فهرست مطالب

Journal of Renewable Energy and Environment
Volume:8 Issue: 3, Summer 2021

  • تاریخ انتشار: 1400/05/17
  • تعداد عناوین: 10
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  • Nima Amani *, Abdul AmirReza Soroush Pages 1-7

    One of the main reasons of environmental pollution is energy consumption in buildings. Today, the use of renewable energy sources is increasing dramatically. Among these sources, solar energy has favorable costs for various applications. This study examined a commercial building in a hot and humid climate. The findings showed that choosing the optimal angle of solar panels with the goal of optimized energy consumption would yield reduced costs and less environmental pollutants with the least cost and maximum energy absorption. In this study, to calculate the energy requirements of the building, DesignBuilder software was used. To study the solar angles and estimate the energy produced by the solar panels, Polysun software was used after simulating the building energy. Energy simulation results showed that the whole building energy consumption was 26604 kWh/year. Finally, the evaluation results of solar panels showed that the energy produced by photovoltaic modules at an optimal angle of 31° would be equal to 26978 kWh/year, which is more than the energy required by the building. This system can prevent 14471 kg of carbon dioxide emissions annually. Sustainable energy criteria showed that for the studied building, photovoltaic modules could be used in energy production to reach a zero-energy system connected to the grid with an annual energy balance.

    Keywords: Optimal angle, Renewable Energy, Photovoltaic modules, Energy efficiency, Energy consumption management
  • Rasoul Aydram, Hossein Haji Agha Alizade *, Majid Rasouli, Behdad Shadidi Pages 8-15
    Reduced emissions of greenhouse gases and global warming can be made possible by discovering alternative energies and reduced dependence on fossil fuels. Biogas is considered as one of the alternatives to fossil fuels. This study investigates anaerobic co-digestion for the development of biogas with sheep blood and cheese whey. Digested cow manure was used as inoculum. Using the Design Expert 10 program and within the context of mixture design, the experiments were designed. Then, 22 experimental digesters with a volume of 500 mL were considered for doing the experiments considering the design output provided by the software. Each one was filled with 300 mL of different compositions of three matters. The digesters were kept in the mesophilic temperature range (37 °C ) for 21 days. Biogas was measured using the BMP test on a daily basis. According to the experimental findings, the best composition included 35 % sheep blood, 35 % cheese whey, and 30 % inoculum. This biogas composition produced a biogas yield of 146.66 mL/g vs. The amount of methane production in this compound was 73.33 mL/g vs. After modeling, the Design Expert software predicted an optimal composition including 44 % sheep blood, 24 % cheese whey, and 32 % inoculum. Biogas yield of this prediction was 143 mL/g vs. The findings show that in order to overcome acidification in digestion of matters such as cheese whey, a composition of matters with higher pH stability can be used to increase the amount of biogas and methane produced in a particular period. Furthermore, using inoculum accelerates the digestion operations due to existence of many microorganisms and saves time and energy.
    Keywords: Slaughterhouse waste, Biogas, Biochemical methane potential test, optimization, Response Surface Methodology
  • Aychar Khajavipour, MohammadReza Shahraki *, Faranak Hosseinzadeh Saljooghi Pages 16-25

    The energy of processes is mainly supplied by fossil fuels. Short life of fossil energy sources and increasing environmental pollution caused by fossil fuels and increasing demand have made researchers introduce new solutions for supply of energy. Energy production in a photovoltaic solar power plant is cost-effective due to being clean and renewable. The power generation of these plants is affected by their site due to climate conditions, effective radiation periods, and the rate of solar radiation absorption. Therefore, finding the optimal location to establish a solar power plant is important. Identifying effective location criteria and the importance of these criteria is effective in choosing the optimal location.In this research, in the first phase, the effective criteria in locating a photovoltaic solar power plant were investigated based on the Delphi method. Then, in the second phase, based on the criteria identified in the first phase, fuzzy hierarchy method was used to compare the criteria with each other and determine the importance of each of them. The results of the study showed that the rate of solar radiation and average temperature were the most important criteria in locating photovoltaic solar power plant. Moreover, the criteria of slope, distance to main roads, distance to power lines, and land use were of highest importance in locating a photovoltaic solar power plant.

