A review of research on China's carbon emission peak and its forcing mechanism

In order to make further steps in dealing with climate change, China proposed to peak carbon dioxide emissions by about 2030 and to make best efforts for the peaking early. The carbon emission peak target(CEPT) must result in a forcing mechanism on China's economic transition. This paper, by following the logical order from "research on carbon emission history" to "carbon emission trend prediction," from "research on paths of realizing peak" to "peak restraint research," provides a general review of current status and development trend of researches on China's carbon emission and its peak value. Furthermore,this paper also reviews the basic theories and specific cases of the forcing mechanism.Based on the existing achievements and development trends in this field, the following research directions that can be further expanded are put forward. First, from the perspective of long-term strategy of sustainable development, we should analyze and construct the forcing mechanism of CEPT in a reverse thinking way. Second, economic transition paths under the forcing mechanism should be systematically studied. Third, by constructing a large-scale policy evaluation model, the emission reduction performance and economic impact of a series of policy measures adopted during the transition process should be quantitatively evaluated.

ANALYSIS FOR THERMAL BEHAVIOR AND ENERGY SAVINGS OF A SEMI-DETACHED HOUSE WITH DIFFERENT INSULATION STRATEGIES IN A HOT SEMI-ARID CLIMATE

The purpose of this research is to assess thermal performance and energy saving of a residential building in the hot semi-arid climate of Marrakech(Morocco).The studied house is built as usual in Marrakech without any thermal insula-tion except for its external walls,facing East and West,which are double walls with a 5 cm air gap in between(“cavity wall”technique).The cavity wall effec-tive thermal conductivity was carefully calculated taking into account both radia-tion and convection heat transfers.Experimental results,obtained from winter and summer monitoring of the house,show well dampening of air temperature,thanks to its thermal inertia.However,this temperature remained outside the standard thermal comfort zone leading to large cooling/heating load.Simula-tion results indicate that the cavity wall contributes to an overall reduction of 13%and 5%of the house heating and cooling loads respectively.Moreover,the addition of XPS roof thermal insulation significantly enhances the heating and cooling energy savings to 26%and 40%respectively.

Inclusion of CoTiO_(3) to ameliorate the re/dehydrogenation properties of the Mg–Na–Al system

For the first time,the MgH_(2)–NaAlH_(4)(ratio 4:1)destabilized system with CoTiO_(3) addition has been explored.The CoTiO_(3)-doped MgH_(2)–NaAlH_(4) sample begins to dehydrogenate at 130℃,which is declined by 40℃ compared to the undoped MgH_(2)–NaAlH_(4).Moreover,the de/rehydrogenation kinetics characteristics of the CoTiO_(3)-doped MgH_(2)–NaAlH_(4) were greatly ameliorated.With the inclusion of CoTiO_(3),the MgH_(2)–NaAlH_(4) composite absorbed 5.2 wt.%H_(2),higher than undoped MgH_(2)–NaAlH_(4).In the context of dehydrogenation,the CoTiO_(3)-doped MgH_(2)–NaAlH_(4) sample desorbed 2.6 wt.%H_(2),almost doubled compared to the amount of hydrogen desorbed from the undoped MgH_(2)–NaAlH_(4) sample.The activation energy obtained by the Kissinger analysis for MgH_(2) decomposition was significantly lower by 35.9 kJ/mol than the undoped MgH_(2)–NaAlH_(4) sample.The reaction mechanism demonstrated that new phases of MgCo and AlTi_(3) were generated in situ during the heating process and are likely to play a substantial catalytic function and be useful in ameliorating the de/rehydrogenation properties of the destabilized MgH_(2)–NaAlH_(4) system with the inclusion of CoTiO_(3).

An Online Fault Detection Model and Strategies Based on SVM-Grid in Clouds

Online fault detection is one of the key technologies to improve the performance of cloud systems. The current data of cloud systems is to be monitored, collected and used to reflect their state. Its use can potentially help cloud managers take some timely measures before fault occurrence in clouds. Because of the complex structure and dynamic change characteristics of the clouds, existing fault detection methods suffer from the problems of low efficiency and low accuracy. In order to solve them, this work proposes an online detection model based on asystematic parameter-search method called SVM-Grid, whose construction is based on a support vector machine(SVM). SVM-Grid is used to optimize parameters in SVM. Proper attributes of a cloud system's running data are selected by using Pearson correlation and principal component analysis for the model. Strategies of predicting cloud faults and updating fault sample databases are proposed to optimize the model and improve its performance.In comparison with some representative existing methods, the proposed model can achieve more efficient and accurate fault detection for cloud systems.

