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Thermodynamics for Net-Zero Energy Systems
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Thermodynamics for Net-Zero Energy Systems

A special issue of Energies (ISSN 1996-1073). This special issue belongs to the section "J2: Thermodynamics".

Deadline for manuscript submissions: closed (10 March 2023) | Viewed by 15474

Special Issue Editors

Dr. Yolanda Sanchez-Vicente

E-Mail Website
Chief Guest Editor
Faculty of Engineering and Environment, Department of Mechanical & Construction Engineering, Northumbria University, Newcastle upon Tyne NE1 8ST, UK
Interests: carbon capture and storage; thermophysical properties; green chemistry; supercritical fluids and materials
Prof. Dr. J. P. Martin Trusler

E-Mail Website
Guest Editor
Faculty of Engineering, Department of Chemical Engineering, Imperial College London, London SW7 2AZ, UK
Interests: thermodynamics; thermophysical properties; phase behaviour
Dr. Saif Al Ghafri

E-Mail Website
Guest Editor
School of Engineering, Chemical Engineering, The University of Western Australia, 6009 Perth, Australia
Interests: fluid properties; oil and gas; sustainable energy; CCS; hydrogen; thermophysical

Special Issue Information

Dear Colleagues,

The IPCC Special Report on Global Warming of 1.5 degrees Celsius emphasised the importance of reaching net-zero emission by mid-century to reduce the worst effects of climate change. Energy systems produce a large part of the CO2 emissions and are a key focus for the net-zero ambition. A combination of technologies will be needed to achieve net-zero, such as energy demand reduction, renewables, energy storage, carbon dioxide capture and storage (CCS), CO2 utilisation, low-carbon fuels, and nuclear power. 

When coupled with energy storage technologies, renewable energy sources (especially solar and wind) could play an important role in ensuring a stable energy supply in a net-zero future. Energy can be stored as sensible or latent heat or in chemical bonds, such as by electrolytic hydrogen production. However, renewables alone are not sufficient and another essential part of the solution is the implementation of CCS. This technology can benefit the transition in four main aspects: a) decarbonising power generation, allowing the grid stabilisation services that renewables alone cannot provide; b) reducing CO2 emissions in the industrial sectors, in particular cement, iron and steel, and chemical industries that are the most challenging sectors to decarbonise; c) enabling low-carbon hydrogen production from natural gas; d) achieving carbon removal from the atmosphere through bioenergy with CCS or direct capture of CO2 from the air with geological storage. Moreover, CO2 can be used as feedstock to produce value-added chemical products or synthetic hydrocarbon fuels. A critical step toward net zero will be to move away from high-carbon fossil fuels to low-carbon fuels such as natural gas, hydrogen, and biofuels. Of course, natural gas and hydrogen produced from natural gas must still be coupled with CCS. Nevertheless, low-carbon fuels could be essential to the decarbonisation of transport services such as shipping, aviation, and long-distance road transport. It is forecast that transportation networks could operate with low-carbon emissions through the combination of low-carbon fuels and electricity. 

Knowledge of thermodynamic and thermophysical properties of relevant materials and fluids is fundamental for the development and optimal operation of energy processes. Properties of interest include (but are not limited to) phase behaviour, density, viscosity, thermal conductivity, and latent heat. Moreover, these properties are also essential in developing physical models used in the design of low-carbon energy processes. A good prediction of the system properties through thermodynamic and thermophysical properties models used in process simulation can significantly reduce energy consumption. This Special Issue will bring together cutting-edge studies from leading researchers in the areas of thermodynamic and thermophysical properties measurement and modelling relevant to processes such as CCS, CO2 utilisation, low-carbon fuels, and energy storage.

Dr. Yolanda Sanchez-Vicente
Dr. Saif Al Ghafri
Prof. Dr. J. P. Martin Trusler
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. Energies is an international peer-reviewed open access semimonthly 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 2600 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

  • phase behaviour
  • density
  • viscosity
  • thermal conductivity
  • other thermophysical properties
  • carbon capture storage
  • CO2 utilisation
  • low-carbon fuels
  • thermodynamic models
  • hydrogen
  • biofuels
  • energy storage

Published Papers (5 papers)

