Vertically aligned montmorillonite aerogel-encapsulated polyethylene glycol with directional heat transfer paths for efficient solar thermal energy harvesting and storage

The conversion and storage of photothermal energy using phase change materials(PCMs)represent an optimal approach for harnessing clean and sustainable solar energy.Herein,we encapsulated polyethylene glycol(PEG)in montmorillonite aerogels(3D-Mt)through vacuum impregnation to prepare 3D-Mt/PEG composite PCMs.When used as a support matrix,3D-Mt can effectively prevent PEG leakage and act as a flame-retardant barrier to reduce the flammability of PEG.Simultaneously,3D-Mt/PEG demonstrates outstanding shape retention,increased thermal energy storage density,and commendable thermal and chemical stability.The phase transition enthalpy of 3D-Mt/PEG can reach 167.53 J/g and remains stable even after 50 heating-cooling cycles.Furthermore,the vertical sheet-like structure of 3D-Mt establishes directional heat transport channels,facilitating efficient phonon transfer.This configuration results in highly anisotropic thermal conductivities that ensure swift thermal responses and efficient heat conduction.This study addresses the shortcomings of PCMs,including the issues of leakage and inadequate flame retardancy.It achieves the development and design of 3D-Mt/PEG with ultrahigh strength,superior flame retardancy,and directional heat transfer.Therefore,this work offers a design strategy for the preparation of high-performance composite PCMs.The 3D-Mt/PEG with vertically aligned and well-ordered array structure developed in this research shows great potential for thermal management and photothermal conversion applications.

Simulation and Optimization of Energy Efficiency and Total Enthalpy Analysis of Sand Based Packed Bed Solar Thermal Energy Storage

This study is focused on the simulation and optimization of packed-bed solar thermal energy storage by using sand as a storage material and hot-water is used as a heat transfer fluid and storage as well.The analysis has been done by using the COMSOL multi-physics software and used to compute an optimization charging time of the storage.Parameters that control this optimization are storage height,storage diameter,heat transfer fluid flow rate,and sand bed particle size.The result of COMSOL multi-physics optimized thermal storage has been validated with Taguchi method.Accordingly,the optimized parameters of storage are:storage height of 1.4m,storage diameter of 0.4 m,flow rate of 0.02 kg/s,and sand particle size 12 mm.Among these parameters,the storage diameter result is the highest influenced optimized parameter of the thermal storage fromthe ANOVA analysis.For nominal packed bed thermal storage,the charging time needed to attain about 520 K temperature is more than 3500 s,while it needs only about 2000 s for the optimized storage which is very significant difference.Average charging energy efficiency of the optimized is greater than the nominal and previous concrete-based storage by 13.7%,and 13.1%,respectively in the charging time of 2700 s.

Renewable Energy: Prospects and Challenges in Bangladesh

Among expert scientists and politicians, there is increasing agreement that it is absolutely necessary to reduce the emission of greenhouse gas (GHG) to lessen the severity of climate change. Although little, renewable energy sources currently reduce GHG that are being emitted from the energy industries. According to the majority of long-term energy estimates, renewable energy will be a substantial addition to the supply of energy worldwide by the end of this century, as capacity of renewable energy is gradually increasing in the early decades. However, developing nations like Bangladesh are largely reliant on pricey imported energy supplies (coal, gas, and oil) that lay a heavy weight on the country’s economy. Also, air pollution growing in importance as a national and international environmental issue. Regarding the development of clean and sustainable energy, renewable energy sources seem to be among the most practical and efficient alternatives, in both Bangladesh and globally. The geographic advantages of Bangladesh allow for widespread usage of the majority of such renewable energy sources. The comparative potential and use of fossil fuels against renewable energy sources globally and in Bangladesh is explored in this review.

