Catalytic hydrotreatment of PR spring bitumen over an HDM catalyst

PR Spring bitumen was hydrotreated in a fixed-bed reactor over a commercial Mo/alumina hydrodemetallation (HDM) catalyst. Hydrodenitrogenation (HDN), hydrodesulfurization (HDS), hydrodemetallation, Conradson carbon residue (CCR) reduction, and residuum conversion were studied as a function of process operating conditions (T=625–685 K, WHSV=0.26–1.55 h⁻¹ and reactor pressure=11.1–16.6 MPa). The hydrogen-to-oil ratio was fixed at 890 m³/m³ (5000 scf H₂/bbl). The degree of sulfur removal was greater than residuum conversion and nitrogen removal with increasing temperature and contact time over the commercial HDM catalyst. Nitrogen conversion was lower than the conversions of the other species in all cases. Reactor pressure did not exert a significant influence on nitrogen and sulfur removal and CCR and residuum conversion.     

Spray water cooling heat transfer at high temperatures and liquid mass fluxes

Spray water cooling is an important technology used in industry for the cooling of materials from temperatures up to 1800 K. The heat transfer coefficient in the so-called steady film boiling regime is known to be a function of the water impact density. Below a specific surface temperature T_L, the heat transfer coefficient shows a strong dependence on temperature (Leidenfrost effect). These findings are the results of complex self-organizing two-phase boiling heat transfer phenomena.The heat transfer coefficient was measured by an automated cooling test stand (instationary method) under clean (non-oxidizing) surface conditions. Compared to the common thought, an additional temperature dependency in the high temperature regime was found. The heat transfer from the material to the outflowing spray water is explained by a simple model of the two-phase flow region. From the experimental data, an analytic correlation for the dependence of the heat transfer coefficient α as an analytic function of water impact density V_S and temperature ΔT is provided.For water temperatures around 291 K, surface temperatures between 473 and 1373 K, i.e. ΔT > 180 K and water impact densities between V_S = 3 and 30 kg/(m² s) the heat transfer coefficient α was measured. The spray was produced with full cone nozzles (v_d ≈ 13–15 m/s, d_d ≈ 300–400 μm).     

The effect of cycle boundary conditions and adsorbent grain size on the water sorption dynamics in adsorption chillers

The aim of this work was an experimental study of the temporal evolution of isobaric adsorption uptake (release) for simplest configuration of an adsorbent-heat exchanger unit, namely, a monolayer of loose adsorbent grains located on a metal plate. The study was performed by a large temperature jump method at four various boundary conditions of an adsorptive heat transformation cycle typical for air-conditioning application driven by low temperature heat: T_e = 5 and 10 °C, T_c = 30 and 35 °C and T_HS = 80 °C. The size of the Fuji silica grains was varied from 0.2 to 1.8 mm to investigate its effect on water sorption dynamics. For each boundary set and grain size the experimental kinetic curve could be described by an exponential function up to 80–90% of the equilibrium conversion. Desorption runs are found to be faster than appropriate adsorption runs by a factor of 2.2–3.5, hence, for optimal durations of the isobaric ad- and desorption phases of the chilling cycle should be selected accordingly. The size R of the adsorbent grains was found to be a powerful tool to manage the dynamics of isobaric water ad-/desorption. For large grains the characteristic time was strongly dependent on the grain size and proportional to R². Much less important appeared to be an impact of the boundary conditions which variation just weakly affected the dimensionless kinetic curves for the four tested cycles. The maximal specific cooling/heating power was proportional to the maximal temperature difference ΔT and the contact area S between the layer and the metal plate, and can exceed 10 kW/kg. The heat transfer coefficient α estimated from this power was as large as 100–250 W/(m² K) that much exceeds the value commonly used to describe the cycle dynamics.     

