Prediction of BLEVE mechanical energy by implementation of artificial neural network

In the event of a BLEVE, the overpressure wave can cause important effects over a certain area. Several thermodynamic assumptions have been proposed as the basis for developing methodologies to predict both the mechanical energy associated to such a wave and the peak overpressure. According to a recent comparative analysis, methods based on real gas behavior and adiabatic irreversible expansion assumptions can give a good estimation of this energy. In this communication, the Artificial Neural Network (ANN) approach has been implemented to predict the BLEVE mechanical energy for the case of propane and butane. Temperature and vessel filling degree at failure have been considered as input parameters (plus vessel volume), and the BLEVE blast energy has been estimated as output data by the ANN model. A Bayesian Regularization algorithm was chosen as the three-layer backpropagation training algorithm. Based on the neurons optimization process, the number of neurons at the hidden layer was five in the case of propane and four in the case of butane. The transfer function applied in this layer was a sigmoid, because it had an easy and straightforward differentiation for using in the backpropagation algorithm. For the output layer, the number of neurons had to be one in both cases, and the transfer function was purelin (linear). The model performance has been compared with experimental values, proving that the mechanical energy of a BLEVE explosion can be adequately predicted with the Artificial Neural Network approach.     

Applications of dust explosion hazard and disaster prevention technology

Powdered materials are widely used in industrial processes, chemical processing, and nanoscience. Because most flammable powders and chemicals are not pure substances, their flammability and self-heating characteristics cannot be accurately identified using safety data sheets. Therefore, site staff can easily underestimate the risks they pose. Flammable dust accidents are frequent and force industrial process managers to pay attention to the characteristics of flammable powders and create inherently safer designs.This study verified that although the flammable powders used by petrochemical plants have been tested, some powders have different minimum ignition energies (MIEs) before and after drying, whereas some of the powders are released of flammable gases. These hazard characteristics are usually neglected, leading to the neglect of preventive parameters for fires and explosions, such as dust particle size specified by NFPA-654, MIE, the minimum ignition temperature of the dust cloud, the minimum ignition temperature of the dust layer, and limiting oxygen concentration. Unless these parameters are fully integrated into process hazard analysis and process safety management, the risks cannot be fully identified, and the reliability of process hazard analysis cannot be improved to facilitate the development of appropriate countermeasures. Preventing the underestimation of process risk severity due to the fire and explosion parameters of unknown flammable dusts and overestimation of existing safety measures is crucial for effective accident prevention.     

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Abstract

Co-integration theory has been employed in this paper and Granger causes are found between urbanization rate and GDP, between capital stock and GDP. Scenario analysis of GDP is performed using the GDP model established in the paper. The energy consumptions in Germany, Japan and other developed countries are analyzed and compared with the energy consumption in China. Environmental friendly scenario of energy demand and CO₂ emissions for sustainable China has been formed based on the results of comparison. Under environmental friendly scenario, the primary energy consumption will be 4.31 billion ton coal equivalence (tce) and CO₂ emissions will be 1.854 billion t-c in 2050; energy per capital will be 3.06 tce that is 1.8 times of energy consumed in 2005 in China and 51% of consumed energy per capital in Japan in 2003. In 2050, the energy requirement of unit GDP will be 20% lower than that of Germany in 2003, but will be still 37% higher than that in Japan in 2003. It is certain that to fulfill the environmental friendly Scenario of energy demand and CO₂ emissions is a difficult task and it needs long term efforts of the whole society, not only in production sectors but also in service and household sectors.     

天津市农村能源建设与可持续发展战略探讨

本文针对天津市农村能源建设与可持续发展的关系及能源建设方向等问题,分析了天津市农村能源的现状与特征,从而提出能源与经济,环境协调发展,调整能源结构提高农村能源利用的新举措。     

膜生物反应器无剩余污泥排放的研究

本文介绍了以膜生物反应器为基础的剩余污泥产量最少或无剩余污泥产生的最新的污水处理理论和技术。从技术微生物基本生命活动的物质转化概念和细胞产生和平衡的理论,提出了确定维持微生物基本生命活动的物质转化系数的方法,从理论与实验上计实了膜生物反应器无剩余污泥排放的可能性。     

论新疆水资源合理开发利用与水环境保护

根据新疆“三水”资源的形成背景与时空分布特征,提出合理开发利用“三水”资源与水环境保护的积极举措,促使水环境质量与生态环境质量的提高;贯彻开发与节约并举;遵循在开发中保护,在保护中开发的总原则。实施开源节流,确保水资源的永续利用。     