Renewable Energy Development in OAPEC Countries: History, Current Status, and Outlook

The renewable energy industry has grown its contribution to the global energy mix, particularly in terms of electricity generation. This study investigates the implications of an increasing renewable energy share on OAPEC countries and proposes a comprehensible policy strategy for the region. Four main topics are discussed: scientific and engineering principles of renewable energy utilization, current strategies for electricity generation in each OAPEC member country, economic and environmental implications of the energy transition under two future scenarios, as well as political interactions between oil-consuming and oil-producing countries. Based on this study, realistic and cost-effective strategies are proposed for OAPEC countries to better leverage their significant renewable energy resources while stabilizing fossil fuel supplies and strengthening their position in the global energy market. To mitigate the negative impacts of the energy transition, OAPEC countries are encouraged to take the following steps: 1) Developing renewable energy in conjunction with fossil fuel resources to reduce local demand for fossil fuel and increase the supply for exportation;2) Reviewing economic policies, environmental regulations, and carbon taxes imposed by oil-consuming countries;3) Increasing investment in renewable energy infrastructure;4) Cooperating to achieve a balance between economic development and environmental protection.

Research progress on protective coatings against molten nitrate salts for thermal energy storage in concentrating solar power plants

Concentrating solar power(CSP) has garnered considerable global attention as a reliable means of generating bulk electricity, effectively addressing the intermittent nature of solar resources.The integration of molten salt technology for thermal energy storage(TES) has further contributed to the growth of CSP plants;however, the corrosive nature of molten salts poses challenges to the durability of container materials, necessitating innovative corrosion mitigation strategies.This review summarizes scientific advancements in high-temperature anticorrosion coatings for molten nitrate salts, highlighting the key challenges and future trends.It also explores various coating types, including metallic, ceramic, and carbon-based coatings, and compares different coating deposition methods.This review emphasizes the need for durable coatings that meet long-term performance requirements and regulatory limitations, with an emphasis on carbon-based coatings and emerging nanomaterials.A combination of multiple coatings is required to achieve desirable anticorrosion properties while addressing material compatibility and cost considerations.The overall goal is to advance the manufacturing, assembly, and performance of CSP systems for increased efficiency, reliability, and durability in various applications.

Bio-PCM Panels Composed of Renewable Materials Interact with Solar Heating Systems for Building Thermal Insulation

This article aims to present the feasibility of storing thermal energy in buildings for solar water heating while maintaining the comfort environment for residential buildings.Our contribution is the creation of insulating composite panels made of bio-based phase change materials(bio-PCM is all from coconut oil),cement and renewable materials(treated wood fiber and organic clay).The inclusion of wood fibers improved the thermal properties;a simple 2%increase of wood fiber decreased the heat conductivity by approximately 23.42%.The issues of bio-PCM leakage in the cement mortar and a roughly 56.5%reduction in thermal conductivity with bio-PCM stability in composite panels can be resolved by treating wood fibers with an adjuvant by impregnating them in bio-PCM in the presence of the treated clay generated.Clay and wood fiber were treated with adjuvants that are both biological and environmentally acceptable,as confirmed by FTIR spectroscopy.The heat transfer bench(DIDATEK)showed a decrease in thermal conductivity.By using differential scanning calorimetric(DSC)analysis,the investigation of thermal stability and enthalpy during two heating cycles of pure bio-PCM and composite bio-PCM was validated.The novel renewable material was used to create composite panels for the trial prototype,which took the shape of a component attached to the solar heating system,33.57%less heat was lost,according to the heat transfer research.The outcomes demonstrated the possibility of replacing traditional electric water heating in residential buildings with solar water heating systems.

CT-NET: A Novel Convolutional Transformer-Based Network for Short-Term Solar Energy Forecasting Using Climatic Information

Photovoltaic(PV)systems are environmentally friendly,generate green energy,and receive support from policies and organizations.However,weather fluctuations make large-scale PV power integration and management challenging despite the economic benefits.Existing PV forecasting techniques(sequential and convolutional neural networks(CNN))are sensitive to environmental conditions,reducing energy distribution system performance.To handle these issues,this article proposes an efficient,weather-resilient convolutional-transformer-based network(CT-NET)for accurate and efficient PV power forecasting.The network consists of three main modules.First,the acquired PV generation data are forwarded to the pre-processing module for data refinement.Next,to carry out data encoding,a CNNbased multi-head attention(MHA)module is developed in which a single MHA is used to decode the encoded data.The encoder module is mainly composed of 1D convolutional and MHA layers,which extract local as well as contextual features,while the decoder part includes MHA and feedforward layers to generate the final prediction.Finally,the performance of the proposed network is evaluated using standard error metrics,including the mean squared error(MSE),root mean squared error(RMSE),and mean absolute percentage error(MAPE).An ablation study and comparative analysis with several competitive state-of-the-art approaches revealed a lower error rate in terms of MSE(0.0471),RMSE(0.2167),and MAPE(0.6135)over publicly available benchmark data.In addition,it is demonstrated that our proposed model is less complex,with the lowest number of parameters(0.0135 M),size(0.106 MB),and inference time(2 ms/step),suggesting that it is easy to integrate into the smart grid.