Numerical study of heat transfer by natural convection and surface thermal radiation in an open cavity receiver

In this work the numerical results of natural convection and surface thermal radiation in an open cavity receiver considering large temperature differences and variable fluid properties are presented. Numerical calculations were conducted for Rayleigh number (Ra) values in the range of 10⁴–10⁶. The temperature difference between the hot wall and the bulk fluid (ΔT) was varied between 100 and 400 K, and was represented as a dimensionless temperature difference (φ) for the purpose of generalization of the trends observed. Noticeable differences are observed between the streamlines and temperature fields obtained for φ = 1.333 (ΔT = 400 K) and φ = 0.333 (ΔT = 100 K). The total average Nusselt number in the cavity increased by 79.8% (Ra = 10⁶) and 88.0% (Ra = 10⁴) as φ was varied from 0.333 to 1.333. Furthermore the results indicate that for large temperature differences (0.667 ? φ ? 1.333) the radiative heat transfer is more important that convective heat transfer.     

Assessment of thermoelectric module with nanofluid heat exchanger

For applications such as cooling of electronic devices, it is a common practice to sandwich the thermoelectric module between an integrated chip and a heat exchanger, with the cold-side of the module attached to the chip. This configuration results thermal contact resistances in series between the chip, module, and heat exchanger. In this paper, an appraisal of thermal augmentation of thermoelectric module using nanofluid-based heat exchanger is presented. The system under consideration uses commercially available thermoelectric module, 27 nm Al₂O₃–H₂O nanofluid, and a heat source to replicate the chip. The volume fraction of nanofluid is varied between 0% and 2%. At optimum input current conditions, experimental simulations were performed to measure the transient and steady-state thermal response of the module to imposed isoflux conditions. Data collected from the nanofluid-based exchanger is compared with that of deionized water.Results show that there exist a lag-time in thermal response between the module and the heat exchanger. This is attributed to thermal contact resistance between the two components. A comparison of nanofluid and deionized water data reveals that the temperature difference between the hot- and cold-side, ΔT = T_h ? T_c ≈ 0, is almost zero for nanofluid whereas ΔT > 0 for water. When ΔT ≈ 0, the contribution of Fourier effect to the overall heating is approximately zero hence enhancing the module cooling capacity. Experimental evidence further shows that temperature gradient across the thermal paste that bonds the chip and heat exchanger is much lower for the nanofluid than for deionized water. Low temperature gradient results in low resistance to the flow of heat across the thermal paste. The average thermal contact resistance, R = ΔT/Q, is 0.18 and 0.12 °C/W, respectively for the deionized water and nanofluid. For the range of optimum current, 1.2 ? current ? 4.1 A, considered in this study, the COP ranges between 1.96 and 0.68.     

Measuring temperature of the ice surface during its formation by using infrared instrumentation

A non-destructive remote sensing technique was used to measure the surface temperature of a thin macroscopic water film flowing on a growing asymmetric ice accretion during its formation inside an icing research wind tunnel. Given the underlying thermodynamic conditions of this experimental series, the recorded surface temperature was always below the temperature of water fusion, T_m = 273.15 K, even when water shedding from growing ice accretions was observed visually. The surface temperature of ice accretions, T_s, ranged from −1 °C, for angular positions near the stagnation line, down to a certain minimum above the ambient temperature, T_a, for the greater angular positions, i.e. T_m > T_s > T_a.     

Hydrogen uptake characteristics of mischmetal based alloy

Hydrogen storage properties of Mm_39.2Ni_42.1Mn_4.9Al_1.25Co_10.2Fe_2.35 alloy have been systematically studied in the present work. An attempt is made to relate the content of hydrogen with change in resistance. It is found that the resistance of material increases with the increase in value of H/M due to hydrogen absorption. Pressure composition (P-C-T) isotherm using water displacement method has been investigated in the temperature and pressure ranges of 308 ≤ T ≤ 338 K and 0.5 ≤ P ≤ 10 bar, respectively. The P-C isotherms show the presence of two single α and β regions one mixed α + β phase. The maximum H (wt%) was found to be around 1.53 at 308 K and around 6 bar. Since enthalpy is an index of thermochemical stability of metal hydride the thermo dynamical parameters viz., the relative partial molar enthalpy (ΔH) and relative partial molar entropy (ΔS) of dissolved hydrogen have been calculated by plotting the Van’t Hoff plot. The variation of ΔH and ΔS with the hydrogen concentration confirm the phase boundaries.     

