A Complexing Agent to Enable a Wide-Temperature Range Bromine-Based Flow Battery for Stationary Energy Storage

Bromine-based flow batteries (Br-FBs) are considered one of the most promising energy storage systems due to their features of high energy density and low cost. However, they generally suffer from uncontrolled diffusion of corrosive bromine particularly at high temperatures. That is because the interaction between polybromide anions and the commonly used complexing agent (N–methyl–N–ethyl–pyrrolidinium bromide [MEP]) decreases with increasing temperatures, which causes serious self-discharge and capacity fade. Herein, a novel bromine complexing agent, 1–ethyl–2–methyl–pyridinium bromide (BCA), is introduced in Br-FBs to solve the above problems. It is proven that BCA can combine with polybromide anions very well even at a high temperature of 60 °C. Moreover, the BCA contributes to decreasing the electrochemical polarization of Br⁻/Br₂ couple, which in turn improves their power density. As a result, a zinc–bromine flow battery with BCA as the complexing agent can achieve a high energy efficiency of 84% at 40 mA cm⁻², even at high temperature of 60 °C and it can stably run for more than 400 cycles without obvious performance decay. This paper provides an effective complexing agent to enable a wide temperature range Br-FB.     

Flow state monitoring of gas-water two-phase flow using multi-Gaussian mixture model based on canonical variate analysis

As a highly complex and time-varying process, gas-water two-phase flow is commonly encountered in industries. It has a variety of typical flow states and transition flow states. Accurate identification and monitoring of flow states is not only beneficial to further study of two-phase flow but also helpful for stable operation and economic efficiency of process industry. Combining canonical variate analysis (CVA) and Gaussian mixture model (GMM), a strategy called multi-CVA-GMM is proposed for flow state monitoring in gas-water two-phase flow. CVA is used to extract flow state features from the perspective of correlation between historical data and future data, which solves the cross correlation and temporal correlation of multi-sensor measurement data. GMM calculates the possibility that the current flow state belongs to each typical flow pattern and judges the current flow state by probability indicators. It is conducive to follow-up use of Bayesian inference probability and Mahalanobis distance-based (BID) indicator for flow state monitoring, which avoids repeated traversal of multiple CVA-GMM models and improves the efficiency of the monitoring process. The probability indicators can also be used to analyze transition flow states. The method combining the probabilistic idea of GMM with the deterministic idea of multimodal modeling can accurately identify the current flow state and effectively monitor the evolution of flow state. The multi-CVA-GMM method is validated by using the measured data of the horizontal flow loop of gas-water two-phase flow experimental facility, and its effectiveness is proved.     

Comments on “Study and application of discharge calibration for submerged radial gates” by Guo X., Guo Y., Wang T., Fu H., Li J. Flow Meas. Instrum. 78 (2021) 101912, https://doi.org/10.1016/j.flowmeasinst.2021.101912

This paper discusses the capability of Guo et al.'s (2021) equations to determine the discharge of radial gates under submerged flow conditions. It was concluded that Guo et al.'s (2021) equations are associated with error reduction compared to the Incomplete Self-Similarity (ISS) theory and the calibration method. However, it does not have a significant advantage over Energy-Momentum (E-M) approach. Employing E-M principles, new equations were proposed to determine the discharge of radial gates, which has some advantages compared to Guo et al. (2021), such as (1) error reduction under partially and fully submerged flow conditions, (2) least dependence on the empirical constants, (3) uniformity of form over the entire submerged condition, and (4) no need to classify the submerged flow. Field calibration showed that the proposed equations in the present study for a single gate predict the discharge of parallel radial gates with a mean absolute error of less than 4.5% subject to the submerged operation of all open gates.     

