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Abstract A requirement for the development of a viable biomass conversion technology for clean energy production is the efficient cleaning of the gas fraction. The aim of this work was to use fly ash (AF) to develop cheap and efficient catalysts in removing tar. FA was separated in two fraction, oxide fly ash (OFA) and unburned carbon (UCFA) and both were used for catalysts preparing. The toluene was used as a tar model and a fixed-bed reactor for testing. The calcined oxide fly ash (COFA) showed a steady decrease in catalytic activity, the removal efficiency was reduced by 13.52% after 3 h. Reduced catalyst (RCOFA) and activated and reduced catalyst (AROFA) showed a higher activity than COFA catalyst and were able to maintain their performance. The RCOFA catalytic activity decreased suddenly when the steam was present, and tar removal efficiency descended to 57.32% after only 3 h and to 49.03% after 5hrs, respectively. Results showed that the catalysts obtaining by mixing RCOFA/AROFA with UCFA led to high effective toluene conversion in a reforming environment, over 90% and their catalytic activity remained constant after 12 h, because the unburned carbon presence kept the iron in its reduced form, much more catalytically active.

The crucial role evaluation can play in the co-development of project design and its implementation will be addressed through the analysis of a case study, the Green Communities (GC) project, funded by the Italian Ministry of Environment within the EU Interregional Operational Program (2007-2013) "Renewable Energy and Energy Efficiency". The project's broader goals included an attempt to trigger a change in Italian local development strategies, especially for mountain and inland areas, which would be tailored to the real needs of communities, and based on a sustainable exploitation and management of the territorial assets. The goal was not achieved, and this paper addresses the issues of how GC could have been more effective in fostering a vision of change, and which design adaptations and evaluation procedures would have allowed the project to better cope with the unexpected consequences and resistances it encountered. The conclusions drawn are that projects should be conceived, designed and carried out as dynamic systems, inclusive of a dynamic and engaged evaluation enabling the generation of feedbacks loops, iteratively interpreting the narratives and dynamics unfolding within the project, and actively monitoring the potential of various relationships among project participants for generating positive social change.

Bioplastics are alternatives of conventional petroleum-based plastics. Bioplastics are polymers processed from renewable sources and are biodegradable. This study aims at conducting an environmental impact assessment of the bioprocessing of agricultural wastes into bioplastics compared to petro-plastics using an LCA approach. Bioplastics were produced from potato peels in laboratory. In a biochemical reaction under heating, starch was extracted from peels and glycerin, vinegar and water were added with a range of different ratios, which resulted in producing different samples of bio-based plastics. Nevertheless, the environmental impact of the bioplastics production process was evaluated and compared to petro-plastics. A life cycle analysis of bioplastics produced in laboratory and petro-plastics was conducted. The results are presented in the form of global warming potential, and other environmental impacts including acidification potential, eutrophication potential, freshwater ecotoxicity potential, human toxicity potential, and ozone layer depletion of producing bioplastics are compared to petro-plastics. The results show that the greenhouse gases (GHG) emissions, through the different experiments to produce bioplastics, range between 0.354 and 0.623 kg CO2 eq. per kg bioplastic compared to 2.37 kg CO2 eq. per kg polypropylene as a petro-plastic. The results also showed that there are no significant potential effects for the bioplastics produced from potato peels on different environmental impacts in comparison with poly-β-hydroxybutyric acid and polypropylene. Thus, the bioplastics produced from agricultural wastes can be manufactured in industrial scale to reduce the dependence on petroleum-based plastics. This in turn will mitigate GHG emissions and reduce the negative environmental impacts on climate change.

Abstract This paper contributes to the understanding of the determinants of energy audits and to the role of energy audits in promoting energy-efficiency measures in SMEs. It benefits from the data collected within the European Investment Bank Surveys in 2017 and 2018, involving information about energy audits and energy-efficiency investments of some 12,500 signatures from EU28 Member States per year. Our analysis suggests that the decision of firms to conduct an energy audit is driven mainly by their characteristics, such as size, productivity, capital intensity, sector affiliation, and national policies regarding the transposition of relevant EU legislation and policy incentives. Furthermore, our findings indicate that energy audits besides being the first step in realizing energy-efficiency opportunities, most likely lead to the adoption of their recommendations. This is consistent with the view that energy audit is a useful tool in overcoming the information barriers and facilitating investments in energy-efficiency measures (EEMs). In fact, their information is more crucial for small firms and for investments in support processes such as lighting, wall insulation etc. than in production processes such as replacement of machinery and equipment. We also find that the likelihood of investments in EEMs, especially after an energy audit, is higher when combined with external financing and for innovative firms.

