Fuel Quality: Challenges to the Sustainable Development of Automobile Transport and Approach to Solution

The current obstacles to the sustainable development of the vehicle fleet present one of the most serious and complex challenges for technogenic civilization in view of the consumption of rapidly depleting oil and gas resources and the increasing emissions of the products of fuel combustion. The aim of this paper is to study and discuss the impact patterns of the quality of fuel on the environmental and performance characteristics of vehicles and to develop an approach towards improving the quality of fuel as a means of increasing the sustainability of vehicles. The patterns of influence of the chemical composition of the fuel on the temperature conditions in the engine, the emissions of toxic substances and carbon dioxide from the fuel’s combustion, the toxicity of the gasoline vapor, carbonization, fuel consumption, engine power and the requirements for a gasoline octane rating have been identified. The use of a fuel additive has been proposed which improves fuel injection in the engines and excludes tarry deposits in the fuel system through the effective detergency and catalyzes the gasification reactions in the engine. The developed fuel additive was shown to have a positive effect by significantly reducing fuel consumption and toxic emissions and improving the performance of vehicles

Risk Reduction Methods for Managing the Development of Regional Electric Power Industry

The development of the regional electric power industry has come to the forefront due to the changing scale, quality, and configuration of electric power infrastructure, and the spread of distributed generation. This gives rise to more stringent requirements regarding the reliability, safety, and environmental impact of electric power supply. This article aims to justify a package of methods that make it possible to identify and minimize investment, production, financial, and environmental risks in order to ensure sustainable development of the regional electric power industry that performs anti-crisis functions, and of individual energy companies. The key method to be employed is integrated resource planning (IRP). As a part of the method, energy conservation, renewable energy sources, and combined heat and power production are considered as equally valid ways of meeting future demand. The authors have designed a methodology for taking into account uncertainty and risk when implementing IRP. The methodology includes analysis of scenarios and decision making processes by calculating past and projected values of profit indicators. When conducting the environmental and economic assessment of an investment project in the electric power industry, the authors suggest using an aggregate indicator of environmental and economic effectiveness that is calculated on the basis of a combination of locally significant positive and negative environmental and economic impacts of the project. The authors formulate conceptual provisions that serve as the foundation for a promising model of the regional electric power industry and which contain recommendations for managing the development of the industry while minimizing organizational, market, and technological risks

Improving vehicle adaptability to the operating conditions of "smart" cities in the northern regions

The paper reviews a relevant problem of providing a higher quality of people’s living in the northern regions by the application of the modern technologies within transport in order to improve its environmental performance and efficiency. The aim of the research is to substantiate methods of increasing the adaptability of vehicles to variable low-temperature operating conditions based on a neural control system of preheating and maintaining the optimum temperature of technological fluids by SHF radiation and improving diesel fuel properties by introducing a multifunctional additive. It has been found that SHF radiation influences the physical and chemical parameters of diesel fuel, as well as the engine output parameters. SHF radiation results in a reduction of fuel consumption to 7%, smoke from the exhaust to 15%, and nitrogen oxide emission to 30%. A conclusion is made that using SHF radiation for technological fuel preheating is essential. An approach has been developed that improves low-temperature properties of diesel fuels and increases engine operation efficiency under severe climatic conditions by introducing a multifunctional additive. The additive will enable a significant decrease in fuel consumption under low-temperature operating conditions and a complex improvement of fuel properties

An Investigation of the Feasibility of the Organic Municipal Solid Waste Processing by Coking

In the context of transition to a circular economy, one of the strategic priorities is the development of technological innovations aimed at waste processing. In this study, the foundations have been developed for a low-temperature, environmentally safe method for efficient processing of organic municipal solid waste, which may be further applied for processing both municipal and industrial waste organics in order to obtain liquid products. The maximum yield of liquid products is ensured when conducting the coking of a mixture of organic waste with long residuum in the temperature range of 400–420 °C, with a heating rate of 5–70 °C/min, and with an optimal heating time to the coking temperature of 80 min. Recommendations on the use of the waste recycling products are given. The proposed process is consistent with the principles of circular economy and does not require external energy costs because the energy needed for the process is generated by burning the gas produced during the waste coking. The process does not produce emissions into the environment and, in combination with standard refining processes, can be used to obtain commercial petroleum products

