Journal of The Energy Institute最新文献

Co-pyrolysis technology offers a viable solution for utilizing biomass and waste plastics as a valuable energy resource, to support waste management, energy supply and environmental protection. In this paper, co-pyrolysis of poplar tree (PT) and polystyrene (PS) at mixture ratios of 0:1, 3:1, 2:1, 1:1, 1:2, 1:3 and 1:0 under different pyrolysis temperatures (450, 550, 650, and 700 °C), using different catalysts (HZSM-5, MCM-41, Fe/HZSM-5, and Cu/HZSM-5) were investigated using gas chromatography/mass spectrometry (Py-GC/MS) diagnostics for determining products distribution and synergistic effects. The results showed that PT performed best at a pyrolysis temperature of 650 °C, whereas PS performed best at 550 °C. The relative amount of aromatics in the co-pyrolysis products of PT and PS was highest at 550 °C that showed positive synergistic effects. The synergistic effects from the co-pyrolysis of PT and PS were significantly different at different mixture ratios of the PT and PS feedstocks. At mixture ratios of 1:1 and 1:2, the relative amounts of polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbons (PAHs) and monocyclic aromatic hydrocarbons (MAH) were higher and showed positive synergistic effects. The catalysts promoted the generation of MAH and inhibited the PAHs formation in the co-pyrolysis. The Fe/HZSM-5 catalyst provided the most significant effect on MAH showing the highest relative amounts. The results showed that highest yield of monocyclic aromatic hydrocarbons can be achieved from the pyrolysis of PT and PS materials at 1:1 mixture ratio using Fe/HZSM-5 catalyst, at a reaction temperature of 550 °C.

High entropy oxides (HEOs) show great prospects in catalysis owing to their widely tunable component structures and ease of combination with active metals. However, the development of HEO catalysts is limited by the lack of efficient synthesis methods due to the difficulty of homogeneously mixing at least five elements. In this work, flame spray pyrolysis (FSP) is successfully employed to synthesize (CrMnFeCoNi)₃O₄ HEO with a single phase spinel structure in one step, which is verified by X-ray diffraction (XRD), high-resolution transmission electron microscopy (HRTEM), selected area electron diffraction (SAED), and energy-dispersive X-ray spectroscopy (EDS). Taking CO catalytic oxidation as a probe reaction, the Pt@(CrMnFeCoNi)₃O₄ HEO catalyst synthesized by FSP in one step is compared with the catalyst whose Pt is impregnated on (CrMnFeCoNi)₃O₄ HEO support. The FSP-made catalysts have a higher catalytic reaction rate and better redox ability, which lowers the temperature of complete CO conversion by nearly 100 °C. Furthermore, it can be observed that the flame parameters can be optimized to modify the particle size and oxygen vacancies of the HEO nanoparticles, thus enhancing the catalytic performances. This work demonstrates that FSP is an effective method for the one-step synthesis of HEO catalysts with excellent catalytic performance, providing a new perspective for the synthesis of HEO-based materials.

Disposable masks, predominantly made of polypropylene melt-blown fabric, present a significant environmental challenge due to their large volume and resistance to natural degradation. This study explores the co-gasification of forestry waste, specifically pine wood, and waste masks to enhance biomass gasification efficiency while enabling the high-value utilization of waste materials. The Fe/Dol catalyst, prepared by loading transition metal Fe onto calcined dolomite using the impregnation method, was tested in a two-stage fixed-bed gasification system. Steam was employed as the gasifying agent. The study systematically examines the effects of steam flow rate, gasification reforming temperature, the mixing ratio of pine wood to masks, and Fe loading on the catalyst's performance in gas-phase and liquid-phase product formation.Characterization analyses revealed that Fe oxides facilitate the cleavage of aromatic rings in aromatic compounds, leading to the formation of two-carbon chain segments and promoting the production of ethylene and propylene from aliphatic hydrocarbons. Additionally, the catalyst enhanced tar cracking, generating free radicals and ring bonds. Experimental results indicate that at a steam flow rate of 3 mg/min, a gasification temperature of 850 °C, a pine wood to mask mixing ratio of 1:2, and an Fe loading of 8 %, the hydrogen (H₂) volume fraction reached 52.48 %, with a gas yield of 1.67 m³/kg and a hydrogen production rate of 78.25 g/kg.

