Publications related to Energy return on investment

Renewable energy integration and waste heat valorization in aluminum remelting for co-producing kerosene and methanol

François Maréchal, Daniel Alexander Florez Orrego, Meire Ellen Gorete Ribeiro Domingos, Réginald Germanier

The aluminium sector relies on natural gas for the conversion of recycled scrap into new feedstock, which results in substantial atmospheric emissions. Hydric resources are also impacted, as they serve as heat sinks for the waste heat generated during the ...

Associazione Italiana Di Ingegneria Chimica2024

Beyond the average consumer: Mapping the potential of demand-side management among patterns of appliance usage

Claudia Rebeca Binder Signer, Matteo Barsanti, Selin Yilmaz

To support the decarbonisation of the power sector and offset the volatility of a system with high levels of renewables, there is growing interest in residential Demand-Side Management (DSM) solutions. Traditional DSM strategies require consumers to active ...

2024

NBI optimization on SMART and implications for scenario development

Mario Ludovico Podesta, Francesca Maria Poli

The SMall Aspect Ratio Tokamak (SMART) under commissioning at the University of Seville, Spain, aims to explore confinement properties and possible advantages in confinement for compact/spherical tokamaks operating at negative vs. positive triangularity. T ...

Iop Publishing Ltd2024

Modeling, design and economics of PEC devices

Alexandre Dominique M. Cattry

Photo-electrochemical (PEC) devices allow for converting solar energy into chemical energy and for the production of energetically dense solar fuels. Light absorption, charge separation and transport, electrochemical reactions, and ionic transport are requ ...

EPFL2024

Decarbonizing the fertilizers sector: an alternative pathway for urea and nitric acid production

François Maréchal, Daniel Alexander Florez Orrego, Meire Ellen Gorete Ribeiro Domingos

In order to alleviate the environmental impact that nitrogen fertilizers production is responsible for, several efforts have been addressed to incentivize the partial or total decarbonization of the supply chains of ammonia and its derivatives. The decarbo ...

2024

A systemic study for enhanced waste heat recovery and renewable energy integration towards decarbonizing the aluminium industry

François Maréchal, Daniel Alexander Florez Orrego, Réginald Germanier

The aluminium remelting industry relies on natural gas to transform recycled aluminium into aluminium feedstock, entailing significant atmospheric emissions. Hydric resources are also affected as they are used as sinks of waste heat from the casting proces ...

2023

What is the net PV energy production in Switzerland and how can we maximize it?

Gloria Serra Coch, Pablo Francisco Martinez Alcaraz

Maximizing solar energy production in Switzerland is key to meet energy transition goals. Understanding in detail the current situation, and the potential for expansion is important to develop effective strategies. With this study, we want to contribute to ...

2023

Comparative techno-economic and energy analyses of integrated biorefinery processes of furfural and 5-hydroxymethylfurfural from biomass residue

François Maréchal

For efficient feedstock and energy utilization, integrated biorefinery processes are applied to furfural production from bagasse to convert furfural residue into 5-hydroxymethylfurfural (HMF)-an important intermediate building block for the production of v ...

PERGAMON-ELSEVIER SCIENCE LTD2023

The importance of young professionals for dam engineering in Switzerland

Samuel Luke Vorlet, Valentina Favero

In Switzerland, hydropower is the main energy source and contributes to about 58.3% of the total production. The 2050 energy strategy aims to increase this share in the coming decades. This increase is a challenge for hydropower plants. The maintenance and ...

CRC Press/Balkema2023

Heat pumping and renewable energy integration for decarbonizing brewery industry and district heating

François Maréchal, Daniel Alexander Florez Orrego, Meire Ellen Gorete Ribeiro Domingos

The energy integration of brewery plants and urban agglomerations has many benefits in terms of rational energy use and reduced environmental impact, especially during scenarios of uncertain supply chain and volatile market prices. In fact, the diversifica ...

Elsevier2023

Process modeling and integration of hydrogen and synthetic natural gas production in a kraft pulp mill via black liquor gasification

François Maréchal, Daniel Alexander Florez Orrego, Meire Ellen Gorete Ribeiro Domingos

The black liquor gasification integrated to chemical plants has shown potential for reducing the process irreversibility and promoting the decarbonization of this industrial sector. In the integrated chemical plants proposed in this work, the purpose is co ...

Pergamon-Elsevier Science Ltd2023

Solid-state synthesis of CdFe2O4 binary catalyst for potential application in renewable hydrogen fuel generation

Michael Graetzel, Shaik Mohammed Zakeeruddin

Clean energy is highly needed at this time when the energy requirements are rapidly increasing. The observed increasing energy requirement are largely due to continued industrialization and global population explosion. The current means of energy source is ...

Nature Portfolio2022

Photochemical Alkynylations with Hypervalent Iodine Reagents

Stephanie Grace Elizabeth Amos

Over the past twenty years, photochemical transformations have gained in importance in organic chemistry. Indeed, the development of photocatalysts has allowed the use of visible light as an energy source for chemical transformations. More specifically, ph ...

EPFL2022

Energy Bounds For A Fourth-Order Equation In Low Dimensions Related To Wave Maps

Tobias Johannes Schmid

For compact, isometrically embedded Riemannian manifolds N -> R-L, we introduce a fourth-order version of the wave maps equation. By energy estimates, we prove an a priori estimate for smooth local solutions in the energy subcritical dimension n = 1, 2. Th ...

AMER MATHEMATICAL SOC2022

SnSb binary alloy induced heterogeneous nucleation within the confined nanospace: Toward dendrite-free, flexible and energy/power dense sodium metal batteries

Dou Du, Yujie Liu

Rechargeable sodium (Na) metal batteries (SMBs) provide an alternative energy-dense, low-cost energy storage system beyond prevailing Li-ion technologies. However, their practical deployment requires the performance evaluation of Na anodes on the device le ...

ELSEVIER2021

Performance assessment of Synchronous Condensers vs Voltage Source Converters providing grid-forming functions

Mario Paolone

Having sufficient grid-forming sources is one of the necessary conditions to guarantee the stability in a power system hosting a very large share of inverter-based generation. The grid-forming function has been historically fulfilled by synchronous machine ...

IEEE2021

Probing unconventional performance of fiber resonators: light storage, generation and manipulation

Ivan Cardea

This thesis aims at investigating the performance of figure-9 (figure-of-nine) optical fiber resonators as a practical solution for light storage, light generation and manipulation. The first part of the thesis focuses on a theoretical and experimental stu ...

EPFL2021

Mechanical and Morphological Properties of Lignin-Based Thermosets

Cédric Terrier

The need for renewable alternatives for fossil-based aromatic material constituents is evident for a more sustainable society. Lignin is the largest source of naturally occurring aromatic compounds but has mainly been considered as waste material or energy ...

2020

Biochemical conversion of biodiesel by-product into malic acid: A way towards sustainability

Edgard Gnansounou

Crude glycerol, one of the ever-growing by-product of biodiesel industry and is receiving the closest review in recent times because direct disposal of crude glycerol may emerge ecological issues. The renewability, bioavailability and typical structure of ...

ELSEVIER2020

Shape changes through geometric nonlinear control as a strategy for structural adaptation

Arka Prabhata Reksowardojo

Adaptive structures modify their geometry and internal forces through sensing and mechanical actuation in order to maintain optimal performance under changing actions. Previous work has shown that well-conceived adaptive design strategies achieve substanti ...

EPFL2020