Ship Fuel and Carbon Emission Estimation Utilizing Artificial Neural Network and Data Fusion Techniques

Ship energy consumption and emission prediction are the main concern of the shipping industry for ship energy efficiency management and pollution gas emission control. And they are attracting more global attention and research interests because of the increase in global shipping trade volume. As the core of maritime transportation, a large volume of data is collected around ships such as voyage data. Due to the rapid development of computational power and the widely equipped AIS device on ships, the use of maritime big data for improving and monitoring ship’s energy efficiency is becoming possible. In this paper, a fuel consumption and carbon emission model using the artificial neural network (ANN) framework is proposed by using AIS, ship machinery, and weather data. The proposed work is a complete framework including data collection, data cleaning, data clustering and model-building methodology. To obtain the suitable parameters of the model, the number of neurons, data inputs and activate functions were tested on both AIS-based data and MRV-based data for comparison. The results show that the proposed method can provide a solid prediction of ship’s fuel consumption and carbon emissions under varying weather conditions.

Numerical Simulation of Dynamic Performance of the Molten Carbonate Fuel Cell

A three dimension of dynamic mathematical model of the molten carbonate fuel cell is established,in which the heat generation, mass transfer and electrochemical characteristics are described. The performance of the fuel cell including the distributions of the temperature and the velocity is predicted numerically. Then the experimental data including the output performance of the fuel cell generation system and the temperature distributions are compared. The numerical results are in agreement with the experiment results.

Development and Experimental Research of kW-scale Molten Carbonate Fuel Cells

A kW-scale molten carbonate fuel cells stack was developed and 800-hours’ operating test and performance experimental research had been done. Utilizing domestic materials completely, we developed NiO cathode and Ni-Al anode with the active area of 336cm 2 and Υ-LiAlO 2 electrolyte tile and bipolar plate with the area of 900cm 2. The stack was composed of thirty cells, with 62%Li 2CO 3+38%K 2CO 3 as its electrolyte. During the 800 hours’ continuous operating, the performance of the stack was stable. With 99.7%(mole fraction) H 2 as fuel and O 2 from air as oxidant, the average operating voltage of a cell was about 0.72 V. The maximal current density attained to 165mA/cm 2, and the maximal output power attained to 1080 Watt. The whole performance of the stack approached to the international level in the early 90’s. This paper gives the main works and experiments results.

Ash-free coal as fuel for direct carbon fuel cell

This work describes the performance of the direct carbon fuel cell(DCFC)fuelled by ash-free coal.Employing coal in the DCFC might be problematic,mainly because of the ash deposition after the cell reactions.In the study,the carbonaceous ash-free component of coal is obtained,which is then evaluated as the DCFC fuel and compared with raw coal,active carbon,carbon black,and graphite.The electrolyte-supported SOFC structure is adapted to build the DCFC.The DCFC based on the ash-free coal fuel exhibits good performance with regard to the maximum power density,day-by-day measurements,and durability at continuous run.When the carbon fuels are internally gasified to H2 and CO,the power density is generally much improved,compared to N2 pyrolysis environment.The power generation is most likely related to the concentration of pyrolyzed gases as well as the electrochemical reactivity of the solid carbon.

Synthesis and functionalization of carbon xerogels to be used as supports for fuel cell catalysts

The synthesis and properties of carbon xerogels are briefly described in this mini-review, emphasizing the methods used for tuning their surface chemistry and textural properties in order to design efficient electrocatalysts for fuel cells. In particular, the role played by the surface functional groups in determining the loading, dispersion, oxidation state and stability of the metal phases is addressed.

Study on durability of Pt supported on graphitized carbon under simulated start-up/shut-down conditions for polymer electrolyte membrane fuel cells

