Natural gas generation is the result of organic matter degradation under the effects of biodegradation and thermal degradation. Early Cambrian black shales in the Upper Yangtze Region are rich in organic matter and have shown great shale gas potentiality in recent years. Nevertheless, the enrichment mechanism and distribution of organic matter in these black shales between different sedimentary settings, such as intra-platform basin, slope, and deep basin, are still poorly understood. In this paper, based mainly on elemental geochemistry, a comprehensive study of the marine redox conditions, primary productivity, sedimentation rate, terrigenous input, hydrothermal activity, and water mass restrictions was conducted on the Early Cambrian Niutitang black shale in the Upper Yangtze Region. Our data showed that an intra-platform basin received a higher terrigenous input and that it deposited under more restricted conditions than the slope and deep basin settings. The primary productivity i... [more]

This work applies emergent self-organizing map (ESOM) techniques, a form of machine learning, in the multidimensional interpretation and prediction of rare earth element (REE) abundance in produced and geothermal waters in the United States. Visualization of the variables in the ESOM trained using the input data shows that each REE, with the exception of Eu, follows the same distribution patterns and that no single parameter appears to control their distribution. Cross-validation, using a random subsample of the starting data and only using major ions, shows that predictions are generally accurate to within an order of magnitude. Using the same approach, an abridged version of the U.S. Geological Survey Produced Waters Database, Version 2.3 (which includes both data from produced and geothermal waters) was mapped to the ESOM and predicted values were generated for samples that contained enough variables to be effectively mapped. Results show that in general, produced and geothermal wat... [more]

Low carbon and renewable energy technologies help reduce the emissions of carbon dioxide and other greenhouse gases, which cause climate change [...]

Various gas pipeline networks used for the transit of energy sources are some of the most important infrastructures. However, carrying gas from one point to another is not the only concern when planning the construction of a new network or expanding an already existing one. The reliability and environmental impact of the system are crucial when evaluating the network and risks posed by potential gas leaks, fires, explosions, etc. Even though everyone admits that reliability is a key aspect of any system, its constraints will still be most likely neglected in the assessment of the pipeline project. How much energy is wasted by pushing an additional amount of gas through the pipeline network, which will eventually gush out of the pipeline because of one crack or another? Moreover, if this additional power or fuel consumption and related environmental impact are significant, how could it be reduced? In this paper, an approach is introduced for the simulation and quantification of how much... [more]

Turbulences in energy prices have a major effect on the energy industry. These disturbances should allow more efficient operation and the optimisation of technologies, leading to more versatile operation with model-based methods. In our study, a coke oven gas purification system was examined. The system consists of three columns, which interact and are modelled in Aspen Plus. After identifying the steady-state model, sensitivity analyses were conducted to obtain more information on the effects of the parameters that can and cannot be influenced by operating circumstances. Finally, the model was used to carry out optimisation studies to find the most beneficial operating conditions under the gas composition requirements. Two optimisation strategies were examined. In the case when only the purity was concerned, 0.54 g/Nm3, 0.01 g/Nm3, and 0.03 g/Nm3 concentrations were found for H2S, NH3, and HCN, respectively. However, when the washing water temperature was included, the concentrations... [more]

The fact that personality traits play an important role when it comes to predicting people’s entrepreneurial behavior is currently indisputable. However, so far, the majority of subject literature has focused on employee characteristics in developed countries. To address this gap, research was conducted, including 188 entrepreneurs of small and medium enterprises (SME) and 21 highest-level employees in Poland—one of the countries with the most hostile and turbulent environment for entrepreneurial operations in the world. The five personality traits (Big Five) were evaluated using the 60-item scale. There were three objectives of this study: to identify the differences between entrepreneurs and the most effective, highest-level employees, in the context of personality trait intensities, to determine the level of specific trait(s) intensities (OCEAN) of an effective entrepreneur. Finally, to determine whether it is possible to construct a model based on BIG5 to estimate the probability o... [more]

The increasing deployment of new technologies to contribute to the decarbonization of power systems is imposing new challenges in terms of system dynamics and stability. To deal with different operating and control issues in this sense, and support actual needs, advanced tools and solutions are required. Therefore, this paper presents a digital twin of a dynamic hardware emulator that can be used for controller hardware in the loop (CHIL) testing and is based on a small-scale laboratory system. To build the simulation model, the parameters of involved synchronous machines, excitation systems, prime movers and transmission lines have been identified and then compared to laboratory measurements to assess the accuracy of the digital twin. Static and dynamic accuracy have been investigated and an overall good accuracy can be shown with the help of quantification of errors. Furthermore, a case study is presented where the digital twin was used to design a controller to damp inter-area oscil... [more]

Thermal energy storage (TES) allows the existing mismatch between supply and demand in energy systems to be overcome. Considering temperatures above 150 °C, there are major potential benefits for applications, such as process heat and electricity production, where TES coupled with concentrating solar power (CSP) plants can increase the penetration of renewable energies. To this end, this paper performs a critical analysis of the literature on the current and most promising concrete energy storage technologies, identifying five challenges that must be overcome for the successful exploitation of this technology. With these five challenges in mind, this paper proposes an approach that uses a new modular design of concrete-based TES. A preliminary study of the feasibility of the proposed system was performed using computational fluid dynamics (CFD) techniques, showing promising results.

