Solar Driven Gas Phase Advanced Oxidation Processes for Methane Removal - Challenges and Perspectives

Methane (CH₄) is a potent greenhouse gas and the second highest contributor to global warming. CH₄ emissions are still growing at an alarmingly high pace. To limit global warming to 1.5 °C, one of the most effective strategies is to reduce rapidly the CH₄ emissions by developing large-scale methane removal methods. The purpose of this perspective paper is threefold. (1) To highlight the technology gap dealing with low concentration CH₄ (at many emission sources and in the atmosphere). (2) To analyze the challenges and prospects of solar-driven gas phase advanced oxidation processes for CH₄ removal. And (3) to propose some ideas, which may help to develop solar-driven gas phase advanced oxidation processes and make them deployable at a climate significant scale.     

The Peculiar Dynamics of Cavitation Bubbles

Details from cavitation bubble dynamics are reported: jet formation, counterjet formation, shock wave radiation and light emission. Multiple shock wave radiation from single bubble collapse with jet formation could be time resolved by high speed photography with 20 million frames per second. An explanation of counterjet formation is given. Pictures of the light emission (sonoluminescence) in acoustic cavitation are presented.     

Explosive vaporization in microenclosures

The explosive vaporization of a liquid above planar microheaters induces a fast increase of pressure that is exploited in many thermally driven actuators in MEMS components such as ink jet printer cartridges, pumps, valves and optical switches. Some of these components need to enclose the working fluid as it is the case of valves in which the heated liquid is separated from the flow that it regulates by a flexible membrane. To achieve a better insight into the thermodynamic processes involved, the present work investigates experimentally an enclosed microsystem designed and fabricated for this purpose, composed of a small liquid volume (8 nL) heated by a electric pulse for 2 μs supplied to a planar microfabricated heater. During the heating, the temperature-induced change in resistance can be determined by imposing a defined current and measuring the voltage drop over the heater. While the chip is based on a silicon substrate with integrated platinum heaters and sensors, the structure enclosing the fluid (cavity and fluidic access to it) is made of a silicone elastomer, poly(dimethylsiloxane) (PDMS). This transparent material is widely used in microfluidics and allows for flexible and transparent walls that can be deflected by increasing the pressure inside the cavity. To seal the system the inlet and the outlet were closed by blocking them with a metallic stab. In the present work we visualize vaporization of isopropanol in contact with a suddenly heated planar resistor for two different cavity heights, 150 μm and 16 μm. The rate of temperature rise of the thin liquid layer in contact with the heater is of the order of 10⁷ K s⁻¹ for a pulse duration of 2 μs. We compare bubble growth and collapse for the open and closed systems. Compared to the open system, the bubble growth in the closed system is considerably damped.     

CARBON NANOTUBES VIA METHANE DECOMPOSITION ON AN ALUMINA SUPPORTED COBALT AEROGEL CATALYST

An alumina-supported cobalt aerogel catalyst prepared from a sol-gel and a supercritical drying method was used in the catalytic decomposition of methane.The physical-chemical properties of the catalyst were characterized and its activity for methane decomposition was investigated.The effects of calcination and reaction temperatures on the activity of the catalyst and the morphology of the carbon nanotubes produced were discussed.A COAl2O4 spinel structure formed in the calcined catalyst.The quantity of the nanotubes produced in the reaction increases with the amount of cobalt in the reduced catalyst.A higher reaction temperature leads to a higher reaction rate,though faster deactivation of the catalyst occurs with the change.The carbon nanotubes grown on the catalyst have smooth walls and uniform diameter distribution.     

Motion of inviscid fluid tongues and bubbles in a Hele-Shaw cell occupied by a viscoelastic fluid

Problems of steady-state motion of an inviscid fluid tongue or bubble in a Hele-Shaw cell occupied by a viscoelastic fluid are considered. The problems generalize the well-known Saffman-Taylor problems [1, 2] in the approximation in which the pressure jump on the interface between the two fluids depends on the normal velocity of the interface [4]. In the zero approximation the results obtained by means of an iteration technique are in good agreement with the analytic solutions obtained by Saffman and Taylor [1, 2].__________Translated from Izvestiya Rossiiskoi Academii Nauk, Mekhanika Zhidkosti i Gaza, No. 1, 2005, pp. 117–123. Original Russian Text Copyright © 2005 by Entov, Kolganov, and Kolganova.     

