Progress in Energy and Combustion Science最新文献

Concentrating solar technologies are promising renewable energy systems for exploiting incident beam solar irradiation with high exergy efficiency values. These systems provide the possibility for producing useful heat at high temperatures that can be utilized by highly efficient power cycles or producing directly solar fuels with receiver reactor technology. In the last years, the concept of beam-down concentrating solar technology gains more and more attention due to a series of advantages associated with this idea. This concept is based on the use of two-stage reflectors for concentrating solar irradiation close to the ground, something that leads to a more compact system with reduced height. Furthermore, the high-temperature heat production and the chemical processes take place on the ground and not at a great height, increasing the safety levels of the system. Moreover, this design leads to compact configurations with lower materials use, lower wind loads and without the need to move the receiver for tracking the sun.

The objective of this review is to present the recent progress on beam-down solar concentrating technology and to highlight the need for giving attention to this direction. Critical advantages of this technology are demonstrated and the associated limitations are discussed. The emphasis is on the presentation of the different technologies that can be coupled with the beam-down technology. Thermodynamic power cycles (Brayton, Rankine and Stirling), photovoltaics, thermochemical processes, as well as other applications are included and discussed. Practically, power production and solar fuels are the major useful outputs that can be generated by beam-down solar concentrating configurations. The reviewed technologies are critically discussed and compared in terms of energy, economic and environmental aspects. Future steps in the field are suggested based on the existing literature.

With the rapid development of the global electronics industry, waste printed circuit boards (WPCBs) has become one of the world's fastest growing waste streams. Exploring an environmentally sound treatment for this abundant and multi-component waste is critical to its sustainable development. This study has been aimed to cover thermochemical conversion of WPCBs (combustion, pyrolysis, gasification and hydrothermal process), focusing on thermal behavior, reaction kinetics, pollutant evolution and corresponding controlling strategies, with the aim of promoting circular economic development and building a sustainable future for the electronics industry.

The membrane process has been considered a promising technology for effective CO₂ capture due to its outstanding features, including a small environmental footprint, reduced energy consumption, simplicity of operation, compact design, ease of scalability and maintenance, and low capital cost. Among the developed polymeric materials for membrane fabrication, polyurethane (PU) and poly(urethane-urea) (PUU) as multi-block copolymers have exhibited great potential for CO₂ capture because of their excellent mechanical properties, high thermal stability, good film formation ability, favorable permeation properties, and a large diversity of monomers (i.e., polyol, diisocyanate, and chain extender) for the synthesis of desired polymers with prescribed properties. However, PU- and PUU-based membranes' gas selectivity is relatively low and thus not attractive for practical gas separation (GS) applications. Therefore, the present review scrutinizes the main influential factors on the gas transport properties and GS performance of these membranes. In this regard, we summarize the recent progress in the PU-based membranes in view of (I) design and synthesis of new PUs, (II) blending with other polymeric matrices, (III) cross-linking PU membranes, and (IV) fabricating PU-based mixed-matrix membranes (MMMs) with deep insight into an increase in CO₂ permeability, as well as CO₂/other gases selectivity. Finally, the challenges and future direction of PU-based membranes will be presented.

Molecular dynamics (MD) has evolved into a ubiquitous, versatile and powerful computational method for fundamental research in science branches such as biology, chemistry, biomedicine and physics over the past 60 years. Powered by rapidly advanced supercomputing technologies in recent decades, MD has entered the engineering domain as a first-principle predictive method for material properties, physicochemical processes, and even as a design tool. Such developments have far-reaching consequences, and are covered for the first time in the present paper, with a focus on MD for combustion and energy systems encompassing topics like gas/liquid/solid fuel oxidation, pyrolysis, catalytic combustion, heterogeneous combustion, electrochemistry, nanoparticle synthesis, heat transfer, phase change, and fluid mechanics. First, the theoretical framework of the MD methodology is described systemically, covering both classical and reactive MD. The emphasis is on the development of the reactive force field (ReaxFF) MD, which enables chemical reactions to be simulated within the MD framework, utilizing quantum chemistry calculations and/or experimental data for the force field training. Second, details of the numerical methods, boundary conditions, post-processing and computational costs of MD simulations are provided. This is followed by a critical review of selected applications of classical and reactive MD methods in combustion and energy systems. It is demonstrated that the ReaxFF MD has been successfully deployed to gain fundamental insights into pyrolysis and/or oxidation of gas/liquid/solid fuels, revealing detailed energy changes and chemical pathways. Moreover, the complex physico-chemical dynamic processes in catalytic reactions, soot formation, and flame synthesis of nanoparticles are made plainly visible from an atomistic perspective. Flow, heat transfer and phase change phenomena are also scrutinized by MD simulations. Unprecedented details of nanoscale processes such as droplet collision, fuel droplet evaporation, and CO₂ capture and storage under subcritical and supercritical conditions are examined at the atomic level. Finally, the outlook for atomistic simulations of combustion and energy systems is discussed in the context of emerging computing platforms, machine learning and multiscale modelling.