    Keywords: Locating, Photovoltaic solar power plant, Fuzzy hierarchical method
  • Farid Jafarihaghighi, Hasanali Bahrami, Mehdi Ardjmand *, Mehrdad Mirzajanzadeh Pages 26-35
    The present study uses three generations of biodiesels and studies their effects on physical properties and exhaust gases. They are comprised of Palmaria palmate oil (third generation), Eucheuma spinosum oil (third generation), Eucheuma cottonii oil (third generation), Common wormwood oil (second generation), Marjoram oil (second generation), Peganum harmala oil (second generation), Zingiber officinale oil (first generation), Anethum graveolens oil (first generation), and Cacao bean oil (first generation). Results show that             first-generation oils gain a higher level of Calorific value around 41.16 MJ/kg than other generations. The longest carbon chain is observed by the first generation with higher unsaturated fatty acids than other generations (94.11 %). The first generation gains a higher level of density around 882 kg/m3 than other generations. Also, the first generation gains a higher level of flash point around 193 ˚C than other generations. The third generation gains a high level of cetane number at about 69, compared to other generations. The first generation gains a minimum level of cloud and pour point around -3 ˚C and -2 ˚C compared to other generations. Moreover, the third generation gains the lowest level of viscosity about 2.51 CSt compared to the first generation. The third generation gains the lowest level of NOx around 371 ppm compared to other generations. Finally, the third generation gains the lowest level of soot, CO, and HC around 0.47 Vol. %, 0.018 Vol. %, and 4.82 ppm, compared to other generations.
    Keywords: physical properties, Chemical properties, three different biodiesel generation, emissions
  • Maryam Nosratinia, Ali Tofigh, Mehrdad Adl * Pages 36-44
    Given the world’s growing population and energy demand, modern methods are developed to contribute to generating alternative energies. They aim to maintain the renewability of the supplied energy and decrease environmental contaminations. Biogas is a renewable energy carrier that has recently been under consideration in Iran. One objective of such plans is to find proper locations for installing and running the existing potentials and infrastructures. In this paper, Tehran, Iran is selected as the study area which is ranked the 1st in population density and proper infrastructures available here are accessible. According to the widespread poultry and cow-breading farms in this province, bovine and aviculture excreta are considered as raw materials in producing biogas. An inference network was established in this research for evaluating the process taking into account the infrastructural parameters, geomorphological constraints, resource availability factors, and limiting parameters such as protected/prohibited areas.In this paper, the fuzzy method was used to standardize the data and the fuzzy-analytical hierarchy process method was employed to weight the locating criteria in the geographical information system. The evaluation outcomes suggested certain zones in southern parts of the province in which the industrial livestock farms become frequently widespread and the suburb areas of smaller cities on the eastern part of the province are the most proper areas for this purpose.
    Keywords: Location, Biogas, Geographical information system (GIS), Fuzzy logic
  • Ehsan Hasan Zaim, Hadi Farzan * Pages 45-53
    Utilizing thermal storage units such as Phase Change Materials (PCMs) is a suitable approach to improving Solar Air Heaters (SAHs). The present study tries to assess the effects of PCM mass values on the heat dynamics and thermal performance of SAHs. To this aim, an analytical thermodynamic model was developed and validated by available experimental data. This model provides a robust numerical framework to model the phase change phenomenon and analyze the heat dynamics and thermal performance of SAH using various PCM masses. Four scenarios were considered using the developed analytical model including SAHs using 0, 30, 60, 90 kg PCM. The obtained results illustrated that the maximum outlet temperature was reduced, approximately near 20 %, by increasing the PCM mass between 0 and 90 kg; however, heating time was extended to periods when solar energy availability was inadequate. The thermal performance improved by nearly 14.5 % in the SAH using 90 kg PCM mass compared to the SAH without using PCM. The thermal performance of the SAH with 90 kg PCM was slightly higher than the SAH using 30 kg of PCM; hence, a significant portion of stored thermal energy was lost during nighttime through heat exchange with ambient surroundings. The obtained results also showed that despite available latent thermal energy, the outlet air temperature profiles for the SAHs using different PCM mass were close after sunset due to the low thermal conductivity of paraffin.
    Keywords: Solar air heater, Phase change material, Analytical Study, Thermal Performance, Heat Dynamics
  • Sibel Dursun, Ercan Aykut, Bahtiyar Dursun * Pages 54-67
    Somalia–Turkish Training and Research Hospital in Mogadishu, is only powered by diesel generator currently. In this paper, the energy demand of this hospital is utilized by determining the optimum hybrid renewable energy generating system. By HOMER, a sensitivity analysis has been made with emphasis on three significant variables such as average wind speed, present diesel price, and solar radiation. From the results, it can be said that an optimum system is the standalone wind-diesel-battery storage Hybrid Renewable Energy System (HRES) with the configuration of 1,000 kW wind turbine, 350 kW diesel generator, 250 kW power converters, and 300 batteries. Additionally, the net present cost of the optimum system is calculated to be $5,056,700 and its cost of energy is estimated to be 0.191 $/kWh. The present cost of energy for Somalia is  0.5 $/kWh. This shows that the energy cost for the proposed HRES is cheaper than the conventional one. Lastly, according to the results, it is clear that the wind–diesel–battery storage HRES seems more environment friendly than other HRESs.
