C at
pressures up to 20 MPa for a number of coals. Sorption isotherms were
fitted by a modified DubininRadushkevich model. The maximum
sorption capacities of the coals for the different gases were found to be
highly correlated. The relationship between maximum sorption
capacity of a coal for a gas and its critical temperature was approxi-
mately proportional. The relationship between methane and nitrogen
maximum sorption capacity was particularly close: on a volume basis,
the maximum sorption capacity of all coals examined for methane was
twice that of nitrogen. The ratio of maximum sorption capacity of
carbon dioxide and methane decreased linearly with increasing carbon
content. The ethane/methane sorption ratio also tended to decrease
with increasing rank though to a smaller extent, indicating that the
proportionally greater sorption at low rank coals is not unique to
carbon dioxide. The heat of sorption tends to increase with increasing
vitrinite reflectance; this may reflect the greater polarizability of higher
rank coals (which also determines their reflectance).
13/00007 The characteristics of the biomarkers and d
13
C of
n-alkanes released from thermally altered solid bitumens at
various maturities by catalytic hydropyrolysis
Liao, Y. et al. Organic Geochemistry, 2012, 46, 5665.
Solid bitumen occurs extensively in the paleo-reservoirs of marine
sequences in southern China. The fluids in these paleo-reservoirs have
usually experienced severe secondary alteration such as biodegradation
and/or thermal maturation. The concentrations of extractable organic
matter (EOM) in the resulting solid bitumens are too low to satisfy the
amount required for instrumental analysis such as GCMS and GC
IRMS. It is also difficult to get enough biomarkers and n-alkanes by dry
pyrolysis or hydrous pyrolysis directly because such solid bitumens are
hydrogen poor due to high maturities. Catalytic hydropyrolysis (HyPy)
can release much more EOM from solid bitumen at mature to highly
over-mature stages than Soxhlet extraction, dry pyrolysis and hydrous
pyrolysis. However, whether the biomarkers in hydropyrolysates can be
used for bitumen-source or bitumenbitumen correlations has been
questionable. In this study, a soft biodegraded solid bitumen sample of
low maturity was thermally altered to various maturities in a closed
system. HyPy was then employed to release bound biomarkers and n-
alkanes. The results show that the geochemical parameters for source
and maturity based on biomarkers released from these thermally
altered bitumen residues by HyPy are insensitive to the degree of
thermal alteration. Furthermore, the maturity parameters are indica-
tive of lower maturity than bitumen maturation products at a corres-
ponding temperature. This suggests that biomarker source and
maturity parameters, based on the products of HyPy, remain valid
for bitumens which have suffered both biodegradation and severe
thermal maturation. The distributions of c
13
C of n-alkanes in hydro-
pyrolysates are also insensitive to the temperature used for bitumen
artificial maturation. Hence, the c
13
C values of n-alkanes in hydro-
pyrolysates may also provide useful information in bitumenbitumen
correlation for paleo-reservoir solid bitumens.
13/00008 Variations in the mechanical behavior of Illinois
bituminous coals
West, R. D. et al. Fuel, 2012, 98, 213217.
Unmineable coal beds are being considered as one of the geological
sequestration options for storing carbon dioxide (CO
2
). The storage
mechanisms and potential risks associated with the effects of CO
2
on
the coal structure are not yet understood and must be evaluated. The
mechanical properties of the coal are expected to play an important
role in the coal seams stability, especially under external pertur-
bations. Typically, the mechanical characteristics of coal are investi-
gated as a bulk material, which averages the effects of various
structural inhomogeneities as well as of face and butt cleat fractures
present in the coal. This paper establishes baseline mechanical
characteristics of Illinois bituminous coals while minimizing the
fracture effects. Rectangular coal strips (length <20 mm), which
showed no visible macro-defects, from two different Illinois bituminous
coal seams, were subjected to three-point bending tests. The results
suggest there are significant variations in the flexural modulus (ranging
from 0.7 to 3.4 GPa) of the coal samples even though the coal
rectangular strips originated from the same coal chunk. Vibrational
spectroscopic analysis on the samples, which underwent mechanical
testing, indicates a correlation between the flexural strength and
modulus with the intensity of aliphatic groups. However, the mineral
content of the coal seems not to influence the mechanical behaviour of
Illinois bituminous coals.
Preparation
13/00009 Defining manganese(II) removal processes in
passive coal mine drainage treatment systems through
laboratory incubation experiments
Luan, F. et al. Applied Geochemistry, 2012, 27, (8), 15671578.
Oxic limestone beds are commonly used for the passive removal of
Mn(II) from coal mine drainage (CMD). Aqueous Mn(II) is removed
via oxidative precipitation of Mn(III/IV) oxides catalysed by Mn(II)-
oxidizing microbes and Mn oxide (MnO
x
) surfaces. The relative
importance of these two processes for Mn removal was examined in
laboratory experiments conducted with sediments and CMD collected
from eight Mn(II)-removal beds in Pennsylvania and Tennessee, USA.
Sterile and non-sterile sediments were incubated in the presence/
absence of air and presence/absence of fungicides to operationally
define the relative contributions of Mn removal processes. Relatively
fast rates of Mn removal were measured in four of the eight sediments
where 6399% of Mn removal was due to biological oxidation. In
contrast, in the four sediments with slow rates of Mn(II) removal, 25
63% was due to biological oxidation. Laboratory rates of Mn(II)
removal were correlated (R
2
=0.62) to bacterial biomass concen-
tration (measured by phospholipid fatty acids (PLFA)). Furthermore,
laboratory rates of Mn(II) removal were correlated (R
2
=0.87) to field-
scale performance of the Mn(II)-removal beds. A practical recommen-
dation from this study is to include MnO
x
-coated limestone (and
associated biomass) from an operating bed as seed material when
constructing new Mn(II)-removal beds.
13/00010 Microfracturing of coal due to interaction with
CO
2
under unconfined conditions
Hol, S. et al. Fuel, 2012, 97, 569584.
This study investigates the magnitude of irreversible swelling effects
and changes in equilibration time in high volatile bituminous coal
(Brzeszcze, Seam 364, Poland), and attempt to explain the results in
terms of the operative microphysical processes. The authors also assess
the implications for enhanced coalbed methane (ECBM) operations.
The approach involves detailed dilatometry experiments conducted on
fresh, unconfined, mm-scale coal matrix cylinders at CO
2
pressures up
to 100 MPa, and at 40.0
C (carbonization) loss of CO
2
from carbonates, S from sulfides and OH and/or H
2
O from clays
occurs, transforming these minerals to other inorganic phases such as
lime, pyrrhotite, and (Na, Mg) K-aluminosilicates, among others. Heat
treatment of the carbonized samples up to 1500, 2000, and 2500
C
resulted in: (i) a decrease in oxygenated mineralogical phases, which
are transformed to higher temperature silicates (grossite, anorthite,
kushiroite, etc.); (ii) carbide formation (SiC, TiC or Al
4
C
3
) by
carbothermal reactions; (iii) formation of alloys, especially a PbSn
alloy; and (iv) formation of iron silicides (Fe
2
Si), iron phosphides
(Fe
3
P), and nitrides (TiN and AlN). The new mineral phases are
closely related to the mineral matter in the raw anthracite samples.
Thus, samples richer in CaMg phases (carbonates and phosphates)
produced minerals such as monticellite, pyrope, gehlenite, grossite and
kushiroite; samples richer in Al-bearing phases (boehmite and
diaspore) gave rise to phases such as mullite, corundum and spinel;
and SiAl bearing phases (clay minerals) were associated with the
formation of minerals such as panunzite, plagioclase and cristobalite.
At the highest temperature of the process the majority of the elements
vaporized, and Ti seems to be the only element in the original mineral
matter that withstands treatment to 2500
C.
13/00012 Risk assessment of floor water inrush in
coal mines based on secondary fuzzy comprehensive
evaluation
Wang, Y. et al. International Journal of Rock Mechanics and Mining
Sciences, 2012, 52, 5055.
A secondary fuzzy comprehensive evaluation system is constructed to
evaluate the risk of floor water invasion in coal mines. Four first-grade
indices and 13 second-grade indices are determined based on the
principles of scientificity, rationality, operability and representative by
using fuzzy mathematics theory. Each index is quantitatively graded
according to five risk grades using fuzzy statistical method and expert
evaluation method, and the membership degree of every index is
constructed. The weight of every index is rationally distributed by
analytic hierarchy process. Evaluations of engineering practice are
carried through with hydrogeological data of six mining faces in China.
The satisfying evaluation results are consistent with engineering
practice.
13/00013 Stability analysis of the proposed hybrid method
of partial extraction for underground coal mining
Jaiswal, A. and Shrivastva, B. K. International Journal of Rock
Mechanics and Mining Sciences, 2012, 52, 103111.
The hybrid method of partial extraction from underground coal mines
has been proposed for better recovery without endangering the surface
features. The concept of panel stability, rather than pillar stability, has
been suggested for stability analysis of proposed method of partial
extraction. The methodology for assessing the panel stability is based
on the Salamon stability criterion along with pillar stability. It has been
outlined as: factor of safety should be more than two for larger pillars,
and more than one for smaller pillars; panel factor of safety should be
preferably more than two. Panel factor of safety, K
LMS
/K
C
, is defined
as a ratio of local mine stiffness, K
LMS
, and post failure stiffness of the
split coal pillars, K
C
. A worst-case scenario analysis has also been
suggested as a part of stability analysis by considering failure of split
pillars. A typical case study of the board and pillar system of mining
has been chosen to evaluate the applicability of proposed hybrid
method of partial extraction. It has a major sub-surface feature of
perennial stream. There are several pillars underlying this feature. Two
variations of hybrid method with galleries width of 7.0, 8.0 and 9.0 m
have been taken. It has been concluded from the analysis that by
adopting the hybrid method of partial extraction, coal production
could be improved substantially without compromising the stability of
the surface and underground structure.
13/00014 The role of surface interaction forces and mixing
in enhanced dewatering of coal preparation tailings
Ofori, P. et al. Fuel, 2012, 97, 262268.
Industrial waste containing colloidal particulate matter such as coal
and mineral processing tailings presents many environmental and
economic challenges. Effective management solutions for these
challenges require an improved understanding of colloidal forces
between tailings particles which control their flocculation and
subsequent dewatering. In this paper, the colloidal and dewatering
behaviours of four coal processing tailings were investigated in the
presence of four high molecular weight anionic polyelectrolytes using
the AFM (atomic force microscope) colloid probe technique, floccula-
tion and sedimentation testing, and colloid and surface characteriz-
ation. Averaged snap-off distances statistically determined from
thousands of force curves measured by AFM were obtained by dividing
the area between the force curve and the horizontal axis by the
maximum adhesion force. This novel assessment of the AFM results
showed that for each of the tailing samples and flocculants tested there
was statistically a maximum snap-off distance, which on average would
correspond to the optimum flocculant concentration. Under this
optimum concentration condition the adhesive strength is the strongest
to resist potential floc breakage caused by external hydrodynamic
forces. Flocculation and sedimentation tests also showed optimum
flocculant concentrations for the different tailings samples but these
concentrations were much higher than those corresponding to the
optimum adhesive strength found with the AFM measurements. This
was due to the large surface area of particles in the concentrated
suspension used in the settling tests compared with just a few particles
used in the atomic force measurement and therefore the two optimum
concentrations per unit surface area of particles would be similar.
Transport, storage
13/00015 A novel method to suppress spontaneous
ignition of coal stockpiles in a coal storage yard
Kim, C. J. and Sohn, C. H. Fuel Processing Technology, 2012, 100,
7383.
Spontaneous ignition of coal stockpiles and its suppression in a coal
storage yard are studied numerically. The process of coal ignition is
simulated with several physical and chemical properties. The main
purposes of the numerical simulation are to pursue novel suppression
methods and verify them. Without losing essential features of
spontaneous ignition, as simple numerical models as possible are used.
The numerical approach is validated by comparison with the
experimental data. The ignition mechanism is analysed and essential
elements for ignition are pursued. Based on the ignition mechanism,
three new methods are proposed in this study. They are to adopt
internal walls installed inside the pile, air blowing from the bottom of
the pile, and a dual barrier installed at the front and the rear of the
pile. Each method has been verified to retard spontaneous ignition
time more fundamentally than the existing methods and the expected
additional delay is about 1030 days. But, air blowing is effective in
suppression of spontaneous ignition only at higher rates than a critical
rate. More delay can be made by a combined application of these
methods. It is found that the proposed methods are viable and effective
in delay of coal ignition.
13/00016 Risk and mitigation of self-heating and
spontaneous combustion in underground coal storage
Sipila, J. et al. Journal of Loss Prevention in the Process Industries,
2012, 25, (3), 617622.
While the self-heating and spontaneous combustion of coal is a known
challenge at coal mines and storage sites, there are known methods for
mitigating this challenge for typical open stockpile storage. However,
closing the storage will reduce access for corrective action, and it is
then important to manage the storage and its transport system with
added attention without unduly adding cost or hindering availability.
This paper aims to discuss the risk, prevention and extinguishing of
fires in closed coal storage facilities, particularly in light of the
experience with the Salmisaari underground rock storage facility in
Finland. The observed autoignition events have indicated an array of
contributing factors, some of which are unique to underground silo
storage facilities. On the other hand, many features of the storage
facilities can be compared with other extant closed storage systems.
The factors affecting fire risk are described and the associated fault and
event trees are outlined for autoignition at underground storage.
Drawing upon the experiences with past events of self-heating and
spontaneous combustion, recommendations are given on cost-effective
preventive, corrective and other mitigating action for minimizing fire
risk and promoting storage availability.
4 Fuel and Energy Abstracts January 2013
01 Solid fuels (transport, storage)
Economics, business, marketing, policy
13/00017 An economic comparison assessment of lignite
and biomass IGCC power plants
Tsakomakas, N. G. et al. Applied Thermal Engineering, 2012, 38, 2630.
An economic assessment between lignite and biomass integrated
gasification combined cycle power plants (IGCC and BIGCC respect-
ively) for power generation was carried out. The two alternative power
plants are presented together with the selection of the appropriate
equipment. An economic evaluation was carried out for the two power
plants, taking into account a net power of 100 MW. The economic
evaluation was carried out using the methods of the net present value
and the internal rate of return. Finally, a sensitivity analysis was carried
out. Calculations have been carried out with an Excel spreadsheet. It
was shown that both investments are profitable throughout their
economic life. However, because of the difference in the selling price of
the MW h between the two power plants and to the cost of CO
2
emissions for the lignite power plant, the biomass plant is more
profitable with a net present value up to e417 millions; and an internal
rate of return of 23.33%. A threshold price of e27.28/t for CO
2
emissions was also determined.
13/00018 In situ stress field inversion and its application in
mining-induced rock mass movement
Zhao, H. et al. International Journal of Rock Mechanics and Mining
Sciences, 2012, 53, 120128.
Based on a series of experiments in numerical simulation, the model
boundary conditions for in situ stress field inversion and excavation are
discussed. Study results indicate that roller boundary conditions are
reasonable for the in situ stress field inversion before excavation
simulation, while, as a closed system, changing the roller boundary
conditions to fixed boundary conditions in the subsequent excavation is
optimal when the dimensions of the model borders are greater enough
than the zone of influence of the excavation. As a case study, a
comparative study of the mining-induced ground movement in a
steeply dipping mine is carried out in two different stress fields. The
results show that the mining-induced ground movement in the high-
level tectonic stress field clearly differs from that in the ideal self-weight
stress field. Because of the steep occurrence and large thickness of the
ore body, the mining-induced ground subsidence exhibits different
characteristics at different mining stages in the practical tectonic
environment. Further studies elucidate the causes of these differences
and clarify the effects of high-level tectonic stresses on rock mass
movement and deformation. Finally, based on GPS monitoring results
on the ground surface, the current ground subsidence is evaluated and
its development trend is predicted.
13/00019 International coal trade and restrictions on coal
consumption
Riker, D. A. Energy Economics, 2012, 34, (4), 12441249.
Coal consumption is a major source of CO
2
emissions and other air
pollutants and is therefore a focus of environmental policy. However,
countries that restrict their coal consumption will likely expand their
coal exports to foreign markets with fewer restrictions on consumption.
The adjustment in international trade will mitigate the impact on coal
industry employment but will also reverse some of the reduction in
global emissions. This paper quantifies the impact of restrictions on
coal consumption in the USA and several other large countries on
global coal consumption, trade, and industry employment. The impact
calculations are based on an econometric model of the international
coal market. The parameters of the model are fitted to panel data on
coal consumption and production in 53 countries. Efforts to limit a
countrys coal consumption will, to some extent, reduce the countrys
coal industry employment. International coal trade determines the
relative magnitude of these adjustments. The basic trade-off between
coal consumption and industry employment will shift as more countries
join in reducing coal consumption. If more countries restrict their coal
consumption, then leakage will be reduced, but the negative impact on
coal production and industry employment will be magnified.
13/00020 Looking for hysteresis in coal consumption in
the US
Congregado, E. et al. Renewable and Sustainable Energy Reviews, 2012,
16, (5), 33393343.
This paper estimated unobserved components models for coal con-
sumption in the USA. Defining hysteresis in terms of the interdepen-
dent evolution of a non-stationary natural component and a stationary
cyclical component, thereby distinguishing hysteresis from natural
component shocks, the results provide robust evidence of hysteresis,
although the hysteresis coefficient is time varying. This implies that
policy shocks in have permanent effects on coal consumption, although
with different intensity depending on the regime. Future work might
fruitfully apply the methodology used in this article to a broader range
of energy sources and revisiting the robustness of some previous
studies on energy consumption.
13/00021 Recovery and utilization of waste heat in a coal
based sponge iron process
Kumar, V. and Khanam, S. Chemical Engineering and Processing:
Process Intensification, 2012, 56, 1928.
The present work is an attempt to conserve energy in coal-based
sponge iron industry incorporating certain design modifications with-
out disturbing the process technology. A typical sponge iron plant has
been investigated to find out the potential areas where energy is being
wasted. To recover heat from these areas two design modifications,
case-1 and case-2, are proposed. Case-1 accounts for preheating of air
using waste gas exiting from ESP. However, for case-2 initially water is
heated using hot sponge iron exiting rotary kiln and further hot water is
used to preheat air. To compute coal demand of modified designs a
model is developed based on heat of reactions, feed preheating,
sensible and radiation losses, etc. Preheating of air up to 170
C for
case-1 reduces coal consumption by 8.7%. Consequently, waste gas
generation reduces by 16.7%. Thus, for case-1 profit is Rs 9.6 million/
year. However, for case-2 preheating of air to 80
C. Two
different viscosity measurement apparatuses were used in separate
laboratories. Some viscosity measurements were repeated to test
reproducibility of the results. Also, slags with and without sulfur were
tested to determine whether the effect of sulfur can be neglected. The
largest deviation between repeated log (viscosity in Pa s) measurements
is 0.11. Both petroleum coke slags tested are suitable for operation at
or above 1275
C
were appraised, with the focus on 900
C pyrolysis was a
mere 200 kPa. Denatured collagen quantity affected lignin heat zone
strength, despite by itself losing strength around 300
C: with 4.5%
lignin present, 1.8% denatured collagen doubled the strength of 0.45%
denatured collagen briquettes. Adding tannic acid to the briquettes
greatly increased the UC strength as well. Lignin provided strength up
to 1400
C, which
is important in the cupola. The results herein showed that the bindered
briquettes burned at an equal rate as did coke when these were burned
at 1100
C,
indicate that the addition of ZrO
2
increased the catalytic activity
especially at higher temperature. Compared to Al
2
O
3
-based catalyst,
the 1.5 order HDS rate constant was about 1.3, 1.8 and 2.5 times higher
for catalysts containing 2.5, 5 and 10 wt% ZrO
2
, respectively. A
correlation was found between the enhancement of hydrogenation
activity of sulfided catalysts and the reducibility of their oxide pre-
cursors, as determined by the amount of hydrogen consumed in TPR
experiments followed by mass spectroscopy.
13/00051 Distribution of acids and nitrogen-containing
compounds in biodegraded oils of the Liaohe Basin by
negative ion ESI FT-ICR MS
Liao, Y. et al. Organic Geochemistry, 2012, 47, 5165.
Seven reservoir core (tar sand) bitumens of identical source and similar
maturity from the Liaohe Basin of northeast China possess a natural
sequence of increasing severity of biodegradation. This set of samples
provides us an opportunity to study the change in oil composition or
compound class distributions with biodegradation severity by negative
ion electrospray Fourier transform-ion cyclotron resonance mass
spectrometry (FT ICR-MS). The bitumen extracts from two columns
(Es3 and Es1) were separated into maltene and asphaltene fractions
for analysis of heteroatomic species by ESI FT-ICR MS. The maltene
fractions were found to mainly contain N1, N1O1, N1O2, N1O3, O1,
O2, O3 and O4 classes, while the asphaltene fractions mainly contain
N1, N2O1, N1O1, N1O2, N1O3, N1O4, O2, O3, O4 and O5 classes.
These species identified by FT-ICR MS in asphaltene fractions are
likely to be chemisorbed/coprecipitated compounds, or the species
precipitated due to high polarity during deasphaltene process. The
susceptibility of compound classes and homologous series to biode-
gradation was studied based on the relative abundances. The results
indicate that microorganisms alter the distribution of acids and
nitrogen-containing compounds by selective removal and preservation
of certain classes of compounds according to their susceptibility to
biodegradation. For example, O2 and N1O2 classes increase signifi-
cantly while N1 and N1O1 classes decrease with biodegradation. The
differences in the susceptibility to microbial alteration within acyclic
acids, four- or five-ring acids and one- or two-ring acids are discussed
and the differences in the susceptibility of homologous series of
heteroatom-containing polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbons are also
discussed in this work.
13/00052 Effect of water density and air pressure on partial
oxidation of bitumen in supercritical water
Sato, T. et al. Fuel, 2012, 95, 347351.
Partial oxidation of bitumen was examined in supercritical water from
653 to 723 K at a water/oil ratio from 0 to 3 and up to 5.1 MPa of initial
air pressure. The contents in the reactor were separated into a water-
rich phase and an oil-rich phase. Most of oxygen was consumed within
30 min and the main gases produced were CO, CO
2
and methane. The
low temperature gave a higher CO/(CO+CO
2
) ratio and suppressed
coke formation. The amount of total gas tended to decrease and the
ratio of CO/(CO+CO
2
) increased about two times with the increase in
water/oil ratio from 0.5 to 3. The high water/oil ratio was preferred for
selective partial oxidation to produce CO, which means that the effect
of the enhancement of partial oxidation by supercritical water was
probably larger than that of CO oxidation by water and water gas shift
reaction. The increase in initial air pressure increased the amount of
CO and CO
2
and decreased the ratio of CO/(CO+CO
2
). The total
oxidation route was enhanced under high air pressure.
13/00053 Risk-based optimization of the design of
on-shore pipeline shutdown systems
Medina, H. et al. Journal of Loss Prevention in the Process Industries,
2012, 25, (3), 489493.
Crude oil and other liquid materials are transported in large quantities
through pipelines. Pipelines are an efficient and safe transport way as
compared to both rail and road transportation, both from the economic
and environmental points of view. Nevertheless, loss of containment
accidents can occur due to external action a mechanical impact, for
example or to corrosion, aging, etc. Even though the frequency of
such events is certainly very low, the effects and consequences on
environment can be very important. The consequences of accidents in
pipelines can be efficiently reduced through a suitable design of the
whole system. One of the points which must be decided in the design is
the installation of blocking valves at appropriate distances, so that
emergency shutdowns can interrupt the flow of substance and isolate
the section where the loss of containment has taken place. In the case
of pipe rupture the amount released is therefore limited to the content
between two consecutive valves, usually placed according to heuristic
criteria. However, if too many valves are used, the capital cost of
equipment increases excessively, and if too few are used, the risk of
serious accidents increases. This paper considers the possibility of im-
proving the design of such systems by applying risk-based optimization
criteria. The authors propose an optimization methodology to solve
this conflict by means of an objective function that analyses the varia-
tions in overall costs, including the cost of the investment (with specific
reference to blocking valves) and the cost of accidents. The result is an
optimum situation in which costs are kept to a minimum. As an
example, the authors apply the methodology to the transportation of
gasoline by pipeline.
13/00054 Settling behavior of spherical particles in
fiber-containing drilling fluids
Elgaddafi, R. et al. Journal of Petroleum Science and Engineering, 2012,
8485, 2028.
Fibre-containing fluids are utilized in many industrial applications. In
the petroleum industry, fibre suspensions are used to transport rock
cuttings from the bottom of the hole to the surface. Moreover, fibrous
fluids are applied in fracturing operations to transport proppant
particles to the fractured space. Solids transport performance of these
fluids largely depends on the settling behaviour of suspended particles.
This article presents results of experimental and theoretical investi-
gations conducted on the settling behaviour of 28 mm spherical
particles in fibre-containing fluids. Experiments were carried out in a 2-
m long and 100-mm diameter transparent cylinder. Both Newtonian
and non-Newtonian fluids were tested. A moving digital camera system
was used to track a particle while it settled. The camera records were
used to determine the settling velocity of each particle as a function of
time. Fibre concentration was varied from 0% to 0.08% by weight.
When a particle settles in the fibrous fluid, it experiences fibre drag in
addition to conventional hydrodynamic resistance, i.e. viscous drag.
Measured terminal velocity was used to compute the viscous com-
ponent of the total drag. Subsequently, applying the momentum
balance, the fibre drag component acting on the particle was deter-
mined from the total drag. Results show that the fibre drag is a
10 Fuel and Energy Abstracts January 2013
02 Liquid fuels (transport, refining, quality, storage)
function of the particles projected area, settling velocity, fibre drag
coefficient, and density difference between the fluid and particle. Using
experimental data, a semi-empirical model was developed to predict
terminal settling velocity of a particle in fibre-containing fluids. The
correlation is valid for both Newtonian and non-Newtonian base fluids
that have low concentrations of fully dispersed fibres with a length and
diameter of 10 mm and 100 mm, respectively.
13/00055 Soot formation from a distillation cut of a
FischerTropsch diesel fuel: a shock tube study
Mathieu, O. et al. Combustion and Flame, 2012, 159, (6), 21922201.
The kinetics of soot formation from FischerTropsch (FT) fuels was
studied in a heated shock tube under homogeneous conditions. Soot
induction delay time and soot yield were measured between 10 and
17 atm using a distillation cut at 403 K of a FT fuel diesel. Two fuel
concentrations were investigated in pyrolysis: 0.2% and 0.4% FT in Ar.
Equivalence ratios () =18 and 5 were also investigated for the highest
fuel concentration. During this study, a second growth of the soot
volume fraction profile was observed with the highest fuel concen-
tration in pyrolysis and at =18. It was shown that this second growth
appears only at temperatures higher than the temperature at which the
soot yield is at a maximum. Under the conditions investigated, the soot
induction delay time was found not to be very sensitive to the fuel
concentration. A careful analysis of the soot volume fraction profiles
showed that this finding was linked to the measurement method usually
adopted. Nevertheless, this method was found adequate for a
systematic comparison between different fuels or for an investigation
of the oxygen concentration effects. The addition of oxygen to the
mixture promotes soot formation in its early stages by decreasing the
soot induction delay time. A shift of the soot yield curve toward lower
temperatures was also observed. Moreover, oxygen addition reduces
the amount of soot produced. This reduction is proportional to the O
2
concentration. Comparisons with literature data showed that a FT fuel
primarily composed of n-paraffins can be correctly represented by an n-
paraffin with a molecular size comparable to the average molecular size
of the FT fuel. The maximum soot yield of the FT distillation cut
studied was not significantly different from that of a diesel fuel
surrogate previously studied.
13/00056 Variation in abundance and distribution of
diamondoids during oil cracking
Fang, C. et al. Organic Geochemistry, 2012, 47, 18.
In this study, changes in the abundance and distribution of diamond-
oids in petroleum with thermal maturity were investigated by a
simulation oil cracking experiment. Highly sensitive and selective gas
chromatographytriple quadrupole mass spectrometry (GCMSMS)
was employed to quantify diamondoids at ppm and sub-ppm levels. The
results indicate that diamondoids were generated primarily within the
maturity range 1.02.1% EasyRo and destroyed at high thermal
maturity (>2.1% EasyRo). Hence, the occurrence of high concen-
trations of diamondoids probably corresponds to the maturity range
from the wet gas to the early dry gas stage (i.e., 1.52.5% EasyRo).
Good correlations were observed between a few ratios of diamondoids
(i.e. EAI, DMAI-1, DMDI-1 and TMAI-1) and EasyRo. This finding
indicates that these parameters may be useful maturity indices for
organic matter from the late oil window to the dry gas window.
Economics, business, marketing, policy
13/00057 A dynamic programming model of Chinas
strategic petroleum reserve: general strategy and the effect
of emergencies
Wu, G. et al. Energy Economics, 2012, 34, (4), 12341243.
To protect the security of energy supply, China is building national
strategic petroleum reserve (SPR). This study presents a dynamic
programming model to determine the optimal stockpiling and draw-
down strategies for Chinas SPR under various scenarios, focusing on
minimizing the total cost of reserves. In contrast to previous research,
the oil price given in the model is exogenous on a monthly instead of
annual basis, with a view to more realistic simulation of optimal
strategies each year. The model results show that in the case where
stockpiling affects oil prices, a given SPR size will be achieved earlier
than when stockpiling does not affect oil prices. In different emergency
conditions, the optimal stockpiling and drawdown strategies of Chinas
SPR are very different. When an emergency occurs, the shock of
stockpiling on the oil price per barrel could range from $0.49 to $6.35,
while the impact of drawdown on the oil price per barrel could range
from $6.22 to $0.48.
13/00058 Analysis about the seasonality of Chinas crude
oil import based on X-12-ARIMA
Zhou, Z.-b. and Dong, X.-c. Energy, 2012, 42, (1), 281288.
The aim of this study is to examine the potential seasonality of Chinas
crude oil import in hope of helping the stakeholders with inventory
control and production planning. In order to proximately achieve the
goal, X-12-ARIMA method was used to adjust the monthly series and
the quarterly series of Chinas crude oil net import in the last 16 years.
The results show that the quarterly series is better than the monthly
series in terms of seasonality adjustment; the seasonal factors tend to
be positive in spring and summer quarters while negative in fall and
winter quarters; and the former three seasonal factors are growing
stronger while the winter factor weaker in recent years.
13/00059 Assessment of strategies for CO
2
abatement in
the European petroleum refining industry
Johansson, D. et al. Energy, 2012, 42, (1), 375386.
Petroleum oil refineries account for almost 8% of the total CO
2
emissions from industry in the European Union (EU). In this paper,
the European petroleum refining industry is investigated and the
prospects for future CO
2
abatement in relation to associated infra-
structure are assessed. A more efficient use of the adjacent infra-
structure, e.g. district heating networks, natural gas grids, neighbouring
industries, and CO
2
transport and storage systems, could provide
opportunities for additional CO
2
emissions reduction. It is shown that
access to infrastructures that can facilitate CO
2
abatement varies
significantly across countries and between individual refineries. The
assessment shows that short-term mitigation options, i.e. fuel substi-
tution and energy efficiency measures, could reduce CO
2
emissions by
940 MtCO
2
/year (626% of the total refinery emissions). It is further
shown that carbon capture and storage offers the greatest potential for
more significant emission reductions in the longer term. However, the
potential for CO
2
capture varies significantly depending on the choice
of technology, CO
2
source, and scope of implementation (580% of the
total refinery emissions).
13/00060 Clustering in crude oil prices and the target
pricing zone hypothesis
Bharati, R. et al. Energy Economics, 2012, 34, (4), 11151123.
This paper studies the target pricing zone (TPZ) hypothesis for crude
oil by examining price clustering in the dollar digit. It is hypothesized
that price clustering occurs within an established TPZ if OPEC is able
to defend the upper and lower bounds through output changes. The
results show that prices strongly cluster around the dollar digit value of
nine within the TPZ sub-periods, but not outside the sub-periods.
Furthermore, the degree of clustering declines when production
capacity utilization is high and when production significantly exceeds
quotas, consistent with OPECs inability to defend the zone. Nine-
centred clustering also results in lower contemporaneous and next-day
volatility. These results support the target pricing zone hypothesis of
crude oil.
13/00061 Crude oil conservation policy hypothesis in
OECD (organisation for economic cooperation and
development) countries: a multivariate panel Granger
causality test
Behmiri, N. B. and Manso, J. R. P. Energy, 2012, 43, (1), 253260.
This study examines the Granger causality among crude oil consump-
tion, crude oil price, dollar exchange rate and economic growth in 27
Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development (OECD)
countries over the period 19762009 within a panel multivariate
framework. Panel cointegration tests showed the existence of long-
run relationships among crude oil consumption, crude oil price and
gross domestic product (GDP); and panel Granger causality test results
provided empirical evidence of causality relationships running from
crude oil price to crude oil consumption and also to GDP; and a
bidirectional causality relationship among crude oil consumption and
GDP, both in the short and long runs (feedback hypothesis). These
results mean that crude oil conservation policies affect OECD
economic growth in the short and long runs, and therefore, policy-
makers should consider that increasing crude oil price or reducing
crude oil consumption adversely impacts on the economic growth rate
of the OECD countries.
13/00062 Does the Canadian economy suffer from Dutch
disease?
Beine, M. et al. Resource and Energy Economics, 2012, 34, (4), 468492.
The authors argue that the failure to disentangle the evolution of the
Canadian currency from the US currency leads to potentially incorrect
conclusions regarding the case of Dutch disease in Canada. They
propose a new approach that is aimed at extracting both currency
components and energy- and commodity-price components from
observed exchange rates and prices. They first analyse the separate
influence of commodity prices on the Canadian and the US currency
components. They then estimate the separate impact of the two
Fuel and Energy Abstracts January 2013 11
02 Liquid fuels (economics, business, marketing, policy)
currency components on the shares of manufacturing employment in
Canada. Between 33% and 39% of the manufacturing employment loss
that was due to exchange rate developments between 2002 and 2007 is
related to the Dutch disease phenomenon. The remaining proportion
of the employment loss can be ascribed to the weakness of the USA.
13/00063 Energy-use analysis and evaluation of distillation
systems through avoidable exergy destruction and
investment costs
Wei, Z. et al. Energy, 2012, 42, (1), 424433.
Based on the concepts of avoidable/unavoidable exergy destructions
and investment costs, this article presents an exergy analysis and an
exergoeconomic evaluation to identify the potential energy savings in
distillation processes. Methods for calculating the avoidable/unavoid-
able exergy destructions and investment costs for distillation columns,
and hot-utility/cold-utility heat exchangers are proposed. For a
distillation column, the unavoidable exergy destruction is estimated
through the minimum reflux ratio, and the unavoidable investment cost
is determined according to the minimum theoretical stage number
obtained under the condition of total reflux. For the utility heat
exchangers, the unavoidable exergy destruction is estimated through
the minimum possible temperature difference, and the unavoidable
investment cost corresponds to the maximum allowed temperature
difference that is related to practical applications. A light-ends separ-
ation plant is used to demonstrate the performance of the proposed
approach. The results indicate that the exergy-savings potential enables
comparisons of energy-savings potentials among different system com-
ponents, and the value of the cost-savings potential points out the cost
that could be avoided in todays technological and economic environ-
ment. The modified exergoeconomic factor provides the improvement
direction in a more accurate way compared with the conventional one.
13/00064 Geo-microbial and light gaseous hydrocarbon
anomalies in the near surface soils of Deccan Syneclise
Basin, India: implications to hydrocarbon resource potential
Rasheed, M. A. et al. Journal of Petroleum Science and Engineering,
2012, 8485, 3341.
Deccan Syneclise Basin is considered geologically prospective for oil
and gas reserves; however, a major part of the basin is covered by the
Deccan Traps, hindering the exploration of Mesozoic hydrocarbon
targets. Surface geochemical prospecting, based on micro-seepage of
hydrocarbons from subsurface accumulations, could be advantageous
in such areas. Surface geochemical prospecting method was applied in
Deccan Syneclise for evaluation of hydrocarbon resource potential of
the basin. The gas chromatographic analyses of adsorbed soil gasses
showed the presence of C
1
to C
4
hydrocarbons. The concentrations of
adsorbed soil gasses ranged for methane (C
1
) =1 to 483 ppb, ethane
(C
2
) =1 to 83 ppb, propane (C
3
) =1 to 38 ppb, butane (nC
4
) =1 to
60 ppb and C
2+
=1 to 129 ppb, respectively. The scatter plots
between C
1
and C
4
components depict linear trend indicating that all
the gasses are derived from the same source. The carbon isotope
composition of adsorbed methane was measured using gas chromatog-
raphycombustion-isotope ratio mass spectrometry (GCC-IRMS).
The values for methane c
13
C
1
varied from 39.9 to 19.9% versus
the Vienna PeeDee Belemnite (VPDB). The carbon isotope ratio
distribution pattern represents isotopic characteristics pertaining to
hydrocarbon gasses derived from thermogenic sources. The propane
oxidizing bacteria (POB) ranged between 1.0 10
2
and 12.8 10
5
cfu/g
of soil. The adsorbed light gaseous hydrocarbons and propane
oxidizing bacterial anomalies found in and around Aurangabad,
Ahmednagar, Shirdi, Akola, Bhusawal and Indore areas are considered
to be promising for future hydrocarbon research and exploration.
13/00065 High octane number ethanolgasoline blends:
quantifying the potential benefits in the United States
Anderson, J. E. et al. Fuel, 2012, 97, 585594.
Ethanol provides a significant contribution to road transportation fuel
in the USA, Brazil and elsewhere. Renewable fuels regulations in the
USA and European Union imply that ethanol use will continue to
increase in the near future. The high octane rating of ethanol could be
used in a mid-level ethanol blend to increase the minimum octane
number (research octane number, RON) of regular-grade gasoline.
Higher RON would enable greater thermal efficiency in future engines
through higher compression ratio (CR) and/or more aggressive
turbocharging and downsizing, and in current engines on the road
today through more aggressive spark timing under some driving
conditions. Such an approach would differ from the current practice
of blending ethanol into a gasoline blendstock formulated with lower
octane rating such that the net octane rating of the resulting final blend
is unchanged from historical levels. Developing scenarios of future
ethanol availability, it is estimated that large increases (47 points) in
the RON of US gasoline are possible by blending in an additional 10
20%v ethanol above the 10% already present. Keeping the blendstock
RON at 88 (which provides E10 with -92.5 RON), the authors estimate
RON would be increased to 94.3 for E15 to as much as 98.6 for E30.
Even further RON increases may be achievable assuming changes to
the blendstock RON and/or hydrocarbon composition. For example, an
increase in blendstock RON from 88 to 92 would increase the RON of
E10 from 92.5 to 95.6, and would provide higher RON with additional
ethanol content (e.g. RON of 97.1 for E15 to 100.6 for E30). Potential
CR increases are estimated for the different estimates of future octane
number, including the effect of increased evaporative cooling from
ethanol in direct injection engines. For the ethanol and blendstock
RON scenarios considered, CR increases were estimated to be on the
order of 13 CR-units for port fuel injection engines as well as for
direct injection engines in which the greater evaporative cooling of
ethanol can be fully utilized. Impacts to the fuel refining and blending
sector and transition considerations are discussed. While additional
work is needed to quantify and optimize the costs and benefits for both
the automotive and refining sectors and for consumers, it appears that
substantial societal benefits may be associated with capitalizing on the
inherent high octane rating of ethanol in future higher octane number
ethanolgasoline blends.
13/00066 Market power analysis for oil pipelines facing
excess demand
Savitski, D. W. Energy Economics, 2012, 34, (4), 955960.
The Federal Energy Regulatory Commission may grant market-based
rates to oil pipelines in the USA on a showing that they lack market
power. The Commission defines market power as the ability to
profitably increase price above the competitive level for a significant
period. Because comparing tariffs alone is generally meaningless for
identifying good transportation alternatives, the Commission tends to
rely on netback price and delivered price analyses to evaluate market
power. When the applicants tariff is a poor proxy for the competitive
tariff, as evidenced by significant excess demand, using the tariff biases
the analysis in favour of finding market power, a reverse cellophane
trap. Estimating the competitive tariff to avoid this bias is complicated
by the spatial aspect of transportation. This paper suggests several ways
to estimate the competitive tariff based on netback and delivered
prices, or based on estimated cost, and provides an example.
13/00067 Modeling the operating costs for petroleum
exploration and development projects
Luo, D. and Zhao, X. Energy, 2012, 40, (1), 189195.
Since the operating cost is among the most sensitive factors to un-
certainties in economic evaluation of petroleum exploration and
development projects, scientific prediction of the operating cost plays
an important role in accurately evaluating the viability of projects. This
paper establishes the operating cost prediction model based on
production decline law and learning curves through analysing the
impact of resource depletion and technological advances on unit
operating cost. This analysis quantifies the effects of both learning and
depletion on operating costs, and also introduces an assessment of the
economic limit of stimulation treatments, which is set by comparing the
unit operating cost before and after the treatments are taken. The
results show the effect of resource depletion overwhelming that of
technological advances for a single oilfield, and thus the operating cost
is increasing over its life cycle. The influence of each parameter on the
operating cost is examined, the unit operating cost in plateau phase
having the largest influence. Over time, the effect of constant decline
rate of the exponential decline is gradually overtaking that of unit
operating cost. This model is applied in several oilfields in Tunisia, and
all the exam results meet accuracy requirements.
13/00068 Oil price shocks and European industries
Scholtens, B. and Yurtsever, C. Energy Economics, 2012, 34, (4), 1187
1195.
This paper investigates the impact of oil price shocks at the industry
level in the Euro area for the period 19832007. Different oil price
specifications and dynamic VAR models and multivariate regression
are used to investigate how 38 different industries respond to oil price
shocks. Specific attention is paid to the asymmetry of the industries
responses regarding oil price increases and decreases. It was found that
the impact of oil price shocks substantially differs along the different
industries. The significance of this result also differs along the various
oil price specifications. The results are quite robust to the way in which
the problem is modelled.
13/00069 On the analysis of hydrocarbon leaks in the
Norwegian offshore industry
Vinnem, J. E. Journal of Loss Prevention in the Process Industries, 2012,
25, (4), 709717.
