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Microbial electrochemical technologies (METs) constitute the core of a number of emerging technologies with a high potential for treating urban wastewater due to a fascinating reaction mechanism—the electron transfer between bacteria and electrodes to transform metabolism into electrical current. In the current work, we focus on the model electroactive microorganism Geobacter sulfurreducens to explore both the design of new start-up procedures and electrochemical operations. Our chemostat-grown plug and play cells, were able to reduce the start-up period by 20-fold while enhancing chemical oxygen demand (COD) removal by more than 6-fold during this period. Moreover, a filter-press based bioreactor was successfully tested for both acetate-supplemented synthetic wastewater and real urban wastewater. This proof-of-concept pre-pilot treatment included a microbial electrolysis cell (MEC) followed in time by a microbial fuel cell (MFC) to finally generate electrical current of ca. 20 A·m−2 with a power of 10 W·m−2 while removing 42 g COD day−1·m−2. The effective removal of acetate suggests a potential use of this modular technology for treating acetogenic wastewater where Geobacter sulfurreducens outcompetes other organisms.

The hygrothermal behaviour of an internally insulated historic wall is still hard to predict, mainly because the physical characteristics of the materials composing the historic wall are unknown. In this study, the hygrothermal assessment of an internally thermal insulated masonry wall of an historic palace located in Ferrara, in Italy, is shown. In situ non-destructive monitoring method is combined with a hygrothermal simulation tool, aiming to better analyse and discuss future refurbishment scenarios. In this context, the original U-value of the wall (not refurbished) is decreased from 1.44 W/m2K to 0.26 W/m2K (10 cm stone wool). Under the site specific conditions of this wall, not reached by the sun or rain, it was verified that even in the absence of vapour barrier, no frost damage is likely to occur and the condensation risk is very limited. Authors proposed further discussion based on simulation. The results showed that the introduction of a second gypsum board to the studied technology compensated such absence, while the reduction of the insulation material thickness provides a reduction of RH peaks in the interstitial area by 1%; this second solution proved to be more efficient, providing a 3% RH reduction and the avoidance of further thermal losses.

Supercritical Carbon Dioxide (SCO2) is considered as a potential working fluid in next generation power and energy systems. The SCO2 Brayton cycle is advantaged with higher cycle efficiency, smaller compression work, and more compact layout, as compared with traditional cycles. When the inlet total condition of the compressor approaches the critical point of the working fluid, the cycle efficiency is further enhanced. However, the flow acceleration near the impeller inducer causes the fluid to enter two-phase region, which may lead to additional aerodynamic losses and flow instability. In this study, a new impeller inlet design method is proposed to achieve a better balance among the cycle efficiency, compressor compactness, and inducer condensation. This approach couples a concept of the maximum swallowing capacity of real gas and a new principle for condensation design. Firstly, the mass flow function of real gas centrifugal compressors is analytically expressed by non-dimensional parameters. An optimal inlet flow angle is derived to achieve the maximum swallowing capacity under a certain inlet relative Mach number, which leads to the minimum energy loss and a more compact geometry for the compressor. Secondly, a new condensation design principle is developed by proposing a novel concept of the two-zone inlet total condition for SCO2 compressors. In this new principle, the acceptable acceleration margin (AAM) is derived as a criterion to limit the impeller inlet condensation. The present inlet design method is validated in the design and simulation of a low-flow-coefficient compressor stage based on the real gas model. The mechanisms of flow accelerations in the impeller inducer, which form low-pressure regions and further produce condensation, are analyzed and clarified under different operating conditions. It is found that the proposed method is efficient to limit the condensation in the impeller inducer, keep the compactness of the compressor, and maintain a high cycle efficiency.

