Life cycle assessment of chemically treated and copper coated sustainable biocomposites.

The current demand for composites reinforced with renewable fibers is greater than it has ever been. In comparison to glass fibers, natural fibers yield the advantages of lesser density and cost. Although comparable specific properties exist between glass and natural fibers, the latter shows lower strength. However, with the copper coating and chemical treatment of natural fibers, the strength of the composites can be increased nowadays. The current research investigation focuses on the life cycle assessment of the raw, chemically treated, and copper coated fiber reinforced bagasse and banana composites to compare the emissions on the environment of these samples to prove their applicability. The study includes all the processes, from the extraction of fibers to the formation of composites, i.e., from cradle to gate, and detailed inventory. The ReCiPe H midpoint method has been utilized in SimaPro software to quantify the emissions. The results indicate that the maximum global warming emission is due to the energy consumption used during the manufacturing of these composites. Electricity contribution for chemically treated and copper coated composites in global warming contribution is slightly greater than that of raw composites i.e., 73.275 % in C- BG/P, 73.06 % in Cu- BG/P, 73.65 % in C- BN/P and 74.28 % in Cu- BN/P which is comparatively higher than 63.8 % in R- BG/P and 64.97 % in R- BN/P. The next major contributions come from polylactic acid for all the three samples of bagasse fiber reinforced PLA composite and banana fiber reinforced PLA composite. The raw samples also show improved fiber strength compared to chemical and copper coated samples.

Avenues of decarbonisation in the dynamics of processed food supply chains: Towards responsible production consumption.

Nowadays, the demand for processed food items is surging. To fulfil the enhanced demand, a significant impact is laid on the environment, which enhances the carbon footprint being generated. Hence, to overcome this, the avenues of decarbonisation need to be explored. The presented work is aimed at promoting the decarbonisation of the existing practices within the processed food supply chains. It finds strong compliance with the sustainable development goal (SDG-12), focusing on responsible production-consumption mechanisms. For the same, key enactors of decarbonisation are identified and mapped with the practices at various stages of food supply chains, i.e. upstream, downstream, and other allied practices. Based upon these enactors, a relational, hierarchical framework is developed to provide a comprehensive perspective on complex intricacies. This framework is analysed with an innovative approach which comprises the fundamentals of Interval-Valued Intuitionistic Hesitant Fuzzy Set with the Entropy measures. It results in the outranking of the enactors relative to its importance in the decarbonisation of processed food supply chains. Furthermore, the empirical findings are validated by the sensitivity analysis to felicitate robust decision-making. The outcomes of the presented work provide a roadmap and stepped approach to achieve the decarbonisation goals and make production-consumption mechanisms sustainable. It finds implications in the development of the framework, policy formulation, and decisional attributes for the decarbonisation of food supply chains. It focuses on the adoption of strategies that align with global efforts to mitigate climate change and promote a sustainable future.

A review of the techno-economic potential and environmental impact analysis through life cycle assessment of parabolic trough collector towards the contribution of sustainable energy.

Parabolic trough collectors (P.T.Cs) are efficient solar energy harvesting devices utilized in various industries, for instance, space heating, solar cooling, solar drying, pasteurization, sterilization, electricity generation, process heat, solar cooking, and many other applications. However, their usage is limited as the high capital and operating costs; according to the International Renewable Energy Agency's 2020 report, the global weighted average levelized cost of electricity (L.C.O.E) for P.T.Cs was 0.185 $/kWh in 2018. This work analyses the economic, technical, and environmental potential of sustainable energy to increase the use of P.T.Cs in different sectors. To study how self-weight, heat loss, and wind velocity affect P.T.C performance, prototype testing, and wind flow analysis were used. Although P.T.Cs outperform in capacity factor, gross-to-net conversion, and annual energy production, improving their overall efficiency is crucial in reducing total energy production costs. Wire coils, discs, and twisted tape-type inserts can enhance their performance by increasing turbulence and heat transfer area. Improving the system's overall efficiency by enhancing the functioning and operation of individual components will also help decrease total energy production costs. The aim is to minimize the L.C.O.E associated with a P.T.C in order to enhance its economic viability for an extended period. When the nanofluid-oriented P.T.C was included in the conventional P.T.C workings, there was a decrease in the L.C.O.E by 1%. Of all the technologies available, ocean, geothermal, and C.S.P parabolic trough plants generate lower amounts of waste and harmful gases, with average emissions of 2.39%, 2.23%, and 2.16%, respectively, throughout their lifespan. For solar-only and non-hybrid thermal energy storage plants, the range of greenhouse gas emissions is between 20 and 34 kgCO2 equivalents per megawatt-hour. Coal, natural gas steam turbines, nuclear power plants, bioenergy, solar PV, geothermal, concentrated solar power, hydropower reservoir, hydropower river, ocean, and wind power plants all release greenhouse gases at rates of 1022, 587.5, 110.5, 633, 111, 48, 41, 82.5, 7.5, 12.5, and 41.5 gCO2-e/kWh, respectively. This information is useful to compare the environmental effect of various energy sources and help us to choose cleaner, more sustainable options for the production of electricity. The ongoing advancements and future scope of P.T.Cs could potentially make them more economically viable for domestic, commercial, and industrial applications.

