Shift in thinking to address the 21st century hunger gap

The present water policy debate is dominated by the 30 yr old mission to secure water supply and sanitation to all people. The water needed to produce a nutritionally acceptable diet for one person is however 70 times as large as the amount needed for domestic water supply. The food security dilemma is largest in arid climate regions, a situation constituting a formidable challenge. It is suggested that an additional 5 600 km³/yr of consumptive water use will be needed to produce an adequate amount of food by 2050 – i.e almost a doubling of today’s consumptive use of 6800 km³/yr. Past misinterpretations and conceptual deficiencies show the importance of a shift in thinking. Combining the scale of the challenge and the time scale of the efforts to feed humanity and eradicate hunger leads to an impression of great urgency. This urgency strengthens the call for international research both for supporting agricultural upgrading, and for much better handling of issues of environmental sustainability. What stands out is the need of a new generation of water professionals, able to handle complexity and able to incorporate water implications of land use and of ecosystem health in integrated water resources management. It will for those reasons be essential and urgent to upgrade the educational system to producing this new generation.     

Na-MMT对MCPA6／PPO原位共混体系的影响

采用水辅助分散钠基蒙脱土（Na—MMT）通过原位共混的方法制备了浇铸尼龙6（MCPA6）和聚苯醚（PP0）共混物（95／5）。通过SEM、TEM和流变等考察了非常少量的Na-MMT对共混物形貌的影响。结果发现，PP0在MCPA6基体中尺寸从几十微米下降到一个微米左右，且所有的Na-MMT都分散在MCPA6基体中。DSC分析表明PPO分散相的尺寸影响了MCPA6的结晶行为。相比于纯的MCPA6，PPO和Na-MMT的协同作用提高了纳米复合材料的强度和韧性。     

Hydrogen production in solar reactors

The present work summarizes the recent activities of our laboratory in the field of solar-aided hydrogen production with structured monolithic solar reactors. This reactor concept, “transferred” from the well-known automobile exhaust catalytic after-treatment systems, employs ceramic supports optimized to absorb effectively solar radiation and develop sufficiently high temperatures, that are coated with active materials capable to perform/catalyze a variety of “solar-aided” reactions for the production of hydrogen such as water splitting or natural gas reforming. Our work evolves in an integrated approach starting from the synthesis of active powders tailored to particular hydrogen production reactions, their deposition upon porous absorbers, testing of relevant properties of merit such as thermomechanical stability and hydrogen yield and finally to the design, operation simulation and performance optimization of structured monolithic solar hydrogen production reactors. This approach, among other things, has culminated to the world's first closed, solar-thermochemical cycle in operation that is capable of continuous hydrogen production employing entirely renewable and abundant energy sources and raw materials – solar energy and water, respectively – without any CO₂ emissions and holds, thus, a significant potential for large-scale, emissions-free hydrogen production, particularly for regions of the world that lack indigenous resources but are endowed with ample solar energy.     

Allocation of Scarce Water Resources Using Deficit Irrigation in Rotational Systems

On irrigation schemes with rotational irrigation systems in semiarid tropics, the existing rules for water allocation are based on applying a fixed depth of water with every irrigation irrespective of the crops, their growth stages, and soils on which these crops are grown. However, when water resources are scarce, it is necessary to allocate water optimally to different crops grown in the irrigation scheme taking account of different soils in the command area. Allocating water optimally may lead to applying less water to crops than is needed to obtain the maximum yield. In this paper, a three stage approach is proposed for allocating water from a reservoir optimally based on a deficit irrigation approach, using a simulation-optimization model. The allocation results with a deficit irrigation approach are compared for a single crop (wheat) in an irrigation scheme in India, first with full irrigation (irrigation to fill the root zone to field capacity) and second with the existing rule. The full irrigation with a small irrigation interval was equivalent to adequate irrigation (no stress to the crop). It is found that practicing deficit irrigation enables the irrigated area and the total crop production in the irrigation scheme used for the case study to be increased by about 30–45% and 20–40%, respectively, over the existing rule and by 50 and 45%, respectively, over the adequate irrigation. Allocation of resources also varied with soil types.     

