Anaerobic co-digestion of food waste and FOG with sewage sludge – realising its potential in Ireland

The severe environmental pollution in many countries is caused by indiscriminate discharge of large quantities of food waste (FW), fat oil and grease (FOG) and sewage sludge (SS) to the environment. There are many possible treatment routes, but anaerobic digestion (AD) is now well accepted for treating several kinds of organic wastes. But AD of FW alone presents some operational challenges because of substrates and variability. Anaerobic co-digestion of two or more substrates is better than single substrate digestion. This can use a plant’s unused capacity, in line with the trend to renewable energy. Co-digestion technology, although well established in many European countries, is still in its infancy in Ireland. There are problems with different regulatory arrangements. They should be resolved. The paper reviews anaerobic co-digestion technology is reviewed, with special focus on possible application in Ireland.     

Hydrogen Production from Catalytic Steam Reforming of Bio-Oils: A Critical Review

In the future, hydrogen will be an important energy carrier and industrial raw material. Catalytic steam reforming of bio-oils is a promising and economically viable technology for hydrogen production. However, during the reforming process, the catalysts are rapidly deactivated due to coke formation and sintering. Thus, maintaining the activity and stability of catalysts is the key issue in this process. Optimized operation conditions could extend the catalyst lifetime by affecting the coke morphology or promoting coke gasification. This article summarizes the recent developments in the field of catalytic steam reforming of bio-oils, focusing on the operation conditions, the properties of the catalysts, and the effects of the catalyst supports. The expected insights into the catalytic steam reforming of bio-oils will provide further guidance for hydrogen production from bio-oils.     

Integral barrier Lyapunov function-based adaptive fuzzy output feedback control for nonlinear delayed systems with time-varying full-state constraints

In this article, an adaptive fuzzy output feedback control method is presented for nonlinear time-delay systems with time-varying full state constraints and input saturation. To overcome the problem of time-varying constraints, the integral barrier Lyapunov functions (IBLFs) integrating with dynamic surface control (DSC) are applied for the first time to keep the state from violating constraints. The effects of unknown time delays can be removed by using designed Lyapunov-Krasovskii functions (LKFs). An auxiliary design system is introduced to solve the problem of input saturation. The unknown nonlinear functions are approximated by the fuzzy logic systems (FLS), and the unmeasured states are estimated by a designed fuzzy observer. The novel controller can guarantee that all signals remain semiglobally uniformly ultimately bounded and satisfactory tracking performance is achieved. Finally, two simulation examples illustrate the effectiveness of the presented control methods.     

Impact of gypsum on flotation of scheelite and fluorite using sodium oleate as collector

ABSTRACT

In this study, effect of calcium and gypsum on scheelite and fluorite was investigated using sodium oleate as collector. Micro-flotation and contact angle results showed that the adsorption of calcium could inhibit the hydrophobicity of scheelite and fluorite. Moreover, sulfate could enhance the inhibition. FT-IR results showed that calcium could be priori precipitated into calcium oleate and adsorb on mineral surface. The adsorption of calcium could increase the scheelite potential to IEP, while it showed limited effect on fluorite potential. However, the interaction of calcium on scheelite and fluorite in gypsum solution was more complex than that in calcium solution.     

A mini review on two-dimensional nanomaterial assembly

Two-dimensional (2D) nanomaterials have attracted a great deal of attention since the discovery of graphene in 2004, due to their intriguing physicochemical properties and wide-ranging applications in catalysis, energy-related devices, electronics and optoelectronics. To maximize the potential of 2D nanomaterials for their technological applications, controlled assembly of 2D nanobulding blocks into integrated systems is critically needed. This mini review summarizes the reported strategies of 2D materials-based assembly into integrated functional nanostructures, from in-situ assembly method to post-synthesis assembly. The applications of 2D assembled integrated structures are also covered, especially in the areas of energy, electronics and sensing, and we conclude with discussion on the remaining challenges and potential directions in this emerging field.

     

Eight-node conforming straight-side quadrilateral element with high-order completeness (QH8-C1)

A new eight-node conforming quadrilateral element with high-order completeness, denoted as QH8-C1, is proposed in this article. First, expressions for the interpolation displacement function satisfying the requirements for high-order completeness in the global coordinate system are constructed. Second, the displacement function expression in global coordinates is transformed into isoparametric coordinates, and the relationships between the two series of coefficients for the two kinds of displacement function expressions are found. Third, the displacement function expression is modified to satisfy the requirements of nodal freedom and interelement boundary continuity. The key to the new element construction is the derivation of the linear relationship expressions among 12 coefficients of element displacement interpolation polynomials in the global and isoparametric coordinate systems. As a result, the relationship between quadratic completeness and interelement continuity is explicitly given, and a proof of the completeness and the continuity was conducted to theoretically guarantee the validity of the derivation results. Furthermore, in order to verify the correctness of the theoretical work, nine numerical examples were performed. The computation results from these examples demonstrate that QH8-C1 exhibited excellent performance, including high simulation accuracy, fast convergence, insensitivity to mesh distortion, and monotonic convergence.     

Revealing Electrical-Poling-Induced Polarization Potential in Hybrid Perovskite Photodetectors

Despite recent rapid advances in metal halide perovskites for use in optoelectronics, the fundamental understanding of the electrical-poling-induced ion migration, accounting for many unusual attributes and thus performance in perovskite-based devices, remain comparatively elusive. Herein, the electrical-poling-promoted polarization potential is reported for rendering hybrid organic–inorganic perovskite photodetectors with high photocurrent and fast response time, displaying a tenfold enhancement in the photocurrent and a twofold decrease in the response time after an external electric field poling. First, a robust meniscus-assisted solution-printing strategy is employed to facilitate the oriented perovskite crystals over a large area. Subsequently, the electrical poling invokes the ion migration within perovskite crystals, thus inducing a polarization potential, as substantiated by the surface potential change assessed by Kelvin probe force microscopy. Such electrical-poling-induced polarization potential is responsible for the markedly enhanced photocurrent and largely shortened response time. This work presents new insights into the electrical-poling-triggered ion migration and, in turn, polarization potential as well as into the implication of the latter for optoelectronic devices with greater performance. As such, the utilization of ion-migration-produced polarization potential may represent an important endeavor toward a wide range of high-performance perovskite-based photodetectors, solar cells, transistors, scintillators, etc.     

基于物联网的智慧林业可持续发展策略研究

随着我国科技的不断进步,在“互联网+”大数据的背景下,林业的智慧化发展是必经之路。虽然我国智慧林业的发展已经取得了一定的突破,但是仍然存在着许多问题。基于此,文章在物联网技术的基础上,对智慧林业的可持续发展策略进行探讨。     

iRGD-reinforced,photo-transformable nanoclusters toward cooperative enhancement of intratumoral penetration and antitumor efficacy

Nano Research - Insufficient intratumoral penetration greatly hurdles the anticancer performance of nanomedicine. To realize highly efficient tumor penetration in a precisely and spatiotemporally...