Green operations strategy of a luxury car manufacturer

This paper investigates the strategic environmental decisions of a luxury car manufacturer. Through case study research, the investigation sheds light on why and how the company is adopting green technologies. Being pressured by different stakeholders to become greener, luxury car manufacturers carry significant opportunities for environmental improvement given the nature of their manufacturing processes and products. Because of their low-volume production, manufacturers may be able to increase output and still reduce overall emissions when compared to high-volume manufacturers. In the case study company this was found to be possible only because of new ideas brought by a change in ownership. Luxury manufacturers may also be a test-bed for the development and experimentation of green technologies as part of a strategic approach to environmental initiatives. This paper contributes to the fields of green technology adoption and operations strategy in automotive manufacturing groups

Production d’hydrogène par procédés biologiques

L’hydrogène, s’il est produit à partir de matières premières renouvelables, est une source alternative viable pour remplacer les combustibles fossiles conventionnels en raison de son potentiel énergétique élevé (122 kJ/g). Quand l’hydrogène est utilisé comme carburant, son principal produit de combustion est l’eau, qui peut être recyclée pour produire plus d’hydrogène, mais contrairement aux combustibles fossiles, l’hydrogène n’est pas facilement disponible dans la nature et les méthodes de production couramment utilisées sont assez coûteuses. Actuellement, environ 98 % de l’hydrogène provient des combustibles fossiles. Globalement, 40 % de l’hydrogène est produit à partir de gaz naturel ou de reformage à la vapeur d’hydrocarbures, 30 % à partir de pétrole, 18 % à partir de charbon et 4 % partir d’électrolyse de l’eau. Cependant, ces processus sont coûteux et pas toujours respectueux de l’environnement. Les procédés biologiques pour la production d’hydrogène peuvent fonctionner dans des conditions opératoires moins énergivores et plus respectueuses de l’environnement par rapport aux méthodes chimiques conventionnelles. Cette approche est non seulement écologique, mais ouvre aussi de nouvelles voies pour l’exploitation de ressources énergétiques renouvelables illimitées. En outre, ils peuvent également utiliser différents déchets, ce qui facilite le recyclage des déchets. La production d’hydrogène biologique utilisant la biomasse riche en hydrates de carbone comme ressource renouvelable est l’une des différentes méthodes dans lesquelles les processus peuvent se produire via un processus anaérobie et un processus de photosynthèse. Dans cet article, les différents procédés biologiques de production de l’hydrogène sont décrits et comparés

Novel Mixed Metal Ferrites for Hydrogen Production Using Chemical Looping

The chemical looping hydrogen (CLH) process generates pure, separate streams of H2&nbsp;and CO2 from synthesis gas without the use of expensive gas separation equipment. This technology is a potentially efficient method for future H2&nbsp;production from coal or biomass with integrated CO2&nbsp;capture. In the CLH process, a metal oxide material is reduced through contact with syngas at temperatures between 673 K and 1273 K, fully oxidizing the CO and H2&nbsp;in the syngas to H2O and CO2. The reduced metal oxide is then contacted with steam to regenerate the metal oxide and produce H2. The mixed metal ferrites CoFe2O4 and NiFe2O4&nbsp;are proposed as alternative metal oxides to the currently used&nbsp;&nbsp;Fe2O3. Thermodynamic analysis with the software package FactSageTM predicts high conversions of H2&nbsp;and CO to H2&nbsp;and CO2&nbsp;during the CLH reduction step and complete ferrite regeneration during the H2O oxidation step. Laboratory experiments with mixed metal ferrites deposited on high surface area ZrO2&nbsp;support structures indicate cyclability under CLH conditions, and post-cycling analysis shows complete regeneration of the mixed metal spinel with no detected metal oxide-support interactions. In a packed bed reactor, CoFe2O4&nbsp;and NiFe2O4&nbsp;show superior performance to&nbsp;&nbsp;Fe2O3, with over 99% conversion of CO and H2&nbsp;to CO2&nbsp;and H2O during reduction. Over 90% of the H2/CO used to reduce the mixed metal ferrites was recovered as H2&nbsp;during H2O oxidation. For&nbsp;&nbsp;Fe2O3, the recovery was only 20%. A kinetic analysis of the oxidation step indicated a dual oxidation mechanism for mixed metal ferrites that involved an order of reaction model followed by a diffusion limited model at higher conversions. Diffusion limitations are attributed to the effect of incorporation of Co2+ and Ni2+ cations into the spinel lattice. The reduction reaction in a packed bed reactor is found to follow gas-solid equilibrium conversion values closely at low solid conversions. Analysis of the CLH system using an equilibrium limited model indicates these materials offer significant advantages in H2&nbsp;output over Fe2O3 at lower reaction temperatures and with high CO2/CO and H2O/ H2&nbsp;syngas.</p

