Simulation of heterogeneous structures and analysis of energy consumption in particle-fluid systems with pseudo-particle modeling

Heterogeneous structures of a particle-fluid system at constant fluid flow velocity and constant pressure drop are simulated by the so-called pseudo-particle modeling (PPM). The mass specific energy consumption N_st for suspending and transporting the solids is obtained by a weighted average method simultaneously. The stability criterion, N_st=min, proposed in the energy-minimization multi-scale (EMMS) model is demonstrated numerically, which reflects the spatial and temporal compromise of the movement tendencies of the fluid and solid phases, and leads to the formation of heterogeneous structures. Further work shows that when the total mass specific energy consumption for the solids (N_T) is variable, N_st/N_T=min should be used as a more general expression of the original stability criterion. Analysis of simulation results also shows dilute-to-dense phase drag responsible for the difference between N_st and N_T.     

Stochastic modeling and multi-objective optimization for the APECS system

The Advanced Process Engineering Co-Simulator (APECS), developed at the U.S. Department of Energy's (DOE) National Energy Technology Laboratory, is an integrated software suite that enables the process and energy industries to optimize overall plant performance with respect to complex thermal and fluid flow phenomena. The APECS system uses the process-industry standard CAPE-OPEN (CO) interfaces to combine equipment models and commercial process simulation software with powerful analysis and virtual engineering tools. The focus of this paper is the CO-compliant stochastic modeling and multi-objective optimization capabilities provided in the APECS system for process optimization under uncertainty and multiple and sometimes conflicting objectives. The usefulness of these advanced analysis capabilities is illustrated using a simulation and multi-objective optimization of an advanced coal-fired, gasification-based, zero-emissions electricity and hydrogen generation facility with carbon capture.     

An energy systems engineering approach for the design and operation of microgrids in residential applications

A distributed energy system refers to an energy system where energy production is close to end use, typically relying on small-scale energy distributed technologies. It is a multi-input and multi-output energy system with substantial energy, economic and environmental benefits. However, distributed energy systems such as micro-grids in residential applications may not be able to produce the potential benefits due to lack of appropriate system configurations and suitable operation strategies. The optimal design, scheduling and control of such a complex system are of great importance towards their successful practical realization in real application studies. This paper presents a short review and an energy systems engineering approach to the modeling and optimization of micro-grids for residential applications, offering a clear vision of the latest research advances in this field. Challenges and prospects of the modeling and optimization of such distributed energy systems are also highlighted in this work.     

Cure modeling and monitoring of epoxy/amine resin systems. II. Network formation and chemoviscosity modeling

The glass transition temperature (T_g) advancement and the chemoviscosity development under isothermal conditions have been investigated for four epoxy/amine systems, including commercial RTM6 and F934 resins. Differential scanning calorimetry (DSC) was the thermoanalytical technique used to determine the T_g advancement and rheometry the technique for the determination of the chemoviscosity profiles of these resin systems. The complex cure kinetics were correlated to the T_g advancement via an one‐to‐one relationship using Di Benedetto's formula. It was revealed that the three‐dimensional network formation follows a single activated mechanism independent of whether the cure kinetics follow a single or several activation mechanisms. The viscosity profiles showed the typical characteristics of epoxy/amine cure. A modified version of the Williams‐Landel‐Ferry equation (WLF) was adequate to model the viscosity profiles of all the resin systems, in the temperature range 130 to 170°C, with a very good degree of accuracy. The parameters of the WLF equation were found to vary in a systematic manner with cure temperature. Further correlation between T_g and viscosity showed that gelation, defined as the point where viscosity reaches 10⁴ Pas, occurs at a unique T_g value for each resin system, which is independent of the cure conditions. © 2000 John Wiley & Sons, Inc. J Appl Polym Sci 77: 2178–2188, 2000     

Process to planet: A multiscale modeling framework toward sustainable engineering

To prevent the chance of unintended environmental harm, engineering decisions need to consider an expanded boundary that captures all relevant connected systems. Comprehensive models for sustainable engineering may be developed by combining models at multiple scales. Models at the finest “equipment” scale are engineering models based on fundamental knowledge. At the intermediate “value chain” scale, empirical models represent average production technologies, and at the coarsest “economy” scale, models represent monetary and environmental exchanges for industrial sectors in a national or global economy. However, existing methods for sustainable engineering design ignore the economy scale, while existing methods for life cycle assessment do not consider the equipment scale. This work proposes an integrated, multiscale modeling framework for connecting models from process to planet and using them for sustainable engineering applications. The proposed framework is demonstrated with a toy problem, and potential applications of the framework including current and future work are discussed. © 2015 American Institute of Chemical Engineers AIChE J, 61: 3332–3352, 2015     

Mechanical modeling and simulation of aerogels: A review

Aerogels are solids with exceptional characteristics, such as ultra-low density, high surface area, high porosity, high adsorption and low-thermal conductivity. Due to these characteristics, aerogels are emerging to be a popular material among the scientific community, since their discovery in 1931. However, their applicability has remained questionable due to the poor mechanical characteristics, such as brittleness and low tensile strength. In the last three decades, due to the rapid development in the computational resources and numerical methods, a deeper understanding of physical behavior and properties of these materials have been extensively investigated. In this work, an effort is made to critically analyze and categorize the computational models and simulation results available for silica, carbon, carbon nanotubes, graphene, and cellulose aerogels. This work focused on a better understanding of how these materials were computationally modeled and simulated over the time-period and at different length-scales, wherein primary approaches, such as molecular dynamics (MD), coarse-grained, micromechanical multiscale and continuum mechanics modeling, were discussed. It also strives to give an insight into the areas where further computational studies are required, which could lead to numerous other application fields. The systematic review provides a mechanistic basis for reliable applications of aerogels.     