There have been several major offshore accidents in different offshore
regions since 2005. In Norway there have been several very serious
near-misses during the past 10 years, several of which involving serious
hydrocarbon leaks with catastrophic fire and explosion potential. All
these severe occurrences demonstrate the importance of learning from
major accident precursors in order to appraise the risk potential
involved in critical offshore operations. This paper is based on analysis
12 Fuel and Energy Abstracts January 2013
02 Liquid fuels (economics, business, marketing, policy)
of about 175 hydrocarbon leaks in the period 20012010. Regulatory
requirements in Norway are aimed at preventing as far as possible such
occurrences during night time, but the analysis shows that this has been
far from successful. The industry has for many years claimed that the
maintenance personnel are the main group of employees involved in
causing these leaks. This study has shown that leaks during the
execution of maintenance and modification are less than half of the
leaks, and that failures during the preparation for carrying out
maintenance tasks are more frequent. Such preparations have often
been conducted during night shift. The analysis gives a strong incentive
to change this practice.
Derived liquid fuels
13/00070 Effect of K and CeO
2
promoters on the activity of
Co/SiO
2
catalyst for liquid fuel production from syngas
Khobragade, M. et al. Applied Energy, 2012, 94, 385394.
Effect of potassium and ceria promotion on the activity and selectivity
of Co/SiO
2
catalyst was investigated for CO hydrogenation in a high-
pressure reactor. Five different SiO
2
-supported cobalt catalysts
promoted with K and CeO
2
were synthesized by sol gel followed and
wet impregnation. These catalysts were characterized by BET surface
area, pore volume, TGA, TPR, SEM, TEM, and chemisorptions
methods. The cobalt particles were well dispersed in sol gel method in
presence of complexing agent. The major phase obtained was Co
3
O
4
and the average metal particle size as determined from the hydrogen
chemisorptions and TEM studies varied from 20 to 60 nm. The
performance of these catalysts were compared at 250
C and 20 bar
pressure and at a weight hourly space time of (W/F
o
) 1000 kg (cata-
lyst) s/Nm
3
. Incorporation of K and CeO
2
significantly influenced the
catalyst reducibility due to increased metal support interaction. The
CO conversion and C
5+
selectivity were highest for ceria doped Co/
SiO
2
catalyst. Both K and CeO
2
promoted Co/SiO
2
were found active
and stable for the FTS reaction, however compared to K promoted
catalyst ceria promoted catalyst notably improved the C
5+
selectivity,
while suppressing the CH
4
and coke formation.
13/00071 Efficient conversion of pure and mixed terpene
feedstocks to high density fuels
Meylemans, H. A. et al. Fuel, 2012, 97, 560568.
A series of high density renewable fuels has been synthesized through
selective dimerization of c-pinene, camphene, limonene, and crude
turpentine using the heterogeneous catalysts Nafion, Nafion SAC-13,
and Montmorillonite K-10. Terpene dimers are produced in up to 90%
yield depending on the feedstock. The preferred catalyst, Nafion SAC-
13, could be recovered by simple filtration and reused up to eight times
without any significant decrease in activity. The fuels produced by this
process have net heats of combustion ranging from 137,000 to
142,000 btu/gal which are comparable to the tactical missile fuel JP-
10. Fuels derived from both c-pinene and camphene have similar
viscosities, densities, and net heats of combustion due to isomerization
of c-pinene to camphene prior to dimerization. In contrast, limonene
dimers exhibit a much lower density and viscosity due to their ring
opened structures. DSC analysis of the dimer fuels revealed freezing
points of 54, 52 and 78
C and CH
4
pressure of up to 15 MPa under dry conditions. Samples
from the Eocene Green River Formation, DevonianMississippian
Woodford Shale and Upper Cretaceous Cameo coal were studied to
examine how differences in organic matter type affect natural gas
adsorption. Vitrinite reflectance values of these samples ranged from
0.56 to 0.58% R
o
. In addition, thermal maturity effects were deter-
mined on three Mississippian Barnett Shale samples with measured
vitrinite reflectance values of 0.58, 0.81 and 2.01% R
o
. For all bulk and
isolated kerogen samples, the total amount of methane adsorbed was
directly proportional to the total organic carbon (TOC) content of the
sample and the average maximum amount of gas sorption was
1.36 mmol of methane per gram of TOC. These results indicate that
sorption on organic matter plays a critical role in shale-gas storage.
Under the experimental conditions, differences in thermal maturity
showed no significant effect on the total amount of gas sorbed.
Experimental sorption isotherms could be fitted with good accuracy by
the Langmuir function by adjusting the Langmuir pressure (P
L
) and
maximum sorption capacity (
max
). The lowest maturity sample
(%R
o
=0.56) displayed a Langmuir pressure (P
L
) of 5.15 MPa,
significantly larger than the 2.33 MPa observed for the highest maturity
(%R
o
>2.01) sample at 50
C,
in order to assess microbial CH
4
formation in the subsurface beneath
hydrocarbon seeps. The analyses indicated that CH
4
production was
positive at _80
C). The CH
4
recoveries, together with the C isotopic compositions
of CH
4
, further indicated that the quantities of CH
4
produced could
not completely account for the quantities of precursor consumed,
suggesting that a complex metabolic network was involved in the
transformation of the added precursor and organic C inherited from
inoculated sediments. Microbial CH
4
was estimated to constitute 7
61% of the CH
4
observed using experimentally-derived apparent
isotope fractionations as the end member compositions. This illustrates
the possibility that microbial CH
4
produced at shallower depths could
quantitatively and isotopically alter deeply-sourced thermogenic CH
4
in hydrocarbon seep environments.
13/00085 Radiative slab heating analysis for various fuel
gas compositions in an axial-fired reheating furnace
Han, S. H. and Chang, D. International Journal of Heat and Mass
Transfer, 2012, 55, (1516), 40294036.
A transient radiative slab heating analysis was performed to investigate
the effect of various fuel mixtures on the performance of an axial-fired
reheating furnace. The various fuel mixtures tested were assumed to be
attained by mixing coke oven gas and blast furnace gas, which are the
two main byproduct gases found in the integrated steel mill industry.
The numerical prediction of radiative heat transfer was calculated
using an FVM radiation solving method, which is a well-known and
efficient method for curvilinear coordinates. The WSGGM (weighted
sum of grey gas model) was also adopted to calculate the radiative heat
transfer in composition dependent media. The entire furnace was
divided into 14 sub-zones to calculate the radiative thermal character-
istics of the furnace without flow field calculations. Each sub-zone was
assumed to have homogeneous media and wall temperatures. All of the
medium and wall temperatures were computed by calculating the
overall heat balance using some relevant assumptions. The overall heat
balance was satisfied when the net heat input equalled the three
sources of heat loss in each sub-zone, wall loss, skid loss, and slab
heating loss.
13/00086 Simulation and optimization of refrigeration cycle
in NGL recovery plants with exergy-pinch analysis
Ghorbani, B. et al. Journal of Natural Gas Science and Engineering,
2012, 7, 3543.
In this study, a combination between pinch and exergy analysis was
applied for refrigeration cycle in natural gas liquid (NGL) recovery
plant. Pinch analysis is an established systematic tool for the optimal
design and retrofit of energy recovery systems. Unfortunately, one of
the main limitations of pinch analysis technique in optimizing energy
recovery systems is that it can only deal with heat transfer processes,
not processes involving power utilization. Hence, for optimization of
shaft work, an exergy-pinch method should be used. A commercial
simulator was used to obtain thermodynamic properties of the process
streams and to perform mass and energy balances. The equations of
exergy destruction and exergetic efficiency for the main system
components such as heat exchangers, compressors and throttle valves
were developed. First, the refrigeration cycle of the NGL plant was
analysed and optimized by combined exergy-pinch analysis. In doing
so, the work of the compressor was reduced to 170 kW. In the last part,
the refrigerant was replaced with R-600a which resulted in the
reduction of work of compressor and refrigerant mass flow rate by
about 570 kw and 11.5%, respectively.
Transport, storage
13/00087 A simple predictive tool to estimate flow
coefficient for subsonic natural gas flow through
nozzle-type chokes
Bahadori, A. Journal of Natural Gas Science and Engineering, 2012, 7,
16.
In this work, a simple-to-use method is developed to estimate the
choke flow coefficient for natural gas subsonic flow through nozzle-
type chokes as a function of Reynolds number and the ratio of choke
diameter to pipe diameter. The results can be used in follow-up
calculations for rapid estimation of gas passage through a choke under
subsonic flow conditions for Reynolds number and the ratio of choke
diameter to pipe diameter between 0.4 and 0.75. Estimations are found
to be in excellent agreement with reported data in the literature with
average absolute deviation being less than 0.3%. The tool developed in
this study can be of immense practical value for petroleum engineers to
have a quick check of gas flow through chokes at various conditions
Fuel and Energy Abstracts January 2013 15
03 Gaseous fuels (transport, storage)
without opting for any field trials. In particular, engineers would find
the approach to be user-friendly with transparent calculations involving
no complex expressions.
13/00088 Crude oil price forecasting: experimental
evidence from wavelet decomposition and neural network
modeling
Jammazi, R. and Aloui, C. Energy Economics, 2012, 34, (3), 828841.
Oil price prediction has usually proved to be an intractable task due to
the intrinsic complexity of oil market mechanism. In addition, the
recent oil shock and its consequences relaunch the debate on
understanding the behaviour underlying the expected oil prices.
Combining the dynamic properties of multilayer back propagation
neural network and the recent Harr A trous wavelet decomposition, a
hybrid model HTW-MPNN is implemented to achieve prominent
prediction of crude oil price. While recent studies focus on the deter-
mination of the best forecasting model by comparing various neural
architectures or applying several decomposition techniques to the
ANN, the new insight of this paper is to target the issue of the transfer
function selection providing robust simulations on both in sample and
out of sample basis. Based on a previous study, the authors used three
variants of activation function namely sigmoid, bipolar sigmoid and
hyperbolic tangent in order to test the models flexibility. Furthermore,
the forecasting robustness is checked through several levels of input
hidden nodes. Comparatively, results of HTW-MBPNN perform better
than the conventional BPNN. These conclusions add a major attribute
to the previous studies corroborating the Occam razors principle,
especially when simulations are constructed through training and
testing phases simultaneously. Finally, more eligible forecasting power
is found according to the wavelet oil price signal which appears to be
the closest to the real anticipations of future oil price fluctuations.
13/00089 Detection of bottlenecks and ways to overcome
emergency situations in gas transportation networks on the
example of the European gas pipeline network
Voropai, N. I. et al. Energy, 2012, 42, (1), 39.
The paper presents a technique for detection of bottlenecks in gas
transportation networks in emergency situations. The described
approach makes it possible to formulate the optimal ways to tackle
negative consequences for gas consumers. The technique is based on
the oil and gas software developed at Energy Systems Institute SB
RAS and is exemplified with the European gas pipeline network.
13/00090 Experimental investigation into methane hydrate
production during three-dimensional thermal huff and puff
Li, X.-S. et al. Applied Energy, 2012, 94, 4857.
In this work, the decomposition behaviours of methane hydrate in the
porous media are investigated in the three-dimensional cubic hydrate
simulator using the huff and puff method with a single well with the
different injection temperatures and different injection time. The
changes of the system pressure are analysed by using the biggest
increasing degree of the system pressure during injection stage and the
biggest increasing degree of the system pressure during soaking stage,
and the result shows that the injection time has more obvious effect on
the system pressure than the injection temperature. The cumulative
volume of the produced gas increases with the increases of the injection
temperature and injection time. The higher injection temperature
results in the smaller volume of the produced water; whereas the higher
injection time results in the bigger volume of the produced water. In
addition, increasing the injection temperature and injection time may
not enhance the thermal efficiency and energy efficiency. The optimum
period for the gas production is the first four to five cycles. The highest
energy efficiency can be obtained at the injection temperature of
130
c
13
C
3
, indicating compositional variability of crude oil could assert an
important influence in these diagrams. Therefore it is prudent to bring
other geological constraints into consideration to avoid misinterpreta-
tion. The kinetic parameters for the bulk generation of C
15
gas and the
methane carbon isotope fractionation extrapolated to geological
conditions of 2
C show that
the temperatures of C
15
gas generation from the aromatics and
asphaltenes are lower than those from the saturates and crude oil due
to their lower activation energies and frequency factors. Generation of
C
15
gases from the aromatics is modelled to be initiated about 122
C
whereas the initiation temperature for the saturates sample is 176
C.
Below 189
C a significant influence of
pressure on volatile yield is observed. For lignite the volatile yield (daf)
decreases from 57 wt% at atmospheric pressure to 53 wt% at 5.0 MPa.
In the same pressure interval the volatile yield of the bituminous coal
strongly decreases, whereas no significant influence of pressure on the
volatile yield of anthracite is detected. In entrained flow experiments
(PiTER) at higher temperature and 0.5 MPa an enhanced devolatiliza-
tion of the lignite is observed. At 1200
C. In entrained flow
gasification experiments with Rhenish lignite a high level of conversion
is measured at atmospheric pressure and at 0.5 MPa. At both pressures,
coal conversion increases with temperature and residence time. The
highest conversion of 96 wt% is achieved at a particle residence time of
1.3 s, at a temperature of 1600
C increased its
BET surface area. It was found that CO
2
-treated bio-char exhibited
appreciable initial catalytic activity in biogas reforming.
13/00118 Synchronous fluorimetric characterization of
heavy intermediates of coal direct liquefaction
Wang, Z. et al. Fuel, 2012, 98, 6772.
In order to understand the molecular structure of coal and the
mechanism of coal direct liquefaction, the heavy intermediates of coal
liquefaction such as asphaltene (AS) and preasphaltene (PA) were
separated into different sub-fractions by column chromatography,
respectively. The distributions of fused aromatic nucleuses (FAN) of
sub-fractions were determined by synchronous fluorescence combined
with the fitting technique of multiple peaks of spectrum. The results
indicated that the PA and AS obtained from liquefactions of three
Chinese coals were separated into four and two to four sub-fractions,
respectively. The content of three rings FAN was the highest in the
major sub-fractions of AS. The major sub-fractions of PA contained
not only more single ring aromatic nucleus but also larger FAN than
those of AS. Meanwhile, there were more complex aggregations in PA
compared to AS.
13/00119 The current state of offshore wind energy
technology development
Sun, X. et al. Energy, 2012, 41, (1), 298312.
Wind power has been the fastest growing form of renewable energy for
the past few years. According to Intergovernmental Panel on Climate
Change (IPCC) report, 80% of the worlds energy supply could come
from renewable sources by 2050 and wind energy will play a major role
in electricity generation in 2050. In the growing market for wind energy
and the limited available space onshore, the development of offshore
wind farms become more and more important. With a rapid develop-
ment of technology, the offshore wind power projects have become a
trend in many countries in Europe now. Therefore, this paper aims to
provide a brief overview of the current development status of offshore
wind power in different countries and also explore the technical,
economic and environmental issues around its development. Without
doubt, offshore wind will lead technology advances in the wind sector
in a near future as it seeks to exploit resources further offshore.
LNG
13/00120 Experimental research on a new vaporization of
LNG using flue gas to impact underwater umbrella rotor to
enhance heat transfer
He, F. et al. Energy Procedia, 2012, 17, 750761.
A new liquefied natural gas (LNG) heat vaporization technology is
developed and experimental researched. The LNG vaporizer uses a
flue gas jet to impact underwater umbrella rotor at high speed, and
form rotating air flow including steam and water drop. When wet flue
gas flow through heat exchanger, heat transfer is enhanced because of
water phase change. The vaporizer also uses flue gas cycling system to
enhance heat transfer of LNG, efficiently reduce exit temperature of
flue gas and increase heat efficiency. The vaporizer is designed as
upper and lower coils to vaporize and reheat LNG. Thermal efficiency
and convection heat transfer coefficients of LNG inside upper and
lower coils, wet flue gas outside upper coils and water outside lower
coils are experimental obtained.
13/00121 Hydrodynamic interaction between FLNG vessel
and LNG carrier in side by side configuration
Zhao, W. et al. Journal of Hydrodynamics, 2012, 24, (5), 648657.
The floating liquefied natural gas (FLNG) is a new type of floating
platform for the exploitation of stranded offshore oil/gas fields. The
side-by-side configuration for the FLNG vessel and the LNG carrier
arranged in parallel is one of the possible choices for the LNG
20 Fuel and Energy Abstracts January 2013
03 Gaseous fuels (LNG)
offloading. During the offloading operations, the multiple floating
bodies would have very complex responses due to their hydrodynamic
interactions. In this study, numerical simulations of multiple floating
bodies in close proximity in the side-by-side offloading configuration
are carried out with the time domain coupled analysis code SIMO.
Hydrodynamic interactions between the floating bodies and the
mechanical coupling effects between the floating bodies and their
connection systems are included in the coupled analysis model. To
clarify the hydrodynamic effects of the two vessels, numerical
simulations under the same environmental condition are also con-
ducted without considering the hydrodynamic interactions, for com-
parison. It is shown that the hydrodynamic interactions play an
important role in the low frequency motion responses of the two
vessels, but have little effect on the wave frequency motion responses.
In addition, the comparison results also show that the hydrodynamic
interactions can affect the loads on the connection systems.
13/00122 Optimisation of LNG mixed-refrigerant processes
considering operation and design objectives
Hatcher, P. et al. Computers & Chemical Engineering, 2012, 41, 123
133.
This paper presents a systematic analysis of optimization formulations
for the liquefied natural gas (LNG) process. It focuses on the
construction and testing of eight objective functions with an aim to
identify the most appropriate formulation. Four objective functions
relate to the operational aspect of the LNG process, while four
concentrate on the design aspect. It was found that the most effective
operation optimization objective function is the minimization of the
major operating cost, being compressor power (W
s
). For the design
objective functions, the minimization of net present value is favoured
where no restriction exists on the area available for LNG plant
construction while minimizing the objective function (W
s
UA) is
favoured in case where a limit on the plant area is imposed. Finally,
a methodology is constructed for using both design and operation
objective functions over the life of the LNG plant, considering gas field
feed profile.
13/00123 Safety aspects of the use of LNG for marine
propulsion
Vandebroek, L. and Berghmans, J. Procedia Engineering, 2012, 45,
2126.
Liquefied natural gas (LNG) as a fuel shows a large energy to volume
ratio. In addition, its combustion is characterized by low levels of
production of CO
2
, SO
x
, NO
x
and particulate matter in comparison to
conventional fuels. To reduce the emission of SO
x
into the atmosphere
the sulfur content of heavy fuel oils used for marine propulsion will be
restricted in the near future. However, LNG is a combustible cryogenic
liquid and as such presents specific safety hazards. The large-scale use
of LNG in the marine sector requires appropriate transport, storage
and transfer facilities. The risks connected with the operation of these
facilities are analysed. Specific safety characteristics of the equipment
involved are incorporated in the analysis. Safety distances are
determined based on a study of the effects of accidents during which
LNG is released. It is found that the pressure at which LNG is released
during an accident greatly influences the effect distances. At pressures
near atmospheric, the hazards of LNG are comparable to those of
conventional liquid fuels such as gasoline. At higher pressures, it
behaves more like a combustible gas liquefied by compression.
Hydrogen generation and storage
13/00124 Development of direct resistive heating method
for SO
3
decomposition in the SI cycle for hydrogen
production
Li, H. et al. Applied Energy, 2012, 93, 5964.
The sulfuriodine (SI) cycle has been considered as one of the
efficient and promising thermochemical water-splitting cycles for
hydrogen production using nuclear energy. However, the catalytic
SO
3
decomposition process in the SI cycle demands high temperature
heat (>800
C and of the
dihydroxybenzenes (mainly catechols) at _350
C due to dehydroxyla-
tion of the CT B ring. Further dehydroxylation led to formation of
monohydroxybenzenes (phenols), which showed a strong enrichment
between 350 and 400
C). It
is known that a thermal activation temperature ranging from 20 to
950
C because of a severe
agglomeration phenomenon on its surface. An optimal design for this
backfill material was determined to include an activated portion
composed of 5% coal refuse at 750
C. This
combination yields the best performance with excellent flowability, a
high compressive strength and a low bleeding rate. The microanalysis
results corresponded well with the performance tests at different
activation conditions. In the coal refuse, kaolinite peaks began to
decrease because of their transformation into metakaolin at 550
C.
Chlorite peaks disappeared at 750
C for 7 days,
reaching a highest compressive strength of 34.0 MPa. Characterization
of the raw materials and geopolymer products was also conducted by
an alkaline dissolution test, thermogravimetricdifferential thermal
analysis (TGDTA), X-ray diffractography, scanning electron micro-
scopy, as well as Fourier transform infrared spectroscopy. The results
of this study suggest that, by a moderate alkali-fusion pretreatment at
temperatures slightly higher than the melting point for sodium
hydroxide (318
after 10 days.
This is equivalent to the Sr
2+
hydration sphere for the aqueous ion and
indicates that Sr occurs primarily in outer sphere sorption complexes.
No change was observed in the Sr sorption environment with EXAFS
analysis after 365 days incubation. Sequential extractions performed on
sediments after 365 days also found that -80% of solid associated
90
Sr
was exchangeable with 1 M MgCl
2
in all experiments. These results
suggest that over long periods,
90
Sr in contaminated sediments will
remain primarily in weakly bound surface complexes. Therefore, if
groundwater ionic strength increases (e.g. by saline intrusion related to
sea level rise or by design during site remediation) then substantial
remobilization of
90
Sr is to be expected.
13/00153 Fabrication of SiCSiC composites for fuel
cladding in advanced reactor designs
Deck, C. P. et al. Progress in Nuclear Energy, 2012, 57, 3845.
Both advanced fission reactor concepts and fusion energy systems
demand materials that can survive extremely harsh operating environ-
ments having persistent high temperature and high neutron flux
conditions. Silicon carbide fibre/silicon carbide matrix (SiCSiC)
composites have shown promise for these applications, which include
fuel cladding and reactor structural components. However, the
composite fabrication process is time consuming and the fabrication
of complicated geometries can be difficult. In this work, SiCSiC and
carbon fibreSiC composite samples were fabricated using chemical
vapour infiltration (CVI), and the mechanical and thermal properties
of samples with a range of densities and total infiltration times were
characterized and compared. Both sample density and the reinforcing
fibre material were found to have a very significant influence on the
composite mechanical and thermal material properties. In particular,
internal porosity is found to have a significant effect on the mechanical
response, as can be observed in the crack propagation in low-density
samples. In order to better understand the densification of the
composites, a computer model is being developed to simulate the
diffusion of reactants through the fibre preform, and SiC deposition on
the fibre surfaces. Preliminary modelling has been correlated with
experimental results and shows promising results.
13/00154 Fundamental solution of nuclear solitary wave
Chen, X.-N. et al. Energy Conversion and Management, 2012, 59, 4049.
This paper deals with the problem of asymptotic breeding/burning
waves during long-term nuclear fission processes. The uranium
plutonium (UPu) conversion cycle is considered under fast spectrum
conditions. A one-group diffusion equation coupled with burn-up
equations is set up. The nuclide atom number densities can be
determined as functions of the neutron fluence only, as the natural
radioactive processes are neglected. It is found then that the diffusion
equation with the neutron fluence dependent macroscopic cross-
sections is analytically integrable (solvable) in the one-dimensional
(1-D) case without feedback effects. A permanent solitary wave
solution exists under certain conditions, where the infinite medium
multiplication factor first increases from a subcritical level up to a
supercritical point and then falls to another subcritical level again,
along with the increasing neutron fluence. Relationships between wave
amplitude, wave number, parameters of fuel are studied. A represen-
tative example is shown for a breeding/burning solitary wave
propagating in a
238
U medium with a suitable content of burnable
poison, where the conversion chain is considered up to
242
Pu. Finally it
is demonstrated as well that in a two-dimensional cylindrical case, a
multi-dimensional permanent solitary wave pattern with a constant
drift speed can be also achieved based on the 1-D fundamental solution
by adjusting the initial radial distribution of the fuel composition,
where more fuel and higher enrichment are needed in the outer
peripheral region than in the inner one.
13/00155 In-core high temperature measurement using
fiber-Bragg gratings for nuclear reactors
de Villiers, G. J. et al. Applied Thermal Engineering, 2012, 38, 143150.
The Pebble Bed Modular Reactor company called for research into the
possibility of distributed in-core temperature measurement. In this
paper, several methods for distributed temperature measurement in
high-pressure, high-radiation and high-temperature environments have
been investigated by means of a literature study. The literature study
revealed fibre-Bragg grating (FBG) temperature sensors to be the most
feasible solution to the temperature measurement challenge. Various
parameters affecting the propagation of light in optical fibres and
consequently the FBG reflection profile was investigated. The
differential equations describing FBG structures were solved and
implemented in Matlab in order to simulate wavelength division multi-
plexing (WDM) of a distributed FBG sensing system. Distributed
sensing with apodized FBGs written into the sapphire optical fibres is
considered. Temperature measurement using wavelength division
multiplexing of apodized FBGs written into silica optical fibres were
also demonstrated in a test platform. The measured results corre-
sponded with the theory. It was found that when there is a strong
temperature gradient across the FBG, spectral widening of the
reflection profile occurs. This fact should be taken into account when
allocating bandwidth to a certain FBG and choosing a demodulation
algorithm. Sapphire FBGs were also acquired and the optical proper-
ties investigated. Furthermore, high temperature stable FBGs written
with femtosecond laser radiation in silica Sumitomo Z-Fibre have been
evaluated and shown to be a good option for temperature measure-
ment below 1000
C outlet
temperature to produce electricity and heat. The plant construction
saving and high efficiency keep the cogeneration cost down. The
steelmaking plant employs conventional furnaces but substitutes
hydrogen and oxygen for hydrocarbons as reactant and fuel. Water
decomposition through an experimentally demonstrated thermochemi-
cal process manufactures the feedstock gases required. Through
essential safety features, particular a fully-passive nuclear safety, the
design achieves physical proximity and yet operational independence of
the two plants to facilitate inter-plant energy transmission. Calculated
energy and material balance of the integrated system yields slightly
over 1000 t steel per 1 MWt yr nuclear thermal energy. The steel cost is
estimated competitive. The CO
2
emission amounts to 1% of conven-
tional processes. The sustainable performance, economical potential,
robust safety, and use of verified technological bases attract near-term
deployment of this nuclear steelmaking system.
13/00180 The requirement for proper storage of nuclear
and related decommissioning samples to safeguard
accuracy of tritium data
Kim, D. et al. Journal of Hazardous Materials, 2012, 213214, 292298.
Large volumes of potentially tritium-contaminated waste materials are
generated during nuclear decommissioning that require accurate
characterization prior to final waste sentencing. The practice of
initially determining a radionuclide waste fingerprint for materials
from an operational area is often used to save time and money but
tritium cannot be included because of its tendency to be chemically
mobile. This mobility demands a specific measurement for tritium and
also poses a challenge in terms of sampling, storage and reliable
analysis. This study shows that the extent of any tritium redistribution
during storage will depend on its form or speciation and the physical
conditions of storage. Any weakly or moderately bound tritium (e.g.
adsorbed water, waters of hydration or crystallization) may be variably
lost at temperatures over the range 100300
C. For
tritium that is weakly held the emanation behaviour at different
temperatures becomes particularly important. The degree of
3
H loss
and cross-contamination that can arise after sampling and before
analysis can be reduced by appropriate storage. Storing samples in
vapour tight containers at the point of sampling, the use of triple
enclosures, segregating high activity samples and using a freezer all
lead to good analytical practice.
13/00181 The role of pyro-processing in decreasing
disposal cost in Korea
Kim, S. K. et al. Progress in Nuclear Energy, 2012, 56, 714.
A comparative analysis regarding the disposal cost of HLW (high-level
waste) from 20,000-ton PWR nuclear fuel, focusing on pyro-processing
and direct disposal, was conducted in this study. A cost estimation of
the major cost drivers in disposing of pyro-processed waste revealed
that canisters would cost 67.32 MEUR and that the disposal holes and
disposal tunnels would require about 11.2 MEUR for excavation.
These estimates amount to 1/16 and 1/55 of the costs for direct disposal
of PWR spent fuels, respectively. These significant disposal cost savings
in pyro-processed radioactive waste result from a significant reduction
in the amount of radioactive waste to be disposed of thanks to the
recycling in a fast reactor.
13/00182 Uncertainty analysis in the nuclear industry:
analytical unavailability modelling incorporating ageing of
safety components
Kanc ev, D. et al. Journal of Loss Prevention in the Process Industries,
2012, 25, (3), 643649.
There is a growing interest in analysing the possibility for current
nuclear power plants operational extension. In that sense, life
management programs, considering safety components ageing, are
being developed and employed. On the other side, the large
uncertainties of the ageing parameters as well as the uncertainties
associated with most of the reliability data collections are widely
acknowledged. This paper deals with uncertainty analysis associated
with specific ageing rates database. The analysis is conducted using an
analytical unavailability model applied for a selected safety system in a
nuclear power plant. The most important problem is the immense
uncertainty associated to the component ageing data sets as well as the
lack of the very data in general, which would correspond to the more
detailed modelling of ageing. New probability distributions, encom-
passing the ageing rates available in the considered data set, are
suggested. The obtained results indicate the extent to which the
uncertainty of the considered ageing data set, given the inherently
assigned probability distribution, influences the performed unavail-
ability calculations. Additionally, comparative analysis regarding the
insights gained out of the application of the suggested probability
distributions is conducted.
06 ELECTRICAL POWER
SUPPLY AND
UTILIZATION
Scientific, technical
13/00183 Decision tree ensembles for online operation of
large smart grids
Steer, K. C. B. et al. Energy Conversion and Management, 2012, 59,
918.
Smart grids utilize omnidirectional data transfer to operate a network
of energy resources. Associated technologies present operators with
greater control over system elements and more detailed information on
the system state. While these features may improve the theoretical
optimal operating performance, determining the optimal operating
strategy becomes more difficult. This paper shows how a decision tree
ensemble or forest can produce a near-optimal control strategy in real
time. The approach substitutes the decision forest for the simulation
optimization sub-routine commonly employed in receding horizon
controllers. The method is demonstrated on a small and a large net-
work, and compared to controllers employing particle swarm optim-
ization and evolutionary strategies. For the smaller network the
proposed method performs comparably in terms of total energy usage,
but delivers a greater demand deficit. On the larger network the
proposed method is superior with respect to all measures. The paper
concludes that the method is useful when the time required to evaluate
possible strategies via simulation is high.
13/00184 Distributed microtrigeneration systems
Angrisani, G. et al. Progress in Energy and Combustion Science, 2012,
38, (4), 502521.
All over the world, researchers are strongly involved in the so-called
hydrogen economy scenario that expects a geographically widespread
system of production, storage, transportation and use of hydrogen.
Furthermore, the actual industrial trend towards the miniaturization of
energy conversion equipment, mainly due to reducing manufacturing
costs, results in the availability of a wide variety of small-scale power,
refrigeration and heat pump systems in the market. Very soon, small,
micro and nano mechanical and thermal devices will be used in actual
applications. In many sectors, small-scale energy conversion plants
(polygeneration, trigeneration, combined cooling heating and power)
allow for the satisfaction of different energy requirements (electricity,
cooling and heating) with a great potential for primary energy saving
and greenhouse gas emission reduction. The core of these technologies
is a prime mover based on different technologies (Stirling, reciprocat-
ing internal combustion, fuel cell, gas turbine and so on), specially
designed to operate in stationary conditions for a long time. This
operation is accompanied by high efficiency output and very low
pollutant emissions with regards to the reference separate production
Fuel and Energy Abstracts January 2013 29
06 Electrical power supply and utilization (scientific, technical)
by large thermal power stations. At the moment, the most common
technology, the gas-fired reciprocating internal combustion engine, has
very good features, e.g. in terms of installation space, thermal
efficiency, low noise and vibration and maintenance. These engines
can drive electric generators and/or electric heat pumps, absorption
heat pumps and so on in different ways (mechanically, electrically and
thermally), thereby allowing a wide range of operating conditions to
match thermal (heating and cooling) and electric end-user require-
ments. The aim of this paper is to study the energy, economic and
environmental implications of using these complex small-scale trigen-
eration energy conversion systems, starting with the results of an
intensive theoretical and experimental research activity. In particular
these systems, in comparison with conventional system, based on
separate energy production, can guarantee a primary energy saving up
to 28% and a reduction of equivalent CO
2
emissions up to 36% when
the trigeneration system is based on a small-scale cogeneration system
(micro combined heat and power) coupled to a heat pump. Satisfactory
results can be achieved considering a cogeneration system that
interacts with an electric heat pump. On the contrary, small-scale
trigeneration systems based on thermally activated heat pump show low
efficiency, with respect to conventional systems. This is due to the low
coefficient of performance of small-scale cooling devices which is the
reason why these systems require further improvements to be able to
compete with traditional one.
13/00185 Environmental regulations, induced R&D, and
productivity: evidence from Taiwans manufacturing
industries
Yang, C.-H. et al. Resource and Energy Economics, 2012, 34, (4), 514
532.
This paper examines whether stringent environmental regulations
induce more R&D and promote further productivity in Taiwan. Using
an industry-level panel dataset for the 19972003 period, empirical
results show that pollution abatement fees, a proxy for environmental
regulations, is positively related to R&D expenditure, implying that
stronger environment protection induces more R&D. On the other
hand, pollution abatement capital expenditures do not have a statist-
ically significant influence on R&D. Further evaluation of the influence
of induced R&D by environment regulations on industrial productivity
shows a significant positive association between them. This finding
supports the Porter hypothesis that more stringent environmental
regulations may enhance rather than lower industrial competitiveness.
13/00186 Experimental results of a micro-trigeneration
installation
Angrisani, G. et al. Applied Thermal Engineering, 2012, 38, 7890.
Micro-cogeneration is a well-established technology and its deploy-
ment has been considered by the European Community as one of the
most effective measure to save primary energy and to reduce green-
house gas emissions. Micro-trigeneration systems are also gaining an
increasing interest thanks to the availability of small thermally driven
cooling systems and the increasing demand for space cooling during the
warm season. At the Built Environment Control Laboratory of Seconda
Universita` degli Studi di Napoli, a micro-cogenerator based on natural
gas fuelled reciprocating internal combustion engine that can be
coupled with a thermal-chemical absorption system has been set-up in
order to experimentally investigate the on-site performances of both
micro-cogeneration system and micro-trigeneration system under real
operating conditions. Test results recorded during winter mode
operation confirmed that MCHP system can really increase efficiency
and reduce overall greenhouse gas emissions if compared to traditional
energy conversion systems. However performed tests showed that
MCHP system efficiency is strongly affected by the user load profile;
therefore MCHP performances should be investigated in a wider range
of operating conditions and its application in conjunction with the
domestic households thermal and electrical demand profiles should be
also assessed. The experimental results achieved during winter time
operation can be summarized as follows. (1) The MCHP system is less
efficient than the conventional system and the best available
technology when the electric power supplied to the end-user is around
0.9 kW; an energy saving (PES > 0) can be reached by using MCHP
system instead of conventional system and the best available
technology while MCHP system is supplying around 5.4 kW as electric
power: maximum PES is around 19% as regards to the conventional
system, while its value is reduced to around 9% if compared to the best
available technology. (2) The MCHP system allows for a reduction of
greenhouse gas emissions while it is providing around 5.4 kW as electric
power: the maximum reduction in carbon dioxide release is around
26% if compared to the conventional system and around 22% if
compared to the best available technology. (3) The MCHP system
allows for a reduction of operating cost in the whole range of operating
conditions: if compared to the conventional system, the reduction
ranges between 6% and 30%; in comparison to the best available
technology, the MCHP allows for an operating cost reduction up to
26% while the supplied electric power is around 5.4 kW; no significant
differences between MCHP system and BAT can be highlighted while
MCHP system is providing around 0.9 kW as electric power. Data
gathered during summer time operation showed that, in comparison to
the conventional system and the best available technology, the usage of
MCCHP system implies a higher energy consumption, does not allow
for a reduction of greenhouse gas emissions and is disadvantageous
from an economic point of view. Additional tests should be carried out
in order to better understand the thermal-chemical accumulator
operation, evaluate the MCCHP system performance in a wider range
of operating conditions and identify the best strategy for an efficient
MCCHP system activation.
13/00187 Flash cycle optimization of Sabalan geothermal
power plant employing exergy concept
Jalilinasrabady, S. et al. Geothermics, 2012, 43, 7582.
The Sabalan geothermal field in northwest Iran is currently under
development. A single flash cycle has been selected for power
generation. The analysis of the proposed design shows the maximum
net power output of the plant can reach 31 MW if the pressures of the
separator and condenser are 5.5 and 0.3 bar, respectively. To achieve
optimum energy utilization, a double flash cycle was also evaluated for
power generation. The results indicate the maximum net power output
of the plant reaches 49.7 MW if the pressures for the high- and low-
pressure steps and condenser are 7.5, 1.1, and 0.1 bar, respectively.
Mathematical models for energy and exergy flows were developed and
implemented in Engineering Equation Solver software. In the single
flash cycle, the energy and exergy of the waste water were calculated as
54.8% and 41.4% of the total available energy and exergy, respectively.
The energy and exergy of waste water were respectively calculated as
19.88% and 15.3% of the total available energy and exergy, in the
double flash cycle. The parts of the system with largest exergy
destruction in both cycles were compared and the overall exergy and
energy efficiencies for the power plant were calculated. The total
exergy available from production wells at Sabalan was calculated to be
111 MW for the single flash system, and 114 MW for the double flash
system. The results of the analysis suggest a double flash cycle system
for the Sabalan power plant.
13/00188 Hydrogen and power co-generation based on coal
and biomass/solid wastes co-gasification with carbon
capture and storage
Cormos, C.-C. International Journal of Hydrogen Energy, 2012, 37, (7),
56375648.
This paper investigates the potential use of renewable energy sources
(various sorts of biomass) and solid wastes (municipal wastes, sewage
sludge, meat and bone meal, etc.) in a co-gasification process with coal
to co-generate hydrogen and electricity with carbon capture and
storage. The paper underlines one of the main advantages of
gasification technology, namely the possibility to process lower grade
fuels (lower grade coals, renewable energy sources, solid wastes etc.),
which are more widely available than the high grade coals normally
used in normal power plants, this fact contributing to the improvement
of energy security supply. Based on a proposed plant concept that
generates 400500 MW net electricity with a flexible output of 0
200 MW
th
hydrogen and a carbon capture rate of at least 90%, the
paper develops fuel selection criteria for coal blending with various
alternative fuels for optimizing plant performance, e.g. oxygen
consumption, cold gas efficiency, hydrogen production and overall
energy efficiency. The key plant performance indicators were calcu-
lated for a number of case studies through process flow simulations
(ChemCAD).
13/00189 Intelligent DE algorithm for measurement location
and PSO for bus voltage estimation in power distribution
system
Ramesh, L. et al. International Journal of Electrical Power & Energy
Systems, 2012, 39, (1), 18.
Accurate monitoring and estimating the state of the distribution system
poses an immense challenge to power engineering researchers because
of bidirectional distribution system. This paper is executed in two-stage
methodology. The initial stage is to identify the optimal location for the
installation of monitoring instrument with minimal investment cost
through DE and PSO. The second stage is to estimate the bus voltage
magnitude where real time measurement is measured through
identified meter location which is more essential for decision making
in DSCADA. The hybrid intelligent technique is applied to execute the
above two algorithms. The algorithms are tested with IEEE and TNEB
benchmark systems.
13/00190 Metrics for evaluating the impacts of intermittent
renewable generation on utility load-balancing
Tarroja, B. et al. Energy, 2012, 42, (1), 546562.
This study has developed metrics to evaluate the impact of intermittent
renewable generation on the electric load demand that must be
balanced by dispatchable generation resources, allowing examination
30 Fuel and Energy Abstracts January 2013
06 Electrical power supply and utilization (scientific, technical)
of the general impacts of accommodating high renewable penetration
levels. The metrics focus on the sizing, utilization and coordination of
load balancing resources to meet the load demand in time. Insights
gained from increasing the renewable penetration level in California as
an example indicated the following. The balancing generator fleet
displayed low capacity factors at high penetration levels. At pen-
etration levels above 45% with no uninterruptable base load, surplus
generation occurred and increased exponentially. The occurrence of
daily maximum and minimum load points became increasingly
unpredictable, rendering fixed time-of-use electricity pricing inap-
propriate. Capacities of peak and base load generator type increased
and decreased, respectively. Net load variability decreased on the 24-h
timescale and increased on all shorter timescales, implying changes in
the temporal dispatch of balancing generators. The use of energy
management strategies such as energy storage was found to be
necessary in order to accommodate high renewable penetration levels
with minimal impact. The simple metrics allowed identification of key
areas to be addressed in order to accommodate high renewable
penetrations.
13/00191 Modeling and optimization of solar thermoelectric
generators for terrestrial applications
Kraemer, D. et al. Solar Energy, 2012, 86, (5), 13381350.
In this paper the authors introduce a model and an optimization
methodology for terrestrial solar thermoelectric generators (STEGs).
They describe, discuss, and justify the necessary constraints on the
STEG geometry that make the STEG optimization independent of
individual dimensions. A simplified model shows that the thermoelec-
tric elements in STEGs can be scaled in size without affecting the
overall performance of the device, even when the properties of the
thermoelectric material and the solar absorber are temperature-
dependent. Consequently, the amount of thermoelectric material can
be minimized to be only a negligible fraction of the total system cost.
As an example, a Bi
2
Te
3
-based STEG is optimized for rooftop power
generation. Peak efficiency is predicted to be 5% at the standard
spectrum AM1.5G, with the thermoelectric material cost below 0.05 $/
W
p
. Integrating STEGs into solar hot water systems for cogeneration
adds electricity at minimal extra cost. In such cogeneration systems the
electric current can be adjusted throughout the day to favour either
electricity or hot water production.
13/00192 Optimal control of a residential microgrid
Kriett, P. O. and Salani, M. Energy, 2012, 42, (1), 321330.
This study considers a generic mixed integer linear programming
model to find the minimum cost operating schedule of both electrical
and thermal supply and demand in a residential microgrid. The authors
quantify cost reductions that result from minimum cost control by
comparison with benchmark models on the basis of a case study. They
discuss the utilization levels of selected units to provide further insight
into the effects of minimum cost control on residential microgrid
operation. They also confirm the optimality of the presented results as
well as its robustness to changes in estimated parameters. Scheduling
home appliances and electric vehicle charging jobs subject to technical
constraints and subject to user preferences reduces annual electricity
costs of these loads by up to 30.4%. Savings increase when the electric
rate shows higher volatility and when load scheduling is restricted by
fewer constraints. The main driver of savings is the efficient generation
and sale of electricity. This explains the effect of the electric rate
scenario. Annual total operating cost of the residential microgrid is
reduced by 4.7% up to 7.6% by the minimum cost operating schedule
compared to operation in heat-led mode with no storages or demand
side management. Optimal storage control and optimal demand side
management alone reduces the annual total operating cost by 3.1% up
to 6.2%. The case study confirms that the minimum cost operation of
electrical and thermal supply and demand in a residential microgrid
can produce remarkable relative savings. Nominal savings, however,
seem to be rather small compared to the expected investments that are
necessary to allow for the automated control proposed in this study.
