Recent insights in synthesis and energy storage applications of porous carbon derived from biomass waste: A review

In the last few decades, global warming, environmental pollution, and an energy shortage of fossil fuel may cause a severe economic crisis and health threats. Storage, conversion, and application of regenerable and dispersive energy would be a promising solution to release this crisis. The development of porous carbon materials from regenerated biomass are competent methods to store energy with high performance and limited environmental damages. In this regard, bio-carbon with abundant surface functional groups and an easily tunable three-dimensional porous structure may be a potential candidate as a sustainable and green carbon material. Up to now, although some literature has screened the biomass source, reaction temperature, and activator dosage during thermochemical synthesis, a comprehensive evaluation and a detailed discussion of the relationship between raw materials, preparation methods, and the structural and chemical properties of carbon materials are still lacking. Hence, in this review, we first assess the recent advancements in carbonization and activation process of biomass with different compositions and the activity performance in various energy storage applications including supercapacitors, lithium-ion batteries, and hydrogen storage, highlighting the mechanisms and open questions in current energy society. After that, the connections between preparation methods and porous carbon properties including specific surface area, pore volume, and surface chemistry are reviewed in detail. Importantly, we discuss the relationship between the pore structure of prepared porous carbon with surface functional groups, and the energy storage performance in various energy storage fields for different biomass sources and thermal conversion methods. Finally, the conclusion and prospective are concluded to give an outlook for the development of biomass carbon materials, and energy storage applications technologies. This review demonstrates significant potentials for energy applications of biomass materials, and it is expected to inspire new discoveries to promote practical applications of biomass materials in more energy storage and conversion fields.     

Life cycle cost of conventional,battery electric,and fuel cell electric vehicles considering traffic and environmental policies in China

Electric vehicles (EVs) are considered a promising alternative to conventional vehicles (CVs) to alleviate the oil crisis and reduce urban air pollution and carbon emissions. Consumers usually focus on the tangible cost when choosing an EV or CV but overlook the time cost for restricting purchase or driving and the environmental cost from gas emissions, falling to have a comprehensive understanding of the economic competitiveness of CVs and EVs. In this study, a life cycle cost model for vehicles is conducted to express traffic and environmental policies in monetary terms, which are called intangible cost and external cost, respectively. Battery electric vehicles (BEVs), fuel cell electric vehicles (FCEVs), and CVs are compared in four first-tier, four new first-tier, and 4 s-tier and below cities in China. The comparison shows that BEVs and FCEVs in most cities are incomparable with CVs in terms of tangible cost. However, the prominent traffic and environmental policies in first-tier cities, especially in Beijing and Shanghai, greatly increase the intangible and external costs of CVs, making consumers more inclined to purchase BEVs and FCEVs. The main policy benefits of BEVs and FCEVs come from three aspects: government subsidies, purchase and driving restrictions, and environmental taxes. With the predictable reduction in government subsidies, traffic and environmental policies present important factors influencing the competitiveness of BEVs and FCEVs. In first-tier cities, BEVs and FCEVs already have a competitive foundation for large-scale promotion. In new first-tier and second-tier and below cities, stricter traffic and environmental policies need to be formulated to offset the negative impact of the reduction in government subsidies on the competitiveness of BEVs and FCEVs. Additionally, a sensitivity analysis reveals that increasing the mileage and reducing fuel prices can significantly improve the competitiveness of BEVs and FCEVs, respectively.     

An investigation into the cause of loss of containment from the supply of mini-bulk lubricants

An Intermediate Bulk Container (IBC) was punctured during its handling, releasing oil onto soil at an environmentally-sensitive region of Australia. The telehandler did not pierce the plastic of the IBC directly (as was expected) but rather one of the tynes had caught on the underside of the metal base plate, despite numerous controls being in place at time of spill, revealing a previously unreported mechanism for a fluid spill from handling of petroleum hydrocarbons. The diverse investigation team used a root cause analysis (RCA) technique to identify the underlying cause: the inspection process was inadequate with contributing factors of not using a spotter and design of IBC did not anticipate conditions. Engineering controls were put in place as part of the change management process to help prevent spills from occurring from piercing from telehandler tynes on the current project site.     