This study investigated the effects of initial temperature, equivalence ratio, and diesel injection timing on engine combustion and emission characteristics at high ammonia substitution ratios. Increased compression temperature and pressure significantly reduce ignition delay, enhance combustion speed and efficiency, and decrease N₂O and unburned NH₃ emissions. A strong correlation exists between the amount of N₂O produced and the mass of unburned NH₃ when ammonia combustion efficiency is high. The N₂O distribution is concentrated near the cylinder walls and the piston top surface, in areas with high concentrations of unburned NH₃. As the equivalence ratio increases from 0.6 to 0.75, flame propagation speed and indicated thermal efficiency (ITE) increase, while NOx, N₂O, and unburned NH₃ emissions decrease. The combustion performance and emissions were optimized by advancing the diesel injection timing and increasing the equivalence ratio to accelerate the combustion speed. This adjustment increases ITE to 47.6 % at an 80 % ammonia energy ratio. Post-optimization results show a reduction in unburned NH₃ emissions from 51.7 g/kW·h to 5.9 g/kW·h and a decrease in N₂O emissions from 0.930 g/kW·h to 0.370 g/kW·h, culminating in a 60.4 % reduction in greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions.

The micropore structure can serve as the diffusion channels for intermediates and light tar products during coal pyrolysis, which is very important for modulating the desired tar or char products. In this work, the micropore effects on product distribution and the reaction mechanisms during Hailaer coal pyrolysis was explored for the first time from the atomistic simulation point of view by using large-scale ReaxFF MD simulation and the reasonable model with the artificially adding micropore strategy. The results suggest that the micropore structure indeed has a significant impact on the major tar product distribution and competitive reactions during coal pyrolysis process at high temperature. The micropore can promote decomposition reactions through accelerating C–C bond breaking significantly and inhibit the recombination reactions accompanied with the char formation with more carbon in sp2 structure. Based on the oxygen-containing bond behaviors in char products obtained from coal pyrolysis process, it is unraveled that the more micropore exits in coal structure, the more C_sp3-O bonds and less C_sp2-O bonds in char precursors. Particularly, the light tar products with ring groups are more influenced by micorpore structures than those chain products. Considering that the limitation of current experimental techniques in micropore detection, the strategy sheds new light on the depth investigation of micropore effects on reactions, which can provide complement for experimental observations and tar product modulation.

The increase in atmospheric CO₂ concentration and its consequential impact on climate change have elicited increased public concern. The refinery units including fluid catalytic cracking (FCC) generate substantial quantities of CO₂. To mitigate the emission from the FCC process, oxy-fuel combustion has emerged as a prospective carbon capture and storage technology. This study presents the first trial for the modeling investigation of a 70 kt/a industrial FCC regenerator under the scenario of retrofitting it with oxy-fuel combustion technology. Employing the Eulerian-Eulerian model, a CFD model integrating heat transfer and coke combustion reactions has been established. The detailed hydrodynamics, temperature, and species concentration distribution inside the regenerator are obtained under both air-firing and oxy-firing conditions, which are further compared to exploit the possibility of oxy-fuel combustion retrofitting. As has been found, decreases in gas temperature and carbon conversion rate were observed for 21 % O₂/79 % CO₂ atmosphere in comparison to the air reference case due to the differences in gas properties between N₂ and CO₂. This discrepancy resulted in a drop of 17 K in dilute phase temperature and 2 K in dense phase temperature. The bed density also exhibited a large with the oxy-firing conditions, with notable observations revealing a lower bed density below a height of 4.2 m, transitioning to a higher density above said height. Sensitivity analysis was also conducted for three principal operating parameters, including superficial gas velocity, oxygen partial pressure, and catalyst circulation rate. An increase of oxygen partial pressure to 27 % or a decrease of the catalyst circulation rate to 20.7 kg/s proved effective in achieving the same temperature profile and even a slightly better carbon conversion in comparison to air-firing regeneration.