Maximising the energy output of a PVT air system

Simultaneously generating both electricity and low grade heat, photovoltaic thermal (PVT) systems maximise the solar energy extracted per unit of collector area and have the added benefit of increasing the photovoltaic (PV) electrical output by reducing the PV operating temperature. A graphical representation of the temperature rise and rate of heat output as a function of the number of transfer units NTUs illustrates the influence of fundamental parameter values on the thermal performance of the PVT collector. With the aim of maximising the electrical and thermal energy outputs, a whole of system approach was used to design an experimental, unglazed, single pass, open loop PVT air system in Sydney. The PVT collector is oriented towards the north with a tilt angle of 34°, and used six 110 Wp frameless PV modules. A unique result was achieved whereby the additional electrical PV output was in excess of the fan energy requirement for air mass flow rates in the range of 0.03–0.05 kg/s m². This was made possible through energy efficient hydraulic design using large ducts to minimise the pressure loss and selection of a fan that produces high air mass flow rates (0.02–0.1 kg/s m²) at a low input power (4–85 W). The experimental PVT air system demonstrated increasing thermal and electrical PV efficiencies with increasing air mass flow rate, with thermal efficiencies in the range of 28–55% and electrical PV efficiencies between 10.6% and 12.2% at midday.     

Hydrogen storage in an activated carbon bed: Effect of energy release on storage capacity of the tank

Thermal effects during dynamic charging of a two-liter, adsorbent, packed bed, hydrogen storage tank were studied through numerical modeling. For packed-bed materials having adsorption capacities smaller than 2 wt%, the conversion to heat of the mechanical work required to feed the tank produces more than 60% of the temperature increase that occurs during the charging process. However, for materials having adsorption capacities greater than 3 wt%, 60% of the heating is due to the adsorption process. The temperature increase for a material that would fulfill the DOE recommendation of 6 wt% storage capacity is 130 K. This reduces the storage capacity by 20% relative to what would be obtained from an isothermal charging process. Simulations showed that the limitation in the storage capacity can be reduced to less than 10%, if a packed bed having an effective conductivity of a few W m^?1 K^?1 can be used.     

Experimental results on gravity driven fully condensing flows in vertical tubes,their agreement with theory,and their differences with shear driven flows’ boundary-condition sensitivities

This paper synthesizes experimental results with computational results towards development of a reliable heat transfer correlation for gravity driven annular wavy condensing flows inside a vertical tube. For fully condensing flows of pure vapor (FC-72) inside a vertical cylindrical tube of 6.6 mm diameter and 0.7 m length, the experimental conditions are typically annular wavy and they cover: mass flux G over a range of 2.9 kg/m² s ? G ? 87.7 kg/m² s, temperature difference ΔT of 5–45 °C, and length of full condensation x_FC in the range of 0 < x_FC < 0.7 m.The range of flow conditions over which there is good (within 15%) and poor (15–30% or >30%) agreement with the theory and modeling assumptions are discussed and these conditions have been identified. The paper also refers to key experimental results with regard to sensitivity of the flow to time-varying or quasi-steady (i.e. steady-in-the-mean) impositions of pressure at both the inlet and the outlet.     

