Coupling effects of water content,temperature, oxygen density,and polytetrafluoroethylene loading on oxygen transport through ionomer thin film on platinum surface in catalyst layer of proton exchange membrane fuel cell

In this work, coupling effects of water content, temperature, oxygen density, and polytetrafluoroethylene (PTFE) loading on oxygen transport through an ionomer thin film on a platinum surface in a catalyst layer of a proton exchange membrane (PEM) fuel cell are investigated using molecular dynamics approach. Taguchi orthogonal algorithm is employed to comprehensively analyze the coupling effects in a limited number of cases. It is found that the effect of operation temperature is the weakest among the four factors, which has the smallest effect index 14.4. Coupling effects including the PTFE loadings on the oxygen transfer through the ionomer thin film is uncovered. Less PTFE loadings should be beneficial for the oxygen transfer. The chemical potential gradient is considered as the major driven force for the oxygen transport through the ionomer thin film, and oxygen density is the dominating factor, significantly affecting the chemical potential in the thin film.     

A distributed energy system integrating SOFC-MGT with mid-and-low temperature solar thermochemical hydrogen fuel production

Solar thermochemical hydrogen production with energy level upgraded from solar thermal to chemical energy shows great potential. By integrating mid-and-low temperature solar thermochemistry and solid oxide fuel cells, in this paper, a new distributed energy system combining power, cooling, and heating is proposed and analyzed from thermodynamic, energy and exergy viewpoints. Different from the high temperature solar thermochemistry (above 1073.15 K), the mid-and-low temperature solar thermochemistry utilizes concentrated solar thermal (473.15–573.15 K) to drive methanol decomposition reaction, reducing irreversible heat collection loss. The produced hydrogen-rich fuel is converted into power through solid oxide fuel cells and micro gas turbines successively, realizing the cascaded utilization of fuel and solar energy. Numerical simulation is conducted to investigate the system thermodynamic performances under design and off-design conditions. Promising results reveal that solar-to-hydrogen and net solar-to-electricity efficiencies reach 66.26% and 40.93%, respectively. With the solar thermochemical conversion and hydrogen-rich fuel cascade utilization, the system exergy and overall energy efficiencies reach 59.76% and 80.74%, respectively. This research may provide a pathway for efficient hydrogen-rich fuel production and power generation.     

Biohythane production from organic waste: Recent advancements,technical bottlenecks and prospects

The availability of fossil fuels is a major factor that determines the economy of a country. However, possible exhaustion of fossil fuel deposits as well as increased pollution, and other adverse effects on the environment has prompted us to search for alternative fuels. This resulted in the development of hythane, a blend of hydrogen with methane, at concentrations of 10%–30%. The breakdown of organic substrates using sequential dark fermentation (DF) and anaerobic digestion (AD) leads to biohythane production. The quality and quantity of biohythane can be improved by altering the following aspects: selection, development, and/or genetic engineering of suitable microbial consortium; the use of cheap, appropriate substrates; improved design of bioreactors; and the implementation of two-stage fermentation system. This review focusses on the mechanism of biohythane production and the different aspects involved in increasing both its production rate and quality. A comparative study has also been done to demonstrate the superiority of biohythane over other biofuels.     

Some molecular aspects of hydrogen production by marine Chlorella pyrenoidosa under nitrogen deprivation condition in natural seawater

In this study, marine microalgae Chlorella pyrenoidosa produced 186 ml H₂/l under nitrogen deprivation in natural seawater, and adding 3-(3,4-dichlorophenyl)-1,1-dimethylurea (DCMU) to medium reduced the total volume of hydrogen production by 85%. This suggested water was the main electron donor for hydrogenase. An active starch accumulation was observed during the first two days in nitrogen deprivation. But the starch content in cell decreased only by 7% at the end of the hydrogen evolution stage. This was shown the absence of a large contribution of starch to the hydrogen production by C. pyrenoidosa in nitrogen deprivation. Different from the hydrogen production by Chlamydomonas reinhardtii under sulfur deprivation condition, the concentration of acetate in the medium decreased not only at the stage of oxygen consumption but also during the stage of hydrogen evolution by C. pyrenoidosa. Thus, acetate is involved not only in the establishment of anaerobiosis but also plays an important role in the production of hydrogen by C. pyrenoidosa as an exogenous electron donor.     

Droplet impacting dynamics on wettable,rough and slippery oil-infuse surfaces

Journal of Mechanical Science and Technology - In this study, we investigated droplet impact dynamics offalling water drops (D0 ~ 2.3 mm ) on slippery oil-infused surfaces and compared them to...     