Thermal properties and NO release characteristics during oxy-fuel co-combustion of pine sawdust (PS) and Shenmu coal (SM) were investigated based on the effects of various parameters, including atmosphere, temperature, blending ratio, and oxygen concentration in this research. The results indicate that the release of NO decreased with the increasing temperature during decomposition process of PS and SM. The content of N-Q and N-X in semicoke (SC) increased at higher torrefaction temperature. The N-Q and N-X content for SC at the temperature of 1000 °C was 36.9 % and 23.2 %, respectively. When 40 % PS was added to the SM, the NO release amount was significantly reduced by 16.3–23.1 % in the oxy-fuel atmosphere compared to the O₂/N₂ atmosphere, and the ignition time was reduced from 4.0s to 0.66s. The NO emission initially increased and then decreased as the combustion temperature increased from 800 to 1000 °C. Furthermore, increasing the oxygen concentration from 10 % to 40 % shortens the combustion time and increases the emissions of NO. Conversely, increasing PS blending ratios from 10 % to 40 % decreased NO emission and the conversion ratio. These findings emphasize that adding biomass can effectively improve coal ignition, increase combustion rates, reduce NO emissions, and address the air pollution problems associated with NOx emissions.

In this study, an experimental system for single-droplet ignition by laser under different pressures is established, and the laser ignition is used to examine how pressure and initial diameter influence ignition properties of RP-3 aviation kerosene single-droplet. The findings reveal that depending on the extent of the impact of bubble rupture on the droplet's shape, The droplet's morphological alterations can be classified into three types: micro-expansion, puffing, and micro-explosion. The ignition and combustion of droplets is segmented into four distinct phases: heating, ignition, intense combustion, boiling combustion. The flame width diminishes with rising pressure. Single droplet ignition delay time is strongly influenced by the pressure, which is reduced by 92.7 %, 94.1 % and 94.3 % for the three droplets from small to large diameters with the pressure increases from 1 bar to 4 bar. The change trends of droplet diameters are first increasing and then decreasing. The whole burning rate of RP-3 droplets goes up with the rise of pressure. A droplet laser ignition model is proposed, the minimum ignition energy of RP-3 droplets with an initial diameter of 1.42 mm at pressures of 1–4 bar are obtained to be 0.88 J, 0.80 J, 0.68 J, and 0.59 J, respectively.

Lignin is one of the important components of biomass, and its pyrolysis process has been widely studied. The advantages of iron-based catalysts are their low cost, low environmental pollution, and the ability to extract and reuse from the system. However, research on the effect of metallic iron on lignin pyrolysis is limited. This study revealed the influence of iron on lignin pyrolysis process at the microscopic level through reactive molecular dynamics (ReaxFF MD) simulation, while considering the influence of different temperatures. It was found that increasing the temperature can increase the production of H₂ and CO gases and improve the efficiency of lignin decomposition. In addition, the addition of catalyst iron can accelerate the decomposition of the benzene ring, making the lignin pyrolysis process deeper and more thorough, while increasing the production of H₂ and CO. The activation energy of the system was calculated and it was found that the addition of catalyst iron can significantly reduce the activation energy of lignin pyrolysis, proving the excellent catalytic effect of the catalyst. The catalytic pyrolysis strategy provided in this study, using iron as a catalyst to catalyze the pyrolysis process of lignin, can effectively utilize biomass resources in industrial production.

The escalating demand for key petrochemicals, particularly ethylene and propylene, underscores the critical need for proficient catalysts in crude oil conversion processes. Attaining high propylene selectivity necessitates catalysts with superior adsorption capacity, thermal stability, moderate surface acidity, and pores large enough to facilitate the diffusion of larger crude oil molecules. In the present study, three different BEA Zeolites (β-zeolite) catalysts were successfully synthesized by hydrothermal method and used for catalytic cracking of Arabian Light crude oil to produce valuable petrochemical products, such as propylene, ethylene, and naphtha. The catalysts were characterized using ²⁷Al and ²⁹Si NMR, NH₃-TPD, BET, XRD, TGA, FTIR, XRF, and FE-SEM. The thermocatalytic cracking of Arabian Light crude oil was evaluated in a fixed-bed microactivity test (MAT) unit between 550 and 600 °C. The as-prepared β-zeolite with a Si/Al ratio of 50 exhibited better catalytic activity in the catalytic cracking of Arabian Light crude oil compared to counterparts with Si/Al ratios of 35 and 65, This superiority can be attributed to its optimal combination of surface acid site distribution, textural properties, surface morphology, and high adsorption capacity. The highest feed conversion (83.4 %) and selectivity to propylene (16.11 %) were attained using β-zeolite with a Si/Al ratio of 50 at 600 °C. Importantly, our findings suggest that these catalysts hold significant potential, rivalling primary MFI catalysts like ZSM-5 commonly employed in similar reactions. This underscores their promise as catalysts of choice in the realm of catalytic cracking processes, paving the way for advancements in petrochemical production.