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Abstract Adsorption technology offers a potential in vital applications like energy storage, cooling and heating, and water desalination which can be driven by low-grade or renewable heat sources leading to significant reduction in CO2 emissions. The adsorbent material is a key element in adsorption heat pump systems determining the performance, size and cost of such technology. Metal-organic frameworks (MOFs) are class of adsorbents with superior water uptake, high pore volume and surface area. This study describes the experimental testing of adsorption heat pumps using aluminium fumarate, CPO-27(Ni) and MIL-100(Fe) for various adsorption applications. Results showed that energy storage density of 1200 W h kg−1 was achieved using MIL-100(Fe) regenerated at 95°C, and cycle time of 90 min. For cooling applications, MIL-100(Fe) showed high specific cooling power of 226 W kg−1 at 95°C while aluminium fumarate produced 136 W kg−1 specific cooling power (SCP) at 90°C. Regarding water desalination, MIL-100(Fe) showed high water production rate specific daily water production (SDWP) of 19 m3 ton−1 day−1. For power generation, including a turbine in the adsorption system can increase the effective coefficient of performance (COP) of the adsorption cooling system by 22%. Integrating the adsorption cooling system with Organic Rankine Cycle (ORC) can produce an effective COP of 0.8.

Due to the extensive use of unmanned aerial vehicles (UAVs) in civil and military environment, effective deployment and scheduling of a swarm of UAVs are rising to be a challenging issue in edge computing. This is especially apparent in the area of Internet of Things (IoT) where massive UAVs are connected for communications. One of the characteristics of IoT is that an operator can interact with more than one UAVs for the effective scheduling under multi-task requests. Based on this scenario, we clarify the issue on how to maintain the energy efficiency of UAVs and guarantee the reputation gain during the scheduling deployment. In this paper, we first formulate the energy consumption and reputation into the decision model of UAVs scheduling. A game-theoretic scheme is then developed for the optimal decision searching. With the developed model, a range of important parameters of UAV scheduling are thoroughly investigated. Our numerical results show that the proposed scheduling strategy is able to increase the reputation and decrease the energy consumption of UAVs simultaneously. In addition, in the game process, the profit of an operator can be maximized and the network economy research can be explored.

Abstract Conventional polymer electrolyte fuel cells (PEFCs) require a means of placing the series of laminar components that make up cells under mechanical compression so as to ensure effective electrical conduction, mass transport and gas-tight operation. This review describes the effect of mechanical compression and dimensional change on the components of PEFCs and reviews the range of methods used to achieve desired stack compression. The case is made for improved understanding of the mechanisms of fuel cell component compression and greater attention to the development of technological approaches for stack compression.

Corn stover has great potential as a biomass feedstock due its widespread availability. However, storage characteristics of moist corn stover harvested from single-pass harvesters have not been well quantified. In 2007, moist whole-plant corn stover at 19.1 to 40.3 % (w.b.) moisture content was stored for 237 days in aerobic piles, one covered and one uncovered, as well an anaerobic silo bag. In 2008, two moist stover materials – whole-plant and cob/husk from 31.7 to 58.1% (w.b.) moisture - were stored for 183 or 204 days in covered and uncovered anaerobic piles, ventilated bags, or anaerobic silo bags. Stover stored in uncovered piles was rehydrated from precipitation, which increased biological activity and produced DM losses from 8.2% to 39.1% with an average of 21.5%. Stover in covered piles was successfully conserved when the average moisture was less than 25% (w.b.) with DM losses of 3.3%. Stover above 36% (w.b.) and piled under a plastic cover had DM losses from 6.4% to 20.2% with an average of 11.9%. Localized heating to temperatures where spontaneous combustion might be a concern (i.e. > 70°C) occurred in the aerobic piles when moisture was above 45% (w.b.). Ambient air blown through a center tube in the ventilated bag dried stover near the tube to an average of 24.2% (w.b.), but the remainder of the bag averaged 46.8% (w.b.) at removal. Loss of DM ranged from 7.4% to 22.0% with an average of 11.8%. Stover was most successfully conserved in the bags where anaerobic conditions were maintained. Under anaerobic conditions DM losses ranged from 0.2% to 0.9%. When anaerobic conditions were not maintained in the silo bag DM losses averaged 6.1% of DM. Anaerobic storage is the best solution for conserving the value of moist corn stover.

Ranking as one of the largest mobility modes for passengers and freight, highway transportation globally accounts for huge amounts of fossil-based energy consumption and greenhouse gas emissions. Correspondingly, on-road transportation causes detrimental effects on air quality, climate change, and global warming, particularly over the short term. In order to prevent a further escalation of this detrimental environmental issue, long-term efficacious policies aimed at reducing the transportation-driven CO2 emission should be urgently enacted and implemented on a global scale. Thus, this paper presents an exploratory study with the main objective of investigating the impact of four adopted mitigation scenarios that suggest switching to Euro 6 vehicle emission standards, increasing the average urban traffic speed limits, encouraging public transport, and increasing the proportion of hybrid electric vehicles. This study then compared and contrasted each strategy and its subgroups with a reference scenario projected for the year 2025. The evidence from this research showed that transition to Euro 6 compliant vehicles significantly decarbonizes the transportation sector, yet more vehicle electrification is required to achieve the Paris Climate Agreement targets. The results also indicate that by 2025, a 10% shift from passenger cars to public transport will decrease CO2 emissions by 3%, whilst increasing the urban traffic speed by 10 km/h will yield a 1.38% CO2 gas emission saving.

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