• Energy Research
• Closed Access close
• Open Source close
• Embargo close
• 6. Clean water close
• 9. Industry and infrastructure close

Effectively analyzing and then treating energy-related air pollution requires examining every factor, from the pollution source to the end of treatment. This paper applies index decomposition analysis and a whole process treatment perspective to identify the factors facilitating air pollution reduction across three stages: source prevention, process control, and end-of-pipe treatment. Empirical research using data from China’s Jiangsu Province and its 13 cities reveals differences in local approaches to pollution prevention. At the provincial level, end-of-pipe treatment remains the primary approach to control air pollution emissions, indicating that the pattern of “pollute first, govern later” has not yet been fundamentally reversed. At the city level, 13 cities can be divided into four types, based on their approach to air pollution treatment: the leading type, process-dependent type, end-dependent type, and lagging type. Of these, 7 cities are using multiple control approaches, reflecting the comprehensive effect of whole process treatment. The Jiangsu Province should consider further strengthening effective whole process air pollution treatment models, by transitioning to pollution control, adjusting industrial structure, promoting technological progress, and consuming clean energy.

The present study was carried out to evaluate the effect of morphine, cocaine and ethanol on the density of opioid receptors in the nucleus accumbens and striatum of rat brain. The animals were injected i.p. with morphine in a single dose 20 mg/kg, or twice daily for 10 days in increasing doses of 20-100 mg/kg. Cocaine was administered in a dose of 60 mg/kg/day following the "binge" paradigm, every hour for 3 h, one day (single treatment) or five days (chronic treatment). Ethanol was administered in drinking water at increasing concentrations of 1-6% v/v, for one month. As shown by receptor autoradiography, single morphine and cocaine administration did not influence the binding density of the selective ligand of delta2 receptors [3H]Ile5,6deltorphin b, but single administration of cocaine decreased binding density of a highly selective antagonist of delta receptors, [3H]H-Tyr-Tic psi[CH2-NH]Phe-Phe-OH. Repeated morphine administration decreased the receptor density after both ligands of the delta receptor in the nucleus accumbens after 3, 24 and 48 h, and in the striatum after 24 and 48 h. The density of [3H]Ile5,6deltorphin b binding remained unchanged in both structures following repeated cocaine administration. After repeated cocaine administration either no changes (3 h) or a decrease in the binding of [3H]H-Tyr-Tic psi[CH2-NH]Phe-Phe-OH in the nucleus accumbens and striatum were observed after 24 and 48 h. Ethanol did not influence the binding density of [3H]H-Tyr-Tic psi[CH2-NH]Phe-Phe-OH and [3H]Ile5,6deltorphin b in the nucleus accumbens and striatum at any time-point studied. In the nucleus accumbens and striatum, no changes were found in the binding density of [3H]Tyr-D-Ala-Gly-MePhe-Gly-ol following single or repeated morphine administration. At 3 h after single or repeated "binge" cocaine administration, the binding of [3H]Tyr-D-Ala-Gly-MePhe-Gly-ol was not changed in either structure, but after 24 h the density of mu opioid receptors was decreased in both structures. Ethanol given to rats in drinking water decreased the binding of [3H]Tyr-D-Ala-Gly-MePhe-Gly-ol at the time of exposure to ethanol, yet in the nucleus accumbens only. Ethanol withdrawal decreased the density of the mu receptor in both structures after 24, 48 and 96 h. The above data indicate that repeated administration of morphine evokes a long-lasting down-regulation of the density of delta1 and delta2 opioid receptors, whereas cocaine affects in a similar way only the delta1 subtype in the nucleus accumbens, and to a lesser extent in the striatum. A long-term intake of ethanol solution down-regulates mu opioid receptors in both structures, but has no effect on any type of delta receptors. Thus changes in the particular opioid receptor depend on the type of drug used. Furthermore, the most profound changes are observed after late withdrawal, which may play some role in maintaining the state of dependence.

Smart grids have attracted increasing interest in the field of industrial research. These systems allow electricity consumers to communicate with electrical systems using bidirectional communications. However, these bidirectional channels may introduce privacy threats to consumers. Considerable research has been conducted with the aim of resolving these threats. Unfortunately, a practical smart grid design with adequate efficiency and security functionalities has not yet been produced. In this paper, we propose lightweight privacy preserving metering protocols by designing a distributed authentication method to further increase the speed of the message authentication process. We confirmed the efficiency and security of our method by performing a detailed analysis.

A balance between industrial pollution and economic growth becomes a major policy issue to attain a sustainable society in the world. To discuss the problem from economics and business perspectives, this study proposes a new use of DEA (Data Envelopment Analysis) as a methodology for unified (operational and environmental) assessment. A unique feature of the proposed approach is that it separates outputs into desirable and undesirable categories. Such separation is important because energy industries usually produce both desirable and undesirable outputs. This study discusses how to unify the two types of outputs under natural and managerial disposability. The proposed DEA approach evaluates various organizations by the three efficiency measures such as OE (Operational Efficiency), UEN (Unified Efficiency under Natural disposability) and UENM (Unified Efficiency under Natural and Managerial disposability). An important feature of UENM is that it separates inputs into two categories and unifies them under the two disposability concepts in addition to the proposed output separation and unification. This study incorporates an amount of capital assets for technology innovation, as one of the two input group, into the measurement of UENM. Then, it compares UENM with the other two efficiency measures. This study is the first research effort in which DEA has an analytical capability to quantify the importance of investment on capital assets for technology innovation. To confirm the practicality of the proposed approach, this study applies the three efficiency measures to a data set regarding manufacturing and non-manufacturing industries of 47 prefectures in Japan. This study empirically confirms the validity of Porter hypothesis in Japanese manufacturing industries, so implying that environmental regulation has been effective for betterment on the performance of Japanese manufacturing industries. Another important finding is that the emission of greenhouse gases is a main source of unified inefficiency in the two groups of industries. Therefore, Japanese industries, examined in this study, need to make their efforts to reduce the greenhouse gas emissions and air pollution substances by investing in capital assets for technology innovation.