论给水变频控制系统在100MW机组中的应用

引用某热电厂100MW机组给水系统的变频改造实际运行和测试结果，证明在电厂给水系统中应用给水变频控制系统进行改造是切实可行的。不仅可以有效改善系统自动化水平和控制品质，而且可以取得良好的经济效益。     

Complete oxidation of methane at low temperature over Pt and Pd catalysts for the abatement of lean-burn natural gas fuelled vehicles emissions: influence of water and sulphur containing compounds

The catalytic activity of fresh Pd and Pt catalysts supported on γ-alumina in the complete oxidation of CH₄ traces under lean-burn conditions was studied in the presence or the absence of water or H₂S. Steam-aged catalysts were also studied in order to simulate long-term ageing in real lean-burn natural gas fuelled vehicles (NGVs) exhaust conditions. Without water or H₂S added to the feed, Pd catalysts exhibit a superior catalytic activity in methane oxidation compared to Pt ones, whatever the catalysts were fresh or aged. The addition of 10 vol.% water vapour to the feed strongly affects the activity of the fresh Pd catalyst, thus being only slightly more efficient than the fresh Pt one. H₂S has a strong poisoning effect on the catalytic activity of Pd catalysts, while Pt catalysts are more resistant. The fresh H₂S-poisoned Pd/Al₂O₃ catalyst was studied by TPD in O₂/He. Poisoning species decompose above 873 K as SO₂ and O₂ in relative concentrations consistent with the decomposition of surface sulphate species. However, a treatment in O₂/He at temperatures as high as 923 K does not allow the complete regeneration of the catalytic activity of H₂S-poisoned Pd/Al₂O₃. A mechanism involving the poisoning of PdO by sulphate species is proposed. Different diffusion processes by which these sulphate species can migrate back and forth between PdO and the support, depending on the experimental conditions, are suggested.     

Decision Support System for Stakeholder Involvement

Stakeholder involvement is essential to the development of a total maximum daily load (TMDL) and its implementation plan. A tool, beyond a simulation model, is needed to support the decision making process that requires negotiation and compromise among stakeholders. The decision support system (DSS) described herein has a TMDL module to calculate various combinations of point and nonpoint loads that can meet the water quality criteria. Its Consensus module allows stakeholders to formulate, evaluate, modify, and vote for alternatives. The DSS displays bar charts for pollution loads from various subwatersheds and attributes the nonpoint loads to land uses. The water quality consequence of the pollution loads is output in maps, which shows sections meeting criteria in green and those not in red. The DSS requires a front end effort of site specific adaptation and model calibration. An Internet-based stakeholder process was developed to allow more concerned citizens to participate in management decisions.     

注水开发油田砂砾岩储层含油饱和度解释模型

本文利用常规测井资料,结合储层岩性、物性、含油性之间的地质规律,解决了储层岩石粒度变化及水淹层混合水电阻率变化对储层电阻率的影响;研究出了一种对电阻率测井资料标准化的校正方法;建立了储层原始、剩余、残余油饱和度解释模型。计算的储层原始、剩余、残余油地质储量,经生产验证相对下误差小于10％;计算产水率,试油验证平均绝对误差小于10％;划分水淹油层等级,试油验证符合率在80％以上。     

分析再热器超温爆漏与水冷壁结焦控制量的关系

文章介绍了宝钢自备电厂在改善锅炉燃烧工况，控制锅炉水冷壁结焦所采取的技术措施，分析了锅炉水冷壁结焦量与锅炉二次再热器烟气出口平均温度的关系，为解决锅炉水冷壁结焦所引发的二次再热器超温爆漏问题提供了依据。