Stationary energy storage methods such as flow batteries are one of the best options to integrate with smart power grids. Though electrochemical energy storage using flow battery technologies has been successfully demonstrated since the 1970s, the introduction of ionic liquids into the field of energy storage introduces new dimensions in this field. This reliable energy storage technology can provide significantly more flexibility when incorporated with the synergic effects of ionic liquids. This mini-review enumerates the present trends in redox flow battery designs and the use of ionic liquids as electrolytes, membranes, redox couples, etc. explored in these designs. This review specifically intends to provide an overview of the research prospects of ionic liquids for redox flow batteries (RFB).

This manuscript proposes a short tuning march algorithm to estimate induction motors (IM) electrical and mechanical parameters. It has two main novel proposals. First, it starts by presenting a normalized-model reference adaptive system (N-MRAS) that extends a recently proposed normalized model reference adaptive controller for parameter estimation of higher-order nonlinear systems, adding filtering. Second, it proposes persistent exciting (PE) rules for the input amplitude. This N-MRAS normalizes the information vector and identification adaptive law gains for a more straightforward tuning method, avoiding trial and error. Later, two N-MRAS designs consider estimating IM electrical and mechanical parameters. Finally, the proposed algorithm considers starting with a V/f speed control strategy, applying a persistently exciting voltage and frequency, and applying the two designed N-MRAS. Test bench experiments validate the efficacy of the proposed algorithm for a 10 HP IM.

The transition towards more sustainable energy management can be supported by the diffusion of energy communities, i.e., coalitions of prosumers that are willing to exchange the energy produced locally. The optimization of energy management requires the solution of a prosumer problem that can become impractical when the number of users increases. This paper presents a parallel approach, based on an edge computing architecture, which is suitable for large communities. The users are partitioned into groups whose proportions, in terms of producers and consumers, mirror the composition of the whole community. The prosumer problems for the different groups are first solved separately and in parallel by local edge nodes. Then, the solutions are combined by a central entity to redistribute the energy among the groups and minimize the exchange of energy with the external grid. A set of experiments show that the parallel approach, when compared with an approach that solves the optimization prob... [more]

The flue evaporation of desulfurization wastewater can solve the problem that it is difficult to remove some heavy metal ions and chloride ions by conventional methods. A large amount of chloride ions in desulfurization wastewater can also promote the catalytic oxidation removal of Hg in the flue gas. The migration character of chloride ions in the flue evaporation process of desulfurization wastewater was studied by using the coal-fired thermal state experimental platform. The concentrations of Hg0 and Hg2+ in the flue gas at the inlet and outlet of selective catalytic reduction denitration (SCR), electrostatic precipitator (ESP), and wet desulfurization (WFGD) devices were tested, and the synergistic removal of traditional pollutant removal equipment by flue evaporation of desulfurization wastewater was analyzed. The influence of Hg and the effect of the evaporation of desulfurization wastewater at different positions on the removal of Hg in the flue gas were compared and analyzed, a... [more]

The integration of renewable energy generation and nonlinear power electronic equipment into the grid brings about complex harmonics and interharmonics problems. The amplitude and frequency of harmonics and interharmonics should be detected by high time-frequency (T-F) resolution methods owing to their time-varying transient features. In this paper, a synchrosqueezing adaptive S-transform (SAST) method is proposed to detect the parameters of harmonics. Firstly, the time-frequency spectrum (TFS) of the harmonic signals is acquired by an adaptive S-transform (AST) algorithm. The TFS results are then subjected to synchronous compression, so as to achieve higher time-frequency representation precision. The detection results of the simulation signals show that SAST can achieve a better time-frequency resolution than the S-transform (ST) and synchrosqueezing short-time Fourier transform (SSTFT). In addition, the application of SAST to the analysis of experimental signals also suggests its su... [more]

