• Energy Research

Nous savons que le problème de la pénurie d'eau douce est constamment exacerbé par l'augmentation rapide de la population et la grande diversité des différentes industries qui ont besoin d'eau pour poursuivre leur travail. Il est également bien connu que les alambics solaires sont l'une des solutions thermiques à ce problème, mais ils sont désavantagés par leur faible productivité. Ainsi, cette étude présente une étude expérimentale visant à améliorer les performances de l'alambic solaire tubulaire à tambour rotatif (TDSS) en utilisant le revêtement de nanoparticules, le concentrateur solaire parabolique (PSC) et le matériau à changement de phase (PCM). Différentes variables de fonctionnement ont été testées dans cette étude. Cette combinaison d'utilisation de la PSC et de la PCM est étudiée pour la première fois dans le TDSS. Le PSC a été utilisé pour concentrer les rayons solaires sur la face arrière du tambour, ce qui a augmenté le taux d'évaporation. Le revêtement de nanoparticules a été utilisé pour peindre les surfaces du tambour et du bassin encore pour changer le mécanisme pelliculaire de l'eau en goutte-à-goutte. De plus, l'effet de diverses vitesses de rotation du tambour sur les performances du TDSS a été étudié. Les résultats expérimentaux ont révélé que l'utilisation du cylindre rotatif à l'intérieur de l'alambic solaire tubulaire (TSS) augmentait la productivité du distillateur par rapport à celle de l'alambic solaire conventionnel (CSS). De plus, le TDSS avec revêtement de nanoparticules a fourni une productivité de 6650 mL/m2.jour contre 2800 mL/m2.jour pour le CSS avec une amélioration de 137%. En outre, l'augmentation maximale de la productivité du TDSS lors de l'utilisation du PSC et du PCM a été obtenue à 0,3 tr/min, où l'amélioration de la productivité était d'environ 195 % et 218 %, respectivement. L'efficacité thermique du CSS était d'environ 32–34%. L'efficacité thermique la plus élevée du TDSS avec PCM était de 63,8 % à 0,3 tr/min. En outre, le coût de l'eau distillée de TDSS avec revêtement de nanoparticules, PSC et PCM est de 0,024 $ / L contre 0,029 $ / L pour le CSS, et le temps de récupération était d'environ 5 et 3 mois, respectivement. Sabemos que el problema de la escasez de agua dulce se agrava constantemente por el rápido aumento de la población y la gran diversidad de diferentes industrias que necesitan agua para continuar su trabajo. También es bien sabido que los alambiques solares son una de las soluciones térmicas a este problema, pero están en desventaja por su baja productividad. Por lo tanto, este estudio presenta un estudio experimental para mejorar el rendimiento del alambique solar tubular con tambor giratorio (TDSS) utilizando el recubrimiento de nanopartículas, el concentrador solar parabólico (PSC) y el material de cambio de fase (PCM). En este estudio se probaron diferentes variables operativas. Esta combinación de uso de PSC y PCM se investiga por primera vez en TDSS. Se utilizó PSC para concentrar los rayos solares en la parte posterior del tambor, lo que elevó la tasa de evaporación. El recubrimiento de nanopartículas se utilizó para pintar las superficies del tambor y el recipiente para cambiar el mecanismo del agua en forma de película a gota. Además, se investigó el efecto de varias velocidades de rotación del tambor en el rendimiento de TDSS. Los resultados experimentales revelaron que el uso del cilindro giratorio dentro del alambique solar tubular (TSS) aumentó la productividad del destilador en comparación con la del alambique solar convencional (CSS). Además, el TDSS con recubrimiento de nanopartículas proporcionó una productividad de 6650 ml/m2.día en comparación con 2800 ml/m2.día para el CSS con una mejora del 137%. Además, el aumento máximo en la productividad de TDSS al usar PSC y PCM se obtuvo a 0.3 rpm, donde la mejora de la productividad fue de alrededor del 