Journal of Energy
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Acceptance rate16%
Submission to final decision185 days
Acceptance to publication42 days
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Strategic Sizing and Placement of Distributed Generation in Radial Distributed Networks Using Multiobjective PSO

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Journal of Energy publishes research relating to the science and technology of energy generation, distribution, storage, and management. It also covers the environmental, societal and economic impacts of energy use and policy.

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Journal of Energy maintains an Editorial Board of practicing researchers from around the world, to ensure manuscripts are handled by editors who are experts in the field of study.

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Research Article

Catalytic Pyrolysis of Plastic Waste to Liquid Fuel Using Local Clay Catalyst

Plastics are nonbiodegradable, and safe disposal of this waste poses an environmental challenge all over the world. Catalytic pyrolysis is superior to thermal pyrolysis as it uses lower temperatures and hence less energy. The main objective of this study was to produce liquid fuel from plastic waste using indigenous clay as a catalyst through catalytic pyrolysis. The clay from Kisumu County was characterized through an X-ray fluorescence spectrometer (XRFS) and an X-ray diffractometer (XRD). The reaction setup consisted of a round-bottom flask reactor through which plastic feed and catalyst were heated in a temperature-controlled furnace. Vapor product was condensed using a Liebig type water condenser to give pyrolysis liquid product. Solid char was recovered from the flask at the end of the reaction. Optimization studies using central composite design (CCD) and response surface methodology (RSM) were performed in design expert software to predict optimal conditions of the operating variables for maximum yield of the liquid fuel. Results show that clay has a composition of silica and alumina at 64.5 wt% and 16.3 wt%, respectively, indicating high acidity of the clay, being a requirement for a good pyrolysis catalyst. For high-density polyethylene and polypropylene, the highest liquid yield of 87.23 wt% and 60.36 wt%, respectively, was at 300°C and a catalyst concentration of 10 wt%. Indigenous clay was established to be a suitable catalyst for catalytic pyrolysis of plastic waste, with the potential to replace imported catalysts since high yields of liquid fuel were obtained at lower reaction temperatures of 300-450°C, as compared to the 600°C required for thermal pyrolysis. In conclusion, waste plastics can be used to generate alternative fuel for industrial use. The liquid fuel can be used in diesel engines as a transport fuel, in turbines for electricity generation, and as a heating source in boilers and furnaces. Further studies on the modification of the surface and structure of clay are suggested to enhance its catalytic performance in the pyrolysis process for a better fuel yield.

Research Article

Optimization of Syngas Quality for Fischer-Tropsch Synthesis

While fossil oil reserves have been receding, the demand for diesel and gasoline has been growing. In recent years, syngas of biomass origin has been emerging as a viable feedstock for Fischer-Tropsch (FT) synthesis, a process for manufacturing synthetic gasoline and diesel. This paper reports the optimization of syngas quality to match the FT synthesis requirement. The optimization model maximizes the thermal efficiency under the constraint of and operating conditions of equivalent ratio (-1.0), steam to biomass ratio (-5.0), and gasification temperature (°C-1300°C). The optimization model is executed using the optimization section of the Model Analysis Tools of the Aspen Plus simulator. The model is tested using eleven (11) types of municipal solid waste (MSW). The optimum operating conditions under which the objective function and the constraint are satisfied are , -1.22, and -763°C. Under optimal operating conditions, the syngas quality is -58.67 mole percent, lower heating value -17.15 MJ/kg, and -2.33 mole percent. From an economic point of view, 12.98% to 33.12% of biomass is used as fuel for steam generation, drying, and pyrolysis. The generalized optimization model reported could be extended to any other type of biomass and coal.

Review Article

Review and Design Overview of Plastic Waste-to-Pyrolysis Oil Conversion with Implications on the Energy Transition

