1. |
- Beiron, Johanna, 1992, et al.
(author)
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Carbon capture from combined heat and power plants – Impact on the supply and cost of electricity and district heating in cities
- 2023
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In: International Journal of Greenhouse Gas Control. - 1750-5836. ; 129
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Journal article (peer-reviewed)abstract
- The capture and storage of biogenic CO2 emissions from large point sources, such as biomass-combusting combined heat and power (CHP) plants, can contribute to climate change mitigation and provide carbon-negative electricity while supplying district heating in urban areas. This work investigates the impact of retrofitting CO2 capture processes to CHP plants in a city energy system context. An energy system optimization model is applied to a case study of the city Västerås, Sweden, with scenarios involving two existing CHP plants in the city, retrofitted with either a heat-driven (MEA) or an electricity-driven (HPC) carbon capture process. The results show that the CHP plants might be retrofitted with either option without significantly impacting the district heating system operation or the marginal costs of electricity and district heating in the city. The MEA process mainly causes a reduction in district heating output (up to 30% decrease on an annual basis), which can be offset by heat recovery from the capture unit. The electrified HPC process does not impact the CHP plant steam cycle but implies increased import of electricity to the city (up to 44% increase annually) compared to a reference scenario.
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2. |
- Bonmann, Marlene, 1988, et al.
(author)
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Sub-millimetre wave range-Doppler radar as a diagnostic tool for gas-solids systems - solids concentration measurements
- 2023
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In: Advanced Powder Technology. - : Elsevier BV. - 0921-8831 .- 1568-5527. ; 34:1
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Journal article (peer-reviewed)abstract
- Current non-intrusive measurement techniques for characterising the solids flow in gas-solids suspensions are limited by the low temporal or low spatial resolution of the sample volume, or in the case of optical methods, by a short range of sight. In this work, a sub-millimetre wave range-Doppler radar is developed and validated for non-intrusive sensing of solids concentrations in a gas-solids particle system with known characteristics. The radar system combines favourable features, such as the ability to see through at optical frequencies opaque materials, to measure the local solids velocity and the reflected radar power with a spatial resolution of a few cubic centimetres over distances of a few metres. In addition, the radar hardware offers flexibility in terms of installation. After signal processing, the output of the radar is range-velocity images of the solids flowing along the radar’s line-of-sight. The image frame rate can be close to real-time, allowing the solids flow dynamics to be observed. While the well-established Doppler principle is used to measure the solids velocity, this paper introduces a method to relate the received radar signal power to the solids volumetric concentrations (cv) of different particulate materials. The experimental set-up provides a steady stream of free-falling solids that consist of glass spheres, bronze spheres or natural sand grains with known particle size distributions and with particle diameters in the range of 50–300 µm. Thus, the values of cv found using the radar measurements are validated using the values of cv retrieved from closure of the mass balance derived from the measured mass flow rate of the solids stream and the solids velocity. The results show that the radar system provides reliable measurements of cv, with a mean relative error of approximately 25 % for all the tested materials, particle sizes and mass flow rates, yielding values of cv ranging from 0.2 × 10-4 m3/m3 up to 40 × 10-4 m3/m3 and solids velocities within the range of 0–4.5 m/s. This demonstrates the ability of the radar technology to diagnose the solids flow in gas-solids suspensions using a unique combination of penetration length, accuracy, and spatial and time resolution. In future work, the radar technique will be applied to study non-controlled solids flow at a larger scale, and to understand flow conditions relevant to industrial reactor applications, e.g., fluidised bed, entrained flow, and cyclone units.
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3. |
- Farha, Munavara, 1995, et al.
