Mitigating Carbon Emissions:A Comprehensive Analysis of Transitioning to Hydrogen-Powered Plants in Japan’s Energy Landscape Post-Fukushima

One of the impacts of the Fukushima disaster was the shutdown of all nuclear power plants in Japan,reaching zero production in 2015.In response,the country started importing more fossil energy including coal,oil,and natural gas to fill the energy gap.However,this led to a significant increase in carbon emissions,hindering the efforts to reduce its carbon footprint.In the current situation,Japan is actively working to balance its energy requirements with environmental considerations,including the utilization of hydrogen fuel.Therefore,this paper aims to explore the feasibility and implications of using hydrogen power plants as a means to reduce emissions,and this analysis will be conducted using the energy modeling of the MARKAL-TIMES Japan framework.The hydrogen scenario(HS)is assumed with the extensive integration of hydrogen into the power generation sector,supported by a hydrogen import scheme.Additionally,this scenario will be compared with the Business as Usual(BAU)scenario.The results showed that the generation capacities of the BAU and HS scenarios have significantly different primary energy supplies.The BAU scenario is highly dependent on fossil fuels,while the HS scenario integrates hydrogen contribution along with an increase in renewable energy,reaching a peak contribution of 2,160 PJ in 2050.In the HS scenario,the target of reducing CO2 emissions by 80%is achieved through significant hydrogen penetration.By 2050,the total CO2 emissions are estimated to be 939 million tons for the BAU scenario and 261 million tons for the Hydrogen scenario.In addition,the contribution of hydrogen to electricity generation is expected to be 153 TWh,smaller than PV and wind power.

Effect of PEG Incorporation on Physicochemical and in vitro Degradation of PLLA/PDLLA Blends:Application in Biodegradable Implants

Polyethylene glycol(PEG)was added at different concentrations to the blend of poly(L-lactic acid)(PLLA)and poly(D,L-lactic acid)(PDLLA)to tailor the properties.The differential scanning calorimetry(DSC)measurement showed that all blends were miscible due to shifting a single glass transition temperature into a lower temperature for increasing PEG content.The DSC,FTIR,and XRD results implied the crystallinity enhancement for PEG content until 8 wt%,then decreased at 12 wt%PEG.The XRD result indicated the homo crystalline phase formation in all blends and no stereocomplex crystal.The in vitro degradation study indicated that PEG content is proportional to the degradation rate.The highest weight loss after 28 days was achieved at 12 wt%PEG.The FTIR analysis showed a structural evolution overview during hydrolytic degradation,viz.increasing and decreasing crystallinity during 14 days for the blend without and with PEG,respectively.In conclusion,the PEG addition increased crystallinity and degradation rate of the PLLA/PDLLA mixture,but PEG higher amounts led to a decrease in crystallinity,and the weight loss was intensified.This can be useful for tuning PLA-based biomaterials with the desired physicochemical properties and appropriate degradation rates for applications in drug delivery/tissue engineering.

The Mechanical and Electronic Properties of Ternary Rare-Earth Hexaboride LaxNd8-xB6 (x = 0, 1, 7, 8) Materials

We have carried out density functional theory to study the lattice constants and electronic properties of LaB6, NdB6, Nd-doped LaB6, and La-doped NdB6. The lattice constant, intra-octahedral bond, inter-octahedral boron bond, and positional parameter (z) were calculated for LaB6, La7Nd1B6, La1Nd7B6, and NdB6. Our results show that the doped Nd increases the lattice constant of La7Nd1B6. Likewise, La-doping leads to an increase in the lattice constant of the La1Nd7B6. The PDOSs of LaB6, B of LaB6, La7Nd1B6, B of La7Nd1B6, La1Nd7B6, B of La1Nd7B6, NdB6, and B of NdB6 were calculated. La d-electron bands cross the Fermi energy, showing classical conductor behavior. The charge density results indicate that light and dark colors show high and low-intensity zones, respectively. La1Nd7B6 has a low-density region and LaB6 has a high-density region. The LaB6 midpoint has strong charge density peaks. Weak peaks are also observed for La1Nd7B6. Thus, ternary REB6 has good potential for many applications. This article reports an investigation of the electronic features and structural parameters of binary and ternary hexaborides.