Porosity-Engineered CNT-MoS2 Hybrid Nanostructures for Bipolar Supercapacitor Applications.

Bipolar supercapacitors that can store many fold higher capacitance in negative voltage compared to positive voltage are of great importance if they can be engineered for practical applications. The electrode material encompassing high surface area, better electrochemical stability, high conductivity, moderate distribution of pore size, and their interaction with suitable electrolytes is imperative to enable bipolar supercapacitor performance. Apropos of the aforementioned aspects, the intent of this work is to ascertain the effect of ionic properties of different electrolytes on the electrochemical properties and performance of a porous CNT-MoS2 hybrid microstructure toward bipolar supercapacitor applications. The electrochemical assessment reveals that the CNT-MoS2 hybrid electrode exhibited a two- to threefold higher areal capacitance value of 122.3 mF cm-2 at 100 µA cm-2 in 1 M aqueous Na2SO4 and 42.13 mF cm-2 at 0.30 mA cm-2 in PVA-Na2SO4 gel electrolyte in the negative potential window in comparison to the positive potential window. The CNT-MoS2 hybrid demonstrates a splendid Coulombic efficiency of ∼102.5% and outstanding stability with capacitance retention showing a change from 100% to ∼180% over 7000 repeated charging-discharging cycles.

Costing Analysis of Scalable Carbon-Based Perovskite Modules Using Bottom Up Technique.

In recent years, perovskite solar cells (PSCs) have achieved a remarkable power conversion efficiency of 25.5%, indicating that they are a promising alternative to dominant Si photovoltaic (PV) technology. This technology is expected to solve the world's energy demand with minimal investment and very low CO2 emissions. The market has shown a lot of interest in PSCs technology. A technoeconomic analysis is a useful tool for tracking manufacturing costs and forecasting whether technology will eventually achieve market-driven prices. A technoeconomic analysis of a 100 MW carbon-based perovskite solar module (CPSM) factory located in India is presented in this paper. Two CPSMs architectures-high-temperature processed CPSMs (Module A) and low-temperature processed CPSM's (Module B)-are expected to offer minimum sustainable prices (MSPs) of $ 0.21 W-1 and $ 0.15 W-1. On the basis of MSP, the levelized cost of energy (LCOE) is calculated to be 3.40 ¢ kWh-1 for module A and 3.02 ¢ kWh-1 for module B, with a 10-year module lifetime assumption. The same modules with a 25-year lifespan have LCOEs of 1.66 and 1.47 ¢ kWh-1, respectively. These estimates are comparable to market dominant crystalline silicon solar modules, and they are also favorable for utilizing perovskite solar cell technology.

Numerical investigation of the effect of air supply on cook stove performance.

Objectives: In a domestic biomass cook stove, the air supply plays a significant role in improving the overall combustion characteristics. The present research aims to numerically investigate the effect of air supply, division of air intake into primary and secondary air, and its optimization. > In a domestic biomass cook stove, the air supply plays a significant role in improving the overall combustion characteristics. The present research aims to numerically investigate the effect of air supply, division of air intake into primary and secondary air, and its optimization. Methods: The geometries of cook stove combustion chamber were prepared and simulated using species transport model with eddy-dissipation turbulent mixing. The stoichiometric amount of air was split into different ratios varying from 50:50 to 10:90 and simulations were carried out for each case. The computational model was validated and the concentration of CO2, H2O, O2, wood volatile and resultant temperature were compared and analyzed. Results: Species transport in the form of conservation of mass along with momentum conservation and energy conservation gave the spatial distribution of resultant species and spatial temperature distribution. The computational domain with feedstock inlet corresponding to the pyrolysis regime has yielded good results compared to that in the front. In this domain, the primary to secondary air ratio of 50:50 showed the best results due to the dominance of primary air utilization and, thus, less secondary air use even at higher elevations. With the maximum temperature near 1300 K, maximum relative CO2 production, and maximum feedstock utilization, the primary to secondary air ratio of 50:50 observed to be optimum. Conclusions: Due to the adequate intermixing of reactant species and uniform diffusion of product species along the combustion chamber's height, the computational domain with feedstock inlet corresponding to the pyrolysis regime has shown realistic conditions. The temperature profile and mole fraction of various species, thus obtained, can be used to design an efficient cook stove as the cross-section and dimensions of the combustion chamber and chimney relates to approach the desired division of air.

