Port System of the Spanish Mediterranean Coast Side

ABSTRACT: This study aims at doing a comparative analysis of the Mediterranean Port Authorities and their positioning based on their perception about the "innovative effort they have made". In order to achieve this aim, first, a comparative analysis has been carried out in order to obtain an overview of the Mediterranean watershed; secondly, the strengths and weaknesses of each Port Authority have been identified based on the variable "perceived innovative effort". The main results obtained have allowed us to detect the existing expertise on the Mediterranean Port Authorities. For instance, Tarragona is specialized in coal traffic, while Barcelona is specialized in natural gas and oil. Valencia holds the first position regarding traffic of goods. It also shares the first position with Barcelona in reference to container traffic. From the infrastructure analysis, it has been concluded that Tarragona is the Port Authority with a higher number of specialized facilities, followed by Barcelona, Castellón and Valencia. In addition, a detailed analysis of the specific facilities of each Port Authority has allowed us to get more information about the specialization of Port Authorities. Thus, it has been found that Tarragona is the only one that has coal facilities, Baleares is the only one with a dock for unloading butane and Barcelona is the only one with specific facilities dedicated to food (soybean, cocoa, coffee ...). Finally, the strengths and weaknesses analysis provides an overview of the situation of each Port Authority, indicating the potential lines of action and improvement that they can follow. We consider that this study may be useful for the Port Authority managers and policy makers due to it offers an overview of the situation of the Port Authority compared to its nearest competitors, helping with decision making and resource allocation

Impact of H2/CH4 blends on the flexibility of micromix burners applied to industrial combustion systems

The present paper investigates the feasibility of using H2/CH4 fuel blends in micromix-type burners applied to industrial combustion systems. The micromix burner concept, characterised by the formation of miniaturised and compact turbulent diffusion flames, was developed for gas turbine hydrogen burners showing low NOx emissions (below 10 ppm) without flashback risk, which represent the main issues when using pure hydrogen or hydrogen enriched natural gas blends as fuel, making it a promising concept to be applied in industrial burners. The study was carried out through numerical CFD simulations, accounting for detailed chemistry calculations of turbulent micromix flames and previously validated through experimental measurements in a laboratory-scale micromix burner prototype. The resulting flow, temperature and exhaust emission characteristics for three H2/CH4 fuel blends with H2 content of 90, 75 and 60% respectively were analysed and discussed for air–fuel equivalence ratios at λ=1.8 and 1.6 (lower than the well-characterised air–fuel equivalence ratios in micromix gas turbine burners at λ=2.5 and closer to current industrial burners), considering an energy density of 14 MW/m2 bar. Numerical results showed low fuel flexibility for industrial-scale micromix burners, with still low NOx emissions (12–85 ppm) but relatively high CO emissions (448–4970 ppm) for the considered blends and λ values. The lowest CO emissions were given together with jet penetration phenomena, ruling out the feasibility of these design points due to the greater importance of the latter phenomenon.Provincial Council of Bizkaia within the Technology Transfer Programme 2021,co-financed by EGEF, Basque Governmen

Integration of solar thermal energy in a conventionaf power plant: The Colon solar project

This paper reports on the first phase of the Colón Solar Project, originally conceived as the hybrid repowering of an existing thermal power plant, with the addition of a gas turbine in a topping configuration integrating thermal energy (steam) produced by a solar system. However, the project developed in a changing economic environment, in which a new legal structure, still incomplete, as of January, 1998 has liberalized the electricity generation market. This forced the original configuration to be modified, resulting in an all-new combined cycle with solar energy integrated into a Heat Recovery Boiler. Basic plant engineering placed special emphasis on the most important solar components (heliostat and receiver), and an economic analysis showed that the plant is profitable under the assumptions of the analysis. Nevertheless, the relatively low IRR, as well as the uncertainty of realization of some of those assumptions, made the utility postpone its decision to build the plant

Technology-Agnostic Assessment of Wave Energy System Capabilities

Developing new wave energy technologies is risky, costly and time-consuming. The large diversity of concepts, components and evaluation criteria creates a vast design space of potentially feasible solutions. This paper aims to introduce a novel methodology for the holistic assessment of wave energy capabilities in various market applications based on sound Systems Engineering methods. The methodology provides a consistent hierarchy of performance metrics relevant to the given system of reference, design activity and development stage under consideration as a means to scrutinise wave energy requirements. Full traceability of system requirements and performance metrics is then facilitated by multi-criteria decision tools and aggregation logic, respectively. The qualitative assessment in the case studies has resulted in very different rankings of System Drivers and Stakeholders for the two market applications considered. However, the Stakeholder Requirements and Functional Requirements present a small variation in the weights for the two application markets which results in a quantitative assessment with very similar Global Merit. Finally, the performance benchmark using the Commercial Attractiveness and Technical Achievability concepts enables a more objective comparison in the utility-scale and remote generation markets and a way to concentrate innovation efforts before proceeding to the next development stage.This research received no external fundin

Review of Systems Engineering (SE) Methods and Their Application to Wave Energy Technology Development

The design of effective and economically viable wave energy devices involves complex decision-making about the product based on conceptual design information, including stakeholder requirements, functions, components and technical parameters. The great diversity of concepts makes it extremely difficult to create fair comparisons of the relative merits of the many different designs. Conventional design approaches have proved insufficient to guarantee wave energy technologies meet their technical and economic goals. Systems engineering can provide a suitable framework to overcome the obstacles towards a successful wave energy technology. The main objective of this work is to review the well-established systems engineering approaches that have been successfully implemented in complex engineering problems and to what extent they have been applied to wave energy technology development. The paper first reviews how system information can be organised in different design domains to guide the synthesis and analysis activities and the definition of requirements and metrics, as well as the search for solutions and decision-making. Then, an exhaustive literature review on the application of systems engineering approaches to wave energy development is presented per design domain. Finally, a set of conclusions is drawn, along with some suggestions for improving the effectiveness of wave energy technology development.Authors would like to thank the Basque Government through the research groups IT1314‐19 and GIU19/276 and the Scottish Government for the support of Wave Energy Scotland

