Search results for " Carbon Dioxide"
showing 10 items of 200 documents
Local Green Power Supply Plants Based on Alcohol Regenerative Gas Turbines: Economic and Environmental Aspects
2020
Growing economies need green and renewable energy. Their financial development can reduce energy consumption (through energy-efficient technologies) and replace fossil fuels with renewable ones. Gas turbine engines are widely used in transport and industry. To improve their economic attractiveness and to reduce harmful emissions, including greenhouse gases, alternative fuels and waste heat recovery technologies can be used. A promising direction is the use of alcohol and thermo-chemical recuperation. The purpose of this study is to estimate the economic efficiency and carbon dioxide emissions of an alcohol-fueled regenerative gas turbine engine with thermo-chemical recuperation. The carbon …
Ocean acidification affects fish spawning but not paternity at CO2 seeps
2016
Fish exhibit impaired sensory function and altered behaviour at levels of ocean acidification expected to occur owing to anthropogenic carbon dioxide emissions during this century. We provide the first evidence of the effects of ocean acidification on reproductive behaviour of fish in the wild. Satellite and sneaker male ocellated wrasse (Symphodus ocellatus) compete to fertilize eggs guarded by dominant nesting males. Key mating behaviours such as dominant male courtship and nest defence did not differ between sites with ambient versus elevated CO2 concentrations. Dominant males did, however, experience significantly lower rates of pair spawning at elevated CO2 levels. Despite the higher r…
Electrochemical conversion of carbon dioxide to formic acid: on the road to applicative scale
2018
In this context, electrochemical reduction of CO2 is considered one of the more attractive pathway to convert CO2, because the products can be selectively controlled by changing the operative conditions of the electrolysis. In the last years, an increasing attention has been devoted on the electrochemical conversion of CO2 to formic acid in water [2,3]. The main hurdle of the reduction of CO2 from water solution is the low CO2 solubility in water. In this work, the effect of some operating parameters, including pressure, current density, and flow rate, on the conversion of CO2 at tin flat cathodes to formic acid was studied using a pressurized filter-press cell with a continuous recirculati…
Assisted reverse electrodialysis for CO2 electrochemical conversion and treatment of wastewater: A new approach towards more eco-friendly processes u…
2020
Abstract In this paper, the utilization of assisted reverse electrodialysis (A-RED), recently used for pre-desalination, is proposed as a general method to reduce the energy requirements of electrolysis processes and evaluated for two model processes: (i) the cathodic conversion of carbon dioxide to formic acid; (ii) the anodic treatment of water contaminated by organics. In A-RED, two solutions with different salt content and an external potential difference, applied in the direction of the natural salinity gradient, are both used to drive redox processes. It was shown, for the first time, that the cathodic conversion of CO2 to formic acid can be performed by both reverse electrodialysis (…
Air quality and relative humidity in commercial aircrafts: an experimental investigation on short-haul domestic flights
2013
Abstract Nowadays the achievement of a comfortable environment in aircraft cabins is a factor of paramount importance in air travel business competition; on the other hand, the need of reducing the propulsion fuel cost has driven the airline companies to adopt air handling systems that may reduce the levels of thermal comfort and air quality inside the cabins of commercial airliners. With the aim of contributing to a better knowledge of this matter, this paper reports the results of an experimental study upon the indoor air quality aboard commercial aircrafts for 14 domestic flights less than 1 h and half long. The parameters monitored were temperature, relative humidity and carbon dioxide …
Changes in fish communities due to benthic habitat shifts under ocean acidification conditions
2020
Ocean acidification will likely change the structure and function of coastal marine ecosystems over coming decades. Volcanic carbon dioxide seeps generate dissolved CO2 and pH gradients that provide realistic insights into the direction and magnitude of these changes. Here, we used fish and benthic community surveys to assess the spatio-temporal dynamics of fish community properties off CO2 seeps in Japan. Adding to previous evidence from ocean acidification ecosystem studies conducted elsewhere, our findings documented shifts from calcified to non-calcified habitats with reduced benthic complexity. In addition, we found that such habitat transition led to decreased diversity of associated …
Supercritical fluid extraction and HPLC determination of relevant polyphenolic compounds in grape skin.
2005
The polyphenols determined are: (+)-catechin, (-)-epicatechin, rutin, quercetin and trans-resveratrol. Suitable conditions of supercritical fluid extraction were established using ethanol as a modifier of the polarity solvent (supercritical carbon dioxide). Final extraction conditions were: 20% v/v ethanol, 60degreesC, 250 bars and flow rate 2 mL/min. Static step time and dynamic step time were established using a selected grape skin sample. The extract was collected in water; the more polar polyphenols ((+)-catechin and (-)-epicatechin) remain in solution but rutin, quercetin and trans-resveratrol precipitate in this medium, thereby the solution of the extracted polyphenols was filtered. (…
Factors affecting flavor perception in space: Does the spacecraft environment influence food intake by astronauts?
2020
International audience; The intention to send a crewed mission to Mars involves a huge amount of planning to ensure a safe and successful mission. Providing adequate amounts of food for the crew is a major task, but 20 years of feeding astronauts on the International Space Station (ISS) have resulted in a good knowledge base. A crucial observation from the ISS is that astronauts typically consume only 80% of their daily calorie requirements when in space. This is despite daily exercise regimes that keep energy usage at very similar levels to those found on Earth. This calorie deficit seems to have little effect on astronauts who spend up to 12 months on the ISS, but given that a mission to …
Synthesis of dimethyl carbonate in supercritical carbon dioxide
2006
The reactivity of carbon dioxide with methanol to form dimethyl carbonate was studied in the presence of the n-butylmethoxytin compounds n-Bu3SnOCH3, n-Bu2Sn(OCH3)2 , and [n-Bu2(CH3O)Sn]2 O. The reaction occurred under solventless conditions at 423 K and was produced by an increase in CO2 pressure. This beneficial effect is primarily attributed to phase behavior. The mass transfer under liquid-vapor biphasic conditions was not limiting when the system reached the supercritical state for a CO2 pressure higher than 16 MPa. Under these conditions, CO2 acted as a reactant and a solvent.
Transesterification of rapeseed oil over acid resins promoted by supercritical carbon dioxide
2011
The methanolysis of rapeseed oil catalyzed by commercial styrene-divinylbenzene macroporous acid resins was performed in a batch reactor at 100-140 °C and 10-46 MPa to study the effect of supercritical carbon dioxide (scCO2) on the performances of the process. Reaction temperatures of 120-140 °C were necessary to obtain high enough yields of fatty acid methyl esters. Upon addition of scCO2 faster transesterification kinetics was obtained also at the lowest investigated operating pressure (10-11 MPa), working in two fluid phase systems. Experiments performed changing the reaction time indicated that most of the esters were formed during the first 3 h. When the pressure was increased at 38-46…