Two Minutes to Midnight, the Agency of Hydrogen in an Art of the Anthropocene

This research project is an artistic investigation into the element hydrogen and its agency in the context of an art of the Anthropocene and ecological emergency. A series of installation artworks utilise hydrogen made from water as a locally produced renewable energy for artistic agency and spectator participation. Concurrently, I address the praxis and theory of interdisciplinary art practice across the areas of science, technology, and utility. The studio practice produced a series of artworks titled Life-Systems that adopt the process of water-electrolysis to create hydrogen, achieved with the scientific input of the Electrochemical Innovation Laboratory at UCL. The resulting art installations test scenarios of utility within an artistic framework by finding everyday uses for hydrogen as an energy carrier and fuel. Oxygen, the waste gas of water electrolysis may be collected and repurposed. Other artworks in the series aim towards an ecology or mutuality of interdependent technologies that engage with the water-food-energy nexus, investigating plant-food and clean water production. They aim to support one another technically whilst theoretically questioning the politics and structures of reliance upon non-sustainable resources at a time of ecological crisis. The recently accepted view of the Anthropocene epoch as a geological event caused by human impact on earth systems, augments a shift in our relationship with our planet. My research aims to engage with and contribute to the emerging field of ontological and epistemological Anthropocene discourses by examining the roles of art, utopian narratives, and technology in this epoch. This approach also concerns the nature of interdisciplinary research, social practice, and its relations with art pedagogy. I theorise strategies to navigate the territory that connects art and science, focusing on the paradoxical relationship of art objects and utility, aiming to contribute to knowledge and understanding in this area

Solar-Thermochemical Hydrogen Production Using Thin Film Ald Ferrites and Other Metal Oxides

