No abstract

No abstract

Nowadays, integrated microfiltration (MF) membrane systems treatment is becoming widely popular due to its feasibility, process reliability, commercial availability, modularity, relative insensitivity in case of wastewater of various industrial sources as well as raw water treatment and lower operating costs. The well thought out, designed and implemented use of membranes can decrease capital cost, reduce chemical usage, and require little maintenance. Due to their resistance to extreme operating conditions and cleaning protocols, ceramic MF membranes are gradually becoming more employed in the drinking water and wastewater treatment industries when compared with organic and polymeric membranes. Regardless of their many advantages, during continuous operation these membranes are susceptible to a fouling process that can be detrimental for successful and continuous plant operations. Chemical and microbial agents including suspended particles, organic matter particulates, microorganisms and heavy metals mainly contribute to fouling, a complex multifactorial phenomenon. Several strategies, such as chemical cleaning protocols, turbulence promoters and backwashing with air or liquids are currently used in the industry, mainly focusing around early prevention and treatment, so that the separation efficiency of MF membranes will not decrease over time. Other strategies include combining coagulation with either inorganic or organic coagulants, with membrane treatment which can potentially enhance pollutants retention and reduce membrane fouling.

Increasing amounts of variable renewable generation are likely to enter our energy systems in the near future. In order to accommodate this generation onto our electricity networks, the concept of active network management (ANM) has become a significant area of research interest. Network connected energy storage is considered here as a means to actively control the network in order to increase the amount of generation it is possible to connect to a network. Energy storage is one of several potential methods of ANM, but has not been widely researched in this context. In this paper the ability of energy storage to increase the amount of wind energy accepted onto a network is assessed over a range of round trip storage efficiencies. The results show that energy storage is able to increase the energy accepted onto a distribution network, with the efficiency of the energy storage, energy storage capacity, wind farm size, network losses and network characteristics being important in determining the relative effectiveness of energy storage.

No abstract