The progress toward more sustainable energy, water and environmental systems approaches and applications

This editorial provides an overview of ten scientific articles published as the Special paper selection in Thermal Science. The papers were selected from almost six hundred contributions, presented at the 16th Conference on Sustainable Development of Energy, Water and Environment Systems (SDEWES 2021), held on October 10-15, 2021 in Dubrovnik, Croatia. The topics covered in the Special paper selection include economics of electricity markets, nuclear technology, repowering of the coal-based power plant, hybrid renewable energy system, sustainable biomass handling and conversion, post-combustion emissions control, and efficient cooling technology. The editorial also emphasised the papers recently published in the Special Issues of leading scientific journals dedicated to the series of SDEWES Conferences

Improving eco-sustainable characteristics and energy efficiency of evaporative fluid cooler via experimental and numerical study

This paper presents an on-going research project that aims to identify possibilities for wider use of evaporative cooling in process industry, especially the use of evaporative fluid cooler units. Experimental study is performed on small scale evaporative fluid cooler, while the correlation based model has been carried out to explore the detailed heat and mass transfer processes inside this unit. Numerical integration of mathematical model is executed by new approach, based on differential, collocation Simpson method. Proposed models have been verified by comparing the computed results with those obtained by the experimental measurements. The results of research will enable the creation of more comprehensive simulation software, with wider range of operating and construction parameters