A comprehensive review of renewable energy resources for electricity generation in Australia

Recently, renewable energy resources and their impacts have sparked a heated debate to resolve the Australian energy crisis. There are many projects launched throughout the country to improve network security and reliability. This paper aims to review the current status of different renewable energy resources along with their impacts on society and the environment. Besides, it provides for the first time the statistics of the documents published in the field of renewable energy in Australia. The statistics include information such as the rate of papers published, possible journals for finding relative paper, types of documents published, top authors, and the most prevalent keywords in the field of renewable energy in Australia. It will focus on solar, wind, biomass, geothermal and hydropower technologies and will investigate the social and environmental impacts of these technologies.     

Economic Evaluation of Power System Flexibility by Commercial Air Conditioner Control with Large Penetration of Photovoltaic Generation

High penetration of intermittent renewable energy such as photovoltaic (PV) and wind power could cause shortage of power system flexibility. Demand response is expected to help supply ancillary service instead of the conventional power plant. Commercial air conditioners are a promising responsive load for demand response because they account for a large proportion of power consumption in the power system. We calculate a system operation cost and hourly operation pattern of each power plant by using the optimal power generation model considering flexibility supply from controlling commercial air conditioner. We obtained the following results as an effect of commercial air conditioner control. (1) The power generation of oil fired power plants decreases at peak time and annual fuel cost of oil fired plant is reduced by approximately 30% at most in Kanto area. (2) The percentage of rated operation mode of LNG combined cycle plants increases. (3) Curtailed energy rate of PV decreases because a power storage amount by pumped hydropower generation increases. (4) Required battery capacity to reduce PV curtailed amount decreased by combining battery energy storage system in case of high penetration of PV.     

析晶污垢生长影响因素概述

结垢问题存在于各个行业,尤其在油田表现更甚。但材料表面特性对油田采出水中析晶污垢的影响并没有得到太多关注。主要对影响析晶污垢生长的三种主要表面特性因素进行简要综述。     

What is the future of solar energy? Economic and policy barriers

The most important characteristics and limitations of solar energy were reviewed in this study. The analysis of different aspects indicated that the most important global challenges of solar energy development were climatic challenges, technical constraints, and unwillingness to make investments. After describing current conditions and predicting the future of solar energy, this study analyzed the policies formulated by developed countries to develop this from of energy. Accordingly, China has gotten ahead of other countries in this industry due to the technological production of solar panels and governmental supports. Finally, the economic estimation of solar energy was presented by dealing with the economic barriers to this form of energy in developed countries. According to the significant growth in the reduction of solar energy electricity production cost, this source of energy can be used as a major source in the future. It was then recommended to use a hybrid of solar energy with other sources such as wind to reduce the costs.     

Lewis acid-oxygen vacancy interfacial synergistic catalysis over SO42−/Ce0.84Zr0.16O2–WO3–ZrO2 for N,N-diethylation of aniline with ethanol

Herein, a new mechanism involving Lewis acid-oxygen vacancy interfacial synergistic catalysis for aniline N,N-diethylation with ethanol was proposed, and the SO₄²⁻/Ce_0.84Zr_0.16O₂–WO₃–ZrO₂ catalyst (SCWZ) with both Lewis acid sites and oxygen vacancies was synthesized by the hydrothermal method, which shows better catalytic activity than the reported solid acidic catalysts. Besides, the SO₄²⁻/ZrO₂ (SZ) and SO₄²⁻/WO₃–ZrO₂ (SWZ) catalysts were also prepared and compared with SCWZ to investigate the synergistic effect of each component. The SO₄²⁻ and WO₃ mainly generate Lewis acid by bonding with ZrO₂, which is beneficial for the fracture of the N–H bond in aniline. The Ce_0.84Zr_0.16O₂ solid solution mainly plays a vital role in generating the oxygen vacancies as the interface active species, which can participate in stripping –OH from ethanol, then the carbocation will also be released, which only needs 1.3805 kcal/mol energy, calculated by density functional theory (DFT), to be input. In comparison, the traditional reaction mechanism needs the Brønsted acidic sites to promote the protonation of ethanol, then dehydration and subsequent formation of carbocation followed, and 108.6846 kcal/mol energy needs to be input, which is far higher than that of the new mechanism. The apparent activation energy (E_a) over SCWZ was measured by experiment to be 34.09 kJ/mol, which is much lower than that of SWZ (47.10 kJ/mol) and SZ (54.37 kJ/mol), illustrating comparatively preferable kinetics for SCWZ than that of SWZ and SZ. Besides, the conversion of aniline and selectivity to N,N-diethylaniline over SCWZ reach almost 100% and 73%, respectively. The SCWZ can be renewed for 4 times without rapid deactivation, and the longevity of SCWZ is longer than that of SWZ and SZ, as the loaded SO₄²⁻ and tetragonal ZrO₂ are stabilized by Ce_0.84Zr_0.16O₂ and WO₃, respectively.     