Divergent effects of climate change on the egg-laying opportunity of species in cold and warm regions

Climate warming can substantially impact embryonic development and juvenile growth in oviparous species. Estimating the overall impacts of climate warming on oviparous reproduction is difficult because egg-laying events happen throughout the reproductive season. Successful egg laying requires the completion of embryonic development as well as hatching timing conducive to offspring survival and energy accumulation. We propose a new metric—egg-laying opportunity (EO)—to estimate the annual hours during which a clutch of freshly laid eggs yields surviving offspring that store sufficient energy for overwintering. We estimated the EO within the distribution of a model species, Sceloporus undulatus, under recent climate condition and a climate-warming scenario by combining microclimate data, developmental functions, and biophysical models. We predicted that EO will decline as the climate warms at 74.8% of 11,407 sites. Decreasing hatching success and offspring energy accounted for more lost EO hours (72.6% and 72.9%) than the occurrence of offspring heat stress (59.9%). Nesting deeper (at a depth of 12 cm) may be a more effective behavioral adjustment for retaining EO than using shadier (50% shade) nests because the former fully mitigated the decline of EO under the considered warming scenario at more sites (66.1%) than the latter (28.3%). We advocate for the use of EO in predicting the impacts of climate warming on oviparous animals because it encapsulates the integrative impacts of climate warming on all stages of reproductive life history.     

Salinity exchange between seawater/brackish water and domestic wastewater through electrodialysis for potable water

● Present a general concept called “salinity exchange”. ● Salts transferred from seawater to treated wastewater until completely switch. ● Process demonstrated using a laboratory-scale electrodialysis system. ● High-quality desalinated water obtained at ~1 mL/min consuming < 1 kWh/m ³ energy. Two-thirds of the world’s population has limited access to potable water. As we continue to use up our freshwater resources, new and improved techniques for potable water production are warranted. Here, we present a general concept called “salinity exchange” that transfers salts from seawater or brackish water to treated wastewater until their salinity values approximately switch, thus producing wastewater with an increased salinity for discharge and desalinated seawater as the potable water source. We have demonstrated this process using electrodialysis. Salinity exchange has been successfully achieved between influents of different salinities under various operating conditions. Laboratory-scale salinity exchange electrodialysis (SEE) systems can produce high-quality desalinated water at ~1 mL/min with an energy consumption less than 1 kWh/m³. SEE has also been operated using real water, and the challenges of its implementation at a larger scale are evaluated.     

中国三大城市群经济能源交通结构对比及其对大气污染的影响分析

本文从经济、能源、交通结构三大领域分析了京津冀、长三角和珠三角三大城市群的异同点,探究了结构性特征对大气污染的影响。结果表明:我国东部三大城市群中,珠三角的空气质量最优,长三角次之,京津冀最差,空气污染程度自南向北呈现阶梯状上升态势;能源规模和结构、工业规模和结构、交通规模和结构同步呈现自南向北逐步偏化石燃料、偏重工业、偏公路运输的结构性特征,与空气污染的阶梯分布在一定程度上相吻合。从时间来看,空气污染呈现历史性发展和累积特征;从空间来看,重工业规模大、比重高,化石燃料在能源消费结构中占比高,汽车保有量和船舶货物吞吐量快速增高是京津冀和长三角大气污染重于珠三角的内在结构性主因。在数据分析的基础上,本文从分区施策和结构调整两方面提出了大气污染防控对策建议。     

脉冲放电等离子体治理甲苯废气放大试验研究

应用脉冲放电等离子体技术,在线板式反应器内对低浓度甲苯废气的治理进行放大试验.采用闸流管开关脉冲电源,其最大输出功率1kW,最大脉冲电压峰值100kV. 试验规模4～16m³·h^-1. 试验考察了峰值电压、重复频率、进口浓度和处理气量对甲苯去除率的影响.结果表明:峰值电场强度在9～12kV·cm^-1范围内增加,甲苯去除率相应明显提高;当处理气量为4 m³·h^-1、脉冲电压峰值69kV、进口浓度1 180mg·m^-3、重复频率300pps时, 甲苯的去除率可达88%;反应器的能量利用率在16g·(kW·h)^-1左右;甲苯的降解产物主要是CO₂和H₂O,还有少量CO. 结合甲苯去除率与能量密度、甲苯进口浓度的关系,建立反应器动力学模型,获得甲苯的反应速率常数为0.00356 L·J^-1. 为进一步优化放大反应器设计及与电源匹配提供了基础数据.