Fuel

"The continuous increasing demand for energy and the diminishing tendency of petroleum resources has led to the search for alternative renewable and sustainable fuel. Biodiesel is best substitute for petro-diesel and also most advantageous over petro-diesel for its environmental friendliness. The quality of biodiesel fuel was found to be significant for its successful use on compression ignition engines and subsequent replacement of non-renewable fossil fuels. Conventional biodiesel separation and purification technologies were noticed to yield lower quality biodiesel fuel with resultant excessive energy and water consumptions. Membrane technology showed more potential for effective and efficient separation and purification of biodiesel. This technology need be explored for the attainment of better quality biodiesel fuels. This paper reviews the technologies used for the biodiesel separation and purification, biodiesel quality, and its effects on diesel engines. Biodiesel biodegradability, lubricity, stability, economic importance, and gaseous emissions have been discussed. (C) 2010 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.

http://ac.els-cdn.com/S1364032110000754/1-s2.0-S1364032110000754-main.pdf?_tid=373c5b0e-1b78-11e3-9e80-00000aab0f26&acdnat=1378969068_5bb7a4ec4b792e4d778404738812f3eb  "

In this paper, the problem of increasing the energy capacity of compressed air used as a mobile carrier of energy is considered. An idea of preliminary Joule-Thomson self-heating of the compressed air with the following heat redistribution to obtain the maximal work at maximal power is considered. A simple circle combination of a heat exchanger and a throttle device-Linde-Hampson anti-machine - is analyzed. Calculations performed in the framework of modified van der Waals gas model show essential increasing of accumulated specific energy of compressed air fuel to the range 0.5-1.0 MJ/kg which is comparable with electrochemical fuel energy. A concept of compressed air fuel production is discussed.

In this paper, analysis of the energy audit of Food processing industry and Distillation and Bottling Company in Ota, Nigeria has been carried out. A walk-through energy audit of these industries was undertaken to identify the major sources of energy in use, identifying the lapses in energy usage, identifying areas to improve energy usage, determining the level of consumption of the energy sources and recommending policy measures that will enhance energy savings in the industries and Nigerian industries at large. The study observed that among a wide variation of end-use electricity consuming equipment, electric motors were the major consumer of electrical energy, accounting for 40-47% of total electric energy. Also from the identified energy use sources in the two industries, it was observed that fuel energy expended in operating the generating set, boilers or heaters in the industries had the highest value of energy use accounting for more than 65% of the total energy used. It was observed that none of the companies under review sufficiently utilized their energy as they all have their energy used ratio far below 1. This was as a result of some factors that contributed to energy waste and energy use inefficiency in the companies. Among these factors are: Poor in housekeeping of air- condition and refrigeration equipments and electric motors that dissipate much heat, use of electric motors that are weak and generate excessive noise because they have been rewound more than twice, improper lagging of boilers that lead to losing much heat, switching on of the lighting points in the day time and generation of electrical energy more than needed in the industry by some electric generator. The study concluded that energy is not sufficiently utilized in these companies and recommendations for efficient energy usage in the industries were proposed in this study.

Currently, fossil fuels such as oil, coal and natural gas represent the prime energy sources in the world. However, it is anticipated that these sources of energy will deplete within the next 40–50 years. Moreover, the expected environmental damages such as the global warming, acid rain and urban smog due to the production of emissions from these sources have tempted the world to try to reduce carbon emissions by 80% and shift towards utilizing a variety of renewable energy resources (RES) which are less environmentally harmful such as solar, wind, biomass etc. in a sustainable way. Biomass is one of the earliest sources of energy with very specific properties. In this review, several aspects which are associated with burning biomass in boilers have been investigated such as composition of biomass, estimating the higher heating value of biomass, comparison between biomass and other fuels, combustion of biomass, co-firing of biomass and coal, impacts of biomass, economic and social analysis of biomass, transportation of biomass, densification of biomass, problems of biomass and future of biomass. It has been found that utilizing biomass in boilers offers many economical, social and environmental benefits such as financial net saving, conservation of fossil fuel resources, job opportunities creation and CO2 and NOx emissions reduction. However, care should be taken to other environmental impacts of biomass such as land and water resources, soil erosion, loss of biodiversity and deforestation. Fouling, marketing, low heating value, storage and collections and handling are all associated problems when burning biomass in boilers. The future of biomass in boilers depends upon the development of the markets for fossil fuels and on policy decisions regarding the biomass market.

