Search Results (13)

The utilization of CO₂ foam gel fracturing fluid offers several significant advantages, including minimal reservoir damage, reduced water consumption during application, enhanced cleaning efficiency, and additional beneficial properties. However, several current CO₂ foam gel fracturing fluid systems face challenges, such as complex preparation processes and insufficient viscosity, which limit their proppant transport capacity. To address these issues, this work develops a novel CO₂ foam gel fracturing fluid system characterized by simple preparation and robust foam stability. This system was optimized by incorporating a thickening agent CZJ-1 in conjunction with a foaming agent YFP-1. The results of static sand-carrying experiments indicate that under varying temperatures and sand–fluid ratio conditions, the proppant settling velocity is significantly low. Furthermore, the static sand-carrying capacity of the CO₂ foam gel fracturing fluid exceeds that of the base fluid. The stable and dense foam gel effectively encapsulates the proppant, thereby improving sand-carrying capacity. In high-temperature shear tests, conducted at a shear rate of 170 s⁻¹ and a temperature of 110 °C for 90 min, the apparent viscosity of the CO₂ foam gel fracturing fluid remained above 20 mPa·s after shear, demonstrating excellent high-temperature shear resistance. This work introduces a novel CO₂ foam gel fracturing fluid system that is specifically tailored for low-permeability reservoir fracturing and extraction. The system shows significant promise for the efficient development of low-pressure, low-permeability, and water-sensitive reservoirs, as well as for the effective utilization and sequestration of CO₂. Full article

As photovoltaic (PV) deployment increases worldwide, PV systems are being installed more frequently in locations that experience snow cover. The higher albedo of snow, relative to the ground, increases the performance of PV systems in northern and high-altitude locations by reflecting more light onto the PV modules. Accurate modeling of the snow’s albedo can improve estimates of PV system production. Typical modeling of snow albedo uses a simple two-value model that sets the albedo high when snow is present, and low when snow is not present. However, snow albedo changes over time as snow settles and melts and a binary model does not account for transitional changes, which can be significant. Here, we present and validate a model for estimating snow albedo as it changes over time. The model is simple enough to only require daily snow depth and hourly average temperature data, but can be improved through the addition of site-specific factors, when available. We validate this model to quantify its ability to more accurately predict snow albedo and compare the model’s performance against satellite imagery-based methods for obtaining historical albedo data. In addition, we perform modeling using the System Advisor Model (SAM) to show the impact of changes in albedo on energy modeling for PV systems. Overall, our albedo model has a significantly improved ability to predict the solar insolation on PV modules in real time, especially on bifacial PV modules where reflected irradiance plays a larger role in energy production. Full article

An important aspect of water treatment is removing fine-grain materials from water. Due to the properties of fine-grain materials, they are difficult to remove from water. During the sedimentation process, which takes place in settling tanks, such materials are removed. The sedimentation process is often accompanied by coagulation and flocculation processes, which form aggregates of particles (flocs) from the fine-grained material particles in a suspension (non-grainy suspension). This kind of suspension (consisting of aggregates of particles or flocs) shows a different behaviour when falling compared with classic grainy suspensions. The main goal and novelty of this article are to propose (and test) a modification of the often used Stokes’ formula with the addition of fractal geometry into the calculation of the terminal velocity of free-falling particles in order to overcome Stokes’ formula’s limitation, thus obtaining the sedimentation process efficiency. Because of this fractal modification, it is possible to use the simple and elegant Stokes’ formula in order to calculate better the terminal velocity of non-grainy particles—aggregates or flocs—and thus obtain the sedimentation efficiency for the whole range of suspensions, both non-grainy and grainy. The results obtained in this article show that the sedimentation process efficiency calculated by using the modified formula based on the fractal geometry morphology of particles (the proposed fractal method) describes and agrees more with the data from the experiment than the sedimentation efficiency calculated only based on particle size (classic method). Full article