13/00193 Optimal reactive power dispatch for improving
voltage stability margin using a local voltage stability index
Rabiee, A. et al. Energy Conversion and Management, 2012, 59, 6673.
Management of reactive power resources is vital for stable and secure
operation of power systems in the view point of voltage stability. This
paper deals with the management of on-load tap changers (OLTCs)
and dynamic VAR sources (including synchronous generators, syn-
chronous condensers, and shunt reactive power compensators) to
improve voltage stability margin (VSM) of power systems. This
problem is usually called optimal reactive power dispatch (ORD) in
the literature. The main contribution of the paper is to introduce a new
objective function for the ORD problem. The proposed objective
function is derived based on a local voltage stability index, called DSY,
and has a strong correlation with VSM. This strong correlation makes
the objective function effective for improving VSM, which is the main
purpose of ORD. The proposed objective function is tested on the New
England 39-bus test system and its performance is compared with some
of the most common objective functions used in ORD. The obtained
results show that solving ORD problem using the proposed objective
function yields considerable increase in VSM.
13/00194 Optimization of a PV/wind micro-grid for rural
housing electrification using a hybrid iterative/genetic
algorithm: case study of Kuala Terengganu, Malaysia
Khatib, T. Energy and Buildings, 2012, 47, 321331.
This paper presents an optimization for hybrid PV/wind system based
on loss of load probability (LLP) and system cost. This paper is divided
into three main parts: optimization of PV array, wind turbine and
battery, optimum PV array tilt angle and optimization of the inverter
size. First, the optimization performed is aimed to select the optimal
capacities of the PV array and wind turbine that give minimum system
cost. However, the optimization was done using a hybrid iterative/
genetic algorithm. The iterative part of the proposed algorithm is
applied to generate a set of possible configurations for the proposed
system, while the genetic algorithm is applied to find the optimum
configuration. Second, a model for optimizing the tilt angle of the PV
array is presented based on the Liu and Jordan model. Finally, an
iterative method for optimizing the inverter size in the proposed system
is presented. The results showed that the optimum sizes of the PV
array (C
A
), wind turbine (C
s
) and storage battery (C
B
) are 1.1411,
0.7159, and 0.550, respectively, while the optimum inverters size (Rs) is
1.37. Lastly, by applying the calculated monthly optimum tilt angle, the
collected yield of the PV array is increased by 7.96%.
13/00195 Probabilistic energy and operation management
of a microgrid containing wind/photovoltaic/fuel cell
generation and energy storage devices based on point
estimate method and self-adaptive gravitational search
algorithm
Niknam, T. et al. Energy, 2012, 43, (1), 427437.
Recently, due to technology improvements, governmental incentives
for the use of green energies and rising concerns about high cost of
energy from fossil fuels, renewable energy sources (RESs) appears to
be a promising approach for producing local, clean, and inexhaustible
energy. This motivates the implementation of microgrids (MGs)
introduced as a cluster of electrical and/or thermal loads and different
RESs. Due to different uncertainties linked to electricity supply in
renewable microgrids, probabilistic energy management techniques are
going to be necessary to analyse the system. This paper proposes a
probabilistic approach for the energy and operation management
(EOM) of renewable MGs under uncertain environment. The
proposed framework consists of 2m point estimate method for covering
the existing uncertainties in the MGs and a self-adaptive optimization
algorithm based on the gravitational search algorithm (GSA) to
determine the optimal energy management of MGs. This paper
considers uncertainties in load demand, market prices and the
available electrical power of wind farms and photovoltaic systems. In
this study, a self-adaptive mutation technique is offered to enhance the
convergence characteristics of the original GSA and avoid being
entrapped into local optima. The Weibull and normal distributions are
employed to model the input random variables. Moreover, the Gram
Charlier expansion is used to find an accurate distribution of the total
energy and operational cost of MGs for the next day-ahead. The
effectiveness of the proposed method is validated on a typical grid-
connected MG including energy storage and different power generat-
ing units.
13/00196 Real-time prediction models for output power and
efficiency of grid-connected solar photovoltaic systems
Su, Y. et al. Applied Energy, 2012, 93, 319326.
This paper develops new real time prediction models for output power
and energy efficiency of solar photovoltaic (PV) systems. These models
were validated using measured data of a grid-connected solar PV
system in Macau. Both time frames based on yearly average and
monthly average are considered. It is shown that the prediction model
for the yearly/monthly average of the minutely output power fits the
measured data very well with high value of R
2
. The online prediction
model for system efficiency is based on the ratio of the predicted
output power to the predicted solar irradiance. This ratio model is
shown to be able to fit the intermediate phase (9 a.m. to 4 p.m.) very
well but not accurate for the growth and decay phases where the system
efficiency is near zero. However, it can still serve as a useful purpose
for practitioners as most PV systems work in the most efficient manner
over this period. It is shown that the maximum monthly average
minutely efficiency varies over a small range of 10.81% to 12.63% in
different months with slightly higher efficiency in winter months.
13/00197 Stochastic modeling of the energy supply system
with uncertain fuel price a case of emerging technologies
for distributed power generation
Mirkhani, S. and Saboohi, Y. Applied Energy, 2012, 93, 668674.
Fuel and Energy Abstracts January 2013 31
06 Electrical power supply and utilization (scientific, technical)
A deterministic energy supply model with bottom-up structure has
limited capability in handling the uncertainties. To enhance the
applicability of such a model in an uncertain environment two main
issues have been investigated in the present paper. First, a binomial
lattice is generated based on the stochastic nature of the source of
uncertainty. Second, an energy system model has been reformulated as
a multistage stochastic problem. The result of the application of the
modified energy model encompasses all uncertain outcomes together
and enables optimal timing of capacity expansion. The performance of
the model has been demonstrated with the help of a case study. The
case study has been formulated on the assumption that a gas fired
engine competes with renewable energy technologies in an uncertain
environment where the price of natural gas is volatile. The result of
stochastic model has then been compared with those of a deterministic
model by studying the expected value of perfect information and the
value of stochastic solution. Finally the results of the sensitivity analysis
have been discussed where the characteristics of uncertainty of the
price of fuel are varied.
13/00198 Technical, mitigation, and financial comparisons
of 6 kW
e
grid-connected and stand-alone wood gasifiers,
versus mineral diesel and biodiesel generation for rural
distributed generation
McHenry, M. P. Energy, 2012, 40, (1), 428437.
This research presents a technical simulation and economic model of
three small-scale technical alternatives supplying a typical rural
homestead electricity load: a 15 kVA wood gasification unit coupled
to a 6 kW
e
modified grid-connected petrol generator; the same system
operating as a stand-alone system, and; a 6 kW
e
diesel generator, all
modelled against the electricity network in the southwest of Western
Australia. The three technical alternatives are supplemented by a
further four comparative scenarios, including zero woodgas fuel and
labour costs, generous capital and feed-in-tariff subsidies, and also the
displacement of mineral diesel with biodiesel. The results quantify
technical outputs of the systems and also the associated financial and
greenhouse gas emissions of each system and scenario. The results
indicate that significant mitigation is possible from each regional
household using woodgas technologies or biodiesel fuels, yet the
associated costs of this mitigation is extremely high when compared to
the electricity network. In light of the extremely high cost of electricity
and mitigation using small-scale bioenergy systems, governments may
consider re-allocation of small-scale grid-connected distributed energy
support mechanisms towards larger regional bioenergy projects, or risk
increasing the electricity prices for private entities and governments.
Economics, policy, supplies, forecasts
13/00199 Alternatives of seawater desalination using
nuclear power
Alonso, G. et al. Nuclear Engineering and Design, 2012, 245, 3948.
Nuclear power is a clean energy alternative that is already used to
provide water and electricity and it helps to reduce concern of climate
change. The new deployments of nuclear power are based on the
generation III reactors which come in sizes from 1100 to 1700 MWe, in
addition there is a process in the very close future to provide a new
generation of small- and medium-sized reactors, less than 600 MWe.
Thus, cogeneration of electricity and potable water from desalination
can be based on big or small/medium reactors. This paper performs an
economical comparison of nuclear desalination using two pressurized
water reactor reactor type, a big one, AP1000, against a medium
reactor, IRIS. It assesses the electricity and potable water needs for the
northwest region of Mexico and presents alternatives of supply based
on cogeneration, using the three different single potable water
processes, reverse osmosis, multi-stage flash distillation and multi-
effect distillation, and two hybrid methods for different potable water
quality based on the amount of dissolved solids in the potable water.
Investment results for the specific need are presented for all the
alternatives assessed along with advantages and disadvantages.
13/00200 An annual load forecasting model based on
support vector regression with differential evolution
algorithm
Wang, J. et al. Applied Energy, 2012, 94, 6570.
Annual load forecasting is very important for the electric power
industry. As influenced by various factors, an annual load curve shows a
non-linear characteristic, which demonstrates that the annual load
forecasting is a non-linear problem. Support vector regression (SVR) is
proven to be useful in dealing with non-linear forecasting problems in
recent years. The key point in using SVR for forecasting is how to
determine the appropriate parameters. This paper proposes a hybrid
load forecasting model combining differential evolution algorithm and
support vector regression to deal with this problem, where the DE
algorithm is used to choose the appropriate parameters for the SVR
load forecasting model. The effectiveness of this model has been
proved by the final simulation which shows that the proposed model
outperforms the SVR model with default parameters, back propa-
gation artificial neural network and regression forecasting models in
the annual load forecasting.
13/00201 Application of echo state networks in short-term
electric load forecasting
Deihimi, A. and Showkati, H. Energy, 2012, 39, (1), 327340.
The paper presents the application of echo state network (ESN) to
short-term load forecasting (STLF) problem in power systems for both
1- and 24-h ahead predictions while using the least number of inputs:
current-hour load, predicted target-hour temperature and only for 24-h
ahead forecasting, day-type index. The study is much attractive due to
inclusion of weekends/holidays what makes STLF problem much more
difficult. The main aim is to show the great capabilities of ESN as a
stand-alone forecaster to learn complex dynamics of hourly electric
load time series and forecast the near future loads with high accuracies.
ESN as the state-of-the-art recurrent neural network (RNN) gains a
reservoir of dynamics tapped by trained output units with a simple and
fast single-stage training process. Furthermore, the application of ESN
to predict the target-hour temperature needed by ESN-based load
forecasters is examined. Since temperature prediction errors affect
load forecasting accuracy, effects of such errors on ESN-based load
forecasting are studied by both sensitivity analysis and applying noisy
temperature series. Real hourly load and temperature data of a North
American electric utility is used as the data set. The results reflect that
the ESN-based STLF method provides load forecasts with acceptable
high accuracy.
13/00202 Assessing the sustainability challenges for
electricity industries in ASEAN newly industrialising
countries
Vithayasrichareon, P. et al. Renewable and Sustainable Energy Reviews,
2012, 16, (4), 22172233.
Rapid social and economic progress in fast developing countries such
that among the countries in the Association of Southeast Asian Nations
(ASEAN) have driven substantial growth in electricity consumption in
this region. While this represents significant societal and economic
development, it has potentially growing adverse environmental
impacts. This raises a concern on sustainable development in the
electricity sector in this region. This study evaluates key sustainability
challenges in the electricity industries in the five largest energy
consumers in ASEAN: Indonesia, Thailand, Malaysia, the Philippines
and Vietnam. The 3As energy sustainability objectives: accessibility,
availability and acceptability are used as the sustainability analytical
framework. This study also draws together a set of associated indicators
and criteria within the analytical framework to analyse the status of the
electricity industries in these countries. The analysis shows that key
sustainability challenges in the ASEAN-5 are attributable to satisfying
rapid demand growth; enhancing security of electricity supply; and
mitigating the increase in CO
2
emissions from electricity generation.
Given the promising resource and technical potential in this region,
renewable energy emerges as a favourable option to address these
challenges; however, increasing the share of renewable energy in
electricity generation requires considerable policy support. This study
suggests that there is an opportunity for the ASEAN countries to
strengthen regional collaborations through experience and resource
sharing to enhance sustainability in the electricity industries. This study
also highlights some of the key issues facing the electricity industry, and
the need for new generation investment decision support tools which
can address these issues.
13/00203 Characterising domestic electricity consumption
patterns by dwelling and occupant socio-economic
variables: an Irish case study
McLoughlin, F. et al. Energy and Buildings, 2012, 48, 240248.
This paper examines the influence of dwelling and occupant charac-
teristics on domestic electricity consumption patterns by analysing data
obtained from a smart metering survey of a representative cross-section
of approximately 4200 domestic Irish dwellings. A multiple linear
regression model was applied to four parameters: total electricity con-
sumption, maximum demand, load factor and time of use of maximum
electricity demand for a number of different dwelling and occupant
socio-economic variables. In particular, dwelling type, number of
bedrooms, head of household age, household composition, social class,
water heating and cooking type all had a significant influence over total
domestic electricity consumption. Maximum electricity demand was
significantly influenced by household composition as well as water
heating and cooking type. A strong relationship also existed between
maximum demand and most household appliances but, in particular,
tumble dryers, dishwashers and electric cookers had the greatest
influence over this parameter. Time of use for maximum electricity
32 Fuel and Energy Abstracts January 2013
06 Electrical power supply and utilization (economics, policy, supplies, forecasts)
demand was found to be strongly influenced by occupant character-
istics, head of household age and household composition. Younger
head of households were more inclined to use electricity later in the
evening than older occupants. The appliance that showed the greatest
potential for shifting demand away from peak time use was the
dishwasher.
13/00204 Comparison of extended mean-reversion and
time series models for electricity spot price simulation
considering negative prices
Keles, D. et al. Energy Economics, 2012, 34, (4), 10121032.
This paper evaluates different financial price and time series models,
such as mean reversion, autoregressive moving average (ARMA),
integrated ARMA (ARIMA) and general autoregressive conditional
heteroscedasticity (GARCH) process, usually applied for electricity
price simulations. However, as these models are developed to describe
the stochastic behaviour of electricity prices, they are extended by a
separate data treatment for the deterministic components (trend, daily,
weekly and annual cycles) of electricity spot prices. Furthermore price
jumps are considered and implemented within a regime-switching
model. Since 2008 market design allows for negative prices at the
European Energy Exchange, which also occurred for several hours in
the last years. Up to now, only a few financial and time series
approaches exist, which are able to capture negative prices. This paper
presents a new approach incorporating negative prices. The evaluation
of the different approaches presented points out that the mean
reversion and the ARMA models deliver the lowest mean root square
error between simulated and historical electricity spot prices gained
from the European Energy Exchange. These models possess also lower
mean average errors than GARCH models. Hence, they are more
suitable to simulate well-fitting price paths. Furthermore it is shown
that the daily structure of historical price curves is better captured
applying ARMA or ARIMA processes instead of mean-reversion or
GARCH models. Another important outcome of the paper is that the
regime-switching approach and the consideration of negative prices via
the new proposed approach lead to a significant improvement of the
electricity price simulation.
13/00205 Demand side management of electric car
charging: benefits for consumer and grid
Finn, P. et al. Energy, 2012, 42, (1), 358363.
Ireland is currently striving to source 10% of the energy required for its
transport fleet from renewable energy sources by 2020. As part of the
measures being implemented in order to help realize this ambitious
target a number of government schemes have been introduced to
financially subsidize the purchase of alternative energy vehicles in an
effort to achieve 10% electric vehicle (EV) penetration in the countrys
road fleet by 2020. The replacement of internal combustion engine
vehicles with EV equivalents poses challenges for grid operators while
simultaneously offering opportunities in terms of distributed energy
storage and flexible load. This paper examines how optimizing the
charging cycles of an electric car using demand-side management
(DSM) based on a number of criteria could be used to achieve financial
savings, increased demand on renewable energy, reduce demand on
thermal generation plant, and reduce peak load demand. The results
demonstrate that significant gains can be achieved using currently
available market data which highlights the point that DSM can be
implemented without any further technological advents.
13/00206 Electricity futures prices: indirect storability,
expectations, and risk premiums
Huisman, R. and Kilic, M. Energy Economics, 2012, 34, (4), 892898.
The goal of this paper is to examine to what extent electricity futures
prices contain expected risk premiums or have power to forecast spot
prices and whether this might be dependent on the type of electricity
supply. The authors analyse futures prices from the Dutch market, a
market in which power is produced with storable fossil fuels, and
futures prices from the NordPool market, where electricity is mostly
produced by hydropower. They show that futures prices from markets
in which electricity is predominantly produced by imperfectly storable
fuels such as hydro, wind and solar contain information about expected
changes in the spot price of electricity, whereas futures prices from
markets in which electricity is predominantly produced with perfectly
storable fuels contain information about both expected price changes
and time-varying risk premiums. These findings provide insight in the
applicability of forward price models; one cannot apply the same model
to all electricity markets. Forward models for markets with imperfect
indirect storability should depend heavily on price expectations and
models should include time-varying risk premiums for markets with
perfect indirect storability.
13/00207 Electricity provision with intermittent sources of
energy
Ambec, S. and Crampes, C. Resource and Energy Economics, 2012, 34,
(3), 319336.
The authors analyse the interaction between a reliable source of
electricity production and intermittent sources such as wind or solar
power. They first characterize the optimal energy mix, emphasizing the
availability of the intermittent source as a major parameter for the
optimal investment in capacity. They then analyse decentralization
through competitive market mechanisms. Decentralizing the efficient
energy mix requires electricity to be priced contingently on the
availability of the intermittent source. By contrast, traditional meters
impose uniform pricing, which distorts the optimal mix of energy
sources. Decentralizing the efficient energy mix with uniform prices
requires either cross-subsidies from the intermittent source to the
reliable source of energy or structural integration of the two types of
technology.
13/00208 Electricity saving potential of the power
generation industry in China
Lin, B. et al. Energy, 2012, 40, (1), 307316.
This paper analyses the electricity saving potential of Chinas power
generation industry using the macroeconomic approach. In order to
forecast future electricity saving potential, the authors apply coin-
tegration techniques combined with risk analysis model to estimate
future (APRauxiliary power ratio) of the national power plant. It is
found that power structure, technology and AUH (annual utilization
hours) of power equipment are all important macro-factors that affect
APR. The high proportion of thermal power is the main reason for the
high APR. However, the improvements in technology and AUH help to
reduce the APR. Therefore, implementation of the replacing small
units with large ones policy and promotion of large-capacity high-
parameter units have contributed to electricity conservation in Chinas
power generation industry. With constraints of relevant energy policies,
the scenario analysis concludes that electricity saving potential at the
power generation side appears more significant and could reach over
40 TWh (terawatt-hour) in 2020. Finally, using the results of the
scenario analysis, future policy priorities for energy conservation in
Chinas power industry are assessed in this paper.
13/00209 Environmental determinants of unscheduled
residential outages in the electrical power distribution of
Phoenix, Arizona
Maliszewski, P. J. et al. Reliability Engineering & System Safety, 2012,
99, 161171.
The sustainability of power infrastructures depends on their reliability.
One test of the reliability of an infrastructure is its ability to function
reliably in extreme environmental conditions. Effective planning for
reliable electrical systems requires knowledge of unscheduled outage
sources, including environmental and social factors. Despite many
studies on the vulnerability of infrastructure systems, the effect of
interacting environmental and infrastructural conditions on the
reliability of urban residential power distribution remains an under-
studied problem. The authors model electric interruptions using outage
data between the years of 2002 and 2005 across Phoenix, Arizona,
USA. Consistent with perceptions of increased exposure, overhead
power lines positively correlate with unscheduled outages indicating
underground cables are more resistant to failure. In the presence of
overhead lines, the interaction between birds and vegetation as well as
proximity to nearest desert areas and lakes are positive driving factors
explaining much of the variation in unscheduled outages. Closeness to
the nearest arterial road and the interaction between housing square
footage and temperature are also significantly positive. A spatial error
model was found to provide the best fit to the data. Resultant findings
are useful for understanding and improving electrical infrastructure
reliability.
13/00210 Environmental pricing of externalities from
different sources of electricity generation in Chile
Aravena, C. et al. Energy Economics, 2012, 34, (4), 12141225.
The rapid increase in electricity demand in Chile means a choice must
be made between major investments in renewable or non-renewable
sources for additional production. Current projects to develop large
dams for hydropower in Chilean Patagonia impose an environmental
price by damaging the natural environment. On the other hand, the
increased use of fossil fuels entails an environmental price in terms of
air pollution and greenhouse gas emissions contributing to climate
change. This paper studies the debate on future electricity supply in
Chile by investigating the preferences of households for a variety of
different sources of electricity generation such as fossil fuels, large
hydropower in Chilean Patagonia and other renewable energy sources.
Using double bounded dichotomous choice contingent valuation, a
novel advanced disclosure method and internal consistency test are
used to elicit the willingness to pay for less environmentally damaging
sources. Policy results suggest a strong preference for renewable energy
sources with higher environmental prices imposed by consumers on
electricity generated from fossil fuels than from large dams in Chilean
Patagonia. Policy results further suggest the possibility of introducing
incentives for renewable energy developments that would be supported
Fuel and Energy Abstracts January 2013 33
06 Electrical power supply and utilization (economics, policy, supplies, forecasts)
by consumers through green tariffs or environmental premiums.
Methodological findings suggest that advanced disclosure learning
overcomes the problem of internal inconsistency in SB-DB estimates.
13/00211 Forecasting next-day electricity demand and
price using nonparametric functional methods
Vilar, J. M. et al. International Journal of Electrical Power & Energy
Systems, 2012, 39, (1), 4855.
One-day-ahead forecasting of electricity demand and price is an
important issue in competitive electric power markets. Prediction task
has been studied in previous works using, for instance, ARIMA
models, dynamic regression and neural networks. This paper provides
two new methods to address these two prediction setups. They are
based on using non-parametric regression techniques with functional
explanatory data and a semi-functional partial linear model. Functional
data non-parametric techniques have been successfully used for
electricity demand and price forecast in the Spanish market. The
semi-functional partial linear model proposed in this paper gives good
error results when compared to other complex already existing
approaches, like ARIMA models with dummy covariates and con-
sidering a variable segmentation. It is worth mentioning that for 0 _ p,
q _ 7 these ARIMA models allow for dependence up to the previous
7 days. However, the functional and semi-functional models used in
this paper only include dependence on the previous day. The
performance of the semi-functional partial linear (SFPL) model is very
competitive both for demand and price forecasting. Despite its
complexity, the SFPL model has been used in a rather simple form.
For instance, the outlier pruning has been carried out using a
straightforward technique. This study focused on point forecasts but
prediction bands can also be constructed using this functional data
approach. The model is very flexible to incorporate the effect of new
informative covariates that can enter it either in parametric (e.g. linear)
or non-parametric form. It can be easily applied to high frequency data
(e.g. 10-min data) whenever they become available. All these features
make this approach appealing and with plenty of potential for
improving.
13/00212 Intelligent control of vehicle to grid power
Khayyam, H, et al. Journal of Power Sources, 2012, 201, 19.
Vehicle-to-grid (V2G) describes a system in which plug-in electric
vehicles (PEV), which includes all electric vehicles and plug-in hybrid
electric vehicles, utilize power by plugging into an electric power source
and stored in rechargeable battery packs. PEVs significantly increase
the load on the grid, much more than you would see in a typical
household. The objective of this paper is to demonstrate the use of
intelligent solutions for monitoring and controlling the electrical grid
when connected to and recharging PEV batteries. In order to achieve
this aim, the study examines the distribution of electricity in the power
grid of a large-scale city so that PEVs can tap into the system using
smart grid electricity. The electricity grid for the large-scale city is
modelled, and it can be shown that the vehicle electrification can play a
major role in helping to stabilize voltage and load. This developed grid
model includes 33 buses, 10 generators, three reactors, six capacitors,
and 33 consumer centres. In addition, the grid model proposes 10
parking servicing 150,000 vehicles per day. The smart grid model uses
intelligent controllers. Two intelligent controllers including (i) fuzzy
load controllers and (ii) fuzzy voltage controllers have been used in this
study to optimize the grid stability of load and voltage. The results
show that the smart grid model can respond to any load disturbance in
less time, with increased efficiency and improved reliability compared
to the traditional grid. In conclusion it is emphasized that smart grid
electricity should contribute to PEVs accessing renewable energy.
Although the V2G will play a major role in the future portfolio of
vehicle technologies, but does not make much sense if the carbon
content of the electricity generated by the grid will not be reduced.
Thus, the recourse to renewable energy and other alternatives is
crucial. The energy is stored in electrochemical power sources (such as
battery, fuel cells, supercapacitors, photoelectrochemical) when gen-
erated and then delivered to the grid during peak demand times.
13/00213 Investment appraisal of a small, grid-connected
photovoltaic plant under the Serbian feed-in tariff framework
Stevanovic , S. and Pucar, M. Renewable and Sustainable Energy
Reviews, 2012, 16, (3), 16731682.
The Serbian government has recently introduced the system of feed-in
tariffs (FITs) for electricity generated from renewable sources. The
proposed feed-in tariff for photovoltaic electricity is set to e0.23/kWh
paid for 12 years, with the photovoltaic (PV) electricity produced after
the first 12 years being sold at the grid electricity market price for the
rest of the plant lifetime. Although such FIT could have been justified
by the small, average retail grid electricity price of just e0.054/kWh for
Serbian households, the investment appraisal of a real case of 2.82 kWp
PV power plant in two Serbian cities of Zlatibor and Negotin, clearly
illustrates that the proposed FIT framework is not sufficient to attract
investments into PV in Serbia. The second part of the paper analyses
alternative, more reasonable FIT frameworks, with the goal of selecting
those able to sustain the PV adoption and diffusion in Serbia.
13/00214 Lurching towards markets for power: Chinas
electricity policy 19852007
Zhao, X. et al. Applied Energy, 2012, 94, 148155.
Chinas electricity industry has experienced two major stages of
development: from 1949 to 1984, the industry was treated as a
subordinate sector whose goal was to support the development of
other industrial sectors; since 1985, a series of reforms in its
governance mechanisms have been carried out. This paper applies
transaction-cost analysis to provide a new perspective on the efficiency
of these reforms, emphasizing changes in the areas of electricity prices
and investment incentives. The authors argue that the governance
reforms successfully ended the significant social welfare losses resulting
from the severe power shortages of the previous 30 years, introduced
real or potential competition, and encouraged technological progress.
However, they also led to low operational efficiency and excessive
investment in power generation plants. The empirical analysis, uses
panel regression models, shows that by 2003 the reforms led electric
capacity to increase tremendously. Meanwhile, the electricity price
reform in 1996 promoted power generation corporations more
responsive to electricity demand and price signals to some extent.
However, it cannot be proved that the electricity price reform in 2003
(and the dismantle reform at the end of 2002) affect electricity
generation corporations in the same way.
13/00215 Optimization and efficiency analysis of
polygeneration system with coke-oven gas and coal gasified
gas by Aspen Plus
Yi, Q. et al. Fuel, 2012, 96, 131140.
A new optimization method for polygeneration system integration has
been proposed in this paper. Element utilization and energy utilization
were presented as objective functions simultaneously, parameter
variations and technology conditions were performed to investigate
the influence of each unit specific operation conditions on the
performance of the system by Aspen Plus 2006. The treatment of
multi-objective values selection is discussed as well. The new
optimization method proves to be effective to solve multi-objective
optimization problems. It not only shows technologies and operating
conditions needed to be improved obviously but also provides detailed
changes of each unit performance during optimization process. With
62.3% energy efficiency, 64.8% element conversion efficiency and
56.6% CO
2
+CH
4
conversion efficiency, the optimized system shows a
better performance in considering of the thermodynamic character-
istics, element conversion and environment. And CH
4
/CO
2
reforming
process is found to be the key to element conversion and greenhouse
gas emissions reduction.
13/00216 Overview and performance assessment of the
clustering methods for electrical load pattern grouping
Chicco, G. Energy, 2012, 42, (1), 6880.
In the current structure of the electricity business, distribution and
supply services have been unbundled in many jurisdictions. As a
consequence of unbundling, electricity supply to customers is now
provided on a competitive basis. In this context, the electricity suppliers
need to get accurate information on the actual behaviour of their
customers for setting up dedicated commercial offers. Customer
grouping on the basis of consumption pattern similarity is likely to
provide effective results. This paper provides an overview of the
clustering techniques used to establish suitable customer grouping,
included in a general scheme for analysing electrical load pattern data.
The characteristics of the various stages of the customer grouping
procedure are illustrated and discussed, providing links to relevant
literature references. The specific aspect of assessing the performance
of the clustering algorithms for load pattern grouping is then
addressed, showing how the parameters used to formulate different
clustering methods impact on the clustering validity indicators. It
emerges that the clustering methods able to isolate the outliers exhibit
the best performance. The implications of this result on the use of the
clustering methods for electrical load pattern grouping from the
operators point of view are discussed.
13/00217 Prioritizing sustainable electricity production
technologies: MCDM approach
Streimikiene, D. et al. Renewable and Sustainable Energy Reviews,
2012, 16, (5), 33023311.
Economic, technological, social, and political developments stressed
the need for shifts in energy-mix. Therefore it is important to provide a
rationale for sustainable decision making in energy policy. The aim of
this paper is to develop the multi-criteria decision support framework
for choosing the most sustainable electricity production technologies.
Given selection of sustainable energy sources involves many conflicting
criteria, multi-criteria decision methods MULTIMOORA and TOPSIS
34 Fuel and Energy Abstracts January 2013
06 Electrical power supply and utilization (economics, policy, supplies, forecasts)
were employed for the analysis. The indicator system covering different
approaches of sustainability was established. The analysis proved that
the future energy policy should be oriented towards the sustainable
energy technologies, namely water and solar thermal ones. It is the
proposed multi-criteria assessment framework that can constitute a
basis for further sub-regional optimization of sustainable energy policy.
13/00218 Short-term electricity prices forecasting in a
competitive market by a hybrid PSOANFIS approach
Pousinho, H. M. I. et al. International Journal of Electrical Power &
Energy Systems, 2012, 39, (1), 2935.
A hybrid intelligent approach is proposed for electricity prices
forecasting on the Spanish market. The application of the proposed
approach to price forecasting is both novel and effective. The mean
absolute percentage error (MAPE) criterion has an average value of
6.53%, while the average computation time is less than 5 s. Hence, the
proposed approach presents the best trade-off between forecasting
accuracy and computation time, taking into account the results of
previous publications.
13/00219 The dynamics of electricity consumption and
economic growth: a revisit study of their causality in
Pakistan
Shahbaz, M. and Lean, H. H. Energy, 2012, 39, (1), 146153.
This study revisits the relationship between electricity consumption and
economic growth in Pakistan by controlling and investigating the
effects of two major production factors: capital and labour. The
empirical evidence confirms the cointegration among the variables and
indicates that electricity consumption has a positive effect on economic
growth. Moreover, bidirectional Granger causality between electricity
consumption and economic growth has been found. The finding
suggests that adoption of electricity conservation policies to conserve
energy resources may unwittingly decline economic growth and the
lower growth rate will in turn further decrease the demand for
electricity. Therefore, government contemplating such conservationist
policies should instead explore and develop alternate sources of energy
as a strategy rather than just increasing electricity production per se in
order to meet the rising demand for electricity in their quest towards
sustaining development in the country.
13/00220 The impact of consumers feedback preferences
on domestic electricity consumption
Vassileva, I. et al. Applied Energy, 2012, 93, 575582.
Despite all initiatives introduced for maximizing energy savings
domestic energy consumption is in constant increase. However, very
little investigation has been carried out on the integration of house-
hold consumption trends, the parameters influencing them and the
characteristics of the provided feedback. Two thousand Swedish
households were included in this study. Electricity consumption data
for apartments and houses has been analysed for a 4-year period as well
as possible household socio-economic factors affecting it. The data
have been further compared to other households located in different
cities in Sweden. The effects of the different ways of presenting
feedback used for the different households groups have also been
evaluated. From the results obtained from the questionnaire used,
several households characteristics were proposed together with
consumers preferences to be considered during the development of
feedback. Web-based feedback resulted in being the most effective
(when compared to display and bills), achieving electricity savings of
approximately 15% within households that visited the website. The
monthly income is amongst the most influential factors determining
electricity consumption although only in high and low income groups.
07 STEAM RAISING
Boiler operation/design
13/00221 Adaptive estimator-based dynamic sliding mode
control for the water level of nuclear steam generators
Ansarifar, G. R. et al. Progress in Nuclear Energy, 2012, 56, 6170.
Steam generators (SG) are crucial components of nuclear power plant.
The proper water level control of a nuclear steam generator is of great
importance in order to secure the sufficient cooling source of the
nuclear reactor and to prevent damage of turbine blades. The water
level control problem of steam generators has been a main cause of
unexpected shutdowns of nuclear power plants which must be
considered for plant safety and availability. The control problem is
challenging, especially at low power levels due to shrink and swell
phenomena and flow measurement errors. Moreover, the dynamics of
steam generator vary as the power level changes. Therefore, it is
necessary to improve the water level control system of SG. In this
paper, an adaptive estimator-based dynamic sliding mode control
method is developed for the level control problem. The proposed
method exhibits the desired dynamic properties during the entire
output tracking process independent of perturbations. Simulation
results are presented to demonstrate the effectiveness of the proposed
controller in terms of performance, robustness and stability. Simulation
results confirm the improvement in transient response obtained by
using the proposed controller.
13/00222 Commercial-scale demonstration of pollutant
emission reduction and energy saving for industrial boilers
by employing water/oil emulsified fuel
Chelemuge et al. Applied Energy, 2012, 93, 517522.
The water/oil emulsified fuel consists of base fuel oil and water doped
with or without a trace content of surface active agents. In this study,
the water/oil emulsified fuel was successfully produced without usage
of any surface active agents. An experimental study has been
implemented in an industrial steam boiler to investigate the combus-
tion characteristics of this emulsified fuel by analysing the exhaust gas
emissions and the thermal efficiency of the boiler. The experiment
demonstrated that the water/oil emulsified fuel is effective for NO
x
and
soot emission suppression as well as thermal efficiency improvement.
These effects were also demonstrated for the commercially operated
water heating boiler.
13/00223 Condensing boilers in buildings and plants
refurbishment
Lazzarin, R. M. Energy and Buildings, 2012, 47, 6167.
Condensing boilers allow better performances when return tempera-
tures from the plant are lower and above all when these temperatures
are below the dew temperature of the smoke. That is the reason why
many believe that condensing boiler is not suitable for the traditional
heating plant terminals: the radiators. Instead the classic control
system with weather compensation curve produces relatively low
temperatures and an appreciable condensing operation during March,
April, October and November. Moreover, condensing boilers allow a
better performance than traditional boiler even when they do not
perform condensing operation. However for the optimum exploitation
of condensing boilers in a radiator plant, variable-flow-rate plants
should be selected that permit every outside condition to maintain a
high difference between delivery and return temperature. This control
selection, which is fully consistent with the use of thermostatic valves,
needs variable-flow-rate pumps and, if possible, with proportional
head.
13/00224 Correlation of the corrosion rates of steels in a
straw fired boiler with the thermodynamically predicted
trend of KOH(g) in the flue gases
Blomberg, T. Biomass and Bioenergy, 2012, 39, 489493.
The thermodynamic stability of KOH(g) in flue gases without sulfur
and chlorine compounds was studied. Relatively good correlation of
the thermodynamically predicted trend of KOH(g) in the flue gases
and the literature data of the corrosion rates of different steels in a
straw fired boiler was found. A discussion on a possible, physically
reasonable mechanism is also presented. However, the causality of the
found correlation requires further studies.
13/00225 Direct injection of superheated steam for
continuous hydrolysis reaction
Wang, W.-C. et al. Chemical Engineering and Processing: Process
Intensification, 2012, 59, 5259.
The primary intent for previous continuous hydrolysis studies was to
minimize the reaction temperature and reaction time. In this work,
hydrolysis is the first step of a proprietary chemical process to convert
lipids to sustainable, drop-in replacements for petroleum based fuels.
To improve the economics of the process, attention is now focused on
optimizing the energy efficiency of the process, maximizing the
reaction rate, and improving the recovery of the glycerol by-product.
A laboratory-scale reactor system has been designed and built with this
goal in mind. Sweet water (water with glycerol from the hydrolysis
reaction) is routed to a distillation column and heated above the
boiling point of water at the reaction pressure. The steam pressure
allows the steam to return to the reactor without pumping. Direct
injection of steam into the hydrolysis reactor is shown to provide
favourable equilibrium conditions resulting in a high-quality FFA
product and rapid reaction rate, even without preheating the inlet
water and oil and with lower reactor temperatures and lower fresh
water demand. The high enthalpy of the steam provides energy for the
Fuel and Energy Abstracts January 2013 35
07 Steam raising (boiler operation/design)
hydrolysis reaction. Steam injection offers enhanced conditions for
continuous hydrolysis of triglycerides to high-purity streams of FFA
and glycerol.
13/00226 Experimental gas/particle flow characteristics of
a down-fired 600 MW
e
supercritical utility boiler at different
staged-air ratios
Kuang, M. et al. Energy, 2012, 42, (1), 411423.
To acquire the gas/particle flow characteristics of an in-assembly down-
fired 600-MW
e
supercritical utility boiler, experiments were conducted
by using particle dynamics anemometer (PDA) measurement within a
two-phase small-scale model at various staged-air ratio settings (i.e.
0%, 6%, and 12%). The mean velocity, particle volume flux and
particle number concentration along several cross sections, were
discussed well in the present work, in addition to the decay and
trajectories of the downward gas/particle flow. For all three settings,
asymmetric gas/particle flow characteristics appeared in the lower
furnace, with the gas/particle flow in the front-half furnace penetrating
greatly further and occupying much more furnace volume than that in
the rear-half furnace. The longitudinal-velocity components are clearly
higher near the front wall than near the rear wall. Decreasing the
staged-air ratio can only weaken the gas/particle flow asymmetries to
some extent. An estimation on the furnace performance, i.e. severe
asymmetric combustion, low burnout, and high NO
x
emissions, is given
out for the boilers commercial operation in the near future.
13/00227 Modeling of heat transfer coefficient in the
furnace of CFB boilers by artificial neural network approach
Krzywanski, J. and Nowak, W. International Journal of Heat and Mass
Transfer, 2012, 55, (1516), 42464253.
The present work introduces a way of predicting the local heat transfer
coefficient in the combustion chamber of the circulating fluidized bed
boiler (CFB) by the artificial neural network (ANN) approach. Neural
networks have been successfully applied to calculate the local overall
heat transfer coefficient for membrane walls, Superheater I (SH I,
Omega Superheater) and Superheater II (SH II, Wing-Walls) in the
combustion chamber of the 260 MWe CFB boiler. The previously
verified numerical model has been used to obtain the overall heat
transfer coefficients, necessary for training and testing the ANN. It has
been shown, that the neural networks give quick and accurate results as
an answer to the input pattern. The local heat transfer coefficients
evaluated using the developed ANN model have been in a good
agreement with numerical and experimental results.
13/00228 Numerical investigation of the heat transfer and
fluid flow in a carbon monoxide boiler
Yeh, C. L. International Journal of Heat and Mass Transfer, 2012, 55,
(1314), 36013617.
A numerical investigation of the heat transfer and fluid flow in a
carbon monoxide (CO) boiler is presented. The influences of some
important parameters related to the geometry of a CO boiler are also
discussed, including the refractory thickness and the insertion of an
ellipsoidal cone. The purpose is to improve the performance of a CO
boiler, especially to alleviate hot spots, which may lead to deterioration
of the refractory. It is found that the skin friction coefficient arises
earlier in the DeNOx section when the refractory is thinner. Refractory
thickening leads to a lower temperature in the DeNOx section. After
leaving the DeNOx section, the temperature reduces due to the cooling
pipes and the skin friction coefficient arises abruptly near the cooling
pipes. It is also found that insertion of an ellipsoidal cone can lower the
temperature in the DeNOx section and there is a larger skin friction
coefficient with a larger ellipsoidal cone angle. After leaving the
DeNOx section, the skin friction coefficient and the temperature both
decrease. Finally, based on the result of this research and from a
practical point of view, refractory thickening is a preferable choice for
reducing friction, pressure drop and temperature in a CO boiler.
13/00229 Signal processing schemes for eddy current
testing of steam generator tubes of nuclear power plants
Tian, S. et al. Nuclear Engineering and Design, 2012, 245, 7888.
In this paper, signal processing schemes developed for upgrading the
eddy current testing system utilized for in-service inspection of steam
generator (SG) tubes of a fast breeder reactor nuclear power plant are
presented. Schemes for the wobbling noise recognition, signal
indication extraction, defect signal classification, and the separation
of mixed signals are proposed, and are applied to both signals
measured in a SG mock-up and signals measured with short tube
test-pieces in a laboratory environment. The signal indications are
extracted based on a wavelet decomposition and threshold value
approach in addition with the signal similarity and signal distance
information in case of support plate signals. As it is possible for the
position of a signal point to be adjusted based on the signature of the
support plates, signals of a welding joint or a bending zone can be
recognized based on the design or/and manufactory information. The
mixed signals of defects and support plate are processed with the
similarity analysis strategy and the identification of defect signals is
performed by means of both a neural network approach and a statistic
method. Satisfactory extraction and classification results are obtained
for all the measured signals, which validated the efficiency of the
proposed schemes.
08 COMBUSTION
Burners, combustion systems
13/00230 A comprehensive study of methyl decanoate
pyrolysis
Pyl, S. P. et al. Energy, 2012, 43, (1), 146160.
The thermal decomposition of methyl decanoate (MD) was studied in a
bench-scale pyrolysis set-up equipped with a dedicated on-line analysis
section including a GCGC-FID/(TOF-MS). This analysis section
enables quantitative and qualitative on-line analyses of the entire
reactor effluent with high level of detail including measurement of
formaldehyde and water. The reactor temperature was varied from 873
to 1123 K at a fixed pressure of 1.7 bar and a fixed residence time of
0.5 s, for both high (10 mol
N2
/mil
MD
) and low (0.6 mol
N2
/mil
MD
)
nitrogen dilution. Thus covering a wide conversion range in both
dilution regimes. In these experiments, significant amounts of large
linear olefins and unsaturated esters were observed at lower
temperatures, the amounts of which decreased at higher temperatures
in favour of permanent gasses (CO, CO
2
, CH
4
) and light olefins. At the
highest temperatures more than 5 wt% of mono-aromatic and poly-
aromatic components were observed. The acquired dataset was used to
validate three recently published microkinetic models which were
developed to model oxidation and/or pyrolysis of methyl decanoate.
