Systematic analysis and multi-objective optimization of an integrated power and freshwater production cycle

This study represents the results of the analysis and optimization of an integrated system for cogenerating electricity and freshwater. This setup consists of a Solid Oxide Fuel cell (SOFC) for producing electricity. Unburned fuel of the SOFC is burned in the afterburner to increase the temperature of the SOFC's outlet gasses and operate a Gas turbine (GT) to produce additional power and operate the air compressor. At the bottom of this cycle, a combined setup of a Multi-Effect Desalination (MED) and Reverse Osmosis (RO) is considered to produce freshwater from the unused heat capacity of the GT's exhaust gasses. Also, a Stirling engine is used in the fuel supply line to increase the fuel's temperature. Using LNG and the Stirling engine will replace the fuel compressor with a pump which increases the system performance and eliminates the need for the expansion valve. To study the system performance a mathematical model is developed in Engineering Equation Solver (EES) program. Then, the system's simulated data from the EES has been sent to MATLAB to promote the best operating condition based on the optimization criteria. An energetic, exergetic, economic, and environmental analysis has been performed and a Non-dominated Sorting Genetic Algorithm (NSGA-II) is used to achieve the goal. The two-objective optimization is performed to maximize the exergetic efficiency of the proposed system while minimizing the system's total cost of production. This cost is a weighted distribution of the Levelized Cost of Electricity (LCOE) and Levelized Cost of freshwater (LCOW). The results showed that the exergetic and energetic efficiencies of the system can reach 73.5% and 69.06% at the optimum point. The total electricity production of the system is 99 MW. The production cost is 11.71 Cents/kWh, of which 1.04 Cents/kWh is emission-related and environmental taxes. The freshwater production rate is 42.44 kg/s which costs 4.38 USD/m³.     

The corrosion behavior and mechanism of X65 steel induced by iron‐oxidizing bacteria in the seawater environment

The corrosion behavior and mechanism of iron‐oxidizing bacteria (IOB) on X65 steel in seawater are studied. This study uses the methods of weight loss, electrochemical measurements, and surface analysis. The results show that the IOB increases the corrosion damage degree of steel. Pittings are observed in the medium with IOB. The potentiodynamic polarization curves show that the anodic reaction rate is accelerated in the corrosion process of IOB. The synergies in corrosion between the metal surface, abiotic corrosion products, and bacterial cells, and the pitting corrosion mechanism of X65 steel are discussed.     

ZIF衍生多孔碳纳米纤维用于高效电容去离子的研究

作为一种环保节能的新兴脱盐技术，电容去离子技术正在成为替代反渗透脱盐和电渗析脱盐的一项重要的脱盐技术。各种碳基材料被广泛地应用于电容去离子电极材料的研究，然而大多数碳基材料为粉末状材料，需要添加黏结剂，这必将导致电极材料电吸附能力的下降。利用静电纺丝技术，将ZIF纳米颗粒和聚丙烯腈混纺，并通过分段高温热处理过程，成功合成了具有柔性结构的整体性多孔碳纳米纤维。由于其具有孔道结构的分级分布和较强的亲水性等优良特性，所制得的多孔碳纳米纤维在1.2 V电压下于500 mg/L NaCl溶液中表现出良好的电吸附性能，脱盐量达到了19.92 mg/g，比普通碳纳米纤维提高了一倍以上。     

石墨烯基电吸附电极材料的研究进展

电容去离子技术是一种高效节能、绿色环保的基于电化学双电层电容理论的电吸附脱盐技术。该技术的关键和核心在于电极材料的选择。石墨烯因具有较高的比表面积、电导率以及优异的物理化学特性,被认为是一种理想的电极材料。本文从石墨烯电极材料性能设计角度出发,归纳总结了针对石墨烯材料特性(亲水性、比表面积/孔隙、导电性)的研究现状,分析存在的问题,并展望了石墨烯基电容去离子电极材料的发展前景。     

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.     

