Rheological studies on a slurry biofuel to aid in evaluating its suitability as a fuel

Biomass is an often abundant, renewable, low ash and low sulfur fuel. Due to these properties, biofuels are promising alternatives for traditional petroleum-based fuel applications; however, traditional biofuels for internal combustion engines are not cost competitive with gasoline, diesel or fuel oils. One method to reduce the cost of biofuels is to use slurry fuels which have a potential lower cost than liquid biofuels due to high conversion efficiencies. Slurry biofuels, such as a mixture of corn and water, could provide a biofuel alternative for diesel engines, pressurized gasifiers and heating oil applications such as burners or gas turbines. Use of these biomass slurries poses important questions about their stability and suitability for practical applications in internal combustion engines and combustors.This work reports rheology data for stable corn-starch water slurries (CSWS) which used a polyacrylic acid thickener to eliminate settling of the slurry and to provide desirable shear-thinning behavior for most of the compositions evaluated. The effect of shear rate on the viscosity of the CSWS was studied using a BOHLIN-controlled stress (CS) rheometer. The well-known Ostwald—de Waele power law and Sisko models for viscosity fit the data. The effect of corn starch content, thickener content and temperature on the viscosity of CSWS was also studied. The favorable shear thinning properties were observed for starch contents up to 45% starch and should aid pumping, injection and spraying. The lower heating values of the slurries, however, are undesirably low.     

A paraffin-fueled SOFC system design and integration

This paper addresses an integrated design of paraffin-reformer, gas separations and the electricity production with a solid oxide fuel cell (SOFC). The overall design consists of three modules. First module is a system of paraffin reformer. In this module, the paraffin feed stream is to send to a steam-reformer. In the second module, the gas separations method illustrated is the combination of a methane-permeable membrane with a pressure-swing adsorption (PSA). In the third module, the purified hydrogen is fed to the SOFC unit. To be energy efficient, this paraffin-fueled SOFC system is designed with the consideration of heat integration. The intent of this paper is to provide a possible, alternative way of cogeneration systems for refinery and petrochemical plants.     

Experimental and theoretical analysis of the operation of a natural gas cogeneration system using a polymer exchange membrane fuel cell

This paper reports experimental and numerical results of an investigation of five identical cogeneration systems using PEM (Polymer Exchange Membrane) fuel cells and running on natural gas. The natural gas is reformed locally to produce hydrogen. The accuracy of numerical results is validated by comparison with experimental data and the system performances are analysed in terms of electrical, thermal and total efficiencies. It appears that the energetic performances are low, particularly at low current. Simple solutions for enhancing the system electrical performances by modifying control laws are proposed.     

自热制氢反应器研究进展

介绍了同心圆式反应器、板式反应器、壁反应器、微通道反应器在自热重整反应制氢中的特点。同心圆式反应器的传热是控制步骤,为强化传热而开发了空间形状不同和流体经过反应器不同腔体的先后顺序不同的反应器;板式反应器易于组装、拆卸和放大,而且热效率也比较高,是目前十分活跃的研究领域,重点在于操作参数和设计的优化及其高效壁载制氢催化剂的研制;壁反应器的反应表面和换热表面不分离,具有较高的热量耦合效果;微通道反应器具有优越的传热性能,但对加工和流体的性质有比较苛刻的要求。另外,不同燃料制氢机理的研究及其过程参数的稳态、瞬态模拟,为反应器的设计提供了理论依据。而制氢过程并行单元的研究为系统的集成奠定了基础。最后,指出开发板式壁反应器以及开展其在CO变换、净化方面的研究有较好的发展前景。     