Production of renewable hydrogen is achievable via two-step redox cycles using metal oxide-based intermediates. Concentrated solar energy is capable of decomposing the metal oxide in the first high temperature step, and in the second step water is reacted with the reduced metal oxide to produce H2 and regenerate the starting material. The thermodynamics of relevant ferrite-based water splitting cycles has been investigated using the thermodynamics software package FactSage. The effect of different metal substitutions in MxFe3-xO4, has been explored, and indicates that Co and Ni based ferrites are both superior to Fe3O4. Additionally, it is shown that increasing the inert gas concentrations has a direct effect on the reduction temperature. Increasing the amount of cobalt results in lowering the thermal reduction requirements, but does not necessarily translate to more H2&nbsp;production. For values of x &gt; 1, the amount of reducible iron decreases, and results in less H2&nbsp;production at elevated reduction temperatures. Oxidation of reduced species is shown to be achievable at temperatures greater than when &Delta;Grxn &gt; 0 if large excesses of water are introduced. More H2&nbsp;is expected to be present at equilibrium for ferrite based reactions compared to ceria based water splitting cycles, because the degree of reduction is approximately three times greater. Atomic layer deposition (ALD) has been used as a means to synthesize thin films of iron oxide, which can be used as reactive intermediates in solar redox cycles. Conformal films of amorphous iron (III) oxide and &alpha;-Fe2O3 have been coated on zirconia nanoparticles (26 nm) in a fluidized bed reactor by atomic layer deposition. Ferrocene and oxygen were alternately dosed into the reactor at temperatures between 367 ᵒC and 534 ᵒC. Self-limiting chemistry was observed via in situ mass spectrometry, and by means of induced coupled plasma &ndash; atomic emission spectroscopy analysis. Film conformality and uniformity were verified by high resolution transmission electron microscopy, and the growth rate was determined to be 0.15 &Aring; per cycle. Iron oxide (&gamma;-Fe2O3) and cobalt ferrite (CoxFe3-xO4) thin films have also been synthesized via ALD on high surface area (50 m2/g) m-ZrO2 supports. The oxide films were grown by sequentially depositing iron oxide and cobalt oxide, and adjusting the number of iron oxide cycles relative to cobalt oxide to achieve desired stoichiometry. Samples were chemically reduced in a flow reactor equipped with in situ x-ray diffraction. They were also subjected to chemical reduction and oxidation in a stagnation flow reactor to test activity for use in chemical looping cycles to produce H2&nbsp;via water splitting. &gamma;-Fe2O3&nbsp;films chemically reduced in mixtures of H2, CO, and CO2 at 600 &deg;C formed Fe3O4&nbsp;and FeO phases, and exhibited a trend-wise decrease in H2&nbsp;production rates upon cycling. Co0.85Fe2.15O4 films were successfully cycled without deactivation and produced four times more H2&nbsp;than &gamma;-Fe2O3, principally due to the formation of a CoFe alloy upon reduction. For comparison, a mechanically milled mixture of &alpha;-Fe2O3&nbsp;and ZrO2&nbsp;powders with similar iron loading to the thin films did not maintain high activity to water splitting due to sintering and grain growth. Cobalt ferrites are deposited on Al2O3 substrates via ALD, and the efficacy of using these in a ferrite water splitting redox cycle to produce H2&nbsp;is studied. Experimental results are coupled with thermodynamic modeling, and results indicate that CoFe2O4 deposited on Al2O3&nbsp;is capable of being reduced at lower temperatures than CoFe2O4&nbsp;(200oC-300oC) due to a reaction between the ferrite and substrate to form FeAl2O4. Significant quantities of H2 are produced at reduction temperatures of only 1200oC, whereas, CoFe2O4&nbsp;produced little or no H2&nbsp;until reduction temperatures of 1400oC. CoFe2O4/Al2O3&nbsp;was capable of being cycled at 1200oC reduction/ 1000oC oxidation with no obvious deactivation. Cobalt ferrite (Co0.9Fe2.1O4) and iron oxide (Fe3O4) thin films deposited via ALD on m-ZrO2&nbsp;supports are utilized in a high temperature water splitting redox cycle to produce H2. Both materials were thermally reduced at 1450oC and oxidized with H2O (20-40%) at temperatures between 900oC and 1400oC in a stagnation flow reactor. Oxidation of iron oxide was more rapid than the cobalt ferrite, and the rates of both materials increased with temperature, even up to 1400oC. At elevated oxidation temperatures (T &gt; 1250oC) we observed simultaneous production of H2&nbsp;and O2, due to both thermal reduction and water oxidation operating in equilibrium. A kinetic model was developed for the oxidation of cobalt ferrite from 900oC to 1100oC, in which there was an initial reaction order limited regime, followed by a slower diffusion limited regime characterized well by the parabolic rate law. The activation energy and H2O reaction order during the reaction order regime were 119.76 &plusmn; 8.81 kJ/mole and 0.70 &plusmn; 0.32, respectively, and the activation energy during the diffusion limited regime was 191 &plusmn; 19.8 kJ/mol. The feasibility of using commercially available, un-doped, ceria (CeO2) felts in a thermochemical redox cycle to produce H2&nbsp;has been explored, and a detailed kinetic analysis of the oxidation reaction is discussed. Reduction is achieved at 1450 ᵒC, and the subsequent H2 producing step is studied from 700 to 1200oC and H2O mole fractions of 0.04 to 0.32. The O2&nbsp;and H2&nbsp;equilibrium compositions remain constant for up to 30 redox cycles, and sintering appears to be abated by microscopy analysis. The average amount of H2&nbsp;produced is 280.9 &plusmn; 45.8 &mu;moles/g CeO2. The re-oxidation rates are faster on a per mass basis than similar ferrite based-cycles because the surface area is largely unaffected by thermal cycling. The oxidation reaction is governed by a first order reaction mechanism (1-&alpha;) at low temperatures and conversions, but at higher temperatures the mechanism transitions to a second order reaction (1-&alpha;)2. This is attributed to the onset of the thermodynamically favored reverse reaction at elevated temperatures. The activation energy is calculated between 700 and 900oC from 0.2&lt;&alpha;&lt;0.5, and determined to be 35.5 &plusmn; 13.3 kJ/mol. An Arrhenius expression, coupled with a first order reaction mechanism is used to model the experimentally observed reaction rates where the forward reaction was predominant.</p

