach and NH4+-N in domestic wastewater, with the relative abundance of 5.83% fo... [more]

An automated mechanical transmission (AMT) is proposed as a new soft starter for medium-scale belt conveyors in this paper. The AMT is used to start the belt conveyor and shift gears step by step to make the belt conveyor accelerate softly. Based on analyzing common soft-starting acceleration curves, a segmented belt acceleration curve is proposed as a new soft-starting acceleration curve. By analyzing the AMT soft-starting system, the system modeling is built and the AMT output shaft’s angular acceleration is proposed to be controlled to control the belt acceleration. The AMT soft-starting simulation model is established in the environment of AMESim, and simulation results of the soft-starting process from the first to eighth gear positions are given. The main parameter curves of the AMT soft-starting system including the belt, driving pulley, and AMT output shaft are analyzed. The simulation model can indicate the viscoelastic property of the belt. The simulation results prove that t... [more]

In Spain, most businesses are medium to small size enterprises, representing 90% of the total, but there is a lack of studies of the types of building this sector uses. The main objective of this paper is to present a method for the evaluation of small industrial construction projects to facilitate the introduction of eco-efficient solutions. For this, it is necessary to identify the most representative buildings and the aspects of these which have the most environmental impact. A methodology in place for the evaluation of dwelling construction is adapted, for the first time, to evaluate industrial buildings. The construction solutions characterized are those traditionally used in the sector, as identified through 87 surveys. A standardized classification of work units is proposed to enable the use of environmental product information, such as eco-labels and/or EPD, and LCA databases. The carbon footprint (CF) and water footprint (WF) are the indicators selected because of their straig... [more]

Gamma radiation was applied to degradation selected antidepressants in ultrapure water and surface water. Additionally, the influence of typical radical scavengers like carbonate, nitrate and humic acid was determined. The cytotoxicity towards liver cells HepG2 and colon cells Caco2 were measured during the radiation process. It was found that radiation technology, specifically ionizing radiation, can achieve satisfactory degradation efficiency with both SER and CIT. It was shown that the process of decomposition of the tested antidepressants with the highest efficiency occurs in the reaction with the hydroxyl radical.

Green human resource management (GHRM) determines the green behavior practice of employees and affects the social environment and the realization of “Beautiful China” and “Green Development”. In this study, to explore the impact mechanism of GHRM on employees’ green behavior, employees at all levels in an enterprise were selected to be research subjects and a regulated intermediary model was established, based on social exchange theory and the individual-environment matching theory. This paper investigated the enterprise’s GHRM, personal green behavior, relational psychological contract, environmental knowledge and green values. The results show that GHRM has a significant positive predictive effect on employees’ green behavior, the relational psychological contract plays an intermediary role between GHRM and employees’ green behavior and the intermediary role of the relational psychological contract is regulated by environmental knowledge and green values. These research results expla... [more]

Tomato processing leads to the production of considerable amounts of residues, mainly in the form of tomato skins, seeds and vascular tissues, which still contain bioactive molecules of interest for food, pharmaceutical and nutraceutical industries. These include carotenoids, such as lycopene and β-carotene, tocopherols and sitosterols, among others. Supercritical fluid extraction is well positioned for the valorization of tomato residues prior to disposal, because it remains an environmentally safe extraction process, especially when using carbon dioxide as the solvent. In this article, we provide an extensive literature overview of the research on the supercritical fluid extraction of tomato residues. We start by identifying the most relevant extractables present in tomatoes (e.g., lycopene) and their main bioactivities. Then, the main aspects affecting the extraction performance are covered, starting with the differences between tomato matrixes (e.g., seeds, skins and pulp) and poss... [more]

The interest in the use of biosorption for the elimination of pollutants is because this technique is an efficient and environmentally friendly process, constituting an alternative to the so-called conventional treatment processes [...]