TeCSMART: A hierarchical framework for modeling and analyzing systemic risk in sociotechnical systems

Recent systemic failures in different domains continue to remind us of the fragility of complex sociotechnical systems. Although these failures occurred in different domains, there are common failure mechanisms that often underlie such events. Hence, it is important to study these disasters from a unifying systems engineering perspective so that one can understand the commonalities as well as the differences to prevent or mitigate future events. A new conceptual framework that systematically identifies the failure mechanisms in a sociotechnical system, across different domains is proposed. Our analysis includes multiple levels of a system, both social and technical, and identifies the potential failure modes of equipment, humans, policies, and institutions. With the aid of three major recent disasters, how this framework could help us compare systemic failures in different domains and identify the common failure mechanisms at all levels of the system is demonstrated. © 2016 American Institute of Chemical Engineers AIChE J, 62: 3065–3084, 2016     

CFD modeling of gas entrainment in stirred tank systems

In the present work, CFD modeling was used to study the phenomenon of gas entrainment in stirred tank systems. Two types of impellers (DT, PBTD) were simulated. VOF method was used as surface tracking technique along with LES model to study interfacial behavior at the onset of gas entrainment. Simulations were performed to study cause of entrainment and underlying interfacial mechanism at the location of entrainment. CFD simulations clearly showed differences in onset and non onset conditions in terms of the magnitudes of interfacial turbulence. As per the predictions, phenomenon of surface aeration in stirred tank systems was characterized by exchange of momentum across the interface from water side to air side. Magnitudes of instantaneous axial velocities on air side, strain rates on air side and vorticities on air side exhibited a threshold at the onset of entrainment and reduced substantially after the onset.     

Desalination using ambient air: simulation and energy optimization

This work applies to process design, simulation, analysis, and optimization to minimize the energy requirements for producing desalinated water using ambient air (humidification and dehumidification process). The only operating cost is for the use of air blower to supply air flowrate of 65-70 kmol/h. The production rate is 1 gpm of desalinated water per 2.25 gpm of saline water. By using process simulation and applying energy optimization concepts, the process parameters were manipulated and analyzed so that the feed saline water to the column is used to cool the exit air stream. The proposed approach reduced the solar energy requirement by 65%, and the cooling energy is eliminated. A case study is pursued to show the effectiveness of using process simulation and energy optimization concepts.     

Simulation of a multi-annular photocatalytic reactor for degradation of perchloroethylene in air: Parametric analysis of radiative energy efficiencies

A multi-annular photocatalytic reactor was designed, that shows good effectiveness for perchloroethylene (PCE) removal from contaminated air streams. In a previous work, a rigorous physical and mathematical model of the photocatalytic reactor was developed and experimentally verified. In this work, this mathematical model was used to study the radiative energy efficiency of the multi-annular photoreactor. The total quantum efficiency is defined as the ratio of the number of molecules of PCE reacted to the number of photons emitted by the lamp, and it is expressed as the product of the following factors: the reactor radiation incidence efficiency, the catalyst radiation absorption efficiency, and the overall reaction quantum efficiency. For the employed reactor, the numerical values of each one were 83%, 92%, and <2.5%, respectively. Particularly, the dependence of the overall reaction quantum efficiency upon operating variables such as the PCE feed concentration, gas flow rate, irradiation level and relative air humidity was analyzed. These results are useful to optimize the operating conditions and design parameters of the photocatalytic reactor.     

Design, simulation and economic analysis of a stand-alone reverse osmosis desalination unit powered by wind turbines and photovoltaics

The fresh water shortage is a significant problem in many areas of the world such as deserts, rural areas, Mediterranean countries and islands. However, renewable energy potential in these areas is usually high using solar and wind energy. A desalination unit powered by renewable energy sources is a promising solution for this problem. This paper presents the design of a stand-alone hybrid wind-PV system to power a seawater reverse osmosis desalination unit, with energy recovery using a simplified spreadsheet model. A daily and monthly simulation and economic analysis were also performed. The calculated fresh water production cost was 5.2 ?/m³, and the realized energy saving was up to 48% when a pressure-exchanger-type energy recovery unit is considered.     

