Editor’s Choice Articles

This mini review discusses the sustainability aspects of various fuels for proton exchange membrane fuel cells (PEMFCs). PEMFCs operate by converting the chemical energy in a fuel into electrical energy. The most crucial parameters in the operation process are the temperature, pressure, relative humidity, and air stoichiometry ratio, as presented in this work. The classical structure of a PEMFC consists of a proton exchange membrane, anode electrode, cathode electrode, catalyst layers (CLs), microporous layer (MPLs), gas diffusion layers (GDLs), two bipolar plates (BPs), and gas flow channels (GFCs). The mechanical behavior and the conductivity of the protons are highly dependent on the structure of the MEAs. This review discusses the various fuels and their production paths from sustainable sources. For the fuel production process to be renewable and sustainable, a hydrogen electrolyzer could be powered from solar energy, wind energy, geothermal energy, or hydroelectric energy, to produce hydrogen, which in turn could be fed into the fuel cell. This paper also reviews biomass-based routes for sustainable fuel production. Full article

Anaerobic digestion is a promising method of organic waste valorisation, particularly for fish farm waste, which has experienced a high growth rate in recent years. The literature contains predictive mathematical models that have been developed by various authors, allowing the prediction of the composition of bio-gas production from organic waste. In general, Monod’s kinetic expression is the basis for describing the enzymatic reaction rates for anaerobic digestion. In this work, several parameters are taken into account, such as temperature, cell growth inhibition, and other operating parameters, and systems of differential equations coupling the kinetics and stoichiometry for bio-reactions are applied to better describe the dynamics. Because of the high number of initial parameters that need to be defined for the anaerobic digester, the use of this model requires significant resources and a long calculation time. For this reason, a global sensitivity analysis (GSA) is applied to this predictive model based on the Sobol index method, in order to identify the most influential key parameters and the interactions between them. For the digestion of fish waste, it is observed that the key parameters influencing methane production are the lipid concentration of the waste, temperature, and hydraulic retention time (HRT). Full article

Current research and development to lower the production cost of biodiesel by utilizing feedstock derived from waste motivates the quest for developing catalysts with high performance in transesterification. This study investigates the performance of citric acid as a catalyst and support catalyst in transesterification of oil from black soldier fly (Hermetia illucens) larvae fed on organic kitchen waste. Two catalysts were prepared by synthesizing citric acid with NaOH and CaO by a co-precipitation and an impregnation method, respectively. The design of the experiment adopted response surface methodology for the optimization of biodiesel productivity by varying: the percentage loading weight of citric acid, the impregnation temperature, the calcinating temperature and the calcinating time. The characteristic activity and reuse of the synthesized catalysts in transesterification reactions were investigated. The morphology, chemical composition and structure of the catalysts were characterized by scanning electron microscopy (SEM), Fourier transform infrared (FTIR) spectroscopy, X-ray fluorescence (XRF) and X-ray diffraction (XRD). High citric acid loading on NaOH and a small amount of citric acid on CaO resulted in improved dispersion and refinement of the particle sizes. Increasing citric acid loading on NaOH improved the CaO and SiO₂ composition of the modified catalyst resulting in higher biodiesel yield compared to the modified CaO catalyst. A maximum biodiesel yield of 93.08%, ±1.31, was obtained when NaOH was synthesized with a 130% weight of citric acid at 80 °C and calcinated at 600 °C for 240 min. Comparatively, a maximum biodiesel yield of 90.35%, ±1.99, was obtained when CaO was synthesized with a 3% weight of citric acid, impregnated at 140 °C and calcinated at 900 °C for 240 min. The two modified catalysts could be recycled four times while maintaining a biodiesel yield of more than 70%. Full article