Electrochemical characterization of Ni-Co and Ni-Co-Fe for oxidation of methyl alcohol fuel with high energetic catalytic surface

Non Pt based metals and alloys as electrode materials for methyl alcohol fuel cells have been investigated w ith an aim of finding high electrocatalytic surface property for the faster electrode reactions.Electrodes w ere fabricated by electrodeposition on pure Al foil,from an electrolyte of Ni,Co,Fe salts.The optimum condition of electrodeposition w ere found out by a series of experiments,varying the chemistry of the electrolyte,pH valve,temperature,current and cell potential.Polarization study of the coated Ni-Co or Ni-CoFe alloy on pure Al w as found to exhibit high exchange current density,indicating an improved electro catalytic surface w ith faster charge-discharge reactions at anode and cathode and low overvoltage.Electrochemical impedance studies on coated and uncoated surface clearly show ed that the polarization resistance and impedance w ere decreased by Ni-Co or Ni-Co-Fe coating.X-ray diffraction(XRD),energy dispersive X-ray spectroscopy(EDX)and atomic absorption spectroscopy(AAS)studies confirmed the presence of alloying elements and constituents of the alloy.The morphology of the deposits from scanning electron microscope(SEM)images indicated that the electrode surface w as a three dimensional space w hich increased the effective surface area for the electrode reactions to take place.

Behavior of fluxed lime iron oxide pellets in hot metal bath during melting and refining

Lump lime as a fiux material in a basic oxygen furnace （BOF） often creates problems in operation due to its high melting point, poor dissolution property, hygroscopic nature, and fines generation tendency. To alleviate these problems, fluxed lime iron oxide pellets （FLIP） containing 30% CaO were developed in this study using waste iron oxide fines and lime. The suitable handling strengths of the pellet （crushing strength： 300 N; drop strength： 130 times） of FLIP were developed by treating with CO2 or industrial waste gas at room temperature, while no separate binders were used. When the pellet was added into hot metal bath （carbon-containing molten iron）, it was decomposed, melted, and transformed to produce low melting oxidizing slag, because it is a combination of main CaO and Fe2O3. This slag is suitable for facilitating P and C removal in refining. Furthermore, the pellet enhances waste utilization and use of CO2 in waste gas. In this article, emphasis is given on studying the behavior of these pellets in hot metal bath during melting and refining along with thermodynamics and kinetics analysis. The observed behaviors of the pellet in hot metal bath confirm that it is suitable and beneficial for use in BOF and replaces lump lime.

Electrochemical characterization of MnO_2 as electrocatalytic energy material for fuel cell electrode

Development of inexpensive non Pt based high electrocatalytic energy materials is the need of the hour for fuel cell electrode to produce clean alternative green energy from synthesized bio alcohol using biomass. MnO 2,electro synthesized at different current density is found to be well performed electrocatalytic material,comparable to Pt,with higher current density,very lowovervoltage for the electrochemical oxidation of methanol. From EIS study,the polarization resistance of the coated MnO 2is found to be much lowand electrical double layer capacitance is high,the effect increases with increase in current density of electro deposition. XRD,EDX and AAS analysis confirm the M nO 2deposition. The morphology of SEM images exhibits an enhanced 3D effective substrate area,for electro oxidation of the fuel. A fewnano structured grains of the deposited M nO 2is also observed at higher current density. The fact supports that a high energetic inexpensive electro catalytic material has been found for fuel cell electrode to synthesis renewable energy from methanol fuel.

Comparative Studies on Synthesis and Characterization of Titania and Iron Oxide Doped Magnesia from Indian Salem Magnesite

Sintering, densification, and characterization of Salem Magnesite with Titania (TiO2) and Iron Oxide (Fe2O3) addition have been carried out in this work. Salem Magnesite samples with 2 wt.% TiO2 and Fe2O3 addition have been sintered in the temperature range of 1550?C - 1650?C. The sintered sample has been characterized in terms of physico-chemical properties like bulk density, apparent porosity, specific gravity and structural properties by X-ray diffraction and scanning electron microscope (SEM). Salem magnesite samples with 2 wt.% TiO2 and Fe2O3 addition have been densified to the specific gravity of 3.75 and 3.41 g/cc respectively after sintering at 1650?C and 2 h. The presence of Calcium Titanate (CaTiO3) phase at the grain boundary has been observed in the case of TiO2 addition. For Iron Oxide addition, precipitation of “Y” shaped magnesium ferrite spinel has been observed inside the grains. Finally, TiO2 addition in Salem Magnesite shows better densification compared to both as received Salem Magnesite and Salem Magnesite with Fe2O3 addition.

Mechanical Properties of Epoxy Composite Materials Produced with Different Ceramic Powders

In this study, production and mechanical properties of polymer composite materials obtained by using Al2O3, SiO2, MgO and TiO2 hard ceramic fillers were studied. Epoxy resin was used as the matrix material, and four different ceramic powders were mechanically mixed into the resin at 3% and 5% as reinforcement. The mechanical properties of the polymer composite materials were then characterized. For this purpose, flexural modulus and flexural strength of composite materials were determined by using three point bending test and impact toughness of the materials were determined by Charpy impact test. In addition, the hardness values of the samples were determined by Shore D hardness test.

