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Fil: Bavio, Marcela Alejandra. Universidad Nacional del Centro de la Provincia de Buenos Aires. Centro de Investigaciones en Fisica e Ingenieria del Centro de la Provincia de Buenos Aires. - Consejo Nacional de Investigaciones Cientificas y Tecnicas. Centro Cientifico Tecnologico Conicet - Tandil. Centro de Investigaciones en Fisica e Ingenieria del Centro de la Provincia de Buenos Aires. - Provincia de Buenos Aires. Gobernacion. Comision de Investigaciones Cientificas. Centro de Investigaciones en Fisica e Ingenieria del Centro de la Provincia de Buenos Aires; Argentina

Artículos en revistas Liberalization policies, the challenges of integrating distributed generation resources, and the recent flattening of electricity demand due to the economic crisis and technological change have led to lower returns for European electricity suppliers. Innovative and sustainable business models are needed to serve electricity customers while reflecting the operational needs of the system and maintaining supplier financial viability. This paper describes a novel model of Integrated Energy Services that encompasses distributed generation (DG) and demand response (DR) resources for industrial customers. We further reflect on some of the market opportunities and regulatory drivers for the development of similar schemes across Europe. info:eu-repo/semantics/publishedVersion

Abstract A Gas–Solid Vortex Reactor (GSVR), in literature also referred to as Rotating Fluidized Bed in Static Geometry (RFB-SG), is a promising reactor type for Process Intensification (PI) with respect to reactor volume reduction. Although replacing gravitational by centrifugal force has been considered since the seventies, the hydrodynamics of the reactor flow and the bed behavior remain largely unknown. In the present work experiments have been carried out in a cold flow GSVR with diameter of 0.54 m, length of 0.1 m and 36 inlet slots of 2 mm. Gas injection velocities of 55–111 m/s and particles with densities of 950–1800 kg/m 3 and diameters of 1–2 mm have been applied. Depending on solids density, particle diameter and gas injection velocity the bed behavior can be considered as stable, semi-stable or unstable. For semi-stable and stable flow regimes the effect of the above process conditions on the maximum solids capacity was investigated. With increasing solids density, the bed stability considerably decreases, while the maximum solids capacity increases. By increasing the gas injection velocity, both the bed stability and the maximum solids capacity increase. Once bed stability is accomplished, a further increase of the gas injection velocity does not affect the maximum solids capacity. With increasing particle diameter, the bed stability decreases while the maximum solids capacity increases.

Industry is a fundamental sector that allows mass production to support a large population. As population grows, many industries produce large amounts of industrial effluents with different pollutants, that must be removed at the industrial wastewater treatment plants, with the consequent production of large amounts of sludge. The present study was conducted to identify and evaluate different sludge treatment/valorisation methodologies, being given priority to the valorisation in detriment of the elimination operations, like incineration or landfill. Therefore, sludges from the wastewater treatment plant of a resin industry, after dehydration operation by a press, were submitted to several valorisation methodologies, such as: application in anaerobic digestion aiming the production of biogas and allowing energy recovery, use in the preparation of adsorbents for the treatment of industrial wastewater, use as cement replacement in mortar production, and application of heterogeneous catalysts to produce biodiesel. The results revealed that all methodologies can be applied as sludge recovery. However, it is possible to conclude that the most promising industrial sludge treatment/recovery hypothesis is anaerobic co-digestion followed by the production of heterogeneous catalysts for biodiesel production.