195% y 218%, respectivamente. La eficiencia térmica del CSS fue de alrededor del 32–34%. La eficiencia térmica más alta del TDSS con PCM fue del 63.8% a 0.3 rpm. Además, el costo del agua destilada de TDSS con recubrimiento de nanopartículas, PSC y PCM es de 0.024 $/L en comparación con 0.029 $/L para el CSS, y el tiempo de recuperación fue de alrededor de 5 y 3 meses, respectivamente. It is known to us that the problem of freshwater shortage is constantly exacerbated by the rapid population increase and the great diversity of different industries that need water to continue their work. It is also well known that solar stills are one of the thermal solutions to this problem, but they are disadvantaged by their low productivity. So, this study presents an experimental study to improve the performance of the tubular solar still with rotating drum (TDSS) using nanoparticles' coating, parabolic solar concentrator (PSC), and phase change material (PCM). Different operating variables were tested in this study. This combination of using PSC and PCM is investigated for the first time in TDSS. PSC was used to concentrate the solar rays on the back side of the drum, which raised the evaporation rate. The nanoparticles coating was used to paint the surfaces of the drum and basin still to change the film-wise mechanism of water to drop-wise. In addition, the effect of various rotating speeds of drum on the performance of TDSS was investigated. The experimental results revealed that using the rotating cylinder inside the tubular solar still (TSS) increased the productivity of the distiller as compared to that of the conventional solar still (CSS). Furthermore, the TDSS with nanoparticles' coating provided a productivity of 6650 mL/m2.day compared to 2800 mL/m2.day for the CSS with an enhancement by 137%. Besides, the maximum increase in productivity of TDSS when using PSC and PCM was obtained at 0.3 rpm, where the productivity improvement was around 195% and 218%, respectively. The thermal efficiency of the CSS was around 32–34%. Highest thermal efficiency of the TDSS with PCM was 63.8% at 0.3 rpm. Also, the cost of distilled water of TDSS with nanoparticles' coating, PSC, and PCM is 0.024 $/L compared to 0.029 $/L for the CSS, and the payback time was around 5 and 3 months, respectively. من المعروف لنا أن مشكلة نقص المياه العذبة تتفاقم باستمرار بسبب الزيادة السكانية السريعة والتنوع الكبير للصناعات المختلفة التي تحتاج إلى المياه لمواصلة عملها. من المعروف أيضًا أن اللقطات الشمسية هي أحد الحلول الحرارية لهذه المشكلة، لكنها محرومة من انخفاض إنتاجيتها. لذلك، تقدم هذه الدراسة دراسة تجريبية لتحسين أداء الطاقة الشمسية الأنبوبية الثابتة مع الأسطوانة الدوارة (TDSS) باستخدام طلاء الجسيمات النانوية، والمركز الشمسي المكافئ (PSC)، ومواد تغيير الطور (PCM). تم اختبار متغيرات تشغيلية مختلفة في هذه الدراسة. يتم التحقيق في هذا المزيج من استخدام PSC و PCM لأول مرة في TDSS. تم استخدام PSC لتركيز الأشعة الشمسية على الجانب الخلفي من الأسطوانة، مما رفع معدل التبخر. تم استخدام طلاء الجسيمات النانوية لطلاء أسطح الأسطوانة والحوض لتغيير آلية حكمة الغشاء للمياه إلى حكمة السقوط. بالإضافة إلى ذلك، تم التحقيق في تأثير سرعات الدوران المختلفة للأسطوانة على أداء TDSS. كشفت النتائج التجريبية أن استخدام الأسطوانة الدوارة داخل السكون الشمسي الأنبوبي (TSS) زاد من إنتاجية المقطر مقارنة بإنتاجية السكون الشمسي التقليدي (CSS). علاوة على ذلك، وفرت TDSS مع طلاء الجسيمات النانوية إنتاجية تبلغ 6650 مل/م 2. يوم مقارنة بـ 2800 مل/م 2. يوم لـ CSS مع تعزيز بنسبة 137 ٪. إلى جانب ذلك، تم الحصول على أقصى زيادة في إنتاجية TDSS عند استخدام PSC و PCM عند 0.3 دورة في الدقيقة، حيث كان تحسين الإنتاجية حوالي 195 ٪ و 218 ٪ على التوالي. كانت الكفاءة الحرارية لـ CSS حوالي 32-34 ٪. كانت أعلى كفاءة حرارية لـ TDSS مع PCM 63.8 ٪ عند 0.3 دورة في الدقيقة. أيضًا، تبلغ تكلفة الماء المقطر لـ TDSS مع طلاء الجسيمات النانوية، PSC، و PCM 0.024 دولار/لتر مقارنة بـ 0.029 دولار/لتر لـ CSS، وكان وقت الاسترداد حوالي 5 و 3 أشهر، على التوالي.