Enhanced propene/ethene selectivity for methanol conversion over pure silica zeolite: Role of hydrogen-bonded silanol groups

Pure silica zeolite with MEL structure (Si-ZSM-11) was firstly reported as an efficient Methanol-to-Propene (MTP) catalyst in methanol conversion, with higher propene yield (14.0 wt.%) and propene/ethene ratio (5.9) than H-ZSM-11 zeolite with a Si/Al ratio of 26 (7.4 wt.% and 1.9, respectively). Hydrogen-bonded silanol groups in Si-ZSM-11 are weakly acidic and act as active sites in methanol conversion, predominantly promoting propene production and inhibiting side reactions.     

Sub-surface stress measurement of cross welds in a dissimilar welded pressure vessel

Manufacturing process of pressure vessels used in high-temperature applications normally needs employing dissimilar metal welds (DMWs) between austenitic and ferritic steel. However, high amount of thermal stresses at the welds are induced due to differences in coefficient of thermal expansion between the types of steel. This study investigates the evaluation of welding residual stresses in a pressure vessel manufactured by DMW of 316 L stainless steel shell to A106 carbon steel caps as well as similar welding of stainless steel shells. By using longitudinal critically refracted (LCR) ultrasonic waves, the residual stresses are experimentally measured. The ultrasonic method is based on acoustoelasticity law by which the ultrasonic wave velocity could be connected to the material stress. By changing the frequency in which the ultrasonic transducers are working, the LCR waves are able to penetrate in various depths of the material in order to measure the sub-surface residual stresses. Hence, four main aspects are considered in this study: (I) stress evaluation of the DMW; (II) sub-surface stress measurement; (III) stress evaluation of longitudinal weld and (IV) stress measurement in cross weld. It is demonstrated that the residual stresses of the DMW pressure vessel could be comprehensively evaluated by using the LCR method.     

基于智能磨矿介质及CNN和优化SVM模型的球磨机负荷识别方法

当前球磨机负荷检测方法难以准确评估磨机内部变化,给磨机综合运行状态的控制和优化带来较大难度。本文设计了一款内嵌加速度传感器且与钢球介质物理性质相一致的智能磨矿介质用于识别磨机负荷,开展了不同充填率等磨矿条件下的磨矿试验,设计磨矿效果系数划分磨机负荷状态;分别采用了卷积神经网络方法(CNN)和优化的支持向量机(SVM)模型对智能磨矿介质获取的加速度信号进行球磨机负荷识别。基于优化的SVM模型将获取的一维加速度信号进行互补集合经验模态分解算法（CEEMD）去噪、时域特征值和样本熵提取等预处理,将上述磨机负荷的特征向量分别输入GA?SVM、GS?SVM、PSO?SVM分类模型进行训练,研究表明,PSO?SVM模型的识别准确率可达98.33%,但存在训练过程繁琐,耗费时间长的问题。在图像识别领域具有优秀应用能力的CNN模型是把智能磨矿介质检测加速度信号数据转换为二维图片后直接输入基于VGG19网络的CNN模型进行分类识别,磨机负荷分类识别准确率高于优化的SVM模型,可达98.89%,在保证识别准确率的同时有效节约了计算时间。基于CNN的智能磨矿介质球磨机负荷识别方法可为实现球磨机负荷检测与在线评估提供重要解决方案与技术保障。      

Pressureless sintering and tribological properties of WC–ZrO2 composites

In a recent work [Basu, B., Lee, J. H. and Kim, D. Y., Development of WC-ZrO₂ nanocomposites by spark plasma sintering. J. Am. Ceram. Soc. 2004 87(2), 317–319], the processing of ultrahard WC–ZrO₂ nanocomposites using spark plasma sintering is reported. In the present work, we investigate the processing and properties of WC–6 wt.% ZrO₂ composites, densified by pressureless sintering route. The densification of the WC–ZrO₂ composites was performed in the temperature range of 1500–1700 °C with varying time (1–3 h) in vacuum. The experimental results indicate that significantly high hardness of 22–23 GPa and moderate fracture toughness of ∼5 MPa m^1/2 can be obtained with 2 mol% Y–stabilized ZrO₂ sinter-additive, sintered at 1600 °C for 3 h. Furthermore, the friction and wear behavior of optimized WC–ZrO₂ composite is investigated on a fretting mode I wear tester. The tribological results reveal that a moderate coefficient of friction in the range from 0.15 to 0.5 can be achieved with the optimised composite. A transition in friction and wear with load is noted. The dominant mechanisms of material removal are tribochemical wear and spalling of tribolayer.     