Condensation heat transfer and pressure drop of HFC-134a in a helically coiled concentric tube-in-tube heat exchanger

The two-phase heat transfer coefficient and pressure drop of pure HFC-134a condensing inside a smooth helically coiled concentric tube-in-tube heat exchanger are experimentally investigated. The test section is a 5.786 m long helically coiled double tube with refrigerant flowing in the inner tube and cooling water flowing in the annulus. The inner tube is made from smooth copper tubing of 9.52 mm outer diameter and 8.3 mm inner diameter. The outer tube is made from smooth copper tubing of 23.2 mm outer diameter and 21.2 mm inner diameter. The heat exchanger is fabricated by bending a straight copper double-concentric tube into a helical coil of six turns. The diameter of coil is 305 mm. The pitch of coil is 35 mm. The test runs are done at average saturation condensing temperatures ranging between 40 and 50 °C. The mass fluxes are between 400 and 800 kg m⁻² s⁻¹ and the heat fluxes are between 5 and 10 kW m⁻². The pressure drop across the test section is directly measured by a differential pressure transducer. The quality of the refrigerant in the test section is calculated using the temperature and pressure obtained from the experiment. The average heat transfer coefficient of the refrigerant is determined by applying an energy balance based on the energy rejected from the test section. The effects of heat flux, mass flux and, condensation temperature on the heat transfer coefficients and pressure drop are also discussed. It is found that the percentage increase of the average heat transfer coefficient and the pressure drop of the helically coiled concentric tube-in-tube heat exchanger, compared with that of the straight tube-in-tube heat exchanger, are in the range of 33–53% and 29–46%, respectively. New correlations for the condensation heat transfer coefficient and pressure drop are proposed for practical applications.     

Hydrodynamics and heat transfer in swirl flow under conditions of one-side heating. Part 1: Pressure drop and single-phase heat transfer

The paper gives the basic results of experimental investigation of hydrodynamics and heat transfer in heat-absorbing devices of the ITER thermonuclear reactor, which are subjected to one-side heating. The entire array of experimental data is obtained in the following range of parameters of water flow: pressure p = 0.7–2.0 MPa, mass flux G = 340–25,000 kg/(m² s), inlet water temperature T_in = 15–60 °C. The experiments are performed with turbulent swirl flows of water for twisted tapes with the flow swirl coefficient k = 0.90, 0.66, 0.49, 0.39, 0.25, 0.19, and 0, as well for test sections without a tape. Given in the first part of the paper are the data on pressure drop and single-phase convective heat transfer. Appropriate calculation formulas are derived, which reliably generalize the experimental data.     

Influence of the flashing phenomenon on the boiling curve of refrigerant R134a in minichannels

The results of experimental investigations of heat transfer during the flow of R134a in a minichannel are presented here. The experimental investigations were conducted using a minichannel with a total length of 500 mm and 1.68 mm internal diameter. The heated length of the minichannel was 200 mm, the total mass flow rate of the refrigerant (wρ) = 200–450 kg/m² s, the inlet subcooling ΔT_s = 5–15 K, and the heat flux density q = 1.7–60.3 kW/m². The results of experimental investigations are presented as a boiling curve. The phenomenon known as the zero boiling crisis and the influence of the flashing phenomenon on the boiling curve show the importance of these elements on heat transfer in single- and two-phase systems.     

Wide-optical bandgap with improved conductivity p-μc-Si:Ox:H films prepared by Cat-CVD

Boron-doped hydrogenated microcrystalline silicon oxide (p-μc-Si:O_x:H) films have been deposited using catalytic chemical vapor deposition (Cat-CVD). The single-coiled tungsten catalyst temperature (T_fil) was varied from 1850 to 2100 °C and films were deposited on glass substrates at the temperatures (T_sub) of 100–300 °C. Different catalyst-to-substrate distances of 3–5 cm and deposition pressures from 0.1 to 0.6 Torr were considered.Optical and electrical characterizations have been made for the deposited samples. The sample transmittance measurement shows an optical-bandgap (Eg_opt) variation from 1.74 to 2.10 eV as a function of the catalyst and substrate temperatures. One of the best window materials was obtained at T_sub=100 °C and T_fil=2050 °C, with Eg_opt=2.10 eV, dark conductivity of 3.0×10^?3 S cm^?1 and 0.3 nm s^?1 deposition rate.     