    Keywords: Somalia, renewable power generating system, Hospital, environmental assessment, hybrid systems, Renewable Energy
  • Payam Ghorbannezhad, Maryam Abbasi * Pages 68-74
    Fast pyrolysis of sugarcane bagasse was investigated in a tandem micro-pyrolyzer. The effects of temperature and particle size on the phenolic compounds and hemicellulose products distribution were examined during fast pyrolysis process. For this, changes in the micro-reactor parameters were made (particle size between 0.1 and 0.5 mm and reactor temperature between 450 and 600 °C). Response Surface Methodology (RSM) was used to optimize pyrolysis parameters. The results indicated that the temperature had the highest effect on phenolic and furfural-type compounds, whereas the particle size did not exhibit significant effects on carboxylic acid products. The largest number of phenolic compounds were achieved upon decreasing the temperature and increasing particle size. The ANOVA analysis revealed that the full quadratic model was more adequate for phenolic and furfural compounds, whereas the linear square model was accurate for carboxylic acids. In general, a tandem micro-pyrolyzer interfacing with a GC-MS analysis facilitated a better understanding of a chemical composition of biomass and therefore, could remarkably improve the valorising of sugarcane bagasse application in biorefinery processes.
    Keywords: sugarcane bagasse, Fast pyrolysis, Phenolic Compounds, Furfural
  • Maryam Hafezparast *, Seiran Marabi Pages 75-85
    Understanding of climate change and its impacts on river discharge has affected the quality and quantity of water and also supplying water requirements for drinking, agriculture and industry. Therefore, prediction of precipitation and temperature by climate models as well as simulation and optimization of their runoff with suitable models are very important. In this study, four climate models of the Fifth Coupled Model Inter comparison Project (CMIP5) and RCP8.5 scenario were used to forecast future precipitation and temperature for the next two periods including 2020-2052 and 2053-2085. Mean Observed Temperature-Precipitation (MOTP) method was used to reduce the uncertainty of climate models and the change factor method was used to downscale the climate data. Then, the Lumped-conceptual Identification of unit Hydrographs and Component flows from Rainfall, Evaporation and Stream flow data (IHACRES) model and multi-layer Artificial Neural Network (ANN) model were employed to estimate the effects of these parameters on the Khorramrood River runoff. The neural network model is written and implemented using Scikit-Learn library and the Python programming language. The comparison of performance of ANN models with different input variables like monthly precipitation, monthly precipitation of previous months, monthly discharge, monthly discharge of previous months, monthly temperature was made to find the best and most efficient network structure. The results showed that the precipitation in Khorramrood River basin based on the weighted combination model decreased by 8.18 % and 9.75 % in the first and the second periods, respectively, while the temperature increased by 1.85 and 4.22 °C, respectively. The discharge parameter in the calibration and validation period in the IHACRES model based on criteria to evaluate the parameters of Root Mean Square Error (RMSE), Mean Absolute Error (MAE), The Coefficient of Determination (R), and the Nash-Sutcliffe Efficiency (NSE) performed better than the artificial neural network model. However, due to the small differences of these changes, the predictions were performed for both periods and using both models and the results indicated that future discharge in the IHACRES model decreased by 12.72 % during the first period and by 20.3 % in the second period, while the model of artificial neural network showed decrease rates of 2.12 % and 6.97 %, respectively.
    Keywords: RCP8.5, Runoff Prediction, IHACRES, MLP, Kermanshah
  • Abolfazl Taherzadeh Fini, Abolfazl Fattahi * Pages 86-93
    Energy crisis in the world motivates countries to hire new and renewable energies. One of the main and valuable renewable sources of energy is agricultural waste. This is widely disposed of through the world during the harvest, packing, and transportation. In many countries, agricultural waste is considerably weighty. Nonetheless, most of that is used for animal feed or herbal fertilizer and no useful value is added. Despite its location in an arid region, Iran produces various citrus, cereals, and vegetables in high tonnage. The waste of the agricultural product, especially those disposed of by the food processing industries, such as fruit juice factories, remains also useless. The potential of the residues to extract biofuel is investigated in the current experimental study. Six samples of abundant agricultural products in Iran are chosen: sugarcane, grape, potato, orange peel, date, and mulberry. The processes of pretreatment, hydrolysis, and fermentation are performed and the extracted juice is directed to the distiller to gather bioethanol. To evaluate the distilled juice purity, a gas chromatography test is carried out. It is shown that date and mulberry can produce a maximum of 29.5 and 23 ml (ethanol)/100 g (dry waste) as the most efficient agricultural products.
    Keywords: Biofuel production, Pretreatment, hydrolysis, Agricultural wastes, Renewable Energy, Gas Chromatography