Table-top laser-based proton acceleration in nanostructured targets

The interaction of ultrashort, high intensity laser pulses with thin foil targets leads to ion acceleration on the target rear surface. To make this ion source useful for applications, it is important to optimize the transfer of energy from the laser into the accelerated ions. One of the most promising ways to achieve this consists in engineering the target front by introducing periodic nanostructures. In this paper, the effect of these structures on ion acceleration is studied analytically and with multidimensional particle-in-cell simulations.Weassessed the role of the structure shape, size, and the angle of laser incidence for obtaining the efficient energy transfer. Local control of electron trajectories is exploited to maximize the energy delivered into the target. Based on our numerical simulations, we propose a precise range of parameters for fabrication of nanostructured targets, which can increase the energy of the accelerated ions without requiring a higher laser intensity.This work has been partially supported by the Xunta de Galicia/FEDER under contract Agrup2015/11 (PC034) and by MINECO under contracts MAT2015-71119-R and FIS2015-71933-REDT. The authors would like to acknowledge the OSIRIS Consortium, consisting of UCLA and IST (Lisbon, Portugal) for the use of OSIRIS, for providing access to the OSIRIS framework. M Blanco also thanks the Ministry of Education of the Spanish government for the FPU fellowship. Camilo Ruiz also thanks MINECO project FIS2016-75652-P M Vranic acknowledges the support of ERC-2010-AdG Grant 267841 and LASERLAB-EUROPE IV—GA No. 654148. Simulations were performed at the Accelerates cluster (Lisbon, Portugal)S

Pasado, presente y futuro de una invasión biológica: Eichhornia crassipes (Mart.) Solms (camalote) en el río Guadiana

El llamado camalote o jacinto de agua, especie de la familia Pontederiaceae nativa del Amazonas, se ha expandido sin control en la mayoría de los países tropicales y ecuatoriales. La causa es su empleo en jardinería y como depuradora de aguas, iniciada ya en el siglo XIX en los EE.U

Orthotropic Piezoelectricity in 2D Nanocellulose

The control of electromechanical responses within bonding regions is essential to face frontier challenges in nanotechnologies, such as molecular electronics and biotechnology. Here, we present I\b{eta}-nanocellulose as a potentially new orthotropic 2D piezoelectric crystal. The predicted in-layer piezoelectricity is originated on a sui-generis hydrogen bonds pattern. Upon this fact and by using a combination of ab-initio and ad-hoc models, we introduce a description of electrical profiles along chemical bonds. Such developments lead to obtain a rationale for modelling the extended piezoelectric effect originated within bond scales. The order of magnitude estimated for the 2D I\b{eta}-nanocellulose piezoelectric response, ~pm V-1, ranks this material at the level of currently used piezoelectric energy generators and new artificial 2D designs. Such finding would be crucial for developing alternative materials to drive emerging nanotechnologies.Comment: 5 figures included. Supp. Mat. available on the online version: https://www.nature.com/articles/srep34616, Others on: http://www.nanowerk.com/nanotechnology-news/newsid=44806.ph

Seed Germination Technologies for Helophyte Production Used in Wastewater Treatment

Constructed green wetlands with horizontal surface for wastewater treatment are gaining acceptance. Many countries have published innovative experiences with this technology. A great variety of wastewaters from industries have been treated. Different plant species have been tested. Seed technology development provides interesting tools to produce these species in nurseries. It is a sustainable new business. But studies on seed germination of aquatic and lacustrine plants are very few. That is why we have made the following bibliographic review. We have summarised and analysed the state of the art of this innovative topic, concluding that seed technology for multiplication of helophytes needs further experimental work. But there is enough information to produce right now, tens of different species. Significant efforts have been done. Even though it is a challenge to produce from now on, experimental results are ready to be transferred to those who are trading with this type of plants. Helophytes have a promising future as sustainable elements of the upcoming sewage equipment. Improvements on the biotechnology of these species are a worthwhile researching line. To this aim, the following revision is an essential compilation with which to begin

Estimating Future Costs of Emerging Wave Energy Technologies

The development of new renewable energy technologies is generally perceived as a critical factor in the fight against climate change. However, significant difficulties arise when estimating the future performance and costs of nascent technologies such as wave energy. Robust methods to estimate the commercial costs that emerging technologies may reach in the future are needed to inform decision-making. The aim of this paper is to increase the clarity, consistency, and utility of future cost estimates for emerging wave energy technologies. It proposes a novel three-step method: (1) using a combination of existing bottom-up and top-down approaches to derive the current cost breakdown; (2) assigning uncertainty ranges, depending on the estimation reliability then used, to derive the first-of-a-kind cost of the commercial technology; and (3) applying component-based learning rates to produce the LCOE of a mature technology using the upper bound from (2) to account for optimism bias. This novel method counters the human propensity toward over-optimism. Compared with state-of-the-art direct estimation approaches, it provides a tool that can be used to explore uncertainties and focus attention on the accuracy of cost estimates and potential learning from the early stage of technology development. Moreover, this approach delivers useful information to identify remaining technology challenges, concentrate innovation efforts, and collect evidence through testing activities