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At the present time, it is necessary to strengthen the economy mode, the resources efficiency and reduce the material consumption in construction. Modern building constructions must meet all the requirements of economy, resource conservation, which are required for construction. The main direction of their development is reducing the cost of steel (14-16%), saving cement (10-12%) and saving forest materials (12-14%). These tasks can be solved, including at the expense of reduction of material content and reduction of the cross-section of structures, due to the rational combination of concrete and steel in their joint work and through the use of high-strength materials. These requirements are satisfied with building constructions from tube confined concrete. With a relatively small cross-section, such structures can withstand significant efforts, while the concrete at the expense of a volumetric stressed state receives stresses that far exceed the prism strength, which saves steel and concrete. Applying high-strength concrete, concrete, compacted by pressing, centrifugation, it is possible to obtain significant cement savings, as due to industrial technological factors of sealing concrete mix significantly increases the concrete strength. It is possible to increase the concrete strength also due to the use of indirect reinforcement, which allows, at low cost of steel, to significantly increase the strength of structures. Improving the well-known effective methods of strengthening concrete in relation to tube confined concrete constructions with strengthened cores suitable for industrialization is an urgent and important task. The purpose of the research presented in this paper was the experimental study of tube confined concrete elements with reinforced in different methods concrete cores; the development of methods for calculating the carrying capacity and the stress-strain state of tube confined concrete elements with strengthened cores.

A comparative analysis of the occupational hazard was done when working with widely known cyanide electrolytes and new thiocarbamide and citrate acid-based electrolytes. For this purpose, we made use of available reference data on maximum permissible substance concentrations, i.e. process solution components. Appropriate computations were done to define the environmental hazard of the electrolytes used for the application of silver, gold and copper coatings and also for the electrochemical silver polishing. Consideration was given to the reactions that proceed in cyanide and thiocarbamide-citrate bathes. The main drawbacks and advantages of given electrolytes have been established. Special attention was paid to the quality of galvanic products. It was proved that the suggested electrolytes are highly competitive with cyanide analogues as for their visual appearance, density and other characteristics of the condition of treated surface. These turned out to be labor saving and energy efficient and have substantially lower harmful effect on the human health and environment.

1. A study was made of the possibility of producing composite coatings from two nickel electrolytes at different pH values and temperatures. 2. It is demonstrated that the best nickel deposits with mullite whiskers are obtained in nickel sulfate electrolytes at low solution pH values (2–3) and a temperature of 25–30°C. 3. Mullite whiskers are readily incorporated into nickel electrodeposits. When an electrolyte contains up to 100 g/liter of mullite whiskers, the mullite whisker content of the resulting electrodeposit is up to 3 vol.%. 4. Studies were made of the high-temperature oxidation resistance of the composite coatings and of the effect of mullite additions on the microhardness of nickel electrodeposits.

Abstract The course of pyrolysis process of 5 different biomass wastes including agricultural waste [soft wood (SW), sunflower husks (SH), corn stalks (CS), walnut shells (WN), and wheat straw (WS)] was investigated using TG/FT-IR. The studied samples were carbonized in a steel retort in the absence of air during heating to the temperatures of 300, 400, and 1000 °C. The biomass samples were extracted by a mixture of chloroform and methanol in a microwave extractor under the pressure of 18 bar at the temperature of 150 °C. The samples heated to the temperature of 1000 °C were studied using X-ray diffraction. The obtained results suggest that the temperature of the maximum on the curve of the mass loss rate shifts towards higher temperatures with an increase in mass at the temperature of 750 °C for the studied samples. On the basis of the comparison of the composition of volatile products of pyrolysis at the temperature of 300 °C and the analysis of the ATR spectra of biochar pyrolyzed at the temperature 300 °C it was determined that the content of compounds from the extracted material in the composition of the volatile products of pyrolysis amounts to about 1/8 for SW sample, for WN sample – 1/6, for CS sample – 1/5, and about ¼ for SH sample. The biochar from WN sample had the greatest degree of structural ordering. It is suggested that both amount of volatile products released during pyrolysis and content of inorganic components influenced the degree of structural ordering of biochar of the studied samples.

