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Abstract The combination of biomass gasification with fuel cells, especially high temperature Solid Oxide Fuel Cells (SOFCs) promises sustainable and highly efficient (decentralized and modular) energy conversion systems. This review encompasses the components of biomass integrated gasification–SOFC technology including biomass characteristics, the thermochemical conversion in gasifiers and the factors affecting the gasification process, the cleaning technologies for raw producer gas and its conditioning and finally the integration of gasifier with SOFCs. The influence of impurities present in biomass producer gas such as particulates, tar, H 2 S, HCl and alkali compounds based on recent experimental studies and their tolerance limits towards SOFCs are presented. Even though analysis based on the probable tolerance limits of impurities towards SOFCs and a comprehensive overview of the cleaning technologies for producer gas impurities indicate that producer gas cleaning at various temperatures using current technologies to meet SOFC requirements is possible, more experimental studies are still needed to acquire the detailed information on the tolerance limits of impurities for SOFCs. The recent theoretical modeling and experimental studies of biomass integrated gasification–SOFC systems are also presented.

The main emphasis of this paper is on the power quality based comparison of two identical systems modeled in ETAP, one comprising CFLs as lighting load and the other has fluorescent lights as lighting source. Current waveforms along with its spectrum for the HTs (High Tension side) and LTs (Low Tension side) of distribution transformers, voltage waveforms and their spectrum at different buses have been compared in terms of THDv and THDi at various locations.

Renewable energy has become more popular since it is cost-effective and more efficient than conventional energy sources. Biomass-based renewable energy is primarily used in emerging economies to ensure environmental sustainability. This study examines the asymmetric correlation between biomass energy consumption and CO2 emissions in the top-10 biomass energy consumer countries (Brazil, Canada, Thailand, China, Italy, India, Germany, USA, UK, and Japan). A new approach "Quantile-onQuantile (QQ)" is employed by utilizing the data from 1991 to 2018. Biomass energy consumption, with the exception of Thailand, significantly mitigates CO2 emissions at various quantiles in selected countries. As a robustness check, we used the quantile regression test, whose findings are consistent with the outcomes from the quantile-on-quantile method. However, the degree of asymmetry in the biomass energy-CO2 nexus varies by country, necessitating extra attention and government vigilance when developing biomass energy and environmental policies.

Abstract Hydrogen is considered a potential game changer for world energy systems and a solution to climate change concerns, as it generates zero waste and it is suited for power generation and transportation. Despite its several advantages, there are significant technical challenges in deploying a stable hydrogen economy including improving its process efficiencies, lowering production costs, maintaining cost-effective transmission and distribution, and exploiting inexpensive and sustainable feedstocks. In this context, a detailed study was conducted to analyze the production sources, technologies, storage and transport systems, and global potential exportable feedstocks to produce hydrogen. A comprehensive analysis of current hydrogen production technologies with their energy efficiencies and hydrogen selling prices was reported in this study. Various hydrogen production technologies with their capital investments and CO2 emissions were also presented. Potential feedstocks for hydrogen production were identified and analyzed through a product space model, which characterizes a network of global exportable products based on their similarities and productive knowledge. It was established that the hydrogen production feedstocks and sources currently used are primarily available in six countries: the United States of America, France, Russia, Sweden, the Netherlands, and Spain. Broadly, the results revealed that the United States of America and Russia shared the highest hydrogen feedstock exports, indicating a higher probability of hydrogen production in these countries. Except for Russia, all the studied countries fell in the most desired quadrant, indicating that they can move in all product space directions to exploit unexplored hydrogen feedstocks for better sustainable economic growth.