This work covers the impact of varying injector nozzle hole numbers (INHNs) and fuel injection pressures (IPs) on fuel atomization, performance, and exhaust emission characteristics of a diesel engine. The primary goal of this research was to improve fuel characteristics. Increasing INHNs and fuel IPs have a substantial impact on the blended fuel viscosity and density, which leads to increased atomization and mixing rates, as well as combustion and engine efficiency. The fuel atomization was checked by varying the INHNs with an operating diesel fuel using the ANSYS Fluent spray simulation work. The experimental test was performed on the fuel blends of waste cooking oil (WCO)–diesel blends from 10 to 30% (with an increment of 10%) by evaluating the performance and emission parameters. The fuel IPs were altered on four, such as 190, 200 (default), 210, and 220 bar with a modification of INHN of 1 (default), 3, and 4), each 0.84, 0.33, and 0.25 mm in orifice size, respectively. The simulation result shows that the INHN-4 has better fuel atomization. Whereas the experimental test revealed that the increment in blending ratio of WCO was up to 30%, INHNs and fuel IPs enhanced the BSFC and BTE and reduced exhaust emissions. The results indicate that increasing the fuel IP up to 210 bar with a 4-hole INHN for B30 was the optimal combination for the overall enhancement of BSFC and BTE, as well as lower CO and HC emissions with a minor rise in NO_x when compared to the baseline diesel. Full article

This study presents design considerations and an evaluation of a full-scale process chain for methanol and advanced drop-in fuel production derived from lignite/solid recovered fuel (SRF) feedstock. The plant concept consists of a high-temperature Winkler (HTW) gasifier coupled with an air separation unit (ASU), which provides a high-purity (99.55%) gasification oxidant agent. The concept includes the commercially proven acid gas removal (AGR) system based on cold methanol (e.g., Rectisol^® process) for the removal of BTX and naphthalene components. With the involvement of Rectisol^®, an almost pure CO₂ off-gas stream is generated that can be further stored or utilized (CCS/CCU), and a smaller CO₂ stream containing H₂S is recovered and subsequently driven to the sulfur recovery unit (e.g., Claus process). One of the potential uses of methanol is considered, and a methanol upgrading unit is implemented. The overall integrated process model was developed in the commercial software Aspen Plus^TM. Simulations for different feedstock ratios were investigated, ensuring the concept’s adaptability in each case without major changes. A number of parametric studies were performed concerning (a) the oxygen purity and (b) the reformer type, and a comparison against alternative methanol production routes was conducted. Simulations show that the proposed system is able to retain the cold gas efficiency (CGE) in the range of 79–81.1% and the energetic fuel efficiency (EFE) at around 51%. An efficient conversion of approximately 99.5% of the carbon that enters the gasifiers is accomplished, with around 45% of carbon being captured in the form of pure CO₂. Finally, the metrics of EFE and total C for the conversion of methanol to liquid fuels were 40.7% and 32%, respectively, revealing that the proposed pathway is an effective alternative for methanol valorization. Full article

The expansion of the research on nanoscale particles demonstrates several advantages in terms of stability and an increased surface area to volume ratio compared to micron-sized particles. Based on this, the present work explores the addition of aluminum particles in hydrotreated vegetable oil (HVO), an alternative jet fuel. To evaluate the influence of particle sizes, nano and micron particles (40 nm and 5 μm) in a particle concentration of 0.5 wt.% were stably suspended in HVO. This study evaluates droplet combustion with an initial diameter of 250 μm in a drop tube furnace under different furnace temperatures (600, 800, 1000 °C). A high magnification lens coupled with a high-speed camera provides qualitative and quantitative data regarding droplet size evolution and micro-explosions. Pure HVO and Jet A-1 were also tested for comparison purposes. The results reveal that the addition of aluminum particles enhances the alternative jet fuel combustion. Furthermore, decreasing the particle size and increasing the furnace temperature enhances the burning rate compared to the pure HVO. Pure HVO presents a burning rate nearly to 1.75 mm²/s until t/D${}_0^2$ = 0.35 s/mm² at T = 1000 °C. When nanoparticles are added to HVO in a particle concentration of 0.5 wt.%, an improvement of 24% in burning rate is noticed. Conventional jet fuel and pure HVO do not present any disruptive burning phenomena. However, when aluminum particles were added to HVO, micro-explosions were detected at the end of droplet lifetime, regardless of the particle size. Full article

