• Energy Research

The issue of depleting fossil fuels has emphasized the use of renewable energy. Multigeneration systems fueled by renewables such as geothermal, biomass, solar, etc., have proven to be cutting-edge technologies for the production of different valuable by-products. This study proposes a multigeneration system using a geothermal source of energy. The main outputs include power, space heating, cooling, fresh and hot water, dry air, and hydrogen. The system includes a regenerative Rankine cycle, a double effect absorption cycle and a double flash desalination cycle. A significant amount of electrical power, hydrogen and fresh water is generated, which can be used for commercial or domestic purposes. The power output is 103 MW. The thermal efficiency is 24.42%, while energetic and exergetic efficiencies are 54.22% and 38.96%, respectively. The COPen is found to be 1.836, and the COPex is found to be 1.678. The hydrogen and fresh water are produced at a rate of 0.1266 kg/s and 37.6 kg/s, respectively.

The International Labour Organization (ILO) has developed numerous conventions, protocols, and recommendations on minimum labour standards, with the majority relating to occupational safety and health systems (OSH). However, environmental issues like deforestation, desertification, flooding, erosion, oil spills, and air and water pollution, particularly in Nigeria, pose a threat to the health and safety of the many organizations in developing nations. Using a hybrid of research designs such as survey and content analysis and based on the Risk Society Theory and Sense-making Theory, this paper reviews, environmental health and occupational safety at workplaces in Nigeria. This study aims to identify environmental health and occupational safety issues in Nigeria's manufacturing sector, specifically in the iron and steel and aluminium industry, by examining inaccurate data on male and female workers. Using in-depth interviews with a total of 17 participants, the primary data was gathered from managers and senior staff members of chosen firms in Ajaokuta, Kogi State, and Lagos State, Nigeria. These were Ajaokuta Steel Company Limited (ASCL) and Alumaco Aluminium Manufacturing Co. of Nigeria Ltd., Ikeja, Nigeria. It discovers a high level of occupational health awareness, insufficient funding for safety intelligence initiatives, and a high frequency of workplace dangers. The study also finds that Nigeria was among the signatories in Africa who failed to comply with this directive. It recommends promoting occupational health services, training doctors to recognize work-related diseases, and complying with the ILO's Convention 155. The article also suggests updating laws, conducting education campaigns, investing in training, and holding employers accountable for non-compliance

This paper concerns the development and analysis of multigeneration systems based on hybrid sources such as biomass and wind. Industry requires different types of sources to provide several outputs, so the goal of this research was to fulfill the industrial requirement with optimization. The multigeneration cycle supplies enough power to satiate energy demands, i.e., power, cooling, hydrogen, air conditioning, freshwater, hot water, and heating. For this, the multigeneration cycle was modeled in the Engineering Equation Solver (EES) and Simulink to obtain optimized results for the industry. Energy and exergy for the multigeneration cycle were determined to assess the performance of the cycle and to investigate the optimized results for the overall system. This study shows that for configuration selection and design, different thermodynamic, economic, and environmental aspects should be considered. Based on the results, the selection of the best location for this multigeneration system was made. Power output from the wind turbine was around 7 MW and from biogas 0.6 MW. The overall exergy efficiency of the multigeneration system was found to be 0.1401.

The growing population and increasing urbanization have led to a surge in domestic wastewater generation, posing significant challenges for effective and sustainable treatment. The present study demonstrates a novel and sustainable approach for the onsite treatment of domestic wastewater using an integrated settler-based biofilm reactor (ISBR) with efficient biogas generation. The ISBR provides an optimized environment for the growth of biofilm, facilitating the removal of organic pollutants and pathogens. Moreover, the ISBR enables the recovery of a valuable resource in the form of biogas, thus enhancing the overall utility of the treatment process. The performance of the ISBR was comprehensively evaluated at laboratory scale through treating the actual domestic wastewater generated from the hostel of Manipal University Jaipur. The ISBR system was operated under an ambient environment at a hydraulic retention time (HRT) of 24 h. The results demonstrated remarkable efficiency in terms of chemical oxygen demand (COD), total suspended solids (TSS), and coliforms removal, with average removal efficiency being more than 90%. According to the COD mass balance analysis, 48.2% of the influent COD was recovered as bioenergy. The chromatogram revealed a high percentage of methane gas in the collected biogas sample. The field emission scanning electron microscope (FESEM) analysis of the accumulated sludge in the ISBR system depicted the morphology of methanogenic bacteria. Both the experimental and theoretical results confirmed the feasibility and sustainability of the ISBR system at the onsite level.

Over a million annual deaths from COVID-19, a disease caused by the acute respiratory distress disease corona virus-2 (SARS-CoV-2), have spread across the globe. Researchers and scientists are focusing on developing various remedies to treat and prevent infection from the spread. Personal protective equipment (PPE) has progressed into a statutory authority for health staff in recent times. Even though PPE kits are shown to deliver sufficient protection against the disease, their disposal is seeming to be environmentally hazardous. The public bodies manage the proper disposal of PPE in compliance with the World Health Organization (WHO) recommendations. The substantial percentage of wasted personal protective equipment kits would add to the burden of plastic on our environment. This review describes a strategy for recycling personal protective equipment kits by repurposing them into alternative fuels and using them in diesel engines.