The results showed that these models accurately predict the product
distribution, although important discrepancies were observed for some
major products such as certain unsaturated esters, CO
2
and H
2
O.
Reaction path analyses and CBS-QB3 quantum-chemical calculations
are presented and discussed in order to explain the observed
differences.
13/00231 Acoustic enhancement of heat transfer in furnace
tubes
Dhanalakshmi, N. P. et al. Chemical Engineering and Processing:
Process Intensification, 2012, 59, 3642.
Enhancement of heat transfer from a heat source to a flowing fluid
within a tube is a challenging problem with many practical applications.
In this paper, experimental investigation of a low-frequency (20
33 kHz), high-intensity (5001000 W) ultrasonic field as a potential
heat-transfer process intensifier is undertaken. Heat-transfer en-
hancement data collected in a miniaturized furnace tube over a range
of flow conditions and ultrasonic process parameters indicate that
sonication provides significant augmentation only under near-static
(e.g. stagnant) and low-Reynolds number flow conditions. With
increasing flow velocity, cavitational and acoustic-streaming fields
associated with ultrasound are rapidly diminished in importance, hence
playing no role in bulk fluid heat transfer (unless input power levels or
frequencies are suitably increased). However, the relevance to some
locations, such as those under porous deposits in water-wall tubes of
boilers near the goose-neck portion, can spur further study to exploit
the impact of ultrasonic heat-transfer enhancement. The critical
parameter that determines the efficacy of ultrasonic enhancement of
heat transfer appears to be the ratio of the characteristic ultrasonic
field velocity (sum of cavitational and acoustic streaming velocities) to
the prevailing flow velocity.
13/00232 Analysis of particle heating and devolatilization
during rapid coal pyrolysis in a thermal plasma reactor
Yan, B. et al. Fuel Processing Technology, 2012, 100, 110.
Using thermal plasma for coal pyrolysis to acetylene provides a direct
route to make chemicals from coal resources, where the temperature
field in the reactor plays a dominant role in the performance of coal
devolatilization. A comprehensive computational fluid dynamics with
discrete phase model (CFD-DPM) has been established to describe the
rapid coal pyrolysis process in a reactor under ultra-high temperatures.
The simulations based on this model helped to understand the complex
gasparticle reaction behaviour in the millisecond process of coal
pyrolysis. The particle-scale physics such as the heat conduction inside
solid materials, diffusion of released volatile gases, coal devolatiliza-
tion, and tar cracking reactions were incorporated. The improved
chemical percolation devolatilization model was applied to describe the
36 Fuel and Energy Abstracts January 2013
08 Combustion (burners, combustion systems)
devolatilization behaviour of rapidly heated coal based on the physical
and chemical transformations of the coal structure. This model was
proved to be qualified for describing the complex gasparticle reaction
behaviour with milliseconds residence time by the operation experience
of a 5-MW plasma reactor. Then the simulations revealed the fact that
the particle heating and devolatilization are strongly affected by the
grade of the temperature and the residence time of coal particles in the
high temperature zone(s). Highly concentrated energy input in the
reactor may not intensify the reactor performance. As a potential
solution, multi-stage heating design would provide more flexibilities to
effectively adjust the devolatilization performances under the same
energy input.
13/00233 Characterizing sooting propensity in biofuel
diesel flames
Tran, M. K. et al. Combustion and Flame, 2012, 159, (6), 21812191.
As the worlds oil reserves are limited, and as a partial mitigation of
greenhouse gas emission, renewable biofuels are being considered as
important contributors to the future fuel supply for the transportation
sector. The combustion of biofueldiesel mixtures in practical engines
has been shown to be not only feasible but also favourable due to low
particulate emission characteristics. This paper demonstrates quantifi-
able sooting propensity of biofueldiesel fuel blends using classical
smoke point observations and laser induced-incandescence and laser
extinction optical methods. In particular, mixtures of 025% by volume
of soybean biofuel in ultra-low sulfur diesel were studied. Following the
ASTM D1322 standard, it was found that the maximum flame height at
the smoke point condition increases linearly with increasing biofuel
fraction. An alternative sooting propensity measurement is needed,
however, because high biofuel/diesel blends do not produce a smoke
point in the standard wick-fed lamp procedure. Using a fixed flame
height, laser-based measurements are generally consistent with smoke
point trends, and laser extinction calibrations provide quantitative
soot volume fractions. The results show the greatest soot concentration
for pure diesel fuel, B0, and the least for a 20% blend by volume of
biofuel, B20.
13/00234 Chemical looping combustion of low-ash and
high-ash low rank coals using different metal oxides
a thermogravimetric analyser study
Saha, C. and Bhattacharya, S. Fuel, 2012, 97, 137150.
Multiple redox experiments have been performed in a thermogravi-
metric analyser with well-characterized iron and nickel oxide to assess
their reactivity with low-ash Victorian brown coal as fuel, and nitrogen,
air, CO
2
and steam as combustion and gasification atmosphere. In
addition, a high-ash lignite was used as fuel to compare its performance
with the Victorian brown coal. The results show good performance of
iron oxide as oxygen carrier over multiple cycles. However, NiO, a good
oxygen carrier for gaseous fuel, shows progressively less reactivity over
the multiple cycles. It has been observed that both the metal oxides can
initiate the reduction reaction as low as 400
C), O
2
concentration (7.5, 10, 15, 21 vol.%), and heating rate (10, 30,
50
Cmin
1
) on the char-O
2
reaction rate were studied. A three-
dimensional (3D) TG furnace model was built using COMSOL
Multiphysics software to understand better temperature and velocity
profiles within the furnace. Char combustion rate increased with
increasing O
2
concentrations or temperatures. Within the temperature
range of 750900
C to 240
to 39
save 2.4 10
6
and 1.9 10
6
m
3
of natural gas, res-
pectively. Integrating the adjustment of flue gas residual O
2
concen-
tration, temperature of incoming air temperature, and furnace damper
opening angle will assist industries in achieving higher overall furnace
efficiency and reducing carbon dioxide emission.
13/00244 Laminar flame speeds and extinction stretch
rates of selected aromatic hydrocarbons
Hui, X. et al. Fuel, 2012, 97, 695702.
The laminar flame speeds and premixed extinction limits of n-
propylbenzene, 1,2,4-trimethylbenzene, 1,3,5-trimethylbenzene, and
toluene have been studied experimentally to assess the effects of
different alkyl substitutions to the benzene ring on flame propagation
and extinction. The experiments were carried out in a twin-flame
counterflow setup under atmospheric pressure. The laminar flame
speeds of fuel/air mixtures at two unburned mixture temperatures of
400 and 470 K were determined over an equivalence ratio range of
c=0.71.4. Additionally, the extinction stretch rates of fuel/O
2
/N
2
mixtures at an unburned mixture temperature of 400 K were measured
over an equivalence ratio range of c=0.81.6, with an oxidizer
composition of 16% O
2
and 84% N
2
by mole. The experimental
laminar flame speeds and extinction stretch rate values were compared
to simulated results, for each fuel, using detailed kinetic models
available in the literature. The simulation results were found to be in
reasonable agreement with the current experimental data, except for
1,2,4-trimethylbenzene, where the model under-predicts the extinction
limits significantly. Sensitivity and flux analyses were conducted to
identify reactions and species to which the computed results were most
sensitive.
13/00245 Modeling the slag layer in solid fuel gasification
and combustion two-way coupling with CFD
Yong, S. Z. and Ghoniem, A. Fuel, 2012, 97, 457466.
A steady-state model has been developed to describe the flow and heat
transfer characteristics of slag that takes into consideration the
contribution of the momentum of captured particles and the possibility
of slag resolidification along the walls. The model also incorporates a
criterion for particle capture or rebound. Captured particles flow with
the local slag average velocity. Some of these particles may contain
combustibles and they continue to burn at a different rate. To take this
into account, a wall consumption submodel is proposed to predict a
correction factor for the porous char consumption models. The slag
flow model, along with the particle capture and consumption
submodels are two-way coupled with a computational fluid dynamics
(CFD) of coal combustion, resulting in changing the discrete phase and
temperature boundary conditions of the bulk flow simulations. The
coupled CFD simulation shows that the wall traps about 56% of the
coal particles fed to the combustor, while the wall temperature and
heat flux to the wall are not significantly affected by the inclusion of a
slag layer.
13/00246 Numerical analysis of flow and combustion
behavior in tuyere and raceway of blast furnace fueled with
pulverized coal and recycled top gas
Yeh, C.-P. et al. Energy, 2012, 42, (1), 233240.
The simultaneous injection of pulverized coal (PC) and CO
2
-stripped
blast furnace top gas (BFG) into the raceway of a blast furnace is an
effective means of reducing carbon dioxide emissions in the ironmaking
process. The BFG can be used as the cooling gas flowing through the
annulus of coaxial lance. To stabilize the operation in the lower zone of
blast furnace, the combustion characteristics of PC with/without BFG
38 Fuel and Energy Abstracts January 2013
08 Combustion (burners, combustion systems)
cooling gas within the blowpipe-tuyere-raceway region of a blast
furnace are numerically investigated. The simulations focus on the
effects of the lance configuration, the cooling gas type, and the cooling
gas flow rate. The results show that a significant flow-induced pressure
drop occurs at the blowpipe and tuyere part because of the gaseous
combustion of the oxygen within the blast and the BFG injected via the
lance. Moreover, the burnout of injected coal is significantly decreased
with an increasing BFG cooling flow rates due to the additional oxygen
consumption by the BFG. Finally, it is shown that a stronger swirling
flow was formed when the lance configuration with bigger diameter was
employed. Overall, the current numerical results provide a useful basis
for improving the blast furnace performance in the future.
13/00247 Optimum residence time analysis for a walking
beam type reheating furnace
Han, S. H. and Chang, D. International Journal of Heat and Mass
Transfer, 2012, 55, (1516), 40794087.
A three-dimensional unsteady numerical simulation of a reheating
furnace was performed to obtain the optimal slab residence time. Too
long residence time decrease the efficiency of the reheating furnace,
whereas too short residence time cannot satisfy the required heating
quality of a slab. The total of five cases of residence times (6032, 6496,
6960, 7424 and 7888 s) were investigated for the optimum residence
time analysis with the two slab requirements, those of emission
temperature and uniformity. In this study, the slab emission tempera-
ture should be in the range between 1373 and 1573 K. The skid mark
severity of an emitted slab should be less than 50 K to satisfy the
uniformity requirement. The numerical analysis was done for the
identical geometry and operating condition of the reheating furnace
using FLUENT. Slabs were assumed to move very quickly that it took
no time for them to move next positions. The quick movements of slabs
were processed with the own developed user-defined function program.
Among the five cases of residence times, the residence time of 7427 s
turned out to be most efficient.
13/00248 Oxy-fuel combustion of coal and biomass blends
Riaza, J. et al. Energy, 2012, 41, (1), 429435.
The ignition temperature, burnout and NO emissions of blends of a
semi-anthracite and a high-volatile bituminous coal with 10 and 20 wt%
of olive waste were studied under oxy-fuel combustion conditions in an
entrained flow reactor (EFR). The results obtained under several oxy-
fuel atmospheres (21%O
2
79%CO
2
, 30%O
2
70%CO
2
and 35%O
2
65%CO
2
) were compared with those attained in air. The results
indicated that replacing N
2
by CO
2
in the combustion atmosphere with
21% of O
2
caused an increase in the temperature of ignition and a
decrease in the burnout value. When the O
2
concentration was
increased to 30% and 35%, the temperature of ignition was lower
and the burnout value was higher than in air conditions. A significant
reduction in ignition temperature and a slight increase in the burnout
value was observed after the addition of biomass, this trend becoming
more noticeable as the biomass concentration was increased. The
emissions of NO during oxy-fuel combustion were lower than under
air-firing. However, they remained similar under all the oxy-fuel
atmospheres with increasing O
2
concentrations. Emissions of NO were
significantly reduced by the addition of biomass to the bituminous coal,
although this effect was less noticeable in the case of the semi-
anthracite.
13/00249 Pulverised fuel feeding for co-firing based on
loss-in-weight flow metering
Teruel, E. et al. Biomass and Bioenergy, 2012, 39, 403412.
An experimental facility to investigate co-firing requires handling
pulverized coal and biomass fuels, to deliver them to a well-
instrumented experimental burner in a precise and flexible manner.
A system based on loss-in-weight mass flow metering has been
successfully used to deliver continuously a wide range of flows of
diverse fuels with great accuracy, even in the presence of refill cycles.
To achieve the required performance the system must be well-
engineered, and in particular the implementation of an appropriate
control strategy is essential.
13/00250 Research on cellular instabilities in outwardly
propagating spherical hydrogen-air flames
Sun, Z. Y. et al. International Journal of Hydrogen Energy, 2012, 37,
(9), 78897899.
Experiments were conducted in a closed vessel using Schlieren system
to study the cellular instabilities of hydrogenair premixed flames at
different equivalence ratios (from 0.6 to 2.5), initial temperatures
(from 300 to 450 K), and initial pressures (from 0.1 to 0.3 MPa). The
cellular instabilities of hydrogenair flames were interpreted and
evaluated in the viewpoint of the diffusive-thermal and hydrodynamic
instabilities. Also, critical flame radius and critical Peclet number were
measured. The results showed that for lean hydrogen-air flames, the
cellular instabilities are dominantly influenced by the diffusive-thermal
instability; for stoichiometric and rich hydrogenair flames, the cellular
instabilities are just influenced by the hydrodynamic instability. Critical
flame radius is increased with the increase of equivalence ratio and/or
initial temperature, and is decreased with the increase of initial
pressure. Critical Peclet number is increased with the increase of
equivalence ratio, and is insensitive to initial temperature and initial
pressure.
13/00251 small angle X-ray scattering and electrochemical
study of the decomposition of wood during pyrolysis
Smith, A. J. et al. Carbon, 2012, 50, (10), 37173723.
The pyrolysis of nine wood samples (Basswood, Cherry, Pine, Walnut,
Maple, Hickory, Paduak, Tigerwood and Ipe) between 30 and 1200
C
was investigated. Using small angle X-ray scattering (SAXS), the
thermal degradation of the cellular structure of wood followed by the
onset and growth of graphene sheets and associated nanoporosity
between the sheets, was observed as temperature increased. SAXS,
wide angle X-ray scattering and electrochemical studies of Na insertion
using Na batteries were used to study the wood samples pyrolysed to
1100
C.
13/00252 Time/temperature combustion profiles of various
wood-based biofuels
Smit, H. C. and Meincken, M. Biomass and Bioenergy, 2012, 39, 317
323.
A lab-scale combustion unit was designed to characterize the
performance of various wood and wood-based biofuels commonly used
in South Africa for energy production, cooking and heating. The unit
was constructed in a way that it provided similar testing conditions for
all samples and produced reproducible results. Time/temperature
profiles were recorded for all biofuels and characteristic values, such
as the maximum temperature or the coal temperature compared.
Rooikrans (an invasive species) and Camelthorn performed best
amongst the wood products, while coal and wood briquettes performed
best amongst the processed products.
13/00253 Transformation behavior of mineral composition
and trace elements during coal gangue combustion
Zhou, C. et al. Fuel, 2012, 97, 644650.
The transformation behaviour of mineral and trace elements during
combustion of Chinese coal gangue at varies temperatures were
studied. The coal gangue sample was placed at muffle roaster and
heated up to eight-desired temperature points, from 500 to 1200
C
with 100
C. The authors
investigate the influences of the phase change process of the MPCMS
on natural convection heat transfer. The experimental results indicate
that phase change process of the MPCMS promote natural convection
heat transfer. The local maximum heat transfer enhancement occurs at
approximately T
H
=34
C
and 106.54 J/g by DSC. Graphite was added into the P/HNT composite
to improve thermal storage performance, and the melting time and
freezing time of the composite were reduced by 60.78% and 71.52%
compared with the composite without graphite, respectively. Due to its
high adsorption capacity, high heat storage capacity, good thermal
stability and simple preparation method, the composite can be
considered as cost-effective latent heat storage material for practical
application.
13/00309 Pressure drops and loss coefficients of a phase
change material slurry in pipe fittings
Ma, Z. W. and Zhang, P. International Journal of Refrigeration, 2012,
35, (4), 9921002.
This study investigated the pressure drops and loss coefficients of a
phase change material slurry-tetrabutylammonium bromide (TBAB)
clathrate hydrate slurry (CHS) in pipe fittings. Pressure drops of TBAB
CHS in 6 mm and 14 mm straight tubes, 14 mm 90
elbow, sudden
contraction from 14 to 6 mm, sudden expansion from 6 to 14 mm,
14 mm tee distribution and convergence were measured as the mass
fraction of TBAB CHS varying from 0 to 30 wt%. Power-law model was
applied to describe the characteristics of slurry flow, and the fluid
parameters including the flow behaviour index and fluid consistence
factor were obtained for 6 and 14 mm tubes, respectively. Furthermore,
the loss coefficients of TBAB CHS flowing through the pipe fittings
were obtained from the experimental results and the corresponding
correlations were also developed.
13/00310 Resorption system for cold storage and
long-distance refrigeration
Bao, H. S. et al. Applied Energy, 2012, 93, 479487.
A thermochemical resorption refrigeration system was designed and
two types of application were investigated: (1) cold storage and
(2) long-distance refrigeration. Manganese chloride and ammonium
chloride were used as high-temperature salt (HTS) and low-tempera-
ture salt (LTS), respectively, and ammonia was utilized as reacting gas.
The working performance in terms of coefficient of performance
(COP) and specific cooling power (SCP) was assessed at different heat
source temperature (140170
C and 7/41
C as
compared to those of HCFC22. The amount of charge for R32/R152a
mixture is decreased up to 27% as compared to that of HCFC22.
Overall, R32/R152a mixture is an excellent long-term solution to
replace HCFC22 in water source heat pumps under the similar
evaporator and condenser temperatures. The flammability study shows
that the mixture is virtually not flammable at the drop-in composition
of 36%R32/64%R152a.
13/00324 Using phase change materials in window shutter
to reduce the solar heat gain
Alawadhi, E. M. Energy and Buildings, 2012, 47, 421429.
A significant amount of the solar heat gain in buildings comes through
the windows, and the most effective way to reduce it is to install
exterior shading devices, such as window shutters. The window shutters
are typically made of foam-filled aluminium rolling shutter slat. In this
research, a technique of solar heat gain reduction in building through
windows using phase change material (PCM) in the shutter instead of
foam is investigated using finite element method. The objective of
using PCM in the shutters is to utilize its high latent heat of fusion to
reduce the heat gain by absorbing the heat gain before it reaches the
indoor space. The thermal effectiveness of the proposed PCM shutter
system is evaluated by comparing the gain at the indoor space to the
heat gain of foam shutter during typical working hours. A parametric
study is conducted to assess the effect of different design parameters,
such as PCMs type and quantity in the shutter. The result indicates
that PCM with the highest examined melting temperature shows the
best thermal performance, and the heat gain through windows can be
reduced as high as 23.29%.
13/00325 Verification and validation of EnergyPlus phase
change material model for opaque wall assemblies
Tabares-Velasco, P. C. et al. Building and Environment, 2012, 54, 186
196.
Phase change materials (PCMs) represent a technology that may
reduce peak loads and HVAC energy consumption in buildings. A few
building energy simulation programs have the capability to simulate
PCMs, but their accuracy has not been completely tested. This study
shows the procedure used to verify and validate the PCM model in
EnergyPlus using a similar approach as dictated by ASHRAE Standard
140, which consists of analytical verification, comparative testing, and
empirical validation. This process was valuable, as two bugs were
identified and fixed in the PCM model, and version 7.1 of EnergyPlus
will have a validated PCM model. Preliminary results using whole-
building energy analysis show that careful analysis should be done
when designing PCMs in homes, as their thermal performance depends
on several variables such as PCM properties and location in the
building envelope.
11 ENGINES
Power generation and propulsion,
electrical vehicles
13/00326 Assessment of flash-boiling for pulse detonation
engines
Wen, C. S. et al. International Journal of Heat and Mass Transfer, 2012,
55, (1112), 27512760.
Liquid-fuelled pulse detonation engines must complete the process of
feeding, mixing and purging in milliseconds. Such an engine is
extremely sensitive to the Sauter mean diameter (SMD must be less
than 10 mm) and particle size distribution of the fuel, requirements
which are difficult if impossible for most fuel injectors to achieve. This
study selected an injector from a direct injection engine and used the
aviation fuel JP-8. Utilizing a wide range of operation pressure and
duration time, the injection timing and equivalence ratio could be
accurately controlled with good response time. The results of the
experiment indicate that an SMD of less than 10 mm can be achieved
with a fuel pressure greater than 8 MPa. This condition, however,
resulted in an overly long injection penetration. This study further
incorporated the concept of flash boiling to derive a smaller SMD.
However, this causes carbon deposition to occur due to cracking or
thermal reaction. To circumvent this phenomenon, this study estab-
lished a deoxygenation device to mitigate oxidization, further investi-
gating the influence of heating temperature on the generation of
deposition. The results of spray distribution indicated that when the
fuel is heated to 100
C.
13/00327 Effect of low ambient temperature on fuel
consumption and pollutant and CO
2
emissions of hybrid
electric vehicles in real-world conditions
Alvarez, R. and Weilenmann, M. Fuel, 2012, 97, 119124.
Hybrid electric vehicles (HEVs) can potentially reduce vehicle fuel
consumption and CO
2
emissions by using recuperated kinetic vehicle
energy stored as electric energy in a hybrid system battery (HSB). Low
ambient temperatures can affect the overall HEV powertrain operation
under warm-up and hot driving conditions and, consequently, affect
fuel consumption and emission performance. The present study
investigates the influence of low ambient temperatures on HEV fuel
consumption and pollutant and CO
2
emissions for five in-use HEV
models. Chassis dynamometer measurements have been conducted at
different set ambient temperatures using a real-world driving cycle
suitable for investigating vehicle cold-start emissions. The main
observation is that the amount of HEV cold-start extra emissions
(CSEEs) of regulated pollutants are reduced by 30% to 85% on
average in comparison to sample CSEEs of conventional gasoline
vehicles. The results for HEV CSEEs of CO
2
and fuel consumption are
mainly similar than those of conventional gasoline vehicles except for
CSEEs of some HEVs at the ambient temperature of 23
C. There,
increased CSEEs are observed that exceed maximum sample CSEEs of
conventional gasoline vehicles, reaching values for CO
2
between 155 [g/
start] and 300 [g/start] even though the test runs were initiated with
maximum initial state of charge (SOC) of the HSB. Because SOC of
the HSB considerably influences the fuel consumption of HEVs, this
aspect should be further investigated in regard to the effect of low
ambient temperatures on HEV fuel consumption and CO
2
emissions.
Moreover, no particular influence of low ambient temperatures on
HSB performance was observed during hot-phase operation.
13/00328 Experimental analysis on a spark ignition petrol
engine fuelled with LPG (liquefied petroleum gas)
Masi, M. Energy, 2012, 41, (1), 252260.
The use of LPG (liquefied petroleum gas) as alternative fuel to petrol
is common practice in spark ignition engines. While the main driving
force to the use of LPG still remains the low cost for the end user, its
favourable pollutant emissions, in particular carbon dioxide, will in the
middle term probably increase interest in LPG as an IC engine fuel. In
addition, there are both theoretical and technical reasons to consider
LPG as an attractive fuel also in terms of engine performance. Despite
the continuously increasing stock production of dual-fuel (petrolLPG)
passenger car models, doubts still exist about both real engine
performance in LPG operation and the reliability of the dual-fuel
feeding system. This paper deals with the theoretical advantages of
using LPG as fuel for SI engines. Brake performance tests of a
passenger car engine fed with petrol and LPG are analysed and
compared. The stock engine has been equipped with a third-
generation standard kit for dual-fuel operation. The performance
reductions in LPG operation are discussed in both steady state and
transient condition. The results of some modifications to the set-up of
both the petrol and LPG metering devices, designed for a better
justification of the measured performance, are also presented.
13/00329 Failure of fuel injectors in a medium speed diesel
engine operating on bio-oil
Galle, J. et al. Biomass and Bioenergy, 2012, 40, 2735.
The residue of a fatty acid distillation was used as a diesel fuel in a
medium speed diesel engine. This bio-oil was heated to 110
C to
decrease the viscosity to 8 mPa s. The injectors working with the bio-oil
failed prematurely with operation times ranging from 50 to 1500 h. The
injectors and the fuel were investigated in order to know the reasons of
the failure and to improve the operation of the engine. The
investigation revealed different causes, including plastic deformation
and clogging of the injectors passages, as well as micro cracks, erosion
and cavitation damage. The failed injectors were compared with non-
affected ones from the same engine and injectors from fossil diesel
fuelled engines. It was found that the chemical and physical comp-
osition of the fuel enforced the failure of the injectors.
13/00330 Heat transfer analysis in a turbocharger turbine:
an experimental and computational evaluation
Romagnoli, A. and Martinez-Botas, R. Applied Thermal Engineering,
2012, 38, 5877.
Fuel and Energy Abstracts January 2013 49
11 Engines (power generation and propulsion, electrical vehicles)
This paper presents the performance of a turbocharger under non-
adiabatic conditions in order to assess the impact of heat transfer. A
commercial turbocharger was installed on a 2.0-litre diesel engine and
measurements were conducted for a range of engine speeds and loads.
The test results enabled to assess the impact of the engine on the
temperature distribution of the bodies constituting the turbocharger,
quantify the heat fluxes through the turbocharger and evaluate their
effects on the deterioration of compressor performance. A one-
dimensional heat transfer model was also developed and validated
against the experimental measurements. The algorithms calculate the
heat transferred through the turbocharger by means of lump
capacitances. Compressor maps were then generated for a range of
speeds and temperatures of the exhaust gases at the inlet to turbine
and the efficiency drop associated with heat transfer was quantified.
Based on the data generated by the model, a new correlation for the
compressor non-adiabatic efficiency was found by means of a multiple
regression analysis; the work is based on a statistical description of the
different parameters that affect the heat transfer model.
13/00331 Integrated probabilistic design of marine
propulsors to minimize lifetime fuel consumption
Motley, M. R. et al. Ocean Engineering, 2012, 45, 18.
Marine propellers are typically designed to achieve optimal perform-
ance at a single or a few design points. It is well understood that the
performance of marine propulsion systems decays at off-design
conditions, where the system operates for the majority of its life,
where fuel consumption rates are high and the system as a whole
operates at lower efficiencies. This paper presents a novel integrated
design methodology that considers the propeller, prime mover, and
vessel as one integrated system, and considers the probabilistic
operational profile of the vessel, to minimize lifetime fuel consump-
tion. The proposed design methodology represents a new approach to
evaluate the tradeoffs between different design objectives and
constraints by considering the system performance characteristics
along with probability of occurrence, and hence allows for global
optimization of the propeller geometry. Results are shown for a pair of
fixed-pitch propellers designed for a twin-screw naval combatant craft.
System performance for a design obtained using the proposed
methodology is compared with designs obtained using traditional
point-based design approaches. This methodology can be easily extend-
ed to investigate the effects of variations in resistance, operational
profile or additional performance criteria, such as safety during
extreme operations, lifetime carbon emission, and life cycle costs.
13/00332 Measure of the volumetric efficiency and
evaporator device performance for a liquefied petroleum
gas spark ignition engine
Masi, M. and Gobbato, P. Energy Conversion and Management, 2012,
60, 1827.
The use of liquefied petroleum gas (LPG) as fuel for spark ignition
engines originally designed to be gasoline fuelled is common practice in
many countries. Despite this, some questions remain still open. The
present paper deals with the two main problems related to LPG port-
fuel spark ignition (SI) engines: the volumetric efficiency drop and the
LPG evaporator device performance. A passengers car SI engine
equipped with a third generation kit for the dual-fuel operation was
tested using a dynamometer test rig. A single-stage pressure reducer
was selected as LPG evaporator, to take advantage of an additional
pre-heating of the liquid LPG that allows higher power output than a
two-stage device of the same size. Engine performance, volumetric
efficiency and change of LPG thermodynamic states in the evaporator
were measured both in steady-state and transient operation of the
engine. Steady-state measurements show the advantage of LPG in
terms of engine efficiency, and quantify the drop in steady-state brake
torque due to the volume swept by gaseous fuel in the fresh charge
admission process. On the other hand, transient measurements show
that a single-stage evaporator device is capable to match overall
simplicity and satisfactory performance during strong changes in
engine load.
13/00333 Performance and emission analysis of hydrogen
fueled compression ignition engine with variable water
injection timing
Adnan, R. et al. Energy, 2012, 43, (1), 416426.
The effect of variable water injection timing on performance and
emission characteristics of hydrogen-fuelled compression ignition
(HFCI) engine has been investigated and the results are presented in
this paper. In this study, water is injected from 20
CA to 40
CA and
constant flow rate of 5 litres per minute. The results indicate that water
injection timing of 20
CA and duration of 40
CA BTDC, 23
CA BTDC, and 26
CA
BTDC) by varying cam positions mechanically. Results showed that
using RONs higher than the requirement of an engine not only
decreased brake thermal efficiency (BTE) but also increased brake
specific fuel consumption (BSFC), the emissions of carbon monoxide
(CO) and hydrocarbon (HC) at ORG ST. On the other hand, with the
increased ST (26
).
13/00345 Assessment of world lithium resources and
consequences of their geographic distribution on the
expected development of the electric vehicle industry
Grosjean, C. et al. Renewable and Sustainable Energy Reviews, 2012, 16,
(3), 17351744.
Electric vehicles (EVs) are on the verge of breaking through, most
presumably flooding the automotive market with lithium-ion batteries
as energy storage systems. This paper investigates the availability of
world lithium resources and draws conclusions on its actual impact on
the EV industry. Apart from lithium deposits geographic distribution,
the contributions to the global knowledge range from a short-term
forecast of lithium price evolution to a picture of the existing lithium
industry and market plus a detailed explanation of the geologic origins
of all the inventoried lithium resources.
13/00346 Calibration and finite element simulation of
pouch lithium-ion batteries for mechanical integrity
Sahraei, E. et al. Journal of Power Sources, 2012, 201, 307321.
Mechanical tests were performed on pouched and bare lithium-ion
cells under five loading conditions. These included through-thickness
compression, in-plane unconfined compression, in-plane confined
compression, hemispherical punch indentation and three-point bend-
ing. From the measured loaddisplacement data, the individual
compression stressstrain curves were calculated for the separator,
the active anode and cathode materials. The FE model was developed,
composed of shell elements, representing the Al and Cu foil, and solid
elements for the active material with a binder lumped together with the
separator. Very good correlation was obtained between LS Dyna
numerical simulation and test results for the through-thickness
compression, punch indentation and confined compression. Closed
form solutions were also derived to reveal the underlying physics and
identify important groups of parameters. It was also demonstrated that
a thin pouch enclosure provided considerable reinforcement and in
some cases changed the deformation and failure mechanism. The
present computational model of an individual cell provides a
fundamental building block for modelling battery modules and battery
packs across different length scales. The present test program differs
substantially from the nail indentation or punch crush loading
performed by the industry, and provides data for the development of
an advanced constitutive model needed for strength/weight optimiz-
ation and safety assessments of Li-ion batteries.
13/00347 Configuration of solar-hydrogen mild hybrid fuel
cell power systems for electric vehicles
Chen, P.-C. Journal of Power Sources, 2012, 201, 243252.
This paper considers the evaluation of a configuration of solar-
hydrogen mild hybrid fuel cell power systems for electric vehicles. The
primary objectives are to relieve the prerequisite need on the
infrastructure for hydrogen supply and reduce the cost of fuel cell
module compared to the conventional fuel cell electric vehicles. The
advantage of the proposed vehicle power system configuration is
addressed in terms of the criteria of availability and affordability.
Availability considers issues of energy resource and engineering
technology. Affordability considers issues of operational cost and
environmental cost. With regard to issues of implementation, a cost-
benefit ratio is defined and used to evaluate the feasibility of the
proposed mild hybrid power systems. A demonstration is conducted
based on four exemplary vehicles. The value of the computed cost-
benefit ratio can be used to determine the suitability of implementation
of the proposed configuration of a hybrid power system for electric
vehicles. The presented costs are based on per/unit prices as cited by
manufacturers on the Internet and are useable guidelines for further
development. In actual practice, substantial further efforts would be
needed to facilitate safe, reliable cost-efficient operation of the
proposed system.
13/00348 Environmental consequences of the use of
batteries in low carbon systems: the impact of battery
production
McManus, M. C. Applied Energy, 2012, 93, 288295.
Adoption of small-scale micro-generation is sometimes coupled with
the use of batteries in order to overcome daily variability in the supply
and demand of energy. For example, photovoltaic cells and small wind
turbines can be coupled with energy storage systems such as batteries.
When used effectively with renewable energy production, batteries can
increase the versatility of an energy system by providing energy storage
that enables the systems to satisfy the highly variable electrical load of
an individual dwelling, therefore changing usage patterns on the
national grid. A significant shift towards electric or hybrid cars would
also increase the number of batteries required. However, batteries can
be inefficient and comprise of materials that have high environmental
and energy impacts. In addition, some materials, such as lithium, are
scarce natural resources. As a result, the overall impact of increasing
reliance on such sustainable or low carbon systems may in fact have
an additional detrimental impact. This paper reviews the currently
available data and calculated and highlights the impact of the
production of several types of battery in terms of energy, raw materials
and greenhouse gases. The impact of the production of batteries is
examined and presented in order that future studies may be able to
include the impact of batteries more easily within any system. It is
shown that lithium based batteries have the most significant impact in
many environmental areas in terms of production. As the use phases of
batteries are extremely variable within different situations this has not
been included here, instead providing comprehensive data for the
production stage.
13/00349 How green are electric vehicles?
Thomas, C. E. S. International Journal of Hydrogen Energy, 2012, 37,
(7), 60536062.
Battery electric vehicles (BEVs) and plug-in hybrid electric vehicles
(PHEVs) are often labelled green, implying that they will significantly
reduce greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions. But actual GHG reductions
will depend on two factors: the number of electric vehicles that can be
sold to Americans that are fond of driving large vehicles long distances,
and the GHGs emitted by the electrical power plants that charge the
electric vehicles (EV) batteries. This article evaluates the maximum
potential of EVs to cut GHG emissions and oil consumption in the
USA and compares them with the GHG and oil reduction potential of
hydrogen-powered fuel cell electric vehicles. Even if all US light-duty
vehicles (LDVs) (cars and trucks) were replaced by a combination of
battery EVs for small vehicles and plug-in hybrids for all other LDVs,
then GHGs could at most be reduced by 25% and oil consumption
could be reduced by less than 67%. But if all LDVs in the USA were
replaced by fuel cell EVs powered by hydrogen made from natural gas,
then GHGs would be immediately reduced by 44% and oil consump-
tion by nearly 100%.
13/00350 Microporous gel polymer electrolytes for lithium
rechargeable battery application
Idris, N. H. et al. Journal of Power Sources, 2012, 201, 294300.
Microporous poly(vinylidene fluoride)/poly(methyl methacrylate)
(PVDF/PMMA) membranes were prepared using the phase-separation
method. Then, the membranes were immersed in liquid electrolyte to
form polymer electrolytes. The effects of PMMA on the morphology,
degree of crystallinity, porosity, and electrolyte uptake of the PVDF
membrane were studied. The addition of PMMA increased the
pore size, porosity and electrolyte uptake of the PVDF membrane,
which in turn increased the ionic conductivity of the polymer
electrolyte. The maximum ionic conductivity at room temperature
was 1.21 10
3
S cm
1
for sample E70. The polymer electrolyte was
52 Fuel and Energy Abstracts January 2013
11 Engines (transport battery development)
investigated, along with lithium iron phosphate (LiFePO
4
) as cathode
for all solid-state lithium-ion rechargeable batteries. The lithium metal/
E70/LiFePO
4
cell yielded a stable discharge capacity of 133 mAh g
1
after up to 50 cycles at a current density of 8.5 mAg
1
.
13/00351 Online model-based estimation of state-of-charge
and open-circuit voltage of lithium-ion batteries in electric
vehicles
He, H. et al. Energy, 2012, 39, (1), 310318.
This paper presents a method to estimate the state-of-charge (SOC) of
a lithium-ion battery, based on an online identification of its open-
circuit voltage (OCV), according to the batterys intrinsic relationship
between the SOC and the OCV for application in electric vehicles.
First, an equivalent circuit model with n RC networks is employed that
models the polarization characteristic and the dynamic behaviour of
the lithium-ion battery, the corresponding equations are built to
describe its electric behaviour and a recursive function is deduced for
the online identification of the OCV, which is implemented by a
recursive least squares (RLS) algorithm with an optimal forgetting
factor. The models with different RC networks are evaluated based on
the terminal voltage comparisons between the model-based simulation
and the experiment. Then the OCV-SOC lookup table is built based on
the experimental data performed by a linear interpolation of the
battery voltages at the same SOC during two consecutive discharge and
charge cycles. Finally a verifying experiment is carried out based on
nine urban dynamometer driving schedules. It indicates that the
proposed method can ensure an acceptable accuracy of SOC estimation
for online application with a maximum error being less than 5%.
13/00352 Performance of the SAC-C satellite electricity
storage system
Garaventta, G. N. et al. International Journal of Hydrogen Energy,
2012, 37, (7), 57065709.
The analysis of telemetry data of the Argentine electricity storage
system SAC-C satellite is presented. Diagnostic indicators were
established in order to evaluate the in-flight performance of the
satellite nickel-hydrogen batteries. The state of charge of the batteries
was related to the hydrogen pressure. A predictive analysis allowed us
to detect early failure of the electricity storage system.
13/00353 State-of-charge estimation for lithium-ion
batteries under various operating conditions using an
equivalent circuit model
Cho, S. et al. Computers & Chemical Engineering, 2012, 41, 19.
This paper describes a state-of-charge estimation methodology for
lithium-ion batteries in hybrid electric vehicles. The proposed
methodology is intended for SOC estimation under various operating
conditions including changes in temperature, driving mode or power
duty. The suggested methodology consists of a recursive estimator and
employs an equivalent circuit as the electrochemical cell model. Model
parameters are estimated by parameter map on experimental cell data
with various temperatures and current conditions. The parameter map
is developed by a least sum square error estimation method based on
non-linear programming. An adaptive estimator is employed and is
based on the combination of current integration and battery model
based estimation. The proposed SOC estimation methodology is
demonstrated with experimental LiB pack data under various driving
schedules with low and ambient temperature and sensor failure cases.
The results show that the proposed methodology is appropriate for
estimating SOC under various conditions.
13/00354 Time-dependent plug-in hybrid electric vehicle
charging based on national driving patterns and
demographics
Kelly, J. C. et al. Applied Energy, 2012, 94, 395405.
Plug-in hybrid electric vehicles (PHEVs) are one promising technology
for addressing concerns around petroleum consumption, energy
security and greenhouse gas emissions. However, there is much
uncertainty in the impact that PHEVs can have on energy consumption
and related emissions, as they are dependent on vehicle technology,
driving patterns, and charging behaviour. A methodology is used to
simulate PHEV charging and gasoline consumption based on driving
pattern data in USDOTs National Household Travel Survey. The
method uses information from each trip taken by approximately
170,000 vehicles to track their battery state of charge throughout the
day, and to determine the timing and quantity of electricity and
gasoline consumption for a fleet of PHEVs. Scenarios were developed
to examine the effects of charging location, charging rate, time of
charging and battery size. Additionally, demographic information was
examined to see how driver and household characteristics influence
consumption patterns. Results showed that a compact vehicle with a
10.4 kWh useable battery (approximately a 42 mile (68 km) all-electric
range) travels between 62.5% and 75.7% on battery electricity,
depending on charging scenario. The percentage of travel driven
electrically (utility factor, UF) in a baseline charging scenario increased
from 64.3% using 2001 NHTS data to 66.7% using 2009 data. The
average UF was 63.5% for males and 72.9% for females and in both
cases they are highly sensitive to age. Vehicle charging load profiles
across charging scenarios and demographics show a varying effect on
summertime peak load, which can be useful for PHEV market
segmentation and electric utility planning.
13/00355 Developments in international solid biofuel trade
an analysis of volumes, policies, and market factors
Lamers, P. et al. Renewable and Sustainable Energy Reviews, 2012, 16,
(5), 31763199.
This paper presents and analyses international solid biofuel trade and
concludes by considering interactions with bioenergy policies and
market factors. It shows that trade has grown from about 56 to 300 PJ
between 2000 and 2010. Wood pellets grew strongest, i.e. from 8.5 to
120 PJ. Other relevant streams by 2010 included wood waste (77 PJ),
fuelwood (76 PJ), wood chips (17 PJ), residues (9 PJ), and roundwood
(2.4 PJ). Intra-European Union trade covered two-thirds of global
trade by 2010. Underlying markets are highly heterogeneous; generally
though trade evolved whenever supply side market factors coincided
with existing/emerging demand patterns. Market factors and policies
both defined trade volumes; though policy changes did not have as
prominent effects on trade developments as in the liquid biofuel sector.
Economic viability is the key limiting factor. Main exporting countries
have low feedstock costs and already existing wood processing
industries. Trade-relevant aspects are the commoditys monetary value;
determined by its homogeneity, heating value, and bulk density.
Consumer markets are diverse: in residential heating, demand/trade
patterns have been influenced by local biofuel availability and short-
term price signals, i.e. mainly price competitiveness and investment
support for boilers/stoves. Commodities are mainly sourced regionally,
but price differences have triggered a growing trade. The industrial
segment is greatly influenced by policy frameworks but more mature
(e.g. established routes). Trade is strictly linked to margins (defined
mainly by policies) and combustion technologies. Uncertainties in the
analysis are due to data gaps across and within databases regarding
import/export declarations. To estimate bioenergy related trade,
anecdotal data was indispensable. The authors believe datasets should
be streamlined across international institutions to eventually enable
reporting of global trade beyond digit-6-level. Research is needed to
provide further insights into informal markets. Interrelations between
trade factors are particularly relevant when mapping future trade
streams under different policy/trade regime scenarios.