Biogas is a viable alternative for supplying clean and sustainable energy. Despite all manner of policy measures introduced by the Government of India, biogas is not widely used in India. This article tries to identify factors that influence the decision to adopt biogas at household level. We examine a conceptual framework empirically in which a household wants to maximize utility from biogas by using the India Human Development Survey (IHDS) I, which is a nationally representative, multi-topic survey. By applying both maximum likelihood and penalized likelihood methods (Firthlogit) of logistic regression on a sample size of almost 10,384 households, it has been found that wealthy people are more likely to adopt biogas compared to the marginalized section of the society. We recommend more inclusive policy measures for the weaker section of the society to create an enabling environment to make it a self-promoting technology.

This paper presents experimental results of the impact of CO(2) co-feed on a gasification/pyrolysis process for various feedstocks (biomass, coal, and municipal solid waste (MSW)). Various feedstocks were thermo-gravimetrically characterized under various atmospheric conditions and heating rates. A substantial amount of char burn out was identified in the presence of CO(2) via a series of thermo-gravimetric analysis tests, which enabled high conversion of final mass (approximately 99%) to be achieved. The impact of CO(2) co-feed on the volatilization regime during the pyrolysis/gasification process was not apparent at a heating rate of 10-40 degrees C min(-1). However, the impact of CO(2) on the volatilization regime at a fast heating rate (950 degrees C min(-1)) was substantial. For example, significant enhancement in the generation of CO, by a factor of approximately 2, was observed in the presence of CO(2). The generation of major chemical species, such as CH(4) and C(2)H(4), were enhanced, but this was not as apparent as in the case with CO. In addition, introducing CO(2) to the pyrolysis/gasification process enabled the amount of condensable liquid hydrocarbons, such as tar (approximately 30-40%) to be significantly reduced in the presence of CO(2), in that injecting CO(2) into the pyrolysis/gasification process expedites cracking the volatilized chemical species. Experimental work confirmed that biomass and MSW could be feasible and desirable feedstocks for the pyrolysis/gasification process as these feedstocks can be easily treated compared to coal. To extend this understanding to a more practical level, various feedstocks were tested in a tubular reactor and drop tube reactor under various experimental conditions.

We have studied the response of the efficiency and short-circuit current of an array of silicon solar cells to changes in intensity of solar radiation under tropical atmospheric conditions. The investigation was carried out simultaneously at two different geographical locations in Nigeria: Enugu (6.20°N, 7.30°E) and Port Harcourt (4.43°N, 7.10°E) (Port Harcourt is located very close to the sea, while Enugu is far away from the sea). Data collected from the two locations clearly reveal that the mean optimum efficiency is not constant, but decreases exponentially as the intensity of solar radiation increases. The short-circuit current, on the other hand, increases non-linearly with intensity of solar radiation and approaches some constant maximum value under very high insolation. The change in efficiency is above 70% as the intensity of solar radiation changes from 100 to 800 W m−2. An empirical equation, relating the mean optimum efficiency to intensity of solar radiation, and an empirical equation, relating the mean short-circuit current to intensity of solar radiation, have been proposed. No previous similar work is available for comparison, but our results are consistent with the well-established fact that under cloudy conditions (and thereafter low insolation), short-wavelength radiation becomes predominant.

It's a slow death, but bolts still slay rainforest trees.

Abstract The high temperature coolant of nuclear power plants (NPPs) has been investigated for the hydrogen production, which could be a major role of a green energy promotion. An accident of the high temperature gas cooled reactor (HTGR) is modeled for the stabilized hydrogen production using nuclear energy. For the clean energy resource pursuit in preventing the climate change, the hydrogen is one of very attractive energy sources. The non-operational data could be produced by the fuzzy set theory which is one of non-linear complex algorithms. So, the result can show the possibility of the event happening instead of the exact solutions. The random numbers are generated for membership numbers of the fuzzy function. The event manipulation is done by new membership numbers for the propagations. The final result is 1.0 in 8 times during 100 months. So, the frequency is 0.08, or 8% of successful long-term cooling by conduction.