A one-dimensional simulation model for a closed-cycle salt-gradient solar pond (CCSGSP) is developed. It simulates the transient behavior of CCSGSP using finite difference method. Validation of some parts of the model is presented using data from the RMIT solar pond. Close correlation between computed and measured data was obtained. Three modes of salt recycling are also presented. Simulation results show that seasonal surface flushing with annual bottom salinity maintenance done during winter is more practical and desirable. Gradient maintenance may likewise be done during this period. The CCSGSP model (CCSGSPM) is a useful tool for estimating the area requirement of an evaporation pond (EP) for a particular solar pond (SP) facility.

Abstract The catalyst-free two-step process has been developed for biodiesel production using low-grade feedstocks. The first step consists of triglycerides hydrolysis under subcritical water conditions to generate and increase free fatty acid (FFA) content for ethyl ester production. In its subcritical state, water can be used as both a solvent and a reactant for the hydrolysis of triglycerides. The hydrolyzed product mixture is separated by decantation into the oil phase of FFA (upper layer) and a water phase that contains glycerol (lower layer). In the second step, the hydrolyzed products of free fatty acids were successfully esterified to their ethyl ester in supercritical ethanol conditions without any catalyst. Under the sub- and supercritical conditions of water and ethanol, the hydrolysis and the esterification reactions proceed quickly, with a conversion of greater than 98 % after 10−20 min. This two-step process for biodiesel production offers several advantages, such as milder reaction conditions and pollution reduction due to the use of water instead of organic solvents. Also, the glycerol is removed after the hydrolysis reaction so that the backward reaction between the glycerol and the ethyl ester disappears, and lead to the biodiesel yield and quality improvement. The aim of this study is making a comparison between our previous one-step process and the two-step reaction process to find the best pathway for designing and building an integrated reactor. Indeed, the two-step process is more applicable for low-grade feedstocks with a high amount of FFA and water.

Population variation in ecophysiological traits of four co-occurring montane conifers was measured on a large latitudinal gradient to quantitatively assess their potential for response to environmental change. White fir (Abies concolor) had the highest variability, gross photosynthetic rate (Pg), and foliar carbon (C) and nitrogen (N) content. Despite low water use efficiency (WUE), stomatal conductance (gs) of fir was the most responsive to unfavorable environmental conditions. Pinus lambertiana exhibited the least variability in Pg and WUE, and is likely to be the most vulnerable to environmental changes. Pinus ponderosa had an intermediate level of variability, and high needle growth at its higher elevational limits. Pinus Jeffreyi also had intermediate variability, but high needle growth at its southern latitudinal and lower elevational limits. The attributes used to assess tree vigor were effective in predicting population vulnerability to abiotic (drought) and biotic (herbivore) stresses.

Air stripping is an effective method for the removal of ammonia from high‐concentration wastewater. The traditional open stripping process is expensive due to high consumptions of alkali reagent and energy. This study proposed a novel cyclic stripping‐acid adsorption system for ammonia removal. The stripped ammonia gas flowed into the stripping tower, and no fresh air was added during the cyclic stripping process. The kinetics model of ammonia removal from the smelting wastewater in a pilot‐scale cyclic stripping tower was investigated. The influences of stripping temperature (T), wastewater pH, air to liquid ratio (R), and acid spray flow (F) on the ammonia removal rate were discussed. The kinetics equation was determined as G = 4.14 × 10−3 × pH1.83 × T0.27 × F0.98 × R−0.49 when pH = 9.80–12.29, T = 19–35°C, F = 58–76 m3·h−1, and R = 1329–1725. The equation can be used to predict the removal rate of ammonia during operation. The ammonia concentration of the effluent decreased from 5951 mg·L−1 to 13 mg·L−1 within 15 h. Ammonia can be removed rapidly and economically from wastewater via the cyclic stripping process. © 2019 American Institute of Chemical Engineers Environ Prog, 38:e13146, 2019

A procedure for the design of an aerobic cometabolic process for the on-site degradation of chlorinated solvents in a packed bed reactor was developed using groundwater from an aquifer contaminated by trichloroethylene (TCE) and 1,1,2,2-tetrachloroethane (TeCA). The work led to the selection of butane among five tested growth substrates, and to the development and characterization from the site's indigenous biomass of a suspended-cell consortium capable to degrade TCE (first order constant: 96 L gprotein(-1) day(-1) at 30 °C and 4.3 L gprotein(-1) day(-1) at 15 °C) with a 90 % mineralization of the organic chlorine. The consortium immobilization had strong effects on the butane and TCE degradation rates. The microbial community structure was slightly changed by a temperature shift from 30 to 15 °C, but remarkably affected by biomass adhesion. Given the higher TCE normalized degradation rate (0.59 day(-1) at 15 °C) and attached biomass concentration (0.13 gprotein Lbioreactor(-1) at 15 °C) attained, the porous ceramic carrier Biomax was selected as the best option for the packed bed reactor process. The low TeCA degradation rate exhibited by the developed consortium suggested the inclusion of a chemical pre-treatment based on the TeCA to TCE conversion via β-elimination, a very fast reaction at alkaline pH. To the best of the authors' knowledge, this represents the first attempt to develop a procedure for the development of a packed bed reactor process for the aerobic cometabolism of chlorinated solvents.