Advanced hydrogen storage of the Mg–Na–Al system:A review

A solid-state storage system is the most practical option for hydrogen because it is more convenient and safer.Metal hydrides,especially MgH_(2),are the most promising materials that offer high gravimetric capacity and good reversibility.However,the practical application of MgH_(2) is restricted by slow sorption kinetics and high stability of thermodynamic properties.Hydrogen storage performance of MgH_(2) was enhanced by introducing the Mg–Na–Al system that destabilises MgH_(2) with NaAlH_(4).The Mg–Na–Al system has superior performance compared to that of unary MgH_(2) and NaAlH_(4).To boost the performance of the Mg–Na–Al system,the ball milling method and the addition of a catalyst were introduced.The Mg–Na–Al system resulted in a low onset decomposition temperature,superior cyclability and enhanced kinetics performances.The Al_(12)Mg_(17) and NaMgH_(3) that formed in situ during the dehydrogenation process modify the reaction pathway of the Mg–Na–Al system and alter the thermodynamic properties.In this paper,the overview of the recent progress in hydrogen storage of the Mg–Na–Al system is detailed.The remaining challenges and future development of Mg–Na–Al system are also discussed.This paper is the first review report on hydrogen storage properties of the Mg–Na–Al system.

The effect of K2SiF6 on the MgH2 hydrogen storage properties

The catalytic effect of K2SiF6 on MgH2 was first timely studied.The MgH2+5 wt.%K2SiF6 was prepared via the ball milling technique.The catalyst had lessened the initial decomposition temperature by 134℃ and 48℃ as compared to both pristine and milled MgH2 samples,respectively.In 2 minutes,4.5 wt.%of hydrogen was absorbed(250℃)by the doped composite,which was 0.8 wt.%higher than the milled MgH2.Meanwhile,for the desorption kinetics(320℃,1 atm),the amount of desorbed hydrogen was increased by 2.4 wt.%and 2.3 wt.%for the first 10 and 20 minutes.Besides,contracting volume and Johnson-Mehl-Avrami models were used to analyse the kinetics sorptions.The decomposition activation energy calculated based on Kissinger equation was 114 kJ/mol.As for the active species,Mg2Si,MgF2 and KH were formed during the heating process.These active species are speculated to be responsible for the improvement of the hydrogenation properties of the composite.

Self-catalyzed formation of strongly interconnected multiphase molybdenum-based composites for efficient hydrogen evolution

Molybdenum carbide(MoxC)with variable phase structure possesses flexible hydrogen-binding energy(HBE),which is a promising hydrogen evolution reaction(HER)catalyst.Herein,a hybrid multiphase MoxC freestanding film coupled with Co3Mo(CM/MoxC@NC)is synthesized through the electrospinning method supplemented by the heteroatom incorporation.CM/MoxC@NC surpasses its pure phase counterparts and exhibits remarkable catalytic activity at 114mV to deliver a current density of 10mA cm^(−2) in acid,which is among the first-rate level performance reported for MoxC-based catalysts.The subsequent ex situ and in situ characterizations reveal a phase transition mechanism based on self-catalysis that CoOx depletes the coordinated C ofα-MoC via the interaction,which realizes the assembly of weak HBEα-MoC and strong HBEβ-Mo2C,and the enhanced utilization of active materials as well.The multiple structures with optimal HBE are in favor of the stepwise reactions of HER,as the study of the correlation between HBE and phase structure revealed.This study discloses the underlying phase transition mechanism and highlights the HBE–structure relationship that should be considered for catalyst design.

Synthesis and applications of MOF-derived porous nanostructures

Metal organic frameworks(MOFs) represent a class of porous material which is formed by strong bonds between metal ions and organic linkers. By careful selection of constituents, MOFs can exhibit very high surface area, large pore volume, and excellent chemical stability.Research on synthesis, structures and properties of various MOFs has shown that they are promising materials for many applications, such as energy storage, gas storage, heterogeneous catalysis and sensing. Apart from direct use, MOFs have also been used as support substrates for nanomaterials or as sacrificial templates/precursors for preparation of various functional nanostructures. In this review, we aim to present the most recent development of MOFs as precursors for the preparation of various nanostructures and their potential applications in energy-related devices and processes. Specifically, this present survey intends to push the boundaries and covers the literatures from the year 2013 to early 2017,on supercapacitors, lithium ion batteries, electrocatalysts, photocatalyst, gas sensing, water treatment, solar cells, and carbon dioxide capture.Finally, an outlook in terms of future challenges and potential prospects towards industrial applications are also discussed.