Constructing the hydrogen fuel cell community: a case study of networked innovation governance

This thesis presents the findings of an actor-centred constructivist case study into the policy community emerging around Hydrogen and Fuel Cell innovation. Emerging at the intersection between increasingly networked energy; climate and industrial policy, innovation has been the focal point of literatures advocating transitions towards more sustainable socio-technical systems. The thesis develops an interpretivist-constructivist methodology to sketch how actor interpretations of competency and context inform the interests and strategies in innovation policy processes. Drawing on interviews and extensive documentary research it argues that while innovation governance is, in part, a product of networked interactions between HFC community members, these interactions are circumscribed by prevailing policy paradigms. Expressed via a commercial logic and empowered by the resources of large industrial firms, such paradigms de-politicise governance practices and align innovation priorities around those compatible with the interests of large industrial interests. The thesis contributes to our understanding of interpretation as the means by which ideas and resources shape strategic interaction, and serves to remind us that networked governance can close down as well as open up spaces of participation in policy processes

A comparative UK-German study of hydrogen fuel cell innovative activity

In this thesis, four questions are answered about the nature of hydrogen fuel cell (HFC) research, demonstration and development (RD&D) activity in the UK and Germany: 1) how, when and where HFC innovation and diffusion has occurred, 2) which socio-technical factors best explain the nature and pace of HFC innovation and diffusion, 3) what would add and enrich theoretical and methodological approaches to researching HFCs within Innovation Studies, and 4) what policy options follow on from these insights. Firstly, a theoretical contribution involves a critique of the Technologically-specific Innovation Systems (TSISs) heuristic in terms of concepts of agency and structure, system delineation, system indicators and the quality of policy guidance. The knowledge gaps that are revealed suggest methodological modifications to the TSIS approach to event histories in terms of organisational funding – whether events are public, private and public-private – and geographical location should also be included in analyses of HFC innovation and diffusion. Secondly, an empirical contribution is made: the provision of two HFC Technological Innovation System (TIS) case studies from the UK and Germany. This evidence suggests sustained positive feedback between system functions is beginning to occur in this niche sector. Over time, HFC technologies are shown to coevolve and branch along certain pathways - and not others - depending upon structural barriers and enablers encountered by HFC actors. Thirdly, there is a contribution to policy based upon the empirical evidence. State actors should recognize that they can take responsibility for encouraging HFC growth and development. Empirically, public-private partnerships (PPPs), when used in combination with state procurement, were shown to offer HFC actors the greatest levels of agency when cutting unit costs and accelerating diffusion. Ultimately, there may well be hybridised or alternative forms of the TSIS heuristic that fare better in their analyses of HFC innovation and diffusion, however, future lines of HFC research using this approach are not advocated here. I have reached this conclusion because the knowledge gaps that I have identified with the TSIS heuristic are likely insurmountable given the TSIS heuristic’s neofunctionalist ontology