The cooling of spent carbon anodes in the aluminium smelting industry : a thesis presented in partial fulfilment of the requirements for the degree of Master of Science in Mathematics at Massey University

As part of the New Zealand Aluminium Smelters (NZAS) upgrade, a hot butt cleaning system has been proposed, this would remove the bath from anodes as they are removed from the cells. It is expected that the time to cool for hot cleaned anodes would be significantly less than for current method of allowing the butts to cool before the bath is removed. In this project a mathematical model of the cooling process of both the clean and dirty anodes is developed. This model will aid in the investigation of the hot butt cleaning system by showing the difference in cooling times between the clean and dirty anodes. The temperature profiles within both clean and dirty anodes is calculated for one-, two- and three-dimensional models. Temperature changes in the anodes with time are also compared to experimental data

Geobacter, Anaeromyxobacter and Anaerolineae populations are enriched on anodes of root exudate-driven microbial fuel cells in rice field soil

Plant-based sediment microbial fuel cells (PMFCs) couple the oxidation of root exudates in living rice plants to current production. We analysed the composition of the microbial community on anodes from PMFC with natural rice field soil as substratum for rice by analysing 16S rRNA as an indicator of microbial activity and diversity. Terminal restriction fragment length polymorphism (TRFLP) analysis indicated that the active bacterial community on anodes from PMFCs differed strongly compared with controls. Moreover, clones related to Deltaproteobacteria and Chloroflexi were highly abundant (49% and 21%, respectively) on PMFCs anodes. Geobacter (19%), Anaeromyxobacter (15%) and Anaerolineae (17%) populations were predominant on anodes with natural rice field soil and differed strongly from those previously detected with potting soil. In open circuit (OC) control PMFCs, not allowing electron transfer, Deltaproteobacteria (33%), Betaproteobacteria (20%), Chloroflexi (12%), Alphaproteobacteria (10%) and Firmicutes (10%) were detected. The presence of an electron accepting anode also had a strong influence on methanogenic archaea. Hydrogenotrophic methanogens were more active on PMFC (21%) than on OC controls (10%), whereas acetoclastic Methanosaetaceae were more active on OC controls (31%) compared with PMFCs (9%). In conclusion, electron accepting anodes and rice root exudates selected for distinct potential anode-reducing microbial populations in rice soil inoculated PMFC

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Department of Energy Engineering (Battery Science and Technology)The continuous throng in demand for high energy density rechargeable batteries innovatively drives technological development in cell design as well as electrochemically active materials. In that perspective metal-free batteries consisting of a flowing seawater as a cathode active material were introduced. However, the electrochemical performance of the seawater battery was restrained by NASICON (Na3Zr2Si2PO12) ceramic solid electrolyte. Here, we demonstrate a new class of fibrous nanomat hard-carbon (FNHC) anode/1D (one-dimensional) bucky paper (1DBP) cathode hybrid electrode architecture in seawater battery based on 1D building block-interweaved hetero-nanomat frameworks. Differently from conventional slurry-cast electrodes, exquisitely designed hybrid hetero-nanomat electrodes are fabricated through concurrent dual electrospraying and electrospinning for the anode, vacuum-assisted infiltration for the cathode. HC nanoparticles are closely embedded in the spatially reinforced polymeric nanofiber/CNT hetero-nanomat skeletons that play a crucial role in constructing 3D-bicontinuous ion/electron transport pathways and allow to eliminate heavy metallic aluminum foil current collectors. Eventually the FNHC/1DBP seawater full cell, driven by aforementioned physicochemical uniqueness, shows exceptional improvement in electrochemical performance (Energy density = 693 Wh kg-1), (Power density = 3341 W kg-1) removing strong stereotype of ceramic solid electrolyte, which beyond those achievable with innovative next generation battery technologies.ope

Silicon Derived from Glass Bottles as Anode Materials for Lithium Ion Full Cell Batteries.

Every year many tons of waste glass end up in landfills without proper recycling, which aggravates the burden of waste disposal in landfill. The conversion from un-recycled glass to favorable materials is of great significance for sustainable strategies. Recently, silicon has been an exceptional anode material towards large-scale energy storage applications, due to its extraordinary lithiation capacity of 3579 mAh g-1 at ambient temperature. Compared with other quartz sources obtained from pre-leaching processes which apply toxic acids and high energy-consuming annealing, an interconnected silicon network is directly derived from glass bottles via magnesiothermic reduction. Carbon-coated glass derived-silicon (gSi@C) electrodes demonstrate excellent electrochemical performance with a capacity of ~1420 mAh g-1 at C/2 after 400 cycles. Full cells consisting of gSi@C anodes and LiCoO2 cathodes are assembled and achieve good initial cycling stability with high energy density