The primary issue for the commercialization of proton exchange membrane fuel cell（PEMFC） is the carbon corrosion of support under start-up/shut-down conditions. In this study, we employ the nanostructured graphitized carbon induced by heat-treatment. The degree of graphitization starts to increase between 900 and 1300 ℃ as evidenced by the change of specific surface area, interlayer spacing, and ID/IG value. Pt nanoparticles are deposited on fresh carbon black（Pt/CB） and carbon heat-treated at 1700 ℃（Pt/HCB17） with similar particle size and distribution. Electrochemical characterization demonstrates that the Pt/HCB17 shows higher activity than the Pt/CB due to the inefficient microporous structure of amorphous carbon for the oxygen reduction reaction. An accelerating potential cycle between 1.0 and 1.5 V for the carbon corrosion is applied to examine durability at a single cell under the practical start-up/shutdown conditions. The Pt/HCB17 catalyst shows remarkable durability after 3000 potential cycles. The Pt/HCB17 catalyst exhibits a peak power density gain of 3%, while the Pt/CB catalyst shows 65% loss of the initial peak power density. As well, electrochemical surface area and mass activity of Pt/HCB17 catalyst are even more stable than those of the Pt/CB catalyst. Consequently, the high degree of graphitization is essential for the durability of fuel cells in practical start-up/shut-down conditions due to enhancing the strong interaction of Pt and π-bonds in graphitized carbon.

MICROSTRUCTURE CHARACTERIZATION OF LiCoO_2 COATINGS FOR MOLTEN CARBONATE FUEL CELLS COMPONENTS

The sol-gel process, sing aqueous solutions, is used for dip coating ontosubstrates of 316L stainless steel. A suitable coating of Li CoO_2 is achieved by varying thethickness and heat treating at 650 deg C for 3 h. Thermal analysis, X-ray diffraction analysis andSEM are carried out to characterize the microstructure of the coatings. The results show that thecoating transforms from an amorphous gel to crystalline phases above 350 deg C, and show a porousstructure. The phase transition mechanism is discussed.

Advance on Molten Carbonate Fuel Cell and Research on Some Key Problems

The paper is a summary of researches on molten carbonate fuel cell. On the same time, several key technology difficulties are discussed. Combining with our recent studies, the accessements to these problems are given out and they will be references for future works.

Study and performance test of 10 kW molten carbonate fuel cell power generation system

The use of high-temperature fuel cells as a power technology can improve the efficiency of electricity generation and achieve near-zero emissions of carbon dioxide.This work explores the performance of a 10 kW high-temperature molten carbonate fuel cell.The key materials of a single cell were characterized and analyzed using X-ray diffraction and scanning electron microscopy.The results show that the pore size of the key electrode material is 6.5 lm and the matrix material is a-LiAlO_(2).Experimentally,the open circuit voltage of the single cell was found to be 1.23 V.The current density was greater than 100 mA/cm^(2)at an operating voltage of 0.7 V.The 10 kW fuel cell stack comprised 80 single fuel cells with a total area of 2000 cm^(2)and achieved an open circuit voltage of greater than 85 V.The fuel cell stack power and current density could reach 11.7 kW and 104.5 mA/cm2 at an operating voltage of 56 V.The influence and long-term stable operation of the stack were also analyzed and discussed.The successful operation of a 10 kW high-temperature fuel cell promotes the large-scale use of fuel cells and provides a research basis for future investigations of fuel cell capacity enhancement and distributed generation in China.

Melamine modified carbon felts anode with enhanced electrogenesis capacity toward microbial fuel cells

Surface electropositivity and low internal resistance are important factors to improve the anode performance in microbial fuel cells (MFCs). Nitrogen doping is an effective way for the modification of traditional carbon materials. In this work, heat treatment and melamine were used to modify carbon felts to enhance electrogenesis capacity of MFCs. The modified carbon felts were characterized using X-ray photoelectron spectroscopy (XPS), scanning electron microscope (SEM), atomic force microscopy (AFM) and malvern zeta potentiometer. Results show that the maximum power densities under heat treatment increase from 276.1 to 423.4 mW/m(2) (700 degrees C) and 461.5 mW/m(2) (1200 degrees C) and further increase to 472.5 mW/m(2) (700 degrees C) and 515.4 mW/m(2) (1200 degrees C) with the co-carbonization modification of melamine. The heat treatment reduces the material resistivity, improves the zeta potential which is beneficial to microbial adsorption and electron transfer. The addition of melamine leads to the higher content of surface pyridinic and quaternary nitrogen and higher zeta potential. It is related to higher MFCs performance. Generally, the melamine modification at high temperature increases the feasibility of carbon felt as MFCs's anode materials. (C) 2016 Science Press and Dalian Institute of Chemical Physics, Chinese Academy of Sciences. Published by Elsevier B.V. and Science Press. All rights reserved.

