Evaluation of Mathematical Models for CO2 Frost Formation in a Cryogenic Moving Bed

Moving bed heat exchangers (MBHE)s are used in industrial applications including waste heat recovery and the drying of solids. As a result, energy balance models have been developed to simulate the heat transfer between a moving bed and the gas phase. Within these energy balance models, phase change of components within the gas phase has not been considered as the liquefaction or desublimation of the gas phase does not occur in typical industrial applications. However, available energy balance models for cryogenic CO2 capture (CCC) have only focused on fixed packed beds. The development of a suitable energy balance model to predict the energy duties for MBHEs that include phase change would be beneficial for CCC applications. This work investigated the development of moving bed energy balance models for the design of moving bed columns that involve phase change of CO2 into frost, using existing models for MBHEs and fixed-bed CCC capture. The models were evaluated by comparison with available moving bed experimental work and simulated data, predicted energy duty requirements and bed flow rates from the suggested moving bed CCC models to maintain thermal equilibrium. The comparisons showed a consistent prediction between the various methods and closely align with the available experimental and simulated data. Comparisons of energy duty and bed flow rate predictions from the developed energy balance models with simulated cases for an oil-fired boiler, combined cycle gas turbine (CCGT) and biogas upgrading showed energy duty requirements for the gas phase with a proximity of 0.1%, 20.8%, and 3.4%, respectively, and comparisons of gas energy duties from developed energy balance models with energy duties derived from experimental results were compared with a proximity of 1.1%, 1.1% and 0.6% to experimental results for CO2 % v/v concentrations of 18%, 8% and 4%

Review of Cryogenic Carbon Capture Innovations and Their Potential Applications

Our ever-increasing interest in economic growth is leading the way to the decline of natural resources, the detriment of air quality, and is fostering climate change. One potential solution to reduce carbon dioxide emissions from industrial emitters is the exploitation of carbon capture and storage (CCS). Among the various CO2 separation technologies, cryogenic carbon capture (CCC) could emerge by offering high CO2 recovery rates and purity levels. This review covers the different CCC methods that are being developed, their benefits, and the current challenges deterring their commercialisation. It also offers an appraisal for selected feasible small- and large-scale CCC applications, including blue hydrogen production and direct air capture. This work considers their technological readiness for CCC deployment and acknowledges competing technologies and ends by providing some insights into future directions related to the R&D for CCC systems

False Recall in the Deese–Roediger–Mcdermott Paradigm: The Roles of Gist and Associative Strength

Theories of false memories, particularly in the Deese–Roediger–McDermott (DRM) paradigm, focus on word association strength and gist. Backward associative strength (BAS) is a strong predictor of false recall in this paradigm. However, other than being defined as a measure of association between studied list words and falsely recalled nonpresented critical words, there is little understanding of this variable. In Experiment 1, we used a knowledge-type taxonomy to classify the semantic relations in DRM stimuli. These knowledge types predicted false-recall probability, as well as BAS itself, with the most important being situation features, synonyms, and taxonomic relations. In three subsequent experiments, we demonstrated that lists composed solely of situation features can elicit a gist and produce false memories, particularly when monitoring processes are made more difficult. Our results identify the semantic factors that underlie BAS and suggest how considering semantic relations leads to a better understanding of gist formation

Experimental exploration of cryogenic CO2 capture utilising a moving bed

It is widely accepted that climate change is a result of the increase in greenhouse gases in the atmosphere. The continued combustion of fossil fuels and subsequent emission of CO2 is leading to an increase in global temperatures, which has led to interest in decarbonising the energy sector. Carbon capture and storage (CCS) is a method of reducing carbon emissions from fossil fuel power plants by capturing CO2 from exhaust gases and storing it in underground gas stores. Carbon capture using chemical solvents is the most matured technology for capturing emissions from the energy sector, however as the energy sector continues to decarbonise with the arrival of renewable sources focus is shifting to other industries to reduce their carbon footprint. Solvent carbon capture has disadvantages including requiring large equipment and large amounts of heat to regenerate solvent for capture, meaning it would be difficult to scale the technology down and apply it to other industrial applications. Cryogenic carbon capture (CCC) is one proposed method of CCS at smaller scale, which captures CO2 by freezing CO2 out of the exhaust gases as CO2 forms a frost on a heat transfer surface. One disadvantage of CCC is the accumulation of CO2 frost reduces the efficiency of the capture process. The process must be periodically shut down to regenerate the heat transfer surface and collect CO2 that has been frozen out of exhaust gases. This thesis proposes to overcome the frost accumulation through the use of a moving packed bed of small spherical metal beads as the heat transfer surface. As CO2 is fed into a capture column and freezes onto the metal beads, the metal beads are removed from the column, regenerated to recover the CO2, then cooled and recirculated back into the capture column. This prevents the accumulation of frost and allows continuous CO2 capture. There are many difficulties identified in this project, primarily a lack of knowledge on CO2 frost formation and how heat transfer in a moving bed affects frost formation. The research done on a purpose built experimental rig is critical in improving the future design work of a next generation moving bed CCC system. The frost accumulation in a capture column is known as a frost front, which advanced through the capture column at a fixed velocity until the column is saturated with frost. Experimental results had shown that the frost front velocity is predictable for varying CO2 concentrations and gas flow rates, with frost front velocities between 0.46-0.78 mm/s for CO2 concentrations between 4-18% v/v and 0.36-0.98 mm/s for gas flow rates between 50-120 LPM. These frost front velocity experiments in a fixed packed bed allowed the design of a moving packed bed column to set the bed flow rate to match the frost front velocity. The moving bed experiments show that the excessive accumulation of CO2 frost within the capture column can be prevented by utilising the moving bed. The successful development of a moving bed CCC system would result in a cost effective solution to the requirements of certain smaller applications that need to capture CO2, which make up a significant portion of emissions. In particular this technology is very economical for biogas upgrading, where the CO2 content of biogas must be removed before the gas can be introduced to the UK’s larger gas network. There is also a growing interest for use in shipping and other maritime applications, capturing CO2 from ship exhaust emissions during transit