Kazakhstan has a relatively high level of overall gender development, as well as of female employment in its energy industries. Diverse views and backgrounds are necessary to address the challenges of curbing emissions in Kazakhstan, a major fossil fuel producer and exporter. However, our analysis of the Labor Force Survey indicates that female representation among energy sector managers and overall workforce has been falling over time. Moreover, we find that women in Kazakhstan’s coal mining, petroleum extraction, and power industries are concentrated in low-skilled and non-core occupations. Next, by analyzing data on labor compensation within energy occupations, we discover signs of persistent vertical discrimination, which may reduce incentives for women to upgrade their skills. Finally, we find that major shocks, such as the COVID-19 pandemic, may stall or reverse prior progress in increasing the energy sector’s gender diversity. Our findings contribute to raising gender awareness... [more]

The work deals with a newly developed prototype of an electrical control unit (ECU) for a magnetorheological (MR) damper powered by energy harvested from vibrations. The ECU, consisting of a rectifying bridge, a driver unit, a microcontroller, and an internal power supply system, is an advanced version of the specially designed processing system for energy harvested from vibrations and the use of this energy to control the MR damper. Unlike a typical MR damper control system in which electrical circuits are powered from an external energy source, the ECU is powered by a part of the energy extracted from a vibrating system using an electromagnetic harvester. However, the excess amount of energy recovered over that necessary to power the MR damper and electrical circuits can be collected in harvested energy storage. The study presents the design concept of the ECU, computer simulations of the in-built driver unit (DU), the method of connecting the ECU with the harvester, the MR damper an... [more]

The European Union requirements related to the quality parameters for fatty acid methyl esters (FAMEs) are gathered in the standard EN 14214:2012 + A2:2019 that also includes reference to low-temperature properties. This paper presents studies on the obtaining of modified FAMEs, featuring improved low-temperature properties. Investigated fatty acid methyl esters (FAMEs) were subjected to a solvent dewaxing process with a methyl ethyl ketone and the mixture of methyl ethyl ketone—Toluene. It was found that the application of a process carried out under conditions similar to solvent dewaxing, used as a standard procedure for oils dewaxing and slack waxes of petroleum origin deoiling usually used in refinery industrial installations, allows us to achieve the intended goal. The modification of three different types of FAME by the dewaxing process with MEK-TOL and MEK solvents allows for the improvement of low-temperature properties of the obtained modified FAME, consistent in obtaining red... [more]

In the context of modern power system development to support the evolution towards green energy and carbon-neutral emission goals, many existing problems and even challenges demand new technical solutions. In recent years, decentralized blockchain technology has been employed to address some problems in power systems, and many papers have been published. In this paper, the concept of blockchain is first introduced. A brief survey of the existing publications regarding the applications of blockchain in power systems, including power system dispatching, microgrid operation, energy trading, electricity trading settlement, transmission, and distribution system operation, is then carried out. In addition, several application scenarios of blockchain technology in power systems are also introduced. Through the discussion, we found that we still need to weigh the advantages and disadvantages, overcome its leakage, and bring its value into play if we apply blockchain technology in modern power... [more]

Renewable energy has emerged as a key to attain higher economic growth without any detrimental impact on the environment. Therefore, the entire world is in the transition phase from non-renewables to renewables. To improve the levels of production of renewable energy, it is inevitable to discern its determinants. Hence, this study aims to probe the impact of monetary, fiscal, and trade policy uncertainty on renewable energy production in the United States. To this end, the novel smooth and sharp structural breaks unit root test is used to scrutinize the order of integration. Next, we also apply the novel augmented autoregressive distributed lag methodology for discerning cointegration. The findings note that, in the long- and short-run, monetary policy uncertainty plunges the production of renewable energy, whereas fiscal policy uncertainty upsurges it. Further, trade policy uncertainty does not affect renewable energy production. Based on these results, we propose policy suggestions t... [more]

The need for a clean and affordable energy supply is a major challenge of the current century. The tough shift toward a sustainable energy mix becomes even more problematic when facing realities that lack infrastructures and financing, such as small islands. Energy modeling and planning is crucial at this early stage of the ecological transition. For this reason, this article aims to improve an established long-run energy model framework, known as “OSeMOSYS,” with an add-on tool able to estimate different types of Levelized Cost Of Electricity (LCOE): a real and theoretical LCOE of each technology and a real and theoretical system LCOE. This tool fills a gap in most modeling frameworks characterized by a lack of information when evaluating energy costs and aims at guiding policymakers to the most appropriate solution. The model is then used to predict future energy scenarios for the island of San Pietro, in Sardinia, which was chosen as a case study. Four energy scenarios with a time h... [more]

