Producing biodiesel from waste animal oil by modified ZnO

Biodiesel produced by transesterification of waste animal oil is a promising green fuel in the future. ZnO-Al₂O₃ and ZnO/Zn₂Al composition oxides were prepared by co-precipitation method and impregnation method, respectively. The above catalysts were characterized by X-ray diffraction (XRD), Brunauer--Emmett--Teller (BET) and CO₂ adsorption and temperature-programmed desorption (CO₂-TPD) and show that the high activity for the catalyst is attributed to its high alkalinity. The reaction parameters were optimized and the results show that the transesterification ratio of waste animal oil can reach 98.7% with 10% ZnO/Zn₂Al catalyst after 2 h. Moreover, 10%ZnO/Zn₂Al compound oxides can be active for the successive cycles. The glycerol as a predominant by-product after transesterification is of high purity with high use value.     

Hydrothermal liquefaction phase behavior of microalgae & model compounds in fused silica capillary reactor

A fused silica capillary reactor combined with a heating/cooling stage, a microscope and a digital camera were used to investigate phase behavior during the hydrothermal liquefaction of microalgae (Dunaliella tertiolecta) and model compounds, including soya protein and glycine, starch, glucose and xylose, stearic acid and palmitic acid. Bubbles were generated at 246°C and disappeared at 360°C upon heating when Dunaliella tertiolecta used as feedstocks. Moreover, liquid products were generated at 300°C upon heating and oily liquid products began to separate out at 250°C upon cooling. The phase behavior of soya protein was similar to that of the Dunaliella tertiolecta. Meanwhile, there only observed the bubbles generation during hydrothermal liquefaction of glycine. Heating the starch, glucose and xylose above 350°C generated black solids from carbonization. Stearic acid and palmitic acid only had the process of melting, dissolution, dispersion and precipitation.     

Automated energy management in distributed electricity systems: An EEPOS approach

The increasing capacity of distributed electricity generation brings new challenges in maintaining a high security and quality of electricity supply. New techniques are required for grid support and power balance. The highest potential for these techniques is to be found on the part of the electricity distribution grid.

This article addresses this potential and presents the EEPOS project’s approach to the automated management of flexible electrical loads in neighborhoods. The management goals are (i) maximum utilization of distributed generation in the local grid, (ii) peak load shaving/congestion management, and (iii) reduction of electricity distribution losses. Contribution to the power balance is considered by applying two-tariff pricing for electricity.

The presented approach to energy management is tested in a hypothetical sensitivity analysis of a distribution feeder with 10 households and 10 photovoltaic (PV) plants with an average daily consumption of electricity of 4.54 kWh per household and a peak PV panel output of 0.38 kW per plant. Energy management shows efficient performance at relatively low capacities of flexible load. At a flexible load capacity of 2.5% (of the average daily electricity consumption), PV generation surplus is compensated by 34–100% depending on solar irradiance. Peak load is reduced by 30% on average. The article also presents the load shifting effect on electricity distribution losses and electricity costs for the grid user.     

Techno-economic and environmental analysis of an integrated standalone hybrid solar hydrogen system to supply CCHP loads of a greenhouse in Iran

The techno-economic and environmental performance of hybrid solar hydrogen energy systems was investigated to provide combined cooling, heating and power (CCHP) demands of a standalone greenhouse in Iran to achieve sustainable agriculture based on an optimization procedure. From the environmental point of view, by deploying hybrid energy systems, 83%, to 100% of emissions can be avoided. Also a sensitivity analysis was performed on the hybrid energy systems in order to study the effect of major parameter variation on the systems justification. It was concluded that hybrid solar systems are economically competitive with conventional systems, for high solar intensity locations with high diesel fuel prices and decreased prices for PV and hydrogen storage technology.     

Comparison of the daily global solar radiation from different data sources in Northwest China climate

The solar radiation data are of high importance to the solar energy systems. Conventional methods to obtain the solar radiation data are from weather stations, solar radiation models, commercial software databases, and field measurements. In the present study, a new daily global solar radiation model is proposed, by combining the quadratic function of sunshine fraction and sine function of the day of the year. The solar radiation model calculated data are then compared with China Meteorological Data Sharing System (CMDSS) data, TRNSYS data, and field-measured data in Northwest China climate. It is found that the newly proposed solar radiation model has better performance than the other nine solar radiation models in the literature. The solar radiation model calculated data fit well with the CMDSS annually average data. The TRNSYS data are a bit larger than the CMDSS annually average data in summer half year and a little smaller than those in winter half year. The solar radiation model and the CMDSS annually average data have the best correlation, whereas the TRNSYS data and the field-measured data have the worst correlation. The solar radiation model calculated data have the best correlation with the other three data sources.     

