The pyrolysis of biomass: A general review

Some of the technical issues involved in the design and operation of low temperature biomass pyrolysis units are reviewed and discussed critically. It is shown that a range of technical options for charcoal production linked with the production of fuel gas and liquid streams exists, but much of the currently available technology is thermodynamically inefficient. Some of the possible technologies for low-cost production units are described. The development of rigorous design procedures is discussed, together with some implications for related processes such as gasification.     

Fast pyrolysis of an ensemble of biomass particles in a fluidized bed

A combined approach to the modeling of fast pyrolysis of biomass particles in a fluidized bed has been used. We used models of different levels: two models of pyrolysis of a single particle — with lumped and distributed parameters — and a model of pyrolysis of an ensemble of biomass particles based on the continuum equations for the gas blown through the bed and the equations of motion for individual particles. We have determined optimal (in terms of the biofuel yield) temperatures of the process for various particle sizes of wood biomass and various values of its moisture.     

Cryogenic thermometry: a review of recent progress,II

In 1970, a review¹ was published covering progress in low temperature primarily during the 1960's. The intent of this paper is to extend the review process through the intervening decade to the present, specifically from 1969 to 1981. The review concentrates on work done in the temperature region between 1 K and about 100 K. The section headings are as follows: Temperature Scales; fixed points and vapour pressure thermometry; gas thermometry; resistance and diode thermometry; thermoelectric, capacitance, and noise thermometry; other methods of thermometry; environmental effects; and instrumentation, methods, and materials. The paper's bibliography includes more than 400 references.     

Some recent advances in materials technology

Recent advances in five key areas of materials technology are discussed. Structural and non-structural composites, electrically-conducting polymers, materials obtained by rapid quenching, new developments in hydraulic cements and photothermal solar energy conversion are reviewed.     

Ecological impacts and limits of biomass use: a critical review

Clean Technologies and Environmental Policy - Conventional biomass sources have been widely exploited for several end uses (mostly food, feed, fuel and chemicals). More unconventional sources are...     

Modeling of fast pyrolysis of a single biomass particle in an inert boiling bed

We have developed a model of fast pyrolysis of a biomass (wood) particle including the heating of the particle in a boiling bed under regular conditions, the pyrolysis kinetics of the three basic components of the biomass (cellulose, hemicellulose, and lignin), and the destruction kinetics of the intermediate pyrolysis products, as well as a submodel of the particle motion in the free space of the reactor. The numerical optimization of the fast pyrolysis performed by us has shown that the main control parameter of the process determining the yield of liquid biofuel is the temperature of the boiling bed.     

Spray drying absorption for desulphurization: a review of recent developments

Clean Technologies and Environmental Policy - Sulphur dioxide (SO2) abatement technologies, i.e. flue gas desulphurization (FGD), have proven effective in curtailing the harmful SO2 emissions...     

Nanostructure engineering in porous columnar thin films: recent advances

Glancing angle deposition (GLAD) is a physical vapour deposition method used to fabricate highly functional thin films with an engineerable columnar morphology. Recent developments in GLAD technology have produced columnar nanostructures of increased complexity, including periodic, nanofibrous, perforated, and graded porosity thin films for use in applications ranging from sensors and actuators to optical filters, microfluidics, and catalysis. A brief review of GLAD methodology and historical developments is followed by a discussion of the latest developments in this field.     

Antennas for wireless communication: recent advances using dielectric resonators

Over the last few years, developments in wireless communications have presented many challenges to the antenna and microwave communities in terms of special requirements for antenna design, fabrication and integration. These requirements include new characterisation in terms of antenna performance, miniaturised size and shape and new suitable fabrication and implementation techniques to fit with the devices. These aspects are addressed with a focus on recent developments in dielectric resonator antenna research to meet some of the new challenges. A few recent representative designs, which outline new innovations and improved antenna features, as well as directions for future research, are briefly described.     

Switched reluctance motor drives — recent advances

The objective of this paper is to review the state-of-the-art and recent developments in Switched Reluctance Motor (SRM) drives. The interest for improved performance and reliability has motivated many SRM advances in the recent years. Even after almost 30 years of research in SRM, which might appear to be the simplest of all machines, there remain critical issues to be explored to gain deeper insight into the SRM technology. The paper briefly discusses the historical background and the basic operating principles of the motor. The topics discussed include the current state of research in converter topologies, control algorithms, torque ripple, noise, and sensorless operation. Recent advances in the field of SRMs indicates that they will have an increasing influence in the area of variable speed drives in the coming decades.     

Recent advances in gel materials with special wettability: a review

Journal of Materials Science - The special wettable gel material solves the problem that the rigid solid surface with special wettability does not perform well in the face of flexibility...     

Recent advances in shape memory polymers and composites: a review

Shape memory polymers (SMPs) belong to a class of smart polymers, which have drawn considerable research interest in last few years because of their applications in microelectromechanical systems, actuators, for self healing and health monitoring purposes, and in biomedical devices. Like in other fields of applications, SMP materials have been proved to be suitable substitutes to metallic ones because of their flexibility, biocompatibility and wide scope of modifications. The shape memory properties of SMPs polymers might surpass those of shape memory metallic alloys (SMAs). In addition to block copolymers, polymers blends and interpenetrating network structured SMP systems have been developed. The present review mainly highlights the recent progress in synthesis, characterization, evaluation, and proposed applications of SMPs and related composites.     

氟烷基膦酸锂的制备技术

叙述了锂电池电解质存在的问题,以及氟烷基膦酸锂的性质与特点。介绍了由二异丙基氯化膦制备氟烷基膦酸锂的方法及混合产物的分离、分析方法。     

Tensors-structured numerical methods in scientific computing: Survey on recent advances

In the present paper, we give a survey of the recent results and outline future prospects of the tensor-structured numerical methods in applications to multidimensional problems in scientific computing. The guiding principle of the tensor methods is an approximation of multivariate functions and operators relying on a certain separation of variables. Along with the traditional canonical and Tucker models, we focus on the recent quantics-TT tensor approximation method that allows to represent N-d tensors with log-volume complexity, O(d log N). We outline how these methods can be applied in the framework of tensor truncated iteration for the solution of the high-dimensional elliptic/parabolic equations and parametric PDEs. Numerical examples demonstrate that the tensor-structured methods have proved their value in application to various computational problems arising in quantum chemistry and in the multi-dimensional/parametric FEM/BEM modeling—the tool apparently works and gives the promise for future use in challenging high-dimensional applications.     

Recent advances in research on reconfigurable machine tools: a literature review

A recent trend in research on reconfigurable manufacturing systems is the development of reconfigurable machine tools (RMTs). A RMT can be used as a group of machines through change of its configuration to satisfy different manufacturing requirements. A literature review is provided in this paper to demonstrate the state-of-the-art advances and challenges on research and development of RMTs from the perspectives of architecture design, configuration design and optimisation, and system integration and control. In architecture design, semi-open and open architectures based on modular design approach are often selected to allow different modules of the machine to be added and removed. In configuration design and optimisation, operations of reconfiguration processes are analysed and optimised to achieve variety of configurations with the minimum reconfiguration effort. In system integration and control, transfers of motion, energy and data among different modules of the RMT are carried out. The challenges in research on RMTs are also discussed.