<div class="section abstract"><div class="htmlview paragraph">The introduction of new light-duty vehicle emission limits to comply under real driving conditions (RDE) is pushing the diesel engine manufacturers to identify and improve the technologies and strategies for further emission reduction. The latest technology advancements on the after-treatment systems have permitted to achieve very low emission conformity factors over the RDE, and therefore, the biggest challenge of the diesel engine development is maintaining its competitiveness in the trade-off “CO₂-system cost” in comparison to other propulsion systems. In this regard, diesel engines can continue to play an important role, in the short-medium term, to enable cost-effective compliance of CO₂-fleet emission targets, either in conventional or hybrid propulsion systems configuration. This is especially true for large-size cars, SUVs and light commercial vehicles.</div><div class="htmlview paragraph">In this framework, a comprehensive approach covering the whole powertrain is of primary importance in order to simultaneously meet the performance, efficiency, noise and emission targets, and therefore, further development of the combustion system design and injection system represent important levers for additional improvements. For this purpose, a dedicated 0.5 dm³ single-cylinder engine has been developed and equipped with, a state-of-the-art Euro 6 combustion system, and an advanced common rail fuel injection system (FIS) offering higher flexibility in terms of injection strategy and higher quantity accuracy. Three injector nozzles with different hydraulic flow rates (HF) have been selected and employed for the overall combustion process optimization.</div><div class="htmlview paragraph">The optimization has been performed by means of an extensive DoE-based test campaign in which the engine and FIS operating parameters have been parametrized with the aim to carry out a proper combination in terms of HF and injection strategy. The results at partial load conditions evidence significant advantages in applying an advanced injection pattern, while the HF reduction can significantly improve the smoke emission and combustion noise without fuel consumption penalties. Therefore, a proper combination and optimization of the HF and injection strategy can provide low noise and engine-out smoke while maintaining the rated power performance targets.</div></div>

A Life Cycle Assessment (LCA) with focus on carbon footprint, followed by Life Cycle Costing (LCC) of municipal solid waste (MSW) management were conducted in a residential area of a medium-sized European city of 80,000 inhabitants. The initial results showed high environmental impacts and lack of economic sustainability, due to the high amounts of waste landfilled, the low extent of separate collection, low performance of mechanical-biological treatment as well as absence from alternatives to landfilling of non-recyclable materials. Taking this result as a baseline scenario, three improvement.s were tested with the aim of turning the carbon footprint of the local MSW management system into a neutral value: (i) increased separate collection of recyclables, (ii) enhanced biogas production and (iii) refuse-derived fuel (RDF) production. Successively adding the improvements, three alternative improved scenarios were defined, until reaching a negative carbon footprint, meaning that an optimised system would avoid GHG emissions. The proposed changes were sufficient to achieve carbon neutrality, as well as reduce overall environmental impacts, but were not enough for achieving economic sustainability due to the great influence of collection costs, especially for separate collection. It was concluded that by using an adequate combination of several treatment options and increasing the separate collection of recyclable materials it is possible to turn MSW management into a carbon neutral activity as well as improve its economic balance.

The aim of the paper is to study the influence of the power transformer on signal transmission in the case of a power line communication (PLC) system in a overhead Medium Voltage (MV) power network. A model of the PLC system was carried out by means of the Simulink® software. A distributed parameter MV overhead line, two power transformers, the signal coupling interface of a ST7540 FSK powerline transceiver were included in the model. The performances of the complete PLC communication system are evaluated for different line lengths by means of the attenuation computed as ratio between the received and transmitted voltage signals. © 2011 IEEE.

A three-dimensional, computational fluid dynamics (CFD) model of a PEM fuel cell is presented. The model consists of straight channels, porous gas diffusion layers, porous catalyst layers and a membrane. In this computational domain, most of the transport phenomena which govern the performance of the PEM fuel cell are dealt with in detail. The model solves the convective and diffusive transport of the gaseous phase in the fuel cell and allows prediction of the concentration of the species present. A special feature of the model is a method that allows detailed modelling and prediction of electrode kinetics. The transport of electrons in the gas diffusion layer and catalyst layer is accounted for, as well as the transport of protons in the membrane and catalyst layer. This provides the possibility of predicting the three-dimensional distribution of the activation overpotential in the catalyst layer. The current density dependency on the gas concentration and activation overpotential can thereby be addressed. The proposed model makes it possible to predict the effect of geometrical and material properties on the fuel cell’s performance. It is shown how the ionic conductivity and porosity of the catalyst layer affects the distribution of current density and further how this affects the polarization curve. The porosity and conductivity of the catalyst layer are some of the most difficult parameters to measure, estimate and especially control. Yet the proposed model shows how these two parameters can have significant influence on the performance of the fuel cell. The two parameters are shown to be key elements in adjusting the three-dimensional model to fit measured polarization curves. Results from the proposed model are compared to single cell measurements on a test MEA from IRD Fuel Cells.