Renewable Energy:Wind Turbines,Solar Cells,Small Hydroelectric Plants,Biomass,and Geothermal Sources of Energy

In this paper,we present five basic types of renewable energy sources,namely:wind turbines,solar cells,small hydroelectric plants,biomass,and geothermal sources of energy.Wind turbines transform energy of wind into electrical energy,solar cells transform energy of sun into electric energy,hydroelectric plants transform energy of water into electric energy,devices or machines can be constructed to transform energy of biomass into heat energy,and geothermal energy into some form of energy.In this paper we present basic information and reasons why there is need today to use these forms of energy—called green energies,we present how these devices or machines function,and we propose for future work design of typical devices or machines that will satisfy basic functional needs.

Optimal Location to Use Solar Energy in an Urban Situation

This study conducted in Lima, Peru, a combination of spatial decisionmaking system and machine learning was utilized to identify potentialsolar power plant construction sites within the city. Sundial measurementsof solar radiation, precipitation, temperature, and altitude were collectedfor the study. Gene Expression Programming (GEP), which is based on theevolution of intelligent models, and Artificial Neural Networks (ANN) wereboth utilized in this investigation, and the results obtained from each werecompared. Eighty percent of the data was utilized during the training phase,while the remaining twenty percent was utilized during the testing phase. Onthe basis of the findings, it was determined that the GEP is the most suitablenetwork for predicting the location. The test state’s Nash-Sutcliffe efficiency(NSE) was 0.90, and its root-mean-square error (RMSE) was 0.04. Followingthe generation of the final map based on the results of the GEP model, itwas determined that 9.2% of the province’s study area is suitable for theconstruction of photovoltaic solar power plants, while 53.5% is acceptable and37.3% is unsuitable. The ANN model reveals that only 1.7% of the study areais suitable for the construction of photovoltaic solar power plants, while 66.8%is acceptable and 31.5% is unsuitable.

Utilization of Solar Energy in Irrigation Systems in Bangladesh

The demand for water pumping in urban water supply and irrigation in Bangladesh is significantly influenced by electricity deficits and high diesel costs. To address these challenges, the adoption of solar power for water pumping emerges as a viable alternative to traditional systems reliant on grid power and diesel. In recent years, there has been a growing emphasis on clean and renewable energies, aligning with the environmental and economic priorities of Bangladesh. The agricultural sector, serving as the backbone of the country’s economy, witnesses an escalating demand for water as the population increases. The extraction and transfer of water for agricultural and drinking purposes translate to high-energy consumption. Leveraging the abundant and essentially free solar energy, particularly during the crop growth periods when irrigation is crucial, presents an optimal solution. This study underscores the underutilization of this vital resource in Bangladesh and advocates for the widespread implementation of solar energy conversion programs, specifically in photovoltaic pumping systems. By comparing these systems with conventional diesel pumps, this paper aims to inspire policymakers, statesmen, and industry professionals to integrate green energy into the water sector. The envisioned outcome is a strategic shift towards sustainable development, with a focus on harnessing solar power to pump water for villages and agriculture, thus contributing to economic and environmental sustainability.

A Solar Energy System Design for Green Hydrogen Production in South-Western Nigeria, Lagos State, Using HOMER & ASPEN