In this paper, we provide a comprehensive overview of the state-of-the-art in hybrid PV-T collectors and the wider systems within which they can be implemented, and assess the worldwide energy and carbon mitigation potential of these systems. We cover both experimental and computational studies, identify opportunities for performance enhancement, pathways for collector innovation, and implications of their wider deployment at the solar-generation system level. First, we classify and review the main types of PV-T collectors, including air-based, liquid-based, dual air–water, heat-pipe, building integrated and concentrated PV-T collectors. This is followed by a presentation of performance enhancement opportunities and pathways for collector innovation. Here, we address state-of-the-art design modifications, next-generation PV cell technologies, selective coatings, spectral splitting and nanofluids. Beyond this, we address wider PV-T systems and their applications, comprising a thorough review of solar combined heat and power (S–CHP), solar cooling, solar combined cooling, heat and power (S–CCHP), solar desalination, solar drying and solar for hydrogen production systems. This includes a specific review of potential performance and cost improvements and opportunities at the solar-generation system level in thermal energy storage, control and demand-side management. Subsequently, a set of the most promising PV-T systems is assessed to analyse their carbon mitigation potential and how this technology might fit within pathways for global decarbonization. It is estimated that the REmap baseline emission curve can be reduced by more than 16% in 2030 if the uptake of solar PV-T technologies can be promoted. Finally, the review turns to a critical examination of key challenges for the adoption of PV-T technology and recommendations.

MXene (two-dimensional transition metal carbide, nitrides, and/or carbonitrides) has shown considerable interest in a variety of research fields due to its excellent conductivity, hydrophilicity, and abundant surface functional groups. However, MXene's challenges in aggregation and low stability, severely limit its applicability. MXenes can be prepared by a variety of techniques, including exfoliation of MAX phases assisted by HF and non-HF materials, and bottom-up approaches utilizing vapor deposition and templating methods. The preparation of MXene-based heterostructures composite has been recently investigated as a potential nanomaterial in energy storage. Herein, we provided an overview of MXene synthesis and current developments in the MXene-based heterostructure composites for electrochemical energy storage devices. Moreover, the challenges and difficulties for MXene-based heterostructure composites in the future MXene-based structural design have been described.

Proton exchange membrane water electrolysis (PEMWE), as a promising technology for hydrogen production from renewable energy sources, has great potential for industrial application. Gas bubbles are known to influence the PEMWE cell performance significantly, but a full picture of bubble behaviors and their impacts on cell performance has been lacking. In this review, we first discuss the most recent advances toward understanding the bubble evolution and transport processes as well as the mechanisms of how bubbles impact the PEMWE. Then the state-of-the-art bubble management methods to mitigate bubble-induced performance losses are summarized. Due to the similarity between PEMWE and anion exchange membrane water electrolysis (AEMWE), we also extend related discussions for AEMWE. Lastly, we present principles of bubble management, followed by an outlook of scientific questions and suggestions for future research priorities.

Is full recyclability of polyolefins via chemical recycling a dream, or can it become a reality? The main problem in recycling plastic waste is that its composition is highly heterogeneous while sorting and purifying solutions to obtain mono-streams are complex and require large investments, thereby hampering the economy of scale. Ideally, novel chemical recycling processes are designed to have mixed plastic wastes as input and higher value products are produced such as C₂–C₄ olefins or aromatics instead of a low value oil. In this review we show the directions how we can realize these objectives. Classical thermal pyrolysis offers some possibilities but requires very high temperatures exceeding 800 °C to transform the plastic waste back into the desired temperatures. Nevertheless, because of its robustness, thermal pyrolysis of polyolefinic plastic waste is currently intensively studied and the first industrial applications are operated at low to medium temperature range to maximize oil as the main product. Catalytic pyrolysis is still under development, but under ideal lab-scale conditions around 85 wt.% of C₂–C₄ olefins can be produced when pure polyolefin feeds are used. With improved catalyst design it should be possible to get this number further up without affecting the catalyst stability. As the yield of light olefins in pyrolysis is impacted by both the process design (reactor type, the efficiency of plastic sorting prior to conversion, flexibility towards feed composition) and experimental parameters (temperature, catalyst type, catalyst/feed ratio, contact mode, residence time, addition of inert or reactants) also further improvements are possible in this respect. To industrialize pyrolysis of plastic waste, short residence times (<1 s) are crucial to avoid secondary reactions and by-products such as methane, coke, and aromatics. Pyrolysis reactors that are designed according to these principles, such as downers, spouted fluidized bed, and vortex reactors, are envisaged to result in optimal yields of C₂–C₄ olefins. However, coke formation seems to be inevitable and the reactor designs need to be sufficiently robust to allow for in-situ coke removal. For future research it will be crucial for the industrial viability of plastic waste pyrolysis to improve the purification of the plastic waste stream, optimize both the catalysts selectivity and stability, and design a suitable industrial reactor. It is envisaged that further innovations in these three areas will eventually allow reaching the 90 wt.% target.

The emergence of single atom sites as a frontier research area in catalysis has sparked extensive academic and industrial interest, especially for energy, environmental and chemicals production processes. Single atom catalysts (SACs) have shown remarkable performance in a variety of catalytic reactions, demonstrating high selectivity to the products of interest, long lifespan, high stability and more importantly high atomic metal utilization efficiency. In this review, we unveil in depth insights on development and achievements of SACs, including (a) Chronological progress on SACs development, (b) Recent advances in SACs synthesis, (c) Spatial and temporal SACs characterization techniques, (d) Application of SACs in different energy and chemical production, (e) Environmental and economic aspects of SACs, and (f) Current challenges, promising ideas and future prospects for SACs. On a whole, this review serves to enlighten scientists and engineers in developing fundamental catalytic understanding that can be applied into the future, both for academia or valorizing chemical processes.