Description: The challenge of developing effective separation and purification technologies that leave much smaller energy footprints is greater for carbon dioxide (CO2) than for other gases. In addition to its involvement in climate change, CO2 is present as an impurity in biogas and bio-hydrogen (biological production by dark fermentation), in post-combustion processes (flue gas, CO2-N2) and many other gas streams. Selected phenol-formaldehyde resin-based activated carbons prepared in our laboratory have been evaluated under static conditions (adsorption isotherms) as potential adsorbents for CO2 separation at sub-atmospheric pressures, i.e., in post-combustion processes or from biogas and bio-hydrogen streams. CO2, H2, N2, and CH4 adsorption isotherms at 25 °C and up to 100 kPa were obtained using a volumetric equipment and were correlated by applying the Sips model. Adsorption equilibrium was then predicted for multicomponent gas mixtures by extending the multicomponent Sips model and the Ideal Adsorbed Solution Theory (IAST) in conjunction with the Sips model. The CO2 uptakes of the resin-derived carbons from CO2-CH4, CO2-H2, and CO2-N2 at atmospheric pressure were greater than those of the reference commercial carbon (Calgon BPL). The performance of the resin-derived carbons in terms of equilibrium of adsorption seems therefore relevant to CO2 separation in post-combustion (flue gas, CO2-N2) and in hydrogen fermentation (CO2-H2, CO2-CH4).

Description: Energies, Vol. 10, Pages 1238: Noise Sources, Effects and Countermeasures in Narrowband Power-Line Communications Networks: A Practical Approach Energies doi: 10.3390/en10081238 Authors: Gregorio López José Ignacio Moreno Eutimio Sánchez Cristina Martínez Fernando Martín The integration of Distributed Generation, Electric Vehicles, and storage without compromising the quality of the power delivery requires the deployment of a communications overlay that allows monitoring and controlling low voltage networks in almost real time. Power Line Communications are gaining momentum for this purpose since they present a great trade-off between economic and technical features. However, the power lines also represent a harsh communications medium which presents different problems such as noise, which is indeed affected by Distributed Generation, Electric Vehicles, and storage. This paper provides a comprehensive overview of the types of noise that affects Narrowband Power Line Communications, including normative noises, noises coming from common electronic devices measured in actual operational power distribution networks, and noises coming from photovoltaic inverters and electric vehicle charging spots measured in a controlled environment. The paper also reviews several techniques to mitigate the effects of noise, paying special attention to passive filtering, as for being one of the most widely used solution to avoid this kind of problems in the field. In addition, the paper presents a set of tests carried out to evaluate the impact of some representative noises on Narrowband Power Line Communications network performance, as well as the effectiveness of different passive filter configurations to mitigate such an impact. In addition, the considered sources of noise can also bring value to further improve PLC communications in the new scenarios of the Smart Grid as an input to theoretical models or simulations.