Optimization of energy renovation of residential sector in Catalonia based on comfort, energy and costs

The paper describes OptiHab study, done in the framework of the MARIE project. The objective of OptiHab is to provide technical and economic information to optimize the energy renovation of residential sector in Catalonia, ensuring the comfort of the users. The information of the study gives the criteria to develop regional strategies and policies to improve the energy efficiency of the residential sector. The method used and the results of one building typologies are presented. In addition, the results have been used to propose a subsidy plan for the energy renovation of buildings based on costeffective measuresPeer ReviewedPostprint (author's final draft

Combining low-code programming and SDL-based modeling with snap! in the industry 4.0 context

© 2021 IEEE. Personal use of this material is permitted. Permission from IEEE must be obtained for all other uses, in any current or future media, including reprinting/republishing this material for advertising or promotional purposes,creating new collective works, for resale or redistribution to servers or lists, or reuse of any copyrighted component of this work in other works.One of the main challenges to implement Industry 4.0 technologies within the industrial fabric is the lack of suitable concrete models and tools that demonstrate the potential benefits of embracing the digital transformation process. To overcome this challenge, over the past years, various Industry 4.0 automation and robotics providers have presented solutions based on visual block programming languages, which follow an emerging low-code approach to reduce the entry barriers of digital technologies. However, block-based low-code tools typically lack the formality introduced by specification languages, limiting their ability to model the industrial processes formally. Taking this into account, in this article, we present the combination of specification languages and visual block programming languages to enable industrial users to test and/or build their own Digital Twin models at a suitable abstraction level and with low entry barriers. In particular, we combine SDL and Snap! to create SDL4Snap!, an opensource and web-based tool that facilitates the implementation and validation of Digital Twin prototypes. Overall, the resulting tool has the potential to reduce the entry barrier to Digital Twins in small and medium enterprises, which are part of the late majority and laggard groups regarding the adoption of digital technologies in the context of Industry 4.0.Peer ReviewedPostprint (published version

Polarimetric Synthetic Aperture Radar (SAR) Application for Geological Mapping and Resource Exploration in the Canadian Arctic

The role of remote sensing in geological mapping has been rapidly growing by providing predictive maps in advance of field surveys. Remote predictive maps with broad spatial coverage have been produced for northern Canada and the Canadian Arctic which are typically very difficult to access. Multi and hyperspectral airborne and spaceborne sensors are widely used for geological mapping as spectral characteristics are able to constrain the minerals and rocks that are present in a target region. Rock surfaces in the Canadian Arctic are altered by extensive glacial activity and freeze-thaw weathering, and form different surface roughnesses depending on rock type. Different physical surface properties, such as surface roughness and soil moisture, can be revealed by distinct radar backscattering signatures at different polarizations. This thesis aims to provide a multidisciplinary approach for remote predictive mapping that integrates the lithological and physical surface properties of target rocks. This work investigates the physical surface properties of geological units in the Tunnunik and Haughton impact structures in the Canadian Arctic characterized by polarimetric synthetic aperture radar (SAR). It relates the radar scattering mechanisms of target surfaces to their lithological compositions from multispectral analysis for remote predictive geological mapping in the Canadian Arctic. This work quantitatively estimates the surface roughness relative to the transmitted radar wavelength and volumetric soil moisture by radar scattering model inversion. The SAR polarization signatures of different geological units were also characterized, which showed a significant correlation with their surface roughness. This work presents a modified radar scattering model for weathered rock surfaces. More broadly, it presents an integrative remote predictive mapping algorithm by combining multispectral and polarimetric SAR parameters

Theoretical Reaction Mechanism Study on Organic and Inorganic Materials for Renewable Energy and Environment

School of Energy and Chemical Engineering (Chemical Engineering)Concerning about the increases of energy demand and environmental issue have let to the development of renewable energy with low greenhouse gas emissions. To produce the industrial compounds without fossil fuel consumption, the themes of research on renewable energy have been focused towards to the method to produce the chemical materials by using earth-abundant resources such as plants, wind, and solar energy. However, the low efficiency, high initial cost of installation, and discontinuity of source acquirement of renewable energy are still slowing down its application. To overcome these challenges, renewable energy technologies still need to be improved. Effective and technological developments to the practical application of renewable energy are derived from in-depth understanding of reactions related to renewable energy and environment. Furthermore, novel materials and strategies can be established by combining theoretical approaches and knowledge of reactions. In this context, Molecular modeling and simulation are the appropriate method to investigate the reaction mechanism for desired substances or to identify the cause of a phenomenon at the atomic level. In this thesis, we described the theoretical research on the reaction mechanism related with renewable energy system. In Chapter 1, we introduce shortly the renewable energy systems and the mechanistic studies for in-depth understanding of chemical engineering. Also, we described the previous and ongoing research about the renewable technologies and applications using molecular simulation methods. Finally, we explained the multi-scale molecular simulation method and its theoretical meanings used in this thesis, including the density functional theory (DFT) calculation, molecular dynamics (MD), and Monte Carlo (MC) simulation. In Chapter 2, we suggested the new strategy for formation of desired organic materials from biomass (renewable energy source) with highly effective catalysts. First, it was found that solvent effect of 1-butanol and the catalytic performance of hydrotalcite in glucose isomerization mechanism using DFT calculation. Furthermore, the reaction mechanistic pathways for the fructose hydrogenation to mannitol and sorbitol which is used as the biomass, were investigated by DFT calculation. The catalytic effect of the Cu metal catalyst favorably induced the formation of mannitol than the formation of sorbitol during the fructose adsorption step. In Chapter 3, we theoretically demonstrated that the formic acid and supercritical ethanol mixture solvents expedited the solvothermal liquefaction reaction of biomass lignin constituents. Using the reactive molecular dynamics simulation and density functional theory calculation, the mechanisms by which solvents break C???O bond and C???C bond in each Dilignol molecule were observed over time. In this liquefaction reaction, the hydrogen detached from the formic acid directly participates in dissociation of C???O bond and C???C bond, and the supercritical ethanol transfers the radical hydrogen from formic acid to dilignol. This mechanism study suggested the biomass utilization method that can produce a lot of hydrogen without a metal catalyst. In Chapter 4, we theoretically proposed the feasibility of universal synthesis of the metal sulfide electrolyte that can improve the performance of all solid-state battery developed for effective storage of renewable energy and reduced carbon footprint. Using an alkahest solvent system composed of EDA-EDT mixture solvents, not only conventional sulfide SE precursors of Li2S, P2S5, and Na2S, but also metal sulfides, such as GeS2 were fully dissolved by nucleophilic attack of thiolate. It was elucidated that EDT molecules have strong dissolving power by proton transfer to EDA and that the dissolution of sulfide precursors is feasible through the investigation of reaction mechanism. In Chapter 5, we provided the insight of mineral carbonation reaction for carbon dioxide storage and utilization using DFT calculation and MD simulation. Calcium hydroxide has been mainly studied as a medium for mineral carbonation, but its efficiency was not good. In this study, we revealed that water molecules are intercalated in interlayer of calcium hydroxide and the interlayer distance between the calcium hydroxide increases. Remarkably, the water molecules near the surface of the calcium hydroxide accelerated the carbonation phenomenon of CO2 through the studies.ope