Spontaneous combustion liability between coal seams: A thermogravimetric study

The spontaneous combustion liability of coal can be determined by using different experimental techniques.These techniques are well-known in their application,but no certain test method has become a standard to prove the reliability of all of them.A general characterisation which included proximate and ultimate analyses,petrographic properties and spontaneous combustion tests(thermogravimetric analysis(TGA)and the Wits-Ehac tests)were conducted on fourteen coal and four coal-shale samples.The spontaneous combustion liability of these samples collected between coal seams(above and below)were predicted using the TGA and the Wits-Ehac tests.Six different heating rates(3,6,9,15,20 and 25
C/min)were selected based on the deviation coefficient to obtain different derivative slopes and a liability index termed the TGspc index.This study found that coal and coal-shale undergo spontaneous combustion between coal seams when exposed to oxygen in the air.Their intrinsic properties and proneness towards spontaneous combustion differ considerably from one seam to the other.The Wits-Ehac test results agreed with the TGspc results to a certain extent and revealed the incidents of spontaneous combustion in the coal mines.

Mathematical analysis of SOFC based on co-ionic conducting electrolyte

In co-ionic conducting solid oxide fuel cell （SOFC）, both oxygen ion （O2） and proton （H＋） can transport through the electrolyte, generating steam in both the an-ode and cathode. Thus the mass transport phenomenon in the electrodes is quite different from that in conventional SOFC with oxygen ion conducting electrolyte （O-SOFC） or with proton conducting electrolyte （H-SOFC）. The generation of steam in both electrodes also affects the concentration over-potential loss and further the SOFC performance. However, no detailed modeling study on SOFCs with co-ionic electrolyte has been reported yet. In this paper, a new mathematical model for SOFC based on co-ionic electrolyte was developed to predict its actual performance considering three major kinds of overpotentials. Ohm＇s law and the Butler-Volmer formula were used to model the ion conduction and electrochemical reactions, respectively. The dusty gas model （DGM） was employed to simulate the mass transport processes in the porous electrodes. Parametric simulations were performed to investigate the effects of proton transfer number （tH） and current density （jtotal） on the cell performance. It is interesting to find that the co-ionic conducting SOFC could perform better than O-SOFC and H-SOFC by choosing an appropriate proton transfer number. In addition, the co-ionic SOFC shows smaller difference between the anode and cathode concentration overpotentials than O-SOFC and H-SOFC at certain t H values. The results could help material selection for enhancing SOFC performance.

Microreactor for the Catalytic Partial Oxidation of Methane

Fixed-bed reactors for the partial oxidation of methane to produce synthetic gas still pose hotspot problems. An alternative reactor, which is known as the shell-and-tube-typed microreactor, has been developed to resolve these problems. The microreactor consists of a 1 cm outside-diameter, 0.8 cm insidediameter and 11 cm length tube, and a 1.8 cm inside-diameter shell. The tube is made of dense alumina and the shell is made of quartz. Two different methods dip and spray coating were performed to line the tube side with the LaNixOy catalyst. Combustion and reforming reactions take place simultaneously in this reactor. Methane is oxidized in the tube side to produce flue gases （CO2 and H2O） which flow counter-currently and react with the remaining methane in the shell side to yield synthesis gas. The methane conversion using the higher-loading catalyst spray-coated tube reaches 97% at 700 ℃, whereas that using the lower-loading catalyst dip-coated tube reaches only 7.78% because of poor adhesion between the catalyst film and the alumina support. The turnover frequencies （TOFs） using the catalyst spray-and dip-coated tubes are 5.75×10^-5 and 2.24×10^-5 mol/gcat· s, respectively. The catalyst spray-coated at 900 ℃ provides better performance than that at 1250 ℃ because sintering reduces the surface-area. The hydrogen to carbon monoxide ratio produced by the spray-coated catalyst is greater than the stoichiometric ratio, which is caused by carbon deposition through methane cracking or the Boudouard reaction.

Hybrid Petri Nets for Modeling and Analysis of Microgrid Systems

Hybrid Petri nets(HPNs) are widely used to describe and analyze various industrial hybrid systems that have both discrete-event and continuous discrete-time behaviors. Recently,many researchers attempt to utilize them to characterize power and energy systems. This work proposes to adopt an HPN to model and analyze a microgrid that consists of green energy sources. A reachability graph for such a model is generated and used to analyze the system properties.