Performance Evaluation of a Molten Carbonate Fuel Cell-Graphene Thermionic Converter-Thermally Regenerative Electrochemical Cycles Hybrid System

A combined system model is proposed including a molten carbonate fuel cell(MCFC),a graphene thermionic converter(GTIC)and thermally regenerative electrochemical cycles(TRECs).The expressions for power output,energy efficiency of the subsystems and the couple system are formulated by considering several irreversible losses.Energy conservation equations between the subsystems are achieved leaned on the first law of thermodynamics.The optimum operating ranges for the combined system are determined compared with the MCFC system.Results reveal that the peak power output density(POD)and the corresponding energy efficiency are 28.22%and 10.76%higher than that of the single MCFC system,respectively.The effects of five designing parameters on the power density and energy efficiency of the MCFC/GTIC/TRECs model are also investigated and discussed.

Lignin derived multi-doped(N, S, Cl) carbon materials as excellent electrocatalyst for oxygen reduction reaction in proton exchange membrane fuel cells

Nowadays,hierarchically macro-/meso-/microporous 3D carbon materials have been paid more attention due to their imaginative application potential in specific electrochemistry.Here,we report a dualtemplate strategy using eutectic NaCl/ZnCl2 melt as airtight and swelling agent to obtain 3D mesoporous skeleton structured carbon from renewable lignin.The prepared lignin-derived biocarbon material(LN-3-1)has a high specific surface area(1289 m^2 g^-1),a large pore volume(2.80 cm^3 g^-1),and a well-connected and stable structure.LN-3-1 exhibits extremely high activity and stability in acidic medium for oxygen reduction reaction(ORR),superior to Pt/C catalyst and most non noble-metal catalysts reported in recent literatures.The prepared carbon material was used as a cathode catalyst to assemble a H2-O2 single fuel cell,and its excellent catalytic performance has been confirmed with the maximum power density of 779 mW cm^-2,which is one of the highest power densities among non-metallic catalysts so far.Density functional theory(DFT)calculations indicate that the synergy of chlorine and nitrogen reconciles the intermediate adsorption energies,leading to an appropriate theoretical ORR onset potential.We develop a cost-effective and highly efficient method to prepare biocarbon catalyst for ORR in proton-exchange membrane fuel cells.

In situ grown nanoscale platinum on carbon powder as catalyst layer in proton exchange membrane fuel cells(PEMFCs)

An extensive study has been conducted on the proton exchange membrane fuel cells （PEMFCs） with reducing Pt loading. This is commonly achieved by developing methods to increase the utilization of the platinum in the catalyst layer of the electrodes. In this paper, a novel process of the catalyst layers was introduced and investigated. A mixture of carbon powder and Nafion solution was sprayed on the glassy carbon electrode （GCE） to form a thin carbon layer. Then Pt particles were deposited on the surface by reducing hexachloroplatinic （IV） acid hexahydrate with methanoic acid. SEM images showed a continuous Pt gradient profile among the thickness direction of the catalytic layer by the novel method. The Pt nanowires grown are in the size of 3 nm （diameter） x l0 nm （length） by high solution TEM image. The novel catalyst layer was characterized by cyclic voltammetry （CV） and scanning electron microscope （SEM） as compared with commercial Pt/C black and Pt catalyst layer obtained from sputtering. The results showed that the platinum nanoparticles deposited on the carbon powder were highly utilized as they directly faced the gas diffusion layer and offered easy access to reactants （oxygen or hydrogen）.

Organic Fuel Synthesis from Atmospheric Carbon Dioxide and Hydrogen Produced from Water by Electrolysis

Synthesis of organic fuels from carbon dioxide and hydrogen is analysed,in terms of energy recovery efficiency,and the required energy input for electrolysis of water.This electrical energy is related to the thermal energy required in a power station.A method is described to recover heat from energy-producing reactions in the fuel synthesis process,which can then be used to reduce the electrical energy requirement for electrolysis.By co-locating the fuel synthesis plant with a thermal power station,primary(thermal) energy can be used to produce high temperature steam,with a lower electrical requirement for electrolytic production of hydrogen.This can make more efficient use of the primary energy than a thermodynamic engine.Comparison is made with alternative fuels,in terms of energy budget,sustainability,carbon dioxide emissions,etc.The energy security benefits of advanced fuel synthesis are also identified.

