Dynamic simulation of hydrogen-based off-grid zero energy buildings with hydrogen storage considering Fanger model thermal comfort

In this study, some locations with different climates, off-grid zero energy buildings with hydrogen energy storage systems are designed, and transient analysis is conducted. These considered buildings supply their electricity consumption without using the electrical grid and PV panels or wind turbines. Also, they supply thermal comfort to occupants by using a vapor compression chiller and humidifier. Domestic hot water of occupants is supplied using solar collectors. For analyzing building's performance and objectives achievement, TRNSYS software is used. Also, for evaluating occupant thermal comfort, the Fanger model is used. The considered building is a one-story building with a 150 m² area. Four occupants are considered. Both of them are seated at rest, and another is seated with light working such as typing. Using the Fanger model equation and MATLAB software, the thermal comfort of occupants is determined. For domestic hot water consumption, verified profiles that vary during 24 h of the day are considered. Achieved results show that for humid and cold cities, PV panels with an area of 73 and 76 m² can be supplied the required electricity of considered building with four occupants and battery state of charge is higher than 50% and 10%, respectively. Moreover, with a suitable air conditioner system, the predicted percentage of dissatisfied (PPD) can be lower than 12% and 8% for humid and cold cities. Therefore, the building can be converted to a zero-energy building using its rooftop area.     

Enhancing the dehydrogenation properties of LiAlH4 using K2NiF6 as additive

Lithium alanate (LiAlH₄) is a material that can be potentially used for solid-state hydrogen storage due to its high hydrogen content (10.5 wt%). Nevertheless, a high desorption temperature, slow desorption kinetic, and irreversibility have restricted the application of LiAlH₄ as a solid-state hydrogen storage material. Hence, to lower the decomposition temperature and to boost the dehydrogenation kinetic, in this study, we applied K₂NiF₆ as an additive to LiAlH₄. The addition of K₂NiF₆ showed an excellent improvement of the LiAlH₄ dehydrogenation properties. After adding 10 wt% K₂NiF₆, the initial decomposition temperature of LiAlH₄ within the first two dehydrogenation steps was lowered to 90 °C and 156 °C, respectively, that is 50 °C and 27 °C lower than that of the аs-milled LiAlH₄. In terms of dehydrogenation kinetics, the dehydrogenation rate of K₂NiF₆-doped LiAlH₄ sample was significantly higher as compared to аs-milled LiAlH₄. The K₂NiF₆-doped LiAlH₄ sample can release 3.07 wt% hydrogen within 90 min, while the milled LiAlH₄ merely release 0.19 wt% hydrogen during the same period. According to the Arrhenius plot, the apparent activation energies for the desorption process of K₂NiF₆-doped LiAlH₄ are 75.0 kJ/mol for the first stage and 88.0 kJ/mol for the second stage. These activation energies are lower compared to the undoped LiAlH₄. The morphology study showed that the LiAlH₄ particles become smaller and less agglomerated when K₂NiF₆ is added. The in situ formation of new phases of AlNi and LiF during the dehydrogenation process, as well as a reduction in particle size, is believed to be essential contributors in improving the LiAlH₄ dehydrogenation characteristics.     

Facile preparation of SnS2 nanoflowers and nanoplates for the application of high-performance hybrid supercapacitors

In this work, the SnS₂ nanoflowers (SnS₂ NFs) were solvothermally prepared in the solvent of ethanol, while SnS₂ nanoplates (SnS₂ NPs) were obtained through the identical conditions except for the solvent of water. The flowers were assembled with numerous nanosheets with very thin thickness, and the NPs exhibited hexagonal shape. When used as the battery-type electrode material for supercapacitors, the SnS₂ NFs delivered a specific capacity of as high as 264.4 C g^?1 at 1 A g^?1, which was higher than the 201.6 C g^?1 of SnS₂ NPs. Furthermore, a hybrid supercapacitor (HSC) was assembled with the SnS₂ as positive electrode and activated carbon (AC) as negative electrode, respectively. The SnS₂ NFs//AC HSC exhibited a high energy density of 28.1 Wh kg^?1 at 904.3 W kg^?1, which was higher than the 24.2 Wh kg^?1 at 844.3 W kg^?1 of SnS₂ NPs//AC HSC. Especially, when the power density was enhanced to the highest value of 8666.8 W kg^?1, the NFs-based device could still hold 20.4 Wh kg^?1. In addition, both HSC devices showed an excellent cycling stability after 5000 cycles at 5 A g^?1. The present method is simple and can be extended to the preparation of other transition metal sulfides (TMSs)-based electrode materials with brilliant electrochemical performance for supercapacitors.     

