energy method of evaluation is widely employed in analyzing problems associated with sustainable agriculture. in this study, energy ratio (er) of dryland wheat for three regions of eghlid township was quantified. the total cropping area of eghlid is nearly 8282 hectares comprised of: khosrowshirin (5000 ha), sedeh (1682 ha) and dezhkord (1600 ha). the corresponding values of wheat yield in thes...

Nanoceria (i.e., CeO2 nanoparticles) fuel additives have been used in Europe and elsewhere to improve fuel efficiency. Previously we have shown that the use of a commercial fuel additive Envirox™ in a diesel-powered electricity generator reduced emissions of diesel exhaust particle (DEP) mass and other pollutants. However, such additives are currently not permitted for use in on-road vehicles i...

Active control using periodic fuel injection has the potential of suppressing combustion instability without radically changing the engine design or sacrificing performance. In this paper, we carry out a study of optimal model-based control of combustion instability using fuel injection. The model developed is physically based and includes the acoustics, the heat-release dynamics, their couplin...

Active control using periodic fuel injection has the potential of suppressing combustion instability without radically changing the engine design or sacrificing performance. In this paper, we carry out a study of optimal model-based control of combustion instability using fuel injection. The model developed is physically based and includes the acoustics, the heat-release dynamics, their couplin...

A combination of cold neutron prompt gamma-ray activation analysis (CNPGAA) and thermal neutron (TN) PGAA was used to determine sulfur in fuel oils to develop a method to provide values for certification. CNPGAA was used to measure S/H mass ratios, and TNPGAA to measure hydrogen mass fractions. Measurements were combined to determine sulfur mass fractions (with expanded uncertainties) of 2.159 ...

Internal combustion (IC) engines serve as a viable small-scale and portable option for electricity generation. While there are several aspects of IC engines that limit their efficiency, one of the major detractors is the unrestrained combustion reaction that is the initial step in the conversion of the chemical bond energy of the fuel into useful work. Another viable small-scale electricity gen...

Poor sanitation is one of the major hindrances to the global sustainable development goals. The Reinvent the Toilet Challenge of the Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation is set to develop affordable, next-generation sanitary systems that can ensure safe treatment and wide accessibility without compromise on sustainable use of natural resources and the environment. Energy recovery from human excret...

The objective of this work is to investigate the turbulent reacting flow in a three dimensional combustor with emphasis on the effect of inlet swirl flow through a numerical simulation. Flow field is analyzed using the SIMPLE method which is known as stable as well as accurate in the combustion modeling, and the finite volume method is adopted in solving the radiative transfer equation. In this...

Vegetable oils are renewable in nature and can be directly used as fuels in diesel engines. However, their high viscosity and poor volatility lead to reduced thermal efficiency and increased hydrocarbon, carbon monoxide and smoke emissions. Transesterification is one of the methods by which viscosity could be drastically reduced and the fuel could be adopted for use in diesel engine. This Ester...

The ability to quickly quantify the Pu content within spent nuclear fuel (SNF) is essential to nuclear forensics. Analysis of the Pu to U ratio can provide information on fuel which could contribute to the attribution of a fuel sample. Plutonium concentration data can be acquired through non-destructive analysis (NDA) by detecting self-induced x-ray fluorescence (XRF) from Pu in the fuel. Howev...