Enhanced Performance Dual Stage Pressure Retarded Osmosis

© 2017 The Authors. Published by Elsevier Ltd. A dual stage PRO process has been proposed for power generation from a salinity gradient across a semi-permeable membrane. Both closed-loop and open-loop dual stage PRO system were evaluated using 2 M NaCl and Dead Sea as draw solutions, whereas the feed solution was either fresh water or seawater. The impact of feed salinity gradient resource and feed pressure on the net power generation and water flux were evaluated. DSPRO can be combined with desalination plant using seawater brine as the draw solution either in closed-loop or open-loop. This hybridization has multiple applications such as reducing the impact of discharging concentrated brine to sea, energy storage, and increase the recovery rate of the desalination. Power generation by DSPRO will reduce the energy consumption by the desalination processes. Waste heat from power plants can be used for the regeneration of the draw solution in the closed-loop DSPRO. Process modelling has been performed and shown promising results for DSPRO application for power generation

Evaluation of the effect of breast implants on the accuracy of the CT attenuation Correction (CTAC) map for SPECT/CT myocardial perfusion imaging: a phantom study

Background: Myocardial perfusion imaging (MPI) using single photon emission computedtomography (SPECT) imaging can assess myocardial viability and perfusion. However,overlying thoracic structures, such as ribs or breast tissue lead to gamma ray attenuation. Thisattenuation does not occur equally for all body regions. Photons emitted from deeper structureswill undergo more attenuation than superficial structures, causing artefacts within the imagethat can mimic pathology - such as ischaemia. Such artefacts can be removed or minimised byusing attenuation correction (AC) maps generated using computed tomography (CT). Breastimplants that have density higher than normal breast tissue, could affect the accuracy of the CTnumbers used for AC.Methods: Imaging protocols were compared with and without three sizes of breast implant, ina phantom study. The first experiment used a diagnostic CT scanner to design the method. Thesecond experiment was carried out in a clinical centre using the CT components of a SPECT/CTscanner to assess the impact of three different breast implants on CT number accuracy whenthe CTAC is applied in SPECT/CT MPI. The last experiment used a clinical SPECT/CTscanner and 99mTC as a radiotracer to mimic the clinical MPI scan.Results: The first and second experiments found that large breast implants led to a greaterdifference in CT HU and CT numbers compared to baseline, than the small or medium implants,but the differences were within the tolerance range (±5HUs). This suggested that even largebreast implants did not impact in a clinically significant way on the accuracy of CT HUs andCT numbers. However, the third experiment found that large breast implants resulted in a moresignificant difference in corrected counts and thus more overcorrection than small or mediumbreast implants.Conclusion: The study illustrates that large breast implants resulted in a greater differences inCT HUs, CT number and corrected counts than small or medium implants. Increasing the tubecurrent (mA) improves the CT HU accuracy without significant impact, apart from an increasein the radiation dose to the patient

Single and dual stage closed-loop pressure retarded osmosis for power generation: Feasibility and performance

© 2017 Elsevier Ltd This work proposes an analysis of conventional (single stage) and dual stage Closed-Loop Pressure Retarded Osmosis (CLPRO) for power generation from a salinity gradient resource. Model calculations were performed taking into account the influence of operating parameters such as the draw solution concentration, membrane area, and draw solution pressure on the performance of the CLPRO process. Modeling results showed that the dual stage CLPRO process outperformed the conventional CLPRO process and power generation increased 18% by adding a second stage of PRO membrane. Multi-Effect Distillation (MED) was selected for the regeneration of the draw solution taking advantage of an available source of waste heat energy. The performance of MED process has been assessed by investigating two key parameters: the specific thermal consumption and the specific heat transfer area. The model calculations showed that the power generation by the single and dual stage CLPRO was higher than the electrical power consumption by the MED plant. In the case of the power generation obtained by the dual stage CLPRO, it was 95% higher than the electrical power consumption by the MED plant, proving the possibility of using low-grade heat for producing electricity from a salinity gradient resource

Limitations of osmotic gradient resource and hydraulic pressure on the efficiency of dual stage PRO process

© 2018 Desalination Publications. All rights reserved. A dual stage PRO process has been proposed for power generation from a salinity gradient across a semi-permeable membrane. Both closed-loop and open-loop dual stage PRO system were evaluated using 2 M NaCl and Dead Sea as draw solutions, whereas the feed solution was either fresh water or seawater. The impact of feed salinity gradient resource and feed pressure on the net power generation and water flux were evaluated. The results showed that power density in stage one reached a maximum amount at ΔP = p/2, but the maximum net power generation occurred at ΔP = p/2. This result was mainly attributed to the variation of net driving pressure in stage one and two of the PRO process. The dual stage PRO process was found to perform better at high osmotic pressure gradient across the PRO membrane, for example when Dead Sea brine or highly concentrated NaCl was the draw solution. Total power generation in the dual stage PRO process was up to 40% higher than that in the conventional PRO process. This outcome was achieved through harvesting the rest of the energy remaining in the diluted draw solution. Therefore, a dual stage PRO process has the potential of maximizing power generation from a salinity gradient resource