The electricity sector has a central role in the efforts to meet climate targets. Consequently, efforts are taking place to electrify industry, heating, and transportation. The Finnish government has set the target to halve carbon dioxide traffic emissions by 2030 and achieve carbon neutrality by 2045. Due to this target, the currently small proportion of electric vehicles (EVs) in Finland could expand in a manner that is difficult to forecast but could be exponential. Amid already strained investment budgets, anticipating the alternative scenarios and impacts of such a transport electrification evolution is of high importance to distribution system operators in order to optimize network planning and enhancements during the coming 15−25 years. The novelty and contribution of this paper is in utilizing a formal scenario planning process to envision what the alternative scenarios are (i.e., possible futures) for the evolution of the electric car fleet in Finland until 2040 and how these... [more]

The study analyzed the impact of the COVID-19 pandemic on the carbon dioxide emissions from electricity generation. Additionally, monthly seasonality was taken into account. It was assumed (research hypothesis) that both the COVID-19 pandemic (expressed in individual waves of infection cases) and the month have a significant impact on CO2 emissions. Analysis of variance (ANOVA) and non-parametric Kruskal−Wallis tests were used to evaluate the significance of the influence of individual explanatory variables on the CO2 emission. The identification of the studied series (CO2 emission) was first made by means of a linear regression model with binary variables and then by the ARMAX model. The analysis shows that in the consecutive months and periods of the COVID-19 pandemic, CO2 emissions differ significantly. The highest increase in emissions was recorded for the second wave of the pandemic, as well as in January and February. This is due to the overlapping of both the increase in infecti... [more]

External humidification has been used as a flexible water management strategy for the proton exchange membrane fuel cell (PEMFC). To study the anode inlet relative humidity (ARH) effect on the performance of PEMFC, the anode inlet water content (AIWC) model is established, including condensation rates and water activity. A comparable analysis between the AIWC model, Fluent model and experiment is conducted at 60 °C operating temperature, four different anode relative humidities (25%, 50%, 75% and 100%), and 100% cathode relative humidity (CRH). The species distributions of water content and hydrogen concentration are presented and analyzed. The results show the relative error of the voltage results derived from the AIWC model has been reduced by 3.2% (the original is 4.6% in the Fluent model) especially at 240 mA·cm−2 for 50% ARH. An increase in hydrogen humidity can improve the PEMFC output at low ARH (25% and 50%). Meanwhile, at high ARH (100%), the excess water produced does not pla... [more]

For a single-phase Shunt Active Power Filter (SAPF) with a two-step prediction, this research presents a modified current control based on a Model Predictive Current Control (MPCC) technique. An H-bridge inverter, a DC link capacitor, and a filter inductor comprise the single-phase SAPF topology. The SAPF reference current is computed using the DC-link capacitor voltage regulation-based PI control technique. The weighting factor-based model predictive current controller is used to track the current commands. The essential dynamic index for evaluating waveform quality is the Total Harmonic Distortion (THD) of a source current and switching frequency of power switches. The conventional methods the THD and switching frequency are not considered as an objective function, so that a weighting factor-based MPCC technique is used to obtain a good compromise between the THD of the source current and switching frequency of power switches. Through MATLAB simulation and experimentation with the Cy... [more]

The environmental repercussions of extensive carbon dioxide (CO2) emissions on the environment are crucial for policymakers and scholars. The repercussions of and connection between economic growth (ECG), tourism (TOUR), and foreign direct investment (FDI) on CO2 emission mitigation have been measured and argued from empirical and theoretical perspectives by scholars. Notwithstanding, the extant body of knowledge has failed to incorporate and investigate the function of governance in decarbonizing tourism activities and FDI from CO2 emissions to attain a healthy and quality environment in Africa. Hence, this current research investigates governance’s role in the reduction processes of CO2 emissions grounded in environmental Kuznets curve (EKC) conceptual assumptions for panel data spanning 2000 through 2020 for 27 African countries. This research utilized the Westerlund panel cointegration approach for the investigation of the cointegration of the selected variables. This study applied... [more]

The goal of today’s technological era is to make every item smart. Internet of Things (IoT) is a model shift that gives a whole new dimension to the common items and things. Wireless sensor networks, particularly Low-Power and Lossy Networks (LLNs), are essential components of IoT that has a significant influence on daily living. Routing Protocol for Low Power and Lossy Networks (RPL) has become the standard protocol for IoT and LLNs. It is not only used widely but also researched by various groups of people. The extensive use of RPL and its customization has led to demanding research and improvements. There are certain issues in the current RPL mechanism, such as an energy hole, which is a huge issue in the context of IoT. By the initiation of Grid formation across the sensor nodes, which can simplify the cluster formation, the Cluster Head (CH) selection is accomplished using fish swarm optimization (FSO). The performance of the Graph-Grid-based Convolution clustered neural network w... [more]