12 REFRACTORIES/
CERAMICS
Properties, production, applications
13/00356 A new dynamic test method for thermal
performance of all-glass evacuated solar air collectors
Xu, L. et al. Solar Energy, 2012, 86, (5), 12221231.
A new study on testing thermal performance of all-glass evacuated
solar collectors with the air as heat transfer fluid under dynamic
conditions outdoors has been developed. The model of this dynamic
method was established with the energy balance analysis on solar
collectors of this type. Compared with the first order model under
steady-state conditions, this model can characterize thermal efficiency
of solar collectors under more extensive conditions, reducing consider-
able operating time spent in waiting for the right test conditions.
Through the derivation of the proposed model, it proved a strong
relationship existed between this model and the first order model
mentioned above. The dynamic model projection for the outlet
temperatures was in good agreement with the measured result.
13/00357 Compliant alkali silicate sealing glass for solid
oxide fuel cell applications: the effect of protective YSZ
coating on electrical stability in dual environment
Chou, Y.-S. et al. Journal of Power Sources, 2012, 202, 149156.
Recently, compliant sealing glass has been proposed as a potential
candidate sealant for solid oxide fuel cell (SOFC) applications. In a
previous paper, the thermal stability and chemical compatibility were
reported for a compliant alkali-containing silicate glass sealed between
anode supported YSZ bi-layer and YSZ-coated stainless steel inter-
connect. This paper reports the electrical stability of the compliant
glass under a DC load and dual environment at 700800
C. Apparent
Fuel and Energy Abstracts January 2013 53
12 Refractories/ceramics (properties, production, applications)
electrical resistivity was measured with a four-point method for the
glass sealed between two plain SS441 metal coupons or YSZ-coated
aluminized substrates. The results showed instability with plain SS441
at 800
C using H
2
as the
fuel and ambient air as the oxidant. Ni modified SFM also shows
enhanced performance in CH
4
(with 3 vol% H
2
O). Compared with
SFM, Ni-SFM anode demonstrates enhanced catalytic activity, result-
ing in higher open-circuit voltage and lower electrode polarization
resistance in CH
4
. However, due to the presence of Ni, the sulfur
tolerance of these Ni-modified anodes is still low. The cell performance
drops by almost 18% after the cell with Ni-SFM anode has been
operating for 20 h in a fuel of H
2
with 100 ppm H
2
S at 800
C. However,
the cell performance can be fully recoverable on removal of H
2
S from
the fuel stream. Similar cell performance improvements have also been
observed on cells with Ni-modified LSCM anodes. The cells with the
Ni-LSCM anodes have shown relatively stable performance during the
short-term durability test at 800
C in CH
4
at 800
C.
13/00362 SiO
2
ceramic nanoporous substrate-reinforced
sulfonated poly(arylene ether sulfone) composite
membranes for proton exchange membrane fuel cells
Seol, J. H. et al. International Journal of Hydrogen Energy, 2012, 37,
(7), 61896198.
Porous substrate-reinforced composite membranes have been exten-
sively investigated due to their promising application to proton
exchange membrane fuel cells (PEMFC). This study has developed a
new ceramic-based reinforcing porous substrate, which consists of
hygroscopic silica (SiO
2
) nanoparticles interconnected by 3-glycid-
oxypropyltrimethoxysilane (GPTMS)-based silicate binders and a
poly(paraphenylene terephthalamide) (PPTA) non-woven support.
This unusual ceramic substrate is featured with the strong mechanical
strength, well-developed nanoporous structure (i.e., nanosized inter-
stitial voids formed between the close-packed SiO
2
nanoparticles), high
hydrophilicity, and more notably, good water retention capability. The
nanostructured pores of the ceramic substrate are subsequently
impregnated with sulfonated poly(arylene ether sulfone) (SPAES,
degree of sulfonation =49.3%). In comparison to a pristine SPAES
membrane, the ceramic substrate-reinforced SPAES composite mem-
brane offers the significantly improved dimensional change and also
effectively mitigates the steep decline of proton conductivity at low
humidity conditions, which is further discussed by considering the state
of water in the reinforced composite membrane.
13/00363 Structural irradiation damage and recovery in
nanometric silicon carbide
Gosset, D. et al. Progress in Nuclear Energy, 2012, 57, 5256.
Silicon carbide is one of the candidate materials for core components
of some nuclear reactor projects (Gen-IV). In order to improve their
thermo-mechanical properties, materials with nanometric grain size are
considered. For such materials, almost no data concerning their
behaviour under irradiation are available. This paper studies the
damage and subsequent recovery of a nanostructured 3CSiC ceramic.
Samples were irradiated at room temperature with 4 MeV Au ions and
subsequently annealed. Their structural modifications are analysed
with a grazing incidence X-ray diffraction method. Results show that
these nanoceramic materials present the same damage kinetics during
irradiation as conventional micrometric grained SiC, with total
amorphization at the highest fluence. However, while the recrystalliza-
tion of a conventional ceramic is expected to occur through an epitaxial
recrystallization from the non-damaged parts of the large grains, the
nanometric material is healed only after annealing at 1000
C through
mechanisms that can be attributed to a heterogeneous nucleation and
growth of u crystallites in the totally amorphized grains.
13/00364 Theoretical discussions of perfect window, ideal
near infrared solar spectrum regulating window and current
thermochromic window
Ye, H. et al. Energy and Buildings, 2012, 49, 164172.
In order to evaluate the energy saving performance of various windows
on a common basis, three conceptual window models are presented,
and an energy consumption index is defined as the ratio of the energy
consumption of a given window to the corresponding value of the
perfect window. A building energy analysis program, BuildingEnergy,
was used to evaluate the energy consumption value of different window
models. The following results are obtained: the energy saving potential
of regulating the emissivity of the window is greater than that of
regulating the solar transmissivity, the optimized phase transition
temperature of the ideal near infrared solar spectrum regulating
window is between 16 and 21
C with a
constant stirring are able to transesterify oils to a biodiesel product
with a FAME yield over 98% in 2 h. The catalyst can be easily
separated from the reaction mixture by pouring off the reaction
solution and can be reused several times with consistent results.
Biodiesel and glycerol products without any treatment and cleansing
show a high quality product in which fuel properties of the biodiesel
meet all EN 14214 standards for bio-auto fuels.
Fuel and Energy Abstracts January 2013 55
13 Alternative energy supplies (biofuels and bioconversion energy)
13/00371 Bioenergy recovery from olive mill effluent in a
hybrid reactor
Gonc alves, M. R. et al. Biomass and Bioenergy, 2012, 39, 253260.
An anaerobic hybrid reactor was tested in the treatment of raw olive
mill effluent (OME) without water dilution, chemical correction and
any pretreatment. A feeding strategy was applied by increasing
progressively the OME volume fraction from 8% to 83% in the feed
mixture combined with an OME complementary substrate (piggery
effluent). A biogas production of 3.16 m
3
m
3
d
1
was achieved at an
organic loading rate of COD at 7.1 kg m
3
d
1
, when the highest
fraction of OME was added to the influent (volume fraction of 83%;
COD concentration fraction of about 94%). At these conditions, the
degradation of olive mill effluent occurred without any inhibition. The
reactor was capable to digest an acid influent (pH=4.7), revealing a
high buffering capacity. The increase of influent phenols concentration
from 0.87 to 2.31 kg m
3
did not influence the reactor removal capacity
(phenolic fraction removal from 51% to 61%). Biomass acclimation to
OME was accomplished by using a feeding strategy based on effluents
complementarity. Furthermore, it was demonstrated that the hybrid
digester was able to recover after an accidental overload, and the
packing material on the top of the unit prevented excessive loss of
biomass. Comparatively to the classic configuration digesters, the
hybrid digester is an effective alternative to maximize bioenergy
recovery from OME.
13/00372 By-products inhibition effects on bio-hydrogen
production
Castro-Villalobos, M. C. et al. International Journal of Hydrogen
Energy, 2012, 37, (8), 70777083.
In this work the effect of the undissociated fermentation products
concentration on the biomass growth and bio-hydrogen generation by
acidogenic fermentation has been studied. A mixed culture enriched by
biokinetic control was used to perform parallel batch experiments at
different substrate concentrations. From these experiments it was
observed that the biomass growth rate and yield significantly depended
on the fermentation products concentration reached. The concen-
tration of undissociated fermentation products causing significant
effects on the growth rate were found to be 10 mM, for the shift from
the typical exponential trend to a linear one, and 30 mM for the total
inhibition of the biomass growth. Regarding the bio-hydrogen
generation it was observed that its generation rate was linked to the
biomass concentration, being the average yield not affected. However,
when working at very high concentration of undissociated fermentation
products, values higher than 30 mM, it was observed a slight decrease
of the generation rate which could be caused by a change in the
metabolic route used to ferment the substrate.
13/00373 Chrysomya megacephala (Fabricius) larvae:
a new biodiesel resource
Li, Z. et al. Applied Energy, 2012, 94, 349354.
This study introduces a potential biodiesel source: Chrysomya
megacephala (Fabricius) larvae (CML), which are proliferative and
can be fed with a variety of low cost materials, such as manure, wheat
bran, rotted meat and decayed vegetation. The potential of
C. megacephala (Fabricius) larvae oil (CMLO) for biodiesel appli-
cations was explored. Oil was extracted from the CML raised by
feeding on restaurant garbage for five days. The oil content obtained
from the dehydrated CML ranged from 24.40% to 26.29% since
restaurant garbage varies in composition day to day. The acid value of
the CMLO was tested to be 1.10 mg KOH/g. Four factors were
subsequently considered to optimize the transesterification of CMLO
to biodiesel. The optimized conditions included a 6:1 methanol to oil
molar ratio, 1.6% KOH catalyst, a reaction temperature of 55
C and a
reaction time of 30 min. Under these conditions, the maximum yield of
fatty acid methyl esters (FAME) from CMLO was 87.71%. Finally,
properties of the FAME were within the specifications of ASTM D6751
and EN 14214 biodiesel standards. Therefore, it was concluded that
C. megacephala (Fabricius) larvae represent a potential alternative
feedstock for biodiesel production.
13/00374 Comparative economic assessment of ABE
fermentation based on cellulosic and non-cellulosic
feedstocks
Kumar, M. et al. Applied Energy, 2012, 93, 193204.
Biobutanol can become the replacement of petroleum gasoline in near
future. However, economic feasibility of biobutanol production from
ABE fermentation is suffering due to the unavailability of cheap
feedstocks, production inhibition and inefficient product recovery
processes. Here, economic analysis of ABE fermentation has been
performed based on cellulosic (bagasse, barley straw, wheat straw, corn
stover, and switchgrass) and non-cellulosic (glucose, sugarcane, corn,
and sago) feedstocks, which are widely and cheaply available in
agriculture based countries. Analysis shows that utilization of glucose
required 37% lesser total fixed capital cost than the other cellulosic and
non-cellulosic feedstocks for the per year production of 10,000 tonnes
of butanol. However, the production cost of butanol from glucose was
fourfold higher than sugarcane and cellulosic materials because of its
(glucose) high cost. The cost of sago also affected threefold production
cost of butanol comparative to other feedstocks. Therefore, these two
substrates turned the biobutanol production far from being economi-
cally feasible. Interestingly, sugarcane and cellulosic materials showed
suitability for economically feasible production of butanol with the
production cost range of $0.59$0.75 per kg butanol. Consequently,
quantitative variation in the design and process parameters namely
fermenter size, plant capacity, production yield using sugarcane and
cellulosic materials as raw materials, trigger significant reduction in
unitary cost of butanol up to 53%, 19% and 31%, respectively.
Therefore, these parameters will play significant role in making the
butanol production economical from cheaper feedstocks (sugarcane
and cellulosic materials). Further, high sensitivity of production cost
from the product yield postulates significant manipulation in genome
of butanol producing bacteria for improving the yield of ABE
fermentation.
13/00375 Contract theory and implications for perennial
energy crop contracting
Alexander, C. et al. Energy Economics, 2012, 34, (4), 970979.
This article provides an overview of modern contract theory and
discusses the implications of the theory for contracting for perennial
dedicated energy crops. The authors discuss some of the unique
challenges of contracting for dedicated energy crops used for the
production of advanced biofuels and survey some of the relevant
concepts and research from the contract theory literature to address
these challenges. They focus primarily on the mechanism design or
complete contracts approach to contracting, which involves optimiz-
ing some objective function (e.g. profits, costs, etc.) with respect to
contract terms, subject to important incentive constraints. The solution
to these optimization problems typically highlight important tradeoffs
that a contract designer needs to consider in order to maximize profits
and/or minimize costs.
13/00376 Design of green diesel from biofuels using
computer aided technique
Kashinath, S. A. A. et al. Computers & Chemical Engineering, 2012, 41,
8892.
This paper presents a systematic computer-aided technique to design a
sustainable (safe, environmentally friendly and economical) tailor-
made green diesel blend that satisfies a set of desirable target
properties. In this work, the software, integrated computer-aided
system (ICAS) was used to predict the green diesel properties. The
blending model is formulated to identify a set of feasible mixture
blends that satisfy the desirable target properties such as density and
viscosity. The blend design problem is formulated as an NLP problem
and solved through GAMS. Application of the systematic technique
yields several promising green diesel blends. Four final candidate
blends were selected based on three key criteria: cost, sulfur content
and carbon dioxide emissions. The results show that the best diesel
contains 82.4% diesel, 16.6% butanol and 1% butyl levulinate. This
diesel blend contributes to the reduction of CO
2
emission and sulfur
content by up to 15% and 17%, respectively.
13/00377 Effect of microwave irradiation pretreatment of
cow dung compost on bio-hydrogen process from corn stalk
by dark fermentation
Song, Z. X. et al. International Journal of Hydrogen Energy, 2012, 37,
(8), 65546561.
The bio-hydrogen production potential from corn stalk was signifi-
cantly affected by microwave irradiation pretreatment of cow dung
compost in batch tests. The maximum hydrogen yield of 144.3 ml/g-
corn stalk and hydrogen production rate of 3.6 ml/g-corn stalk h
1
were
observed using the pretreated compost by microwave radiation of
1.5 min at fixed Na
2
CO
3
dosage of 800 mg/l, Fe dosage of 400 mg/l,
substrate concentration of 20 g/l, which increased about 99.6% and
85.2% compared with that of the control. The effects of microwave
irradiation on microbial characteristics were further discussed by
atomic force microscope, determination of protein content and PCR-
DGGE. The four dominant hydrogen-producing strains had been
isolated and confirmed to be Bacillus amyloliquefaciens, B. lichenifor-
mis, B. subtilis and Enterococcus faecium, respectively. The diversity
and symbiosis relations of the mixed bacteria were also observed in
fermentation hydrogen production process.
13/00378 Energy balances for biogas and solid biofuel
production from industrial hemp
Prade, T. et al. Biomass and Bioenergy, 2012, 40, 3652.
If energy crops are to replace fossil fuels as a source for heat, power or
vehicle fuel, their whole production chain needs a higher energy output
than input. Industrial hemp has high biomass and energy yields. The
study evaluated and compared net energy yields (NEY) and energy
output-to-input ratios (R
O/I
) for production of heat, power and vehicle
56 Fuel and Energy Abstracts January 2013
13 Alternative energy supplies (biofuels and bioconversion energy)
fuel from industrial hemp. Four scenarios for hemp biomass were
compared; (i) combined heat and power (CHP) from spring-harvested
baled hemp, (ii) heat from spring-harvested briquetted hemp, and
(iii) CHP and (iv) vehicle fuel from autumn-harvested chopped and
ensiled hemp processed to biogas in an anaerobic digestion process.
The results were compared with those of other energy crops.
Calculations were based on conditions in the agricultural area along
the Swedish west and south coast. There was little difference in total
energy input up to storage, but large differences in the individual steps
involved. Further processing to final energy product differed greatly.
Total energy ratio was best for combustion scenarios (i) and (ii) (R
O/I
of 6.8 and 5.1, respectively). The biogas scenarios (iii) and (iv) both had
low R
O/I
(2.7 and 2.6, respectively). They suffer from higher energy
inputs and lower conversion efficiencies but give high quality products,
i.e. electricity and vehicle fuel. The main competitors for hemp are
maize and sugar beets for biogas production and the perennial crops
willow, reed canary grass and miscanthus for solid biofuel production.
Hemp is an above-average energy crop with a large potential for yield
improvements.
13/00379 Establishment and two-year growth of a bio-
energy plantation with fast-growing Populus trees in
Flanders (Belgium): effects of genotype and former land use
Broeckx, L. S. et al. Biomass and Bioenergy, 2012, 42, 151163.
In April 2010, a large-scale short rotation coppice (SRC) plantation
was established with mainly poplar (Populus spp.) on a former
agricultural site (cropland and pasture) in Flanders, Belgium. The 12
selected genotypes planted were assessed on establishment and
production characteristics during the first 2 years of growth and were
found highly productive, with a volume index ranging between 1.00
(0.68) and 1.93 (0.97) dm
3
in growing season 1 (GS1) and between
2.75 (1.70) and 11.91 (6.33) dm
3
in growing season 2 (GS2). Despite
high survival rates of the cuttings after planting, competitive weeds and
management operations increased tree mortality during the growing
season from 3.4% up to 18.2% averaged over the entire plantation.
Weed control therefore turned out to be the key factor in the
establishment success. Only a minor influence of former land use was
observed during GS1, which is explained by the non-limiting nutrient
conditions on both former cropland and pasture, and which dis-
appeared during GS2. These productive soils also explained the high
growth rates, with an average tree height of 247 and 445 cm and stem
diameter (at 22 cm height) of 25.21 and 40.73 mm after GS1 and GS2,
respectively. Genotypic and parentage variations were found to be less
pronounced during GS1, and increased during GS2 as expected. The
maximum leaf area index and total leaf area duration were shown to be
good indicators of production and growth performance. The results of
this paper confirm the high potential of SRC with poplar on
agricultural land for bio-energy purposes.
13/00380 Integrating sugar beet pulp storage, hydrolysis
and fermentation for fuel ethanol production
Zheng, Y. et al. Applied Energy, 2012, 93, 168175.
Sugar beet pulp (SBP) as-received has a fairly high moisture content of
7585%, which makes SBP storage a challenge. Ensilage was studied
over 90 days and was found to effectively preserve SBP without lactic
acid bacterium inoculation. Higher packing density yielded a slightly
better silage quality. Ensilage improved sugar yield upon enzymatic
hydrolysis of ensiled SBP washed with water. However, neither washing
nor sterilization improved ethanol production from ensiled SBP using
Escherichia coli KO11, suggesting ensiled SBP could be used directly in
fermentation. The ethanol yield from ensiled SBP was nearly 50%
higher than raw SBP. Fed-batch fermentation obtained approximately
30% higher ethanol yield than batch. Fed-batch could also be carried
out at 12% solid loading with a 50% lower enzyme dosage compared to
batch at the same solid loading, indicating opportunities to improve the
economics of SBP conversion into liquid fuels.
13/00381 Lignocellulosic biomass for bioethanol
production: current perspectives, potential issues and
future prospects
Limayem, A. and Ricke, S. C. Progress in Energy and Combustion
Science, 2012, 38, (4), 449467.
The willingness of the US government to face the issues of more
heavily high-priced foreign oil and climate change has led to more
investment on plant-derived sustainable biofuel sources. Biomass
derived from corn has become one of the primary feedstocks for
bioethanol production for the past several years in the USA. However,
the argument of whether to use food as biofuel has led to a search for
alternative non-food sources. Consequently, industrial research efforts
have become more focused on low-cost large-scale processes for
lignocellulosic feedstocks originating mainly from agricultural and
forest residues along with herbaceous materials and municipal wastes.
Although cellulosic-derived biofuel is a promising technology, there
are some obstacles that interfere with bioconversion processes reaching
optimal performance associated with minimal capital investment. This
review summarizes current approaches on lignocellulosic-derived
biofuel bioconversion and provides an overview on the major steps
involved in cellulosic-based bioethanol processes and potential issues
challenging these operations. Possible solutions and recoveries that
could improve bioprocessing are also addressed. This includes the
development of genetically engineered strains and emerging pretreat-
ment technologies that might be more efficient and economically
feasible. Future prospects toward achieving better biofuel operational
performance via systems approaches such as risk and life cycle
assessment modelling are also discussed.
13/00382 Measurements of physical properties during
transesterification of soybean oil to biodiesel for prediction
of reaction progress
Moradi, G. R. et al. Energy Conversion and Management, 2012, 61, 67
70.
Biodiesel is a pure, non-toxic, biodegradable, clean-burning fuel and
renewable alternative for fossil diesel fuel. In this work, a new method
was introduced to determine reaction progress in transesterification of
soybean oil to biodiesel by the use of physical property variation during
reaction. Quantitative analysis stage for determination fatty acid
methyl ester which is expensive and time-consuming can be replaced
by this method. To develop the method, in the first stage, transester-
ification of soybean oil at optimum conditions (70
C and
mixing intensity of 350 rpm. The mathematical model (a quadratic
polynomial equation) has developed adequately describing ranges of
the experimental parameters studied and provides a statistically
accurate prediction of the optimum yield of FAME.
13/00387 Rethinking the cane sugar mill by using selective
fermentation of reducing sugars by Saccharomyces
dairenensis, prior to sugar crystallization
Ohara, S. et al. Biomass and Bioenergy, 2012, 42, 7885.
High yield sugarcane is expected to resolve the competition between
food and fuel regarding farmland and biomass resources. However, its
higher composition of reducing sugars (i.e. glucose and fructose),
which inhibit sucrose crystallization, hinders the production of sugar
from high yield sugarcane. Under the conventional integrated sugar
ethanol manufacturing system, high biomass yield causes only the
increase of ethanol production because of the increase in unrecovered
sugar after extraction, which represents a failure in resolving the
competition. The technology presented here is the worlds first to solve
this problem via selective ethanol fermentation using Saccharomyces
dairenensis, an unconventional yeast that ferments only reducing sugars
and leaves sucrose untouched. A laboratory-scale test using sugarcane
juices with a high composition of reducing sugars (100 g kg
1
) resulted
in a sucrose crystal yield increase from a single extraction, from 16.2 to
65.1%, by introducing selective fermentation. The second extraction,
from the molasses, which was enabled by the lowered residual reducing
sugar composition, further enhanced the total sugar crystal yield (up to
83.4%). A simulation of the application of this technology in the USA
revealed that both sugar and ethanol production were enhanced,
whereas sugar production declined by the mere adoption of high yield
cultivar, even with the increase in sugarcane yield.
13/00388 Solid acid mediated hydrolysis of biomass for
producing biofuels
Guo, F. et al. Progress in Energy and Combustion Science, 2012, 38, (5),
672690.
Solid acid catalysts, which have favourable characteristics such as
efficient activity, high selectivity, long catalyst life and ease in recovery
and reuse, have great potential for efficiently transforming lignocellu-
losic biomass into biofuels and can replace many conventional liquid
acids for hydrolysis and pretreatment. This work briefly introduces
conventional biomass pretreatment and hydrolysis techniques, and
reviews in detail the characteristics of biomass hydrolysis for five types
of solid acid catalysts grouped as H-form zeolites, transition-metal
oxides, cation-exchange resins, supported solid acids and heteropoly
compounds. Carbonaceous solid acid (CSA) catalysts are considered as
the most promising catalyst for cellulose hydrolysis, since they provide
good access of reactants to the acidic sites of SO
3
H groups. High
glucose yields of up to 75% with 80% selectivity have been achieved at
150
C. Assuming different
cooling tower capacity, the desired flow rate is estimated for a cooling
range of 5.7
/CO
3
2
and, mainly, H
4
SiO
4
/H
3
SiO
4
) act as homogeneous pH
buffers and contribute to the total alkalinity in these alkaline waters.
On the basis of the study of the conservative elements, a mixing process
between a hot and a cold end-member has been identified. Addition-
ally, in order to determinate the water temperature at the reservoir,
several geothermometric techniques have been applied, including both
geothermometrical modelling and classical geothermometrical calcu-
lations. The geothermometrical modelling seems to indicate that
thermal waters re-equilibrate with respect to calcite and kaolinite
during their ascent to the surface. Modelling results suggest that these
thermal waters would be in equilibrium with respect to albite, K-
feldspar, quartz, calcite, kaolinite and zoisite at a similar temperature
of 90 20
C.
13/00406 Modeling the dynamics of a geothermal reservoir
fed by gravity driven flow through overstanding saturated
rocks
Cerminara, M. and Fasano, A. Journal of Volcanology and Geothermal
Research, 2012, 233234, 3754.
This study formulates a mathematical model for a geothermal basin
with an idealized geometry characterized by: (1) radial symmetry
around an extracting well (or a cluster of wells), (2) a relatively thin
horizontal fractured layer lying underneath a low permeability, low
porosity rock layer, saturated with water. Vaporization is allowed only
at the boundary of the extracting well (or well cluster). The model is
based on the assumption that the flow from the reservoir to the well is
fed by a gravity driven flow through the overstanding rocks. Despite the
various simplifying assumptions, the resulting mathematical problem is
difficult also because the effect of thermal expansion and thermal
variation of viscosity is also considered. Though there is no evidence
that the assumed configuration of the basin approaches the structure of
a known geothermal field, the results obtained match with surprising
accuracy the data of a specific field in the Mt Amiata area.
13/00407 Numerical analysis of three direct cooling
systems using underground energy storage: a case study of
Jinghai County, Tianjin, China
Deng, N. et al. Energy and Buildings, 2012, 47, 612618.
Three kinds of ground source energy system used as heat sink directly
for cooling the buildings in summer are presented, which are
underground water system, ground heat exchange system and under-
ground sink system, respectively. Correspondingly, three numerical
models are established. Based on a rural housing in Jinghai County,
Tianjin, the simulated operating results of three systems are analysed
and compared. The applied size parameters for direct cooling system
(DCS) were coincident with traditional compression refrigeration
system. The results indicate that the outlet water temperature of the
double-wells circulating system remains stable and the system
operation effect is satisfied. Hence, it is recommended as a prior way
for DCS to give long-term, safe and stable operation. However, the
outlet water temperature of the U-shaped tube system easily exceeds
23
C. With an increase in
atmospheric cross flow velocity, the fluid flow velocity inside SUT
was found to increase. The enlargement effect of pressure potential
and SUT inlet air velocity induced by atmospheric cross flow increased
with higher SUT height, but decreased with higher temperature rise,
which is proportional to collector area. The percentage enlargement
for cross flow to the pressure potential was between 67% and 102%
and that to the SUT inlet air velocity was between 33% and 48%, for H
varying from 100 m to 3000 m and T=20
C. The enlargement
drastically decreased for T varying from 0 to 80
C for H=900 m.
The work would lay a good foundation for the accurate prediction of
potential power production from SUT power plants by considering the
effect of atmospheric cross flow.
13/00426 Investigation of an improved solar-powered open
absorption system for cooling, dehumidification and air
conditioning
Gommed, K. and Grossman, G. International Journal of Refrigeration,
2012, 35, (3), 676684.
This study is concerned with an open absorption (liquid desiccant)
system, capable of producing both cooling and dehumidification for air
conditioning, utilizing low-grade heat. The system includes a novel
solution heat and mass exchanger (HME) designed to serve as a
desiccant solution reservoir for both the absorber and desorber, enabl-
ing mass transfer between them with minimum heat transfer losses and
eliminating the need for an external recuperative heat exchanger. The
use of this new HME together with an improved solution flow arrange-
ment in the new system facilitates the use of adiabatic absorption/
desorption with minimum circulation heat losses and wetting problems.
The characteristic performance of the system was studied under
varying operating conditions. The use of the new HME has fulfilled the
objective of reducing the time constant of the system, helped correct
idling and level control problems and ensures maximum solution
concentration on the absorber side during desorber operation.
13/00427 Large scale integration of photovoltaics in cities
Strzalka, A. et al. Applied Energy, 2012, 93, 413421.
For a large-scale implementation of photovoltaics (PV) in the urban
environment, building integration is a major issue. This includes
installations on roof or facade surfaces with orientations that are not
ideal for maximum energy production. To evaluate the performance of
PV systems in urban settings and compare it with the building users
electricity consumption, three-dimensional geometry modelling was
combined with photovoltaic system simulations. As an example, the
modern residential district of Scharnhauser Park (SHP) near Stuttgart
in Germany was used to calculate the potential of photovoltaic energy
and to evaluate the local own consumption of the energy produced. For
most buildings of the district only annual electrical consumption data
were available and only selected buildings have electronic metering
equipment. The available roof area for one of these multi-family case
study buildings was used for a detailed hourly simulation of the PV
power production, which was then compared to the hourly measured
electricity consumption. The results were extrapolated to all buildings
of the analysed area by normalizing them to the annual consumption
data. The PV systems can produce 35% of the quarters total electricity
consumption and half of this generated electricity is directly used
within the buildings.
13/00428 Low cost and high efficiency of single phase
photovoltaic system based on microcontroller
Khemissi, L. et al. Solar Energy, 2012, 86, (5), 11291141.
This paper presents a theoretical and practical study of a single-phase
photovoltaic (PV) conversion system. It consists of a step-down con-
verter to charge a battery with the maximum power available from
photovoltaic generator (PVG) and a single-phase voltage source inver-
ter (VSI) to produce a stable AC voltage (220 V/50 Hz) with lower total
harmonic distortion (THD). A new perturb and observe algorithm is
designed and implemented in a cheaper microcontroller PIC 16F876
where the duty cycle perturbation and the sampling period are selected
to ensure the stability of the PV system around the maximum power.
The control strategy adopted for the inverter is the selective harmonic
eliminated pulse width modulation (SHE PWM). The pulses are
calculated and transferred on the PIC 16F876 memory. With this
technique, inverter losses are decreased and the output voltage is easily
filtered with a simple low pass filter producing a perfectly sine wave
form voltage. The battery is sized to supply loads in non-sunny times.
With optimization of its various components, the conventional single
phase PV system has a low cost, high efficiency but also good power
quality which represents a good opportunity to use it in many stand-
alone photovoltaic applications such as houses lighting. An exper-
imental system has been made to demonstrate the efficiency of the
photovoltaic system and to validate simulations done by Matlab
Simulink environment.
13/00429 Modeling of a solar powered absorption cycle for
Abu Dhabi
Al-Alili, A. et al. Applied Energy, 2012, 93, 160167.
In this study, the feasibility of a solar powered absorption cycle under
Abu Dhabis weather conditions is assessed. Utilizing solar energy is
very attractive since the cooling requirements are in phase with the
solar energy availability. Using solar driven air conditioners would also
reduce the dependence on fossil fuel based energy. The proposed
system uses evacuated tube collectors to drive a 10 kW
c
ammonia
water absorption chiller. Transient systems simulation of the complete
system is carried out in order to select and size different system
components. Based on the thermal analysis, the solar air conditioner
system has a specific collector area of 6 m
2
/kW
c
and a specific tank
volume of 0.1 m
3
/kW
c
. The selected system size requires about 47% less
electrical energy than the widely spread vapour-compression cycles of
the same cooling capacity. In addition, an economic analysis is
performed for three electricity costs. The collector area is found to
be the key parameters in reducing the payback period of the initial
investment. Moreover, the proposed system is found to reduce
12 metric tons/year of CO
2
emissions due to its energy savings.
13/00430 Optimal siting and size of bioenergy facilities
using geographic information system
Sultana, A. and Kumar, A. Applied Energy, 2012, 94, 192201.
Biomass is a geographically dependent renewable resource which can
be used for production of fuels and chemicals. This study develops a
methodology for determining the suitable locations, optimal sizes and
number of biomass-based facilities for a particular region through
transport cost optimization which is applied for locating pellet plants in
the province of Alberta in Canada. The methodology also includes
computation of local optimal size and cost of pellet production
considering road network and spatially varied biomass. Different
constraints and environmental factors for siting biomass-based facilities
are analysed to derive a land suitability model. Based on location
allocation model, 13 plants could be built in the Province of Alberta
with transportation costs in the range of $2133 per tonne. The locally
determined unit costs of pellet plants vary within $108121 with
optimal plant capacities of 150,000250,000 tonnes per year.
13/00431 Optimal sizing of photovoltaic distributed
generators in a distribution system with consideration of
solar radiation and harmonic distortion
Hengsritawat, V. et al. International Journal of Electrical Power &
Energy Systems, 2012, 39, (1), 3647.
This paper presents a probabilistic approach to design an optimal size
of photovoltaic distributed generator (PV-DG) in a distribution system.
A steady-state voltage stability index is applied to select PV-DG
locations. The objective of the proposed technique is to minimize
average system active power losses, while considering power quality
constraints (i.e. voltage regulation, total harmonic voltage distortion,
total demand distortion and harmonic currents). Monte Carlo
simulation is applied to acquire solar radiations, ambient temperatures,
load demands and substation voltages. The proposed technique is
tested on an actual 51-bus medium voltage distribution system in
Thailand. From simulations, there is a different solution between
selecting the optimal size of PV-DG from with and without considering
background harmonics. Also in realistic cases, PV-DGs may improve
voltage regulation and decrease losses in distribution systems; however,
increase total harmonic voltage distortion values.
13/00432 Preformance analysis of a water splitting reactor
with hybrid photochemical conversion of solar energy
Baniasadi, E. et al. International Journal of Hydrogen Energy, 2012, 37,
(9), 74647472.
In this paper, a new hybrid system for hydrogen production via solar
energy is developed and analysed. In order to decompose water into
hydrogen and oxygen without the net consumption of additional
reactants, a steady stream of reacting materials must be maintained in
consecutive reaction processes, to avoid reactant replenishment or
additional energy input to facilitate the reaction. The system comprises
two reactors, which are connected through a proton conducting mem-
brane. Oxidative and reductive quenching pathways are developed for
the water reduction and oxidation reactions. Supramolecular comp-
lexes [{(bpy)
2
Ru(dpp)}
2
RhBr
2
] (PF
6
)
5
are employed as the photo-
catalysts, and an external electric power supply is used to enhance the
photochemical reaction. A light driven proton pump is used to increase
the photochemical efficiency of both O
2
and H
2
production reactions.
64 Fuel and Energy Abstracts January 2013
13 Alternative energy supplies (solar energy)
The energy and exergy efficiencies at a system level are analysed and
discussed. The maximum energy conversion of the system can be
improved up to 14% by incorporating design modification that yield a
corresponding 25% improvement in the exergy efficiency.
13/00433 Sizing, techno-economic and generation
management analysis of a stand alone photovoltaic power
unit including storage devices
Jallouli, R. and Krichen, L. Energy, 2012, 40, (1), 196209.
Due to the mismatch between the load demand and the intermittent
solar energy, a stand-alone photovoltaic-hydrogen system and an
optimal control scheme are designed to maintain the high system
efficiency. Based on meteorological and the load demand data, a
system sizing technique is proposed to establish the minimum capacity
of the system components, which are a photovoltaic panel, a proton
exchange membrane fuel cell, a battery bank, an alkaline electrolyser
and a hydrogen storage tank. In terms of device cost, the optimal
system provides a simple method to evaluate the economic feasibility of
a stand-alone photovoltaic system. Energy management requires
monitoring and controlling the power storage levels by making
decisions based on the system operating mode. As a result, it leads
to the energy sustainability of the power system. The thresholds of the
storage levels in the batteries and the hydrogen storage tank are
variable but should be adapted based on the available equipment and
the users needs. The results prove that the strategy gives an optimal
solution to the general system design.
13/00434 Study of the first step of the Mn
2
O
3
/MnO
thermochemical cycle for solar hydrogen production
Marugan, J. et al. International Journal of Hydrogen Energy, 2012, 37,
(8), 70177025.
In this work, a complete thermodynamic study of the first step of the
Mn
2
O
3
/MnO thermochemical cycle for solar hydrogen production has
been performed. The thermal reduction of Mn
2
O
3
takes place through
a sequential mechanism of two reaction steps. The first step (reduction
of Mn
2
O
3
to Mn
3
O
4
) takes place at temperatures above 700
C,
whereas the second reaction step (reduction of Mn
3
O
4
to MnO)
requires temperatures above 1350
C are
presented.
13/00506 Coupling between finite volume method and
lattice Boltzmann method and its application to fluid flow
and mass transport in proton exchange membrane fuel cell
Chen, L. et al. International Journal of Heat and Mass Transfer, 2012,
55, (1314), 38343848.
In this paper, a concentration distribution function reconstruction
operator is derived to lift macroscopic parameter concentration to
concentration distribution function in lattice Boltzmann method
(LBM). Combined with a densityvelocity distribution function
reconstruction operator previously derived by the authors group, the
coupled finite volume method and LBM scheme (CFVLBM),
previously proposed by the authors group is extended to simulate
both fluid flow and mass transport processes. The accuracy of
concentration distribution function reconstruction operator and the
feasibility of CFVLBM are validated by two numerical examples,
diffusionconvectionreaction problem and natural convection in a
square cavity induced by concentration gradient. Finally, the CFVLBM
is further adopted to simulate fluid flow and mass transport in the gas
channel and gas diffusion layer (GDL) of a proton exchange membrane
74 Fuel and Energy Abstracts January 2013
14 Fuel science and technology (fuel cell technology)
fuel cell. It is found that the CFVLBM can capture the pore-scale
information of fluid flow and species transport in porous GDL and can
save the computational resources.
13/00507 Effects of operating conditions on internal
resistances in enzyme fuel cells studied via electrochemical
impedance spectroscopy
Aaron, D. et al. Journal of Power Sources, 2012, 201, 5965.
Enzyme fuel cells (EFCs) offer some advantages over traditional
precious-metal-catalysed fuel cells, such as polymer electrolyte
membrane fuel cells (PEMFCs). However, EFCs exhibit far less power
output than PEMFCs and have relatively short life spans before
materials must be replaced. In this work, electrochemical impedance
spectroscopy (EIS) is used to analyse the internal resistances
throughout the EFC at a variety of operating conditions. EIS analysis
is focused primarily on the resistances of the anode, solution/
membrane, and cathode. Increased enzyme loading results in improved
power output and reductions in internal resistance. Conditions are
identified for which enzyme loading does not limit the EFC
performance. EIS experiments are also reported for EFCs operated
continuously for 2 days; power output declines sharply over time, while
all internal resistances increase. Drying of the cathode and enzyme/
mediator degradation are believed to have contributed to this
behaviour. Finally, experiments are performed at varying air-humidi-
fication temperatures. Little effect on internal resistances or power
output is observed. However, it is anticipated that increased air
humidification can improve longevity by delivering more water to the
cathode. Improvements to the enzymatic cathode are needed for EFC
development. These improvements need to focus on improving
transport rather than increasing enzyme loading.
13/00508 Effects of process integration in an active direct
methanol fuel-cell system
Zenith, F. et al. Chemical Engineering and Processing: Process
Intensification, 2012, 59, 4351.
This article investigates process integration in a direct methanol fuel-
cell system from the points of view of controllability, efficiency, and
safety. The two cooling and separation lines of anodic and cathodic
effluent from the cell stack of a reference system are integrated into a
single one. The potential for process integration is measured
quantitatively, determining how much the heat exchangers need to be
oversized in the reference system, and qualitatively, considering the
expected benefits of a more integrated system. The control layout of
the reference system is redesigned for the integrated system, without
significant loss in dynamic and steady-state performance. A significant
disadvantage of the integrated layout is the increased loss of unreacted
methanol from its exhaust, which reduces efficiency and has safety
implications. The integrated system is found most appropriate for
small, portable systems for which small size and high energy density are
particularly important.
13/00509 Enhanced biodegradation of hydrocarbon-
contaminated sediments using microbial fuel cells
Morris, J. M. and Jin, S. Journal of Hazardous Materials, 2012, 213
214, 474477.
A sediment microbial fuel cell (MFC) was tested to determine if
electron transfer from the anaerobic zone of contaminated sediments
to the overlying aerobic water could facilitate an enhanced and aerobic
equivalent degradation of total petroleum hydrocarbons (TPH).
Results indicate that voltages as high as 190 mV (2162 mW/m
3
) were
achieved in a sediment MFC with an anode buried in sediments
containing TPH concentrations at approximately 16,000 mg kg
1
.
Additionally, after approximately 66 days, the TPH degradation rates
were 2% and 24% in the open-circuit control sediment MFC and active
sediment MFC, respectively. Therefore, it appears that applying MFC
technology to contaminated sediments enhances natural biodegrada-
tion by nearly 12-fold. Additionally, a novel sediment MFC was
designed to provide a cost-effective method of passive oxidation or
indirect aerobic degradation of contaminants in an otherwise anaerobic
environment. In addition, the use of a wicking air cathode in this study
maintained dissolved oxygen concentrations 12 mg l
1
higher than
submerged cathodes, demonstrating that this technology can be applied
to environments with either aerobic or anaerobic overlying water and
an anaerobic matrix, such as shallow lagoon, ponds, and marshes, and
groundwater.
13/00510 Facile synthesis of poly(amidoamine)-modified
carbon nanospheres supported Pt nanoparticles for direct
methanol fuel cells
Huang, Y. et al. Journal of Power Sources, 2012, 201, 8187.
In this work, the synthesis and characterization of a catalyst material
consisted of Pt, poly(amidoamine) (PAMAM) and carbon nanospheres
are investigated. Firstly, carbon nanospheres are hydrothermally
synthesized, followed by a high temperature of calcination to achieve
a high amount of oxygen-containing groups. Subsequently, these
carbon nanospheres are modified with multifunctional PAMAM
dendrimers to form coordinate complex with H
2
PtCl
6
, followed by
the reduction with sodium borohydride to obtain metallic Pt. The
resulting composites are characterized by transmission electron
microscopy, X-ray photoelectron spectroscopy and infrared spec-
troscopy. This new nanomaterial is used as catalysts for methanol
electro-oxidation and their electrochemical features are investigated in
detail by cyclic voltammetry, chronoamperometry and CO-stripping
analysis. The results of this study suggest that, through modification
with multifunctional dendrimers, complex carbon nanospheres-based
materials can be fabricated, where Pt nanoparticles are smaller, more
abundant and more uniformly distributed, thereby providing higher
electrocatalytic ability in direct methanol fuel cell and many possibi-
lities for various applications in biosensors and biomedical diagnosis.
13/00511 Investigating the effects of operational factors on
PEMFC performance based on CFD simulations using a
three-level full-factorial design
Cheng, S.-J. et al. Renewable Energy, 2012, 39, (1), 250260.