In this study, the iron-based carbon composite (hereafter FCN-x, x = 0, 400, 500, and 600 calcination) was synthesized by a simple high-temperature pyrolysis method using iron-containing sludge coagulant generated from wastewater treatment settling ponds in chemical plants. The FCN-x was used for the adsorptive reduction of aqueous phase Cr(VI) effectively. The FCN-x was characterized by scanning electron microscopy (SEM), X-ray diffraction (XRD), Fourier infrared spectrometer (FT-IR), X-ray photoelectron spectrometer (XPS), and Brunauer-Emmett-Teller theory (BET). FCN-x adsorption of Cr(VI) was examined in batch experiments using CrO₄²⁻ as a function of physicochemical parameters. The chemical kinetics of Cr(VI) adsorption by FCN-500 were modeled by 1st and 2nd order empirical pseudo kinetics. Based on these experiments, FCN-500 has been selected for further studies on Cr(VI) adsorptive reduction. The maximum Cr(VI) adsorption by FCN-500 was 52.63 mg/g showing the highest removal efficiency. The Cr(VI) adsorption by the FCN-500 was quantified by the Langmuir isotherm. XPS result confirmed the reduction of Cr(VI) to Cr(III) by the FCN-500. The iron-based carbon composites have high reusability and application potential in water treatment. The electroplating wastewater with 117 mg/L Cr(VI) was treated with FCN-500, and 99.93% Cr(VI) was removed within 120 min, which is lower than the national chromium emission standard of the People’s Republic of China. This work illustrates the value-added role of sludge generated from dye chemical plants to ensure environmental sustainability. Full article

Sedimentation in dam reservoirs can cause problems that lead to loss of storage capacity and decrease in the flood control volume. Hydrosuction sediment removal is one of the methods used to remove sediments from within a reservoir using the suction energy provided by the effective head. In this study, a new tool has been developed by attaching the reservoir to a suction pipe intake point and using a simple fan blade mechanism for the hydrosuction sediment removal system. This mechanism is used to create a vortex flow to suspend the settled particles. This paper investigated the effects of the fan blade angles, effective head, and inlet height from the surface of layer particles on the performance and efficiency of fan blades hydrosuction sediment removal (FBHSSR) and hydrosuction sediment removal (HSSR) systems based on the geometric scour hole parameters. Results from the experimental tests indicated the effectiveness of the FBHSSR system, with the fan blade angles of 30°, 45°, and 60° leading to approximately 800%, 200%, and 117%, respectively, removed particles greater than those of the HSSR system. Furthermore, the maximum depth and diameter of the scour hole were increased by 206%, 200%, and 137% and 135, 112%, and 117%, respectively, for each angle. The effective head or experiment time also enhanced system performance by increasing the suction discharge, but no change was observed in terms of efficiency. The critical inlet heights for the FBHSSR and HSSR systems are 1 time and 2.54 times, respectively, more than the diameter of the suction pipe. Thus, it can be concluded that using fan blades in HSSR systems is a good approach to improve the properties of the scour hole. Full article

Zerovalent iron nanoparticles (nZVI) are becoming one of the most widely recommended nanomaterials for soil and groundwater remediation. However, when nZVI are injected in the groundwater flow, the behavior (mobility, dispersion, distribution) is practically unknown. This fact generally results in the use of enormous quantities of them at the field scale. The uncertainties are on the effective volumes reached from the plume of nZVI because their tendency to aggregate and their weight can cause their settling and deposition. So, the mobility of nanoparticles is a real issue, which can often lead to inefficient or expensive soil remediation. Furthermore, there is another aspect that must be considered: the fate of these nZVI in the groundwater and their possible impact on the subsoil environment. All these considerations have led us to propose an application of nZVI simulating the permeation technique through a laboratory experience, finalized to have a better, or even simpler description of their real behavior when injected in a flow in the subsoil. A two-dimensional laboratory-scale tank was used to study the dispersion and transport of nZVI. A nZVI solution, with a concentration equal to 4.54 g/L, was injected into glass beads, utilized as porous medium. The laboratory experiment included a digital camera to acquire the images. The images were then used for calibrating a numerical model. The results of the mass balance confirm the validity of the proposed numerical model, obtaining values of velocity (5.41 × 10⁻³ m/s) and mass (1.9 g) of the nZVI of the same order of those from the experimental tests. Several information were inferred from both experimental and numerical tests. Both demonstrate that nZVI plume does not behave as a solute dissolved in water, but as a mass showing its own mobility ruled mainly from the buoyancy force. A simple simulation of a tracer input and a nZVI plume are compared to evidence the large differences between their evolution in time and space. This means that commercial numerical models, if not corrected, cannot furnish a real forecast of the volume of influence of the injected nZVI. Further deductions can be found from the images and confirmed by means the numerical model where the detachment effect is much smaller than the attachment one (ratio k_d/k_a = 0.001). From what is reported, it is worthwhile to pay attention on the localization of the contaminants source/plume to reach an effective treatment and it is important to go further in the improvement of solution for the limiting the nanoparticles aggregation phenomenon. Full article

