Assessment of Sustainability in Water Supply-Demand Considering Uncertainties

Water is a vital resource for life on earth; hence its maintenance is very important. Different regions especially in arid and semi-arid areas are facing population growth and subsequent increase in the domestic, industrial and agricultural activities. Planning of water systems in order to be ready for future development conditions needs further studies on the estimation of the sustainable levels of demands based on the sustainable levels of supplies. In this study a threefold approach for estimating sustainability level of supply and demand in Ahachay river basin in northwestern part of Iran as a case study is taken. In the first method, the internal flows and the origins and final uses of the total resources for each subsystem are estimated and planning for sustainability use index is determined by calculating the available water. Second method introduced a simulation model which is utilized to estimate reliability, resiliency, vulnerability and maximum deficit for a river basin to determine a group sustainability index. In the third method, for evaluating the movement toward sustainability, an index is developed. This index includes parameters that are the difference between supply and demand, percentage of the satisfied demand, productivity of water resources and an indicator for evaluating the reduction of aquifer storage. Finally these methods are compared and a hybrid index combining the indices is developed. An uncertainty analysis is also performed to investigate the random nature of variables in estimating water balance and quantifying the water sustainability. This hybrid index can be used for evaluating the planning scenarios and for maintaining and improving the sustainable state of supply-demand for the region.     

Controlling phase separation of TaxHf1−xC solid solution nanopowders during carbothermal reduction synthesis

Synthesis of single‐phase tantalum hafnium carbide (Ta_xHf_1?xC, 0<x<1) solid solution nanopowders via carbothermal reduction (CTR) reaction is complicated due to the difference in reactivity of parent oxides with carbon and presence of a miscibility gap in TaC‐HfC phase diagram below ~887°C. These can lead to phase separation, ie, formation of two distinct carbides instead of a single‐phase solid solution. In this study, nanocrystalline Ta_xHf_1?xC powders were synthesized via CTR of finely mixed amorphous tantalum‐hafnium oxide(s) and carbon obtained from a low‐cost aqueous solution processing of tantalum pentachloride, hafnium tetrachloride, and sucrose. Particular emphasis was given to investigate the influences of starting compositions and processing conditions on phase separation during the formation of carbide phase(s). It was found that due to the immiscibility of Ta‐Hf oxides and relatively fast CTR reaction, individual nano‐HfC and TaC phases form quickly (within minutes at 1600°C), then go through interdiffusion forming carbide solid solution phase. Moreover, the presence of excess carbon in the CTR product slows down the interdiffusion of Ta and Hf dramatically and delays the solid solution formation, whereas DC electrical field (applied through the use of a spark plasma sintering system) accelerates interdiffusion significantly but leads to more grain growth.     

Development of a New Simulation Model for the Reservoir Hydropower Generation

Hydroelectric power development plans are of great importance in today’s world, due to the urgency of access to clean energy resources. Hydroelectric power plants are great potentials for power generation around the world which produce less environmental problems. Hydroelectric power energy has covered 24% of the electrical energy in 2013. The proportion of this kind of energy is increasing rapidly. The amount of energy produced in different seasons of the year and different hours of the day is one of the most important issues in water plants. In other words, determining the capacity of installation (design discharge) is one of the important factors in the design of power plants. In this research, a developed algorithm for simulating hydropower energy production has been developed using MATLAB application. This developed model has been used for hydropower modeling. In such a situation, simulating energy production of the dam has been conducted for different power plant installation capacity and finally with applying reliability index of 90%, the installation capacity of the power plant equals 2.7 Kilowatt. In this installation capacity, initial energy and surplus has occurred in most months. Furthermore, in 33% of cases that the reservoir is in its maximum balance, surplus energy has been generated. Moreover, the scale of initial energy and the average surplus energy respectively equals to 20.80 and 13.2 Gigawatt hours annually on 24-h basis. By changing the input variables, this algorithm and the developed model can be applied in any single hydropower reservoir system.

     

Microwave-assisted sample combustion: a technique for sample preparation in trace element determination

A novel digestion procedure based on sample combustion ignited by microwave radiation is proposed for organic samples. Certified samples of bovine liver, pig kidney, and skim milk were used as examples to demonstrate the performance of the proposed procedure. Cadmium and copper were determined in these samples by electrothermal atomic absorption spectrometry. Samples (between 50 and 250 mg) were wrapped with paper and placed on a homemade quartz holder that was positioned inside to quartz vessels used in a commercial microwave oven. Ammonium nitrate solution was added to the paper, and vessels were pressurized with oxygen to 15 bar. The rotor containing four vessels was placed inside the oven, and microwave radiation was applied for 20 s at 1400 W. Combustion was complete in few seconds, and an additional reflux step, which was optional, was applied. The agreement to the certified values was between 96 and 105% for both analytes. Only with the combustion step, the residual carbon (RC) was below 1.3%. The RC decreased to less than 0.4% when an additional reflux step with concentrated nitric acid was applied.     

