scholarly journals Harvesting Waste Thermal Energy Using a Surface-Modified Carbon Fiber-Based Thermo-Electrochemical Cell

2021 ◽  
Vol 13 (3) ◽  
pp. 1377
Author(s):  
Denis Artyukhov ◽  
Nikolay Kiselev ◽  
Nikolay Gorshkov ◽  
Natalya Kovyneva ◽  
Olga Ganzha ◽  
...  

An important direction in the development of energy saving policy is harvesting and conversion into electricity of low-grade waste heat. The present paper is devoted to the improvement of the efficiency of thermo-electrochemical cells based on carbon fiber electrodes and potassium ferri-/ferrocyanide redox electrolyte. The influence of the carbon fiber electrode surface modification (magnetron deposition of silver and titanium or infiltration implantation of nanoscale titanium oxide) on the output power and parameters of the impedance equivalent scheme of a thermo-electrochemical cell has been studied. Two kinds of cell designs (a conventional electrochemical cell with a salt bridge and a coin cell-type body) were investigated. It was found that the nature of the surface modification of electrodes can change the internal resistance of the cell by three orders of magnitude. The dependence of the equivalent scheme parameters and output power density of the thermoelectric cell on the type of electrode materials was presented. It was observed that the maximum power for carbon fiber modified with titanium metal and titanium oxide was 25.2 mW/m2 and the efficiency was 1.37%.

Author(s):  
James F. Walton ◽  
Andrew Hunsberger ◽  
Hooshang Heshmat

In this paper the authors will present the design and preliminary test results for a distributed electric generating system that uses renewable energy source for economical load-following and peak-shaving capability in an oil-free, high-speed micro-turboalternator system using compliant foil bearings and a permanent magnet alternator. Test results achieved with the prototype system operating to full speed and under power generating mode will be presented. A comparison between predicted and measured electrical output will also be presented up to a power generating level of 25 kWe at approximately 55,000 rpm. The excellent correlation between design and test provides the basis for scale up to larger power levels. Based upon the turboalternator test results a thermodynamic cycle analysis of a system using low grade waste heat water at approximately 100 C will be reviewed. The tradeoff study results for a series of environmentally friendly refrigerant working fluids will also be presented including sensitivity to vaporization and condensing temperatures. Based on the cycle and pinch point analyses predicted maximum output power was determined. Finally a preliminary turbine design for the selected R134a working fluid was completed. The results of this study show that a net output power level of greater than 40 kW is possible for approximately 240 l/m flow of water at 100C is possible.


1992 ◽  
Vol 25 (12) ◽  
pp. 33-47 ◽  
Author(s):  
T. S. C. Gross ◽  
R. R. Cohen

The small island of Jersey is served by a single wastewater treatment plant at Bellozanne. Since its inception some 30 years ago the sludge produced has been used on agricultural land. Inevitably there are circumstances which prevent this happening without interruption, eg, poor weather, or seasonal demand. On these occasions, the island has no other disposal option to fall back on. Furthermore, concerns over the practice have created a perception that it might be doing harm to the ‘quality' of the farm produce. The responsible body, the Public Services Department, formulated a flexible, multiple option solution and commissioned Halcrow to engineer the capital works. The works centre around a thermal drying plant using biogas produced by the digestion process as the main fuel. Waste heat is recovered for digester heating making the total process potentially self sufficient in energy. At the same time, the bulk of the product is reduced considerably, providing an easily transported material with potential for use directly on the land as a fertilizer substitute or as a low grade fuel. Farfrom being a disposal problem requiring manpower and expense, sludge will soon be regarded by the States of Jersey as a valuable resource with a revenue potential.


RSC Advances ◽  
2021 ◽  
Vol 11 (17) ◽  
pp. 9955-9963
Author(s):  
Yanjing Liu ◽  
Jiawei He ◽  
Bing Zhang ◽  
Huacheng Zhu ◽  
Yang Yang ◽  
...  

Microwave enabled air plasma was boosted by a carbon fiber cloth (CFC) and used for the high-efficiency surface modification of the CFC, yielding CFCs with tunable contents of oxygen and each O-containing group.


Carbon Trends ◽  
2021 ◽  
Vol 3 ◽  
pp. 100030
Author(s):  
Jin Hee Kim ◽  
Jong Hun Han ◽  
Seungki Hong ◽  
Doo-Won Kim ◽  
Sang Hee Park ◽  
...  