Experimental evaluation of activated carbon derived from South Africa discard coal for natural gas storage

Lacking in literature is the use of discard coal to produce activated carbon and in its subsequent use in the storage of natural gas. In this study, the characterization and gas storage evaluation of a largely porous activated carbon with large surface area synthesized from discard coal were investigated. Discard coals are waste material generated from coal beneficiation process. In developing the activated carbon, chemical activation route with the use of KOH reagent was applied. The effects of KOH/discard coal weight ratio (1:1, 2.5:1, 4:1), temperature (400-800 ℃) and particle size (0.15-0.25 mm, 0.25-0.5 mm, 0.5-1 mm) on the adsorptive properties of the activated carbon were methodically evaluated and optimized using response surface methodology. The synthesized activated carbon was characterized using BET, SEM/EDS, and XRD. The results showed that for each activation process, the surface area and pore volume of the resulting activated carbon increased with increased temperature and KOH/discard coal weight ratio. The maximum surface area of 1826.41 m2/g, pore volume of 1.252 cm^3/g and pore size of 2.77 nm were obtained at carbonization temperature of 800 ℃ and KOH/discard coal weight ratio of 4:1. Methane and nitrogen adsorption data at high pressure were fitted to Toth isotherm model with a predictive accuracy of about 99%. Adsorption parameters using the Toth model provides useful information in the design of adsorbed natural gas storage system. According to the requirements of adsorbent desired for natural gas storage, it could be stated that the synthesized activated carbon could well be applied for natural gas storage.

Achieving exceptional activity and durability toward oxygen reduction based on a cobalt-free perovskite for solid oxide fuel cells

In response to the shortcomings of cobalt-rich cathodes, iron-based perovskite oxides appear as promising alternatives for solid oxide fuel cells (SOFCs). However, their inferior electrochemical performance at reduced temperatures (<700 ℃) becomes a major bottleneck for future progress. Here, a novel cobalt-free perovskite Ba_(0.75)Sr_(0.25)Fe_(0.875)Ga_(0.125)O_(3−δ) (BSFG) is developed as an efficient oxygen reduction electrode for SOFCs, featuring cubic-symmetry structure, large oxygen vacancy concentration and fast oxygen transport. Benefiting from these merits, cells incorporated with BSFG achieve exceptionally high electrochemical performance, as evidenced by a low polarization area-specific resistance of 0.074 Ω cm^(2) and a high peak power density of 1145 mW cm^(−2) at 600 ℃. Meanwhile, a robust short-term performance stability of BSFG cathode can be ascribed to the stable crystalline structure and favorable thermal expansion behavior. First-principles computations are also conducted to understanding the superior activity and durability toward oxygen reduction reaction. These pave the way for rationally developing highly active and robust cobalt-free perovskite-type cathode materials for reduced-temperature SOFCs.

Advances in Porous Perovskites:Synthesis and Electrocatalytic Performance in Fuel Cells and Metal-Air Batteries

With a rising energy demand and anabatic environmental crisis arising from the fast growth in human population and society economics,numerous efforts have been devoted to explore and design plentiful multifunctional materials for meeting highefficiency energy transfer processes,which happen in various developed energy conversion and storage systems.As a special kind of multi-metal oxides,perovskite with attractive physical and chemical properties,is becoming a rapidly rising star on the horizon of high-performance catalytic materials with substantial research behaviors worldwide.The porous nanostructure in targeted catalysts is favorable to the catalytic activity and thus improves the overall efficiency of these energy-related installations.In this review paper,recent advances made in the porous perovskite nanostructures for catalyzing several anodic or cathodic reactions in fuel cells and metal-air batteries are comprehensively summarized.Plenty of general preparation methods employed to attain porous perovskite-type oxides are provided,followed by a further discussion about the influence of various strategies on structures and catalytic properties of the porous perovskites.Furthermore,deep insights gathered in the future development of porous perovskite-based materials for energy conversion and storage technologies are also provided.

One-step process for production of biodiesel from Jatropha curcas L. seeds： Optimization using Response Surface Methodology （RSM）

Jatropha curcas L. （JCL） seeds were extracted and transesterified in-situ using supercritical methanol extraction in the absence of catalyst at different temperatures （200-280℃） and pressures （8-12 MPa）, and at a fixed reaction time of 30 min with seeds-to-methanol ratio of 1：40 w/v. Design of experiment approach using five-level-two-factors design of Response Surface Methodology （RSM） was used to observe the effect of two independent variables i.e. temperature and pressure and the percent of biodiesel yield which required 13 runs. For optimization of the variables, Central Composite Rotatable Design （CCRD） was used for regression analysis and analysis of variance （ANOVA）. The optimize conditions suggested by RSM were at T = 280℃ and P = 12.04 MPa. The predicted and experimental biodicsel yields were found to be 56.8% and 59.9%, respectively, with relatively small deviation errors of 1.59%.