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Research

10 pages, 787 KiB  
Article
Speed of Sound Measurements of Biogas from a Landfill Biomethanation Process
by José Juan Segovia, Alejandro Moreau, Xavier Paredes, Teresa E. Fernández-Vicente, David Vega-Maza and María Carmen Martín
Energies 2023, 16(4), 2068; https://0-doi-org.brum.beds.ac.uk/10.3390/en16042068 - 20 Feb 2023
Viewed by 1050
Abstract
Biogas is drawing attention as it can be a solution both to increase the renewable energy for heat or power supply and to help achieve a decarbonized economy. In this work, the measurements of the speed of sound of three mixtures of biogas [...] Read more.
Biogas is drawing attention as it can be a solution both to increase the renewable energy for heat or power supply and to help achieve a decarbonized economy. In this work, the measurements of the speed of sound of three mixtures of biogas from the biomethanation plant of the municipal waste of Valdemingómez, Madrid (Spain), are presented. The measurements were performed using an acoustic resonator, which is able to measure the speed of sound of gas mixtures with a relative expanded uncertainty of approximately 0.08%. A virial-type equation was also applied to fit the experimental values of the speed of sound, and the heat capacities as perfect gas were derived with uncertainties below 0.8%. In addition, the experimental results were compared with those calculated with the reference equations of state for natural gas mixtures such as GERG-2008 and AGA8-DC92. For both equations, the average relative deviations were less than 0.02% and 0.2% for the speed of sound and the heat capacities, respectively. These values are less than the uncertainties of these equations, demonstrating their reliability in predicting the thermodynamic behavior of biogas. Full article
(This article belongs to the Special Issue Thermodynamics for Net-Zero Energy Systems)
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29 pages, 4411 KiB  
Article
Measurements and Modelling of Vapour–Liquid Equilibrium for (H2O + N2) and (CO2 + H2O + N2) Systems at Temperatures between 323 and 473 K and Pressures up to 20 MPa
by Yolanda Sanchez-Vicente and J. P. Martin Trusler
Energies 2022, 15(11), 3936; https://0-doi-org.brum.beds.ac.uk/10.3390/en15113936 - 26 May 2022
Cited by 1 | Viewed by 2004
Abstract
Understanding the phase behaviour of (CO2 + water + permanent gas) systems is critical for implementing carbon capture and storage (CCS) processes, a key technology in reducing CO2 emissions. In this paper, phase behaviour data for (H2O + N [...] Read more.
Understanding the phase behaviour of (CO2 + water + permanent gas) systems is critical for implementing carbon capture and storage (CCS) processes, a key technology in reducing CO2 emissions. In this paper, phase behaviour data for (H2O + N2) and (CO2 + H2O + N2) systems are reported at temperatures from 323 to 473 K and pressures up to 20 MPa. In the ternary system, the mole ratio between CO2 and N2 was 1. Experiments were conducted in a newly designed analytical apparatus that includes two syringe pumps for fluid injection, a high-pressure equilibrium vessel, heater aluminium jacket, Rolsi sampling valves and an online gas chromatograph (GC) for composition determination. A high-sensitivity pulsed discharge detector installed in the GC was used to measure the low levels of dissolved nitrogen in the aqueous phase and low water levels in the vapour phase. The experimental data were compared with the calculation based on the γ-φ and SAFT-γ Mie approaches. In the SAFT-γ Mie model, the like parameters for N2 had to be determined. We also obtained the unlike dispersion energy for the (H2O + N2) system and the unlike repulsive exponent and dispersion energy for the (CO2 + N2) system. This was done to improve the prediction of SAFT-γ Mie model. For the (H2O + N2) binary system, the results show that the solubility of nitrogen in the aqueous phase was calculated better by the γ-φ approach rather than the SAFT-γ Mie model, whereas SAFT-γ Mie performed better for the prediction of the vapour phase. For the (CO2 + H2O + N2) ternary systems, both models predicted the experimental data for each phase with good agreement. Full article
(This article belongs to the Special Issue Thermodynamics for Net-Zero Energy Systems)
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19 pages, 2650 KiB  
Article
Phase Behavior of Carbon Dioxide + Isobutanol and Carbon Dioxide + tert-Butanol Binary Systems
by Sergiu Sima, Adrian Victor Crişciu and Catinca Secuianu
Energies 2022, 15(7), 2625; https://0-doi-org.brum.beds.ac.uk/10.3390/en15072625 - 03 Apr 2022
Cited by 2 | Viewed by 1872
Abstract
In recent years, the dramatic increase of greenhouse gases concentration in atmosphere, especially of carbon dioxide, determined many researchers to investigate new mitigation options. Thermodynamic studies play an important role in the development of new technologies for reducing the carbon levels. In this [...] Read more.
