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Supercritical Carbon Dioxide (SCO2) is considered as a potential working fluid in next generation power and energy systems. The SCO2 Brayton cycle is advantaged with higher cycle efficiency, smaller compression work, and more compact layout, as compared with traditional cycles. When the inlet total condition of the compressor approaches the critical point of the working fluid, the cycle efficiency is further enhanced. However, the flow acceleration near the impeller inducer causes the fluid to enter two-phase region, which may lead to additional aerodynamic losses and flow instability. In this study, a new impeller inlet design method is proposed to achieve a better balance among the cycle efficiency, compressor compactness, and inducer condensation. This approach couples a concept of the maximum swallowing capacity of real gas and a new principle for condensation design. Firstly, the mass flow function of real gas centrifugal compressors is analytically expressed by non-dimensional parameters. An optimal inlet flow angle is derived to achieve the maximum swallowing capacity under a certain inlet relative Mach number, which leads to the minimum energy loss and a more compact geometry for the compressor. Secondly, a new condensation design principle is developed by proposing a novel concept of the two-zone inlet total condition for SCO2 compressors. In this new principle, the acceptable acceleration margin (AAM) is derived as a criterion to limit the impeller inlet condensation. The present inlet design method is validated in the design and simulation of a low-flow-coefficient compressor stage based on the real gas model. The mechanisms of flow accelerations in the impeller inducer, which form low-pressure regions and further produce condensation, are analyzed and clarified under different operating conditions. It is found that the proposed method is efficient to limit the condensation in the impeller inducer, keep the compactness of the compressor, and maintain a high cycle efficiency.

This study proposes a very effective formulation to carry out the security-constrained direct current (DC)-based optimal power flow (OPF) problem using two linear factors: (i) the power transmission distribution factors (PTDF) and (ii) the line outage distribution factors (LODF). The security-constrained (SC) DCOPF problem has been reformulated using these linear distribution factors, and mainly the pre- and post-contingency constraints have been added into the optimization problem based on the active power unit generation (decision variables). The main advantage of this formulation is the reduction of decision variables as well as equality and inequality constraints. To validate the introduced formulation, several experiments have been conducted using MatPower, DIgSILENT Power Factory and Gurobi. Simulation results demonstrate both the feasibility to carry out the SCOPF problem and the potential applicability of the proposed formulation to medium and large-scale power systems.

Freshwater scarcity is a significant concern due to climate change in some regions of Brazil; likewise, evaporation rates have increased over the years. Floating photovoltaic systems can reduce water evaporation from reservoirs by suppressing the evaporating area on the water surface. This work evaluated the effects of floating photovoltaic systems on water evaporation rates in the Passaúna Reservoir, southeastern Brazil. Meteorological data such as temperature, humidity, wind speed, and solar radiation were used to estimate the rate of water evaporation using FAO Penman–Monteith, Linacre, Hargreaves–Samani, Rohwer, and Valiantzas methods. The methods were tested with the Kruskal–Wallis test, including measured evaporation from the nearest meteorological station to determine whether there were significant differences between the medians of the methods considering a 95% confidence level for hypothesis testing. All methods differed from the standard method recommended by the FAO Penman–Monteith. Simulations with more extensive coverage areas of the floating photovoltaic system were carried out to verify the relationship between the surface water coverage area and the evaporation reduction efficiency provided by the system and to obtain the avoided water evaporation volume. For the floating photovoltaic system with a coverage area of 1265.14 m2, an efficiency of 60.20% was obtained in reducing water evaporation; future expansions of the FPS were simulated with coverage areas corresponding to energy production capacities of 1 MWp, 2.5 MWp, and 5 MWp. The results indicated that for a floating photovoltaic system coverage area corresponding to 5 MWp of energy production capacity, the saved water volume would be enough to supply over 196 people for a year. More significant areas, such as covering up the entire available surface area of the Passaúna reservoir with a floating photovoltaic system, could save up to 2.69 hm3 of water volume annually, representing a more significant value for the public management of water resources.

In this study, our aim was to explore the potential energy savings obtainable from the recycling of 1 tonne of Construction and Demolition Waste (C&DW) generated in the Metropolitan City of Naples. The main fraction composing the functional unit are mixed C&DW, soil and stones, concrete, iron, steel and aluminium. The results evidence that the recycling option for the C&DW is better than landfilling as well as that the production of recycled aggregates is environmentally sustainable since the induced energy and environmental impacts are lower than the avoided energy and environmental impacts in the life cycle of recycled aggregates. This LCA study shows that the transition to the Circular Economy offers many opportunities for improving the energy and environmental performances of the construction sector in the life cycle of construction materials by means of internal recycling strategies (recycling C&DW into recycled aggregates, recycled steel, iron and aluminum) as well as external recycling by using input of other sectors (agri-food by-products) for the manufacturing of construction materials. In this way, the C&D sector also contributes to realizing the energy and bioeconomy transition by disentangling itself from fossil fuel dependence.