Microbial leaching of chromite overburden from Sukinda mines,Orissa,India using Aspergillus niger

Leaching of nickel and cobalt from two physical grades （S1, 125-190 μm, coarser and S3, 53-75 μm, finer） of chromite overburden was achieved by treating the overburden （2% pulp density） with 21-d culture filtrate of an Aspergillus niger strain grown in sucrose medium. Metal dissolution increases with ore roasting at 600℃ and decreasing particle size due to the alteration of microstructural properties involving the conversion of goethite to hematite and the increase in surface area and porosity as evident from X-ray diffraction （XRD）, thermogravimetry-differential thermal analysis （DT- TGA）, and field emission scanning electron microscopy （FESEM）. About 65% Ni and 59% Co were recovered from the roasted S3 ore employing bioleaching against 26.87% Ni and 31.3% Co using an equivalent amount of synthetic oxalic acid under identical conditions. The results suggest that other fungal metabolites in the culture filtrate played a positive role in the bioleaching process, making it an efficient green approach in Ni and Co recovery from lateritic chromite overburden.

Influence of cryogenic treatment on the wear characteristics of 100Cr6 bearing steel

A series of reciprocating wear tests were performed on the deep cryogenically treated and conventionally heat-treated samples of 100Cr6 bearing steel to study the wear resistance. The worn surfaces as well as the wear debris were analyzed by scanning electron microscopy. The improvement in wear resistance of the deep cryogenically treated samples ranges from 49% to 52%. This significant improvement in wear resistance can be attributed to finer carbide precipitation in the tempered martensitie matrix and the transformation of retained aus- tenite into martensite. X-ray diffraction analysis shows that the volume fraction of retained austenite in the conventionally heat-treated samples is 14% and that of the deep cryogenically treated samples is only 3%.

Study on Corrosion Behavior of Pearlitic Rail Steel

The present study is an attempt to find out the effect of environmental corrosion on the commonly used pearlitic rail steel. The cases of corrosion of rail under Indian environment have been studied. It has been found that in marine environment both the yield strength and tensile strength decreases with increasing corrosion rate. In acidic environment yield strength increased with increasing corrosion rate, although the tensile strength decreases with increasing corrosion rate.

Effect of Bitumen on the Mechanical Properties of Medium Carbon Steel

The effect of austempering of 0.45% carbon steel in hot bitumen on the hardness, impact strength, tensile properties and microstructure were investigated. The hardness values, impact strengths and tensile strengths of the austempered samples increased almost linearly from the austempering time of 1 hour to 3 hours after which they all dropped. At the austempering time of 3 hours the maximum values of hardness, impact strength and tensile strength of 496.2HV, 149J and 706.2 N/mm2respectively were attained. These values are 24.5%, 4.9% and 25.8% higher than the hardness values, impact strength and tensile strength respectively of the as-received steel. The high impact strength and tensile strength recorded despite the high hardness value was probably due to the formation of bainite structure and the diffusion of carbon from the bitumen into the steel samples.

A Novel Layered Double Hydroxide and Dodecyl Alcohol Assisted PCM Composite with High Latent Heat Storage Capacity and Thermal Conductivity

Dodecyl alcohol(DDA) is a promising solid-liquid phase change material(PCM) due to its favorable latent heat storage(LHS) characteristics.However,the leakage issue of PCM in a melted state during the heating period and low thermal conductivity restricts its utilization potential in thermal energy storage(TES) practices.Within the same context,the present work aims to overcome the leakage issue and improve the thermal conductivity of the DDA.With this in mind,a novel leak-proof layered double hydroxide(LDH)/DDA composite PCM is proposed through a solution-based impregnation method.The leak-proof impregnation ratio of the DDA impregnated within the cavities of the synthesized Al/Fe-LDH was determined to be 60%.Detailed morphological,physicochemical,and thermal properties of the fabricated composite were studied by scanning electron microscopy(SEM),Fourier transforms infrared(FTIR) spectroscopy,X-ray diffraction(XRD)spectroscopy,differential scanning calorimetry(DSC),thermalgravimetric analysis(TGA),and thermal cycling study.The results show that the LDH/DDA composite has a suitable phase change temperature(about 20℃) for passive solar thermal management of building envelopes.This composite PCM showed high LHS enthalpy(about136 J/g),good thermal stability,and cycling LHS reliability.It also showed nearly 152% higher thermal conductivity compared to that of pure DDA,ultimately reducing the melting and solidification time of the pure DDA by 44.9% and 45.5%,respectively.