Solar system design for green hydrogen production has become the most prominent renewable energy research area, and this has also actively fueled the desire to achieve net-zero emissions. Hydrogen is a promising energy carrier because it possesses more energy capacity than fossil fuels and the abundant nature of renewable energy systems can be utilized for green hydrogen production. However, the design of an optimized electrical energy system required for hydrogen production is crucial. Solar energy is indeed beneficial for green hydrogen production and this research designed, discussed, and provided high-level research on HOMER design for green hydrogen production and deployed the energy requirement with ASPEN Plus to optimize the energy system, while also incorporating fuzzy logic and PID control approaches. In addition, a promising technology with a high potential for renewable hydrogen energy is the proton exchange membrane (PEM) electrolyzer. Since its cathode (hydrogen electrode) may be operated over a wide range of pressure, a control process must be added to the system in order for it to work dynamically efficiently. This system can be characterized as an analogous circuit that consists of a resistor, capacitor, and reversible voltage. As a result, this research work also explores the Fuzzy-PID control of the PEM electrolysis system. Both the PID and Fuzzy Logic control systems were simulated using the control simulation program Matlab R2018a, which makes use of Matlab script files and the Simulink environment. Based on the circuit diagram, a transfer function that represents the mathematical model of the plant was created, and the PEM electrolysis control system is determined to be highly significant and applicable to the two control systems. The PI controller, however, has a 30.8% overshoot deficit, but when the fuzzy control system is compared to the PID controller, it is found that the fuzzy control system achieves stability more quickly, demonstrating its benefit over PID.

Potentiality of Solar Photovoltaic Energy in Paraiba, Brazil, and the Relation with Sustainable Development

The use of non-renewable energy has been a major environmental concern and, therefore, there is a need to look for other renewable energy sources, especially photovoltaic’s. In view of this, an attempt was made to quantify the potential of solar irradiance in the State of Paraiba, as an alternative source for conversion and use in electrical energy, these determinations being the main objectives. Global solar irradiance and solar photovoltaic data were extracted from scientific publications and/or made available on the websites of the National Institute of Meteorology (INMET), the Ministry of Mines and Energy and the National Electric Energy Agency, among others. For the case study, semi-structured questionnaires were applied in different business establishments in Campina Grande, with questions related to socioeconomic aspects and photovoltaic technology. Data were analyzed using descriptive statistics criteria and using an Excel spreadsheet. The main results indicated that the Brazilian energy matrix is predominantly from renewable sources. The Northeast is the second region with the highest production of photovoltaic solar energy and the State of Paraiba occupies its fourth position in the generation of this type of energy. The option of photovoltaic technology is a promising alternative, especially for rural areas, where there is not always a conventional electricity grid. The high availability of solar energy in northeastern Brazil, in almost all months of the year, especially in the state of Paraiba, demonstrates the existence of a high potential to generate electricity from photovoltaic systems. This technology contributes to local sustainable development, as it is an activity that generates employment and income, without degrading the environment.

Feasibility Analysis on the Integrated Application of Solar Energy, Biogas, Coal-fired Boiler and Radiant Floor Heating for Rural Residence

The feasibility of adopting a balanced energy mix mode (domestic solar energy, biogas, coal-fired boiler and radiant floor heating) was proposed. Taking a typical rural residence in Zhengzhou City for example, the study through theoretical analysis and calculation showed that such a balanced energy mix is an economic way and efficient in saving energy and reducing air pollution, and elaborated the theoretical feasibility of popularizing such a heat supply mode in rural areas.

Solar thermochemical reactions Ⅱ:Synthesis of 2-aminothiophenes via Gewald reaction induced by solar thermal energy

Green conditions have been developed for the synthesis of substituted 2-aminothiophenes employing multicomponent reactions of a ketone with active methylene nitrile and elemental sulphur induced by free solar thermal energy.

Solar thermochemical reactionsⅢ:A convenient one-pot synthesis of 1,2,4,5-tetrasubstituted imidazoles catalyzed by high surface area SiO_2 and induced by solar thermal energy

A simple, convenient and efficient method for the synthesis of 1,2,4,5-tetrasubstituted imidazole derivatives using benzoin, an aromatic aldehyde, an aromatic amine in the presence of ammonium acetate catalyzed by high surface area SiO2 and induced by free solar thermal energy was reported. C 2009 Kamal User Sadek. Published by Elsevier B.V. on behalf of Chinese Chemical Society. All rights reserved.