Polypropylene composite hollow fiber ultrafiltration membranes with an acrylic hydrogel surface by in situ ultrasonic wave-assisted polymerization for dye removal

In this study, polypropylene composite hollow fiber membrane with an acrylic hydrogel layer was fabricated successfully by in situ ultrasonic wave-assisted polymerization. The ultrasonic irradiation can significantly improve the grafting efficiency of acrylic acid on the membrane surface. The modified membranes were characterized on the basis of physicochemical characteristics, permeation performance and antifouling property. The results revealed that the pure water flux of modified membranes was significantly increased when the graft density was lower than 0.82 mg cm⁻², due to the improvement of hydrophilicity. Interestingly, the optimized membrane PPM1.49 could efficiently remove organic dyes from aqueous solution, showing retentions of 99.5 and 98.7% to Congo red and methylthionine chloride, respectively. Meanwhile, its flux recovery ratio was elevated from 68.0 to 92.0% using bovine serum albumin aqueous solution as a foulant compared with the pristine membrane. These promising results indicate that modified membranes developed in this study are potentially applicable for dye removal from wastewater. © 2018 Wiley Periodicals, Inc. J. Appl. Polym. Sci. 2019 , 136, 47099.     

Feasibility of utilizing 2304 duplex stainless steel rebar in seawater concrete: Passivation and corrosion behavior of steel rebar in simulated concrete environments

The feasibility of using 2304 duplex stainless steel rebar in seawater concrete was determined by studying the passivation and corrosion behavior of steel in solutions simulated curing and service stage of concrete, respectively. The results demonstrate that 2304 duplex stainless steel rebar could be used with seawater concrete because of a stable passive film formed on the steel surface during the curing stage of concrete even in the presence of 2 M chloride ions. However, due to the synergistic effect of concrete carbonation, the rebar suffered a corrosive attack by chloride due to the lack of OH^? inhibition.     

海水淡化用空心锥喷嘴喷淋性能理论及实验研究

设计开发一种具有高通量、低流阻特征的空心锥喷嘴,并通过理论与实验方法研究空心锥喷嘴的喷淋性能,基于准自由涡理论建立空心锥喷嘴内部流体流动的数学模型,阐明流量系数、喷淋锥角、喷嘴流量与喷嘴结构参数之间的定量关系,并利用多效蒸馏海水淡化喷淋实验台对理论计算结果进行实验测试和验证。研究结果表明:正常工作状态下喷嘴流量系数、喷淋锥角、喷淋流量等参数理论值与测量值之间的误差小于5%,验证了设计模型的准确性。同时根据实验测试数据,拟合得到该类型空心锥喷嘴喷淋锥角与雷诺数之间的经验公式,可为蒸馏海水淡化用大流量空心锥喷嘴的结构设计、工艺选型提供理论指导和数据支持。     

Integrated Saltwater Desalination and Energy Storage through a pH Neutral Aqueous Organic Redox Flow Battery

Here, a pH neutral aqueous organic redox flow battery (AORFB) consisting of three electrolytes channels (i.e., an anolyte channel, a catholyte channel, and a central salt water channel) to achieve integrated energy storage and desalination is reported. Employing a low cost, chemically stable methyl viologen (MV) anolyte, and sodium ferrocyanide catholyte, this desalination AORFB is capable of desalinating simulated seawater (0.56 m NaCl) down to 0.023 m salt concentration at an energy cost of 2.4 W h L^?1 of fresh water—competitive with current reverse osmosis technologies. Simultaneously, the cell delivers stored energy at 79.7% efficiency with a cell voltage of 0.85 V. Furthermore, the cell is also capable of higher current operation up to 15 mA cm^?2, providing 4.55 mL of fresh water per hour. Combining energy storage and water desalination into such a bifunctional device offers the opportunity to address two growing global issues from one hardware installation.