In the present study, UV-light-driven advanced oxidation processes (AOPs) have been employed for the degradation of 4-tert-Butylphenol (4-t-BP) in water under continuous flow conditions. The effects of varying space time (10, 20, 40, 60 and 120 min) and oxidant dosage (88.3 mg/L, 176.6 mg/L and 264 mg/L) were examined. 4-t-BP degradation efficiency in the UV-induced AOPs followed the order of UV/H2O2 (264.9 mg/L) ≈ UV/Fe2+/H2O2 > UV/Fe3+/H2O2 > UV/H2O2 (176.6 mg/L) > UV/H2O2 (88.3 mg/L) > UV/Fe-TiO2 > UV/TiO2 > UV, while UV/Fe3+/H2O2 was the most efficient process in terms of Total Organic Carbon (TOC) removal (at the space time of 60 min) among those tested. The combination of UV with 88.3 mg/L H2O2 enhanced pollutant removal from 51.29% to 93.34% after 10 min of irradiation. The presence of H2O2 contributed to the highest 4-t-BP and TOC removal values. Interestingly, the increase in space time from 20 to 60 min resulted in surpassing of the activity of the Fe-TiO2 over commercial TiO... [more]

Low-altitude unmanned aerial vehicle (UAV) photogrammetry combined with structure-from-motion (SFM) algorithms is the latest technological approach to imaging 3D stereo constructions. At present, derivative products have been widely used in landslide monitoring, landscape evolution, glacier movement, volume measurement, and landscape change detection. However, there is still a lack of research into the accuracy of 3D data positioning based on the structure-from-motion of unmanned aerial vehicle (UAV-SFM) technology, itself, which can affect the measurable effectiveness of the results in further applications of this technological approach. In this paper, validation work was carried out for the DJI Phantom 4 RTK UAV, for earth observation data related to 3D positioning accuracy. First, a test plot with a relatively stable surface was selected for repeated flight imaging observations. Specifically, three repeated flights were performed on the test plot to obtain three sorties of images; t... [more]

Carbon capture, utilization, and storage (CCUS) is one of the key promising technologies that can reduce GHG emissions from those industries that generate CO2 as part of their production processes. Compared to other effective CO2 capture methods, the adsorption technique offers the possibility of reducing the costs of the process by setting solid sorbent with a high capacity of adsorption and easy regeneration and, also, controlling the performance of gas-solid contactor. In this work, an amine-functionalized mesoporous sorbent was used to capture CO2 emissions in a confined-fluidized bed. The adoption of a confined environment allows the establishment of a homogeneous expansion regime for the sorbent and allows to improve the exchange of matter and heat between gas and solid phase. The results illustrate how the different concentration of the solution adopted during the functionalization affects the adsorption capacity. That, measured as mg of CO2 per g of sorbent, was determined by b... [more]

Algae-based wastewater treatment technologies are promising green technologies with huge economical potential and environmental co-benefits. However, despite the immense research, work, and achievement, no publications were found wherein these technologies have been successfully applied in an operational environment for nitrogen and phosphorus removal of secondary treated effluent in municipal wastewater treatment plants. Based on a literature review and targeted comprehensive analysis, the paper seeks to identify the main reasons for this. The reliability (considering inlet wastewater quality variations, operating conditions and process control, algae harvesting method, and produced biomass) as well as the technology readiness level for five types of reactors are discussed. The review shows that the reactors with a higher level of control over the technological parameters are more reliable but algal post-treatment harvesting and additional costs are barriers for their deployment. The... [more]

With the development and popularization of the concept of a sustainable environment, the green energy industry represented by electric scooters has entered a vigorous development period. However, consumers are reluctant to buy electric scooters, resulting in low sales, which is limiting the development of the electric scooter industry. Therefore, from the perspective of different consumer life styles, this study explored the impact on the purchasing decisions and user demands, so as to inform design strategy for the development of a sustainable electric scooter industry. This study adopted the methods of expert interview and questionnaire survey, used the self-made consumer life style and electric scooter product attribute scale as the research tool, and carried out quantitative analysis with the help of statistical software. It showed that compared with consumers’ awareness of environmental protection, product performance is the key factor that attracts consumers to buy electric scoot... [more]