Modeling of Electrokinetic Remediation Combining Local Chemical Equilibrium and Chemical Reaction Kinetics

A mathematical model for reactive-transport processes in porous media is presented. The modeled system includes diffusion, electromigration and electroosmosis as the most relevant transport mechanism and water electrolysis at the electrodes, aqueous species complexation, precipitation and dissolution as the chemical reactions taken place during the treatment time. The model is based on the local chemical equilibrium for most of the reversible chemical reactions occurring in the process. As a novel enhancement of previous models, the local chemical equilibrium reactive-transport model is combined with the solution of the transient equations for the kinetics of those chemical reactions that have representative rates in the same order than the transport mechanisms. The model is validated by comparison of simulation and experimental results for an acid- enhanced electrokinetic treatment of a real Pb-contaminated calcareous soil. The kinetics of the main pH buffering process, the calcite dissolution, was defined by a simplified empirical kinetic law. Results show that the evaluation of kinetic rate entails a significant improvement of the model prediction capability.This work has received funding from the European Union’s Horizon 2020 research and innovation programme under the Marie Skłodowska-Curie grant agreement No. 778045. Part of this work was supported financially by the European Commission within the project LIFE12 ENV/IT/442 SEKRET “Sediment electrokinetic remediation technology for heavy metal pollution removal”. Paz-Garcia acknowledges the financial support from the “Proyecto Puente - Plan Propio de Investigación y Transferencia de la Universidad de Málaga”, code: PPIT.UMA.B5.2018/17. Villen-Guzman acknowledges the financial support from the University of Malaga through a postdoctoral contract

Anaerobic co-digestion of pear residues and sewage sludge using a CSTR digester. Influence of the feed procedure

Anaerobic co-digestion of pear residues with sewage sludge is feasible. Important differences are obtained from the two feed regimes tested, with better results for the so-called continuous feed. The organic loading rate (OLR) is the important parameter for the methane productionUniversidad de Málaga. Campus de Excelencia Internacional Andalucía Tech

Characterization and modeling of lithium-polymer commercial batteries

Lithium-ion batteries are key for the modern society as they are present in many energy storage devices and have promising future perspectives in the field of electric cars and energy accumulators from renewable sources. Herein, we present results from charge and discharge cycles on batteries with controlled conditions. The cyclability of commercial lithium-polymer “pouch” batteries, has been studied under different charge/discharge rate and temperatures. The relationship between the state of charge and the cell voltage has been obtained, and the degradation of the cell energy capacity after a number of cycles has been measured. Furthermore, the experimental results have been compared with simulations based on Newman’s model for Lithium Ion Batteries, carried out using COMSOL Multiphysics software. The results show the correlation between temperature, C-rate and degradation in lithium ion batteries. It is especially remarkable the decrease of the apparent capacity of batteries at low temperatures, and the increase of the degradation at higher temperatures. These results are essential for the design of control mechanisms that can prevent battery failure.Universidad de Málaga. Campus de Excelencia Internacional Andalucía Tech. Plan Propio de Investigación y Transferencia de la Universidad de Málaga, Proyecto Puente B.5, código: PPIT.UMA.B5.2018/1