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Thermoelectric power sources have consistently demonstrated their extraordinary reliability and longevity for deep space missions (67 missions to date, more than 30 years of life) as well as terrestrial applications where unattended operation in remote locations is required. The development of new, more efficient materials and devices is the key to improving existing space power technology and expanding...
Recent price fluctuations have focused attention on the phenomenal increase of global energy consumption in recent years. We have almost reached a peak in global oil production. Total world consumption of oil will rise by nearly 60% between 1999 and 2020. In 1999 consumption was 86 million barrels of oil per day, which has reached a peak of production extracted from most known oil reserves. These...
The analysis of recently announced battery packs for plug-in hybrid electric vehicles (PHEV) shows that the design of the series-parallel combinations is being over-complicated. The proven energy densities of lithium-ion cells from about 200 Wh/kg are being reduced to 90 Wh/kg. The majority of the weight increase seems to be for thermal management. Simpler battery pack designs based on electro-refining...
Green leaf tissues convert solar energy into the energy of chemical bonds of sugar molecules during the process of photosynthesis. The efficiency of this conversion can be much higher than the efficiency of any of the currently known silicon-based solar panels. Importantly, vast amounts of CO2 are assimilated during this process. The efficiency of photosynthesis is critically dependent on the availability...
Dye-sensitized solar cells (DSSC) are one of the third-generation solar cell technologies with the potential to render solar energy as an economically attractive sustainable energy source. However, to become a commercial reality, advances in the area of photo-electrode fabrication are required. This paper describes the operation principles of the DSSC and introduces current research efforts aiming...
The concept of using nanostructured composite materials to enhance the dimensionless thermoelectric figure of merit ZT relative to that for their counterpart homogeneous alloyed bulk crystalline materials of similar chemical composition is presented in general terms. Specific applications are made to the Si-Ge and Bi2-−xSbxTe3 systems for use in high-temperature power generation and cooling applications...
Supported inorganic membranes hold the promise of highly effective separation and purification, and stable operation in harsh environments. Examples are thin films of paladium alloy for H2, mixed conducting oxides for O2, amorphous silica for CO2 and zeolites for hydro-carbons, and meso-porous titania for water purification. However, compared to organic membranes, large-scale production of inorganic...
Concentrating CO2 from the dilute coal combustion or gasification gas stream to a level suitable for sequestration purposes represents a major cost factor to curtail CO2 emissions by capture and sequestration. This paper provides a short review of CO2 capture incentives, current separation processes, and research progress of various new technologies. Scientifically, CO2 can be separated from a gas...
Solid-state reversible hydrogen storage systems hold great promise for onboard applications. The key criteria for a successful solid-state reversible storage material are high storage capacity, suitable thermodynamic properties, and fast hydriding and dehydriding kinetics. The LiNH2 + LiH system has been utilized as an example system to illustrate these critical issues that are common among other...
World energy prices have increased significantly in the last several years. These increasing costs impact the overall manufacturing costs of industrial operations and their ability to be profitable. At the same time, there is societal pressure to reduce greenhouse gas emissions. To address these forces, every company should have an energy management program. In this paper, the key elements of an energy...
The role of minerals in biomass formation is understood only to a limited extent. When the term “photosynthesis—CO2 and H2O reduction of sugars, using solar energy”—is used, one normally thinks of chlorophyll as a compound containing magnesium. Alkali and alkaline earth metals present in leaf cells in the form of ions are equally essential in this solar energy bioconversion coupled with nitrogen fixation...
Xingbo Liu is an assistant professor in the Mechanical & Aerospace Engineering Department at West Virginia University and is the JOM advisor from the Energy Committee of the TMS Extraction & Processing Division and Light Metals Division.
From an environmental point of view, lighter metals like aluminum and magnesium are unclean products to make; they require energy-intensive methods and increased greenhouse gas emissions as compared with steels. They are, however, clean to use, in particular in the transportation sector, if adequate weight savings and consequent fuel consumption reduction and CO2 reduction can be achieved to offset...
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