In this study, wood sawdust as waste residue from wood processing mills was pretreated using torrefaction to improve fuel properties and densified to facilitate transportation. Sawdust was torrefied in a fixed bed reactor using inside temperatures (IT) of 230, 260 and 290 °C for 15, 30 and 45 min, residence time. Due to the low calorific value of the treatments, the outside temperature (OT) of the fixed bed reactor was used instead for a fixed duration of 45 min, which resulted in an increase in energy value by 40% for the most severe conditions. The mechanical strength of the pellets was enhanced by adding 20% binder (steam-treated spruce sawdust) to biochar, which improved the pellet tensile strength by 50%. Liquid by-products from the torrefaction process contained furfural and acetic acid, which can be separated for commercial uses. Thermochemical analysis showed better fuel properties of OT torrefied samples such as high fixed carbon (52%), low volatiles (41%) and lower oxygen contents (27%) compared to IT torrefied samples (18, 77 and 43%, respectively). Low moisture uptake of torrefied pellets compared to raw pellets, along with other attributes such as renewability, make them competent substitutes to fossil-based energy carriers such as coal. Full article

This review considers the selective studies on environmentally friendly, combustion-free, allothermal, atmospheric-pressure, noncatalytic, direct H₂O/CO₂ gasification of organic feedstocks like biomass, sewage sludge wastes (SSW) and municipal solid wastes (MSW) to demonstrate the pros and cons of the approaches and provide future perspectives. The environmental friendliness of H₂O/CO₂ gasification is well known as it is accompanied by considerably less harmful emissions into the environment as compared to O₂/air gasification. Comparative analysis of the various gasification technologies includes low-temperature H₂O/CO₂ gasification at temperatures up to 1000 °C, high-temperature plasma- and solar-assisted H₂O/CO₂ gasification at temperatures above 1200 °C, and an innovative gasification technology applying ultra-superheated steam (USS) with temperatures above 2000 °C obtained by pulsed or continuous gaseous detonations. Analysis shows that in terms of such characteristics as the carbon conversion efficiency (CCE), tar and char content, and the content of harmful by-products the plasma and detonation USS gasification technologies are most promising. However, as compared with plasma gasification, detonation USS gasification does not need enormous electric power with unnecessary and energy-consuming gas–plasma transition. Full article

The combination of high-temperature fermentation and membrane separation has the potential to realize a simple on-site process to produce concentrated bioethanol. The performance of dehydration membranes in separating bioethanol was investigated in this study. Three types of zeolite membranes, LTA, MFI, and MOR, were synthesized. Their dehydration ability was compared using a bioethanol solution produced by high-temperature fermentation followed by vacuum distillation. The LTA zeolite membranes deformed and became amorphous while treating the distillate. On the contrary, no significant changes were observed in the MFI and MOR zeolite membranes analyzed by X-ray diffraction after treating the distillate. However, the flux declined when the membranes were in contact with the distillate (pH = 3.8). Neutralizing the distillate to pH 6.6 with sodium hydroxide did not prevent the flux decline. Even though flux decreased by about 20–30%, the MOR membrane showed quite high water-selectivity, with a water concentration of over 99.9% in the permeate, suggesting the feasibility of its application to concentrate bioethanol. Full article

The solid oxide fuel cell (SOFC) has become a promising energy conversion technology due to its high efficiency and low environmental impact. Though there are several reviews on the topic of SOFCs, comprehensive reports that simultaneously combine the latest developments in materials and integration strategies are very limited. This paper not only addresses those issues but also discusses the SOFCs working principles, design types, the fuels used, and the required features for electrodes and electrolytes. Furthermore, the implementation of this type of fuel cell on a commercial scale is analyzed. It is concluded that decreasing the SOFCs working temperature can reduce some of its current constraints, which will have a positive impact on SOFCs commercialization. Considering that SOFCs are already being successfully implemented in combined heat and power systems and off-grid power generation, the current status and prospects of this technology are thoroughly discussed. Full article