One of the most important concerns in the planning and operation of an electric power generation system is the effective scheduling of all power generation facilities to meet growing power demand. Economic load dispatch (ELD) is a phenomenon where an optimal combination of power generating units is selected in such a way as to minimize the total fuel cost while satisfying the load demand, subject to operational constraints. Different numerical and metaheuristic optimization techniques have gained prominent importance and are widely used to solve the nonlinear problem. Although metaheuristic techniques have a good convergence rate than numerical techniques, however, their implementation seems difficult in the presence of nonlinear and dynamic parameters. This work is devoted to solving the ELD problem with the integration of variable energy resources using a modified directional bat algorithm (dBA). Then the proposed technique is validated via different realistic test cases consisting of thermal and renewable energy sources (RESs). From simulation results, it is observed that dBA reduces the operational cost with less computational time and has better convergence characteristics than that of standard BA and other popular techniques like particle swarm optimization (PSO) and genetic algorithm (GA).

SUMMARY This paper analyses the transportation and delivery features of hydrogen as energy market evolves and approaches a fully functional Hydrogen economy. Initially physical aspects have been assessed that affect the flow of hydrogen through the existing pipeline infrastructure. Line pack and compressors are the only identified problems that need to be addressed. This is followed by an investigation into the mixing of hydrogen with natural gas gradually. It was revealed that a mix of up to 17% by volume does not have any significant effect, however higher concentration of hydrogen leads to a changeover of high-pressure grid pipelines as well as the end-user applications. It is suggested that initially hydrogen can be introduced in the distribution system, while emphasizing towards developing means for high-pressure transportation of hydrogen fuel gas. Government policies towards encouraging use of hydrogen in an evolving market is important for widespread and early assimilation in energy mix. Renewable sources of energy are recommended for distributed generation of hydrogen along the pipeline network. Copyright © 2011 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.

Abstract Theft of electricity is a problem in many developing countries. But AMI is paving the way for data-centric architecture to help in theft detection. However, a smart grid or even AMR is a long shot for many developing countries due to the costs involved in its large-scale deployment. This paper presents a technique to detect outliers among electricity users that further investigates electricity theft using data analytics on monthly usage data available to every utility company. Using this technique, we have reduced the search space for theft identification to as low as 3.4% of the total customer base.

Abstract This research focuses on parametric influence on product distribution and syngas production from conventional gasification. Three experimental parameters at three different levels of temperature (700, 800 and 900 °C), sugarcane bagasse loading (2, 3 and 4 g) and residence time (10, 20 and 30 min) were studied using horizontal axis tubular furnace. Response Surface Methodology supported by central composite design was adopted in order to investigate parameters impact on product distribution (i.e., gas, tar and char) and gaseous products (i.e., H2, CO, CO2 and CH4). The highest H2 fraction obtained was 42.88 mol% (36.91 g-H2 kg-biomass−1) at 3 g of sugarcane bagasse loading, 900 °C and 30 min reaction time. The temperature was identified as the most influential parameter followed by reaction time for H2 production and diminishing the bio-tar and char yields. An increase in sugarcane bagasse loading, on other hand, favored the production of bio-tar, CO2 and CH4 production. The statistical analysis verified temperature as most significant (p-value 0.0008) amongst the parameters investigated for sugarcane bagasse biomass gasification.

Here we investigate the irreversibility aspects in magnetohydrodynamics flow of viscous nanofluid by a variable thicked surface. Viscous dissipation, Joule heating and heat generation/absorption in energy expression is considered. Behavior of Brownian diffusion and thermophoresis are also discussed. The nanoliquid is considered electrical conducting under the behavior of magnetic field exerted transverse to the sheet. Using similarity variables the nonlinear PDEs are altered to ordinary one. The obtained system are computed through Newton built in shooting method. Significant behavior of various involving parameters on entropy generation rate, velocity, concentration, Bejan number and temperature are examined. Gradient of velocity and heat transfer rate are numerically computed through tabulated form. Velocity field is augmented versus power index (n). Temperature and velocity profiles have opposite characteristics for larger approximation of Hartmann number. Concentration profile has similar impact against Brownian diffusion variable and Lewis number. Entropy optimization is boost up via rising values of Brinkman and Hartmann numbers. Bejan number is declined for increasing value of Hartmann number.