Energy conversion from electrolyte concentration gradient using charged nano-pores

Power generation based on the reversed electro-dialysis (RED) cell is studied both numerically and experimentally in this work. The membrane that separates the concentrated and dilute electrolytes is treated as a charged nano-pore array. Both numerical and experimental results show that the RED cell performance is similar to the typical electrochemical cell having a linearly varied current–voltage relation. The open circuit voltage and short-circuit current depend on the ion selectivity of the nano-pore membrane, which is related to the concentration ratio, pore surface charge density, and pore size. The highest energy conversion efficiencies are approximately 48% and 24% from numerical predictions and experimental measurements, respectively. The reason for this discrepancy is attributed to the inhomogenous pore size and surface charge density distributions of the Al₂O₃ membrane used in these experiments.     

Time in a bottle: challenges to disaster studies in Latin America and the Caribbean

LA RED (Network of Social Studies on the Prevention of Disasters in Latin America) has become the most influential group analysing disasters in Latin America and the Caribbean. Its contributions have paved the way for a new way of understanding disasters, disaster risk, and their management, concerning: (i) that disasters are not natural, but socially constructed; (ii) the inherent nexus between disaster risk, development, and the environment; (iii) the significance of small‐ and medium‐sized disasters and extensive and intensive risks; (iv) disaster risk management at the local level; and (v) integrated disaster risk research and the need for forensic investigations of disasters. As a result of this unification of challenges, intellectual communities of connected individuals were formed. Nonetheless, a focus on territorial management, exposure, and vulnerability remains a challenge for academia. In addition, the labyrinths of disaster risk governance must be disentangled by other stakeholders, such as national authorities, policymakers, and practitioners.     

Investigating new risk reduction and mitigation in the oil and gas industry

The complexity of the processes and the nature of volatile petroleum products urged the oil and gas industry to utilize various risk assessment techniques to identify potential failure modes that can interrupt operation processes. Consequently, government agencies and nonprofit professional societies guide the industry with regulatory guidelines, standards, and best recommended practices to oversee the operations management, assure safe working environment, and contain failures within tolerable limits. Yet, accidents due to electro-mechanical failures still occur and result in various consequences. Accordingly, critics have raised concerns about the petroleum industry's safety and risk mitigation credentials and question its ability to prevent future major accidents. Therefore, new risk assessment tools need to be introduced to provide decision makers and novice engineers with a diverse perception of potential risks. The aim of this paper is verify the application of Risk in Early Design (RED), a product risk assessment tool, in identifying potential failures in the oil and gas industry. Approximately thirty major accident underwent the RED analysis to verify the software's application to identify and rank potential failure modes.