This paper presents the analysis and design of a hybrid fuel cell battery auxiliary power unit (APU) for remote applications where a fuel cell is the main energy source, operating for slow power dynamics while a battery or a supercapacitor compensates fast transient peak power requirements. A fuzzy logic based control has been implemented in the energy management performance control in order to...

Past research on the disproportionality of pollution suggests a small subset of a sector's facilities often produces the lion's share of toxic emissions. Here we extend this idea to the world's electricity sectors by calculating national-level disproportionality Gini coefficients for plant-level carbon emissions in 161 nations based on data from 19,941 fossil-fuel burning power plants. We also ...

This study shows the design of a new hybrid power generation system, photovoltaic panel (PV)–coupled solid oxide fuel cell (SOFC) and gas turbine (GT)–electrolyser. Three objectives (cost, pollutant emissions, and reliability), which are usually in conflict, are considered simultaneously. The design of a hybrid system, considering the three mentioned objectives, poses a very complex problem of o...

CO2 capture and storage (CCS) is receiving considerable attention as a potential greenhouse gas (GHG) mitigation option for fossil fuel power plants. Cost and performance estimates for CCS are critical factors in energy and policy analysis. CCS cost studies necessarily employ a host of technical and economic assumptions that can dramatically affect results. Thus, particular studies often are of...

Mobile robots are often needed for long duration missions. These include search rescue, sentry, repair, surveillance and entertainment. Current power supply technology limit walking and climbing robots from many such missions. Internal combustion engines have high noise and emit toxic exhaust while rechargeable batteries have low energy densities and high rates of self-discharge. In theory, fue...

For automotive applications, it is necessary to maximize the fuel conversion efficiency of a PEM direct-methanol fuel cell (DMFC) over the broadest possible dynamic range of power. The research reported here critically examines the efficiency of the DMFC stack when operated over a broad power range. This research establishes a basis for a control strategy that simultaneously: optimizes DMFC fue...

Fuel cells belong to an avant-garde technology family for a wide variety of applications including micro-power, transportation power, stationary power for buildings and other distributed generation applications. The first objective of this contribution is to find a suitable reduced model of a Solid Oxide Fuel Cell (SOFC). The derived reduced model is then used to design a state estimator. I...

A review of the chemistry occurring inside a nuclear power plant during a serious reactor accident is presented. This includes some aspects of the behavior of nuclear fuel, its cladding, cesium and iodine. This review concentrates on the chemistry of an accident in a water-cooled reactor loaded with uranium dioxide or mixed metal oxide fuel. Subjects: Chemistry; Environmental Chemistry; Inorgan...

Microbial fuel cells (MFCs) have been used to produce electricity from different compounds, including acetate, lactate, and glucose. We demonstrate here that it is also possible to produce electricity in a MFC from domestic wastewater, while atthe same time accomplishing biological wastewater treatment (removal of chemical oxygen demand; COD). Tests were conducted using a single chamber microbi...