Heterofullerene C48B12-impregnated MOF-5 and IRMOF-10 for hydrogen storage: A combined DFT and GCMC simulations study

The H₂ storage properties of isoreticular metal-organic framework materials (IRMOFs), MOF-5 and IRMOF-10, impregnated with different numbers and types of heterogeneous C₄₈B₁₂ molecules were investigated using density functional theory and grand canonical Monte Carlo (GCMC) calculations. The excess hydrogen adsorption isotherms of IRMOFs at 77 K within 20 bar indicate that suitable number and type of C₄₈B₁₂ molecules play a crucial role in improving the H₂ storage properties of IRMOFs. Among the studied pure and nC₄₈B₁₂ (n = 1, 2, 4, 8) in Ci symmetry impregnating into MOF-5, at 77 K under 6 bar, MOF-5-4C₄₈B₁₂ with a 3.5 wt% and 29.9 g/L hydrogen storage density, and at 77 K under 12 bar, the pure MOF-5 with a 4.9 wt% and 31.0 g/L hydrogen storage density has the best hydrogen storage properties. Whereas, among the studied pure and nC₄₈B₁₂ (n = 1, 2, 4, 8) in S6 symmetry impregnating into IRMOF-10, IRMOF-10-8C₄₈B₁₂ always shows the best hydrogen storage properties among the pure and C₄₈B₁₂-impregnated IRMOF-10 at 77 K within 20 bar. IRMOF-10-8C₄₈B₁₂ has a 6.0 wt% and 34.6 g/L hydrogen storage density at 77 K under 6 bar, and has a 7.1 wt% and 41.4 g/L hydrogen storage density at 77 K under 12 bar. The confinement effect of IRMOFs on C₄₈B₁₂ molecules, and steric hindrance effect of C₄₈B₁₂ molecules on IRMOFs mainly affects the H₂ uptake capacity by comparing the absolute H₂ molecules in individual IRMOFs units, C₄₈B₁₂ molecules, and IRMOFs-nC₄₈B₁₂ compounds. The absolute hydrogen adsorption profiles show that eight C₄₈B₁₂ molecules impregnating into MOF-5 can exert obvious steric effects for H₂ adsorption. The saturated gravimetric and volumetric H₂ densities of IRMOF-10-8C₄₈B₁₂ higher than those of MOF-5-8C₄₈B₁₂ due to with larger free volume.     

Physical and sensory properties of lemon-flavored acidic beverages formulated with nonfat dry milk during storage

Sensory and physical properties of 2 lemon-flavored beverages with 5% and 7.5% wt/wt nonfat dry milk (NFDM) at pH 2.5 were studied during storage. The 2 beverages had similar volatile compounds, but the 5% NFDM had higher aroma and lemon flavor, with a preferred appearance by consumers due to the lower turbidity and viscosity. After 28 d of storage at 4°C, lemon flavor decreased in the 5% NFDM beverage but was still more intense than the 7.5% one. During 70 d of storage, no microorganisms were detected, and the beverages were more stable when stored at 4°C than at room temperature according to changes of physical properties measured for appearance, turbidity, color, particle size, zeta potential, rheological properties, and transmission electron microscopy morphology. Findings of the present study suggest that NFDM may be used at 5% wt/wt to produce stable acidic dairy beverages with low turbidity when stored at 4°C.     