Three different fuels UO2-only, UO2-Gd2O3(5%), and UO2-Gd2O3(10%) were produced by sol-gel technique. Their powder characteristics such as flowability, BET surface area, average pore diameter, and cumulative pore volume were determined. The pore size distributions of powders, green pellets, and sintered fuels were determined by using a mercury porosimeter. The theoretical densities of sintered fuels were found to be 98.01, 95.3, and 95.9%, respectively. Their ruggedness fractal dimensions were 1.111, 1.044, and 1.042, while the fractal dimensions associated with the size distribution of grains were 1.44, 1.58, and 1.60, respectively.

Uranium dioxide-gadolinium oxide fuel was produced by the sol-gel technique. The effects of different parameters such as calcination and reduction temperature, compaction pressure, particle size of powder, type of binder, sintering temperature, sintering atmosphere, and duration of sintering on pore size distribution were investigated. The experiments were carried out on three different fuels, (a) pure urania, (b) urania-gadolinia (10%), and (c) urania-gadolinia (10%)-titania (0.1%) doped fuel. It was observed that compaction pressure as low as 200 MPa is sufficient to obtain high-density pellets, while the use of binder or grinding the powder below 400 mesh does not affect densities. Reduction of powder at 1,000 K always gives lower density fuels than the powder reduced at 873 K. Sintering at high temperature and the use of a wet atmosphere each independently increases the fuel density.

In this research work pure urania and urania-gadolonia (5 and 10%) fuels were first produced by sol-gel technique. The effects of some operational parameters such as grinding, use of binder, compaction pressure, and reduction temperature on the porosity of the sintered fuels were investigated. The sintered fuel pellets were then coated with boron nitride (BN). This is achieved through chemcial vapor depositon (CVD) using boron tricholoride and ammonia. The coated samples were sintered at 1600 K. The burn up calculations by using WİMS-D/4 showed that boron nitride coated and gadolinia containing fuels had larger burnups than other fuels. The calculations were repeated at different pitch distances. The change of radius of the fuel pellet ot the moderator/fuel ratio did not introduce an improvement in the performance of fuel and all fuel gives the highest burnup at the present design values of a PWR.

CONVERT TO BIODIESEL FOR A MORE ENVIRONMENTALLY FRIENDLY RIDE Run Your Diesel Vehicle on Biofuels has everything you need to make the switch from expensive, environment-damaging carbon fuel to cheap (and, in many cases, free), clean fuel for your vehicle. Practical and decidedly apolitical, this unique guide focuses on technical details, parts, and instructions. Inside, you'll find step-by-step instructions accompanied by helpful illustrations for such projects as building and properly using a homemade biodiesel reactor, which enables you to drive you car on vegetable oil purchased at a fraction of the price of gas or even on second-hand oil obtained from restaurants free of charge. Run Your Diesel Vehicle on Biofuels also includes a list of international parts suppliers and various manufacturers' warranty statuses regarding vehicles converted to biodiesel. Projects include: Collecting waste oil Building a waste-oil processor Creating biodiesel fuel Converting your car to professional standards Constructing heat exchangers Run Your Diesel Vehicle on Biofuels covers: History and functions of the diesel engine Benefits of biofuel Where to obtain raw ingredients Theory of fuel conversion Existing conversion kits o Blends, emulsions, and thinners Processing and discarding waste oil Laws and regulations Green retail o Health and safety Limitations of environmental benefits.