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New Trends in Renewable and Conventional Energy Applications in Thermal Processes

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Special Issue Editors

Prof. Dr. Luís C. Pires

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Guest Editor

1. Department of Electromechanical Engineering, University of Beira Interior, Rua Marquês d’Ávila e Bolama, 6201-001 Covilhã, Portugal
2. C-MAST - Center for Mechanical and Aerospace Science and Technologies, 6201-001 Covilhã, Portugal
Interests: heat transfer; energy efficiency; thermal storage
Special Issues, Collections and Topics in MDPI journals

Prof. Dr. Pedro Dinho da Silva

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Guest Editor

Special Issue Information

Dear Colleagues,

Given the peculiar situation that we currently find ourselves in, both in Europe and around the world, namely the emergence of an energy crisis of proportions that are yet to be determined, it has become relevant to seek technical solutions to mitigate it.

This Topic aims to highlight the importance of recent developments in renewable and conventional energy to mitigate the energy dependence, specifically on natural gas, in the thermal processes of heating industrial, commercial or domestic buildings, including greenhouses for food production, schools or home buildings.

Additionally, space cooling processes, mainly supported by vapor compression solutions, should benefit from recent developments in renewable and conventional energy.

The purpose of the Topic is to explore new approaches, mainly supported by renewable energies, that allow a reduction in energy consumption, namely through the improvement of its use in the different thermal processes of heating or cooling.

Prof. Dr. Luís C. Pires
Prof. Dr. Pedro Dinho da Silva
Guest Editors

Manuscript Submission Information

Manuscripts should be submitted online at www.mdpi.com by registering and logging in to this website. Once you are registered, click here to go to the submission form. Manuscripts can be submitted until the deadline. All submissions that pass pre-check are peer-reviewed. Accepted papers will be published continuously in the journal (as soon as accepted) and will be listed together on the special issue website. Research articles, review articles as well as short communications are invited. For planned papers, a title and short abstract (about 100 words) can be sent to the Editorial Office for announcement on this website.

Submitted manuscripts should not have been published previously, nor be under consideration for publication elsewhere (except conference proceedings papers). All manuscripts are thoroughly refereed through a single-blind peer-review process. A guide for authors and other relevant information for submission of manuscripts is available on the Instructions for Authors page. Processes is an international peer-reviewed open access monthly journal published by MDPI.

Please visit the Instructions for Authors page before submitting a manuscript. The Article Processing Charge (APC) for publication in this open access journal is 2400 CHF (Swiss Francs). Submitted papers should be well formatted and use good English. Authors may use MDPI's English editing service prior to publication or during author revisions.

Keywords

renewable energy
energy efficiency
heating and cooling
energy dependence reduction
low energy approaches
energy storage
heat pumps

Published Papers (2 papers)

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Research

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22 pages, 6757 KiB

Open AccessFeature PaperArticle

Intelligent Control of Thermal Energy Storage in the Manufacturing Sector for Plant-Level Grid Response

by Mohamed T. Bahr, Jake Immonen, Blake W. Billings and Kody M. Powell

Processes 2023, 11(7), 2202; https://doi.org/10.3390/pr11072202 - 22 Jul 2023

Cited by 2 | Viewed by 1175

Abstract

Industrial facilities are seeking new strategies that help in providing savings mechanisms for demand charges. Demand charges are the charges incurred by industrial facilities as a result of power usage. Thermal energy storage has advanced significantly with lots of new applications, garnering the interest of many industrial facilities. These applications could be used to shave the industrial facilities’ peak electric demand and reduce their demand charges. This paper aims to demonstrate the efficacy of thermal energy storage in reducing demand charges and highlight new developments in the integration of smart control systems with thermal energy storage. The study compares energy consumption and peak demand for a facility equipped with and without thermal energy storage tanks using a fixed schedule for charging and discharging. Additionally, the paper examines the impact of incorporating a smart controller to determine when to charge and discharge the tank based on the facility’s real-time power usage and a given setpoint. The results indicate cost savings from the use of thermal energy storage tanks under two proposed scenarios, reflected in the reduced cost of power consumption for the studied facility. The incorporation of a smart controller with the thermal energy storage tank in the facility studied could provide estimated savings of 3.3% per year of power consumption charges, without considering the contribution of any incentives. The estimated savings provided by the fixed schedule scenario are 2.7% per year. Full article

(This article belongs to the Special Issue New Trends in Renewable and Conventional Energy Applications in Thermal Processes)

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Review

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36 pages, 3448 KiB

Open AccessReview

Nanofluids as a Waste Heat Recovery Medium: A Critical Review and Guidelines for Future Research and Use

by José Pereira, Ana Moita and António Moreira

Processes 2023, 11(8), 2443; https://doi.org/10.3390/pr11082443 - 14 Aug 2023

Cited by 1 | Viewed by 1057

Abstract

The thermal energy storage and conversion process possesses high energy losses in the form of waste heat. The losses associated with energy conversion achieve almost 90% of the worldwide energy supply, and approximately half of these losses are waste heat. Hence, waste heat recovery approaches intend to recuperate that large amount of wasted heat from chimneys, vehicles, and solar energy systems, among others. The novel class of thermal fluids designated by nanofluids has a high potential to be employed in waste heat recovery. It has already been demonstrated that nanofluids enhance energy recovery efficiency by more than 20%. Also, the use of nanofluids can improve the energy capacity of steelworks systems by around three times. In general, nanofluids can improve efficiency and reduce exergy destruction and carbon emissions in devices like heat exchangers. The current work summarizes the application of nanofluids in waste heat recovery and discusses the involved feasibility factors. Also, the critical survey of more than one hundred scientific papers enabled the overview of the environmental aspects of the nanofluid’s waste heat recovery. Finally, it discusses the main limitations and prospects of the use of nanofluids in waste heat recovery processes. Full article

(This article belongs to the Special Issue New Trends in Renewable and Conventional Energy Applications in Thermal Processes)

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