Experimental study of R-134a evaporation heat transfer in a narrow annular duct

An experiment is carried out here to investigate the evaporation heat transfer and associated evaporating flow pattern for refrigerant R-134a flowing in a horizontal narrow annular duct. The gap of the duct is fixed at 1.0 and 2.0 mm. In the experiment, the effects of the duct gap, refrigerant vapor quality, mass flux and saturation temperature and imposed heat flux on the measured evaporation heat transfer coefficient h_r are examined in detail. For the duct gap of 2.0 mm, the refrigerant mass flux G is varied from 300 to 500 kg/m² s, imposed heat flux q from 5 to 15 kW/m², vapor quality x_m from 0.05 to 0.95, and refrigerant saturation temperature T_sat from 5 to 15 °C. While for the gap of 1.0 mm, G is varied from 500 to 700 kg/m² s with the other parameters varied in the same ranges as that for δ = 2.0 mm. The experimental data clearly show that the evaporation heat transfer coefficient increases almost linearly with the vapor quality of the refrigerant and the increase is more significant at a higher G. Besides, the evaporation heat transfer coefficient also rises substantially at increasing q. Moreover, a significant increase in the evaporation heat transfer coefficient results for a rise in T_sat, but the effects are less pronounced in the narrower duct at a low imposed heat flux and a high refrigerant mass flux. Furthermore, the evaporation heat transfer coefficient increases substantially with the refrigerant mass flux except at low vapor quality. We also note that reducing the duct gap causes a significant increase in h_r. In addition to the heat transfer data, photos of R-134a evaporating flow taken from the duct side show the change of the dominant two-phase flow pattern in the duct with the experimental parameters. Finally, an empirical correlation for the present measured heat transfer coefficient for the R-134a evaporation in the narrow annular ducts is proposed.     

Performance simulation of solar-boosted ocean thermal energy conversion plant

Ocean thermal energy conversion (OTEC) is a power generation method that utilizes small temperature difference between the warm surface water and cold deep water of the ocean. This paper describes the performance simulation results of an OTEC plant that utilizes not only ocean thermal energy but also solar thermal energy as a heat source. This power generation system was termed SOTEC (solar-boosted ocean thermal energy conversion). In SOTEC, the temperature of warm sea water was boosted by using a typical low-cost solar thermal collector. In order to estimate the potential thermal efficiency and required effective area of a solar collector for a 100-kWe SOTEC plant, first-order modeling and simulation were carried out under the ambient conditions at Kumejima Island in southern part of Japan. The results show that the proposed SOTEC plant can potentially enhance the annual mean net thermal efficiency up to a value that is approximately 1.5 times higher than that of the conventional OTEC plant if a single-glazed flat-plate solar collector of 5000-m² effective area is installed to boost the temperature of warm sea water by 20 K.     

High-rate electrochemical partial oxidation of methane in solid oxide fuel cells

This paper describes results on direct-methane solid oxide fuel cell (air, LSM-YSZ|YSZ|Ni-YSZ, CH₄) operation for combined electricity and syngas production. Thermodynamic equilibrium predictions showed that efficient methane conversion to syngas is expected for SOFC operating temperature >700 °C and O²⁻/CH₄ ratios of ≈1. A simple thermal analysis was used to determine conditions where the cell produces enough heat to self-sustain its operating temperature; relatively low cell voltage and O²⁻/CH₄ ratios > 1 were found to be useful. Fuel cells operated at T ≈ 750 °C, V ≈ 0.4 V, and O²⁻/CH₄ ≈ 1.2 yielded electrical power output of ∼0.7 W cm⁻² and syngas production rates of ∼20 sccm cm⁻². Stable cell operation without coking for >300 h was achieved.     