How to Constrain Multi‐Objective Calibrations of the SWAT Model Using Water Balance Components

Accurate discharge simulation is one of the most common objectives of hydrological modeling studies. However, a good simulation of discharge is not necessarily the result of a realistic simulation of hydrological processes within the catchment. We propose an evaluation framework that considers both discharge and water balance components as evaluation criteria for calibration of the Soil and Water Assessment Tool (SWAT). In this study, we integrated average annual values of surface runoff, groundwater flow, and evapotranspiration in the model evaluation procedure to constrain the selection of good model runs for the Little River Experimental Watershed in Georgia, United States. For evaluating water balance and discharge dynamics, the Nash‐Sutcliffe efficiency (NSE) and percent bias (PBIAS) were used. In addition, the ratio of root mean square error and standard deviation of measured data (RSR) was calculated for individual segments of the flow duration curve to identify the best model runs in terms of discharge magnitude. Our results indicate that good statistics for discharge do not guarantee realistic simulations of individual water balance components. Therefore, we recommend constraining the ranges of water balance components to achieve a more realistic simulation of the entire hydrological system, even if tradeoffs between good statistics for discharge simulations and reasonable amounts of the water balance components are unavoidable. Editor's note : This paper is part of the featured series on SWAT Applications for Emerging Hydrologic and Water Quality Challenges. See the February 2017 issue for the introduction and background to the series.     

Zr掺杂TiO_2介孔材料光催化降解头孢氨苄

采用固相合成法制备了Zr掺杂TiO_2(Zr-TiO_2),运用XRD技术对其进行了表征,并将其用于水中头孢氨苄的光催化降解,通过单因素实验及正交实验优化了光催化反应条件。结果表明:制备的Zr-TiO_2为锐钛矿型介孔材料,孔径约为8.12 nm;各因素对头孢氨苄去除率的影响由大到小依次为光照时间、Zr-TiO_2投加量、初始头孢氨苄质量浓度;在Zr-TiO_2投加量为1.5 g/L、初始头孢氨苄质量浓度为10 mg/L、溶液pH为7.0、光照(300 W UV)时间为1.5 h的优化条件下,头孢氨苄去除率高达99.46%;Zr-TiO_2光催化剂的重复使用性能良好。     

PbO_2复合电极预处理甲苯二胺废水

通过涂覆—热分解法与电沉积法制备了β-PbO_2/α-PbO_2/SnO_2-Sb2O3/Ti复合电极(PbO_2复合电极),采用X射线衍射(XRD)、扫描电子显微镜(SEM)、循环伏安法(CV)、线性极化法(LSV)和加速寿命试验对电极进行表征。将PbO_2复合电极用于处理甲苯二胺(TDA)废水,考察了电解质浓度、电流密度对TDA降解效果的影响。实验结果表明:α-PbO_2呈梭状,β-PbO_2呈花菜状,多层结构的PbO_2电极利于提高电极的稳定性和活性;PbO_2复合电极的析氧电位(1.9 V)明显高于TDA的氧化电位(1.28 V),其使用寿命长达486 d;在电流密度为60 m A/cm2、Na2SO4质量浓度为10 g/L、电解时间为240 min的条件下,对COD为4 791.74 mg/L、TDA质量浓度为486.4mg/L的废水进行处理,TDA去除率高达97.3%,COD去除率可达88.1%。     

超疏水沸石咪唑酯骨架材料ZIF-90的制备及其气体吸附性能

以自制沸石咪唑酯骨架材料ZIF-90为原料,自制2,3,4,5,6-五氟苄胺为修饰剂,通过后修饰法制备了超疏水ZIF-90,采用SEM、XRD、FTIR等技术对其进行了表征,并进行了气体吸附性能测试。表征结果显示:制备的超疏水ZIF-90晶体结构和形貌良好;水接触角高达152.1°;修饰剂分子与ZIF-90晶体上的自由醛基成功发生缩胺反应。气体吸附实验结果表明:当相对压力小于0.02时,超疏水ZIF-90的CO_2吸附量较ZIF-90明显增大,CO_2/N_2和CO_2/CH_4的理想吸附选择系数由修饰前的15.76和4.88分别提升至33.28和17.13;超疏水ZIF-90具有优异的憎水性能。     

负载TiO2浮石对污水处理厂二沉池出水的矿化与灭菌研究

城市污水处理厂第二沉淀池出水的污染物浓度较低,经过矿化及灭菌等深度处理后可以回用,从而减轻对淡水资源的需求。本实验采用溶胶-凝胶法制备了负载TiO2的浮石光催化剂,对城市污水处理厂第二沉淀池出水进行了矿化及灭菌处理研究。采用低压汞灯对处理水样照射2h,有机物降解率可以达到50％,灭菌效率达到100％。处理后的水可以作为农作物灌溉、城市绿化和娱乐用水。负载在浮石表面的TiO2薄膜经过10次的光催化循环实验后,没有明显破损,可以再次循环使用。TiO2浮石具有质轻、机械性能好和价格低等优点,该方法处理废水的适用浓度低,可以广泛应用于微污染水和城市污水处理厂出水的深度处理。