Plastics are cheap, lightweight, and durable and can be easily molded into many different products, shapes, and sizes, hence their wide applications globally, leading to increased production and use. Plastic consumption and production have been growing since its first production in the 1950s. About 4% of global oil and gas production is being used as feedstock for plastics, and 3–4% is used to provide energy for their manufacture. Plastics have a wide range of applications because they are versatile and relatively cheap. This study presents an in-depth analysis of plastic solid waste (PSW). Plastic wastes can be technically used for oil production because the calorific value of the plastics is quite comparable to that of oil, making this option an attractive alternative. Oil can be produced from plastic wastes via thermal degradation and catalytic degradation, while gasification can be used to produce syngas. Plastic pyrolysis can be used to address the twin problem of plastic waste disposal and depletion of fossil fuel reserves. The demand for plastics has continued to rise since their first production in the 1950s due to their multipurpose, lightness, inexpensiveness, and durable nature. There are four main avenues available for plastic solid waste treatment, namely, reextrusion as a primary treatment, mechanical treatment as secondary measures, chemical treatment as a tertiary measure, and energy recovery as a quaternary measure. The pyrolysis oil has properties that are close to clean fuel and is, therefore, a substitute to fresh fossil fuel for power generation, transport, and other applications. The study showed that plastic wastes pyrolysis offers an alternative avenue for plastic waste disposal and an alternative source of fossil fuel to reduce the total demand of virgin oil. Through plastic pyrolysis, plastic wastes are thermally converted to fuel by degrading long-chain polymers into small complex molecules in the absence of oxygen, making it a technically and economically feasible process for waste plastic recycling. The process is advantageous because presorting is not required, and the plastic waste can be directly fed without pretreatment prior to the process. Products of plastic pyrolysis are pyrolysis oil, a hydrocarbon-rich gas, with a heating value of 25–45 MJ/kg, which makes it ideal for process energy recovery. Hence, the pyrolysis gas can be fed back to the process to extract the energy for the process-heating purpose, which substantially reduces the reliance on external heating sources.

Research Article

Bagasse Electricity Potential of Conventional Sugarcane Factories

Sugar industries have huge potential to contribute to the sustainable energy transition through electricity generation and production of biofuels. Sugar-producing countries generate huge volumes of sugarcane bagasse as a byproduct of sugarcane production. In this study, the performance of an operating traditional sugar factory is analyzed for electricity generation and export potential. The study presents characteristics and energy potential of modern and traditional sugar factories. The challenges facing a traditional sugar mill are inefficient boilers, less efficient and back pressure steam turbines, and wasteful and inefficient use of steam turbine drives as prime movers instead of modern electric drives for the mills and cane knives. Others are the use of inefficient and energy intensive cane mill rollers instead of the diffusers which have low energy requirements. It was demonstrated that the cogeneration potential of sugar factory is quite significant but currently underutilized. Sugar factories can make significant contribution towards mitigation of greenhouse gas emission mitigation through supply of green electricity to the public grid. The study showed that the factory uses very old and inefficient boilers aged over 39 years which contributes to poor performance and low electricity generation capacity. Modernization is required to increase the generation and electricity export capacity through investment in new and modern high-pressure boilers, replacement of inefficient back pressure boilers (BPSB) with more efficient condensing extraction turbines (CEST), and reduction of factory steam consumption by electrification of mills and cane knife turbine drives among other measures. This study showed that the 3,000 TCD factory can invest in a 15 MW power plant based on current average factory performance indicators and more if the throughput and overall performance is close to design parameters.

Research Article

The Asymmetric Effects of Oil Price Shocks on Aggregate Demand for Goods and Services in Ghana

Procyclicality has been discovered in crude oil price shocks on aggregate demand. Most studies have used linear estimation techniques, resulting in the loss of asymmetric correlations. We disaggregate the impact of changes in oil prices into positive and negative shocks on aggregate demand and its components from 1970 to 2015 using the nonlinear ARDL framework. The results show that oil price shocks in Ghana have a long-term beneficial asymmetric impact on aggregate demand and its components. Specifically, a positive change in oil price (0.230) has a greater positive effect on the aggregate demand than a negative effect (-0.009) emanating from a negative change in the oil price shock. Further, the same result was obtained for the components of the aggregate demand with the impact on investment expenditures (0.662) being the greatest. Policymakers should diversify energy demand according to our recommendations. Instead of exporting crude oil, officials should encourage its refinement and consumption. Lastly, we suggest that policymakers hedge and use price-smoothing strategies to reduce oil price volatility.

Research Article

Green Energy: An Ideal Energy Solution for Sustainable Development of Afar Region, Ethiopia

Green energy is the primary concern for the sustainable development of Ethiopia’s Afar region. The study’s goals are to present scientific evidence of the Afar region’s energy potential to researchers and industry sectors. We used solar shortwave, radiation transfer model, miniscale meteorological model for the Weather Research Forecast (WRF), and spatial and temporal simulation as research techniques. The data show that the Afar region has an energy potential of 239.9 W/m2 average solar radiation flux, 2.102 MW·h/m2 average annual solar density, 131.18 W/m2 average wind power density at , and 204.5 W/m2 average wind power density at . We discovered that solar energy and wind energy are potential energy sources in the Afar region for energy consumption such as solar cooking, solar lighting, and small DC applications.

Journal of Energy
 Journal metrics
See full report
Acceptance rate16%
Submission to final decision185 days
Acceptance to publication42 days
CiteScore-
Journal Citation Indicator-
Impact Factor-
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