印度东部钛磁铁矿的氧化行为和相分析(英文)

钛磁铁矿是一种复杂的共生矿石,含有钛铁矿、磁铁矿、铁铝尖晶石和镁铁铝尖晶石等矿物。对从印度东部采集到的钛磁铁矿石进行XRD、WDXRF、SEM和M？ssbauer谱分析。在氧气气氛下,通过TG-DTA分析对矿石的氧化行为进行研究。随后,在氧气和空气气氛下,将样品在不同温度下（873-1473 K）保温不同时间,进行等温氧化实验。观察到在较低的温度下钛铁矿相转变为赤铁矿、氧化钛,而在较高的温度下转变为钛酸亚铁相。将氧化后的矿样与焦炭混合压制成圆柱形球团,在1473 K下进行直接还原,成功地实现了将磁铁矿铁转变为氧化铁和二氧化钛的相变。

冷却倾斜板铸造、再加热和触变锻造AA7075铝合金（英文）

冷却倾斜板铸造已成功应用于生产非枝晶组织铝合金的铸造中。为了研究半固态铸造对AA7075铝合金显微组织的影响,用冷却倾斜板浇铸法制备具有非枝晶组织的AA7075铸锭,并对其进行再加热和触变锻造。对铸件进行金相观察、图像分析、扫描电镜和能谱分析。组织分析结果显示,材料的晶粒尺寸和球形度较好。在再加热过程中,晶粒可能突然变粗。冷却倾斜板铸造采用30°和60°倾斜角,采用60°倾斜角的结果更好。此外,短时再加热和半固态锻造致使固态晶粒中微量元素析出。

Modeling and computation by artificial neural network of fracture toughness of low alloy steel to study the effect of alloy composition

The unpredictable structure failures of carbon steel and low alloy steel leading to accidents may be caused by the propagation of a flaw or crack already present in the structure.Fracture toughness which describes the ability of a material containing a crack to resist fracture is one of the most important material properties for design applications of metallic structures.Since this material property is influenced by several parameters,namely material chemistry,heat treatment,morphology of structure,it requires millions of experiments to be conducted to understand and predict it.So,mathematical modeling is one of the solutions to find the effect of these parameters and design future alloys.Stress–intensity factor(KIC)is a quantitative parameter of fracture toughness determining a maximum value of stress which may be applied to a specimen containing a crack(notch)of a certain length.An artificial neural network(ANN)model was developed using over 100 sets of data to study the effect of alloying elements on fracture toughness,KIC for the low alloy steel.20%of data was used for training,60%to develop predictive model and rest of the 20%for validation.The model can predict the fracture toughness of unknown new data close to 80%accuracy which is good enough for statistical modeling.The details of program code with ANN modeling steps have been explained.Prediction of fracture toughness by the model with variation of alloy composition as well as yield stress gives interesting and important information which may help in designing alloy which will resist crack propagation in a structure and hence enhance the life of structure to fail.

HIGH DIELECTRIC CONSTANT COMPOSITE BASED ON CHLOROPHYLL A ENTRAPPED NANOPOROUS SILICA GEL

Chlorophyll a(naturally occurring Mg porphyrene)has been entrapped in nano/porous silica gel using sol-gel method at room temperature,producing a stable composite.HR TEM observationreveals regular nanoscale[around 15-20 nm diameter]distribution of aggregated polycrystalinechlorophylla within porous silica matrix.UV-vis study also corroborates the presence of variousaggregated chlorophyll a species within the system.Low field measurement shows almost 400times enhancement of dielectric constant(1700)with incorporation of only 0.125 mg/ml of chlorophyll and the loss is 0.5 at room temperature at 100 Hz.The dielectric constant of the composite reaches 2500 as chlorophyll concentration becomes 1 mg/ml.Observed strong space charge response to the external field and strong frequency dispersion of the dielectric properties ofthe composite can be attributed to the long-range electron delocalization[nomadic polarization]in chlorophyl a aggregates.The electric modulus(M*)formalism used in this study enabled us todistinguish and separate various relaxation processes.It is found that with increasing chlorophyll concentration D.C.relaxation time decreases exponentially at room temperature.It is shown that observed relaxations do not perfectly follow the Debye response in high frequency region due toheterogeneous distribution of chlorophyll aggregates.The low values of room temperature acti-vation energy calculated from Arrhenius plot reveal that polaronic hopping phenomena is absent at grain-interfacial region due to low thermal energy.