Steam reforming of model compounds and fast pyrolysis bio-oil on supported noble metal catalysts

The production of hydrogen by steam reforming of bio-oils obtained from the fast pyrolysis of biomass requires the development of efficient catalysts able to cope with the complex chemical nature of the reactant. The present work focuses on the use of noble metal-based catalysts for the steam reforming of a few model compounds and that of an actual bio-oil. The steam reforming of the model compounds was investigated in the temperature range 650-950 degrees C over Pt, Pd and Rh supported on alumina and a ceria-zirconia sample. The model compounds used were acetic acid, phenol, acetone and ethanol. The nature of the support appeared to play a significant role in the activity of these catalysts. The use of ceria-zirconia, a redox mixed oxide, lead to higher H-2 yields as compared to the case of the alumina-supported catalysts. The supported Rh and Pt catalysts were the most active for the steam reforming of these compounds, while Pd-based catalysts poorly performed. The activity of the promising Pt and Rh catalysts was also investigated for the steam reforming of a bio-oil obtained from beech wood fast pyrolysis. Temperatures close to, or higher than, 800 degrees C were required to achieve significant conversions to COx and H-2 (e.g., H-2 yields around 70%). The ceria-zirconia materials showed a higher activity than the corresponding alumina samples. A Pt/ceria-zirconia sample used for over 9 h showed essentially constant activity, while extensive carbonaceous deposits were observed on the quartz reactor walls from early time on stream. In the present case, no benefit was observed by adding a small amount of O-2 to the steam/bio-oil feed (autothermal reforming, ATR), probably partly due to the already high concentration of oxygen in the bio-oil composition. (c) 2005 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.

The preparation and properties of coprecipitated Cu-Zr-Y and Cu-Zr-La catalysts used for the steam reforming of methanol

A series of Cu-zirconia catalysts containing various additives (Y2O3, La2O3, Al2O3 and CeO2) have been prepared by coprecipitation and their activities and stabilities under operating conditions have been obtained for the steam reforming of methanol. It has been found that an yttria-promoted catalyst containing 30 mol% Cu and 20 mol% of Y2O3 is not only very active but is also very stable under reaction conditions. The yttria appears to stabilise a high copper surface area and may also have a slight promotional effect on the copper. The results obtained with this material compare very favourably with data for the best catalysts reported in the literature. (C) 2007 Published by Elsevier B.V.

Neural network based control for synchronous generators

In this paper, a Radial Basis Function neural network based AVR is proposed. A control strategy which generates local linear models from a global neural model on-line is used to derive controller feedback gains based on the Generalised Minimum Variance technique. Testing is carried out on a micromachine system which enables evaluation of practical implementation of the scheme. Constraints imposed by gathering training data, computational load, and memory requirements for the training algorithm are addressed.

Adsorption of methylene blue onto activated carbon produced from steam activated bituminous coal: A study of equilibrium adsorption isotherm.

Chemical Engineering Journal, 124 (2006) 103.

Determining generators' contribution to loads and line flows & losses considering loop flows

This paper presents a new method for calculating the individual generators' shares in line flows, line losses and loads. The method is described and illustrated on active power flows, but it can be applied in the same way to reactive power flows.

Predictive Current Control of Doubly Fed Induction Generators

This paper presents a predictive current control strategy for doubly-fed induction generators (DFIG). The method predicts the DFIG’s rotor current variations in the synchronous reference frame fixed to the stator flux within a fixed sampling period. This is then used to directly calculate the required rotor voltage to eliminate the current errors at the end of the following sampling period. Space vector modulation is used to generate the required switching pulses within the fixed sampling period. The impact of sampling delay on the accuracy of the sampled rotor current is analyzed and detailed compensation methods are proposed to improve the current control accuracy and system stability. Experimental results for a 1.5 kW DFIG system illustrate the effectiveness and robustness of the proposed control strategy during rotor current steps and rotating speed variation. Tests during negative sequence current injection further demonstrate the excellent dynamic performance of the proposed PCC method.

Ultra-lightweight true random number generators

A series of ultra-lightweight digital true random number generators (TRNGs) are presented. These TRNGs are based on the observation that, when a circuit switches from a metastable state to a bi-stable state, the resulting state may be random. Four such circuits with low hardware cost are presented: one uses an XOR gate; one uses a lookup table; one uses a multiplexer and an inverter; and one uses four transistors. The three TRNGs based on the first three circuits are implemented on a field programmable gate array and successfully pass the DIEHARD RNG tests and the National Institute of Standard and Technology (NIST) RNG tests. To the best of the authors' knowledge, the proposed TRNG designs are the most lightweight among existing TRNGs.