(author)
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Assessment of experimental methods for measurements of the horizontal flow of fluidized solids under bubbling conditions
- 2023
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In: Fuel. - 0016-2361. ; 348
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Journal article (peer-reviewed)abstract
- Dual fluidized bed systems are indispensable for future energy systems that require solids cycling between different atmospheres. However, controlling the residence time of solids in the reactor, which is crucial for controlling the heat and mass transfer of the fuel, is a significant challenge. This study investigates four experimental techniques to quantify the horizontal flow of solids fluidized under bubbling conditions: integral mass accumulation; differential mass accumulation; thermal tracing; and magnetic solids tracing. Integral mass accumulation entails collecting bed material using a defluidized box within a given time period. Differential mass accumulation measures the material accumulation rate in a section of the bed that is monitored using pressure measurements. Thermal tracing calculates the solids flow rate by solving the heat balance to match the temperature field captured by a thermographic camera. Magnetic solids tracing involves injecting a batch of magnetic tracer solids into the reactor and then measuring the residence time distribution using impedance coils. The experiments were conducted under down-scaled conditions that resemble large-scale operations with a length scaling factor of 0.12. For this study, three operational parameters were varied: the fixed bed height; the volumetric flow rate of the conveying air; and the fluidization velocity in the bed. The horizontal solids circulation rates achieved ranged from 1.7×10−4 to 10 kg/m·s, corresponding to 1.2×10−3 to 70 kg/m·s on a hot up-scaled basis, which is a relevant range to indirect biomass gasification in an industrial setting. The three selected operational parameters led to increases in the horizontal solids flow. While all four methods replicated the trends, quantitative variations in the measured circulation rates occurred due to the inherent characteristics of the methods. High circulation rates resulted in a continuous decrease in the solids inventory, leading to an underestimation of the circulation rate when using the integral mass accumulation method. The accuracy of the differential mass accumulation method relied on transient pressure measurements, which were less-effective at low solids flow rates. Conversely, the accumulation time required for pressure measurements was reduced at high circulation rates, resulting in uncertainties in the analysis. The accuracy of the thermal tracing method decreased drastically with higher solids circulation, resulting in an overestimation of the circulation rate. Moreover, low circulation rates adversely affected the accuracy of the magnetic solids tracing by producing barely discernible tracer concentration gradients.
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4. |
- Guío-Pérez, Diana Carolina, 1985, et al.
(author)
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Effective drag on spheres immersed in a fluidized bed at minimum fluidization—Influence of bulk solids properties
- 2023
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In: Canadian Journal of Chemical Engineering. - : Wiley. - 1939-019X .- 0008-4034. ; 101:1, s. 210-226
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Journal article (peer-reviewed)abstract
- The aims of this work are to elucidate the effects that bulk solids properties have on the effective drag experienced by large spheres immersed in an emulsion of group-B solids under minimum fluidization conditions and to analyze the ways in which the different suspensions react towards different applied shear rates. To investigate this, magnetic particle tracking was applied to resolve the trajectory of falling-sphere measurements in which the size, density, and sphericity of the bulk solids were varied as well as the size and density of the spherical tracers. The resulting experimental scope included both rising and sinking tracers as well as full segregation and in-bed stagnation of the tracers. The set-up provided highly resolved tracer trajectories, from which the drag experienced by the sphere can be calculated. For sinking tracers, the results showed that an increase in bulk solids size, angularity, and density reduced the terminal velocity of the sphere. This effect correlated well with the bed expansion and Hausner ratio, indicating that a reduced void space among the bulk solids is the main reason for the increase in motion resistance. At lower shear rates, namely, during the de-acceleration towards the stagnant state, beds of larger, more angular, or denser bulk solids yield lower levels of shear stress. The angle of repose of the bulk solids correlated with the rate at which the emulsion thins with increasing shear rate. For rising tracers, shear stress did not show any significant dependency on the properties of the bulk solids.
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5. |
- Guio Perez, Diana Carolina, 1985, et al.