Investigation of LSM/8YSZ cathode within an all-ceramic SOFC,Part II: Optimization of performance and co-sinterability

This paper focuses on the cathode and current collector layers of a co-sintered, all-ceramic solid oxide fuel cell (SOFC) concept. Challenges to reach good electrochemical performance have to be overcome, due to more demanding manufacturing conditions, including a relatively high co-sintering temperature. Master sintering curves show that the sintering activity of lanthanum strontium manganite (LSM) is significantly higher than that of 8-mol% yttria stabilized zirconia (8YSZ). By applying a double-layered cathode and a current collector with optimized microstructures the best electrochemical performance of the cathode is 0.26 $\mathrm{\Omega }$cm${}^2$ at 800 $°$C, evaluated from polarization resistances of 8YSZ electrolyte-supported symmetric cells post-sintered at 1150 $°$C $<T<1250$ $°$C. The cathode and current collector materials are adapted to fit the co-sintering process by adjustment of the paste compositions. Half-cells consisting of silicate mechanical support, LSM current collector, LSM mixed with 8YSZ composite cathode and 8YSZ electrolyte are co-sintered porous and defect-free at 1150 $°$C $<T<1250$ $°$C.     

不同反应器中氧化反应与水蒸气气化反应协同作用差异性

在?80mm×3000mm气流床和?40mm×200mm流化床中进行了O₂、H₂O、H₂O+O₂气氛下800℃胜利褐煤气化实验，同时在流化床中进行了O₂、H₂O、H₂O+O₂气氛下半焦原位气化实验和H₂O气氛下半焦完全气化实验。比较了2种反应器中氧化反应与水蒸气气化反应协同作用的大小（强弱）；结合实验条件利用缩核模型分别推导了2种反应器中协同作用影响下水蒸气气化反应速率方程；同时，从传质（扩散）速率、动力学、半焦-挥发分相互作用3方面探讨了2种反应器中协同作用存在显著差异的原因。结果发现，气流床中H₂O+O₂气氛下褐煤转化率明显大于H₂O和O₂单独气氛下褐煤转化率之和，其差值稳定在2.11%～4.01%，而在流化床中差值仅为0～0.75%，相对流化床，气流床中协同作用更明显。这是由于，在流化床中水蒸气向炭粒表面扩散的传质速率约为气流床的11%～25%，水蒸气气化过程受气膜扩散控制，炭粒表面水蒸气全部参与气化反应，炭粒表面无“多余”水分子，氧气开孔/扩孔作用提供的活性位“闲置”，而气流床中气化反应为速控步，炭粒表面有“富裕”水分子，可充分利用氧气开孔/扩孔作用提供的活性位，促进作用显著；挥发分-半焦相互作用不是流化床反应器中协同作用不显著的原因。     

Creep behaviour and constitutive model of coal filled with gas

Coal exhibits different creep behaviours when filled with different amounts of gas. Creep tests of coal filled with 0 and 0.5 MPa gas were performed, and strain under different axial stress was compared.The three creep constitutive models which were analysed using the method fitting experimental data for determining which creep model can reflect the creep process of the test best. The results show that the deformation of coal filled with 0.5 MPa gas is more higher than that of coal filled with 0 MPa gas under the same axial stress. Gas plays a positive effect on the deformation of coal process and will accelerate creep process. And gas will reduce coal intensity and change coal creep properties.Compared with Nishihara Model and Extensional Nishihara Model, Burgers Model can reflect the three stages of creep process of coal filled with gas better. The research results can contribute to reveal coal and gas outburst mechanism.