三维气泡与自由表面相互作用的直接数值模拟

采用VOF中的PLIC界面重构方法数值模拟了三维气泡在液流中上升并与自由表面相互作用的运动.分别考察了不同初始高度,有无来流及有无再生气泡对气泡上升高度、上升速度、压力及与自由表面相互作用等的影响.结果表明:气泡初始位置越低,顶端上升的高度越大,自由面隆起的范围更广.越靠近自由表面,底部射流横向发展越窄,而向上的压力梯度,气泡上升速度,底部射流上升高度越大,反之则反;但如果底部射流均在接近自由表面以前已横向发展充分,则差别不大.气泡外形、上升高度、破裂时间以及上升速度与来流无关.产生再生气泡后,原生气泡与再生气泡相吸,相互加速对方的上升;自由表面抬升的高度增幅较大,范围拓宽,上升速度也大大增加,且再生气泡越多,自由表面隆起的范围越大.     

The Experimental Approach to Effective Stress Law of Coal Mass by Effect of Methane

Effective stress law of all kinds of coal samples, including steam coal, fat coal, corking coal, thin coal and anthracite, under pore pressure of gas, is experimentally studied using a newly developed test machine. These samples are taken from Coal Mines in Wuda, Hebi, Yanzhou, Yangquan, Qingshui, and Gujiao in China. The experiment results show that, under pore pressure of gas, the tested coal samples comply with Biots effective stress law, where the Biots coefficient is not a constant, and is bilinear function of volumetric stress () and pore pressure (p), that is, We define four areas according to the numerical feature of , that is, functionless area of pore pressure, normal function area, fracturing function area, and quasi-soil function area. The effective stress law of coal mass introduced by this paper is a constitutive equation in the study of coupled solid and fluid. This has significance in the drainage and outburst of methane in coal seam.     

缓变主流中三维气泡的非线性振动

空化现象和水下噪声机制与液体中气泡的动力学行为密切相关．在无粘势流的假定下，采用多参数摄动分析，研究了缓变主流中三维气泡的非线性体积模态振动．推导了关于缓变泡形展开的各阶扰动方程，获得了一阶振动的演化方程和一些特殊情况下的解析解；并采用高阶有限元离散的边界积分方程方法，对平面固壁和自由面附近三维气泡的固有频率进行了数值计算     

Stagnation point heat transfer from laminar,high temperature methane flames

Combustion of methane-rich fuels frequently provides forced convective heating in industry, and the ability to predict the rate of heat transfer from such flames to solid surfaces is often desirable. Mathematical modelling of stagnation point heat flux has been achieved by numerical solution of the boundary layer equations, and by an analytical equation modified to include the effects of chemical reaction in the free stream flow and to allow for the enhancement in heat flux caused by the diffusion and exothermic recombination of reactive species in the boundary layer surrounding the heat receiving body. Predictions from these models have been compared with experimental data obtained in high temperature methane flames of various equivalence ratios. Within the equilibrium region of these flames, predictions from the modified analytical equation based on total Lewis numbers equal to and greater than one form a tight envelope around the experimental results, and hence provide a relatively simple method of predicting heat flux. Numerical solutions tend to slightly underestimate predictions from the analytical equation and experimental data, although agreement with the alternative prediction method increases with the surface temperature of the heat receiving body     

气泡振动的非线性耦合模型

我们推广了Longuet-Higgins关于各向同性气泡的非各向同性模式激发的二阶理论。着重注意“呼吸”模式和“变形”模式之间的相互作用,两个模式之间的能量交换足够强,以致于两个模式有同量级的振幅。文中指出:模式耦合的方程组类似于其他物理领域(如非线性光学、水波)所研究的方程组,并讨论了二种特解,考虑了平衡点及其稳定性。