Photofermentative hydrogen production using purple non-sulfur bacteria Rhodobacter sphaeroides O.U.001 in an annular photobioreactor: A case study

For meeting the increasing demand of energy, biohydrogen production is to be considered in higher yield. Biohydrogen can be produced both by dark and photofermentative process. In this study, the photofermentative pathway is followed by using dl malic acid (IUPAC name: 2-hydroxybutanedioic acid, molecular weight: 134.08744 g mol^?1, molecular formula: C₄H₆O₅) as carbon source. Pure strain of purple non-sulfur (PNS) bacteria: Rhodobacter sphaeroides strain O.U.001 was studied to produce biohydrogen using the photobioreactor. The photobioreactor was constructed aiming the uniform light distribution. The objective of this study was to investigate the performance of 1 L annular photobioreactor operating in indoor conditions. The highest rate of hydrogen production was obtained at 92 h. In the designed photobioreactor, using Rhodobacter sphaeroides strain O.U.001 (initial dl malic acid concentration of 2.01 g L^?1) at an initial pH of 6.8 ± 0.2, temperature 32 ± 2 °C, inoculum volume 10% (v/v), inoculum age of 48 h, 250 rpm (rotation per minute) stirring and light intensity of 15 ± 1.1 W m^?2, the average H₂ production rate was about 6.5 ± 0.1 mL H₂ h^?1 L^?1 media and yield 4.5 ± 0.05 mol of H₂ mol^?1 of dl malic acid. Luedeking–Piret model was applied for the data fitting to determine the relationship between the cell growth and photofermentative hydrogen production. The photofermentative hydrogen production by this PNS bacterium was found to be microbial mixed growth associated function.     

Electrohydrodynamic enhancement of in-tube convective condensation heat transfer

An experimental investigation of electrohydrodynamic (EHD) augmentation of heat transfer for in-tube condensation of flowing refrigerant HFC-134a has been performed in a horizontal, single-pass, counter-current heat exchanger with a rod electrode placed in the centre of the tube. The effects of varying the mass flux (55 kg/m² s ⩽ G ⩽ 263 kg/m² s), inlet quality (0.2 ⩽ x_in ⩽ 0.83) and the level of applied voltage (0 kV ⩽ V ⩽ 8 kV) are examined. The heat transfer coefficient was enhanced by a factor up to 3.2 times for applied voltage of 8 kV. The pressure drop was increased by a factor 1.5 at the same conditions of the maximum heat transfer enhancement. The improved heat transfer performance and pressure drop penalty are due to flow regime transition from stratified flow to annular flow as has been deduced from the surface temperature profiles along the top and bottom surfaces of the tube.     

Heat transfer and pressure drop during HFC refrigerant saturated vapour condensation inside a brazed plate heat exchanger

This paper presents the heat transfer coefficients and the pressure drop measured during HFC refrigerants 236fa, 134a and 410A saturated vapour condensation inside a brazed plate heat exchanger: the effects of saturation temperature (pressure), refrigerant mass flux and fluid properties are investigated. The heat transfer coefficients show weak sensitivity to saturation temperature (pressure) and great sensitivity to refrigerant mass flux and fluid properties. A transition point between gravity controlled and forced convection condensation has been found for a refrigerant mass flux around 20 kg/m²s that corresponds to an equivalent Reynolds number around 1600–1700. At low refrigerant mass flux (G_r < 20 kg/m²s) the heat transfer coefficients are not dependent on mass flux and are well predicted by the Nusselt [20] analysis for vertical surface: the condensation process is gravity controlled. For higher refrigerant mass flux (G_r > 20 kg/m²s) the heat transfer coefficients depend on mass flux and are well predicted by Akers et al. [21] equation: forced convection condensation occurs. In the forced convection condensation region the heat transfer coefficients show a 25–30% increase for a doubling of the refrigerant mass flux.The frictional pressure drop shows a linear dependence on the kinetic energy per unit volume of the refrigerant flow and therefore a quadratic dependence on mass flux.HFC-410A shows heat transfer coefficients similar to HFC-134a and 10% higher than HFC-236fa together with frictional pressure drops 40-50% lower than HFC-134a and 50–60% lower than HFC-236fa.