基于CFD-DEM方法的净化器流场模拟与结构优化

针对空气净化器能耗高的问题，使用离散元方法(DEM)在吸附滤网中建立随机堆积柱形活性炭模型，采用计算流体力学(CFD)方法对空气净化器内部流场进行数值模拟，在模拟与实验验证的基础上，考察了压降最小、流场最均匀的吸附滤网结构。结果表明，空气净化器压降主要发生在轴向，活性炭吸附滤网中回流、沟流现象严重，流体阻力是其他两种滤网的3倍。边数对多边形填充孔结构吸附滤网内压降与流场均匀性无影响，当孔结构改为圆形时，压降减小约52 Pa，节能18.4%(49 W)；当孔直径由8 mm增至12 mm，压降减小约48 Pa，节能19.4%(45 W)；滤网间距对空气净化器压降无影响，圆形、小孔径的吸附滤网内流场最均匀。     

严寒地区单体建筑太阳能-相变墙系统蓄热特性研究

利用太阳能对水加热并通入相变墙进行蓄热，对减少严寒地区单体建筑供热能耗有重要意义。以大庆市某单体建筑为例，结合该地区太阳能分布特点及建筑热负荷大小，对适用于该地区的太阳能-相变墙系统进行集热与储热能力计算，并采用CFD方法研究单一工况下该系统的热工变化规律及不同热水参数、换热管规格对相变墙蓄热特性的影响。结果表明：该相变墙热稳定性良好，但受自然对流影响，底部相变材料熔化较慢；管径DN25、入口流速0.3m/s、供水温度310.15K、回水温度309.15K、管间距107mm可使相变材料在4小时内完成蓄热，平均节能率为31.8%。研究结果可望为降低严寒地区建筑供热能耗提供新思路。     

Combined constant speed control method for a wind generator equipped with hydraulic energy storage

A wind generator equipped with hydraulic energy storage (WG‐HES) uses hydraulic transmission systems instead of gearbox transmissions, thus eliminating high‐power converters and reducing the tower‐top cabin weight. When there is no wind or the wind speed is extremely low, the pressured oil released by accumulators is used to drive a motor to operate at a constant speed, thereby generating constant‐frequency power. However, few studies have examined the constant speed control characteristics for generating electricity using only an accumulator group. In this study, a combined constant speed (CCS) proportional–integral–derivative (PID) control method based on “variable displacement and throttling” is proposed, which includes two closed loops and one regulating loop. First, a simulation model of the CCS PID control method for a variable motor was established in the Simcenter Amesim program. The influence of different PID parameters on the anti‐interference ability of the constant speed control of the motor was analyzed under a given load step. Then, we obtained the range of control parameter values and a set of optimal values. Second, the effectiveness of the CCS control method and the accuracy of the simulation results were verified on a 600‐kW WG‐HES system prototype. The results verified that the CCS control method has good anti‐interference ability and can meet the requirements of constant speed control for a variable motor under the best PID parameters. These results can provide a basis for developing control strategies for WG‐HESs when there is no wind or at low wind speeds.     

New insight to the oxidation kinetics of silicon-containing steel at high temperature

This study investigated the oxidation kinetics of silicon-containing steel at 1150–1300 °C using a Simultaneous Thermal Analyzer under atmospheric conditions similar to that of an industry reheating furnace. There is a critical time point for the oxidation kinetics at an oxygen concentration of 4·0 vol.-%., following which the oxidation rate constant increases with the increasing oxidation temperature. The model coefficient A in the kinetic oxidation equation was found to be constant. However, before the critical time point, the oxidation rate constant remained unchanged; the model coefficient A decreased with the increasing temperature. Therefore, the kinetic model of silicon-containing steel for isothermal oxidation was observed to be a modified one on the basis of the experimental data. In addition, the critical time point was prolonged with the increasing isothermal oxidation temperature. Moreover, the oxidation activation energy of the tested silicon-containing steel was 366·16 kJ mol^?1.