Methane is an important fuel for gas turbine and gas engine combustion, and the most common fuel in fundamental combustion studies. As Computational Fluid Dynamics (CFD) modeling of combustion becomes increasingly important, so do chemical kinetic mechanisms for methane combustion. Kinetic mechanisms of different complexity exist, and the aim of this study is to review commonly used detailed, reduced, and global mechanisms of importance for CFD of methane combustion. In this review, procedures of relevance to model development are outlined. Simulations of zero and one-dimensional configurations have been performed over a wide range of conditions, including addition of H₂, CO₂ and H₂O, and the results are used in a final recommendation about the use of the different mechanisms. The aim of this review is to put focus on the importance of an informed choice of kinetic mechanism to obtain accurate results at a reasonable computational cost. It is shown that for flame simulations, a reduced mechanism with only 42 irreversible reactions gives excellent agreement with experimental data, using only 5% of the computational time as compared to the widely used GRI-Mech 3.0. The reduced mechanisms are highly suitable for flame simulations, while for ignition they tend to react too slow, giving longer than expected ignition delay time. For combustible mixtures with addition of hydrogen, carbon dioxide, or water, the detailed as well as reduced mechanisms generally show as good performance as for the corresponding simulations of pure methane/air mixtures. Full article

Biogas, consisting of CH₄ and CO₂, is a promising energy source and can be converted into H₂ by a dry reforming reaction. In this study, a membrane reactor is adopted to promote the performance of biogas dry reforming. The aim of this study is to investigate the effect of pressure of sweep gas on a biogas dry reforming to get H₂. The effect of molar ratio of supplied CH₄:CO₂ and reaction temperature is also investigated. It is observed that the impact of p_sweep on concentrations of CH₄ and CO₂ is small irrespective of reaction temperature. The concentrations of H₂ and CO increase with an increase in reaction temperature _t. The concentration of H₂, at the outlet of the reaction chamber, reduces with a decrease in p_sweep. It is due to an increase in H₂ extraction from the reaction chamber to the sweep chamber. The highest concentration of H₂ is obtained in the case of the molar ratio of CH₄:CO₂ = 1:1. The concentration of CO is the highest in the case of the molar ratio of CH₄:CO₂ = 1.5:1. The highest sweep effect is obtained at reaction temperature of 500 °C and p_sweep of 0.045 MPa. Full article

Anaerobic digestion is traditionally used for treating organic materials. This allows the valorization of biogas and recycling of nutrients thanks to the land application of digestates. However, although this technology offers a multitude of advantages, it is still far from playing a relevant role in the energy market and from having significant participation in decarbonizing the economy. Biogas can be submitted to upgrading processes to reach methane content close to that of natural gas and therefore be compatible with many of its industrial applications. However, the high installation and operating costs of these treatment plants are the main constraints for the application of this technology in many countries. There is an urgent need of increasing reactor productivity, biogas yields, and operating at greater throughput without compromising digestion stability. Working at organic solid contents greater than 20% and enhancing hydrolysis and biogas yields to allow retention times to be around 15 days would lead to a significant decrease in reactor volume and therefore in initial capital investments. Anaerobic digestion should be considered as one of the key components in a new economy model characterized by an increase in the degree of circularity. The present manuscript reviews the digestion process analyzing the main parameters associated with digestion performance. The novelty of this manuscript is based on the link established between operating reactor conditions, optimizing treatment capacity, and reducing operating costs that would lead to unlocking the potential of biogas to promote bioenergy production, sustainable agronomic practices, and the integration of this technology into the energy grid. Full article