(author)
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Experimental investigation of the lateral mixing of large and light particles immersed in a fluidized bed
- 2023
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In: Fuel. - 0016-2361. ; 346
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Journal article (peer-reviewed)abstract
- Fluidized bed reactors for solid fuel conversion are characterized by the presence of a small fraction of fuel particles that are significantly larger (usually 1–2 orders of magnitude larger) and lighter (2–20-fold less dense) compared to the bulk solids. This difference in physical properties strongly influences the mixing of the fuel particles and therefore affects the mass, momentum and heat transfers between the fuel particles and the surrounding bed. This work uses Magnetic Particle Tracking (MPT) to acquire highly resolved trajectories for single tracer particles immersed in a bubbling fluidized bed operated under ambient conditions and with a cross-sectional area of 0.45 m2. This bed size is sufficiently large to abrogate the influence of the reactor walls, allowing data post-processing to study the free movement of the tracer particle, which has not been available to date. This required the enhancement of the MPT system from that in previous works: 12 sensors and a communication protocol in series are here applied, which showed good performance in both spatial accuracy (1 mm) and time resolution (100 Hz). The bed material used in the experiments was glass beads (mean particle size of 106 µm, particle density of 2,486 kg/m3). Two different tracer particles, with diameters of 18 mm but with different densities (572 kg/m3 and 1,015 kg/m3) were used to mimic the sizes and densities of the solid fuel particles. Fluidization velocity was varied within 0.2–0.7 m/s and two fixed bed heights (50 mm and 130 mm) were tested. Based on the trajectories, dispersion coefficients were calculated for quantitative evaluation of the solids mixing. The results reveal that increased bed height yields higher dispersion coefficients with a higher sensitivity for fluidization velocity. The properties of the tracer particles appear, within the tested range, to exert little impact on its lateral dispersion. From the velocity maps generated, a swirling pattern was observed in the vicinity of the walls, while zones of preferential ascendent or descendant movement were observed in the cross-section centre, although clearly defined mixing cells were not exhibited.
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6. |
- Guio Perez, Diana Carolina, 1985, et al.
(author)
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Radar-based measurements of the solids flow in a circulating fluidized bed
- 2023
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In: Fuel. - 0016-2361. ; 345
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Journal article (peer-reviewed)abstract
- The aim of this work is to demonstrate the value of radar technology for studying experimentally the solids flows in gas-solids fluidized beds. The work presents original results regarding the solids concentration and velocity acquired in a non-intrusive manner from a cold flow model. The tailored radar setup operates at submillimeter wave frequencies (0.34 THz) and can measure the location of solids with a spatial resolution of 1/8 mm−1 in the direction of the radar beam, and of 40–60 mm across the radar beam. The solids velocity in the direction of the beam propagation is determined through measurement of the Doppler shift caused by the reflection of the transmitted radar signal by solids moving in relation to the antenna. The measurements were performed in both the horizontal and vertical directions in the riser of a circulating fluidized bed (cross-sectional area of 0.45 m2 and height of 3.1 m) operated with glass beads (mean particle size of 106 µm, and particle density of 2,486 kg/m3) and using air at ambient temperature as the fluidization agent, with superficial velocities in the range of 0.3–1.3 m/s. The measurements are used to assess the validity of the technique and are not intended to characterize the unit fluid dynamically. The solids concentrations derived from the radar measurements follow the qualitative trends derived from pressure-drop measurements, resembling the expected changes that occur in the concentration profiles as the fluidization velocity increases. Concentrations in the range from 10-6 m3/m3 to 10-1 m3/m3 are measurable. In quantitative terms, for low concentrations of solids (<5·10-3 m3/m3, approximately) the radar measurements exhibited the ability to provide more consistent measurements of the solids concentration than those obtained from pressure transducers, for which the small pressure differences lead to unstable and even negative values for solids concentrations. The two measurement methods were in quantitative agreement for solids volume fractions higher than the threshold. Concentrations ≥ 1·10-1 m3/m3, though measurable, strongly attenuate the radar signal, thereby reducing the beam penetration to a depth of centimeters. For each position along the radar beam, the distribution of solids velocity measured from the Doppler effect was found to be within the expected ranges and allowed observations of solids back-mixing. The radar technique applied in this work is a promising technique for detailed characterization of the solids flow in fluidized beds, offering high spatial and temporal resolutions, allowing the determination of both solids velocity and concentration, and having a reasonably high penetration depth.
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7. |
- Guio Perez, Diana Carolina, 1985, et al.