This study uses the 3
3
full-factorial design, a factorial arrangement with
three factors at three levels, to investigate the main and interaction
effects of design parameters on the performance of a single 25 cm
2
proton exchange membrane fuel cell. The factors considered in this
study include the flow channel design, the operational temperature,
and the relative humidity of the cathode gas mixture. The gas flow
channel patterns for both the anode side and the cathode side are the
same as a straight parallel channel design and two modified parallel
channel designs. The operational temperatures are selected as 333, 343
and 353 K. The relative humidity of the cathode gas mixture varies from
50 to 100% at 25% intervals, while the relative humidity of the anode
gas mixture remains fixed at 100%. All runs are conducted with a three-
dimensional, non-isothermal steady-state fuel cell computational fluid
dynamic model (FCFD) with specified boundary conditions. The
FCFD model can not only output the polarization curve, but also
predict complex multi-physics flow, thermal, mass and ion transport
phenomena inside the tiny fuel cell multi-layer structures. This full-
factorial design of experimental method reveals that it is possible to not
only explore the main effects of this complex multi-physics problem,
but also investigate the effects of two-factor interactions for generating
maximum power density. Results show that the flow channel design has
the most significant effect on the polarization curve; the next is the cell
temperature, while the relative humidity of the cathode gas mixture
plays only a minor role.
13/00512 Investigations of the temperature distribution in
proton exchange membrane fuel cells
Jung, C.-Y. et al. Applied Energy, 2012, 93, 733741.
A two-dimensional, non-isothermal model of a proton exchange
membrane fuel cell was implemented to elucidate heat balance through
the membrane electrode assembly (MEA). To take local utilization of
platinum catalyst into account, the model was presented by considering
the formation of agglomerated catalyst structure in the electrodes. To
estimate energy balance through the MEA, various modes of heat
generation and depletion by reversible/irreversible heat release, ohmic
heating and phase change of water were included in the present model.
In addition, dual-pathway kinetics, that is a combination of Heyrovsky
Volmer and TafelVolmer kinetics, were employed to precisely
describe the hydrogen oxidation reaction. The proposed model was
validated with experimental cell polarization, resulting in excellent fit.
The temperature distribution inside the MEA was analysed by the
model. Consequently, a thorough investigation was made of the
relation between membrane thickness and the temperature distribution
inside the MEA.
13/00513 Modeling of the photovoltaic cell circuit
parameters for optimum connection model and real-time
emulator with partial shadow conditions
Kadri, R. et al. Energy, 2012, 42, (1), 5767.
Photovoltaic (PV) power has been successfully used for over five
decades. The output characteristics of a PV array vary non-linearly
when temperature or irradiance conditions change. At the beginning of
this paper, the performance of PV panel is analysed, for parallel and
series connections of solar cell elements exposed to the same light
conditions and temperature by using the Brunes conditions of
interconnection. Therefore the parameters of the equivalent circuits
for each typical PV cell connections are characterized by a new set of
matrix equations. A lab view application is implemented to prove the
theoretical models. Moreover, the grid connected PV systems have
become more popular because they do not need battery back-ups to
ensure maximum power point tracking (MPPT). However, partial
shading is one of the main causes that reduces energy yield of PV array.
In this respect, the second part of the paper refers to the influences of
different irradiance conditions on the PV array performance in order
to achieve MPPT under shaded array conditions. Consequently, PV
array emulator is crucial for the operational evaluation of system
Fuel and Energy Abstracts January 2013 75
14 Fuel science and technology (fuel cell technology)
components. The purpose of this study extension is to design and
develop a new real-time emulator of PV array output characteristics
based on closed-loop reference model.
13/00514 Optimization of the strength of SOFC anode
supports
Frandsen, H. L. et al. Journal of the European Ceramic Society, 2012,
32, (5), 10411052.
During operation solid oxide fuel cells are stressed by temperature
gradients and various internal and external mechanical loads, which
must be withstood. This work deals with the optimization of the
strength of as-sintered anode supported half-cells by imposing changes
to production parameters, such as powder milling and sintering
temperature. The strength was measured with the ball-on-ring method,
and analysed with a large displacement finite element model. Weibull
statistics were used to describe the distribution of strengths. The
influence on the Weibull strength of the many different processing
parameters was found to be quantifiable in terms of cell porosity to a
large extent. The results were validated with an independent set of
measurements of strength and stiffness by uniaxial tension and the
impulse excitation technique, respectively. For application of the
finding in relation to the SOFC technology a mathematical frame to
determine the optimal porosity of a SOFC system is presented.
13/00515 Performance comparison of the mass transfer
models with internal reforming for solid oxide fuel cell
anodes
Wang, S. et al. International Journal of Heat and Mass Transfer, 2012,
55, (1516), 39333945.
In this work, models describing multicomponent gas diffusion process
in an electrode of a porous solid oxide fuel cell (SOFC) anode coupled
with internal reforming reactions were developed. The performances of
three different types of models, the dusty-gas model (DGM), the
binary-friction model (BFM) and the cylindrical pore interpolation
model (CPIM), were compared in one dimension. All these models
take into account Knudsen diffusion and moleculemolecule diffusion
can be used in transition region which is generally the case in a SOFC
electrode. The developed models are able to predict the fuel
components molar fraction distributions in the anode electrode, and
the concentration overpotential. They are capable of simulating the
internal reforming process for hydrocarbon fuel, such as natural gas,
with kinetic models considering both methane-steam reforming
(MSR), and watergas shift reaction (WSR). The effects of pressure
gradient, pore size, current density, are studied. It was found that three
models give similar results in difference cases using the same tuned
tortuosity factor (t
2
). The difference caused using the isobaric
assumption is negligible for the H
2
H
2
OAr and COCO
2
system,
expect at small pore sizes (under 1 mm) and high current density (above
1 A/cm
2
). For a system fed with hydrocarbon fuel, the isobaric
assumption will change the molar fraction distribution by up to 10%
for different gas mixture components for the CPIM and the BFM, and
up to 25% for the DGM at small pore sizes. However, the reaction
rates for both MSR and WSR remain the same when the pressure
variation is neglected.
13/00516 Process integration and optimization of a solid
oxide fuel cell gas turbine hybrid cycle fueled with
hydrothermally gasified waste biomass
Facchinetti, E. et al. Energy, 2012, 41, (1), 408419.
Due to its suitability for using wet biomass, hydrothermal gasification is
a promising process for the valorization of otherwise unused waste
biomass to synthesis gas and biofuels. Solid oxide fuel cell (SOFC)
based hybrid cycles are considered as the best candidate for a more
efficient and clean conversion of (bio) fuels. A significant potential for
the integration of the two technologies is expected since hydrothermal
gasification requires heat at 673773 K, whereas SOFC is characterized
by heat excess at high temperature due to the limited electrochemical
fuel conversion. This work presents a systematic process integration
and optimization of a SOFC-gas turbine (GT) hybrid cycle fuelled with
hydrothermally gasified waste biomass. Several design options are
systematically developed and compared through a thermodynamic
optimization approach based on first law and exergy analysis. The work
demonstrates the considerable potential of the system that allows for
converting wet waste biomass into electricity at a first law efficiency of
up to 63%, while simultaneously enabling the separation of biogenic
carbon dioxide for further use or sequestration.
13/00517 Sensitivity analysis applied to the multi-objective
optimization of a MCFC hybrid plant
Sciacovelli, A. and Verda, V. Energy Conversion and Management,
2012, 60, 180187.
In this paper the multi-objective optimization of a landfill-gas-fuelled
hybrid molten carbonate fuel cell (MCFC) system for electricity
generation and hydrogen production is performed. The plant lifetime
is considered in the optimization procedure in order to account for the
effects due to the degradation in the fuel cell performance and
variations in the landfill gas composition. The results show that it is
particularly important to include considerations related with plant
lifetime in the evaluation of the plant efficiency and on the average unit
cost of electricity. In fact, there are system designs that allow one to
achieve high performances when the plant is new but are less robust,
which causes large unit costs. The effects of uncertainties on various
operating and design variables have been also evaluated. It is shown
that introducing such considerations produce significant reduction in
the expected plant efficiency and increase in the unit cost of electricity.
In particular, the most important effects are produced by uncertainties
on ambient temperature, landfill gas composition and the methane
conversion in the steam reformer.
13/00518 Thermodynamic analysis of hydrogen production
for fuel cells from oxidative steam reforming of methanol
Wang, J. et al. Fuel, 2012, 97, 805811.
A thermodynamic analysis of hydrogen production from oxidative
steam reforming (OSR) of methanol has been carried out by a Gibbs
free energy minimization method. The equilibrium yields of hydrogen,
carbon monoxide, methane and coke as a function of H
2
O/MeOH ratio
(0.010.0), O
2
/MeOH ratio (0.01.0), and temperature (200, 400, 600,
800
C), while
hydrogen and carbon monoxide become dominant products with the
increase of the temperature. The temperature 600
C is favourable for
hydrogen production at which the highest hydrogen yield appears.
Carbon monoxide yield increases monotonically with the increase of
the temperature and shows its maximum at 800
C. An increase of the
H
2
O/MeOH ratio leads to a preference for hydrogen production as
well as an inhibition of the formation of carbon monoxide, methane
and coke. The major contribution of adding oxygen is lowering the
energy supply and suppressing the potential of coke formation at low
H
2
O/MeOH ratio. However, the total oxidation of methanol tends to
dominant in this case. For the purpose of producing hydrogen-rich gas,
no oxygen addition is preferred. The favourable operation window is
obtained as 600
C, H
2
O/MeOH ratio =6.08.0 and O
2
/MeOH
ratio =0. Under this optimal condition, 2.772.84 mol/mol methanol
hydrogen yield and 0.130.17 mol/mol methanol carbon monoxide yield
with trace amount methane (0.00700.017 mol/mol methanol) can be
achieved without the risk of carbon deposition.
15 ENVIRONMENT
Pollution, health protection,
applications
13/00519 A study towards greener construction
Bassioni, G. Applied Energy, 2012, 93, 132137.
The manufacture of cements with several main constituents is of
particular importance with regard to reducing climatically relevant CO
2
emissions in the cement industry. This ecological aspect is not the only
argument in favour of Portland composite cements; they are also viable
alternatives to Portland cement from the technical point of view.
Substitution of ordinary Portland cement (CEM I) by Portland
composite cements (CEM II) and (CEM III), which clearly possess
different chemical and mineralogical compositions, results in changes
of their reaction behaviour with additives like superplasticizers. A
common admixture to CEM I in that sense is limestone (industrial
CaCO
3
); its interaction with polycarboxylates is ignored and its
inertness is taken for granted. This study provides a systematic
approach in order to better understand the interaction of these
polymeric superplasticizers with CaCO
3
by adsorption and zeta
potential measurements. The results give some fundamental under-
standing in how far the cement industry can reduce the production of
cement clinker by replacing it with limestone as admixture and
consequently the CO
2
emission is reduced, which is of high political
and environmental interest.
13/00520 A sustainability assessment of electric vehicles
as a personal mobility system
Faria, R. et al. Energy Conversion and Management, 2012, 61, 1930.
This paper presents a study of the economic and environmental
balances for electric vehicles (EVs) versus internal combustion engine
vehicle (ICEV). The analyses were based on the well-to-wheel (WTW)
76 Fuel and Energy Abstracts January 2013
15 Environment (pollution, health protection, applications)
methodology, a specific type of life cycle assessment (LCA). WTW
balances were carried out taking into account different scenarios for
the primary energy supply and different vehicle technologies. The
primary energy supply includes non-renewable sources (fossil fuels and
nuclear) and renewable energy source (RES). Vehicle technologies
include battery electric vehicle (BEV), hybrid electric vehicle (HEV)
and plug-in hybrid electric vehicle (PHEV). The generation scenarios
considered in the study include the present European Union (EU)
average mix and a planned increasing contribution from RESs. For the
BEV, several real world driving cycle scenarios were investigated, using
a custom built data acquisition system, in order to characterize the
main factors that contribute to the overall energy consumption,
associated cost and emissions. In terms of environmental impact, for
the average EU electricity mix, BEVs have less than a half of the
emissions than an ICEV. However, the ownership costs during its life
cycle (about 10 years) are similar to an equivalent ICEV, despite the
lower operational costs for BEVs. The likely battery price reduction,
leading to a lower investment cost, will gradually tip the balance in
favour of EVs.
13/00521 An economic analysis of the packaging waste
recovery note system in the UK
Matsueda, N. and Nagase, Y. Resource and Energy Economics, 2012,
34, (4), 669679.
In order to cope with the increasing scarcity of final dump sites for
household wastes, the UK recently introduced an environmental policy
targeted at the firms that produce and sell products that generate
packaging wastes. This policy requires such businesses to hold
predetermined numbers of tradable credits called packaging waste
recovery notes (PRNs). This article provides insights into the
economic implications of such a policy through a simple analytical
model of a recyclable product and the PRN markets. This analysis
yields two particularly interesting results. First, an increase in the
required recycling rate dampens the output and landfill waste levels,
while the effect on the level of recycling activities is ambiguous.
Second, an increase in the landfill tax always leads to an increase in the
landfill waste. The authors also discuss how the socially optimal landfill
tax in the presence of the PRN market should be chosen.
13/00522 Analysis of injury events with fuzzy cognitive
maps
Bevilacqua, M. et al. Journal of Loss Prevention in the Process
Industries, 2012, 25, (4), 677685.
Issues related to health and safety at work, such as accidents at work,
are one of the most important areas of action for global social policy.
This paper presents a fuzzy cognitive map (FCM) approach to explore
the importance of the relevant factors in industrial plants. For this
purpose, industrial plants are described in terms of factors that affect
injury risk and the causal relationships involved. In this work, the
injuries in an Italian refinery have been studied. The company in this
account has a system for monitoring and controlling the machinery but
has a large number of minor injuries at work. The causes of these
injuries have been found in human behaviours. To analyse the injuries,
it is necessary to investigate what individual-level concerns are involved
in the perception of risk. For this investigation, an FCM permits us to
build a schema of the perception of risk. The resulting analysis of all of
these schemas has allowed us to define a method that generically
permits a determination of the causes for each type of injury. In fact, it
has been possible to determine that factors such as poor attention and
concentration or fatigue are the main causes of injuries at work. In
light of the results obtained, managers can define appropriate control
procedures to diminish the occurrences of the injuries.
13/00523 Do technology externalities justify restrictions on
emission permit trading?
De Cian, E. and Tavoni, M. Resource and Energy Economics, 2012, 34,
(4), 624646.
International emission trading is an important flexibility mechanism,
but its use has been often restricted on the ground that access to
international carbon credits can undermine the domestic abatement
effort reducing the incentive to innovate and, eventually, lowering the
pace of climate policy-induced technological change. This paper
examines the economics that is behind these concerns by studying
how a cap to the trade of carbon offsets influences innovation,
technological change, and welfare. By using a standard game of
abatement and R&D, the authors investigate the main mechanisms
that shape these relationships. They also use a numerical integrated
assessment model that features environmental and technology extern-
alities to quantify how limits to the volume, the timing, and the regional
allocation of carbon offsets affect climate policy costs and the incentive
to invest in innovation and low-carbon technologies. Results indicate
that, for moderate caps on the amount tradable emissions permits and
sufficiently high technology spillovers, global innovation and technical
change would increase and that this additional innovative effort could
lead to economic efficiency gains. The numerical analysis confirms that
when constraints are close to 15% of domestic abatement, efficiency
losses are small because they are partly compensated by more
technological spillovers and lower energy prices. Under a broad range
of parameters, restrictions are costly for the constrained countries, but
always beneficial for unconstrained ones.
13/00524 Economic growth, industrialization, and the
environment
Cherniwchan, J. Resource and Energy Economics, 2012, 34, (4), 442
467.
In this paper, the author argues that the compositional shift from
agricultural to industrial production industrialization is a central
determinant of changes in environmental quality as economies develop.
A simple two-sector model of neoclassical growth and the environment
in a small open economy is developed to examine how industrialization
affects the environment. The model is estimated using sulfur emissions
data for 157 countries over the period 19702000. The results show the
process of industrialization is a significant determinant of observed
changes in emissions: a 1% increase in industrys share of total output
is associated with an 11.8% increase in the level of emissions per
capita.
13/00525 Exhaust emissions control and engine
parameters optimization using artificial neural network
virtual sensors for a hydrogen-powered vehicle
Yap, W. K. et al. International Journal of Hydrogen Energy, 2012, 37,
(10), 87048715.
This paper presents an alternative tool for vehicle tuning applications
by incorporating the use of artificial neural network (ANN) virtual
sensors for a hydrogen-powered car. The objective of this study is to
optimize simple engine process parameters to regulate the exhaust
emissions. The engine process parameters (throttle position, lambda,
ignition advance and injection angle) and the exhaust emission
variables (CO, CO
2
, HC and NO
x
) form the basis of the virtual
sensors. Experimental data were first obtained through a comprehen-
sive experimental and tuning procedure for neural network training
and validation. The optimization layer-by-layer neural network was
used to construct two ANN virtual sensors; the engine and emissions
models. The performance and accuracy of the proposed virtual sensors
were found to be acceptable with the maximum predictive mean
relative errors of 0.65%. With its accurate predictive capability, the
virtual sensors were then employed and simulated as a measurement
tool for vehicle tuning and optimization. Simulation results showed
that the exhaust emissions can be regulated by optimizing simple
engine process parameters. This study presents an alternative tool for
vehicle tuning applications for a hydrogen-powered vehicle. In
addition, this work also provided a tool to better understand the
effects of various engine conditions on the exhaust emissions without
the need for any vehicle modifications.
13/00526 From ecodesign products guidelines to materials
guidelines for a sustainable product. Qualitative and
quantitative multicriteria environmental profile of a material
Allione, C. et al. Energy, 2012, 39, (1), 9099.
This paper deals with the development of MATto, a virtual and
physical library including more than 500 innovative material samples.
The most important feature of this material library is to provide a deep
analysis of the perceptual performances and eco-properties of the
materials in the database. As far as the material eco-properties are
concerned, a study has been carried out and it is aimed at developing a
list of ecodesign guidelines to help the material selection; those are
derived from the well-known eco-guidelines concept and should be
adopted to improve the product life cycle performances. The material
selection guidelines described here have been derived from three main
eco-strategies: use of resources with a low environmental impact,
materials life extension, and environmental ethics and policies. For
each material guideline, different quantitative and qualitative par-
ameters/eco-properties have been identified in order to define an
environmental multicriteria profile, to describe the material properties
and facilitate the choice of the most suitable materials for a green
product. The results collected so far in the process of defining the
environmental properties of the MATto materials are described in this
paper.
13/00527 Home energy consumption feedback: a user
survey
Bonino, D. et al. Energy and Buildings, 2012, 47, 383393.
Buildings account for a relevant fraction of the energy consumed by a
country, up to 2040% of the yearly energy consumption. If only
electricity is considered, the fraction is even bigger, reaching around
73% of the total electricity consumption, equally divided into
residential and commercial dwellings. Building and home automation
have a potential to profoundly impact current and future buildings
energy efficiency by informing users about their current consumption
patterns, by suggesting more efficient behaviours, and by pro-actively
Fuel and Energy Abstracts January 2013 77
15 Environment (pollution, health protection, applications)
changing/modifying user actions for reducing the associated energy
wastes. This paper investigates the capability of an automated home to
automatically, and timely, inform users about energy consumption, by
harvesting opinions of residential inhabitants on energy feedback
interfaces. The authors report here the results of an on-line survey,
involving nearly 1000 participants, about feedback mechanisms
suggested by the research community, with the goal of understanding
what feedback is felt by home inhabitants easier to understand, more
likely to be used, and more effective in promoting behaviour changes.
Contextually, they also collect and distil users attitude towards in-
home energy displays and their preferred locations, gathering useful
insights on user-driven design of more effective in-home energy
displays.
13/00528 Impact of climate change on energy use in the
built environment in different climate zones a review
Li, D. W. H. et al. Energy, 2012, 42, (1), 103112.
Studies on the impact of climate change on energy use in buildings in
the different parts of the world were reviewed. Potential mitigation and
adaptation measures were discussed and further research work
suggested. In severe cold climates reduction in heating requirement
would outweigh the modest increase in summer cooling. In the hot
summer and cold winter climate zones where both winter heating and
summer cooling requirements are important, the magnitude of
reduction in heating and the magnitude of increase in cooling could
be comparable. The most significant impact on energy use in the built
environment would occur in the hot summer and warm winter climates
where building energy use is dominated by cooling requirement.
Raising the summer set point temperature and reducing the lighting
load density would have great energy savings and hence mitigation
potential. Space heating is provided largely by oil- or gas-fired boiler
plants whereas space cooling mainly relies on electricity. This would
result in a shift towards more electrical demand and could have
important implications for the nationwide energy and environmental
policy for the built environment.
13/00529 Implementing the EU renewable target through
green certificate markets
Aune, F. R. et al. Energy Economics, 2012, 34, (4), 9921000.
The European Parliament has agreed on a target of a 20% share of
renewables in the European Unions (EU) total energy consumption by
2020. To achieve the target, the European Council has adopted
mandatory differentiated national targets for each of the member
states. This study considers the use of green certificates to reach the
renewable targets and analyses the potential for cost reductions by
allowing for trade in green certificates across member states. The
authors show that differentiated national targets cannot ensure a cost-
effective implementation of the overall target for the EUs renewable
energy consumption. Trade in green certificates can ensure a cost-
effective distribution of renewable energy production, but the national
targets prevent a cost-effective distribution of energy consumption.
Nevertheless, this numerical model indicates that EU-wide trade in
green certificates may cut the EUs total cost of fulfilling the renewable
target by as much as 70% compared with a situation with no trade.
However, the design of green certificate markets may have a large
impact on the distribution of costs across countries.
13/00530 Is the value of an environmental public good
sensitive to the providing institution?
Remoundou, K. et al. Resource and Energy Economics, 2012, 34, (3),
381395.
This study examines whether stated preferences and willingness to pay
estimates, obtained in a choice experiment, are sensitive to the
institutional context in which the good under evaluation is provided.
Specifically, the authors examine the effects on valuation from
employing two different institutions, an authority under the supervision
of the national government and an authority under the supervision of
an international body, the European Commission, as responsible for
the design and implementation of a forest restoration project following
a split sample approach. It was found that coefficients of the utility
model and willingness to pay estimates for all attributes are not
statistically different between the two treatments. This is so despite the
significant differences in the trust levels reported for the two
institutions. The authors speculate that the results reflect the
significance of the environmental good to the citizens given its local
nature and the sheer size of the fire disaster.
13/00531 Modelling carbon emissions of UK dwellings
the Tarbase domestic model
Jenkins, D. P. et al. Applied Energy, 2012, 93, 596605.
As part of the Tarbase project, the Tarbase domestic model was
developed to assess the energy performance of dwellings and options
for carbon-saving refurbishments. While subject to the usual limits of
steady-state building models, the Tarbase model allows the estimation
to be tailored to a specific dwelling, with climate and internal activity
accounted for. A wider discussion of steady-state models is given, and
the application of the Tarbase model to a real case study of 100 homes
is described. The use of such models can be a valuable, and convenient,
way of quantifying the approximate performance of a range of
individual dwellings, leading the user to solutions for carbon-saving
improvements. However, allowing the model to capture the variation in
building specification is of great importance, as is the philosophy of
seeing the building as being a product of location, construction and
activity/operation.
13/00532 Reduction of test and maintenance human errors
by analyzing task characteristics and work conditions
Kim, J. and Park, J. Progress in Nuclear Energy, 2012, 58, 8999.
Human errors during test and maintenance activities had a significant
contribution to unplanned reactor trips of nuclear power plants.
Especially, four error modes including wrong object, omission, too
little, and wrong action appeared to be recurrently occurring over
decades for execution-based human errors. This paper introduces
human error analysis (HEA) procedures for a predictive analysis of
human error potentials when maintenance personnel perform test or
maintenance actions based on a work procedure or work plan. The
developed HEA procedures are based on the basic error characteristics
and performance shaping factors (PSFs) associated with specific error
modes, and each of the procedures is composed of three steps such as
analysis of basic error potential, evaluation of possible impacts on the
system, and identification of deficient work context or PSFs. The
procedures can be used effectively for identifying potential human
error modes leading to potential negative impacts such as unplanned
reactor trips or plant transients and analysing weak points of work
context while performing T&M works in normal operating conditions,
thereby the maintenance personnel can prepare for the identified
human errors and work context to prevent or reduce potential human
errors. A case study was illustrated in this paper.
13/00533 Simulated impact of future biofuel production on
water quality and water cycle dynamics in the Upper
Mississippi river basin
Wu, M. et al. Biomass and Bioenergy, 2012, 41, 4456.
This study examined the impacts of increased biofuel feedstock
production on regional water resource and water quality. It focused
on the Upper Mississippi river basin, from which a majority of US
biofuel is produced at present. The production of biofuel from both
conventional feedstock and cellulosic feedstock will potentially
increase in the near future, and a significant portion of the cellulosic
feedstock is expected to come from this region. This work developed
future scenarios of biofuel feedstock production in 2015 to assess the
potential water quality and quantity changes associated with an
increase in biofuel production through corn yield increase, harvesting
a fraction of corn stover, and converting land to perennial grass
(switchgrass). The estimates are accomplished by a watershed model
SWAT. Results project a slight increase in phosphorus loading and
decrease in nitrogen loading when corn yield is increased without
cellulosic feedstock production. Harvesting a fraction of corn stover
with improved management and efficient nitrogen use could lead to a
decrease in nitrogen loading (up to 10%) and phosphorus loading (2%)
when soil properties remain constant. Changes in sediment loadings
are relatively minor. Growing switchgrass reduces soil erosion
considerably and positively impacts nitrogen and phosphorus loadings
at the projected yield and fertilizer input while switching from pasture
to switchgrass would increase the water loss associated with evapo-
transpiration (1% of total precipitation), decrease base flow (2%), and
decrease the surface runoff flow to the basin. Major factors including
land use changes, feedstock types, fertilizer inputs, crop yield, and soil
properties were analysed for their direct and composite impacts.
13/00534 The effect of forest fuel harvesting on the fungal
diversity of clear-cuts
Toivanen, T. et al. Biomass and Bioenergy, 2012, 39, 8493.
The removal of logging residues and stumps from clear-cuts has
become a common forestry practice. Forest fuel harvesting decreases
the initially low volume of dead wood in managed forests, but the
biodiversity effects are poorly known. The effects of forest fuel
harvesting on decomposer fungi on clear-cut Norway spruce stands in
central Finland were studied. The number of occurrences and taxa of
polypores, saprotrophic agarics and pleurotoid agarics were deter-
mined on 10 forest fuel harvested and 10 control clear-cuts 45 years
after logging. In total, 148 fungal taxa were recorded. The total number
of taxa, the number of polypore occurrences, and the number of
polypore species within small area were lower at forest fuel harvested
sites. The effect on the number of saprotrophic agaric taxa became
obvious with increasing area. Most of the common polypore species
had fewer occurrences on forest fuel harvested sites while the common-
est agaric species increased due to forest fuel harvesting. Concerning
different dead wood types, there were fewer fungal species and
occurrences on stumps and fewer occurrences on logs on forest fuel
78 Fuel and Energy Abstracts January 2013
15 Environment (pollution, health protection, applications)
harvested sites. Most of the effects of forest fuel harvesting were
explained by the reduction in resource availability. It was concluded
that forest fuel harvesting, especially stump removal, has negative
effects on decomposer fungi and that there is a risk that populations of
certain species still thriving in managed forests will decline in the
future.
13/00535 The willingness to pay for mortality risk
reductions in Mongolia
Hoffmann, S. et al. Resource and Energy Economics, 2012, 34, (4), 493
513.
This paper reports results from a stated preference survey designed to
estimate the willingness to pay for mortality risk reductions in
Ulaanbaatar, Mongolia. The survey includes both contemporaneous
and latent risk reductions of a magnitude typically achievable through
clean air policy. The study is one of a series of national studies
designed to provide comparable estimates around the world. One goal
of this series is to build a more solid bridge for benefits transfer
between developed and developing countries. The survey was con-
ducted in winter 2010. Estimates of willingness to pay passed external
and internal scope tests. Study results imply a value of statistical life of
approximately $500,000 (based on a purchasing power parity exchange
rate) for a contemporaneous 5-in-10,000 annual risk reduction.
13/00536 The yield response of the energy crops
switchgrass and reed canary grass to fertiliser applications
when grown on a low productivity sandy soil
Shield, I. F. et al. Biomass and Bioenergy, 2012, 42, 8696.
Two field experiments were conducted, one each with the energy
grasses switchgrass, Panicum virgatum L. and reed canary grass,
Phalaris arundinacea L., to determine the role of nutritional elements
in optimizing crop yield and associated effects on crop quality for
thermal energy conversion technologies. The two experiments were
adjacent and on low productivity sandy soils in southeast England.
This paper reports the crop yield effects during the years 20032005.
Nitrogen was added in 50 kg ha
1
increments from 0 to 250 kg ha
1
nitrogen. The potassium and sulfur treatments were applied in
combination with 50 and 150 kg ha
1
nitrogen. No yield increase was
detected, suggesting that the soil potassium and sulfur supply was
already sufficient. In reed canary grass a yield response was recorded
when 50 kg ha
1
nitrogen was applied. However, the greater statistical
power achieved by pooling the potassium and sulfur treatments at the
two rates of nitrogen showed that application of 150 kg ha
1
nitrogen
compared to 50 kg ha
1
nitrogen, to reed canary grass, increased crop
yield in each of the 3 years of the study, and by a maximum of
1.35 t ha
1
dry matter in 2004. The same comparison in switchgrass
showed a lesser response (0.7 t ha
1
dry matter) to 150 compared to
50 kg ha
1
nitrogen and in one year only (2003). Therefore, the data
generally show reed canary grass to be the more responsive crop to
nitrogen, but all data should be viewed in respect of the limitations to
yield imposed by site conditions. For both crops, yield peaked in either
late summer or early autumn and then declined overwinter, most
markedly in 20042005. Overall, mean crop yield at final harvest for
both crops, in late winter of each year, was low (<4 t ha
1
dry matter).
This was considered to be due to water stress. The sandy soils had a low
water holding capacity and the weather during 20032005 was generally
warmer and dryer than the long-term average for the site. Block 3 of
the reed canary grass experiment rooted into an area of finer textured
soil (at ca.1.5 m depth) and produced greater yields (5.45 cf. 3.25 and
3.01 t ha
1
dry matter) from blocks 1 and 2, respectively in 20042005.
The results clearly indicate that these genotypes of switchgrass and reed
canary grass may fail to give financially viable yields on inherently low
productivity sites, and that varieties specially selected for such con-
ditions will need to be bred for the industry if such areas are to be used.
CO
2
, NO
x
, SO
2
and particulate
emissions
13/00537 A novel CO
2
cryogenic liquefaction and
separation system
Xu, G. et al. Energy, 2012, 42, (1), 522529.
In this paper, the phase transition characteristics of CO
2
and CO
2
/H
2
mixture are analysed, and ideas for improving the cryogenic separation
method are drawn. On this basis, a novel CO
2
cryogenic liquefaction
and separation system is put forward. In the novel system, two-stage
compression, two-stage refrigeration, two-stage separation, and suffi-
cient recovery of cryogenic energy are adopted. Two-stage compression
can increase the total pressure of gas mixture and liquefaction
temperature of CO
2
. Two-stage refrigeration and two-stage separation
can reduce the cryogenic energy demand and compression work in
subsequent steps. Sufficient recovery of the cryogenic energy can
reduce refrigeration duties. All these measures decrease the total
energy consumption. As a result, under a CO
2
recovery ratio of 90%,
the total energy consumption is only 0.395 MJ/kgCO
2
with over 99%
CO
2
purity. Further analysis indicates that the proposed CO
2
cryogenic
liquefaction and separation system is more suitable for separating
liquid CO
2
from gas mixtures with high CO
2
concentration, and that
the high initial pressure of the mixture presents better performance.
The proposed system can serve as a new approach to CO
2
removal with
low energy penalty.
13/00538 Analysis of regional difference on impact factors
of Chinas energy-related CO
2
emissions
Li, H. et al. Energy, 2012, 39, (1), 319326.
With the intensification of global warming, the issue of carbon
emissions causes more and more attention in recent years. In this
paper, Chinas 30 provincial-level administrative units are divided into
five emission regions according to the annual average value of
provincial CO
2
emissions per capita during 1990 and 2010. The
regional differences in impact factors on CO
2
emissions are discussed
using STIRPAT (stochastic impacts by regression on population,
affluence and technology) model. The results indicate that although
GDP (gross domestic product) per capita, industrial structure,
population, urbanization and technology level have different impacts
on CO
2
emissions in different emission regions, they are almost always
the main factors in all emission regions. In most emission regions,
urbanization and GDP per capita has a bigger impact on CO
2
emissions
than other factors. Improving technology level produces a small
reduction in CO
2
emissions in most emission regions, but it is still a
primary way for CO
2
reduction in China. It is noteworthy that
industrial structure is not the main factor and improving technology
level increases CO
2
emissions in high emission region. Different
measures should be adopted for CO
2
reductions according to local
conditions in different regions.
13/00539 Carbon dioxide capture from flue gases using
microalgae: engineering aspects and biorefinery concept
Pires, J. C. M. et al. Renewable and Sustainable Energy Reviews, 2012,
16, (5), 30433053.
Carbon dioxide (CO
2
) is one of the most important contributors for the
increase of the greenhouse effect. CO
2
concentrations are increasing in
the last decades mainly due to the increase of anthropogenic emissions.
To reduce the effects caused by this environmental problem, several
technologies were studied to capture CO
2
from large emission source
points: (i) absorption; (ii) adsorption; (iii) gas-separation membranes
and (iv) cryogenic distillation. The resulting streams with high CO
2
concentrations are transported and stored in geological formations.
However, these methodologies, known as carbon capture and storage
technologies, are considered as short-term solutions, as there are still
concerns about the environmental sustainability of these processes. A
promising technology is the biological capture of CO
2
using micro-
algae. These microorganisms can fix CO
2
using solar energy with
efficiency ten times greater than terrestrial plants. Moreover, the
capture process using microalgae has the following advantages:
(i) being an environmental sustainable method; (ii) using directly the
solar energy; and (iii) co-producing high added value materials based
on biomass, such as human food, animal feed mainly for aquaculture,
cosmetics, medical drugs, fertilizers, biomolecules for specific appli-
cations and biofuels. Approaches for making CO
2
fixation by micro-
algae economically competitive in comparison with CCS methodologies
are discussed, which includes the type of bioreactors, the key process
parameters, the gaseous effluents and wastewater treatment, the
harvesting methods and the products extracted by microalgal biomass.
13/00540 Correlation for thermal NO
x
formation in
compression ignition (CI) engine fuelled with diesel and
biodiesel
Saravanan, S. et al. Energy, 2012, 42, (1), 401410.
This work attempts to develop a correlation to predict thermal NO
x
formation in compression ignition (CI) engine when fuelled with diesel
and biodiesel. Attention was focused on both the fuel properties
(cetane number, density) and engine design factors (bore, stroke,
compression ratio, fuel injection timing) while developing correlation,
ensuring that it is suitable for all CI engine fuels tested on both
constant and variable speed engines. It was observed that NO
x
emissions predicted through the correlation is comparable with those
of the measured ones. The general trend is observed to be the same for
both the predicted and measured NO
x
emission. At loads more than
25% of the rated load the difference is found to be within 10% while
the difference is slightly higher at loads less than 25%. It was also
observed that the error was in the range of 1020% at modified fuel
injection timings for all the three esters at standard injection timing.
This correlation yields comparatively accurate results for all the fuels at
loads greater than 25% of the rated load and at standard fuel injection
timing.
Fuel and Energy Abstracts January 2013 79
15 Environment (CO
2
, NO
x
, SO
2
and particulate emissions)
13/00541 Exergy analysis of a hydrogen fired combined
cycle with natural gas reforming and membrane assisted
shift reactors for CO
2
capture
Atsonios, K. et al. Energy Conversion and Management, 2012, 60, 196
203.
Hydrogen production from fossil fuels together with carbon capture
has been suggested as a means of providing a carbon free power. The
paper presents a comparative exergetic analysis performed on the
hydrogen production from natural gas with several combinations of
reactor systems: (a) oxy- or air-fired autothermal reforming with
subsequent water gas shift reactor and (b) membrane reactor assisted
with shift catalysts. The influence of reactor temperature and pressure
as well as operating parameter steam-to-carbon ratio, is also studied
exergetically. The results indicate optimal power plant configurations
with CO
2
capture, or hydrogen delivery for industrial applications.
13/00542 Experimental study on the effects of HP and
LP EGR in an automotive turbocharged diesel engine
Zamboni, G. and Capobianco, M. Applied Energy, 2012, 94, 117128.
An experimental investigation was performed with a view to comparing
high and low pressure exhaust gas recirculation systems (HP and
LP EGR) fitted on an automotive turbocharged diesel engine, focusing
on analysing their influence on fuel consumption, pollutant emissions
and the combustion process. Following the development of a prototype
cooled LP EGR circuit, the main engine and turbocharger parameters
were measured in six part-load operating conditions related to the
European driving cycles. Different operating modes were considered,
from the simplest and most commonly investigated (without EGR, with
HP or LP EGR) to more complex schemes, namely the simultaneous
application of high and low pressure recirculation and the addition of
variable nozzle turbine (VNT) control. The extensive experimental
database made it possible to confirm literature concerning the
comparison of recirculating systems and the potential of LP EGR on
engine intake temperature and NO
x
reductions. New aspects were also
analysed, such as the balance of the high and low pressure EGR rate in
order to achieve maximum NO
x
reductions in simultaneous appli-
cations, the interactions between EGR circuit management and the
application of VNT control in order to improve the trade-off between
fuel consumption and NO
x
and soot emissions.
13/00543 Identifying critical supply chain paths that drive
changes in CO
2
emissions
Oshita, Y. Energy Economics, 2012, 34, (4), 10411050.
To address the problem of global warming, it is important to identify
the supply chain paths that drive changes in life cycle CO
2
emissions
and provide both policy makers and decision makers with the
information on the critical paths in order to efficiently reduce the
CO
2
emissions. This paper extracts and analyses the factors and key
supply chains involved in changes in CO
2
emissions associated with
Japans overall demand from 1990 to 2000 using the structural path
decomposition (SPD) method applied to the 199019952000 linked
Japanese environmental inputoutput tables at the four-digit commod-
ity classification level. The results reveal that the volume of CO
2
emissions increased as a result of changes in the input structure of the
electricity of the services sector, such as electricity amusement and
recreation facilities household demand, electricity retail trade
household demand and electricity public administration (local)
local government demand, indicating increasing dependence of
services on energy input. The author also finds that the final demand
shift changed CO
2
emissions, for example the rise in demand for
integrated circuits in exports has contributed to increasing CO
2
emissions generated from electricity, the fall in demand for frozen
fish and shellfish in household demand has contributed to decreasing
CO
2
emissions from marine fisheries.
13/00544 NO
x
and SO
2
emissions from municipal solid
waste (MSW) combustion in CO
2
/O
2
atmosphere
Tang, Y. et al. Energy, 2012, 40, (1), 300306.
The NO
x
and SO
2
emissions from MSW combustion in CO
2
/O
2
atmosphere were studied using a lab-scale electrically heated tube
furnace. The shape, peaks location, and peaks values of NO
x
concentration curves all changed with temperature. In comparison,
regarding these three characteristics of SO
2
concentration curves, only
peaks values were affected by temperature. The shape and peaks
location of NO
x
and SO
2
concentration curves changed with
atmosphere indistinctively, but their peaks values, maximal average
emissions, and the corresponding temperature were affected by
atmosphere. Replacement of N
2
by CO
2
reduced NO
x
emission when
the temperature was higher than or equal to 800
C, but reduced SO
2
emission when the temperature was lower than 1000
C. At 1000
C,
some improvement measures, such as adding appropriate sorbents,
were required in 80CO
2
/20O
2
to achieve removal characteristics of SO
2
and NO
x
simultaneously. The maximal desulfurization efficiency of
CaO in 80CO
2
/20O
2
atmosphere (34.4% at 800
C) or limestone in
80N
2
/20O
2
atmosphere (23.4% at 900
C), indicating
that direct sulfation in 80CO
2
/20O
2
atmosphere was favourable for
high desulfurization degree and consequently enabled better sorbent
utilization. Besides, to obtain higher desulfurization efficiency at high
temperature, Ca/S ratio should be increased.
13/00545 Returns to scale, damages to scale, marginal rate
of transformation and rate of substitution in DEA
environmental assessment
Sueyoshi, T. and Goto, M. Energy Economics, 2012, 34, (4), 905917.
This study discusses a new use of DEA (data envelopment analysis)
environmental assessment to measure MRT (marginal rate of
transformation) and RS (rate of substitution) between desirable and
undesirable outputs. To discuss MRT and RS, this study first examines
a concept of disposability from the perspective of corporate strategies
to adapt a regulation change on undesirable outputs. The concept of
disposability is separated into natural and managerial disposability.
Then, this study explores the computational framework of RTS
(returns to scale) and DTS (damages to scale). The type of RTS is
measured within the natural disposability, while the type of DTS is
measured within the managerial disposability. Considering the two
types of disposability, this study discusses MRT and RS between
desirable and undesirable outputs. As an illustrative example, this
study applies the proposed approach to evaluate the performance of
US coal-fired power plants. This study finds that the regulation policy
on NO
x
and SO
2
has been effective on their emission controls under
US Clean Air Act (CAA). The regulation on CO
2
, or a major source of
the global warming and climate change, is still insufficient in the USA.
Therefore, this study recommends that US federal and local govern-
ments should regulate the amount of CO
2
emission under the CAA.
13/00546 The outlook for improved carbon capture
technology
Rubin, E. S. et al. Progress in Energy and Combustion Science, 2012, 38,
(5), 630671.
Carbon capture and storage (CCS) is widely seen as a critical
technology for reducing atmospheric emissions of carbon dioxide
(CO
2
) from power plants and other large industrial facilities, which are
major sources of greenhouse gas emissions linked to global climate
change. However, the high cost and energy requirements of current
CO
2
capture processes are major barriers to their use. This paper
assessed the outlook for improved, lower-cost technologies for each of
the three major approaches to CO
2
capture, namely, post-combustion,
pre-combustion and oxy-combustion capture. The advantages and
limitations of each of method were discussed, along with the current
status of projects and processes at various stages in the development
cycle. A variety of roadmaps developed by governmental and private-
sector organizations were then reviewed to project the commercial roll-
out and deployment of advanced capture technologies. For perspective,
recent experience with R&D programs to develop lower-cost technol-
ogies for SO
2
and NO
x
capture at coal-fired power plants were also
reviewed. For a perspective on projected cost reductions for CO
2
capture, past experience in cost trends for SO
2
and NO
x
capture
systems were further reviewed. The key insight for improved carbon
capture technology is that achieving significant cost reductions will
require not only a vigorous and sustained level of research and
development (R&D), but also a substantial level of commercial
deployment, which, in turn, requires a significant market for CO
2
capture technologies. At present such a market does not yet exist.