Recovery and chemical utilization of carbon dioxide from fossil－fuel burning industrial sources

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Simultaneous Denitrification and Carbon Removal in Microbial Fuel Cells

In this article,microbial fuel cell( MFC) was used for simultaneous denitrification and carbon removal to ascertain their electricity generation performance. The results showed that strengthening domestication and enrichment of electrogenic bacteria had the best start-up effect. An increase in volumetric loading reduced the rate of pollutant removal but promoted the output voltage. The changes of working conditions such as influent concentration,sludge concentration and temperature had a great influence on the electricity generation performance of MFC,and their optimum values were 500 mg/L,2 000 mg/L and 35℃,respectively.

Carbon Foam Anode Modified by Urea and Its Higher Electrochemical Performance in Marine Benthic Microbial Fuel Cell

Electrode materials have an important effect on the property of microbial fuel cell(MFC). Carbon foam is utilized as an anode and further modified by urea to improve its performance in marine benthic microbial fuel cell(BMFC) with higher voltage and output power. The electrochemical properties of plain carbon foam(PC) and urea-modified carbon foam(UC) are measured respectively. Results show that the UC obtains better wettability after its modification and higher anti-polarization ability than the PC. A novel phenomenon has been found that the electrical potential of the modified UC anode is nearly 100 m V lower than that of the PC, reaching-570 ±10 m V(vs. SCE), and that it also has a much higher electron transfer kinetic activity, reaching 9399.4 m W m-2, which is 566.2-fold higher than that from plain graphite anode(PG). The fuel cell containing the UC anode has the maximum power density(256.0 m W m-2) among the three different BMFCs. Urea would enhance the bacteria biofilm formation with a more diverse microbial community and maintain more electrons, leading to a lower anodic redox potential and higher power output. The paper primarily analyzes why the electrical potential of the modified anode becomes much lower than that of others after urea modification. These results can be utilized to construct a novel BMFC with higher output power and to design the conditioner of voltage booster with a higher conversion ratio. Finally, the carbon foam with a bigger pore size would be a potential anodic material in conventional MFC.

Improved properties of carbon fiber paper as electrode for fuel cell by coating pyrocarbon via CVD method

The fabrication of a pyrocarbon coated carbon paper and its application to the gas diffusion lay(GDL) of proton exchange membrane(PEM) fuel cell were described.This carbon paper was fabricated by using conventional carbon paper as the precursor,and coating it with pyrocarbon by pyrolyzing propylene via the chemical vapor deposition(CVD) method.For comparison,conventional carbon paper composites were also prepared by using PAN-based carbon fiber felt as the precursor followed by impregnation with resin,molding and heat-treatment.SEM characterization indicates that pyrocarbon is uniformly deposited on the surface of the fiber in the pyrocarbon coated carbon paper and made the fibers of carbon felt bind more tightly.In contrast,there are cracks in matrix and debonding of fibers due to carbonization shrinkage in the conventional carbon paper.Property measurements show that the former has much better conductivity and gas permeability than the latter.In addition,current density-voltage performance tests also reveal that the pyrocarbon coating can improve the properties of carbon paper used for electrode materials of fuel cell.

Comparative Study of Two Carbon Fiber Cathodes and Theoretical Analysis in Microbial Fuel Cells on Ocean Floor

Cathode activity plays an important role in the improvement of the microbial fuel cells on ocean floor(BMFCs). A comparison study between Rayon-based(CF-R) and PAN-based carbon fiber(CF-P) cathodes is conducted in the paper. The two carbon fibers were heat treated to improve cell performance(CF-R-H & CF-P-H), and were used to build a new BMFCs structure with a foamy carbon anode. The maximum power density was 112.42 mW m-for CF-R-H, followed by 66.6 mW m-2 for CF-R, 49.7 mW m-2 for CF-P-H and 21.6 mW m-2 for CF-P respectively. The higher specific area and deep groove make CF-R have a better power output than with CF-P. Meanwhile, heat treatment of carbon fiber can improve cell power, nearly two-fold higher than heat treatment of plain fiber. This improvement may be due to the quinones group formation to accelerate the reduction of oxygen and electron transfer on the fiber surface in the three phase boundary after heat treatment. Compared to PAN-based carbon fiber, Rayon-based carbon fiber would be preferentially selected as cathode in novel BMFCs design due to its high surface area, low cost and higher power. The comparison research is significant for cathode material selection and cell design.