Towards Circular Economy: Evaluation of Sewage Sludge Biogas Solutions

Today it is obvious that the existing linear model of the economy does not correlate with the principles of sustainable development. The circular economy model can replace the current linear economy whilst addressing the issues of environmental deterioration, social equity and long-term economic growth. In the context of effectively implementing circular economy objectives, particular importance should be attributed to wastewater treatment sludge management, due to the possibility of recovering valuable raw materials and using its energy potential. Anaerobic digestion is one of the methods of recovering energy from sewage sludge. The main goal of this study is to make a preliminary evaluation of possible sewage sludge biogas and biomethane solutions using a computation model called MCBioCH4 and compare its results with laboratory tests of sewage sludge fermentation from the northern wastewater treatment plant (WWTP) of Ekaterinburg (Russian Federation). Laboratory experiments were conducted to determine the volume and qualitative composition of biogas produced throughout anaerobic fermentation of raw materials coming from the WWTP. The specific productivity of samples ranged between 308.46 Nm3/tvs and 583.08 Nm3/tvs depending if mesophilic or thermophilic conditions were analyzed, or if the experiment was conducted with or without sludge pre-treatment. Output values from the laboratory were used as input for MCBioCH4 to calculate the flow of biogas or biomethane produced. For the case study of Ekaterinburg two possible energy conversion options were selected: B-H (biogas combustion with cogeneration of electrical and thermal energy) and M-T (biomethane to be used in transports). The results of the energy module showed a net energy content of the biogas between 6575 MWh/year and 7200 MWh/year. Both options yielded a favorable greenhouse gas (GHG) balance, meaning that avoided emissions are higher than produced emissions. The results discussion also showed that, in this case, the B-H option is preferable to the M-T option. The implementation of the biogas/biomethane energy conversion system in Ekaterinburg WWTP necessitates further investigations to clarify the remaining technical and economic aspect

Risk Reduction Methods for Managing the Development of Regional Electric Power Industry

The development of the regional electric power industry has come to the forefront due to the changing scale, quality, and configuration of electric power infrastructure, and the spread of distributed generation. This gives rise to more stringent requirements regarding the reliability, safety, and environmental impact of electric power supply. This article aims to justify a package of methods that make it possible to identify and minimize investment, production, financial, and environmental risks in order to ensure sustainable development of the regional electric power industry that performs anti-crisis functions, and of individual energy companies. The key method to be employed is integrated resource planning (IRP). As a part of the method, energy conservation, renewable energy sources, and combined heat and power production are considered as equally valid ways of meeting future demand. The authors have designed a methodology for taking into account uncertainty and risk when implementing IRP. The methodology includes analysis of scenarios and decision making processes by calculating past and projected values of profit indicators. When conducting the environmental and economic assessment of an investment project in the electric power industry, the authors suggest using an aggregate indicator of environmental and economic effectiveness that is calculated on the basis of a combination of locally significant positive and negative environmental and economic impacts of the project. The authors formulate conceptual provisions that serve as the foundation for a promising model of the regional electric power industry and which contain recommendations for managing the development of the industry while minimizing organizational, market, and technological risks

Improving vehicle adaptability to the operating conditions of «smart» cities in the northern regions

The paper reviews a relevant problem of providing a higher quality of people’s living in the northern regions by the application of the modern technologies within transport in order to improve its environmental performance and efficiency. The aim of the research is to substantiate methods of increasing the adaptability of vehicles to variable low-temperature operating conditions based on a neural control system of preheating and maintaining the optimum temperature of technological fluids by SHF radiation and improving diesel fuel properties by introducing a multifunctional additive. It has been found that SHF radiation influences the physical and chemical parameters of diesel fuel, as well as the engine output parameters. SHF radiation results in a reduction of fuel consumption to 7%, smoke from the exhaust to 15%, and nitrogen oxide emission to 30%. A conclusion is made that using SHF radiation for technological fuel preheating is essential. An approach has been developed that improves low-temperature properties of diesel fuels and increases engine operation efficiency under severe climatic conditions by introducing a multifunctional additive. The additive will enable a significant decrease in fuel consumption under low-temperature operating conditions and a complex improvement of fuel properties

Improving vehicle adaptability to the operating conditions of «smart» cities in the northern regions

The paper reviews a relevant problem of providing a higher quality of people’s living in the northern regions by the application of the modern technologies within transport in order to improve its environmental performance and efficiency. The aim of the research is to substantiate methods of increasing the adaptability of vehicles to variable low-temperature operating conditions based on a neural control system of preheating and maintaining the optimum temperature of technological fluids by SHF radiation and improving diesel fuel properties by introducing a multifunctional additive. It has been found that SHF radiation influences the physical and chemical parameters of diesel fuel, as well as the engine output parameters. SHF radiation results in a reduction of fuel consumption to 7%, smoke from the exhaust to 15%, and nitrogen oxide emission to 30%. A conclusion is made that using SHF radiation for technological fuel preheating is essential. An approach has been developed that improves low-temperature properties of diesel fuels and increases engine operation efficiency under severe climatic conditions by introducing a multifunctional additive. The additive will enable a significant decrease in fuel consumption under low-temperature operating conditions and a complex improvement of fuel properties