(author)
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Thermochemical Energy Storage with Integrated District Heat Production—A Case Study of Swede
- 2023
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In: Energies. - : MDPI AG. - 1996-1073 .- 1996-1073. ; 16:3
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Journal article (peer-reviewed)abstract
- The implementation of electricity-charged thermochemical energy storage (TCES) using high-temperature solid cycles would benefit the energy system by enabling the absorption of variable renewable energy (VRE) and its conversion into dispatchable heat and power. Using a Swedish case study, this paper presents a process for TCES-integrated district heating (DH) production, assesses its technical suitability, and discusses some practical implications and additional implementation options. The mass and energy flows of a biomass plant retrofitted with an iron-based redox loop are calculated for nine specific scenarios that exemplify its operation under electricity generation mixes that differ with respect to variability and price. In addition, the use of two types of electrolyzers (low-temperature and high-temperature versions) is investigated. The results show that for the Swedish case, the proposed scheme is technically feasible and capable of covering the national DH demand by making use of the existing DH plants, with an estimated process energy efficiency (electricity to heat) of 90%. The results also show that for a retrofit of the entire Swedish DH fleet, the required inventories of iron are approximately 2.8 Mt for the intermediate scenario, which represents 0.3% and 11.0% of the national reserves and annual metallurgical production rates of the national industry, respectively. In addition to the dispatchable heat, the process generates a significant amount of nondispatchable heat, especially for the case that employs low-temperature electrolyzers. This added generation capacity allows the process to cover the heat demand while decreasing the maximum capacity of the charging side computed herein.
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8. |
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9. |
- Hoseinpoori, Sina, 1993, et al.
(author)
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A comparative exergy-based assessment of direct air capture technologies
- 2023
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In: Mitigation and Adaptation Strategies for Global Change. - 1381-2386 .- 1573-1596. ; 28:7
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Journal article (peer-reviewed)abstract
- The 6th Assessment of the IPCC underlined the need for urgent measures for carbon dioxide removal from the atmosphere, so as to meet the 1.5 °C goal by the end of this century. One option to achieve this is direct air capture (DAC) technologies. This work assesses the thermodynamic performances of different categories of DAC technologies, i.e., adsorption-based, absorption-based, ion exchange, and electrochemical. An exergy analysis is performed on the DAC processes in each category to identify hotspots for efficiency loss within the system. The results show that the consumption of materials is responsible for 5–40% of the exergy consumption of the most-developed DAC processes. Despite their greater use of materials compared to absorption-based processes, adsorption-based processes, together with ion exchange technologies, have the highest exergy efficiencies of the DAC technologies investigated. Moreover, the results highlight the importance of limiting material consumption and electrifying large-scale DAC plants, which cannot run exclusively on waste heat from industrial processes.
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10. |
- Hörbe Emanuelsson, Anna, 1995, et al.
(author)
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The Cost to Consumers of Carbon Capture and Storage—A Product Value Chain Analysis
- 2023
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In: Energies. - 1996-1073 .- 1996-1073. ; 16:20
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Journal article (peer-reviewed)abstract
- High-cost abatement measures to mitigate greenhouse gas emissions in the basic commodity industry is known to result in substantial increases in the production costs. Consequently, investments in such measures are lagging behind what is required to make deep emission cuts in line with the Paris Agreement. As high-cost abatement measures (such as Carbon Capture and Storage; CCS) are perceived as expensive for the basic commodity producer, this study investigates the impacts down-stream of the product value chain when assuming full cost pass-through (i.e., the cost increase related to basic commodity production is fully passed on down-stream of the product chain to the end-consumer). We investigate the effects on both costs, by means of a techno-economic assessment, and carbon footprints, using a Life Cycle Assessment (LCA), along the product value chain for the case of post-combustion CCS applied to the cement, pulp, Waste-to-Energy (WtE), and refinery industries, towards abating fossil- and process-related emissions and generating negative emissions. Here, we analyse the product value chains that involve cement to a high-speed railway, pulp to a disposable baby diaper, WtE in connection with housing and plastic products, and refineries to different transportation solutions (truck transport and air-freight). The results show that even though the costs for producing basic commodities can increase significantly (200% for cement, 75% for pulp, 230% for heat, and 6–37% for refinery products) when implementing CCS, the increases in prices for end-users are marginal (1% for the railway, 3% for the disposable baby diaper, 1% for the housing, 0.4% for truck transport and 2% for air-freight). Simultaneously, the carbon footprint associated with the end-use may be reduced by up to 36% for the railway, 31% for the diaper, 80% for the housing, and 3–23% for the refinery cases.
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