Advanced Materials Research Vols. 953-954

Abstract: Coal has been the dominant resource for China’s energy consumption for half a decade. The need to sustain the rapid growth of China’s economy has made coal the natural choice due to its mass production and low cost of coal mines. This article uses GM (1, 1) model to predict China’s coal supply from 2013 to 2020. The results showed that the coal supply will increase smoothly during this time. However, the demand will increase even at a faster pace. The predicted gap between the supply and demand of year 2015 will be 720 million tons. Coal is a non-renewable energy resource. It generates tremendous amount of hazardous emission during the course of combustion. Increasing coal supply alone will produce significant pollution and deplete coal mines reserve. Therefore, it has become urgent to establish a reasonably balanced energy consumption structure that can meet the needs of social and economic development in China. The policy implications and possible measures are proposed in this article.

Abstract: As the positive and important supplement to large-scale power generation, distributed generation (DG) will become key measure to promote energy conservation and solve the problems of climate change in China. Due to absence of universal authoritative definition of DG, this paper summarizes the basic characteristic of DG based on the definitions in typical countries (or organizations) and carried out general definition of DG considering our national conditions and power grid features. From the views of resource, incentive policy and industry, this paper analyzed the fundamental for DG development and compared the development status in typical countries.

Abstract: This article mainly analyses how to use holistic government in protecting China’s local environment. It points out some actual administrative problems involved in environmental governance, and offer the holistic government framework of regional environmental issues, which including the establishment of a regional government agencies, mutual coordination between same levels of the organization, as well as environmental governance in the feedback processes, etc. And through research, this article further point out the authority and responsibilities of the regional cooperation organization. This article provides several solutions to address the plight of regional environmental governance in order to improve Chinese regional environmental governance level. Application of the holistic government model can be better respond to the plight of the regional environmental protection, improves the level of Chinese regional environmental governance.

Abstract: The microwave-assisted CH₄ decomposition over a pyrolysis residue of sewage sludge (PRSS), which acted as a microwave receptor and a low-cost catalyst without further activation, was investigated in a multimode microwave reactor. The results indicated that the microwave heating of PRSS is heavily influenced by atmosphere. The PRSS temperature in CH₄, N₂ and H₂ atmosphere follow the sequence of T_CH4 < T_H2 <T_N2. PRSS shows excellent initial activity for methane decomposition, but it deactivated very quickly. It was inferred that the fast deactivation of PRSS was mainly caused by temperature falling in CH₄ atmosphere.

Abstract: A two-dimensional non-isothermal steady state numerical model for high temperature polymer exchange membrane fuel cell based on Nafion212/SiO₂ composite membrane was developed. Finite element method was used to solve electrochemical kinetics coupled with multi-component transport, flow, charge balance and energy conservation. The model-predicted fuel cell polarization curve was compared with published experimental result and a good agreement was found. The distributions of species and temperature in the fuel cell were predicted and the effects of the operational pressure and the porosity of gas diffusion layer on the performance of high temperature polymer exchange membrane were evaluated. A temperature rise of 5.8K was deserved when the operational pressure was 2atm, cathode relative humidity 59% and current density 500mA cm^-2. The increasing of the operational pressure and the porosity of gas diffusion layer were found to be beneficial to the fuel cell performance.

Abstract: A new-styled continuous stirred tank reactor (CSTR) seeded with activated sludge attached onto granular activated carbon (GAC) was developed for raised hydrogen production using diluted grenadine syrup. Emphasis was placed on the hydrogen producing performance and stability of the reactor. It was found that the temperature of (35 ± 1) °C, hydraulic retention time (HRT) of 4h, influent COD of 6000mg/L, the maximum hydrogen production was up 12.06L/d. In addition, though pH decreased to 3.42, the microbial growth still high and COD removal rate reached 50%, demonstrating that the reactor processed the ability of acid resistance.

Abstract: In this work, potassium tantalate (KTaO₃) particles were synthesized using a low-temperature hydrothermal method. The phase structure of samples prepared was performed by X-ray diffraction (XRD). The result revealed that it belongs to cubic crystal. The electrochemical behaviour of a KTaO₃ film coated electrode was investigated in 0.1 mol dm^-3 KCl containing 5 mmol dm^-3 K₃Fe (CN)₆ with cyclic voltgrammetry (CV). The CV results indicated that the KTaO₃ film coated electrode exhibited excellent electrochemical stability. The electrochemical reaction of K₃Fe (CN)₆ on the KTaO₃ film coated electrode was a diffusion-controlling process.

Abstract: Various hydrophilic metal oxides are added to the catalyst layers of anodes because they absorb the water that diffuses from cell cathodes. In this study, the transfer method was employed to form an anode catalyst coated membrane by using hydrophilic TiO₂ nanopowder to improve the performance levels of the proton exchange membrane in low-or zero-humidification conditions. The various TiO₂ loadings added to anode thin film catalyst layers were compared to determine how the TiO₂ loadings affected the fuel cell performance levels at various cell temperatures and gas humidification conditions. The results indicated that adding 0.035mg/cm² of TiO₂ is optimal when the fuel cell temperature is 50 °C or 70 °C.

Abstract: Uniform Pt nanoparticles dispersing on graphene was successfully prepared by using ethylene glycol solution (EG) as the reduction angent, H₂PtCl₆ and the thermal expanded graphite oxide (TGO) as the precursor, under the condition of microwave irradiation. The as-made catalyst is very “clean” because of the dispersant-free formation process. The catalyst was investigated by XRD, FT-IR, TEM and CHI electrochimical analysis instrument. TEM image shows that the Pt particle size is in the range of 2~6 nm with a peak at 3.8 nm. Rotating disk electrode (RDE) cathodic curve shows that Pt/graphene catalyst exhibits similar oxygen reduction reaction (ORR) activity (half wave potential :0.65V) compared to commercial Pt/C (20%) catalysts (0.66V). And the current-time curve shows that the in-house Pt/graphene catalyst possess better electrocatalytic stability than a commercial Pt/C catalyst in 0.5M H₂SO₄ in our experiment.

Abstract: Chemical looping hydrogen production (CLH) is a promising method for pure hydrogen production, which not only can improve energy conversion efficiency and reduce environmental pollution, but also can separate carbon dioxide. This paper try to review the present chemical looping hydrogen process development on the screening of oxygen carrier particles of gaseous fuel and solid fuel, the design of proper reactors, and the system simulation. The design of solid fuel CLH system and the development of oxygen carriers with high reactivity and abrasion resistance for solid fuel at high temperature and pressure will be future research focuses.