This paper presents a comparison study of three control design approaches for humanoid balancing based on the Center of Mass ($CoM$) stabilization and body posture adjustment. The comparison was carried out under controlled circumstances allowing other researchers to replicate and compare our results with their own. The feedback control from state space design is based on simple models and provides sufficient robustness to control complex and high Degrees of Freedom (DoFs) systems, such as humanoids. The implemented strategies allow compliant behavior of the robot in reaction to impulsive or periodical disturbances, resulting in a smooth and human-like response while considering constraints. In this respect, we implemented two balancing strategies to compensate for the $CoM$ deviation. The first one uses the robot’s capture point as a stability principle and the second one uses the Force/Torque sensors at the ankles to define a $CoM$ reference that stabilizes the robot. In addition, was implemented a third strategy based on upper body orientation to absorb external disturbances and counterbalance them. Even though the balancing strategies are implemented independently, they can be merged to further increase balancing performance. The proposed strategies were previously applied on different humanoid bipedal platforms, however, their performance could not be properly benchmarked before. With this concern, this paper focuses on benchmarking in controlled scenarios to help the community in comparing different balance techniques. The key performance indicators (KPIs) used in our comparison are the $CoM$ deviation, the settling time, the maximum measured orientation, passive gait measure, measured ankles torques, and reconstructed Center of Pressure ($CoP$). The benchmarking experiments were carried out in simulations and using the facility at Istituto Italiano di Tecnologia on the REEM-C humanoid robot provided by PAL robotics inside the EU H2020 project EUROBENCH framework. Full article

In previous works, a non-linear equation describing variable area (VA) flowmeters in transient was presented. The use of a full nonlinear equation, despite giving accurate results, can be difficult and time-consuming and it requires having specific software and knowledge at one’s disposal. The goal of this paper was to simplify the existing model so that it could be used in applications where ease of use and ease of implementation are more important than accuracy. The existing model was linearized and simple formulae describing natural frequency and damping coefficients were derived. With these parameters, it is possible to assess the dynamic properties of a variable area flowmeter. The step response form can be identified and natural frequency and settling time can be estimated. The linearized model and the experiment were in reasonable agreement. The step response type was captured correctly for each of the six VA meter types. The error in the undamped natural frequency was not larger than 15%, which means that the VA meter sensor’s dynamic properties can be predicted at the design stage with sufficient precision. Full article

This paper presents a design of a data-driven-based neural network internal model control for a submerged membrane bioreactor (SMBR) with hollow fiber for microfiltration. The experiment design is performed for measurement of physical parameters from an actuator input (permeate pump voltage), which gives the information (outputs) of permeate flux and trans-membrane pressure (TMP). The palm oil mill effluent is used as an influent preparation to depict fouling phenomenon in the membrane filtration process. From the experiment, membrane fouling potential is observed from flux decline pattern, with a rapid increment of TMP (above 200 mbar). Membrane fouling is a complex process and the available models in literature are not designed for control system (filtration performance). Therefore, this work proposes an aeration fouling control strategy to measure the filtration performance. The artificial neural networks (Feed-Forward Neural Network—FFNN, Radial Basis Function Neural Network—RBFNN and Nonlinear Autoregressive Exogenous Neural Network—NARXNN) are used to model dynamic behaviour of flux and TMP. In this case, only flux is used in closed loop control application, whereby the TMP effect is used for monitoring. The simulation results show that reliable prediction of membrane fouling potential is obtained. It can be observed that almost all the artificial neural network (ANN) models have similar shape with the actual data set, with the highest accuracy of more than 90% for both RBFNN and NARXN. The RBFNN is preferable due to simple structure of the network. In the control system, the RBFNN IMC depicts the highest closed loop performance with only 3.75 s (settling time) for setpoint changes when compared with other controllers. In addition, it showed fast performance in disturbance rejection with less overshoot. In conclusion, among the different neural network tested configurations the one based on radial basis function provides the best performance with respect to prediction as well as control performance. Full article