Supercritical fluid flow in porous media: modeling and simulation

The present work aims the modeling and simulation of supercritical fluid flow through porous media. This type of flow appears in several situations of interest in applied science and engineering, as the supercritical flow in porous materials employed in chromatography, supercritical extraction and petroleum reservoirs. The fluid is constituted of one pure substance, the flow is monophasic, highly compressible and isothermal. The porous media is isotropic, possibly heterogeneous, with rectangular format and the flow is two-dimensional. The heterogeneities of porous media are modeled by a simple power law, which describes the relationship between permeability and porosity. The modeling of the hydrodynamic phenomena incorporates the Darcy's law and the equation of mass conservation. Appropriated correlations are used to model, in a realistic form, the density and the viscosity of the fluid. A conservative finite-difference scheme is used in the discretization of the differential equations. The nonlinearity is treated by Newton method, together with the conjugate gradient method. The results of the simulation for pressure and mobility of supercritical and liquid propane flowing through porous media are presented, analyzed and graphically depicted.     

Optimization of the heat plant of district energy systems

This paper presents a scheme to achieve structural and operational optimization for the heat plant in a district energy system. A district energy system consists of energy suppliers and consumers, district heating pipelines and heat storage facilities in a region. Production and consumption of energy and transport of energy as well as storage of heat are taken into account in the model. The problem is formulated as a mixed integer linear programming (MILP) problem where the objective is to minimize the overall cost of the district energy system. Evaluation of the energy production cost is based on the daily operation for every season at the plant located at Suseo in Seoul, Korea. From the results of numerical simulations we can see that the district energy system is well approximated by the proposed model, and that the energy efficiency is improved by the application of the optimal operation conditions provided by the proposed model.     

Mathematical modeling and simulation studies of scale-down fermentation systems

In this study, a scale-down approach has been used for the simulation of the imperfect mixing on the growth processes by considering several configurations of continuous stirred tank reactor (CSTR, aerated) and plug flow tubular reactor (PFTR, not aerated). The steady-state concentrations of biomass and enzyme in a continuous culture were calculated as a function of dilution rate using modified Monod growth kinetics. A mathematical model for each combination of two bioreactors was developed to account for growth, substrate utilization (oxygen and glucose) and enzyme synthesis and decay. The model was then used to investigate biomass production and enzyme expression in relation to the volumetric fraction U_f = V_PFTR /(V_CSTR + V_PFTR ) and the recirculation ratio R = f_r/(f + f_r) of the fermentation system. These two mixing parameters were found to be significant factors in the biomass and enzyme production from the fermentation system. This model was also compared with some of the existing models.     

多联产能源系统工程研究方法论框架探讨

结合系统工程思想对多联产的系统工程概念进行了剖析,总结了多联产系统设计和实施过程的关键问题,并对其进行宏观、中观和微观等多尺度下的逻辑分解。据此,提出了多联产能源系统工程研究的基本内容和方法论。     

A simple model for simulation of particle deaggregation of few‐particle aggregates

A proper mechanistic understanding of the deaggregation process of small colloidal particle aggregates is of generic importance within many fields of science and engineering. The methodology for modeling colloidal deaggregation is currently limited to analytical solutions in the two‐particle case and time consuming numerical algorithms, such as Brownian Dynamics (BD) simulations, for many‐particle aggregates. To address this issue, a simplified alternative model that describes deaggregation of few‐particle aggregates is presented. The model includes end‐particle deaggregation and a particle reconfiguration mechanism, which are the two most important mechanisms for deaggregation. Comparison of the calculated first passage time distribution for various two‐, three‐, four‐, and five‐particle aggregates with the corresponding result using BD simulations confirms the validity of the model. It is concluded that the dominating mechanism behind deaggregation can be quantified using a deaggregation number, which reflects the time scale for reconfiguration relative to the time scale for end‐particle deaggregation. © 2014 American Institute of Chemical Engineers AIChE J, 60: 1863–1869, 2014     

An integrated qualitative and quantitative modeling framework for computer‐assisted HAZOP studies

The article proposes a novel practical framework for computer‐assisted hazard and operability (HAZOP) that integrates qualitative reasoning about system function with quantitative dynamic simulation in order to facilitate detailed specific HAZOP analysis. The practical framework is demonstrated and validated on a case study concerning a three‐phase separation process. The multilevel flow modeling (MFM) methodology is used to represent the plant goals and functions. First, means‐end analysis is used to identify and formulate the intention of the process design in terms of components, functions, objectives, and goals on different abstraction levels. Based on this abstraction, qualitative functional models are constructed for the process. Next MFM‐specified causal rules are extended with systems specific features to enable proper reasoning. Finally, systematic HAZOP analysis is performed to identify safety critical operations, its causes and consequences. The outcome is a qualitative hazard analysis of selected process deviations from normal operations and their consequences as input to a traditional HAZOP table. The list of unacceptable high risk deviations identified by the qualitative HAZOP analysis is used as input for rigorous analysis and evaluation by the quantitative analysis part of the framework. To this end, dynamic first‐principles modeling is used to simulate the system behavior and thereby complement the results of the qualitative analysis part. The practical framework for computer‐assisted HAZOP studies introduced in this article allows the HAZOP team to devote more attention to high consequence hazards. © 2014 American Institute of Chemical Engineers AIChE J 60: 4150–4173, 2014