In recent years, the dramatic increase of greenhouse gases concentration in atmosphere, especially of carbon dioxide, determined many researchers to investigate new mitigation options. Thermodynamic studies play an important role in the development of new technologies for reducing the carbon levels. In this context, our group investigated the phase behavior (vapor–liquid equilibrium (VLE), vapor–liquid–liquid equilibrium (VLLE), liquid–liquid equilibrium (LLE), upper critical endpoints (UCEPs), critical curves) of binary and ternary systems containing organic substances with different functional groups to determine their ability to dissolve carbon dioxide. This study presents our results for the phase behavior of carbon dioxide + n-butanol structural isomers binary systems at high-pressures. Liquid–vapor critical curves are measured for carbon dioxide + isobutanol and carbon dioxide + tert-butanol binary systems at pressures up to 147.3 bar, as only few scattered critical points are available in the literature. New isothermal vapor–liquid equilibrium data are also reported at 363.15 and 373.15 K. New VLE data at higher temperature are necessary, as only another group reported some data for the carbon dioxide + isobutanol system, but with high errors. Phase behavior experiments were performed in a high-pressure two opposite sapphire windows cell with variable volume, using a static-analytical method with phases sampling by rapid online sample injectors (ROLSI) coupled to a gas chromatograph (GC) for phases analysis. The measurement results of this study are compared with the literature data when available. The new and all available literature data for the carbon dioxide + isobutanol and carbon dioxide + tert-butanol binary systems are successfully modeled with three cubic equations of state, namely, General Equation of State (GEOS), Soave–Redlich–Kwong (SRK), and Peng–Robinson (PR), coupled with classical van der Waals mixing rules (two-parameter conventional mixing rules, 2PCMR), using a predictive method. Full article
(This article belongs to the Special Issue Thermodynamics for Net-Zero Energy Systems)
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16 pages, 2933 KiB  
Article
Modelling of Liquid Hydrogen Boil-Off
by Saif Z. S. Al Ghafri, Adam Swanger, Vincent Jusko, Arman Siahvashi, Fernando Perez, Michael L. Johns and Eric F. May
Energies 2022, 15(3), 1149; https://0-doi-org.brum.beds.ac.uk/10.3390/en15031149 - 04 Feb 2022
Cited by 25 | Viewed by 7478
Abstract
A model has been developed and implemented in the software package BoilFAST that allows for reliable calculations of the self-pressurization and boil-off losses for liquid hydrogen in different tank geometries and thermal insulation systems. The model accounts for the heat transfer from the [...] Read more.
A model has been developed and implemented in the software package BoilFAST that allows for reliable calculations of the self-pressurization and boil-off losses for liquid hydrogen in different tank geometries and thermal insulation systems. The model accounts for the heat transfer from the vapor to the liquid phase, incorporates realistic heat transfer mechanisms, and uses reference equations of state to calculate thermodynamic properties. The model is validated by testing against a variety of scenarios using multiple sets of industrially relevant data for liquid hydrogen (LH2), including self-pressurization and densification data obtained from an LH2 storage tank at NASA’s Kennedy Space Centre. The model exhibits excellent agreement with experimental and industrial data across a range of simulated conditions, including zero boil-off in microgravity environments, self-pressurization of a stored mass of LH2, and boil-off from a previously pressurized tank as it is being relieved of vapor. Full article
(This article belongs to the Special Issue Thermodynamics for Net-Zero Energy Systems)
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16 pages, 2329 KiB  
Article
Thermodynamics-Informed Neural Network (TINN) for Phase Equilibrium Calculations Considering Capillary Pressure
by Tao Zhang and Shuyu Sun
Energies 2021, 14(22), 7724; https://0-doi-org.brum.beds.ac.uk/10.3390/en14227724 - 18 Nov 2021
Cited by 27 | Viewed by 1852
Abstract
The thermodynamic properties of fluid mixtures play a crucial role in designing physically meaningful models and robust algorithms for simulating multi-component multi-phase flow in subsurface, which is needed for many subsurface applications. In this context, the equation-of-state-based flash calculation used to predict the [...] Read more.
The thermodynamic properties of fluid mixtures play a crucial role in designing physically meaningful models and robust algorithms for simulating multi-component multi-phase flow in subsurface, which is needed for many subsurface applications. In this context, the equation-of-state-based flash calculation used to predict the equilibrium properties of each phase for a given fluid mixture going through phase splitting is a crucial component, and often a bottleneck, of multi-phase flow simulations. In this paper, a capillarity-wise Thermodynamics-Informed Neural Network is developed for the first time to propose a fast, accurate and robust approach calculating phase equilibrium properties for unconventional reservoirs. The trained model performs well in both phase stability tests and phase splitting calculations in a large range of reservoir conditions, which enables further multi-component multi-phase flow simulations with a strong thermodynamic basis. Full article
(This article belongs to the Special Issue Thermodynamics for Net-Zero Energy Systems)
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