A modified cross-correlation algorithm for PIV image processing of particle-fluid two-phase flow

PIV (Particle Image Velocimetry) technique for flow field measurement has achieved popular self-identify through over ten years development, and its application range is becoming wider and wider. PIV post-processing techniques have a great influence on the success of particle-fluid two-phase flow field measurement and thus become a hot and difficult topic. In the present study, a Phase Respective Identification Algorithm (PRIA) is introduced to separate low-density solid particles or bubbles and high-density tracer particles from the PIV image of particle-fluid two-phase flow. PTV (Particle Tracking Velocimetry) technique is employed to calculate the velocity fields of low-density solid particles or bubbles. For the velocity fields of high-density solid particles or bubble phase and continuous phase traced by high-density smaller particles, based on the thought of wavelet transform and multi-resolution analysis and the theory of cross-correlation of image, a delaminated processing algorithm (MCCWM) is presented to conquer the limitation of conventional Fourier transform. The algorithm is firstly testified on synthetic two-phase flows, such as uniform steady flow, shearing flow and rotating flow, and the computational results from the simulated particle images are in reasonable agreement with the given simulated data. The algorithm is then applied to images of actual bubble-liquid two-phase flow and jet flow, and the results also confirmed that the algorithm proposed in the present study has good performance and reliability for post-processing PIV images of particle-fluid two-phase flow.     

Strength of pure alumina ceramics above 1 GPa

Up to now, commercially available alumina ceramics were claimed to have strength between 400 and 550 MPa. However, our study shows strength ~ 2 times higher for commercially available alumina than commonly believed. The average and characteristic strength, measured on 31 pure alumina ceramic discs by ball on three balls (B3B) test, were 1205 ± 93 MPa and 1257 MPa, respectively, with a Weibull modulus of m = 11.8. Tested specimens were in form of discs with a diameter of 5 mm and thickness 0.5 mm. The grain size distribution of the alumina is bimodal with an average grain size of ~ 850 nm measured at the surface. The fracture reveals a mixed transgranular / intergranular failure mode. To avoid incorporation of additional flaws, the discs were tested as sintered. The characteristic flexural strength measured in B3B was recalculated according to Weibull theory for standard 4-point bending bars of size 3 × 4 × 45 mm as bend 856 MPa. The measured strength of nearly 900 MPa shows the potential of strength for high purity alumina ceramics.     

The use of bio-diesel based additive as rheology improver and pour point depressant of Nigerian waxy crude

The chemical method has proved to be the most effective mitigating method of wax deposition in petroleum system as it deals with the root cause of wax formation. Most of the commercial chemicals in the industry are very expensive and toxic. This paper aims the use of biodiesel based additives for improving the rheological behavior and pour points of waxy crude from Nigeria field. The biodiesels derived additives gave better performance than the commercial chemical and the seed oils as greatly improvement in rheology and pour point values of the waxy crude were observed     

Crystal-field engineering of ultrabroadband mid-infrared emission in Co2+-doped nano-chalcogenide glass composites

Tunable and ultrabroadband mid-infrared (MIR) emissions in the range of 2.5–4.5 μm are firstly reported from Co²⁺-doped nano-chalcogenide (ChG) glass composites. The composites embedded with a variety of binary (ZnS, CdS, ZnSe) and ternary (ZnCdS, ZnSSe) ChG nanocrystals (NCs) can be readily obtained by a simple one-step thermal annealing method. They are highly transparent in the near- and mid-infrared wavelength region. Low-cost and commercially available Er³⁺-doped fiber lasers can be used as the excitation source. By crystal-field engineering of the embedded NCs through cation- or anion-substitution, the emission properties of Co²⁺ including its emission peak wavelength and bandwidth can be tailored in a broad spectral range. The phenomena can be accounted for by crystal-field theory. Such nano-ChG composites, perfectly filling the 3–4 μm spectral gap between the oscillations of Cr²⁺ and Fe²⁺ doped IIVI ChG crystals, may find important MIR photonic applications (e.g., gas sensing), or can be used directly as an efficient pump source for Fe²⁺: IIVI crystals which are suffering from lack of pump sources.     

黄浦江下游吴淞口站低潮位重现期研究

黄浦江为感潮河流,低潮位重现期的确定对黄浦江航道的设计具有重要意义。为了准确估计黄浦江低潮位的重现期,以黄浦江下游吴淞口站年最低潮位序列为例,在对样本进行三性审查的基础上,分别采用传统的数理统计方法和时变矩方法进行水文频率分析。结果表明:吴淞口站年最低潮位序列在1996年发生了变异;还现修正后的序列服从位置参数线性时变的GEV模型,低潮位存在缓慢的上升趋势;一致性条件下百年一遇低潮位约为0.261 m,在非一致性条件下其重现期增大为150 a。非一致性条件下的重现期增大说明黄浦江现有的航道设计标准偏安全,航道通航保证率提高。