This paper exploits a concise yet efficient initialization strategy to optimize grid sampling-based superpixel segmentation algorithms. Rather than straight distributing all initial seeds evenly, it adopts a context-aware approach to modify their positions and total number via a coarse-to-fine manner. Firstly, half the expected number of seeds are regularly sampled on the image grid, thereby creating a rough distribution of color information for all rectangular cells. A series of fission is then performed on cells that contain excessive color information recursively. In each cell, the local color uniformity is balanced by a dichotomy on one original seed, which generates two new seeds and settles them to spatially symmetrical sub-regions. Therefore, the local concentration of seeds is adaptive to the complexity of regional information. In addition, by calculating the amount of color via a summed area table (SAT), the informative regions can be located at a very low time cost. As a result, superpixels are produced from ideal original seeds with an exact number and exhibit better boundary adherence. Experiments demonstrate that the proposed strategy effectively promotes the performance of simple linear iterative clustering (SLIC) and its variants in terms of several quality measures. Full article

The tailings that remain after the collection and screening of Mn nodules are directly discharged into the ocean and are anticipated to influence the ocean environment and marine organisms. The primary factors determining the influence (diffusion) range are the ocean currents and the settling velocity of the tailings; the latter is directly correlated with the time that the tailings remain in the water column. Flocculation is affected by the actual tailing discharge conditions. The settling velocity of the tailings is expected to increase as a result of flocculation; therefore, data on the size distribution of flocs are needed to compute the settling velocity of the tailings. In this study, a method for estimating the floc size distribution of the tailings is proposed, and the general flocculation process is analyzed using the apparent settling velocity, which is readily estimated by simple settling experiments conducted with standard tailings at different concentrations. The apparent falling time-curve followed a power function, and the flocculated grain size was 3–4 times larger than that before flocculation. In addition, flocculation and falling were significantly inhibited by the time required for flocculation. The method suggested in this study was validated by using a numerical particle-tracking model based on the autoencoder concept, which estimates the apparent settling velocity using the flocculated grain size distribution. The computed time-velocity curve agreed well with the apparent time curve obtained in the experiment, with an error of approximately 5–10% except in the initial time range (0–30 s), despite the qualitative nature of the assumptions. Full article

Flow control in wastewater pressure pipes can reduce energy consumption but increases the risk of sediment formation due to reduced flow velocity. In this work, the sedimentation behavior of dry and wet weather samples at the inflow of a wastewater pumping station is determined by settling column experiments. Based on the derived characteristic settling velocity (v_s) distribution, the impact of energy-efficient flow control on sediment formation in pressure pipes (600 mm diameter) was quantified in comparison to a simple on/off operation. In parallel, the sediment formation for 2 years of pumping operation was monitored indirectly via the friction losses. For the investigated case, settling is strongly influenced by the inflow condition (dry, combined from road runoff). Under combined inflow, the proportion of solids with v_s from 0.007 to 1.43 mm/s significantly increases. In energy-efficient mode with smoother operation and shorter switch-off sequences, the sediment formation is significant lower. The mean deposit’s height in energy-efficient control was calculated to 0.137 m, while in on/off operation the mean deposit’s height was 0.174 m. No disadvantages arise over a long period by installing the energy-efficient control. The decreased flow lead under the investigated conditions even to a reduced sediment formation. Full article

In most grid-connected power converter applications, the phase-locked loop (PLL) is probably the most widespread grid synchronization technique, owing to its simple implementation. However, its phase-tracking performance tends to worsen when the grid voltage is under unbalanced and distorted conditions. Many filtering techniques are utilized to solve this problem, however, at the cost of slowing down the transient response. It is a major challenge for PLL to achieve a satisfactory dynamic performance without degrading its filtering capability. To tackle this challenge, a hybrid filtering technique is proposed in this paper. Our idea is to eliminate the fundamental frequency negative sequence (FFNS) and other harmonic sequences at the prefiltering stage and inner loop of PLL, respectively. Second-order generalized integrators (SOGIs) are used to remove FFNS before the Park transformation. This makes moving average filters (MAFs) eliminate other harmonics with a narrowed window length, which means the time delay that is caused by MAFs is reduced. The entire hybrid filtering technique is included in a quasi-type-1 PLL structure (QT1-PLL), which can provide a rapid dynamic behavior. The small-signal model of the proposed PLL is established. Based on this model, the parameter design guidelines targeting the fast transient response are given. Comprehensive experiments are carried out to confirm the effectiveness of our method. The results show that the settling time of the proposed PLL is less than one grid cycle, which is shorter than most of the widespread PLLs. The harmonic rejection capability is also better than other methods, under both nominal and adverse grid conditions. Full article