Wave Energy Converters (WECs) need to be deployed in large numbers in an array layout in order to have a significant power production. Each WEC has an impact on the incoming wave field, by diffracting, reflecting and radiating waves. Simulating the wave transformations within and around a WEC array is complex; it is difficult, or in some cases impossible, to simulate both these near-field and far-field wake effects using a single numerical model, in a time- and cost-efficient way in terms of computational time and effort. Within this research, a generic coupling methodology is developed to model both near-field and far-field wake effects caused by floating (e.g., WECs, platforms) or fixed offshore structures. The methodology is based on the coupling of a wave-structure interaction solver (Nemoh) and a wave propagation model. In this paper, this methodology is applied to two wave propagation models (OceanWave3D and MILDwave), which are compared to each other in a wide spectrum of tests. Additionally, the Nemoh-OceanWave3D model is validated by comparing it to experimental wave basin data. The methodology proves to be a reliable instrument to model wake effects of WEC arrays; results demonstrate a high degree of agreement between the numerical simulations with relative errors lower than 5 % and to a lesser extent for the experimental data, where errors range from 4 % to 17 % .

The rapid increase in the penetration of photovoltaic (PV) power plants results in an increased risk of grid failure, primarily due to the intermittent nature of the plant. To overcome this problem, the flexible power point tracking (FPPT) algorithm has been proposed in the literature over the maximum power point tracking (MPPT) algorithm. These algorithms regulate the PV power to a certain value instead of continuously monitoring the maximum power point (MPP). The proposed work carries out a detailed comparative study of various constant power generation (CPG) control strategies. The control strategies are categorized in terms of current-, voltage-, and power-based tracking capabilities. The comparative analysis of various reported CPG/FPPT techniques was carried out. This analysis was based on some key performance indices, such as the type of control strategy, irradiance pattern, variation in G, region of operation, speed of tracking, steady-state power oscillations, drift severity scenario, partial shading scenario, implementation complexity, stability, fast dynamic response, robustness, reactive power, cost, and tracking efficiency. Among existing FPPT algorithms, model-based control has a superior performance in terms of tracking speed and low steady-state power oscillations, with a maximum tracking efficiency of 98.57%.

The large potential for waste resource and heat recovery in industry has been motivating research toward increasing efficiency. Process integration methods have proven to be effective tools in improving industrial sites while decreasing their resource and energy consumption; however, location aspects and their impact are generally overlooked. This paper presents a method based on process integration, which considers the location of plants. The impact of the locations is included within the mixed integer linear programming framework in the form of heat losses, temperature and pressure drop, and piping cost. The objective function is selected as minimisation of the total cost of the system excluding piping cost and ϵ -constraints are applied on the piping cost to systematically generate multiple solutions. The method is applied to a case study with industrial plants from different sectors. First, the interaction between two plants and their utility integration are illustrated, depending on the piping cost limit which results in the heat pump and boiler on one site being gradually replaced by excess heat recovered from the other plant. Then, the optimisation of the whole system is carried out, as a large-scale application. At low piping cost allowances, heat is shared through high pressure steam in above-ground pipes, while at higher piping cost limits the system switches toward lower pressure steam sharing in underground pipes. Compared to the business-as-usual operation of the sites, the optimal solution obtained with the proposed method leads to 20% reduction in the overall cost of the system, including the piping cost. Further reduction in the cost is possible using a state of the art method but the technical and economic feasibility is not guaranteed. Thus, the present work provides a tool to find optimal industrial symbiosis solutions under different investment limits on the infrastructure between plants.

The increasing demand for energy and commodities has led to escalating greenhouse gas emissions, the chief of which is represented by carbon dioxide (CO2). Blue hydrogen (H2), a low-carbon hydrogen produced from natural gas with carbon capture technologies applied, has been suggested as a possible alternative to fossil fuels in processes with hard-to-abate emission sources, including refining, chemical, petrochemical and transport sectors. Due to the recent international directives aimed to combat climate change, even existing hydrogen plants should be retrofitted with carbon capture units. To optimize the process economics of such retrofit, it has been proposed to remove CO2 from the pressure swing adsorption (PSA) tail gas to exploit the relatively high CO2 concentration. This study aimed to design and numerically investigate a vacuum pressure swing adsorption (VPSA) process capable of capturing CO2 from the PSA tail gas of an industrial steam methane reforming (SMR)-based hydrogen plant using NaX zeolite adsorbent. The effect of operating conditions, such as purge-to-feed ratio and desorption pressure, were evaluated in relation to CO2 purity, CO2 recovery, bed productivity and specific energy consumption. We found that conventional cycle configurations, namely a 2-bed, 4-step Skarstrom cycle and a 2-bed, 6-step modified Skarstrom cycle with pressure equalization, were able to concentrate CO2 to a purity greater than 95% with a CO2 recovery of around 77% and 90%, respectively. Therefore, the latter configuration could serve as an efficient process to decarbonize existing hydrogen plants and produce blue H2.