<abstract><p>Production of defective products is a very general phenomenon. But backorder and shortages occur due to this defective product, and it hampers the manufacturer's reputation along with customer satisfaction. That is why, these outsourced products supply, a portion of required products for in-line production. This study develops a flexible production model that reworks repairable defective products and outsources products to prevent backlogging. A percentage of total in-line production is defective products, which is random, and those defective products are repairable. A green investment helps the reworking process, which has a direct impact on the market demand for products. A classical optimization solves the profit maximization model, and a numerical method proves the global optimal solutions. Sensitivity analysis, managerial insights, and discussions provide the highlights and decision-making strategies for the applicability of this model.</p></abstract>

The closed-loop supply chain management (CLSCM) is an attractive research field for the corporate and academic worlds; however, closing the loop is not a simple task. Reverse logistics activities increase management complexities and uncertainties by establishing multi-fold collection and return management processes. Unlike traditional supply chain management, where managers deal with only stochastic demand, in closed-loop supply chain management, they deal with both stochastic demand and returns, which increases the cumulative uncertainty in the system. Firms usually use disposable packaging, and demand uncertainties also increase the negative environmental implications of logistics activities. This study aims to investigate optimal remanufacturing strategy and reusable packaging capacity under stochastic demand and return rate for single and multi-retailer closed-loop supply chain models. The results show that a hybrid policy is an optimal option for both single and multi-retailer cases; however, the rate of remanufacturing increases for multiple-retailers. Furthermore, remanufacturing cost, manufacturing cost, and ordering cost of retailers are the principal drivers of hybrid supply chain management. The results further suggest that supply chain managers should reduce manufacturing and remanufacturing costs because they play a central role in deciding the optimal remanufacturing rate. Increasing the remanufacturing rate increases ordering quantities and reduces setup and ordering costs in the system. Thus the remanufacturing is a relatively inexpensive policy for supply chains with higher setup and ordering costs. Numerical examples, sensitivity analysis, and comparative study show the robustness and validity of the proposed model.

Since the rules and regulations strongly emphasize environmental preservation and greenhouse gas GHG reduction, researchers have progressively noticed a shift in the transportation means toward electromobility. Several challenges must be resolved to deploy EVs, beginning with improving network accessibility and bidirectional interoperability, reducing the uncertainty related to the availability of suitable charging stations on the trip path and reducing the total service time. Therefore, suggesting DQN supported by AIoT to pair EVs’ requests and station invitations to reduce idle queueing time is crucial for long travel distances. The author has written a proposed methodology in MATLAB to address significant parameters such as the battery charge level, trip distance, nearby charging stations, and average service time. The effectiveness of the proposed methodology is derived from hybridizing the meta-heuristic techniques in searching DQN learning steps to obtain a solution quickly and improve the servicing time by 34%, after solving various EV charging scheduling difficulties and congestion control and enabling EV drivers to policy extended trips. The work results obtained from more than 2145 training hypothetical examples for EVs’ requests were compared with the Bayesian Normalized Neural Network (BASNNC) algorithm, which hybridize the Beetle Antennae Search and Neural Network Classifier, and with other methods such as Grey Wolf Optimization (GWO) and Sine-cosine and Whale optimization, revealing that the mean overall comparison efficiencies in error reduction were 72.75%, 58.7%, and 18.2% respectively.