分解炉空气分级燃烧及NOx排放特性研究

随着我国经济的飞速发展,作为重要基础材料的水泥产品需求量极大且趋于稳定。水泥生产过程中的NOx排放与燃煤火电厂和汽车尾气产生的NOx排放已成为空气污染的主要来源,而分解炉是降低水泥生产工艺中NOx排放的有效设备。笔者在引入高温烟气的模拟分解炉内进行空气分级燃烧试验,研究配风位置、配风比例以及石灰石/煤比例对分解炉内燃烧和NOx排放特性的影响规律。试验稳定过程中,高温烟气发生装置的给煤量和配风量保持不变。此时,高温烟气发生装置的时间平均温度为911℃,其产生的高温烟气温度稳定在750℃左右,高温烟气中NOx主要以NO和N2O的形式存在,其浓度分别为261.49×10^-6和12.96×10^-6。该股高温烟气将模拟实际回转窑产生的烟气进入分解炉内。在分解炉的上部区域(距离顶部0~2 000 mm区域)的温度为800~1 000℃,与实际分解炉运行温度一致,排放烟气中NOx主要以NO和N2O形式存在。随着中间配风位置的下移,煤粉燃烧放热区域下移,而顶部区域的石灰石吸热量变化较小,则原有热量平衡被打破且原有吸热量高于现有放热量,导致顶部区域内燃烧温度降低。此时,还原气氛中煤粉燃烧和石灰石分解反应时间均变长,导致NOx的还原反应更加充分。但石灰石分解产生的氧化钙(CaO)作为中间产物会促进NO的生成反应,其反应时间增加也促进了NO的生成;另一方面,石灰石作为催化剂参与焦炭和挥发分还原NO的反应过程,分解炉顶部区域的温度下降使得该还原反应变弱。综上,NO的最终排放浓度是以上反应的综合结果。随着配风位置的下移,该变化对NO的生成作用更加明显,故NO的排放浓度逐渐升高。当一级风量与二级风量的配风比例降低时,分解炉上部区域的煤粉燃烧份额减少和石灰石分解量降低,而分解炉下部区域的煤粉燃烧份额增加和未分解的石灰石份额增加,但石灰石的吸热增加量高于燃烧增加份额的放热量,因此分解炉内整体温度均降低。分解炉内NO浓度是由石灰石催化的氧化过程和还原过程综合决定的。一级风量变小时,尾部CO浓度随之增加,烟气中NO浓度呈现降低的趋势。当石灰石/煤比例增加时,分解炉内沿程温度逐渐下降。随着石灰石给粉量增加,分解炉内石灰石受热分解产生的CaO浓度增加,CaO催化NO还原反应更剧烈,从而NO浓度逐渐降低。而石灰石给粉量增加和分解炉温度降低的过程导致尾部的CO浓度升高。     

Optimal coupling of a biomass based polygeneration system with a concentrated solar power facility for the constant production of electricity over a year

In this paper we address the integration of a polygeneration system based on biomass with a concentrated solar power facility for the constant production of electricity over a year long. The process is modelled as a superstructure embedding two different gasification technologies, direct and indirect, and two reforming modes, partial oxidation or steam reforming followed by gas cleaning and three alternatives for the syngas use, water gas shift reactor (WGSR) to produce hydrogen, a furnace for thermal energy production and an open Brayton cycle. We couple this system with a concentrated solar plant that uses tower technology, molten salts and a regenerative Rankine cycle. The problem is formulated as a multi-period mixed-integer non linear programming problem (MINLP). The optimal integration involves the use of indirect gasification, steam reforming and a Brayton cycle to produce 340 MW of electricity at 0.073 €/kWh and 97 kt/yr of hydrogen as a credit.     

采用泡沫铜电极的热再生氨电池性能数值模拟

以采用泡沫铜电极的热再生氨电池（thermally regenerative ammonia-based battery，TRAB）为研究对象，建立了多孔介质内物质传输与电化学反应耦合的稳态模型，计算获得了电池性能及多孔电极内物质传输特性，并研究了电解质浓度和电极孔隙率对电池性能的影响。研究结果表明，从主流区界面到多孔电极内部，阳极氨和阴极铜离子浓度逐渐降低，存在一定的浓度梯度，而且随着反应电流的增大，浓度梯度明显增大。在一定的范围内分别增大阳极氨浓度和阴极铜离子浓度，从主流区向多孔电极内物质传输增强，电池性能均能不断提升；随着硫酸铵浓度的增大，电解质电导率增大，电池性能逐渐提升，但增幅逐渐减小。此外，多孔电极孔隙率也会影响电池性能，本研究中TRAB在电极孔隙率为0.6时获得最高的最大功率(15.3 mW)。