Factories of the Future

Engineering; Industrial engineering; Production engineerin

Factories of the Future

Engineering; Industrial engineering; Production engineerin

Modelling and Calculation of Raw Material Industry

The raw materials industry is widely considered to be too environmentally costly, and causing more losses than benefits. The responsible solving of the problems caused by this industry is not “exporting” its operations to less developed countries, but addressing all recognized hazards with dedicated technological developments. Such an approach is presented by the authors of this book. The contributions deal with the optimization of processes in the raw materials industry, obtaining energy from alternative fuels, researching the environmental aspects of industrial activities. This book determines some guidelines for the sustainable raw materials industry, describing methods of the optimized use of mined deposits and the recovery of materials, reductions in energy consumption and the recuperation of energy, minimizations in the emissions of pollutants, the perfection of quieter and safer processes, and the facilitation of modern materials-, water-, and energy-related techniques and technologies

Properties and processing of direct-spun carbon nanotube mats

The mechanical and electrical properties of direct-spun carbon nanotube mats are investigated. Processing techniques which enhance their performance are developed, and their effects are characterised and understood through experiment and micromechanical modelling. Macroscopic carbon nanotube material properties are surmised with material property charts that elucidate the relationships between processing, microstructure and properties, and identify the contribution of different carbon nanotube morphologies to material-property space. The mechanical and electrical properties of a direct-spun carbon nanotube mat are determined. Formed from a 2D network of interconnected nanotube bundles, the measured stress-strain response is elasto-plastic, with orientation hardening. In-situ microscopy reveals foam-like deformation of the bundle network due to macroscopic strain. A micromechanical model is developed to relate the macroscopic mechanical properties to those of the nanotube bundles. Direct-spun carbon nanotube mat-epoxy composites are manufactured with varying volume fractions of air, epoxy, and nanotube bundles. Their electrical conductivity relates proportionally to the nanotube bundle volume fraction, whereas their strength and modulus depend nonlinearly upon the nanotube bundle and epoxy volume fractions. A unit cell idealisation of the composite microstructure captures the variation in modulus and strength over the compositional range. The stress-strain response of a direct-spun mat is measured whilst immersed in organic solvents and in chlorosulfonic acid. Softening observed upon immersion in organic solvents is attributed to a reduced contact area between bundled nanotubes. Upon chlorosulfonic acid immersion nanotubes separate, resulting in ductile behaviour. A tensile drawing process based upon solutions of chlorosulfonic acid and chloroform is capable of enhancing the modulus and strength of direct-spun mat samples; the properties of the drawn mats are investigated as a function of draw strain and chosen fluid. The thesis concludes with recommendations for future work — in furthering the understanding of the relationship between direct-spun mat microstructure and properties, and in enhancing performance

Production, evaluation and testing of bioethanol from matooke peels species as an alternative fuel for spark ignition engine: a case study of Uganda.

Doctoral Degree. University of KwaZulu-Natal, Durban.Conversion of new lignocellulose biomass (LCB) waste to energy is an innovative technique for waste valorization and management which reduces environmental pollutions and offers socioeconomic benefits. This has made the LCB to be significant due to its novel behavior towards bioenergy. The aims of this study is to characterize the biomass, evaluate and produce the bioethanol fuels from unique LCB which is matooke peels species, and examined the emissions and combustion effects of low content rates of bioethanol blends with gasoline in a modernized spark-ignition engine. The matooke peels species such as Mbwazirume and Nakyinyika biomass peels, which are pretreated and untreated were characterized to identify its use in bioenergy production. This characterization of biomass was carried out using various analyses such as proximate and ultimate analysis, thermo-gravimetric analysis (TGA), Fourier-transform infrared spectroscopy (FTIR), atomic absorption spectroscopy (AAS), scanning electron microscopy (SEM), and energy dispersive X-ray spectrometer (EDXS). Experimental findings reveal that the pretreated Mbwazirume biomass exhibits excellent solid fuel properties when compared to untreated Mbwazirume, pretreated and untreated Nakyinyika biomass peels. Bioethanol fuels were produced from Mbwazirume and Nakyinyika biomass peels through a fermentation process using Saccharomyces cerevisiae and analyzed using ANOVA. The study also optimized production variables and determined the models for separate hydrolysis and fermentation (SHF). The properties of the bioethanol were measured according to relevant ASTM standards and compared with the standard ethanol and gasoline. Mbwazirume biomass shows higher bioethanol yields and excellent fuel properties, this serve as a fuel of choice for further experiment. The bioethanol ratios were blend with gasoline at (E0, E5, E10, and E15) used in the development of further experiments on engine and combustion performance, and exhaust emissions test in a modernized TD201 four-stroke petrol engine. The results obtained were computed, modeled, evaluated and analyzed. Results show that the small differences in properties between bioethanol-gasoline blends are enough to create a significant change in the combustion system. These effects lead to behavioral mechanisms which are not easy to analyze or understand, sometimes make it difficult to identify the fundamentals of how blend ratios affect emissions and performance