In this study, our aim was to explore the potential energy savings obtainable from the recycling of 1 tonne of Construction and Demolition Waste (C&DW) generated in the Metropolitan City of Naples. The main fraction composing the functional unit are mixed C&DW, soil and stones, concrete, iron, steel and aluminium. The results evidence that the recycling option for the C&DW is better than landfilling as well as that the production of recycled aggregates is environmentally sustainable since the induced energy and environmental impacts are lower than the avoided energy and environmental impacts in the life cycle of recycled aggregates. This LCA study shows that the transition to the Circular Economy offers many opportunities for improving the energy and environmental performances of the construction sector in the life cycle of construction materials by means of internal recycling strategies (recycling C&DW into recycled aggregates, recycled steel, iron and aluminum) as well as external recycling by using input of other sectors (agri-food by-products) for the manufacturing of construction materials. In this way, the C&D sector also contributes to realizing the energy and bioeconomy transition by disentangling itself from fossil fuel dependence.

The rapid increase in the penetration of photovoltaic (PV) power plants results in an increased risk of grid failure, primarily due to the intermittent nature of the plant. To overcome this problem, the flexible power point tracking (FPPT) algorithm has been proposed in the literature over the maximum power point tracking (MPPT) algorithm. These algorithms regulate the PV power to a certain value instead of continuously monitoring the maximum power point (MPP). The proposed work carries out a detailed comparative study of various constant power generation (CPG) control strategies. The control strategies are categorized in terms of current-, voltage-, and power-based tracking capabilities. The comparative analysis of various reported CPG/FPPT techniques was carried out. This analysis was based on some key performance indices, such as the type of control strategy, irradiance pattern, variation in G, region of operation, speed of tracking, steady-state power oscillations, drift severity scenario, partial shading scenario, implementation complexity, stability, fast dynamic response, robustness, reactive power, cost, and tracking efficiency. Among existing FPPT algorithms, model-based control has a superior performance in terms of tracking speed and low steady-state power oscillations, with a maximum tracking efficiency of 98.57%.

The large potential for waste resource and heat recovery in industry has been motivating research toward increasing efficiency. Process integration methods have proven to be effective tools in improving industrial sites while decreasing their resource and energy consumption; however, location aspects and their impact are generally overlooked. This paper presents a method based on process integration, which considers the location of plants. The impact of the locations is included within the mixed integer linear programming framework in the form of heat losses, temperature and pressure drop, and piping cost. The objective function is selected as minimisation of the total cost of the system excluding piping cost and ϵ -constraints are applied on the piping cost to systematically generate multiple solutions. The method is applied to a case study with industrial plants from different sectors. First, the interaction between two plants and their utility integration are illustrated, depending on the piping cost limit which results in the heat pump and boiler on one site being gradually replaced by excess heat recovered from the other plant. Then, the optimisation of the whole system is carried out, as a large-scale application. At low piping cost allowances, heat is shared through high pressure steam in above-ground pipes, while at higher piping cost limits the system switches toward lower pressure steam sharing in underground pipes. Compared to the business-as-usual operation of the sites, the optimal solution obtained with the proposed method leads to 20% reduction in the overall cost of the system, including the piping cost. Further reduction in the cost is possible using a state of the art method but the technical and economic feasibility is not guaranteed. Thus, the present work provides a tool to find optimal industrial symbiosis solutions under different investment limits on the infrastructure between plants.

The capacity factor of a power plant is the ratio of generation over its potential generation. It is an important measure to describe wind and solar resources. However, the fluctuating nature of renewable power generation makes it difficult to integrate all generation at times. Whenever generation exceeds the load, curtailment or storage of energy is required. With increasing renewable shares in the power system, the level of curtailment will further increase. In this work, the influence of the curtailment on the capacity factors for a highly renewable German power system is studied. An effective capacity factor is introduced, and the implications for the distribution of renewable power plants are discussed. Three years of highly-resolved weather data were used to model wind and solar power generation. Together with historical load data and a transmission model, a possible future German power system was simulated. It is shown that effective capacity factors for unlimited transmission are strongly reduced by up to 60% (wind) and 70% (photovoltaics) and therefore of limited value in a highly renewable power system. Furthermore, the results demonstrate that wind power benefits more strongly from a reinforced transmission grid than photovoltaics (PV) does.