Simultaneous hydrolysis and fermentation of pulp mill primary clarifier sludge

Bioconversion of sludge from the primary clarifier of a sulphite pulping operation to ethanol offers a number of advantages over conventional disposal options. The amount of material which must be disposed of is reduced while, at the same time, salable and environmentally friendly fuel-ethanol is produced. In this study, primary clarifier sludge (PCS) was shown to be hydrolysed to produce fermentable sugars at a rate proportional to enzyme loading. Initial (1 hour) hydrolysis rates as high as 12.6 g reducing sugar/L · h were observed at an initial enzyme loading of 10 filter paper units (FPU)/g. Hydrolysis was inhibited by spent sulphite liquor (SSL), an inhibition which could be completely overcome by fermenting the SSL to remove sugars. Surfactants were found to only marginally improve the production of sugars. To reduce the deleterious effects of end product inhibition, single stage simultaneous hydrolysis and fermentation (SHF) was carried out using cellulase enzymes and Saccharomyces cerevisiae.     

我国氢能产业发展和氢资源探讨

分析了我国氢能产业近期发展情况,我国氢能产业正步入快速发展机遇期。指出氢能是21世纪最具发展潜力的一种清洁二次能源,具有"清洁、高效、安全、可持续"四大特点,被誉为未来世界能源架构的核心。重点讨论了我国氢资源和绿色氢气制备问题,指出目前实际使用的氢气包括"灰氢""蓝氢"和"绿氢"三大类,显然"灰氢"不可取,"蓝氢"可以用,"废氢"可回收,"绿氢"是方向。讨论了加快氢能系统建设,建立发展氢气存储和运输系统及加氢站基础设施建设等问题。未来,我国氢能产业发展潜力巨大,但是在下决心大力发展氢能产业时,需要高度注意目前存在的实际情况和困难,要防范一系列的产业风险,做到有序发展,稳中有进,才能实施氢能产业的可持续发展。     

乙醇生产集成工艺流程的环境与经济性评价分析(英文)

乙醇是一种非常重要的可再生燃料,在本文中,从环境影响和经济效益的角度对不同的原料玉米、纤维素和乙烯生产制乙醇的工艺过程进行了评估,并利用AspenPlus模拟软件中的严格物料和能量平衡模块对典型的生产工艺进行了设计、模拟和优化。基于模拟的结果,提出了定量的环境影响方法一绿色度理论,并通过综合对比文献中报道的数据和模拟数据表明,纤维素制乙醇具有更强的环境影响优势,但在经济效益方面仍需要进一步改进。     

Study of the deactivation and regeneration of copper chromite on γ-alumina and magnesium chromite on γ-alumina catalysts for fuel combustion

The causes of the deactivation of catalysts for fuel combustion MeCr₂O₄/ -Al₂O₃ (Me = Cu or Mg) have been investigated using a variety of complex physical-chemical methods: IRS, ESDR, XPS, TPD and a pulse microcatalytic method. It has been concluded that the observed deactivation of catalysts during fuel combustion is due to the combined effect of high temperatures and reduction media.     

The role of the WO x ad-component to Pt and PtRu catalysts in the electrochemical CH3OH oxidation reaction

High surface area carbon-supported platinum-based catalysts, Pt/C, PtWO _x /C, PtRu/C and PtRuWO _x /C, were prepared via a chemical reduction route using single metal precursor salts. The catalyst particles were found to be in the nanoscale range, and the addition of Ru clearly decreased the particle size. The Ru was found to be partially incorporated into the face centered cubic lattice of Pt and to form a single Ru catalyst component. X-ray diffraction and X-ray photon spectroscopy did not provide evidence for electronic interactions between WO _x and Pt as well as WO _x and Ru. However, the addition of tungsten to the PtRuWO _x /C catalyst resulted in a high degree of catalyst particle agglomeration. Both Ru containing catalysts showed significantly higher activities for the CH₃OH oxidation reaction in terms of Pt + Ru mass as well as electroactive Pt + Ru surface area than the Pt/C and PtWO _x /C catalysts. The addition of tungsten appeared to mainly result in some ‘physical’ modification of the catalytically active Pt and Ru surface components such as differences in electroactive surface area rather than promotion of the CH₃OH oxidation reaction via a true catalytic mechanism.