Drying and firing of ceramic products are processes that require high energy consumption. Making these processes more efficient can improve product quality, reduce processing time and energy consumption, and promote economic and environmental gains. In this sense, this work aims to quantify heat transfer in an intermittent ceramic kiln during the heating and cooling stages, with and without thermal insulation. All mathematical formulation is based on the first law of thermodynamics. From the results, we conclude that the greatest heat loss occurs by radiation in the sidewalls of the equipment, and that a considerable amount of energy is required to heat the sidewalls, base, and ceiling of the kiln. Further, with the use of thermal insulation, it was concluded that a high reduction in the heat lost through the sidewalls was achieved, thus providing a global energy gain of approximately 35% and a reduction in the maximum external surface temperature from 249.34 to 79.47 °C when compared to the kiln without thermal insulation, reducing the risks of work accidents and thermal discomfort when in operation.

Smoke is the main threat of death in fires. For this reason, it becomes extremely important to understand the dispersion of this pollutant and to verify the influence of different control systems on its spread through buildings, in order to avoid or minimize its effects on living beings. Thus, this work aims to perform thermo-fluid dynamic study of smoke dispersion in a closed environment. All numerical analysis was performed using the Fire Dynamics Simulator (FDS) software. Different simulations were carried out to evaluate the influence of the exhaust system (natural or mechanical), the heat release rate (HRR), ventilation and the smoke curtain in the pollutant dispersion. Results of the smoke layer interface height, temperature profile, average exhaust volumetric flow rate, pressure and velocity distribution are presented and discussed. The results indicate that an increase in the natural exhaust area increases the smoke layer interface height, only for the well-ventilated compartment (open windows); an increase in the HRR accelerates the downward vertical displacement of the smoke layer and that the 3 m smoke curtain is efficient in exhausting smoke, only in the case of poorly ventilated compartments (i.e., with closed windows).

Currently, the oil industry deals with the challenge of produced-water proper disposal, and the membrane-separation technology appears as an important tool on the treatment of these waters. In this sense, this work developed a mathematical model for simulating the oil/water separation by a ceramic membrane. The aim was to investigate the thermal aspects of the separation process via computational fluid dynamic, using the Ansys CFX® 15 software (15, Ansys, Inc., Canonsburg, PA, USA). Oil concentration, pressure, and velocity distributions, as well as permeation velocity, are presented and analyzed. It was verified that the mathematical model was capable of accurately representing the studied phenomena and that temperature strongly influences the flow behavior.

In the oil industry and academy, the treatment of water contaminated with oil using conventional hydrocyclones and membranes has been an alternative to meet the requirements established by environmental control agencies. However, such equipment is not fully efficient in the treatment of much diluted oily water, with both presenting restrictions in their performance. In this sense, the present work proposes to study the separation process of oily water using a new configuration of hydrocyclone, equipped with a porous ceramic membrane in the conical part’s wall (filtering hydrocyclone). For the theoretical study, a Eulerian–Eulerian approach was applied to solve the mass and momentum conservation equations, and the turbulence model, using the computational fluid dynamics technique. The results of the velocity, pressure and volumetric fraction of the involved phases, and the separation performance of the hydrocyclone, are presented, analyzed, and compared with those obtained with a conventional hydrocyclone. The results confirmed the high potential of the proposed equipment to be used in the separation of the water and oil mixture.

The development of thermal energy storage systems is a possible solution in the search for reductions in the difference between the global energy supply and demand. In this context, the ability of some materials, the so-called phase change materials (PCMs), to absorb and release large amounts of energy under specific periods and operating conditions has been verified. The applications of these materials are limited due to their low thermal conductivity, and thus, it is necessary to associate them with high-conductivity materials, such as metals, to make the control of energy absorption and release times possible. Bearing this in mind, this paper presents a numerical analysis of the melting process of a PCM into a triplex tube heat exchanger (TTHX) with finned copper tubes, which allowed for the heat transfer between a heating fluid (water) and the phase change material to power a liquid-desiccant air conditioning system. Through the analysis of the temperature fields, liquid fractions, and velocities, as well as the phase transition, it was possible to describe the material charging process; then, the results were compared with experimental data, which are available in the specialized literature, and presented mean errors of less than 10%. The total required time to completely melt the PCM was about 105.5 min with the water being injected into the TTHX at a flow rate of 8.3 L/min and a temperature of 90 °C. It was observed that the latent energy that accumulated during the melting process was 1330 kJ, while the accumulated sensitive energy was 835 kJ. The average heat flux at the internal surface of the inner tube was about 3 times higher than the average heat flux at the outer surface of the TTHX intermediate tube due to the velocity gradients that developed in the internal part of the heat exchanger, and was about 10 times more intense than those observed in the external region of the equipment.

Wastewater from the oil industry can be considered a dangerous contaminant for the environment and needs to be treated before disposal or re-use. Currently, membrane separation is one of the most used technologies for the treatment of produced water. Therefore, the present work aims to study the process of separating oily water in a module equipped with a ceramic membrane, based on the Eulerian–Eulerian approach and the Shear-Stress Transport (SST k-ω) turbulence model, using the Ansys Fluent® 15.0. The hydrodynamic behavior of the water/oil mixture in the filtration module was evaluated under different conditions of the mass flow rate of the fluid mixture and oil concentration at the entrance, the diameter of the oil particles, and membrane permeability and porosity. It was found that an increase in the feed mass flow rate from 0.5 to 1.5 kg/s significantly influenced transmembrane pressure, that varied from 33.00 to 221.32 kPa. Besides, it was observed that the particle diameter and porosity of the membranes did not influence the performance of the filtration module; it was also verified that increasing the permeability of the membranes, from 3 × 10−15 to 3 × 10−13 m2, caused transmembrane pressure reduction of 22.77%. The greater the average oil concentration at the permeate (from 0.021 to 0.037 kg/m3) and concentrate (from 1.00 to 1.154 kg/m3) outlets, the higher the average flow rate of oil at the permeate outlets. These results showed that the filter separator has good potential for water/oil separation.

Este trabalho apresenta um estudo teórico da transferência de calor e massa durante a secagem de tijolos cerâmicos industriais em estufa. Foram propostos modelos matemáticos para descrever as cinéticas de secagem e aquecimento do tijolo em função do tempo de processo, considerando a existência das áreas superficiais interna e a externa e variações dimensionais do tijolo. Foram propostos modelos empíricos para predizer o comportamento do teor de umidade, temperatura superficial, volume e áreas superficiais interna e externa do produto. O estudo foi conduzido em diferentes condições operacionais do ar de secagem (50 a 100°C). Toda a modelagem foi ajustada a dados experimentais do teor de umidade médio, temperatura na superfície e dimensões médias do tijolo durante a secagem, em cada condição experimental, obtendo-se um bom ajuste e elevado coeficiente de determinação, evidenciando sua confiabilidade para ser usada na predição do problema físico. Da comparação, estimou-se o volume, as áreas superficiais interna e externa e os parâmetros de transferência de calor e de massa do tijolo.

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