Pressurised calcination-atmospheric carbonation of limestone for cyclic CO2 capture from flue gases

A study was carried out to investigate the CO2 capture performance of limestone under atmospheric carbonations following pressurised calcination. A series of tests was carried out to study the role of pressurised calcination using a fluidised bed reactor. In this investigation, calcination of limestone particles was carried out at three levels of pressure: 0.1 MPa, 0.5 MPa, and 1.0 MPa. After calcination, the capture performance of the calcined sorbent was tested at atmospheric pressure. As expected, the results indicate that the carbonation conversion of calcined sorbent decreases as the pressure is increased during calcination. Pressurised calcination requires higher temperatures and causes an increase in sorbent sintering, albeit that it would have the advantage of reducing equipment size as well as the compression energy necessary for CO2transport and storage, and an analysis has been provided to give an assessment of the potential benefits associated with such an option using process software.EPSR

Characterization of synthesized polyurethane/montmorillonite nanocomposite foams.

Nanophased hybrid composites based on polyurethane/montmorillonite (PU/MMT) have been fabricated. The nanocomposite which was formed by the addition of a polyol premix with 4,4'-diphenylmethane diisocyanate to obtain nanophased polyurethane foams which were then used for fabrication of nanocomposite panels has been shown to have raised strength, stiffness and thermal insulation properties. The nanophased polyurethane foam was characterized by means of scanning electron microscope (SEM), transmission electron microscope (TEM) measurements and X-ray diffraction (XRD). TEM and SEM analysis indicated that nanophased particles are dispersed homogeneously in the polyurethane matrix on the nanometer scale indicating that PU/MMT is an intercalated nanocomposite with a 2-3 nm nanolayer thickness

Process engineering and development of post-combustion CO2 separation from fuels using limestone in CaO-looping cycle

Global CO2 emissions produced by energy-related processes, mainly power plants, have increased rapidly in recent decades; and are widely accepted as the dominant contributor to the greenhouse gas (GHG) effect and consequent climate changes. Among countermeasures against the emissions, CO2 capture and storage (CCS) is receiving much attention. Capture of CO2 is the core step of CCS as it contributes around 75% of the overall cost, and may increase the production costs of electricity by over 50%. The reduction in capture costs is one of the most challenging issues in application of CCS to the energy industry. Using limestone in CaO-looping cycles is a promising capture technology to provide a cost-effective separation process to remove CO2 content from power plants operations. Limestone has the advantage of being relatively abundant and cheap, and that has already been widely used as a sorbent for sulphur capture. However, this technology suffers from a critical challenge caused by the decay in the sorbent capture capacity during cyclic carbonation/calcination, which results in the need for more sorbent make-up; hence a reduction in cost efficiency of the technology. The performance of sorbent influenced by several operating and reaction conditions. Therefore, much research involves investigation of influencing factors and different methods to reduce the sorbent deactivation. Cont/d

Influence of Pump Pulse Duration on the Output Performance of a LED-Pumped Nd:YAG Laser

Abstract: In this paper, we performed an experimental study of a LED-pumped Nd:YAG laser that works in QCW and Q-switch modes. We examined how the pump pulse duration affects the laser output. The laser rod was a Nd:YAG crystal with a diameter of 7 mm and a length of 95 mm, side-pumped by 30 LED arrays, each with 18 single dies at 810 nm. The maximum output energy at 1064 nm was 10.5 mJ in the QCW mode, with a pump energy of 81 mJ (230 µs pulses at 1 Hz). The optical conversion efficiency and the slope efficiency were 12.5% and 18%, respectively. In the PQS mode, the output energy was 250 µJ, with a pulse width of 190 ns (FWHM), corresponding to a peak power of 1.31 kW. The beam divergence was 0.3 mrad with TEM00 mode. This LED-pumped Q-switched Nd:YAG laser can be used for laser range finder applications

Theoretical and experimental study for shortening laser pulse width by pinhole plasma shutter

In this article, a theoretical model is presented to calculate the laser clipped pulse temporal width by the pinhole plasma shutter, and then the model results are compared with the experimental results of CO2 laser clipped pulses by aluminum and copper pinhole plasma shutters. In this model, it is assumed that the laser clipped pulse width is approximately equal to the sum of the plasma formation time and the plasma propagation time in order to reach from pinhole edges to the pinhole center. Furthermore, we assume that the plasma formation time is approximately equal to the time for the surface temperature of pinhole metal plate to reach the boiling point by absorbing the laser pulse energy. Heat conduction equation is used to calculate the time of plasma formation, and Taylor-Sedov’s model is used to calculate the plasma propagation time to reach the pinhole center. By these assumptions, a relationship has been established between the laser clipped pulse width on the one hand, and thermo-dynamical and optical parameters of plasma shutter and the involved laser optical parameters on the other. Results of this model are in good agreement with experimental results

Assessment of Detonation Performance and Characteristics of 2,4,6-Trinitrotoluene Based Melt Cast Explosives Containing Aluminum by Laser Induced Breakdown Spectroscopy

Aluminized melt cast formulations based on 2,4,6-trinitrotoluene (TNT) deliver an enhanced blast effect because the secondary combustion process of aluminum (Al) occurs beyond the detonation zone. A new method is introduced to assess the detonation performance and characteristics of aluminized TNT explosives on the basis of the laser-induced breakdown spectroscopy (LIBS) technique, in both air and argon (Ar) atmospheres. The plasma emissions of the prepared samples were recorded, where the atomic lines of Al, C, O and H as well as the molecular bands of AlO, CN and C2 were identified. A good discrimination and separation between the samples was possible using LIBS and principle component analysis (PCA), although they had similar atomic compositions. The quantitative calibration curve obtained using the relative intensity of Al/O was used to determine the detonation velocity/pressure and aluminum content of the TNT/Al samples. Comparisons between experimental and theoretical spectra were made using a Nelder–Mead temperature program for CN bands, which provided good agreement with the fitted spectra. Finally, CN vibrational temperatures were calculated from these spectral fittings. These temperatures have higher values in an Ar atmosphere than in an air atmosphere. Thus, increasing the oxygen concentration can decrease these temperatures in TNT/Al standard samples