2021 ◽  
Vol 11 (1) ◽  
Author(s):  
Mansur Mohammed Ali Gamel ◽  
Pin Jern Ker ◽  
Hui Jing Lee ◽  
Wan Emilin Suliza Wan Abdul Rashid ◽  
M. A. Hannan ◽  
...  

AbstractThe optimization of thermophotovoltaic (TPV) cell efficiency is essential since it leads to a significant increase in the output power. Typically, the optimization of In0.53Ga0.47As TPV cell has been limited to single variable such as the emitter thickness, while the effects of the variation in other design variables are assumed to be negligible. The reported efficiencies of In0.53Ga0.47As TPV cell mostly remain < 15%. Therefore, this work develops a multi-variable or multi-dimensional optimization of In0.53Ga0.47As TPV cell using the real coded genetic algorithm (RCGA) at various radiation temperatures. RCGA was developed using Visual Basic and it was hybridized with Silvaco TCAD for the electrical characteristics simulation. Under radiation temperatures from 800 to 2000 K, the optimized In0.53Ga0.47As TPV cell efficiency increases by an average percentage of 11.86% (from 8.5 to 20.35%) as compared to the non-optimized structure. It was found that the incorporation of a thicker base layer with the back-barrier layers enhances the separation of charge carriers and increases the collection of photo-generated carriers near the band-edge, producing an optimum output power of 0.55 W/cm2 (cell efficiency of 22.06%, without antireflection coating) at 1400 K radiation spectrum. The results of this work demonstrate the great potential to generate electricity sustainably from industrial waste heat and the multi-dimensional optimization methodology can be adopted to optimize semiconductor devices, such as solar cell, TPV cell and photodetectors.


Catalysts ◽  
2021 ◽  
Vol 11 (4) ◽  
pp. 508
Author(s):  
Kui You ◽  
Zihan Zhou ◽  
Chao Gao ◽  
Qiao Yang

Biochar is a kind of carbon-rich material formed by pyrolysis of biomass at high temperature in the absence or limitation of oxygen. It has abundant pore structure and a large surface area, which could be considered the beneficial characteristics for electrodes of microbial electrochemical systems. In this study, reed was used as the raw material of biochar and six biochar-based electrode materials were obtained by three methods, including one-step biochar cathodes (BC 800 and BC 700), biochar/polyethylene composite cathodes (BP 5:5 and BP 6:4), and biochar/polyaniline/hot-melt adhesive composite cathode (BPP 5:1:4 and BPP 4:1:5). The basic physical properties and electrochemical properties of the self-made biochar electrode materials were characterized. Selected biochar-based electrode materials were used as the cathode of sediment microbial electrochemical reactors. The reactor with pure biochar electrode (BC 800) achieves a maximum output power density of 9.15 ± 0.02 mW/m2, which increases the output power by nearly 80% compared with carbon felt. When using a biochar/polyaniline/hot-melt adhesive (BPP 5:1:4) composite cathode, the output power was increased by 2.33 times. Under the premise of ensuring the molding of the material, the higher the content of biochar, the better the electrochemical performance of the electrodes. The treatment of reed powder before pyrolysis is an important factor for the molding of biochar. The one-step molding biochar cathode had satisfactory performance in sediment microbial electrochemical systems. By exploring the biochar-based electrode, waste biomass could be reused, which is beneficial for the environment.


APL Materials ◽  
2021 ◽  
Vol 9 (1) ◽  
pp. 011105
Author(s):  
Daniel Dzekan ◽  
Anja Waske ◽  
Kornelius Nielsch ◽  
Sebastian Fähler
Keyword(s):  

Author(s):  
Noman Yousuf ◽  
Timothy Anderson ◽  
Roy Nates

Abstract Despite being identified nearly a century ago, the diffusion absorption refrigeration (DAR) cycle has received relatively little attention. One of the strongest attractions of the DAR cycle lies in the fact that it is thermally driven and does not require high value work. This makes it a prime candidate for harnessing low grade heat from solar collectors, or the waste heat from stationary generators, to produce cooling. However, to realize the benefits of the DAR cycle, there is a need to develop an improved understanding of how design parameters influence its performance. In this vein, this work developed a new parametric model that can be used to examine the performance of the DAR cycle for a range of operating conditions. The results showed that the cycle's performance was particularly sensitive to several factors: the rate of heat added and the temperature of the generator, the effectiveness of the gas and solution heat exchangers, the mass flowrate of the refrigerant and the type of the working fluid. It was shown that can deliver good performance at low generator temperatures if the refrigerant mass fraction in the strong solution is made as high as possible. Moreover, it was shown that a H2O-LiBr working pair could be useful for achieving cooling at low generator temperatures.


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