A review of fouling mechanisms, control strategies and real-time fouling monitoring techniques in forward osmosis

© 2019 by the authors. Forward osmosis has gained tremendous attention in the field of desalination and wastewater treatment. However, membrane fouling is an inevitable issue. Membrane fouling leads to flux decline, can cause operational problems and can result in negative consequences that can damage the membrane. Hereby, we attempt to review the different types of fouling in forward osmosis, cleaning and control strategies for fouling mitigation, and the impact of membrane hydrophilicity, charge and morphology on fouling. The fundamentals of biofouling, organic, colloidal and inorganic fouling are discussed with a focus on recent studies. We also review some of the in-situ real-time online fouling monitoring technologies for real-time fouling monitoring that can be applicable to future research on forward osmosis fouling studies. A brief discussion on critical flux and the coupled effects of fouling and concentration polarization is also provided

A review of fouling mechanisms, control strategies and real-time fouling monitoring techniques in forward osmosis

Forward osmosis has gained tremendous attention in the field of desalination and wastewater treatment. However, membrane fouling is an inevitable issue. Membrane fouling leads to flux decline, can cause operational problems and can result in negative consequences that can damage the membrane. Hereby, we attempt to review the different types of fouling in forward osmosis, cleaning and control strategies for fouling mitigation, and the impact of membrane hydrophilicity, charge and morphology on fouling. The fundamentals of biofouling, organic, colloidal and inorganic fouling are discussed with a focus on recent studies. We also review some of the in-situ real-time online fouling monitoring technologies for real-time fouling monitoring that can be applicable to future research on forward osmosis fouling studies. A brief discussion on critical flux and the coupled effects of fouling and concentration polarization is also provided

Auto-Encoder Learning-Based UAV Communications for Livestock Management

The advancement in computing and telecommunication has broadened the applications of drones beyond military surveillance to other fields, such as agriculture. Livestock farming using unmanned aerial vehicle (UAV) systems requires surveillance and monitoring of animals on relatively large farmland. A reliable communication system between UAVs and the ground control station (GCS) is necessary to achieve this. This paper describes learning-based communication strategies and techniques that enable interaction and data exchange between UAVs and a GCS. We propose a deep auto-encoder UAV design framework for end-to-end communications. Simulation results show that the auto-encoder learns joint transmitter (UAV) and receiver (GCS) mapping functions for various communication strategies, such as QPSK, 8PSK, 16PSK and 16QAM, without prior knowledge

A Chaotic Quadratic Oscillator with Only Squared Terms: Multistability, Impulsive Control, and Circuit Design

Here, a chaotic quadratic oscillator with only squared terms is proposed, which shows various dynamics. The oscillator has eight equilibrium points, and none of them is stable. Various bifurcation diagrams of the oscillator are investigated, and its Lyapunov exponents (LEs) are discussed. The multistability of the oscillator is discussed by plotting bifurcation diagrams with various initiation methods. The basin of attraction of the oscillator is discussed in two planes. Impulsive control is applied to the oscillator to control its chaotic dynamics. Additionally, the circuit is implemented to reveal its feasibility

An External Parameter Independent Novel Cost Function for Evolving Bijective Substitution‐Boxes

The property of nonlinearity has high importance for the design of strong substitution boxes. Therefore, the development of new techniques to produce substitution boxes with high values of nonlinearity is essential. Many research papers have shown that optimization algorithms are an efficient technique to obtain good solutions. However, there is no reference in the public literature showing that a heuristic method obtains optimal nonlinearity unless seeded with optimal initial solutions. Moreover, the majority of papers with the best nonlinearity reported for pseudo-random seeding of the algorithm(s) often achieve their results with the help of some cost function(s) over the Walsh–Hadamard spectrum of the substitution. In the sense, we proposed to present, in this paper, a novel external parameter independent cost function for evolving bijective s-boxes of high nonlinearity, which is highly correlated to this property. Several heuristic approaches including GaT (genetic and tree), LSA (local search algorithm), and the Hill Climbing algorithm have been investigated to assess the performance of evolved s-boxes. A performance comparison has been done to show the advantages of our new cost function, with respect to cost functions for s-boxes like Clark’s and Picek’s cost functions