Recycling plastic waste (RPW) benefits the ecological footprint. Therefore, the authors test its mixing by magnetic hydrodynamic MHD nanofluid materials such as alumina in two sizes (βcore, βskin) prepared into a new device called the incubator installed in the desktop injection machine to enhance its solubility by taking advantage of the mixture’s heat via defining the oblique stagnation-point slip flow (OSPSF) of a nanofluid in two dimensions. The paper has been innovative in mathematically identifying the operating parameters’ values for the injection flow mechanism (IFM) via controlling in Riga magnetic field and piston orifice pressure using a meta-heuristic algorithm called WSA. The proposed (IFM) is used to experimentally enhance the mixture properties via parameters’ control to meet the output quality and predict the control equation for the Riga plate. IFM controls the amount of pushed nanoparticles in the mixture with a ratio of plastic to aluminum approximate by 96.1%: 3.9%. The defects were reduced by approximately 23.21%, with an increasing system performance of 70.98%.

Every industry always tries to provide the best service to its consumers. To provide better service to the consumer and optimize profit, a sustainable online-to-offline retailing strategy is proposed in this current study. Both online and offline systems are considered here, i.e., to provide the best service, the industry sells its products online and offline. Due to the consideration of online and offline systems, the selling price of the products is also different for different modes, and the demand for a particular product is the combined demand of online demand and offline demand, which depend on the selling price of the product. Moreover, the exact lead time and exact backorder are calculated to obtain the system’s exact cost or profit, which directly improves the system’s service. Different investments are incorporated to optimize the total system profit. A distribution-free approach is utilized to solve this model. Numerical examples are provided to prove the applicability of the model in reality. Sensitivity analysis is performed based on critical parameters. Special cases and graphical representations also prove the global optimality of the current study.

Rapid industrialization and the increased use of consumer electronic goods have increased the demand for energy. To meet the increasing energy demand, global nations are looking for energy from renewable sources rather than non-renewable sources, to adhere with the sustainability principle. As energy from renewable sources is still in the experimental stage, there is a need to use available energy sources optimally. Considering this, the present study aims to identify, evaluate, and reveal the interrelationship among critical challenge factors in improving the heat rate performance of coal-fired thermal power plants. The study identifies twenty critical challenges through a comprehensive literature review. Then, to evaluate the identified critical challenges, the grey-DEMATEL (Decision Making Trial and Evaluation Laboratory) technique is used. For evaluating the challenges, this study conducts an empirical analysis in a thermal power plant in India. The findings reveal that air preheater leakage, coal flow balancing, and air heater air outlet temperature are the top three critical challenges hampering the thermal power plant’s performance. Additionally, fourteen challenges come under the cause group, while eight challenges come under the effect group. The findings of the study can assist industrial managers in overcoming problems in their thermal power plants. The results can also guide the development of a robust and reliable framework for mitigating these challenges.

One of an organization’s significant challenges in a globalized world is reducing risk by building resilient supply chains (SCs). It is required to realize a competitive advantage in a volatile and fast changing environment. Conversely, the key enablers of such sustainable and resilient supply chain management are not fully analyzed in building projects. This study aims at determining the stationary enablers of resilient and sustainable supply chains. For this to happen, a questionnaire survey comprising 32 enablers of resilient and sustainable supply chains has been conducted with Egyptian engineers to appraise their degree of importance. The results show that the five most important enablers of resilient and sustainable supply chains are: top management support, adaptability, visibility, quality awareness, and responsiveness. This research’s results will allow building administrators to create diverse SCs, while being mindful of how the characteristics of a supply chain decrease or increase its resilience and eventually affect the exposure to risk in the building’s SCs.