Response of Archaeal Communities in the Rhizosphere of Maize and Soybean to Elevated Atmospheric CO2 Concentrations

BACKGROUND: Archaea are important to the carbon and nitrogen cycles, but it remains uncertain how rising atmospheric carbon dioxide concentrations ([CO(2)]) will influence the structure and function of soil archaeal communities. METHODOLOGY/PRINCIPAL FINDINGS: We measured abundances of archaeal and bacterial 16S rRNA and amoA genes, phylogenies of archaeal 16S rRNA and amoA genes, concentrations of KCl-extractable soil ammonium and nitrite, and potential ammonia oxidation rates in rhizosphere soil samples from maize and soybean exposed to ambient (∼385 ppm) and elevated (550 ppm) [CO(2)] in a replicated and field-based study. There was no influence of elevated [CO(2)] on copy numbers of archaeal or bacterial 16S rRNA or amoA genes, archaeal community composition, KCl-extractable soil ammonium or nitrite, or potential ammonia oxidation rates for samples from maize, a model C(4) plant. Phylogenetic evidence indicated decreased relative abundance of crenarchaeal sequences in the rhizosphere of soybean, a model leguminous-C(3) plant, at elevated [CO(2)], whereas quantitative PCR data indicated no changes in the absolute abundance of archaea. There were no changes in potential ammonia oxidation rates at elevated [CO(2)] for soybean. Ammonia oxidation rates were lower in the rhizosphere of maize than soybean, likely because of lower soil pH and/or abundance of archaea. KCl-extractable ammonium and nitrite concentrations were lower at elevated than ambient [CO(2)] for soybean. CONCLUSION: Plant-driven shifts in soil biogeochemical processes in response to elevated [CO(2)] affected archaeal community composition, but not copy numbers of archaeal genes, in the rhizosphere of soybean. The lack of a treatment effect for maize is consistent with the fact that the photosynthesis and productivity of maize are not stimulated by elevated [CO(2)] in the absence of drought

Chemical heterogeneity in electroceramics: The good, the bad, and the difficult to characterize

As characterization techniques continue to advance, the materials community is reminded again and again that our samples are not as perfect as we generally describe them to be. This presentation will focus on Bi(Zn0.5Ti0.5)O3–BaTiO3-based ceramics in which subtle mesoscale cation gradients have been identified as a key factor in the phenomenal temperature- and field-stable permittivity of these unusual dielectrics as well as their remarkably high resistivity values and associated activation energies.[1,2] Earlier work has shown that the single perovskite phase that results after calcination of mixed oxides and carbonates is formed through a complex series of solid-state reactions (Figure 1),[3] and complementary sintering studies have strongly suggested that development of these complex microstructures with mesoscale heterogeneity is strongly dependent upon cation diffusion kinetics (Figure 2). Here, we report on the effects of reaction pathways during calcination on phase formation and microstructural development during sintering in ceramics of nominally identical xBi(Zn0.5Ti0.5)O3 – (1-x)BaTiO3 compositions. These results remind us once again that while often treated as such, material micro/meso/nanostructure is not a state function, and that local ion environments can be determined by processing steps, which can in turn profoundly and selectively affect phase formation, ion diffusion, microstructure development, and resultant properties. This reinforces the need for multiple complementary characterization and measurement techniques for effective description of complex functional materials, and provides a cautionary tale for the budding age of computational materials discovery that real materials—and occasionally enabling performance—often live outside the realm of thermodynamic equilibrium