Predictions of elemental composition of coal and biomass from their proximate analyses using ANFIS, ANN and MLR

The elemental composition of coal and biomass provides significant parameters used in the design of almost all energy conversion systems and projects.The laboratory tests to determine the elemental composition of coal and biomass is time-consuming and costly.However,limited research has suggested that there is a correlation between parameters obtained from elemental and proximate analyses of these materials.In this study,some predictive models of the elemental composition of coal and biomass using soft computing and regression analyses have been developed.Thirty-one samples including parameters of elemental and proximate analyses were used during the analyses to develop multiple prediction models.Dependent variables for multiple prediction models were selected as carbon,hydrogen,and oxygen.Using volatile matter,fixed carbon,moisture and ash contents as independent variables,three different prediction models were developed for each dependent parameter using ANFIS,ANN,and MLR.In addition,a routine for selecting the best predictive model was suggested in the study.The reliability of the established models was tested by using various prediction performance indices and the models were found to be satisfactory.Therefore,the developed models can be used to determine the elemental composition of coal and biomass for practical purposes.

Enhanced heat transfer in rectangular duct with punched winglets

Thermal performance of a heat exchanger duct with punched winglets(PWs)mounted on the upper duct wall has been examined for Reynolds number(Re)ranging from 4100 to 25,500.In the present experiment,two types of PWs:punched delta-and elliptical-winglets(P-DW and P-EW)with four punched-hole sizes were tested at a fixed attack angle,optimal relative pitch and height.Also,data of solid delta-and elliptical-winglets(DW and EW)were included for comparison.The investigation has shown that the P-DW yields higher thermal-performance enhancement factor(η)than the P-EW.Although the solid DW and EW with no punch have the highest heat transfer and friction loss,the PWs yield betterηthan the solid ones.For PWs,the P-DW with smaller hole size has the peak heat transfer and friction loss around 5.7 and 40 times over the smooth duct,respectively but the optimumηof 2.17 is seen for the one with a certain hole size.The PWs provideηat about 5%–8%above the solid winglets.

The Oleic Acid Composition Effect on the Carboxymethyl Cellulose Based Biopolymer Electrolyte

Biopolymer electrolyte based on carboxymethyl cellulose has been prepared by doping with different concentration of oleic acid via solution casting technique. Fourier Transform Infrared spectroscopy was used to study the complexation between the salt and polymer. New peak was observed at 1710, 2850, 2920 cm-1. X-ray diffraction study reveals the amorphous nature of the biopolymer electrolyte. Impedance study shows the highest ionic conductivity, σ, was found to be 2.11 × 10-5 S·cm-1 at room temperature (303 K) for sample containing 20 wt.% of oleic acid and the biopolymer electrolyte obeys Arrhenius behaviour.

Ameliorating the re/dehydrogenation behaviour of MgH2 by zinc titanate addition

Magnesium hydride(MgH_(2))is the most feasible and effective solid-state hydrogen storage material,which has excellent reversibility but initiates decomposing at high temperatures and has slow kinetics performance.Here,zinc titanate(Zn_(2)TiO_(4))synthesised by the solid-state method was used as an additive to lower the initial temperature for dehydrogenation and enhance the re/dehydrogenation behaviour of MgH_(2).With the presence of Zn_(2)TiO_(4),the starting temperature for the dehydrogenation of MgH_(2)was remarkably lowered to around 290℃–305℃.In addition,within 300 s,the MgH_(2)–Zn_(2)TiO_(4)sample absorbed 5.0 wt.%of H_(2)and 2.2–3.6 wt.%H_(2)was liberated from the composite sample in 30 min,which is faster by 22–36 times than as-milled MgH_(2).The activation energy of the MgH_(2)for the dehydrogenation process was also downshifted to 105.5 k J/mol with the addition of Zn_(2)TiO_(4)indicating a decrease of 22%than as-milled MgH_(2).The superior behaviour of MgH_(2)was due to the formation of Mg Zn_(2),MgO and MgTiO_(3),which are responsible for ameliorating the re/dehydrogenation behaviour of MgH_(2).These findings provide a new understanding of the hydrogen storage behaviour of the catalysed-MgH_(2)system.