Purpose The purpose of this paper is to develop a methodology for assessing the effects of global and regional externalities that create traditional power generation industries and to propose a transition to a tariff strategy taking into account these consequences. The main purpose of the research is to analyze the current wholesale electricity tariffs in the energy market of Ukraine and propose their assessment taking into account external effects for other sectors of the economy. Design/methodology/approach At the first stage, according to observations for 2004–2019 on the amount of pollution and the cost of agricultural products in some regions of Ukraine, which is provided in 2010 prices, the impact of hazardous emissions on the cost of agricultural products was analyzed in each region. The use of panel regression allowed to combine spatial and temporal studies (12 separate areas and time interval 2004–2019). To assess the external effects of heat generation, panel regression was used, which made it possible to combine spatial and temporal data on the impact of pollution on the efficiency of agricultural production and add regional losses of agricultural business to the cost of heat generation. This paper uses optimization models to maximize the function of public utility of electricity generation, making allowances for externalities. Findings This research assesses the negative externalities of Ukraine's energy and confirms the need for a global transition to a low-carbon economy primarily through climate finance. The analysis revealed the presence of various influences of the factor of regional air pollution and time. The hypothesis of the existence of a negative impact of local air pollution on agricultural production has been confirmed. An increase in emissions by 1,000 tons leads to an average decrease in regional agricultural production by UAH 84 million (at the prices of 2010). Originality/value The optimization problem of the ratio of different types of generation is set on the basis of maximizing the function of social utility of electricity generation, taking into account external effects. The authors presented an optimization model of electricity generation, which corresponded to the state of the energy market for 2019, provides an opportunity to assess the contribution of the inverse external effects of each electricity sector and to estimate external tariffs for each electricity generation sector.

Microbial energy generation systems, i.e., bioelectrochemical systems (BESs) are promising sustainable technologies that have been used in different fields of application such as biofuel production, biosensor, nutrient recovery, wastewater treatment, and heavy metals removal. However, BESs face great challenges such as large-scale application in real time, low power performance, and suitable materials for their configuration. This review paper aimed to discuss the use of BES systems such as conventional microbial fuel cells (MFCs), as well as plant microbial fuel cell (P-MFC), sediment microbial fuel cell (S-MFC), constructed wetland microbial fuel cell (CW-MFC), osmotic microbial fuel cell (OsMFC), photo-bioelectrochemical fuel cell (PBFC), and MFC-Fenton systems in the zero waste sustainable recovery process. Firstly, the configuration and electrode materials used in BESs as the main sources to improve the performance of these technologies are discussed. Additionally, zero waste recovery process from solid and wastewater feedstock, i.e., energy recovery: electricity generation (from 12 to 26,680 mW m-2) and fuel generation, i.e., H2 (170 ± 2.7 L-1 L-1 d-1) and CH4 (107.6 ± 3.2 mL-1 g-1), nutrient recovery of 100% (PO43-P), and 13-99% (NH4+-N), heavy metal removal/recovery: water recovery, nitrate (100%), sulfate (53-99%), and sulfide recovery/removal (99%), antibiotic, dye removal, and other product recovery are critically analyzed in this review paper. Finally, the perspective and challenges, and future outlook are highlighted. There is no doubt that BES technologies are an economical option for the simultaneous zero waste elimination and energy recovery. However, more research is required to carry out the large-scale application of BES, as well as their commercialization.

The paper deals with current trends in municipal solid waste management in Ukraine. Accumulation of significant amount of solid waste at landfills and the implementation of economic tools aimed at promoting electricity generation from landfill gas open wide opportunities to use landfill gas for electricity generation. However, despite the favourable conditions, nowadays a number of landfill gas power plants, which have been putting into operation in Ukraine, are insignificant. Given the fact that today the main economic tool for this sector development is the feed-in tariff, the estimation of cost for electricity generation from landfill gas and its comparison with the current feed-in tariff rate were carried out in order to understand, whether the feed-in tariff is sufficient to cover electricity generation. The study results have shown that the feed-in tariff for electricity generated from landfill gas is economically justified, and that non-price barriers slow down this sector development.

Thin-layer electrolytic nickel hydroxide Ni(OH)2 has been obtained from an aqueous solution of nickel sulfate and nickel nitrate. The capacitor characteristics of Ni(OH)2 depending on the synthesis and technology parameters, the thermal treatment and storage conditions of the deposits, the KOH concentration, the potential sweep rates, and the relation with the adverse process of oxygen isolation in an electrochemical capacitor were investigated by cyclic voltammetry. It was established that the optimal KOH concentration in the solution of an electrochemical capacitor is 0.1 M, and it allows one to attain an active material discharge capacitance of 427–457 F/g. The additional anode polarization of cathode deposited Ni(OH)2 stabilizes the discharge characteristics of the obtained Ni(OH)2 + NiO mixture in storage processes. It was established that the mass transport process in the solid state phase is the limiting stage of the Ni(OH)2/NiOOH system’s electrode process in a KOH medium.

Energy consumption reduction and energy efficiency improvement are recognized as global priorities in the context of the green economy and sustainable development. In this paper, determinants of en...