Catalytic Activity and Impedance Behavior of Screen-Printed Nickel Oxide as Efficient Water Oxidation Catalysts.

We report that films screen printed from nickel oxide (NiO) nanoparticles and microballs are efficient electrocatalysts for water oxidation under near-neutral and alkaline conditions. Investigations of the composition and structure of the screen-printed films by X-ray diffraction, X-ray absorption spectroscopy, and scanning electron microscopy confirmed that the material was present as the cubic NiO phase. Comparison of the catalytic activity of the microball films to that of films fabricated by using NiO nanoparticles, under similar experimental conditions, revealed that the microball films outperform nanoparticle films of similar thickness owing to a more porous structure and higher surface area. A thinner, less-resistive NiO nanoparticle film, however, was found to have higher activity per Ni atom. Anodization in borate buffer significantly improved the activity of all three films. X-ray photoelectron spectroscopy showed that during anodization, a mixed nickel oxyhydroxide phase formed on the surface of all films, which could account for the improved activity. Impedance spectroscopy revealed that surface traps contribute significantly to the resistance of the NiO films. On anodization, the trap state resistance of all films was reduced, which led to significant improvements in activity. In 1.00 m NaOH, both the microball and nanoparticle films exhibit high long-term stability and produce a stable current density of approximately 30 mA cm(-2) at 600 mV overpotential.

Synthesis and characterization of organic dyes with various electron-accepting substituents for p-type dye-sensitized solar cells.

Four new donor-π-acceptor dyes differing in their acceptor group have been synthesized and employed as model systems to study the influence of the acceptor groups on the photophysical properties and in NiO-based p-type dye-sensitized solar cells. UV/Vis absorption spectra showed a broad range of absorption coverage with maxima between 331 and 653 nm. Redox potentials as well as HOMO and LUMO energies of the dyes were determined from cyclic voltammetry measurements and evaluated concerning their potential use as sensitizers in p-type dye-sensitized solar cells (p-DSCs). Quantum-chemical density functional theory calculations gave further insight into the frontier orbital distributions, which are relevant for the electronic processes in p-DSCs. In p-DSCs using an iodide/triiodide-based electrolyte, the polycyclic 9,10-dicyano-acenaphtho[1,2-b]quinoxaline (DCANQ) acceptor-containing dye gave the highest power conversion efficiency of 0.08%, which is comparable to that obtained with the perylenemonoimide (PMI)-containing dye. Interestingly, devices containing the DCANQ-based dye achieve a higher V(OC) of 163 mV compared to 158 mV for the PMI-containing dye. The result was further confirmed by impedance spectroscopic analysis showing higher recombination resistance and thus a lower recombination rate for devices containing the DCANQ dye than for PMI dye-based devices. However, the use of the strong electron-accepting tricyanofurane (TCF) group played a negative role in the device performance, yielding an efficiency of only 0.01% due to a low-lying LUMO energy level, thus resulting in an insufficient driving force for efficient dye regeneration. The results demonstrate that a careful molecular design with a proper choice of the acceptor unit is essential for development of sensitizers for p-DSCs.

Highly efficient p-type dye-sensitized solar cells based on tris(1,2-diaminoethane)cobalt(II)/(III) electrolytes.

Co-produced: using [Co(en)(3)](2+/3+) based-electrolytes in p-type dye-sensitized solar cells (p-DSCs) gives record energy conversion efficiencies of 1.3 % and open-circuit voltages up to 709 mV under simulated sun light. The increase in photovoltage is due to the more negative redox potential of [Co(en)(3)](2+/3+) compared to established mediators.