While various incentive programs can accelerate the development and
deployment of improved CO
2
capture systems, government actions that
significantly limit CO
2
emissions to the atmosphere ultimately are
needed to realize substantial and sustained reductions in the future cost
of CO
2
capture.
Hydrocarbon emissions
13/00547 Formation of PAH and soot during acetylene
pyrolysis at different gas residence times and reaction
temperatures
Sanchez, N. E. et al. Energy, 2012, 43, (1), 3036.
The formation of polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbons (PAH) and soot
from the pyrolysis of acetylene was studied, taking into account the
influence of the operating conditions, such as gas residence time and
temperature. The influence of gas residence time was considered
between 1.28 and 3.88 s for the experiments carried out under different
temperatures from 1073 to 1223 K. The total PAH was calculated as the
addition of PAH concentration found in different locations, namely
adsorbed on soot and on the reactor walls, and at the outlet gas stream.
The relationship between the PAH concentrations and their carcino-
genic equivalence sum (KE) was also evaluated. The results obtained
80 Fuel and Energy Abstracts January 2013
15 Environment (hydrocarbon emissions)
showed that temperature and residence time have a high influence on
pyrolysis products, especially on the PAH concentration adsorbed on
soot, which exhibited the highest KE in all cases studied.
13/00548 Source apportionment of elevated PAH
concentrations in sediments near deep marine outfalls in
Esquimalt and Victoria, BC, Canada: is coal from an 1891
shipwreck the source?
Yunker, M. B. et al. Organic Geochemistry, 2012, 46, 1237.
Previous studies have suggested that coal from the 1891 shipwreck of a
collier off Victoria, BC, Canada is responsible for elevated parent
(unsubstituted) polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbons (PAH) concen-
trations in sediments near deep marine outfalls from Esquimalt and
Victoria in the Strait of Juan de Fuca. To resolve this question, the
authors analysed a comprehensive suite of resolved and unresolved
complex mixture (UCM) alkanes, tricyclic terpane, hopane and sterane
biomarkers, and parent and alkyl polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbons
(PAHs) in samples of coal, wastewater and sediments. Composition
patterns, principal components analysis (PCA) models and PAH and
biomarker ratios all indicate that coal from the collier does not make a
dominant contribution to any sediment sample. Mass balance
calculations based on the n-C
24
content and 24/4 tetracyclic terpane
to 26/3R tricyclic terpane ratio in coal provide a particularly good
match between predicted and observed alkyl PAH concentrations for
sediments with high alkyl naphthalenes and phenanthrene/anthracenes
and low UCM, but the predicted coal contribution substantially
underestimates the measured parent PAHs for all sediment samples.
Methylbenz[a]anthracene/chrysene profiles for sediments with a
dominance of parent PAHs are very close to coal tar, with a marked
predominance of methylbenz[a]anthracenes and the possible 10-
methylbenz[a]anthracene as a major constituent, while the methylchry-
senes predominate in coal. Hence, coal from the collier could account
for most alkyl PAHs in the sediments, but dredged sediment containing
pyrolysed coal waste from a former coal gas plant in Victoria Harbour
is a more likely source for the samples with elevated parent PAHs.
PAH ratios indicate that these sources are superimposed on combus-
tion PAHs introduced by a combination of atmospheric deposition and
delivery via stormwater and the outfalls. Parent PAH distributions also
suggest that PAHs in wastewater that originate from oils and soot in
liquid fossil fuel combustion are dispersed and degraded, while the
larger wood char particles (containing PAHs more protected from
degradation) settle closer to the outfalls. Overall, results suggest that
PAHs have predominant sources in wood combustion, coal and
possibly coke, with a likelihood of much lower bioavailability than
would be expected from wastewater dominated by oils and soot from
vehicle combustion.
13/00549 Sources and mitigation of methane emissions by
sectors: a critical review
Karakurt, I. et al. Renewable Energy, 2012, 39, (1), 4048.
Global warming is considered as one of the most important
environmental problems. Increasing use of fossil fuels and destruction
of forests cause a significant increase in anthropogenic greenhouse gas
emissions leading to global warming. Among these gases, methane is
responsible for approximately 16% of the greenhouse effect. As a
result of this study, it was disclosed that agriculture and energy sector
are the biggest sources of anthropogenic methane emissions. These are
responsible for 50.63% and 28.65% of the emissions, respectively.
Waste and industry sectors follow these emissions. Due to the increase
in population and living standards, and growth in energy consumption,
methane emissions have increased recently and are estimated to
increase in near future. Many technologies and practices presented in
the paper can be considered to reduce methane emissions from all
sectors.
Life cycle analysis
13/00550 A life cycle assessment of biodiesel production
from winter rape grown in southern Europe
Gasol, C. M. et al. Biomass and Bioenergy, 2012, 40, 7181.
This paper analyses the viability of Brassica napus as an energy crop
cultivated for producing biodiesel in southern Europe. The proposed
methodology assessment combines physical variables such as grain
production and agroclimate conditions with environmental analysis
(LCA) in order to determine the Mediterranean agroclimates areas
that could be cultivated for non-food purposes. The results obtained in
a local production and distribution scenario (25 km) demonstrate that
the biodiesel systems analysed have a better energy balance than diesel.
Biodiesel obtained a net energy benefit of 16.25 MJ kg
1
of biodiesel or
35.10 MJ kg
1
of biodiesel when the avoided impacts from coproducts
(glycerine and rapemeal) are considered in comparison with conven-
tional diesel. In terms of environmental performance, the biodiesel
system also has less impact compared with diesel in three categories
abiotic depletion (AD), photochemical oxidation (PO) and global
warming potential (GWP). The estimated impact reduction in the
GWP category when is compared with diesel reached a minimum of
1.76 kg CO
2
eq. per kg of biodiesel when emissions of the use phase are
included. The paper also demonstrates that agroclimates called e, b
and d that ensure grain productions higher than 2000 kg ha
1
the
biodiesel commercialization from B. napus energy crop is suitable in
environmental terms for an energy local and regional production and
distribution strategy.
13/00551 Comparative life cycle assessment of ethanol
production from fast-growing wood crops (black locust,
eucalyptus and poplar)
Gonzalez-Garc a, S. et al. Biomass and Bioenergy, 2012, 39, 378388.
A life cycle assessment (LCA) study was carried out to evaluate the
environmental implications of the production and use of ethanol from
three fast-growing wood crops: eucalyptus, black locust and poplar in
flexi-fuel vehicles. The production of a blend rich in ethanol: E85 (85%
ethanol and 15% gasoline by volume) was assessed and the results
compared with those of conventional gasoline (CG) in an equivalent
car. The following environmental categories were evaluated: fossil fuels
use (FF), global warming potential over 100 years (GWP
100
), photo-
chemical oxidant creation potential (POCP), acidification potential
(AP) and eutrophication potential (EP). The use of ethanol derived
from black locust was found to be the option with the lowest impact in
most categories with reductions of 97%, 42%, 41% and 76% for
GWP
100
, AP, EP and FF respectively in comparison with CG.
Concerning the production stage of ethanol (excluding the stages of
blending and use), black locust has the lowest environmental impacts
due to the low levels of agricultural inputs during its cultivation. The
poplar scenario has higher impacts in AP and EP due to the emission
of diffuse substances from fertilizer application and the eucalyptus
scenario in GWP
100
, POCP and FF due to the use and requirements of
heavy machinery during harvesting. The use of the LCA methodology
has helped to identify the key areas in the life cycle of ethanol. Special
attention should be paid to ethanol production related activities and
forest activities oriented to the feedstock production.
13/00552 Domestic heat pumps: life cycle environmental
impacts and potential implications for the UK
Greening, B. and Azapagic, A. Energy, 2012, 39, (1), 205217.
This paper presents the results of a life cycle assessment of domestic
heat pumps in the UK in comparison with gas boilers. The study
considers air (ASHP), ground (GSHP) and water (WSHP) source heat
pumps. The results show that heat pumps have higher environmental
impacts than gas boilers due to the use of electricity. On average, the
impacts for the ASHP are 82% higher than from the boiler and 73% for
the GSHP and WSHP. The exception to this are the global warming,
fossil resource depletion and summer smog impacts which are lower for
the pumps than the boilers. For example, up to 36% of CO
2
eq. can be
saved with the WSHP and 6% with the ASHP in comparison with the
boiler. Among the heat pumps considered, ASHP have the highest
impacts due to lower efficiencies and higher material requirements for
the system. The GSHP and WSHP have comparable impacts, with the
latter being marginally better. The life cycle impacts of heat pumps may
improve if the UK electricity mix is sufficiently decarbonized; however,
they will still remain higher than for the gas boiler. Overall, their
potential to contribute to the UK climate change targets is limited.
13/00553 End-user experiences in nearly zero-energy
houses
Mlecnik, E. et al. Energy and Buildings, 2012, 49, 471478.
High end-user satisfaction levels are key for the acceptance of nearly
zero-energy housing. Post-occupancy evaluation research on highly
energy-efficient dwellings can lead to recommendations which will
influence their performance in the expected future large volume
market of such houses. This study analysed mainly German, Austrian
and Swiss post-occupancy evaluation research results on nearly zero-
energy dwellings and undertook a survey of occupants of nearly zero-
energy houses in the Netherlands. The study determined how various
comfort parameters (such as winter thermal comfort, summer thermal
comfort, indoor air quality and acoustics), information provision and
control parameters are related to positive or negative end-user
appraisal, finding that summer comfort design and the quality of
and information about heating and ventilation systems are critical
factors which must be addressed to improve user satisfaction in nearly
zero-energy dwellings.
13/00554 Environmental impacts of the UK residential
sector: life cycle assessment of houses
Cuellar-Franca, R. M. and Azapagic, A. Building and Environment,
2012, 54, 8699.
Fuel and Energy Abstracts January 2013 81
15 Environment (life cycle analysis)
This paper presents for the first time the results of a full life cycle
assessment study for the three most common types of house in the UK:
detached, semi-detached and terraced. All life cycle stages are
considered, including house construction, use and demolition after
50 years. The results indicate that the use stage has the largest
contribution to most environmental impacts. For example, the global
warming potential (GWP) over the 50-year lifetime of the detached
house is 455 t of CO
2
eq.; 374 t CO
2
eq. of the semi-detached; and 309 t
CO
2
eq. of the terraced house. Around 90% of the GWP is from the
use, 9% from construction (embodied carbon) and 1% from the end-
of-life waste management. A similar trend is noticed for all other
impacts. Recycling the building materials at the end of life leads to an
overall reduction of the impacts. For instance, the GWP reduces by 3%
for the detached and semi-detached houses (to 441 t of CO
2
eq. and
363 t CO
2
eq., respectively) and by 2% (to 302 t CO
2
eq.) for the
terraced house. The main environmental benefit is from reusing the
bricks and recycling the aggregates. At the housing sector level, the
total GWP is 132 million tonnes of CO
2
eq. per year with the semi-
detached houses contributing 40%, terraced 37% and detached houses
27%. Over the 50-year lifetime, the total GWP from the sector is nearly
6.6 billion tonnes of CO
2
eq. The results also highlight the importance
of decisions made in the design and construction stages as they
determine the impacts of the house in the use and end-of-life stages.
13/00555 Evaluation of environmental impacts of cellulosic
ethanol using life cycle assessment with technological
advances over time
Pawelzik, P. F. and Zhang, Q. Biomass and Bioenergy, 2012, 40, 162
173.
Life cycle assessment (LCA) has been used in quantifying the
environmental impacts of materials, processes, products, or systems
across their entire lifespan from creation to disposal. To evaluate the
environmental impact of advancing technology, life cycle assessment
with technological advances over time (LCA-TAT) incorporates
technology improvements within the traditional LCA framework. In
this paper, the LCA-TAT is applied to quantify the environmental
impacts of ethanol production using cellulosic biomass as a feedstock
through the simultaneous saccharification and co-fermentation (SSCF)
process as it improves over time. The data for the SSCF process are
taken from the Aspen Plus
1
simulation developed by the National
Renewable Energy Lab (NREL). The environmental fate and risk
assessment tool (EFRAT) is used to calculate the fugitive emissions
and SimaPro 7.1 software is used to quantify the environmental impacts
of processes. The impact indicators of the processes are calculated
using the Eco-indicator 95 method; impact categories analysed include
ozone layer depletion, heavy metals, carcinogens, summer smog, winter
smog, pesticides, greenhouse effect, acidification and eutrophication.
Based on the LCA-TAT results, it is found that removal of the
continuous ion-exchange step within the pretreatment area increases
the environmental impact of the process. The main contributor to the
increase in the environmental impact of the process is the heavy metal
indicator. In addition, a sensitivity analysis is performed to identify
major inputs and outputs that affect environmental impacts of the
overall process. Based on this analysis it is observed that an increase in
waste production and acid use have the greatest effect on the
environmental impacts of the SSCF process. Comparing economic
analysis with projected technological advances performed by NREL,
the improvement in environmental impact was not matched by a
concomitant improvement in economic performance. In order to
implement technologies which are environmentally sustainable, it is
critical to perform LCA for future technological advances.
13/00556 Exergetic life cycle assessment of a hydrogen
production process
Ozbilen, A. et al. International Journal of Hydrogen Energy, 2012, 37,
(7), 56655675.
Exergetic life cycle assessment (ExLCA) is applied with life cycle
assessment (LCA) to a hydrogen production process. This comparative
environmental study examines a nuclear-based hydrogen production
via thermochemical water splitting using a copperchlorine cycle. LCA,
which is an analytical tool to identify, quantify and decrease the overall
environmental impact of a system or a product, is extended to ExLCA.
Exergy efficiencies and air pollution emissions are evaluated for all
process steps, including the uranium processing, nuclear and hydrogen
production plants. LCA results are presented in four categories:
acidification potential, eutrophication potential, global warming
potential and ozone depletion potential. A parametric study is
performed for various plant lifetimes. The ExLCA results indicate
that the greatest irreversibility is caused by uranium processing. The
primary contributor of the life cycle irreversibility of the nuclear-based
hydrogen production process is fuel (uranium) processing, for which
the exergy efficiency is 26.7% and the exergy destruction is 2916.3 MJ.
The lowest global warming potential per megajoule exergy of hydrogen
is 5.65 g CO
2
-eq achieved a plant capacity of 125,000 kg H
2
/day. The
corresponding value for a plant capacity of 62,500 kg H
2
/day is 5.75 g
CO
2
-eq.
13/00557 LCA of a solar heating and cooling system
equipped with a small waterammonia absorption chiller
Beccali, M. et al. Solar Energy, 2012, 86, (5), 14911503.
In this paper, the life cycle assessment methodology was applied to
assess resource use and other environmental burdens related to the
entire life-cycle steps of a solar cooling plant. The investigated system
works with an absorption chiller assisted by a solar plant. Two back-up
configurations (hot back-up and cold back-up) were examined in two
localities: Palermo (southern Italy) and Zurich (Switzerland). The
benefits in terms of primary energy savings and greenhouse gases
emission reduction were demonstrated by comparing the use of this
innovative plant in substitution of a conventional one. Energy and
CO
2eq
emission payback times and the energy return ratio of the system
were calculated. For all the analysed configurations they ranged from
4 to 6 years. A sensitivity analysis related to the calculation of the
energy payback time was carried out to assess the influence of various
system performance parameters on the payback index. The analysis
stressed the following. (1) The LCA of renewable energy technologies
has to include a detailed analysis of the use phase to assess the benefits
that arise from the energy produced by the system during its useful life
and to obtain reliable and high-quality LCA results. (2) The use phase
is responsible of about 7090% of the energetic and environmental
impacts of the plant life cycle. (3) The innovative plant has a lower
environmental impact than the conventional plant. (4) The advantages
of renewable energy technologies strongly depend on the climate of the
installation site.
13/00558 LCA of low-energy flats using the Eco-indicator
99 method: impact of insulation materials
Audenaert, A. et al. Energy and Buildings, 2012, 47, 6873.
Sustainable housing is receiving increasing attention by policy makers,
architects, consumers and scholars. This study aims at enhancing
knowledge on the environmental impact of sustainable houses by
performing a life cycle assessment on a single case study. The case
study is performed on a single low-energy building containing 19 flats
using the Eco-indicator99 method. The results indicate that the choice
of insulating materials has a significant impact on the eco-score of the
design. The materials production turns out to be by far the most
influential, which bears the consequence that architects and consumers
should focus on choosing the best materials in terms of eco-score
instead of focusing on an environmental-friendly design. Waste
recycling (if possible) has a lower eco-score compared to waste
disposal (dumping or burning).
13/00559 Life cycle assessment of transportation fuels
from biomass pyrolysis
Iribarren, D. et al. Fuel, 2012, 97, 812821.
This article evaluates the environmental performance of a biofuel
production system based on the fast pyrolysis of short-rotation poplar
biomass using a life cycle assessment (LCA) approach. The system
includes a circulating fluidized bed reactor followed by bio-oil
upgrading through hydrotreating and hydrocracking to produce gaso-
line and diesel. The investigated system was selected on the basis of an
overview of available technologies for the production and upgrading of
fast pyrolysis bio-oil. Inventory data for the whole system were
collected and used in order to carry out the life cycle impact
assessment. Seven impact categories were evaluated: cumulative energy
demand, global warming, ozone layer depletion, photochemical oxidant
formation, land competition, acidification and eutrophication. Feed-
stock pre-treatment, pyrolysis and steam reforming for the production
of the hydrogen required for hydroprocessing were identified as the
subsystems with the highest contributions to the potential impacts.
Within these subsystems, natural gas production, electricity generation
and direct emissions to air were the main contributors. Special
attention should also be paid to the production of the lignocellulosic
biomass feedstock, especially to the associated land occupation and
fertilizer requirements.
13/00560 Life cycle assessment-based selection for a
sustainable lightweight body-in-white design
Mayyas, A. T. et al. Energy, 2012, 39, (1), 412425.
Nowadays life cycle tools, namely life cycle assessment (LCA), life cycle
costing (LCC) and life cycle optimization (LCO) are being used to
assess new vehicular structures from sustainability and design for the
environment perspectives. This manuscript implements a LCA-based
design approach to assess the performance of vehicular body-in-whites
(BIW) through its complete life cycle. The proposed LCA model will
aid in the early design stages (i.e. conceptual design stage) serving as
an eco-design decision-making support tool. This study provides a
complete life cycle assessment covering the extraction and the
processing of virgin materials, the manufacturing, the use and main-
82 Fuel and Energy Abstracts January 2013
15 Environment (life cycle analysis)
tenance stage, the end-of-life stage, in addition to the fuel extraction
and production stages. Traditional LCA studies do not usually consider
the latter stages which accounts for a significant portion of the energy
consumed and the generated CO
2
emissions. This study results show
that the material selection for vehicular applications is a sensitive
process not only to the vehicle lifetime (as expressed in travelled
miles), but also to the environmental burdens from the extraction stage
and recyclability efforts. Additionally, the proposed study shows the
effect of the different materials choices on the vehicle structure
functionality.
13/00561 Life cycle cost and sensitivity analysis of palm
biodiesel production
Ong, H. C. et al. Fuel, 2012, 98, 131139.
Increased biodiesel production is being proposed as one solution to the
need to ease the impact of increased demand for crude oil and to
reduce emissions of greenhouse gases. Despite this, biodiesel has yet to
reach its full commercial potential, especially in the developing
countries. Besides technical barriers, there are several non-technical
limiting factors which impede the development of biodiesel such as
feedstock price, production cost, fossil fuel price and taxation policy.
This study assesses these by undertaking a techno-economic and
sensitivity analysis of biodiesel production in Malaysia, the second
largest producer of crude palm oil feedstock. It was found that the life
cycle cost for a 50 ktons palm biodiesel production plant with an
operating period of 20 years is $665 million, yielding a payback period
of 3.52 years. The largest share is the feedstock cost which accounts for
79% of total production cost. Sensitivity analysis results indicate that
the variation in feedstock price will significantly affect the life cycle
cost for biodiesel production. One of the most important findings of
this study is that biodiesel price is compatible with diesel fuel when a
fiscal incentive and subsidy policy are implemented. For instance,
biodiesel price with subsidies of $0.10/l and $0.18/l is compatible and
lower than fossil diesel price at crude palm oil price of $1.05/kg or
below. As a conclusion, further research on technical as well as non-
technical limitations for biodiesel production is needed before
biodiesel can be fully utilized.
13/00562 Life cycle CO
2
assessment of concrete by
compressive strength on construction site in Korea
Park, J. et al. Renewable and Sustainable Energy Reviews, 2012, 16, (5),
29402946.
As research on the reduction in the life cycle carbon dioxide (LCCO
2
)
emissions of buildings has become increasingly important, the devel-
opment of technologies that can quantitatively assess the LCCO
2
emissions of a building at the level of the construction materials is
essential. In addition, concrete of various compositions, such as high-
performance concrete mixed with fly ash and blast furnace slag and
eco-concrete, has become readily available and thus, a quantitative
evaluation of CO
2
basic units for these new materials is needed.
However, basic units for various types of concrete are not provided by
the national life cycle inventory database in Korea. Therefore,
thorough research on these materials has become an important
priority. In this study, a method to assess LCCO
2
emissions using the
compressive strength of concrete is proposed. Specifically, the
compressive strengths of various mixes of concrete that are employed
at construction sites in Korea were utilized to evaluate CO
2
emissions.
Comparisons according to the characteristics of each mixture were also
made. Approximately 560 concrete mix designs used at construction
sites were first classified according to the compressive strength,
admixture, and season. The concrete CO
2
emissions assessment
process was carried out for the concrete raw materials production
stage, the concrete raw materials transportation stage, and the concrete
production stage; quantitative assessment methods are proposed for
the CO
2
emissions at each stage. Based on the proposed assessment
methods, an evaluation of the concrete CO
2
emissions was conducted
and the obtained values were analysed.
13/00563 Life cycle greenhouse gas emissions and energy
analysis of prefabricated reusable building modules
Aye, L. et al. Energy and Buildings, 2012, 47, 159168.
Prefabrication is one strategy considered to provide improved
environmental performance for building construction. However, there
is an absence of detailed scientific research or case studies dealing with
the potential environmental benefits of prefabrication, particularly the
embodied energy savings resulting from waste reduction and the
improved efficiency of material usage. This paper aims to quantify the
embodied energy of modular prefabricated steel and timber multi-
residential buildings in order to determine whether this form of
construction provides improved environmental performance over
conventional concrete construction methods. Furthermore this paper
assesses the potential benefits of reusability of materials, reducing the
space required for landfill and need for additional resource require-
ments. An eight-storey, 3943 m
2
multi-residential building was inves-
tigated. It was found that a steel-structured prefabricated system
resulted in reduced material consumption of up to 78% by mass
compared to conventional concrete construction. However, the
prefabricated steel building resulted in a significant increase (-50%)
in embodied energy compared to the concrete building. It was shown
that there was significant potential for the reuse of materials in the
prefabricated steel building, representing up to an 81% saving in
embodied energy and 51% materials saving by mass. This form of
construction has the potential to contribute significantly towards
improved environmental sustainability in the construction industry.
13/00564 Phytoremediation, a sustainable remediation
technology? II: economic assessment of CO
2
abatement
through the use of phytoremediation crops for renewable
energy production
Witters, N. et al. Biomass and Bioenergy, 2012, 39, 470477.
Phytoremediation could be a sustainable remediation alternative for
conventional remediation technologies. However, its implementation
on a commercial scale remains disappointing. To emphasize its
sustainability, this paper examines whether and how the potential
economic benefit of CO
2
abatement for different crops used for
phytoremediation or sustainable land management purposes could
promote phytotechnologies. This analysis is based on a case study in
the Campine region, where agricultural soils are contaminated with
mainly cadmium. Life cycle analysis is used to show for the most
relevant crops (willow (Salix spp), energy maize (Zea mays), and
rapeseed (Brassica napus)), that phytoremediation, used for renewable
energy production, could abate CO
2
. Converting this in economic
numbers through the marginal abatement cost of CO
2
(e 20 ton
1
) the
authors can investigate this in the economic analysis to compare
phytoremediation crops with each other, and phytoremediation with
conventional technologies. The external benefit of CO
2
abatement
when using phytoremediation crops for land management ranges
between e55 and e501 per hectare. The purpose of these calculations
is not to calculate a subsidy for phytoremediation. There is no reason
why one would prefer phytoremediation crops for renewable energy
production over normal biomass. Moreover, subsidies for renewable
energy already exist. However, these numbers could contribute to
making explicit the competitive advantage of phytoremediation
compared to conventional remediation technologies, and add to a
more sustainably funded decision on which crop should be grown on
contaminated land.
16 ENERGY
Supplies, policy, economics, forecasts
13/00565 A case study exploring regulated energy use
in domestic buildings using design-of-experiments
and multi-objective optimisation
Evins, R. et al. Building and Environment, 2012, 54, 126136.
The newly released standard assessment procedure (SAP) 2009
underpins all energy calculations for Building Regulations compliance
and Code for Sustainable Homes ratings for domestic buildings in the
UK. A newly-developed three-stage optimization framework is applied
to the outputs of SAP for a case study concerning a two-bed mid-level
flat. First, a comprehensive full-factorial design-of-experiments analy-
sis is performed to determine the significance of each input to the
outputs of SAP (carbon emissions, running costs and overheating risk).
This allows many of the inputs to be disregarded as non-significant.
Next a multi-objective optimization algorithm is applied to all
significant variables to simultaneously optimize regulated carbon
emissions versus capital and running costs, constrained by limits on
overheating and roof area. Finally a more detailed multi-objective
optimization using greater precision is conducted on all variables that
exhibit complex behaviour, i.e. which do not take a single value for all
optimum solutions. Information is obtained concerning parameter
significance and optimal parameter settings, which is presented as
graphical design guidance using the process of innovization. This will
assist engineers in achieving high-performing, cost-effective designs.
13/00566 Capital stock-labor-energy substitution and
production efficiency study for China
Su, X. et al. Energy Economics, 2012, 34, (4), 12081213.
This study estimates the elasticities of substitution for China from 1953
to 2006 by the two-level constant elasticity of substitution (CES)
production function with three factor inputs: capital stock, labour and
energy. A technological change rate and non-constant returns to scale
Fuel and Energy Abstracts January 2013 83
16 Energy (supplies, policy, economics, forecasts)
are under considered. All possible combinations and two other
subdivided periods are carried out respectively and their technological
change rates, elasticities of substitution and returns to scale are found.
This study also provides an analysis of production efficiency by using
marginal productivity of specific factor input according to the
estimated results and distinguishes the marginal productivities deriving
from the three different combinations. It suggests that the decision-
makers of China need to consider the effects of different factor inputs
on gross domestic product growth.
13/00567 Chinas primary energy demands in 2020:
predictions from an MPSORBF estimation model
Yu, S. et al. Energy Conversion and Management, 2012, 61, 5966.
In the present study, a mix-encoding particle swarm optimization and
radial basis function (MPSORBF) network-based energy demand
forecasting model is proposed and applied to forecast Chinas energy
consumption until 2020. The energy demand is analysed for the period
from 1980 to 2009 based on gross domestic product (GDP), population,
proportion of industry in GDP, urbanization rate and share of coal
energy. The results reveal that the proposed MPSORBF based model
has fewer hidden nodes and smaller estimated errors compared with
other ANN-based estimation models. The average annual growth of
Chinas energy demand will be 6.70%, 2.81% and 5.08% for the period
between 2010 and 2020 in three scenarios and could reach 6.25 billion,
4.16 billion, and 5.29 billion tons coal equivalent in 2020. Regardless of
future scenarios, Chinas energy efficiency in 2020 will increase by
more than 30% compared with 2009.
13/00568 District heating and cooling: review of technology
and potential enhancements
Rezaie, B. and Rosen, M. A. Applied Energy, 2012, 93, 210.
District energy systems are reviewed and possible future enhancements
involving expanded thermal networks are considered. Various defi-
nitions, classifications and applications of district cooling and heating
are discussed and elements of a district energy system are described.
Also, the integration of combined heat and power (CHP) with district
energy, permitting the cogeneration of electricity and heat, is examined
from several points of view and for various locations and applications.
One of the main advantages of district heating and cooling systems is
their environmental benefits, which are explained in detail. The
economics of a thermal network system, as a major factor in the
justification for any project, is elaborated on from industrial,
governmental and societal perspectives. Furthermore, related regu-
lations at government levels are suggested based on various investi-
gations. The efficiency of district energy is discussed and exergy
analysis, as an effective method for calculating the efficiency of a
thermal network, is explained. Finally, other advantages of the district
energy technology for communities are pointed out. This review of
district heating and cooling considers technical, economic and
environmental aspects and helps identify possibilities for future study
on district energy systems.
13/00569 Does a stricter enforcement policy protect the
environment? A political economy perspective
Cheng, C.-C. and Lai, Y.-B. Resource and Energy Economics, 2012, 34,
(4), 431441.
The conventional wisdom suggests that a stricter enforcement policy
can reduce pollution emissions. Nevertheless, this present paper argues
that this assertion does not necessarily hold if the stringency of
environmental regulation is subject to the influence of lobbying. A
stricter enforcement policy increases the polluters expected financial
burden, and induces them to exert greater political pressure on
reducing the stringency of environmental regulation, thereby resulting
in a larger amount of pollution emissions. It was also shown that
tightening the enforcement policy can reduce efficiency and highlight
the possibility of policymaking being misguided due to overlooking the
political effect of enforcement policy.
13/00570 Economic optimisation of a UK advanced biofuel
supply chain
Akgul, O. et al. Biomass and Bioenergy, 2012, 41, 5772.
There has been a growing interest in liquid biofuels during the recent
years due to concerns about security of energy supply and global
climate change. Targets have been set throughout the globe for
blending biofuels into conventional petroleum fuels. In this paper, an
optimization framework for the strategic design of a hybrid first/second
generation ethanol supply chain is presented. The model seeks to
address sustainability issues such as the use of food crops, land use
requirements of second generation crops and competition for biomass
with other sectors. The applicability of the model is demonstrated with
a case study of ethanol production in the UK. Different instances were
investigated for the years 2011 (3.4% by energy content) and 2020
(10% by energy content) based on the domestic and EU biofuel targets,
respectively. For 2011, first-generation as well as hybrid first/second-
generation technologies have been studied. The results indicate that
utilizing wheat straw can offer reductions in the overall supply chain
cost. The effect of opportunity cost of straw on the total supply chain
cost and optimal network configuration has also been analysed. As seen
from the results, opportunity cost can significantly affect the extent to
which straw is used for biofuel production as well as the amount of
wheat imported. On the other hand, in addition to straw, miscanthus
and SRC crops have been considered as potential feedstocks in
scenario 2020. The use of set-aside land for these two special energy
crops has also been taken into account. The results show that the use of
second-generation technologies can reduce the dependency on biomass
imports. From both scenarios, it is expected that the potential cost
reductions of second-generation biofuel systems according to the
learning curve approach are likely to lead to the deployment of these
technologies at a larger scale.
13/00571 Energy supply and use in a rural West African
village
Johnson, N. G. and Bryden, K. M. Energy, 2012, 43, (1), 283292.
Over three billion people live in the rural areas of low- and middle-
income countries. Often rural households have many unmet energy
needs, including cooking, lighting, heating, transportation, and tele-
communication. Designing solutions to meet these needs requires an
understanding of the human, natural, and engineered systems that
drive village energy dynamics. This paper presents the results of a novel
study of energy supply and use over a one-year period in an isolated
rural village of 770 people in Mali. Quantitative data and narrative
descriptions from this study portray village energy supply and use.
Annual village energy use is 6000 MJ cap
1
yr
1
. Domestic energy
needs account for 93% of village energy use. Wood is the primary
energy source and provides 94% of the village energy supply.
Approximately 98% of the wood is used for domestic consumption.
The uses of wood in the home are cooking (52.2%), heating water
(22.2%), space heating (19.1%), and other activities (6.5%). This paper
also reports variations in energy usage over the period of a year for a
broad range of domestic, artisan, transport and public energy uses.
13/00572 EU energy and climate change strategy
da Grac a Carvalho, M. Energy, 2012, 40, (1), 1922.
This paper will summarize the European Strategy for Energy and
Climate Change. In current international negotiations Europe has
proposed a 20% reduction in GHG (greenhouse gases) in the
developed countries by 2020 or 30% should there be an international
agreement in the domain. However it is important to define measures
to achieve the targets. One of the principal tools is to improve energy
efficiency under the energy efficiency action plan, which will help to
achieve a 20% energy saving by 2020. On the other hand, the amount of
energy from renewable sources consumed in Europe will have to rise
from its current level of 8.520% by 2020. These are ambitious but
achievable targets. Nonetheless, these can only be achieved through
strong investment in areas of the knowledge triangle which strengthens
research and innovation in the energy sector in Europe. The paper
covers European Energy and Climate Change Policy, the European
Strategic Energy Technology plan, the consequences of the Lisbon
Treaty, European and national road maps to a low-carbon economy,
the energy efficiency plan for 2011 and finishes with a brief
consideration of the EUs energy infrastructure priorities.
13/00573 Evaluating biomass energy strategies for a UK
eco-town with an MILP optimization model
Keirstead, J. et al. Biomass and Bioenergy, 2012, 39, 306316.
In recent years there has been a marked interest in the construction of
eco-towns. These are showcase developments intended to demonstrate
the best in ecologically-sensitive and energy-efficient construction. This
paper examines one such development in the UK and considers the
role of biomass energy systems. The authors present an integrated
resource modelling framework that identifies an optimized low-cost
energy supply system including the choice of conversion technologies,
fuel sources and distribution networks. The analysis shows that
strategies based on imported wood chips, rather than locally converted
forestry residues, burned in a mix of internal combustion engines and
organic Rankine cycles combined heat and power facilities offer the
most promise. While there are uncertainties surrounding the precise
environmental impacts of these solutions, it is clear that such biomass
systems can help eco-towns to meet their target of an 80% reduction in
greenhouse gas emissions.
13/00574 Exhaustible resources, technology choice and
industrialization of developing countries
Damsgaard, E. F. Resource and Energy Economics, 2012, 34, (3), 271
294.
How should the world economy adapt to the increased demand for
exhaustible resources from countries like China and India? To address
that issue, this paper presents a dynamic model of the world economy
with two technologies for production; a resource technology, which
uses an exhaustible resource as an input and an alternative technology,
84 Fuel and Energy Abstracts January 2013
16 Energy (supplies, policy, economics, forecasts)
which does not. The authors found that both the time path of resource
extraction and the adoption of the alternative technology depend on
the optimal allocation of capital across the technologies, and on the
size of the capital stock in relation to the resource stock. In particular,
if the capital stock is low, only the resource technology is used initially
and the alternative technology is adopted with a delay. Next, the model
was used to analyse the effects of industrialization of developing
countries on the extraction of oil and technology choice for energy
production. As a result of industrialization, the alternative technology
for energy production is adopted earlier.
13/00575 Fuel switching and climate and energy policies
in the European power generation sector: a generalized
Leontief model
Pettersson, F. et al. Energy Economics, 2012, 34, (4), 10641073.
The purpose of this paper is to analyse: (a) the role and the nature of
price-induced switching behaviour between fossil fuels (i.e. coal, oil,
and natural gas) in the western European power sector; as well as
(b) the fuel choice impacts of a number of public policies implemented
in this sector during the last 20 years. The analysis is conducted within a
Generalized Leontief cost function framework, and employs pooled
data across eight countries over the time period 19782004. The
authors present short-run own- and cross-price elasticities of fossil fuel
demand, and assess the impacts of a set of government policies
implemented over this time period. The empirical results show
evidence of notable short-run interfuel substitution between oil and
gas, and particularly in countries where fossil fuels are used extensively
for both base and peak load purposes. These findings support the
notion that ex post fossil fuel substitution takes place in dual- and
multi-fired plants, by switching load between different single-fuel fired
plants, as well as through the conversion of power plants to be able to
burn alternate fuels. The results also illustrate that different public
policies i.e. removal of coal subsidies, electricity market liberal-
ization, etc. have had profound impacts on fossil fuel choices and
have in particular favoured power generation gas use at the expense of
coal. Finally, the paper makes use of the empirical results to simulate
the fuel switching impacts of different carbon prices within the
European Emissions Trading Scheme.
13/00576 Implementation of biofuels in Malaysian
transportation sector towards sustainable development:
a case study of international cooperation between Malaysia
and Japan
Lim, S. and Lee, K. T. Renewable and Sustainable Energy Reviews,
2012, 16, (4), 17901800.
Modern transportation nowadays has evolved into an important
economic activity for human civilization. Even though various
alternative energy solutions have been put forward to reduce the
dependency on fossil fuels, biofuels remain one of the few options
which are capable of replacing the roles of fossil fuels in transportation
sector without suffering from major economic losses. Malaysia with a
huge supply of palm oil for biofuels production is intended to
implement mandatory biodiesel blends in its transportation sector in
2011 in order to achieve its carbon reduction commitment towards a
more sustainable development. This implementation was originally
targeted to start in 2009 but had to be postponed due to several
obstacles such as expensive cost, lack of sufficient infrastructure and
low public demand. On the other hand, Japan is also trying to fulfil its
carbon reduction obligation as outlined under Kyoto Protocol with the
usage of biofuels to replace fossil fuels in the transportation sector.
However, it lacks sufficient biofuels supply to support its high
transportation energy demand. In this case study, the mutual
cooperation between Malaysia and Japan in the implementation of
biofuels in transportation sector will be studied and analysed in order
to overcome the challenges presented in both countries. It is hope to
ascertain potential cooperation opportunities amongst those two
countries to promote biofuels energy as Malaysia is rich in natural
resources while Japan has the relevant expertise and technology. It is
believed that the strengths from one country can help to cover for the
weaknesses from the other and vice versa via closer bilateral partner-
ship which will be extremely crucial when dealing with global energy
issues. Ultimately, it is hope that this case study will enable both
Malaysian and Japanese government to achieve their renewable energy
target in domestic transportation sector.
13/00577 Is energy intensity important for the productivity
growth of EET adopters?
Kounetas, K. et al. Energy Economics, 2012, 34, (4), 930941.
This paper mainly examines the role of energy intensity on the
productivity growth of energy efficient technologies (EET) adopters.
Given the importance of EET for sustainable development and the
technological diversity of EET adopters, this approach is aimed at
properly encompassing issues related to technological heterogeneity,
with energy consumption being such the most critical issue. Hence, the
authors employed a metafrontier-based methodology and the standard
decomposition of TFP into technological change, technical efficiency
change and scale efficiency change, while also examining the time-
varying aspect of EET adoption. The results with respect to Greek
firms established that energy intensity does not affect significantly the
total factor productivity (TFP) growth of EET adopters, thus implying
that policy measures encouraging EET adoption should not be more
beneficial for heavy energy consumers. Furthermore, the authors
derived expressions for the metafrontier:frontier ratio of TFP and its
components, which allowed them to investigate whether the observed
productivity growth is driven mostly by the restricted technology or the
metatechnology. Empirical findings suggest that TFP growth arises
mostly from the metatechnology (defined by the entire set of EET
adopters), thus illustrating broader knowledge spillovers among most
EET adopters, irrespective of their energy intensity. Moreover, the
authors implemented a second step of analysis in order to examine
firm-specific factors that moderate EETs impact on productivity; the
representative set of variables used essentially complemented the
aforementioned findings, while also linking them with related
literature. A mixed pattern of the EET adopters underlying knowledge
conditions, encapsulating their absorptive ability as well as their
potential for technological leadership, appears to be the main driver of
their TFP growth. Moreover, the economic dimensions tagging the
EET investment projects appear to be crucial for the EET adopters
TFP growth, whereas the corresponding environmental features of the
adopted technologies leave TFP growth unaffected. Along this line,
interesting issues of the type does the pollutant pay for pollution arise
once the role of capital subsidies on EET adoption rate and their
impact on the adopters TFP growth are considered. Hence, the
approach taken here allows for a thorough examination of productivity
issues related to EET by a methodological framework for examining
technological and time-based heterogeneity. Given the importance of
the topic, this approach could become valuable in other settings, e.g.
for measuring the impact of energy intensity in other countries (or
regions) or for disentangling different types of heterogeneity among
EET adopters.
13/00578 Japans energy supply: mid-to-long-term
scenario a proposal for a new energy supply system in the
aftermath of the March 11 earthquake
Onoue, K. et al. International Journal of Hydrogen Energy, 2012, 37,
(10), 81238132.
After the Fukushima nuclear plant accident, Japan is facing an
unprecedented situation with its energy supply. This paper provides
an overview of Japans current energy landscape with descriptions of
the kinds and production of energy. Since it is inevitable that the use of
nuclear energy will decrease, a best mix of electric sources of the large-
scale and centralized network is proposed as well as the decentralized
network as an alternative. The hub for this proposal is regional power
centres (RPC) to control the electric supply as well as fuel transport-
ation and storage on an area-by-area basis. As technologies that will
realize this power centre, this paper also discusses fuel cells, hydrogen
production and storage and furthermore, the potential of CCS, which is
requisite technology for carbon dioxide emissions reduction.
13/00579 Learning rates and future cost curves for fossil
fuel energy systems with CO
2
capture: methodology and
case studies
Li, S. et al. Applied Energy, 2012, 93, 348356.