Solar Thermal Energy Generation Potential in Gujarat and Tamil Nadu States, India

Government of India has come out with an ambitious target of 100 GW of using solar energy alone by the year 2022. To reach this target, innovative ideas are required to use the solar energy more effectively. For solar electricity generation, mainly two types of technologies are presently in use, namely, solar PV and solar thermal. Being a tropical country, India has large solar PV and solar thermal energy. More research is required on economic aspects to make the solar thermal competitive to solar PV. Towards this direction, in our present study we have simulated a solar thermal power plant using Parabolic Trough Collector (PTC) technology and normalized with 1 MW solar thermal power plant at Gurgaon near New Delhi. Through simulation, we have extended our study and computed the electricity generation possible at different locations of India. For this purpose with 1? × 1?spacing, computations have been carried out at 296 locations. The work is further extended for more detailed study at two representative states, namely, Gujarat and Tamil Nadu. In these two states, closer data points with 0.25? × 0.25? spacing have been considered at 273 locations for Gujarat and 197 locations for Tamil Nadu. Our results indicate a large potential of electricity generation using solar thermal energy in southern states of India, namely, Tamil Nadu, Karnataka, Kerala, southern and western part of Andhra Pradesh and eastern part of Maharashtra. Good potential has also been observed in eastern parts of Gujarat and parts of Madhya Pradesh and eastern part of Rajasthan. The annual potential ranges from 1800 MWh to as much as 2600 MWh. Major parts of northern states, for example Uttar Pradesh, Bihar, West Bengal, Punjab, Jammu and Kashmir have medium range potential. Here, the annual potential ranges from 1000 to 1500 MWh. Poor range of potential is observed towards eastern parts of India and north eastern states. Here, the electricity generation potential ranges from 600 to 1200 MWh. Our results are useful to solar thermal developer and decision managers.

A simulation Study on the System Combined Solar Energy with Biogas Boiler for Floor Radiant Heating and Fuel

A mathematical model was built for simulating an innovative design system combined solar energy with biogas boiler for floor radiant heating and fuel. Effects of the ambient air temperature on the performance of the system had been examined. And the results also support theoretical feasibility of the system.

A New Kind of Renewable Energy: Production of Aromatic Hydrocarbons Naphtha Chemical by Thermal Degradation of Polystyrene (PS) Waste Plastic

Polystyrene (PS) waste plastic to renewable energy or naphtha grade fuel production through fractional distillation process was applied and PS liquefaction temperature range was 250?C - 430?C and fractional column temperature was 110?C - 135?C for naphtha grade fuel separation. The thermal degradation of PS waste plastic to renewable energy or naphtha grade chemical production was without adding any kind of cracking catalyst and without vacuum system. Polystyrene waste plastic is not bio-degradable and its can remain long period of landfill and creating gas emission for that reason its major cause climate change. For experimental purpose raw sample was use 1 kg of PS waste plastic and experiment was performed under Labconco fume hood and experiment was fully closed system, whole experiment was performed into stainless steel reactor. Produced fuel was analysis by gas chromatography and mass spectrometer, FT-IR and DSC. Analysis result indicate for fuel compounds chemical structure, compound band energy and enthalpy, delta H value. Produced fuel sulfur content less then environmental protection agency (EPA) level and fuel could be use for chemical feedstock refinery for further modification. By using this technology can reduce some foreign oil dependency and boost up renewable energy sector all over the world.

Solar Thermochemical Reactions IV: Unusual Reaction of Nitrones with Acetonitrile Derivatives Induced by Solar Thermal Energy

The behaviour of cyanothioacetamide 1 and the acetonitrile derivatives 6 and 10, respectively, towards the nitrones 2a-i induced by free solar thermal energy is reported. Structures and reaction mechanisms are also discussed.

Thermal Energy Collection Forecasting Based on Soft Computing Techniques for Solar Heat Energy Utilization System

In recent years, introduction of alternative energy sources such as solar energy is expected. Solar heat energy utilization systems are rapidly gaining acceptance as one of the best solutions to be an alternative energy source. However, thermal energy collection is influenced by solar radiation and weather conditions. In order to control a solar heat energy utilization system as accurate as possible, it requires method of solar radiation estimation. This paper proposes the forecast technique of a thermal energy collection of solar heat energy utilization system based on solar radiation forecasting at one-day-ahead 24-hour thermal energy collection by using three different NN models. The proposed technique with application of NN is trained by weather data based on tree-based model, and tested according to forecast day. Since tree-based-model classifies a meteorological data exactly, NN will train a solar radiation with smoothly. The validity of the proposed technique is confirmed by computer simulations by use of actual meteorological data.