Sustainability, overall and process efficiency of energy crops

A method to calculate efficiency of energy crop production including sun energy, direct and indirect energy for cultivation, processing, and conversion into fuel is demonstrated using rape and derived fuels as an example. Every production and conversion step is a process and calculated separately. The overall efficiency includes energy input and output of all processes. The process efficiency of rape cultivation reaches in Finland up to 1100 %. However, the overall energy efficiency of rape methyl ester (RME) is 1 to 2 ‰ only. The production of biogas from manure of dairy fed by rape meal results in a process energy efficiency of 33 to 41 %, but the overall energy efficiency of RME and biogas together is only 1.2 to 2.5 ‰. In contrast, thermal or photovoltaic solar collectors improve overall efficiency 1 to 3 orders of magnitude compared to fuel production from rape. Competition for cultivation area and the low photosynthetic efficiency limit the feasibility of fuel production from energy crops. As a measure for sustainability of renewable fuel production, the energy surplus of energy conversion from insolation to fuel per resident and square meter is proposed

Ocean Thermal Energy Conversion (OTEC)

Energy Research and Development Administration research progress in Ocean Thermal Energy Conversion (OTEC) is outlined. The development program is being focused on cost effective heat exchangers; ammonia is generally used as the heat exchange fluid. Projected costs for energy production by OTEC vary between $1000 to$1700 per kW

NSF presentation

Wind energy conversion research is considered in the framework of the national energy problem. Research and development efforts for the practical application of solar energy -- including wind energy -- as alternative energy supplies are assessed in: (1) Heating and cooling of buildings; (2) photovoltaic energy conversion; (3) solar thermal energy conversion; (4) wind energy conversion; (5) ocean thermal energy conversion; (6) photosynthetic production of organic matter; and (7) conversion of organic matter into fuels

Solar energy conversion

If solar energy is to become a practical alternative to fossil fuels, we must have efficient ways to convert photons into electricity, fuel, and heat. The need for better conversion technologies is a driving force behind many recent developments in biology, materials, and especially nanoscience

Hybrid energy converter based on swirling combustion chambers: the hydrocarbon feeding analysis

This manuscript reports the latest investigations about a miniaturized hybrid energy power source, compatible with thermal/electrical conversion, by a thermo-photovoltaic cell, and potentially useful for civil and space applications. The converter is a thermally-conductive emitting parallelepiped element and the basic idea is to heat up its emitting surfaces by means of combustion, occurred in swirling chambers, integrated inside the device, and/or by the sun, which may work simultaneously or alternatively to the combustion. The current upgrades consist in examining whether the device might fulfill specific design constraints, adopting hydrocarbons-feeding. Previous papers, published by the author, demonstrate the hydrogen-feeding effectiveness. The project's constraints are: 1) emitting surface dimensions fixed to 30 × 30 mm, 2) surface peak temperature T > 1000 K and the relative ΔT < 100 K (during the combustion mode), 3) the highest possible delivered power to the ambient, and 4) thermal efficiency greater than 20% when works with solar energy. To this end, a 5 connected swirling chambers configuration (3 mm of diameter), with 500 W of injected chemical power, stoichiometric conditions and detailed chemistry, has been adopted. Reactive numerical simulations show that the stiff methane chemical structure obliges to increase the operating pressure, up to 10 atm, and to add hydrogen, to the methane fuel injection, in order to obtain stable combustion and efficient energy conversion

Adaptive and predictive controllers applied to onshore wind energy conversion system

This paper presents a simulation of onshore energy conversion system connected to the electric grid and under an event-based supervisor control based on deterministic version of a finite state machine. The onshore energy conversion system is composed by a variable speed wind turbine, a mechanical transmission system described by a two-mass drive train, a gearbox, a doubly fed induction generator rotor and by a two-level converter. First, mathematical models of a variable speed wind turbine with pitch control are studied, followed by the study of different controller types such as adaptive controllers and predictive controllers. The study of an event-based supervisor based on finite state machines is also studied. The control and supervision strategy proposed for the onshore energy conversion system is based on a hierarchical structure with two levels, execution level where the adaptive and predictive controllers are included, and the supervision level where the event-based supervisor is included. The objective is to control the electric output power around the reference power and also to analyze the operational states according to the wind speed. The studied mathematical models are integrated into computer simulations for the onshore energy conversion system and the obtained numerical results allow for the performance assessment of the system connected to the electric grid. A comparison of the onshore energy conversion system performance without or with the supervisor is carried out to access the influence of the control and supervision strategy on the performance