The broadly applicable equations for estimating learning rates of cost
variables in energy systems with CO
2
capture (CC) are formulated, in
which the effect of overall plant efficiency upgrade on learning rates is
reflected. Based on the equations, as a case study, the authors estimate
the learning rates, predict the future cost trend of IGCC power plants
with CC in China, and examine the effect of plant efficiency upgrade on
its future cost. It is revealed that the learning rates of the whole CC
plant are relevant not only to the learning rate of each subunit, but also
to its cost proportion and the overall plant efficiency upgrade. Results
from case study show that the learning rates of IGCC+CC in China
are in the range of 0.09640.2022 for unit investment, 0.07260.1489 for
COE, and 0.06360.1462 for cost of CO
2
avoidance (COA). When the
cumulative production reaches 100 GW, the investment for IGCC+CC
will decrease from the current level (approximately 2150 $/kW) to
around 7601350 $/kW, COE will decrease to 4668 $/MWh, and COA
will fall from 33.4 $/t to 1625 $/t. Sensitivity analysis indicates that
overall plant efficiency upgrade and the capacity at which learning
begins pose significant effects on cost reduction. Compared with
PC+CC, for gradual learning with a low learning rate, the unit
investment of IGCC+CC will be a little bit higher than that of
PC+CC in the future. For rapid and moderate learning, IGCC+CC
will be more expensive than PC+CC in the near term, while breakeven
points are observed with the cumulative experiences growing, indicat-
ing that IGCC+CC can economically perform better than PC+CC in
the medium and long term. The paper provides an approach to
estimate the learning rates of CC plants, and thus to project their
Fuel and Energy Abstracts January 2013 85
16 Energy (supplies, policy, economics, forecasts)
future cost curves, which will help to formulate the first clear-cut CCS
roadmap in China and to aid the identification of key CC technologies
that should be focused on.
13/00580 Long memory and disaggregated energy
consumption: evidence from fossils, coal and electricity
retail in the U.S.
Apergis, N. and Tsoumas, C. Energy Economics, 2012, 34, (4), 1082
1087.
In this paper, the long memory properties of disaggregated fossils, coal
and electricity retail consumption in the USA over the 19892009
period are examined. The presence of long memory is related to
autocorrelation persistence of each series. The results show that there
is heterogeneity in the order of integration between these types of
energy consumption and for the different sectors employed, which is
affected by the inclusion of a break event. The order of integration was
generally higher for the case of a break in the intercept than in the
slope, with the latter being more plausible for all series.
13/00581 Measuring buildings for sustainability:
comparing the initial and retrofit ecological footprint
of a century home the REEP house
Bin, G. and Parker, P. Applied Energy, 2012, 93, 2432.
The residential sector is recognized as a major energy consumer and
thus a significant contributor to climate change. Rather than focus only
on current energy consumption and the associated emissions, there is a
need to broaden sustainability research to include full life cycle
contributions and impacts. This paper looks at houses from the
perspective of the ecological footprint, a well-known sustainability
indicator. Exemplifying single-detached houses of the early twentieth
century, the century-old REEP house (downtown Kitchener, Canada),
together with its high performance energy retrofits, is examined in
detail. This research combines material, energy and carbon emission
studies. Its scope covers the life cycle of the house, including the direct
and indirect consumption of material and energy, and concomitant
carbon emissions during its stages of material extraction, transpor-
tation, construction, operation, and demolition. It is revealed that the
REEP house had a typical impact on the environment when it was
built, and, even though the renovations to improve energy efficiency by
80% introduce additional embodied environmental impacts, they are
environmentally sound activities because the environmental payback
period is less than 2 years.
13/00582 Net modelling of energy mix among European
countries: a proposal for ruling new scenarios
Dassisti, M. and Carnimeo, L. Energy, 2012, 39, (1), 100111.
European energy policy pursues the objective of a sustainable,
competitive and secure supply of energy. In 2007, the European
Commission adopted an energy policy for Europe, which was
supported by several documents on different aspects of energy and
included an action plan to meet the major energy challenges Europe
has to face. A farsighted diversified yearly mix of energies was
suggested to countries, aiming at increasing security of supply and
efficiency, but a wide and contemporary view of energy interchanges
between states was not available. In a previous work by the authors,
energy import/export interchanges between European states were used
to develop a geographic overview at one-glance. In this paper, the
enhanced interchange energy network (EIEN) is investigated from a
modelling point of view, as a small-world net, by supposing that
connections can exist between states with a probability depending also
on economic/political relations between countries. Satisfactory results
have been found that suggest that this modelling technique allows the
interpretation of the evolution of the EIEN over the years, highlighting
some interesting behavioural features. The basic predictions coming
out from the proposed modelling technique, which may allow
comparisons with different real world networks, could be useful for a
further analysis of renewable energy flows, which would be interesting
to evaluate, as far as reliable statistical data are available. Electricity
trade has been growing with the increasing globalization and opening
of national economies. Thus, it is important to collect information
about trade, disaggregated by countries of origin and destination.
These statistics could also help in identifying potential transmission
congestion and could provide means for a more efficient operation of
an evolving international transmission grid.
13/00583 Practices and perceptions on the development of
forest bioenergy in China from participants in national
forestry training courses
Qu, M. et al. Biomass and Bioenergy, 2012, 40, 5362.
This study examines forest bioenergy related knowledge, perceptions,
attitudes, and behaviour among participants of national forestry
training course in China. The participants are forestry professionals
and are senior government officials in this area on a county level;
additionally all have been working in the forestry field for more than
10 years. Their perceptions and practices are worth examining as they
directly influence local and regional decision makers, and could affect
the adoption of forest bioenergy in the country. The purpose of this
study was to determine how well the professionals practices and future
preferences concerning the use of forest bioenergy fit together.
A thorough assessment was conducted using a questionnaire of 74
professionals in Xiamen and Hangzhou (China). The results revealed
that, first, their environmental behaviour can be classified as being a
low carbon lifestyle. Second, the professionals think that renewable
energy has potential for use in the future, but less potential for forest
bioenergy. Third, the professionals practices and future preferences
concerning the use of forest bioenergy do not appear coherent. Fourth,
the professionals feel that the development of forest bioenergy requires
increased cooperation between the government and enterprises with
respect to the different functions of the forest and its impact on the
ecosystem. Finally, the findings indicate that bioenergy related educa-
tion through different channels has to be improved. The findings create
a foundation for further discussions regarding the use of forest as a source
of renewable energy, as well as forest management in the country.
13/00584 Renewable energy policy in Turkey with the new
legal regulations
Tukenmez, M. and Demireli, E. Renewable Energy, 2012, 39, (1), 19.
Since the energy crises in the 1970s, public and private decision makers
are considering how to achieve a sustainable transition from fossil fuel
based energy to sustainable and clean energies namely renewable
energies. Combined with the improvement of energy efficiency and the
rational use of energy, renewable energy can provide everything fossil
fuels currently offer in terms of heating and cooling, electricity
generation and transportation. Renewable energy technologies possess
many long-term benefits including energy security, job creation,
business opportunities, sustainable development and prevention of
global warming. Turkeys population is growing at an annual rate of
1.04%. If Turkey uses only traditional energy sources, it simply will not
have enough energy capacity for its population. Renewable energy
sources have the potential to make a large contribution to Turkeys
sustainable and independent energy future. Turkey aims to utilize its
energy potential, including from renewable sources in a cost-effective
manner. Turkey targets the share of renewable resources in electricity
generation to be at least 30% by 2023 has in its 2009 electricity market
and security of supply strategy. Positive achievements have been
obtained in renewable energy development and manufacturing in
Turkey over the past decade. The renewable energy related legislation
has been intensified. To meet its 30% target, the current promotion
mechanism for renewable sources of electricity relies on feed-in tariffs
for different renewable energy sources. Large hydropower is already
competitive to conventional fossil-based electricity, so feed-in tariffs in
the new renewable energy law are set to facilitate expanding the
deployment of other, less mature renewable energy technologies.
13/00585 The clean development mechanism and low
carbon development: a panel data analysis
Huang, Y. and Barker, T. Energy Economics, 2012, 34, (4), 10331040.
The clean development mechanism (CDM) of Kyoto Protocol,
designed for industrialized countries to earn emission credits by
investing in greenhouse gas (GHG) emission reduction projects in
developing countries, shall contribute to emission reductions and
sustainable development in the host countries. However, whether the
CDM is achieving its dual goals has been questionable. This research
empirically investigates the long-run impacts of CDM projects on CO
2
emission reductions for 80 eligible CDM host countries over 1993
2009. By allowing for considerable heterogeneity across countries, this
research provides evidence in support of a decline in CO
2
emissions
associated with CDM projects. It serves to encourage developing
countries to effectively develop CDM projects towards low carbon
development.
13/00586 The comprehensive nuclear promotion plan of the
Republic of Korea
Kim, Y.-M. and Chang, S. Progress in Nuclear Energy, 2012, 58, 5863.
Access to economic and sustainable energy is essential in every
country. The Republic of Korea (ROK) has insufficient supply of
energy resource. Accordingly, ROK has considered nuclear energy as
the main energy source since the oil crises of the 1970s. In 1994, ROK
declared the Direction to Long-term Nuclear Energy Policy towards
the Year 2030 and revised the Atomic Energy Act to promote the safe
and peaceful use of nuclear energy. According to this act, the
government made the comprehensive nuclear energy promotion plan
(CNEPP) for every 5 years since 1997. This CNEPP shall include the
analysis of current status and prospect, policy targets, implementation
tasks, plan to invest, and other matters for the nuclear utilization and
safety. National nuclear technology has advanced considerably by 1st
(19972001), 2nd (20022007), and 3rd CNEPP (20072011). Through
these previous plans, ROK designed its own nuclear reactor, the Korea
Standard Nuclear Power Plant (KSNP), and became the fifth nuclear
reactor exporter after the USA, France, Russia and Canada. ROK has
86 Fuel and Energy Abstracts January 2013
16 Energy (supplies, policy, economics, forecasts)
been preparing for the 4th CNEPP to advance further and to
harmonize with the long-term policy direction. In this study, the
detailed process of the establishment of the 4th CNEPP was analysed.
By the analysis of the domestic and international environmental
changes, the achievement of the 3rd CNEPP and the major issue of the
4th CNEPP were proposed. Six promotion areas were set in the 4th
CNEPP as nuclear utilization, sustainability, export/growth force,
radiation, safety/public acceptance and infra/international cooperation.
It will be discussed by various social, economic, political, cultural, and
technical professionals to harmonize with the national vision for the
future, short- and long-term plans. By doing this, it will help to improve
the nuclear safety, transparency, and effectiveness in the promotion of
national nuclear technology.
13/00587 The role of bioenergy in a fully sustainable global
energy system
Cornelissen, S. et al. Biomass and Bioenergy, 2012, 41, 2133.
This paper presents a detailed analysis of the supply potential and use
of biomass in the context of a transition to a fully renewable global
energy system by 2050. The authors investigate bioenergy potential
within a framework of technological choices and sustainability criteria,
including criteria on land use and food security, agricultural and
processing inputs, complementary fellings, residues and waste. The
potential for sustainable bioenergy from residues and waste, comp-
lementary fellings, energy crops and algae oil in 2050 is 340 EJ a
1
of
primary energy. This potential is then compared to the demand for
biomass-based energy in the demand scenario related to this study, the
Ecofys energy scenario. This scenario, after applying energy efficiency
and non-bioenergy renewable options, requires a significant contri-
bution of bioenergy to meet the remaining energy demand; 185 EJ a
1
of the 340 EJ a
1
potential supply. For land use for energy crops, the
authors found that a maximum of 2,500,000 km
2
is needed of a
6,730,000 km
2
sustainable potential. For greenhouse gas emissions
from bioenergy, a 7585% reduction can be achieved compared to
fossil references. The paper concludes that bioenergy can meet residual
demand in the Ecofys energy scenario sustainably with low associated
greenhouse gas emissions. It thus contributes to its achievement of a
95% renewable energy system globally by 2050.
13/00588 Transport energy demand forecast using
multi-level genetic programming
Forouzanfar, M. et al. Applied Energy, 2012, 91, (1), 496503.
In this paper, a new multi-level genetic programming (MLGP)
approach is introduced for forecasting transport energy demand
(TED) in Iran. It is shown that the result obtained here has smaller
error compared with the result obtained using neural network or fuzzy
linear regression approach. The forecast uses historical energy data
from 1968 to 2002 and it is based on three parameters; gross domestic
product (GDP), population (POP), and the number of vehicles (VEH).
The approach taken in this paper is based on genetic programming
(GP) and the multi-level part of the name comes from the fact that GP
is used in two different levels. At the first level, GP is used to obtain the
time series model of the three parameters, GDP, POP, and VEH, and
forecast those parameters for the time interval that their actual data
are not available, and at the second level GP is used one more time to
forecast TED based on available data for TED along with the data that
are either available or predicted for the three parameters discussed
earlier. Actual data from 1968 to 2002 are used for training and the
data for years 20032005 are used to test the GP model, the study is
limited to these data ranges in to compare the results with the existing
ones in the literature. The estimation GP for the model is formulated
as a non-linear optimization problem and it is solved numerically.
13/00589 Using an energy flow chart to analyze Jiangsu
Provinces energy balance
Zhang, M. and Wang, W. Renewable Energy, 2012, 39, (1), 307312.
Since the start of economic reform in 1979, Jiangsu Province has
become one of the most developed regions in China. To ensure
adequate energy supply and sustainable development of economy and
environment, it is necessary to analyse Jiangsu Provinces energy
balance. The energy flow chart is taken as a useful tool for sorting out
and displaying energy statistics data. The purpose of this paper is to
draft the Jiangsu Provinces energy flow chart for 2009, which is used to
study the characteristics of energy production and consumption in
Jiangsu Province. It was found that: (1) in 2009, energy imported from
other regions accounted for 96.1% of the total primary energy supply.
However, its energy supply mainly came from coal. (2) Jiangsu thermal
power and heating efficiencies in 2009 were higher than those of
Guangdong and China in 2007. However, its coal processing and
petroleum refineries efficiencies in 2009 were lower than those of
Guangdong and China in 2007. (3) Electricity supply in Jiangsu
Province mainly depended on thermal power, which accounted for
88.97% of the total electricity supply. However, 96.36% fuel for
thermal power was coal. (4) The share of final energy consumption of
the secondary industrial sector was 81.28% in 2009.
13/00590 What drives the change in UK household energy
expenditure and associated CO
2
emissions? Implication and
forecast to 2020
Chitnis, M. and Hunt, L. C. Applied Energy, 2012, 94, 202214.
Given the amount of direct and indirect CO
2
emissions attributable to
UK households, policy makers need a good understanding of the
structure of household energy expenditure and the impact of both
economic and non-economic factors when considering policies to
reduce future emissions. To help achieve this, the structural time series
model is used here to estimate UK transport and housing energy
expenditure equations for 19642009. This allows for the estimation of
a stochastic trend to measure the underlying energy expenditure trend
and hence capture the non-trivial impact of non-economic factors on
household transport and housing energy expenditure; as well as the
impact of the traditional economic factors of income and price. The
estimated equations are used to show that given current expectations,
CO
2
attributable to transport and housing expenditures will not fall
by 29% (or 40%) in 2020 compared to 1990, and is therefore not
consistent with the latest UK total CO
2
reduction target. Hence, the
message for policy makers is that in addition to economic incentives
such as taxes, which might be needed to help restrain future energy
expenditure, other policies that attempt to influence lifestyles and
behaviours also need to be considered.
13/00591 When will oil, natural gas, and coal peak?
Maggio, G. and Cacciola, G. Fuel, 2012, 98, 111123.
In this paper, a predictive model based on a variant of the multi-cyclic
Hubbert approach is applied to forecast future trend in world fossil
fuel production. Starting from historical data on oil (crude and NGL),
natural gas, and coal production, and taking into consideration three
possible scenarios for the global ultimate (i.e. cumulative production
plus remaining reserves plus undiscovered resources), this approach
allowed us to determine when these important energy sources should
peak and start to decline. In particular, considering the most likely
scenarios, estimated peak values were: 30 Gb/year in 2015 for oil,
132 Tcf/year in 2035 for natural gas, and 4.5 Gtoe/year in 2052 for coal.
A plateau is likely to occur in the case of natural gas, if the global
ultimate is high. A comparison of the multi-Hubbert variant approach
used in this paper with both the single-cycle Hubbert and the original
multi-cyclic Hubbert approach has also been carried out.
Energy conservation
13/00592 A linear programming approach to household
energy conservation: efficient allocation of budget
U
ilnikov theorem
guarantees that the system has Smale horseshoes and the horseshoes
chaos. Artificial neural network (ANN) is used to identify the
quantitative coefficients in the simulation models according to the
statistical data of China, and an empirical study of the real system is
carried out with the results in perfect agreement with actual situation.
It is found that the sooner and more perfect energy-saving and
emission-reduction is started, the easier and sooner the maximum of
the carbon emissions will be achieved so as to reduce carbon emissions
and energy intensity. Numerical simulations are presented to demon-
strate the results.
13/00595 Analysis of scenarios for the reduction of energy
consumption and GHG emissions in transport in the Basque
Country
Bueno, G. Renewable and Sustainable Energy Reviews, 2012, 16, (4),
19881998.
Fossil energy depletion and fight against climate change force
humanity to decarbonize the economy. By year 2050 CO
2
emissions
will have to reduce globally at least 85%, and probably over 95% in
developed countries. The modelling of the transportation of people
and commodities in the Basque Autonomous Community (Spain) in
year 2008 has allowed the authors to draw some conclusions about the
challenges ahead. The exploration of several scenarios modelled in
order to reduce energy consumption in transport shows that mobility in
a decarbonized world will have to be more efficient, electrified when
moving people and freight on land, based on renewable generation,
and organized in such a way that guarantees very high occupancies of
vehicles. All these elements will be indispensable, and even not
sufficient if they are still not complemented with a reduction of
mobility in absolute terms, so that economic transportation intensity
the ratio between transportation and whole economic activity
recovers to levels seen in the world four decades ago, prior to the
development of present hypermobility.
13/00596 Aspects of energy reduction by autogenous
copper production in the copper smelting plant Bor
Najdenov, I. et al. Energy, 2012, 43, (1), 376384.
This work presents a comparative analysis of the energy consumption
during copper production by the standard procedure (roasting in a
fluosolid reactor and smelting in a reverberatory furnace) in the
smelting plant in Bor with modern autogenous procedures. All forms of
expended energy were reduced to primary energy or to the same energy
form, i.e. to the energy equivalent of the process (EEP), the raw
material and the process materials. In addition, the energy equivalent
of the process and waste products (water vapour, thermal energy and
similar) were balanced. To complete the consumption of all energy
generating products in copper production, they were reduced to
conditional fuel (coal equivalent = 29.3 MJ/kg). Additionally, this
study suggests replacement of the existing technology by an appro-
priate autogenous procedure and considers the prospects for further
development of mining and metallurgy in Bor. Estimates of develop-
ment perspectives for copper production should be comprehensive,
based on complete and relevant data, as well as on real considerations
of future development in world production.
13/00597 Case study: energy savings for a deep-mine water
reticulation system
Vosloo, J. et al. Applied Energy, 2012, 92, 328335.
In deep-level mining, water reticulation systems are one of the major
consumers of electricity. The refrigeration plants, together with the
underground water supply and dewatering systems are integrated to
form one complete water reticulation system. This integrated water
reticulation system extracts hot water from the mine, cools it down and
returns the cold water to the various underground mining levels. As
much as 42% of the total energy consumption on a typical deep-level
gold mine can be ascribed to the water reticulation system. Reducing
the overall water demand and therefore electricity costs will depend on
climatic conditions, operating strategy, water reservoir capacity, and
electricity tariff rates. In this paper, a method is presented to
determine the optimum water reticulation strategy for different
electricity tariffs. This model minimizes the total operating cost of
the water reticulation system by a trade-off between the cost involved
in providing effective pump control and the savings achieved under a
specified electricity tariff. A case study of a typical deep mining
operation shows that a reduction of 65% during peak demand and 2%
overall electricity reduction is possible by adopting this new control
strategy. The corresponding savings in operating cost is 13%.
Techniques were developed to integrate, simulate, optimize and
control all components of the water reticulation system. This will
allow for a quick assessment of the effect of individual components on
the complete system. By integrating all these components into a single
system, the operation of each component can be assessed and optimally
controlled without adversely affecting other operations of the system.
13/00598 Cost analysis for optimum thicknesses and
environmental impacts of different insulation materials
Ozel, M. Energy and Buildings, 2012, 49, 552559.
In this study, the optimum thickness of thermal insulation used to
reduce heat gain and losses in buildings is investigated under dynamic
thermal conditions by using the climatic conditions of Elazig, Turkey.
Numerical method based on an implicit finite difference procedure
which has been previously validated is used to determine yearly cooling
and heating transmission loads, yearly averaged time lag and decre-
ment factor under steady periodic conditions. These loads are used as
inputs to an economic model for the determination of the optimum
insulation thickness. The optimum insulation thicknesses, energy
savings and payback periods are calculated by using life-cycle cost
analysis over lifetime of 20 years of the building. Results show that the
optimum insulation thicknesses vary between 5.4 and 19.2 cm, energy
savings vary between 86.26 and 146.05 $/m
2
, and payback periods vary
between 3.56 and 8.85 years for different insulation materials. The
environmental impacts of thermal insulation are also investigated. It is
seen that by applying optimum insulation thickness in uninsulated
walls, yearly fuel consumption and emissions are decreased by 68
89.5% depending on insulation materials.
13/00599 Determining operation schedules of heat
recovery ventilators for optimum energy savings in high-rise
residential buildings
Kim, S.-M. et al. Energy and Buildings, 2012, 46, 313.
This study examines the influence of heat recovery ventilators (HRVs)
on energy savings in high-rise residential buildings to determine
optimum operation schedules. Field measurements were conducted in
two actual residential buildings, and computer simulations were
performed to predict energy savings by the HRVs. Measurement
results showed that energy consumption in each building was reduced
when the HRVs were operated in line with recommended ventilation
rates and comfortable temperature ranges. The HRVs achieved greater
savings of energy during winter than summer. Simulation results
showed that the HRVs contributed to the annual savings of heating and
cooling energy by 9.45% and 8.8%, respectively, when the ventilators
were operated continuously for 24 h. More energy was saved as the
operating hours of the HRVs increased. The continuous operation of
HRVs was effective for the savings of energy and to maintain
recommended ventilation rates. The HRVs achieved effective energy
savings and maintained necessary ventilation rates in high-rise
residential buildings where natural infiltration was minimal, due to
tightly sealed building envelopes. This study suggests that the influence
of HRVs on the improvement of indoor air quality needs to be
examined in conjunction with energy savings by HRVs.
13/00600 Energy consumption analysis of Spanish food
and drink, textile, chemical and non-metallic mineral
products sectors
Aranda-Uson, A. et al. Energy, 2012, 42, (1), 477485.
This paper provides quantitative information for energy consumption
from four different industry sectors based on an energy analysis
obtained by means of in situ energy audits and complementary
information. The latter information was taken from Saving Strategy
and Energy Efficiency in Spain documents and the 2009 Industrial
Survey of Spain from the National Statistics Institute. The results show
an estimate of energy consumption for each sector, namely Spanish
food, drink and tobacco (9.6%), textile (4.5%), chemical (14.7%), and
88 Fuel and Energy Abstracts January 2013
16 Energy (energy conservation)
non-metallic mineral products (24.3%), as well as the degree of
inefficiency for each, obtained by means of a stochastic frontier
production function model. These results are combined with the energy
consumption analysis to identify potential energy saving opportunities
around 20% of the total energy consumption for all studied sectors.
These energy saving opportunities are classified according to thermal
or electrical energy consumption and percentage savings of the total
energy consumption.
13/00601 Energy losses by air leakage in condensing
tumble dryers
Stawreberg, L. et al. Applied Thermal Engineering, 2012, 37, 373379.
Tumble dryers, used for the drying of textiles, consume a considerable
amount of electricity due to the large number of dryers in use. A large
amount of this electricity is produced from coal, making it important to
reduce the electricity use and, hence, the carbon dioxide emissions.
Earlier studies made on the condensing tumble dryer have pointed out
that leakage is one of the parameters affecting the electricity use for
the drying process. With a view to reducing the energy use, leakage was
estimated through measurements and modelling. Energy balances were
used in order to verify the leakage. The energy balance showed good
agreement with the results from the model and confirms that the
leakage out from the dryer arises mainly between the heater and the
drum where the air is hot and has low relative humidity. Large leakage
at this location is detrimental for the energy efficiency of the dryer,
meaning that the leakage must be reduced in order to obtain a reduced
energy use. Results from the model also point out that even small
changes in the size of gaps, or changes to the pressure in the internal
system, result in a significant change in leakage from the dryer.
13/00602 Energy saving latent heat storage and
environmental friendly humidity-controlled materials for
indoor climate
Rao, Z. et al. Renewable and Sustainable Energy Reviews, 2012, 16, (5),
31363145.
This paper reviews the development and application of energy saving
latent heat storage phase change materials and environmental friendly
humidity-controlled materials for indoor thermal management and
humidity control. Based on the studies reported in the literatures, it is
indicated that the super-efficient and innovative micro-encapsulated
form-stable composite phase change material and humidity-controlled
materials with high moisture absorption and desorption capacity and
intelligent self-humidity-control and related key techniques are worth
consideration.
13/00603 Evaluation of economically optimal retrofit
investment options for energy savings in buildings
Kumbaroglu, G. and Madlener, R. Energy and Buildings, 2012, 49, 327
334.
In this study, a techno-economic evaluation method for the energy
retrofit of buildings is introduced, geared toward finding the
economically optimal set of retrofit measures. Split incentives of
building owners and users are considered explicitly in a conventional
(static) evaluation to identify the investment alternatives maximizing
the net present value (NPV). Energy price uncertainty for various
distributional assumptions of the stochastic variables is addressed
through Monte Carlo simulation. Results from the simulation are used
to compute probabilities and expected NPVs. Based on this, a
sequential (dynamic) evaluation method is developed, featuring a real
options investment appraisal. The real options approach is introduced
as an advancement in the practice of economic evaluation of building
retrofit investment options. The new method is applied to an office
building in Germany, illustrating its performance. The case study
results indicate that energy price changes significantly affect the
profitability of retrofit investments, and that high price volatility
creates a substantial value of waiting, making it more rational to
postpone the investment.
13/00604 Evaluation of several measures to improve
the energy efficiency and CO
2
emission in the European
single-family houses
Pardo, N. and Thiel, C. Energy and Buildings, 2012, 49, 619630.
The building sector is responsible for 40% of the energy consumption
and 36% of the CO
2
emissions in the European Union (EU). The
present work investigates how the energy consumption, CO
2
emissions
and related costs are affected by different measures which can be
adopted to satisfy the energy demand in EU single-family houses. To
achieve this objective, several types of single-family houses and energy
systems are analysed in three climatic areas. The results show that a
high insulation of the house envelope and the implementation of
energy systems, which produce heat and electricity from renewable
energy sources, are key measures to reduce the energy dependence and
CO
2
emissions in single-family houses. For heating and cooling
systems, the energy systems based on ground coupled heat pumps
had the lowest energy consumption but the systems based on district
heating and biomass heaters had lower CO
2
emissions. An inverse
relationship between investment and operational cost is observed. The
equipment with higher efficiency and lower CO
2
emission have the
highest and the lowest investment and operational costs respectively.
13/00605 Fan air flow analysis and heat transfer
enhancement of vehicle underhood cooling system
towards a new control approach for fuel consumption
reduction
Khaled, M. et al. Applied Energy, 2012, 91, (1), 439450.
This study reports experimental results focused on the optimization of
a vehicle underhood cooling module. These results constitute the basis
for a new approach of controlling the cooling module positioning
according to the engine energy requirements. Measurements are
carried out on a simplified vehicle body designed based on the real
vehicle front block. The authors report here velocity and temperature
measurements by particle image velocimetry (PIV), by laser Doppler
velocimetry (LDV) and by thermocouples. The underhood of the
simplified body is instrumented by 59 surface and fluid thermocouples.
Measurements are carried out for conditions simulating both the
slowdown and the thermal soak phases with the fan in operation.
Different fan rotational speeds, radiator water flow and underhood
geometries have been experimented. The ultimate aim is to apply the
new control approach to a real vehicle so as to reduce the energy
delivered to the pump and compressor and therefore to reduce the
vehicle fuel consumption.
13/00606 Feasibility study on combined use of residential
SOFC cogeneration system and plug-in hybrid electric
vehicle from energy-saving viewpoint
Wakui, T. et al. Energy Conversion and Management, 2012, 60, 170179.
The energy-saving effect of a combined use of a residential solid oxide
fuel cell cogeneration system (SOFC-CGS) that adopts a continuous
operation, and a plug-in hybrid electric vehicle (PHEV) is discussed by
optimal operational planning based on mixed-integer linear program-
ming. This combined use aims to increase the electric capacity factor of
the SOFC-CGS by charging the PHEV using the SOFC-CGS electric
power output late at night, and targets the application in regions where
the reverse power flow from residential cogeneration systems to
commercial electric power systems is not permitted, like in Japan. The
optimal operation patterns of the combined use of 0.7-kWe SOFC-
CGS and PHEV for a simulated energy demand with a sampling time
of 1 h and various daily running distances of the PHEV show that this
combined use increases the electric capacity factor of the SOFC-CGS
and saves more energy in comparison with their separate use in which
the SOFC-CGS is used but the PHEV is charged only with purchased
electric power. Furthermore, it is found that at the PHEV daily running
distance of 12 km/d, the reduction rate of the annual primary energy
consumption for this combined use increases by up to 3.7 percentage
points relative to their separate use. Consequently, this feasibility study
reveals that the combined use of the SOFC-CGS and PHEV provides
the synergistic effect on energy savings in the residential and transport
sectors. For practical use, simulation scenarios considering the energy
demand fluctuations with short periods and real-time pricing of the
purchased electric power must be considered as future issues.
13/00607 Financial viability of energy-efficiency measures
in a new detached house design in Finland
Saari, A. et al. Applied Energy, 2012, 92, 7683.
This study analyses alternative energy-saving design concepts for a
typical new detached house design in Finland. The impact of these
design concepts on the construction costs and on the total delivered
energy needs of the building were calculated, and the financial viability
of the different concepts analysed. Different thermal insulation and
airtightness properties of the building envelope and different ventila-
tions heat recovery efficiency assumptions were tested in the analysis
work. Other variations modelled included the heating mode: direct
electrical floor heating, or floor heating via an air or ground source
heat pump. Among these alternatives, the estimated annual consump-
tion of purchased energy for running the household varied extensively,
in the range 57182 kWh/net floor m
2
. With the real interest rate set at
3%, the payback period was shortest for the air source heat pumps
(9 years). When a heat pump was installed in a house with higher
energy consumption, the payback period was 7 years, and if it was
installed in the ultra low-energy house designs, the payback period
was over 13 years. Investment to thick thermal insulation of envelope
was unattractive in Finland. The results of this study can be generalized
to similar climates and techno-economic environments.
13/00608 Forecasting non-linear time series of energy
consumption using a hybrid dynamic model
Lee, Y.-S. and Tong, L.-I. Applied Energy, 2012, 94, 251256.
Energy consumption is an important index of the economic develop-
ment of a country. Rapid changes in industry and the economy strongly
affect energy consumption. Although traditional statistical approaches
Fuel and Energy Abstracts January 2013 89
16 Energy (energy conservation)
yield accurate forecasts of energy consumption, they may suffer from
several limitations such as the need for large data sets and the
assumption of a linear formula. This work describes a novel hybrid
dynamic approach that combines a dynamic grey model with genetic
programming to forecast energy consumption. This proposed approach
is utilized to forecast energy consumption because of its excellent
accuracy, applicability to cases with limited data sets and ease of
computability using mathematical software. Two case studies of energy
consumption demonstrate the reliability of the proposed model.
Computational results indicate that the proposed approach outper-
forms other models in forecasting energy consumption.
13/00609 Improving the energy efficiency of buildings:
the impact of environmental policy on technological
innovation
Noailly, J. Energy Economics, 2012, 34, (3), 795806.
This paper investigates the impact of alternative environmental policy
instruments on technological innovations aiming to improve energy
efficiency in buildings. The empirical analysis focuses on three main
types of policy instruments, namely regulatory energy standards in
buildings codes, energy taxes as captured by energy prices and specific
governmental energy R&D expenditures. Technological innovation is
measured using patent counts for specific technologies related to
energy efficiency in buildings (e.g. insulation, high-efficiency boilers,
energy-saving lightings). The estimates for seven European countries
over the 19892004 period imply that a strengthening of 10% of the
minimum insulation standards for walls would increase the likelihood
to file additional patents by about 3%. In contrast, energy prices have
no significant effect on the likelihood to patent. Governmental energy
R&D support has a small positive significant effect on patenting
activities.
13/00610 Londons urban heat island: impact on current
and future energy consumption in office buildings
Kolokotroni, M. et al. Energy and Buildings, 2012, 47, 302311.
This paper presents the results of a computational study on the energy
consumption and related carbon dioxide emissions for heating and
cooling of an office building within the urban heat island of London,
UK, currently and in the future. The study developed 20 weather files
in an eastwest axis through London; the weather files were
constructed according to future climate change scenario for 2050
suitable for the UK which have been modified to represent specific
locations within the London UHI based on measurements and
predictions from a program developed for this purpose (LSSAT).
The study simulated an office with typical construction, heat gains and
operational patterns with an advanced thermal simulation program
(IESVE). The predictions confirm that heating load decreases, cooling
load and overheating hours increase as the office location moves from
rural to urban sites and from present to future years. It is shown that
internal heat gains are an important factor affecting energy perform-
ance and that night cooling using natural ventilation will have a
beneficial effect at rural and city locations. As overheating will increase
in the future, more buildings will use cooling; it is shown that this might
lead to a five-fold increase of carbon dioxide emission for city centre
offices in London in 2050. The paper presents detailed results of the
typical office placed on the eastwest axis of the city, arguing the
necessity to consider using weather files based on climate projections
and urban heat island for the design of current buildings to safeguard
their efficiency in the future.
13/00611 Novel instrumentation for monitoring after-hours
electricity consumption of electrical equipment, and some
potential savings from a switch-off campaign
Brown, N. et al. Energy and Buildings, 2012, 47, 7483.
An increasing cause of electricity use and greenhouse gas emissions is
from information technology (IT) equipment such as computers,
printers and servers, with worldwide computer use increasing from
1000 million PCs in 2006, to 1400 million in 2010, and estimated to
cause 3% of global electricity demand. Significant energy may be saved
if unused devices are switched off. It was noted that the switch-off rates
in the USA for desktop computers in 2006, could be as low as 30%, and
there clearly is a need for up-to-date information. It has been difficult
to provide accurate figures for switch-off rates, since previous
monitoring of IT use has been expensive, requiring specialized
equipment and electrical work, labour intensive (using walk-through
surveys), or both. This paper demonstrates two low-cost techniques for
estimation of unoccupied PC use. Precision and tracking for both were
compared with actual power consumption, and subcircuit switch-off
rates appeared to be under 76%. Whole building IT related use
(including servers) was around 40% of electrical baseload. A desktop
switch-off campaign was instigated for accessible equipment, resulting
in a 20% reduction in electrical baseload. Extrapolation to a weeknight
campaign suggests that annual electricity savings could be of the order
of 12%.
13/00612 Optimum design of district heating: application of
a novel methodology for improved design of community
scale integrated energy systems
Mohammad Sanaei, S. and Nakata, T. Energy, 2012, 38, (1), 190204.
The purpose of this paper is to present a new tool for design of
integrated energy systems. The initial choice of the energy system
components and the way they should interact is a crucial decision which
the outcome of the design heavily relies on. Use of a physical law
(instead of engineering judgment) as the basis of the decision making is
the main advantage of the proposed approach over conventional
approaches for design of community scale energy systems. The
methodology has been implemented for design of a district heating
system for an existing district in arid region of Iran. The optimum level
of interaction between the energy system components has been
identified by employing an optimization algorithm seeking to minimize
the overall cost of the energy system. Some of the relative merits of the
optimum design comparing to the present energy system are 17%
increase of the exergy efficiency, 10.8% reduction in the amount of
CO
2
production per capita and 2% reduction in overall energy related
costs.
13/00613 Organic light emitting diodes: energy saving
lighting technology a review
Thejo Kalyani, N. and Dhoble, S. J. Renewable and Sustainable Energy
Reviews, 2012, 16, (5), 26962723.
This paper reflects the achievements and the challenges ahead in the
field of organic light emitting diodes (OLEDs). The primary intention
of this paper is to study different organic materials synthesized so far
and the OLEDs fabricated for solid-state lighting. After deep review of
literatures the authors have synthesized and characterized rare earth-
based europium organic complexes Eu(TTA)
3
Phen, Eu
(x
)Y
(1x)
(TTA)
3
Phen, and Eu
(x)
Tb
(1x)
(TTA)
3
Phen, where x =0.4 and 0.5 by
solution technique maintaining stoichiometric ratio. Blended films of
pure and doped Eu complexes that are molecularly doped into polymer
resins namely polymethylmethacrylate (PMMA) and polystyrene (PS)
are prepared according to weight percentage. Concentration effect on
absorption and emission spectra of the blended films was studied for
different weight percentages (10, 25, 50, 60%). All the complexes doped
in PMMA showed an excellent transparency of 9097% while the
complexes doped in polystyrene showed a transparency of 8590%, bit
less than in PMMA. Energy gap of the synthesized complexes have
been determined in PMMA and PS. Considering the facts that these
complexes have good solubility in most of the organic solvents, the
absorption spectra of Eu(TTA)
3
Phen, Eu
0.5
Y
0.5
(TTA)
3
Phen and Eu
0.5-
Tb
0.5
(TTA)
3
Phen complexes are studied, and OLED devices having the
structure ITO/m-MTDATA/c-NPD/TPBi:Eu
(x)
Y
(1x)
(TTA)
3
Phen/
Alq
3
/LiF:Al (where x =0.4, 0.5) were fabricated and characterized.
Significant red emission was observed from fabricated OLED devices at
612 nm when operated in a range of 1018 V. Thus the synthesized rare
earth based organic complexes are the best suitable candidates for
fabrication of red OLED devices. The extensive review on OLEDS
concludes that present lighting systems can be replaced with white
OLEDS, recently developed energy saving lighting technology.
13/00614 Reducing energy consumption of a raw mill in
cement industry
Atmaca, A. and Kanoglu, M. Energy, 2012, 42, (1), 261269.
Several grinding methods are available in cement industry depending
upon the material to be ground. In cement production process, about
26% of the total electrical power is used in grinding the raw materials.
During grinding process, the energy obtained from the rotary burner is
consumed. In this study, the first and second law analysis of a raw mill
is performed and certain measures are implemented in an existing raw
mill in a cement factory in order to reduce the amount of energy
consumption in grinding process. The first and second law efficiencies
of the raw mill are determined to be 61.5% and 16.4%, respectively.
The effects of ambient air temperature and moisture content of raw
materials on the performance of the raw mill are investigated. The data
collected over a 12-month period indicate that first and second law
efficiencies of the raw mill increase as the ambient temperature
increase and the moisture content of the raw materials decrease. The
specific energy consumption for farine production is determined to be
24.75 kWh/ton farine. The use of an external hot gas supply provides
6.7% reduction in energy consumption corresponding to a saving of
1.66 kWh per ton of farine production.
13/00615 Reducing fuel consumption through modular
vehicle architectures
Carvalho, I. et al. Applied Energy, 2012, 93, 556563.
By identifying energy waste streams in vehicles fuel consumption and
introducing the concept of lean driving systems, a technological gap for
reducing fuel consumption was identified. This paper proposes a
solution to overcome this gap, through a modular vehicle architecture
aligned with driving patterns. It does not address detailed technological
solutions; instead it models the potential effects in fuel consumption
90 Fuel and Energy Abstracts January 2013
16 Energy (energy conservation)
through a modular concept of a vehicle and quantifies their
dependence on vehicle design parameters (manifesting as the vehicle
mass) and user behaviour parameters (driving patterns manifesting as
the use of a modular car in lighter and heavier mode, in urban and
highway cycles). Modularity has been functionally applied in auto-
motive industry as manufacture and assembly management strategies;
here it is thought as a product development strategy for flexibility in
use, driven by environmental concerns and enabled by social
behaviours. The authors argue this concept is a step forward in
combining technological solutions and social behaviour, of which eco-
driving is a vivid example, and potentially evolutionary to a lean, more
sustainable, driving culture.
13/00616 Targeting industrial heat pump integration in
multi-period problems
Becker, H. and Marechal, F. Computer Aided Chemical Engineering,
2012, 31, 415419.
Process integration aims at optimizing industrial processes by identify-
ing the heat recovery potential and the optimal integration of energy
conversion systems. Most industrial processes especially in the food
industry are non-continuous problems (batch problems) that are more
difficult to tackle with process integration techniques. Process
integration of multi-period problems can become complex and often
the heat integration is realized by using time averaging approaches.
The main disadvantages are that the sizing of equipment becomes more
difficult and that the investment cost calculation is almost impossible at
the targeting stage, since storage tanks are not included. This work
presents a MILP method that targets simultaneously the heat recovery
and the integration of energy conversion systems like heat pumps and
other utilities in multi-period multi-time problems. In each time slice,
the heat cascade constraints are considered together with the flows of
the utility streams and the mass balances for storage, which create a
link between the different operating times.
13/00617 The energy-saving effects of apartment residents
awareness and behavior
Kang, N. N. et al. Energy and Buildings, 2012, 46, 112122.
The purpose of this study is to discuss the energy-saving effects of
residents participation in apartment complexes through the imparting
of relevant information and motivation. Therefore, this study com-
pared the results of two separate surveys. Surveys developed based on
the government guidelines were utilized to observe and compare
residents consciousness, knowledge and behaviours, before and after
providing them with information and performing promotion activities
The major findings are as follows: First, the residents energy-saving
consciousness, knowledge, and behaviour improved after they were
provided with relevant information and exposed to campaigns. Second,
these factors improved further if residents had been previously exposed
to such information and campaigns at their apartment complexes.
Third, energy-saving activities driven by residents participation
instilled a sense of pride in their apartment complex. Hence, this
studys examination and discussion of the energy-saving effects of
apartment complexes is expected to be utilized as a framework and
guideline for the creation of effective energy-saving manuals for
apartment residents.
13/00618 The potential of increasing cooling set-points in
air-conditioned offices in the UK
Lakeridou, M. et al. Applied Energy, 2012, 94, 338348.
Following the Japanese Cool Biz campaign which advocated relaxed
dress codes and cooling set-points of 28
C in air-conditioned public
buildings, other countries have introduced similar policies, with
temperature limits varying in different countries. In the UK the British
Council for Offices suggested that the summer cooling set-points of
UK air-conditioned offices should be increased by 2
C from the
previously recommended 22 2
C hot water
inlet temperature, the cycle generates 3.6 m
3
of potable water and
23 Rton of cooling at the produced chilled water temperature of 10
C.
92 Fuel and Energy Abstracts January 2013
17 Energy conversion and recycling