Facile one‐step high‐temperature spray pyrolysis route toward metal carbide nanopowders

Fine ultrahigh‐temperature ceramic (UHTC) powders have found very important applications in many fields. In this work, a facile high‐temperature spray pyrolysis (HTSP) approach is implemented for the synthesis of HfC and TaC UHTC nanopowders starting from organic solvent (e.g., ethanol or 1‐pentanol) solutions of metal precursors (HfCl₄ or TaCl₅). It is proposed that, during HTSP, the precursor solution droplets would continuously undergo rapid drying, thermolysis (i.e., removal of low molecular weight species such as H₂, H₂O, and CO), and finally in situ carbothermal reduction (CTR) process to give rise to metal carbide nanopowders. The as‐obtained materials are shown by SEM as uniform and separated nanoparticles (~90 nm), whereas TEM reveals the carbide (e.g., HfC) nanoparticles are actually even smaller (~10‐20 nm) and embedded in amorphous carbon from excess solvent decomposition. It is found that among different processing parameters, the organic solvent used and the metal precursor concentration could largely influence the formation of metal carbide. In addition, lower HTSP temperatures (≤~1500°C for HfC) only lead to oxide‐carbon mixtures while higher temperatures (≥~1650°C) promote carbide formation. The HTSP method developed in this work is simple, low‐cost and efficient, and could potentially be optimized further for future large‐scale manufacturing of ultrafine UHTC nanopowders.     

Phase control during synthesis of nanocrystalline ultrahigh temperature tantalum‐hafnium diboride powders

Ta_1?xHf_xB₂ material is attractive for various aerospace applications. In this study, 2 low‐cost approaches were adopted to synthesize nanocrystalline Ta_0.5Hf_0.5B₂ solid solution and related composite powders. The first was based on carbothermal reduction reaction (CTR) of intimately mixed tantalum‐hafnium‐boron oxide(s) and carbon obtained from aqueous solution processing of TaCl₅, HfCl₄, B₂O₃, and sucrose as precursors. It was found that when using this method, due to the low solubility of each other for Ta₂O₅ and HfO₂ and the difference in reactivity of those 2 oxides with carbon (as well as B₂O₃), individual TaB₂ (‐rich) and HfB₂ phases always form separately. Those borides tend to remain phase separated due to the slow inter‐diffusion between them. However, it was observed that addition of copper “catalyst” noticeably accelerates the inter‐diffusion and the solid solution formation. The second approach was based on alkali metal reduction reaction, in which TaCl₅ and HfCl₄ are directly reacted with sodium borohydride (NaBH₄). This method yields a single phase Ta_0.5Hf_0.5B₂ solid solution nanopowders in one step at much lower temperatures (e.g., 700°C) by avoiding the oxides formation and the associated phase separation of individual borides as observed in the CTR‐based process.     

Measurement and Modeling of Mean Activity Coefficients of NaCl in an Aqueous Mixed Electrolyte Solution Containing Glycine

An electrochemical cell with two ion-selective electrodes (Na\(^{+}\) glass) and (Cl\(^{-}\) solid state) was used to measure the mean ionic activity coefficient of NaCl in an aqueous mixture containing NaCl, glycine, and NaNO\(_{3}\) at 308.15 K. The experiments were conducted at fixed molality of NaNO\(_{3}\) (0.1 m) and various molalities of glycine (0–1 m) and NaCl (up to 0.8 m). The experimental data were modeled using a modified version of the Pitzer equation. Finally the activity coefficient ratio of glycine was determined based on the Maxwell equation.     

An iterative simulation algorithm for large oscillation of the applicable 2D-electrical system on a complex nonlinear substrate

Engineering with Computers - An iterative algorithm is a mathematical procedure that uses an initial value to generate a sequence of improving approximate solutions for a class of problems, in...     

p‐Si/SnO2/Fe2O3 Core/Shell/Shell Nanowire Photocathodes for Neutral pH Water Splitting

Silicon is one of the promising materials for solar water splitting and hydrogen production; however, it suffers from two key factors, including the large external potential required to drive water splitting reactions at its surface and its instability in the electrolyte. In this study, a successful fabrication of novel p‐Si/n‐SnO₂/n‐Fe₂O₃ core/shell/shell nanowire (css‐NW) arrays, consisting of vertical Si NW cores coated with a thin SnO₂ layer and a dense Fe₂O₃ nanocrystals (NCs) shell, and their application for significantly enhanced solar water reduction in a neutral medium is reported. The p‐Si/n‐SnO₂/n‐Fe₂O₃ css‐NW structure is characterized in detail using scanning, transmission, and scanning transmission electron microscopes. The p‐Si/n‐SnO₂/n‐Fe₂O₃ css‐NWs show considerably improved photocathodic performances, including higher photocurrent and lower photocathodic turn‐on potential, compared to the bare p‐Si NWs or p‐Si/n‐SnO₂ core/shell NWs (cs‐NWs), due to increased optical absorption, enhanced charge separation, and improved gas evolution. As a result, photoactivity at 0 V versus reversible hydrogen electrode and a low onset potential in the neutral solution are achieved. Moreover, p‐Si/n‐SnO₂/n‐Fe₂O₃ css‐NWs exhibit long‐term photoelectrochemical stability due to the Fe₂O₃ NCs shell well protection. These results reveal promising css‐NW photoelectrodes from cost‐effective materials by facile fabrication with simultaneously improved photocathodic performance and stability.