In this paper we present the results obtained from tests conducted on ultrafiltration treatment of a secondary effluent designated for possible industrial reuse. Tests were carried out at Empoli Wastewater Treatment Plant (WWTP) (Florence, Italy) with the use of a hollow fiber pilot plant (mod. ZW-10, Zenon Environmental). Testing lasted for about 4 months, during which the pilot plant was fed by effluent from the wastewater treatment plant. Results show that the permeate was of high quality. The membranes were very efficient in reducing turbidity (94.5%) and TSS (98.7%). The reduction of COD (around 35%) was also good. The permeate also showed low SDI values (usually < 3%). With respect to microbiological parameters, treatment was shown to be above all efficient in the removal of Escherichia coli. The permeate already respects required quality standards set forth by a new technical law decree on water reuse, soon to be approved within Italian Legislation. Based on these test results, a preliminary design of a wastewater treatment plant with the complex of structures necessary to the distribution of the treated wastewater in the industrial area located closed to the plant, has been created. Under this design, treated water could be produced at a cost of 0.38 Euro/m3, which includes investment, financial charges and maintenance costs.
Concern about global warming and the high consumption of fossil fuels has led some countries to seek and invest in new energy sources that are efficient and less polluting. Among these alternatives, hydrogen fuel cells are a potential solution that can generate clean energy. Due to the industrial production of hydrogen being carried out by steam reforming of methane, which uses non-renewable raw material and is endothermic (resulting in high energy costs), the autothermal reform of ethanol has been presenting itself as an interesting technology, as it combines a renewable raw material with the reactions of reform (endothermic) and partial oxidation (exothermic), thus achieving energy self-sufficiency in the process of converting ethanol to hydrogen. Despite the various studies referring to the autothermal reform of ethanol, to our knowledge, no article has presented a detailed review of the main advances made in recent years for this process. Thus, this review presents the main results for the autothermal reform of ethanol, in recent years, in three main areas: Catalysts, Reactor Design and Modeling / Simulation. This work identified that the greatest advances have been made in the development of new catalysts and the design of reactors, while the modeling/simulation area still has few studies to efficiently describe the thermodynamics of the autothermal reform of ethanol.
Brazil is a signatory to the Paris Agreement and aims to reduce 43% of CO2 emissions by 2030, compared to 2005. However, changes in energy policies are needed to achieve this goal, evaluating the produced effects on emissions. One way to predict these effects is through mathematical modeling. In this paper, we carried out a literature review to identify the most used model types and independent variables to forecasting Brazilian CO2 emissions. The review showed that gray models and artificial neural networks are the most used ones. Furthermore, we also identified that economic growth and energy consumption are the main independent variables.
scite is a Brooklyn-based organization that helps researchers better discover and understand research articles through Smart Citations–citations that display the context of the citation and describe whether the article provides supporting or contrasting evidence. scite is used by students and researchers from around the world and is funded in part by the National Science Foundation and the National Institute on Drug Abuse of the National Institutes of Health.