南水北调中线总干渠藻类的生态调度

南水北调中线总干渠无在线调蓄水库,对藻类生态调度过程中出现的问题开展生态调度实现策略和实施方式研究。主要实现策略包括:划定自身的调蓄区,隔离生态调度对下游的影响;采用高效的渠池运行方式,减少生态调度时蓄量的反复调整;综合考虑安全、快速、平稳等需求,设定生态调度实施进程和方式。具体实施方式包括:将总干渠划分为流速调控区、调蓄区和正常运行区,分别实施等体积、控制蓄量和闸前常水位方式运行;将生态调度过程划分为充水阶段和泄水阶段,基于流速调控目标值、持续时长和水位降幅约束条件,确定各阶段时长和各分区的闸门群调控方案等。基于2018年3月输水工况,采用明渠一维非恒定流模型,仿真总干渠上游15个渠池的藻类生态调度过程。结果表明,生态调度可在3.5 d内完成,各渠池的平均流速由0.48 m/s增至0.93 m/s,持续时间超过2 h。在整个生态调度过程中,水位变化平稳,水位变幅符合安全阈值要求,下游渠道的正常运行未受生态调度明显影响。     

基于Hadoop的气象数据分布式存储技术研究

针对目前气象数据存储所面临的海量扩张、高并发读写、结构化和非结构化数据并存以及长时间序列和大数据集检索效率低下等问题,提出了以Hadoop开源框架为基础的气象数据分布式存储方案。通过对气象数据自身属性和特点进行分析,得出了气象数据在经过充分优化的基础上,在分布式存储框架中具有很强的适应性和规模化应用的潜力;并在HBase数据库中的Row Key设计和小文件合并策略方面做了创新。最后针对气象数据中广泛存在的结构化和非结构化这两种主要数据类型,以自动气象站数据和雷达产品数据为具体实例,给出了详细的设计思路和实现方法。     

The effect of rare-earth oxides on the energy storage performances in BaTiO3 based ceramics

In this work, 0.7BaTiO₃-0.3Sr_0.2Bi_0.7TiO₃ (0.7BT-0.3SBT) ceramics with 0.15 mol% various rare-earth oxides doped are designed and synthesized by the conventional solid-state route. All prepared samples exhibited a single perovskite phase and dense microstructure with fine grain size (0.2–0.5 μm) after sintering at 1180 °C. Especially, the Gd-doped 0.7BT-0.3SBT ceramics exhibited excellent energy storage performances; the corresponding recoverable energy density and efficiency were 3.2 J/cm³ and 91.5% under an electric field of 330 kV/cm, respectively. Meanwhile, doping with Gd caused the BT-based ceramics to possess excellent temperature (30–150 °C) and outstanding frequency stabilities (10–1000 Hz). Moreover, the pulsed charge-discharge experiments revealed that a high power density of 59 MW/cm³ and a fast discharge speed of 110 ns with outstanding temperature stability could be synchronously obtained in the Gd-doped composition. All these features are attractive for pulsed power applications.     

Plasma assists titanium nitride and surface modified titanium nitride nanoparticles from titanium scraps for magnetic properties and supercapacitor applications

Plasma methods are efficient processing for metal recovery from metal scrap, bearing minerals, electronic waste, etc. In this work, pure titanium nitride nanoparticles (TiN NPs) were synthesized from titanium scraps by the thermal plasma arc discharge (TPAD) method. TPAD synthesized TiN NPs have a highly crystalline nature with cubic and spherical morphologies with average particle sizes of 30–100 nm. Further, prepared TiN NPs involving surface modification (SM) or etching processes were investigated by using the non-thermal DC glow discharge plasma technique with air atmosphere at different processing times. SM@TiN NPs have a comparatively low crystalline, which was confirmed from the powder X-ray diffraction technique. SM@TiN NPs have very interesting core shell morphologies, which are due to the surface interactions of ionized air molecules. TiN and SM@TiN NPs have room-temperature ferromagnetic properties with high saturation magnetization (Ms) up to 2.6 and 3.0 emu/g and very high coercivity (Hc) of 235.5 Oe, respectively. TiN and SM@TiN NPs have superior energy storage performance with an outstanding specific capacitance of 192.8 and 435.1 F/g at a current density of 2 A/g with pseudocapacitive behavior. These results reveal that TiN and SM@TiN NPs have highly promising electrodes for supercapacitor applications.     

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.